I haven't posted recently, but I have had a bit on my heart lately, and through prayer, thought and scripture readings this is what I have come to reality on...so just sharing my recent thinking:
In the book of Isaiah we find this constant refrain of everything being about the Glory of God. However, the problem with that is that we love that, but few of us have any understanding of what that actually means. "ohh, for the Glory of God, yeah" "Oh, it's glory!" <--This is church life. Big words that we can't define.
The definition of glory is really just simply this... weight. So when it says that all Glory is Gods, the scriptures are teaching that HE is ultimate reality. He is more important and more powerful than anything else, regardless of what that thing is. Here's reality though... most of us, I have been here before, know God as a concept. And when we know God as just a concept we are heavier than Him and he is lighter than us. And if we get to this point where we don't understand His weight on our lives we can twist and contourt Him to be whatever we want Him to be. See, when He's a concept and not a reality how we live our lives doesn't change. When He's a concept and not reality, how we handle out neighbors doesn't change. How we handle our finances doesn't change. How we handle situations doesn't change...when He's a concept. But when He is a reality, it changes everything. When He becaomes a reality we are undone.
One day, the fact that I can't love on my sweet babies in Africa won't mean anything, because I won't need to anymore. One day, everything in my bank account will be somebody elses. One day, everyone whom I know and love now will not be there. But here's what's not changing, God has extended His mercy and grace to me through Jesus Christ. I am an adopted daughter into the kingdom. He took every shortcoming, every failure, every screw-up...past, present, and future. And did this for no other reason except that He is merciful. He took alll of this and put it on Jesus Christ, so that when he sees me at my worst, to this day he sees me as lovely, as an adopted daughter. So, if I were to die young, then I just get that much more of Him forever. I want my identity to be in Jesus Christ, not the things He sends me to do for Him. A big and important part of my life is Africa, my heart longs for this place God has sent me to once and is sending me to again. But, my identity is not in the ministry God has sent me to in Niger, because one day I will not go there anymore. I don't want to be wrapped up in the ability to communicate with and serve in Niger... do I love it, yes. Does it define me, no. Cause it is not eternal, it is temporary, and there's nothing I can do about it because I am mortal.
We are in a broken, and fallen world. But it is the weight of the Glory of God that says even in this God is good. Even in this, I will praise His name. And it's only the reality of God that sustains that... not the concept of God. For anytime someone bails on the faith and says "I don't believe that anymore"... what actually happens is that they never believed it. They believe a concept of it but did not understand the reality of it.
This world and our culture will eat us alive if we don't find our identity in the reality of Jesus Christ. I mean, here in Dallas we having nothing to gaze upon, there are no mountains, or oceans or really anything specatular... all we have is us. So what we do is gaze upon us. And this entire culture is about external beauty and showing what we have and it will destroy us if we don't know the weight of His Glory. So basically what the scriptures would say is this.. if you put your identity in external beauty, money, the car you drive or house you live in, or in another person then all of that will betray you because it cannot sustain you. Only the Glory of God can sustain us.
I feel like I just word vomitted onto my blog. ha... but I say all of this because It has been a real personal conviction of mine with the Lord that I follow His every command. Not to do things that I want to in order to hopefully bring Him Glory through it, but that glory would be brought to Him, by Him, through whatever He wants me to do for Him. All in His chosing and timing, not mine. I just want to live being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ wherever I am because eventually all of this, the life I live, will not matter anymore because I am mortal and will die. Gee, what a concept? But the thing is, I, we, never know when God is going to call us home, so unless I am living on constant mission for Him, I am not living.
Perfectly said :)
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