true-mud

[true-mud]

For a long time we were in the dark. We continued to run from our Father, ever since the falling. That day that we decided not to trust Him and to go our own way, even though He gave us every reason to follow His. We were children, disobeying the parameters meant to keep us from harm and heartbreak. We decided we knew better than the One who made it all, the One who always was, and always will be. We committed treason against our King and Creator. Then started the running.

We continued to move away, not entirely certain why we were doing it. Maybe at first it was out of guilt or shame for the things we had done. Then perhaps that guilt turned to bitterness and anger toward our Father, whom we let down, whom we betrayed. "Who was He to make the rules"? "Who was He to tell us what to do"?

The further we ran the more we became about ourselves. We put high the things we wanted and put low the One we needed. We made much of ourselves and declared that we were our own gods. That we had control over the world we did nothing to create. We took what we wanted, then murdered to keep it. We built ourselves up, made much of our own, and with bitter obstinacy shook fists at the sky.

We grew farther from Him still. We continued to build our debt of wickedness. We chose to be greedy and vain. We murdered brothers and sisters over pieces of ground and bits of metal. We made war on nations and drank the blood of our enemies. In our eyes we were great despite the darkness we burned on our souls. We decided that we deserved to be gods. We deserved to kill, and steal, and rape freely, without punishment. We deserved no consequences, because in our eyes we diluted what was wrong and fooled into thinking it was right. We truly and hopelessly lost. But, too foolish to realize it.

From the beginning of our rebellion, God stayed his hand. He warned that our disobedience would lead to death. The firsts of His mercies were that death did not strike us the moment we turned from Him. He could have wiped the slate clean and started over. He could have eradicated us from time in that moment. He chose not to. A Father's love for His children kept us from receiving the punishment we deserved.

Judgment of the guilty was withheld. Stayed for a time. Despite the debt of sin we continued to accrue. Each wicked choice we made built stronger the wall between us and the Father who loved us. And yet, he remained patient. Working the terrible things against Him and each other into good. Even in our attempts to sabotage, His plan remained perfect. His rescue mission was secure.

God knew that the things we had done separated us from Him forever. There was no turning back; there was no ritual that we could do to make ourselves and our home whole again. We tried, so many times. We tried to fix the gap ourselves. When we could not do it, we created false gods in hopes that they could. Some of us were too ashamed, or too stubborn to ask our Father for help, some of us forgot he was there at all. Even then, He was working for us. He was establishing the time and place to fix this brokenness.

Because there was no way we could every pay our debts. Because there was no way we could fix ourselves, fill our holes, He came to do it. He made Himself into the flesh of man. He lowered Himself to come to us. Because He, Jesus was God he lived a perfect human life. He had no sin or wickedness in Him. His soul did not have the black stains that we all contained. He grew and lived among us. He dwelled, ate, slept, taught, and performed miracles that only God could with us.

Because He was God and because He was perfect He was able to fix our broken world. He was able to rescue us from the pit of sin we cast ourselves in. We captured Him almost to the point of death. We spat on and mocked Him. A great fever of wickedness and sin overcame us. And even then, our Father was working it into good. On a hill we executed the man named Jesus. We nailed His flesh and bones to a tree and left Him there to die. We watched as His last breaths poured out of Him. Unknowingly fulfilling the plan of our Father to rescue us, to make us whole again.

We did not know it then but in that movement, the debt we made, the crimes we committed were pardoned. The wrath that we so justly deserved from the beginning was poured out from God onto God so that all that we destroyed could be fixed again. Every sin we ever committed or will commit was and is forgiven. Our debts wiped clean. The separation between us and our Father destroyed.

This reunion was made complete three days later. Jesus, who was dead, breathed in life again. He stayed among us, spending forty more days on this earth. Then in front of many of us ascended back into heaven, taking His rightful place in His kingdom.

