I was thinking about some of the stuff I've written and one common theme that weaves in and out of my posts... God Changing Things. Here are a few paragraphs from multiple past posts that are encouraging to me (you'd think what I write would stick in my head, but it doesn't) because they remind me of just what the Messiah has done and does for my life - the way that His Presence completely shifts the reality that I'm living in.
Taken From "The Next Thing"
But my discontentment comes because I have a prurient desire for what is next. Admittedly, I am impacted by the culture around me and my mind has ludicrous credos that keep me from living the life God has called me to live. One of those is that the next thing is the thing. The next break I have will give me all the life I need. Going back to school will be where it's at. Happiness will be procured once I get A, B, or C. And I find myself a wee bit (sometimes more than a "wee") disgruntled where I'm at. The problem is not that I don't have enough, but that I'm looking to the future and miss out on what I have. And what do I have?
The unsurpassable, incomprehensible, insurmountable, inseparable, undeniable, uncontainable, uncontrollable, unstoppable, unquenchable, undeserved love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. That's enough. More than. What is here and now is good, very, very good.
Taken From Oh the Ludicrous Cross
As humans, we have been born with an intrinsic sense of what ethical behavior is. When we sin, we sense it. We feel guilty. Because of our inherent ethic, we become guilty. In becoming guilty we acquire the weight of that guilt, and guilt, though immaterial, does not just disappear. It has to go somewhere. Although sometimes it does not stay with us emotionally and our calloused hearts may no longer sense it, the guilt remains upon us.
Back to Christ, on the cross. The perfect human. The perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is there on the cross that our guilt went somewhere. All of the sin of the past, present, and future was transferred to Christ. When His blood was shed, our sin was shed. With his death was the death of our guilt, for it was all upon Him when He died. His expiation for our sins was the ablution of our souls, freeing us from all sin and opening the door to intimacy with the God of the Universe. Powerful? Heck yeah. Foolishness? Yeah, I suppose so. But sometimes, Love is foolish.
Taken From An Anomalous Death
It separates us from the source of life (God, YHWH, Jesus - in case you're not catching on) because by living in it, by being taken by it, we are living apart from God, moving away from God, becoming more and more unlike the image of God in us. The sin doesn't go away. The effects of sin are eternal. The buildup of the barrier between us and God is unbreakable. We are fated to obtain our wage, to get what we deserve. This is our story. Our reality. There is no hope without an intervention of infinite power.
The cross of Jesus changed everything. God came to us because we could not come to Him. He took our sin from us, he took the guilt, he took the dark ugliness, he took from us what was keeping us from reaching Him… he placed it on Himself, and in a mysterious way only possible within the divine relationship, separated himself from the source of life because of the sin he took on. Then, in dying with the sin of the world on Him - taking for himself what we earned - sin died. What was required for propitiation of sin was the death of the sinner; instead, the one without sin placed it on himself and experienced its consequences of death to the body and spirit.
Taken From Understanding God's Love - Part II: While We Suck
The veracious reality is that because we suck there is nothing we can do to earn God's love. Trying to earn God's love and believing we can only leads to failure, which makes us see ourselves as failures, which leads to more failure, which leads to self-hatred and condemnation. Surprisingly, we must stop trying. When we're trying to become good enough to be loved by God, we're keeping ourselves from accepting God's love. We refuse, for whatever reason, to accept the love he offers. Getting caught up in the desire to and attempt to earn only leads us further and further away from an understanding of the love God has for us, the free love.
