Thursday, December 24, 2009
Mary was chosen to carry Him.
Joseph was told what to name Him.
The inns rejected Him.
The manger cradled Him.
The shepherds came to marvel at Him.
The wise men came to worship Him.
King Herod tried to kill Him.
The church leaders came to listen to Him.
John was chosen to baptise Him.
The disciples were chosen to follow Him.
The Pharisees despised Him.
The crowds adored Him.
The broken were healed by Him.
The lost where found by Him.
Judas betrayed Him.
The Romans captured Him.
Pilot could find no fault in Him.
The crowds yelled, "crucify Him!"
The soldiers mocked Him.
Peter denied Him.
He said, "Father, forgive them."
The Romans guarded Him.
But they weren't strong enough to keep Him in.
Many saw Him.
Now He's ascended.
But I still know Him.
And I still love Him.
And someday I will see Him.
All because God sent Him--out of love.
Joseph was told what to name Him.
The inns rejected Him.
The manger cradled Him.
The shepherds came to marvel at Him.
The wise men came to worship Him.
King Herod tried to kill Him.
The church leaders came to listen to Him.
John was chosen to baptise Him.
The disciples were chosen to follow Him.
The Pharisees despised Him.
The crowds adored Him.
The broken were healed by Him.
The lost where found by Him.
Judas betrayed Him.
The Romans captured Him.
Pilot could find no fault in Him.
The crowds yelled, "crucify Him!"
The soldiers mocked Him.
Peter denied Him.
He said, "Father, forgive them."
The Romans guarded Him.
But they weren't strong enough to keep Him in.
Many saw Him.
Now He's ascended.
But I still know Him.
And I still love Him.
And someday I will see Him.
All because God sent Him--out of love.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
As embarrassing as it is to admit, I do a lot of my thinking in the shower. It just seems to be a nice, convenient place to unwind and meditate on things. This morning, I was reminiscing on God's faithfulness in my life. I have come a long way in my relationship with Him. He has given me so much, and I am truly humbled to consider it. I grew up in a Christian home and was saved at a young age. For many years after that, though I have no doubt that I am a child of God, I struggled with the way God chose to change my life. I felt like my life didn't change much at all. I still went to church, I still memorized Bible verses, and life continued on as normal. I envied those who had a dramatic testimony of complete transformation from before they knew Christ to after receiving Him. Looking back on all of this in the shower this morning, I recognized something about God's grace: it is the perfect fit for everyone.
Sometimes, I think we view God's grace as too big for our sin. It is very easy for me to say, "There are a lot of people with a lot more, and I don't need to bother God with my sins." To put it more visually, we view God's grace as bulky, over-sized sweater. There's just too much fabric involved. There are bulges coming out everywhere, you can't even see your hands because the sleeves are too long, and it's just not attractive. You cannot wear this sweater. It was made for someone much larger than you. In the same way, we can believe that God's grace was made to cover people with bigger problems than our own. We are left naked and helpless.
Others of us, or perhaps we are the same people as before dealing with different sin, feel that God's grace is not big enough for what we are dealing with. Our problems are too large and embarrassing to God. We can view God's grace like a sweater that is too small. Try as we might to pull it over ourselves, we are left suffocating. It may cover most of you, but there is still plenty of skin left to cover. The skin tightness of the sweater does not hide much of what you were wishing to cover, nor does it allow you room to breathe. This sweater just doesn't fit right. In the same way, we can feel that God's grace will never cover all of the baggage we carry and will just suffocate us with more guilt of what we really look like.
Thank God that His grace is not like either of these! God's grace is the perfectly fitting sweater for every person no matter what size or shape. God's grace is great enough that it covers all of our sin and leaves us with no unwanted fabric or invisible hands. It is perfect enough that it doesn't leave us self conscious about what we are trying to hide underneath or what is still peeking out. His grace doesn't cut off the circulation in our arms because we tried to stretch it too thin, nor does it leave us even more weighed down with the heaviness of what we don't need. God's grace is exactly what we need. It covers every part that needs to be covered and covers it completely, and it is in His grace that we find perfect warmth and satisfaction knowing that we have been made attractive in His eyes.
Sometimes, I think we view God's grace as too big for our sin. It is very easy for me to say, "There are a lot of people with a lot more, and I don't need to bother God with my sins." To put it more visually, we view God's grace as bulky, over-sized sweater. There's just too much fabric involved. There are bulges coming out everywhere, you can't even see your hands because the sleeves are too long, and it's just not attractive. You cannot wear this sweater. It was made for someone much larger than you. In the same way, we can believe that God's grace was made to cover people with bigger problems than our own. We are left naked and helpless.
Others of us, or perhaps we are the same people as before dealing with different sin, feel that God's grace is not big enough for what we are dealing with. Our problems are too large and embarrassing to God. We can view God's grace like a sweater that is too small. Try as we might to pull it over ourselves, we are left suffocating. It may cover most of you, but there is still plenty of skin left to cover. The skin tightness of the sweater does not hide much of what you were wishing to cover, nor does it allow you room to breathe. This sweater just doesn't fit right. In the same way, we can feel that God's grace will never cover all of the baggage we carry and will just suffocate us with more guilt of what we really look like.
Thank God that His grace is not like either of these! God's grace is the perfectly fitting sweater for every person no matter what size or shape. God's grace is great enough that it covers all of our sin and leaves us with no unwanted fabric or invisible hands. It is perfect enough that it doesn't leave us self conscious about what we are trying to hide underneath or what is still peeking out. His grace doesn't cut off the circulation in our arms because we tried to stretch it too thin, nor does it leave us even more weighed down with the heaviness of what we don't need. God's grace is exactly what we need. It covers every part that needs to be covered and covers it completely, and it is in His grace that we find perfect warmth and satisfaction knowing that we have been made attractive in His eyes.
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