Tuesday, April 15, 2008

God's Sweetener

In Exodus 15:22-25, the children of Israel have just seen God deliver them by parting the Red Sea, leading through on dry ground, and then, closing back the waters on their enemies, swallowing them forever. They have seen the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. They have seen the dreadful and awesome plagues, through which God made a distinction between them and all other peoples. In short, God has displayed His love for them and His power to them through miracles, signs, and wonders that were indisputable and "over the top". Now, three days after the miraculous Red Sea deliverance, they arrive at Marah, tired and thirsty. But the water there is bitter and undrinkable. And the people began to grumble against Moses and against the Lord. Moses goes to the Lord, asking, "What shall we drink?" "And the Lord showed him a tree; and he (Moses) threw it in the waters, and the waters became sweet" (v. 25).

Lately, I've been doing a lot of complaining and griping about my circumstances and situations. I've been bitter and ungrateful toward the Lord. Today, I was sharing this story with a friend and the Lord spoke to me the following:

The waters are circumstances and situations in my life. The tree is the cross. Only as I allow the Lord to apply the cross to my circumstances (i.e., throw it in the waters) will they ever become sweet and drinkable. If I do not, every situation will be bitter and intolerable. The circumstances never change physically (they were at the same pool of water), but the fruit of the circumstances does. The difference is in letting Him apply the cross. The cross always bring forth new life and brings the sweetest fruit.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Only Jesus

"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me" (Ps. 57:3, NIV).

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me" (Ps. 138:8, NIV).

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13, NIV)

"May the God of peace...equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ" (Heb. 13:20-21, NIV).

"And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us" (Rom. 8:3-4, NIV, using alternate rendering).


All of the scriptures quoted above say that God Himself will fulfill all of His good pleasure and holy purposes in me and through me and for me. Then why do I spend so much time trying to figure it all out? Why do I think that reading the "right book" will give me the information I need in order to cooperate with Him, so that the fulfillment will come sooner? While I do believe that I have a cooperative place in His purposes, I often find myself discontent with my present state. My part is to trust; His part is to fulfill and to do. But here's the "catch": even my ability to trust is the activity of the Trusting One who lives in me. I can not, through my efforts or my self-education, produce anything worthy of Him, much less pleasing to Him. It's Jesus - He is all in all. Only He can behave like Himself; only He can believe like He believes; only He can do what He does - and He does it in you and me on our behalf. Jesus gladly died for us; now He will gladly live for us. Jesus said, "I always do those things that please my Father" (John 8:29). He's still saying it, and He's still doing it - in us, for us. Thanks be to God!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Welcome To My Blog!

The purpose of - really, the heart of this blog - is to share and explore and discover the depths of the love of God in Christ, but from the basis of union with Jesus Christ. For anyone to be a Christian, Jesus Christ Himself must be living inside of them. That's the real decisive factor: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). But discovering the depths of Jesus living in me in my day to day world is an ongoing journey of intimacy with Him at all levels of my life, inside and out. I welcome any one who wishes to seek, to share, to fully enter into this glorious mystery of oneness with Christ. It doesn't matter where you're at on the journey; what matters is that you're on the journey. Welcome!