Right now, in the middle of my crap, in the middle of your disgusting sin, God loves you and I powerfully, infinitely, perfectly. There's nothing I can do to acquire more of God's love. There's nothing you can do to diminish God's love for you. Although by it's very nature sin is contemptible to God, and we are the purveyors of sin, God loves us. So deep does this love run that He sent His son, a part of Himself, to become the ablution, salvation, and expiation for our sins - opening up the room of God's presence to the entire world. Let go. Acknowledge your sinful heart, end your endeavor to earn God's love, and let the love that is already waiting for you come into your life. It changes everything.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
Taken From "The Next Thing"
But my discontentment comes because I have a prurient desire for what is next. Admittedly, I am impacted by the culture around me and my mind has ludicrous credos that keep me from living the life God has called me to live. One of those is that the next thing is the thing. The next break I have will give me all the life I need. Going back to school will be where it's at. Happiness will be procured once I get A, B, or C. And I find myself a wee bit (sometimes more than a "wee") disgruntled where I'm at. The problem is not that I don't have enough, but that I'm looking to the future and miss out on what I have. And what do I have?
The unsurpassable, incomprehensible, insurmountable, inseparable, undeniable, uncontainable, uncontrollable, unstoppable, unquenchable, undeserved love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. That's enough. More than. What is here and now is good, very, very good.
Taken From Oh the Ludicrous Cross
As humans, we have been born with an intrinsic sense of what ethical behavior is. When we sin, we sense it. We feel guilty. Because of our inherent ethic, we become guilty. In becoming guilty we acquire the weight of that guilt, and guilt, though immaterial, does not just disappear. It has to go somewhere. Although sometimes it does not stay with us emotionally and our calloused hearts may no longer sense it, the guilt remains upon us.
Back to Christ, on the cross. The perfect human. The perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is there on the cross that our guilt went somewhere. All of the sin of the past, present, and future was transferred to Christ. When His blood was shed, our sin was shed. With his death was the death of our guilt, for it was all upon Him when He died. His expiation for our sins was the ablution of our souls, freeing us from all sin and opening the door to intimacy with the God of the Universe. Powerful? Heck yeah. Foolishness? Yeah, I suppose so. But sometimes, Love is foolish.
Taken From An Anomalous Death
It separates us from the source of life (God, YHWH, Jesus - in case you're not catching on) because by living in it, by being taken by it, we are living apart from God, moving away from God, becoming more and more unlike the image of God in us. The sin doesn't go away. The effects of sin are eternal. The buildup of the barrier between us and God is unbreakable. We are fated to obtain our wage, to get what we deserve. This is our story. Our reality. There is no hope without an intervention of infinite power.
The cross of Jesus changed everything. God came to us because we could not come to Him. He took our sin from us, he took the guilt, he took the dark ugliness, he took from us what was keeping us from reaching Him… he placed it on Himself, and in a mysterious way only possible within the divine relationship, separated himself from the source of life because of the sin he took on. Then, in dying with the sin of the world on Him - taking for himself what we earned - sin died. What was required for propitiation of sin was the death of the sinner; instead, the one without sin placed it on himself and experienced its consequences of death to the body and spirit.
Taken From Understanding God's Love - Part II: While We Suck
The veracious reality is that because we suck there is nothing we can do to earn God's love. Trying to earn God's love and believing we can only leads to failure, which makes us see ourselves as failures, which leads to more failure, which leads to self-hatred and condemnation. Surprisingly, we must stop trying. When we're trying to become good enough to be loved by God, we're keeping ourselves from accepting God's love. We refuse, for whatever reason, to accept the love he offers. Getting caught up in the desire to and attempt to earn only leads us further and further away from an understanding of the love God has for us, the free love.
Right now, in the middle of my crap, in the middle of your disgusting sin, God loves you and I powerfully, infinitely, perfectly. There's nothing I can do to acquire more of God's love. There's nothing you can do to diminish God's love for you. Although by it's very nature sin is contemptible to God, and we are the purveyors of sin, God loves us. So deep does this love run that He sent His son, a part of Himself, to become the ablution, salvation, and expiation for our sins - opening up the room of God's presence to the entire world. Let go. Acknowledge your sinful heart, end your endeavor to earn God's love, and let the love that is already waiting for you come into your life. It changes everything.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
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