W O M E N
F I N D I N G
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." John 6:67-68 The words of eternal life... Are the words of eternal life enough to keep us from turning away? Is it enough to know the truths of the Lord, no matter the offense? I can say with assurance that if the Lord is drawing any of us closer to Him there will come offense to our nature and old ways of thinking. This comes from His ways and His thoughts being so much higher than ours. We have to come to a place of surrender and trust right at the front or we could end up like all the ones in John 6:66, "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." ~ Is it enough? ~ Is He enough? Are the words of eternal life enough even when they are offensive? Or do we take offense and close ourselves off to going any further with the Lord? The light of God's truth can be, and in most cases is, offensive, and yet at the same time He offers His grace, mercy, kindness, and love to cover our sin or fault, but He doesn't offer this extension of grace as a means to "go and continue" in our sin, but as a means to "go and sin no more." Praise God for this offer of such love and mercy, and Praise God for the ability to escape a life of sin and fault. Is He enough? I encourage you to read the whole chapter of John 6 to gain more insight into this subject and get a glimpse of the love and mercy offered to all those who would believe and follow. Sadly, most in this chapter turned away from Him. Those who stayed with Him still seemed somewhat overwhelmed with His leading, and yet they stayed with Him...beyond their understanding... and trusted Him more than themselves. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5 "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil." Proverbs 3:7 Can He be enough when the offenses come? When the offenses come within our own understanding...Is He enough? When the offenses come through others because they don't understand the truths by which you live...Is He enough? He is enough and He always will be. With Paul we can say, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Philippians 3:7-8 ~ That I may win Christ ~ Isn't that our goal? To win Christ. As Women Finding Grace ~ Let's lay aside our offenses and follow hard after the Lord, knowing that in suffering loss...we gain Christ for all eternity.
0 Comments
I am currently reading The Life Giving Home; Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming, by Sally Clarkson. I highly recommend this book! What words of encouragement are found in the pages of this beautiful book. I am sharing an excerpt that I was reading today that touched my heart so dearly. I pray these words bring a glimpse of beauty to your day. "So much of life consists of dusty, normal days often punctuated by sickness (that no doctor can diagnose), thorny relationships (especially those involving family), general struggle (flat tires, money, irritation), and loneliness. I am keenly aware that my love of beauty is equaled be my total inability to force my life to be beautiful. The world and I myself are profoundly broken. My natural impulse in the midst of this is a quick discouragement that seeps into every vein of my being. It can end in a dark numbness of heart that leaves me incapable of either seeing beauty or allowing it to teach me hope. That is what I think I instinctively feared on that long-ago March evening with my mom. And yet, despite the grief of life in the broken places, my heart still catches glimmers of what life was meant to be, echoes from the the shattered gladness of original Creation. The remnants of Eden reach out to me in the very stuff of the everyday, slivered shards of ideal beauty glittering through the daily muck. I see it in sunlight slanted on my table, the scent of coffee, the flight of song, a moment of utter quiet, and yes, sometimes in a glorious bank of roses. In those moments I am aware that beauty speaks. That loveliness tells me of something beyond the brokenness. Every experience of joy I find is the promise of a coming and complete redemption. This is what I believe my home should communicate. This is the atmosphere I want those who come into my sphere to taste-the goodness of God made tangible in food, in pictures, in music, in the way they are served. I want my home to reflect the deepest affirmation of my heart that God is with me, that He has given me every good thing. I want my home and life to be an invitation to feast, to touch, to savor, and to know the goodness of my beautiful God. To cultivate beauty is to act in keeping with my faith in God's goodness rather than my doubt. It means to fight tooth and nail, day by day, to keep alive my faith in a love that transforms the ordinary and, in that transformation, offers a glimpse of a one-day, ultimate redemption. The beauty I make is the way I picture and offer ultimate hope right in the middle of messy, ordinary days. I put on music when I really just want to despair. I laugh over housework instead of screaming about it (which I usually want to do). I open my eyes to God's creative presence in the earth when busyness could easily distract and rob me of wonder. I reach out to needy people and unresponsive friends one more time. I take, with God's help, the musty clay of dusty, messy days and mold it into hours of laughter, landmark feast, music making, and memories." As Women Finding Grace ~ Let's look for those glimpses of God's grace and beauty in our everyday.
|