I went home this weekend. In fact, I'm sitting at home while typing this blog. It's been nice. I spend the weekend with my aunt. And things are like they used to be between us. Which is really good. Shows how God can reconcile relationships. :)
Last night, I was listening to a sermon preached by Matt Chandler. If you don't know who he is, you should totally check him out. More importantly, if you don't know Who his God is....you should check Him out. :)
The sermon was on Colossians 1:15-16
"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him."
Wow. Crazy, right? Our King Jesus is over all things...whether they can be seen or not, He created all things...for His glory. This means that the pursuit of our King should be Primary, not secondary. Think on this for a second. Let's say I am addicted to alcohol (which I'm not, but this is a good example) and I desperately want to be free of that addiction. Now, that's something very good to desire, right? Freedom from something that brings physical destruction on myself, as well as hurts those around me. But what if being free from alcohol was my primary pursuit, what if all I focused on was being free from that addiction? Chances are I would keep falling into it, because that would be all that is on my mind. Being free. This illustration can go for many things. Freedom from anger, pornograpgy, drugs, pride, gluttony, laziness, and the list continues on. Wanting to be free is a very good desire, but when that freedom becomes our primary focus we remain in bondage.
But, when Jesus becomes our Primary pursuit, things change. And we don't have to focus so hard in being free. Because when you pursue Freedom itself, the chains fall to the ground...
This really struck me hard because I have so many things that I want to be free from. And I realized last night that sometimes I pursue that freedom more than I pursue my King. Really, this brings incredible liberation. To know that I do not have to free myself, but only pursue the Lover of my soul. And He certainly doesn't hide.
May I encourage you to pursue the One Who is Freedom. Let that pursuit be Primary. He alone is worthy. May we lay down our idols (no matter how "good" they may be) and run after Him with all we are.
Jesus loves you, and so do I.
-Miranda
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
I really feel like I should have something profound to say...
You know the feeling you have when you start a new journal? And if you don't write a new journal, maybe the feeling you have at the start of the new year? I know that when I start a new journal, when I'm sitting there looking at the first blank page, I want to write something profound. Something no one else has written before. And at the beginning of the year, I have such big goals..I wanna change the world!
Thinking about this makes me giggle. This is my first blog entry. This blog came about because Jesus has been teaching me so much, and I want to share. Because He is so spectacularly good. And He gives good gifts to His children.
I wish I could say something super profound. And maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you want something more than to just sound profound on a blog, or a journal. Maybe you want to know that you are loved. That you aren't alone. Maybe you are just trying to make it through. Maybe you feel like you have to do something exceptionally profound to feel this way. That you have to perform. Ultimately, that's how we feel before God, right? That we have to do and say all the right things for Him to love us. That we have to be profound for Him, and do things that we hope make Him happy. Even is you have been following Jesus for a long time, you can still get caught up in this.
Here's the good news:
We don't have to be good enough, or profound for God. He was good enough for us, and did Something very, very profound to bring us into His kingdom. He gave up His Son, and because Jesus bled and died for us....we get to know Him. And when God looks at us, He sees us as spotless and pure because of the blood of the Lamb. So good. So mind-blowing.
So, I don't have anything profound to say, in fact, I couldn't be profound if I wanted to be. But my God, now, that's a different story. He is profound. He is Everything. And He is good.
Praise Him!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Ephesians 1:3-10
Thinking about this makes me giggle. This is my first blog entry. This blog came about because Jesus has been teaching me so much, and I want to share. Because He is so spectacularly good. And He gives good gifts to His children.
I wish I could say something super profound. And maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you want something more than to just sound profound on a blog, or a journal. Maybe you want to know that you are loved. That you aren't alone. Maybe you are just trying to make it through. Maybe you feel like you have to do something exceptionally profound to feel this way. That you have to perform. Ultimately, that's how we feel before God, right? That we have to do and say all the right things for Him to love us. That we have to be profound for Him, and do things that we hope make Him happy. Even is you have been following Jesus for a long time, you can still get caught up in this.
Here's the good news:
We don't have to be good enough, or profound for God. He was good enough for us, and did Something very, very profound to bring us into His kingdom. He gave up His Son, and because Jesus bled and died for us....we get to know Him. And when God looks at us, He sees us as spotless and pure because of the blood of the Lamb. So good. So mind-blowing.
So, I don't have anything profound to say, in fact, I couldn't be profound if I wanted to be. But my God, now, that's a different story. He is profound. He is Everything. And He is good.
Praise Him!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Ephesians 1:3-10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)