It's been a while since I've posted a blog ....
It's been a while since I've allowed myself to be swept away in the Love of Jesus...
It's been a while since I could say that I've "let go" of this world ... of stress ... of myself...
It's been a while since I've "rested in peace" ...
For quite some time now, I've been pressing forward in my own strength, walking parallel to the flock in which I belong... to the Shepherd who calls me "his own." Everyday I hear him call. This still small voice within, a gentle whisper that calls my name ... letting me know that He is still there, still walking with me ... still hearing ... still helping ... still loving ... still caring ... and still holding me together ... never letting go.
His whisper speaks peace to my heart and love to my soul, it says ... "Let go ... Let go... rest in peace ... rest in my arms ...
Every morning, every afternoon, every evening before I go to bed my heart cries out this song...
"I Love You ... All of my Hope ... is in You,
Jesus Christ ... take my life ... take all of me
I Love You so ... and I give up my heart ...
to say ... I need ... you so ... my everything..."
(Lyrics from Hillsong United - Take All of Me)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Gyb8_CUyc&feature=related)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXE3G8oC7Zk)
So the question is "why" don't we (me included) let go...?
Why do we hold on to "the weight of this world"...?
Why don't we "rest in peace"...?
The answer: We forget ...
We forget ... who made us and how we are made (By God and in his image).
We forget ... why we are here, that we have a purpose (our journey "back" to God, to know God intimately, personally in a new redeemed essence through Jesus Christ)
We forget ... the light of this world, the love that keeps us moving forward, we forget hope (Jesus Christ ... died on a cross 2 thousand years ago and was resurrected from the dead, living each day in intercession on our behalf between us and God)
We forget ... who we are!
Having recently celebrated Christmas ... this realization of "forgetfulness" was ever before me.
People celebrate Christmas ... yet forget Christ ... not the baby ... but the Saviour and Redeemer of the World. My brother (Evan) said it best, "the World has commercialized Christmas ... that is why they can't see Jesus Christ ... the hope and love and Redeemer we all need! The only gift that truly lasts!"
Christmas is celebrated in vain by millions around the world ... because as great as it is to give gifts to ones we love and receive gifts from people who love us ... without the giving and receiving of "the Greatest Gift" from "the person who loves us most", Christmas is nothing ... just another day.
Jesus is the greatest gift. He is the gift given to us by a loving and gracious God. A gift to save us from the impossible ... ourselves, our sin. Without the reception of the gift of Jesus Christ ... all gifts are in vain because at the end of the day death awaits. Whether death for you is tomorrow, a year from now, or many years down the road ... the fact remains that "we all need victory from death". That's why "all" need the "gift of Christmas" ... "Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World and Redeemer of my soul."
Jesus is the only way to make "peace" with God. No Jesus, No Peace ... Know Jesus, Know Peace! (in the next blog we will look at this through another light)
{John 3:16-21}- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