This is the good news, this is the Gospel. All the brokenness and hurt in us can be made new. We can be made whole. Creation cries out for renewal. We wait patiently for Jesus to return and finish His restoration of the earth. There will come a day where all the darkness we have in us will be gone forever. Death will be no more. Things will go back to the perfection of its original state. Eternity spent in glory of our loving Father.

[true-mud]

The constant need to be seen as right, to win the argument, to have the last word is not a show of strength. It is a clear tell of weakness. Being unable to admit wrongs, faults, or flaws simply shows how afraid you are of showing others your true self.

[true-mud]

God is not the ambulance driver that shows up after the wreck. He’s the surgeon that will make the cut, knowing exactly what to cut out, exactly what to leave in, exactly what to take, exactly what to let alone. This is the giant, scary, worthy-of-worship, God of the Bible, who not only knows tomorrow but is already there.

Matt Chandler, “Of Danger and Ditches” (via markpalfreeman)

[true-mud]

Human life has no monetary equivalent. A billion dollar company does not hold the value of the silent breaths of a sleeping child. Currency is expendable, souls are eternal. To hold the former over the latter is simple, cold, madness.

[true-mud]

Love isn't agreement or passivity. We show no love by ignoring confrontation. We show no love by saying, "everyone is right in their own way". Love is coming along side, pointing out the wrong, and walking beside one another until they come out of it. Also, trusting that the other will do the same for you. We are all broken, and it is foolish to think that we can't learn from each other.

[true-mud]

Morning Thought

I love YouVersion, and I love reading their devotionals. But, it s a disservice when the writers of some devotions pick out verses out of context. You can't just snip a verse out and say it supports what you are trying to convey. If you do that you can use the bible to justify anything. That's part of the problem.

We need more then just pep talks sprinkled with bible versus. There is deep meaningful joy that is going untapped from getting into the word and learning about God's character. That is the entire point of the bible. So that we may know Him. People have and still are bleeding and dying for those words. They should not be misused.

[true-mud]

I have been thinking a lot lately about the finite nature of life. I know this is not something that people generally like to talk about. In fact, most people spend a lot of time and energy trying to forget it. 

We like to fool ourselves. That time, is limitless and death is something so far away that it can’t be seen. Reality shows that death is something that comes incredibly fast, for some even faster! We either live out our lives into a ripe old age, wondering where the time has gone in the end. Or, we could die tomorrow or five minutes from now. That is the thing about death, it is illusive.

I don’t say these things to try and be dark or depressing. In fact I am trying to bring things into a perspective, that could actually be freeing! Our culture is so terrible with how we manage our time. We spend our whole lives trying to push through it to get to places in the distance, then we wonder where it all went!

I have been trying to recognize every moment as the gift that it is. I am reminding myself that this minute, this hour, this day is going to come and go. I will never see it again after this. I try to appreciate all the time God gives me. I never know what is going to happen on my way to someplace, or if I am going to wake up after my head hits the pillow that night. Time is such an incredible privilege!

This really brings things down to earth for me. We all long for some kind of recognition, or our lives to be extraordinary. In one hundred years it is extremely likely that no one will know who I was as a person. It is far more likely that in two hundred years no one will even know I existed! Even the popular celebrities of today will face this. For all the fuss people make over them they are here, and will be gone in a blink of an eye. We all fade into the nameless-ness over time. 

So what am I worrying about that really needs no worry. My job? My finances? My mark on the world? My mortality? And, what am I not giving enough time to? My God, my wife, my children, my friends? What would I do with every second that I recognize that I can never ever get back. 

So knowing all this I have begun to try and remind myself of the importance of time and the need to recognize the gifts I am given in the tiny moments that I am trying to push through. I try to remind myself, that the moment I am in is here and is going to be gone forever! I try to remind myself that the day is an opportunity to make a difference in the people’s lives around me. That it is a chance for God remind me of his love and his purpose, to commune and know him deeper! A chance to love on my wife and kids! Another chance to choose important things!

As a follower of Jesus, I believe in the existence of eternity. Because of the fall, our physical bodies are limited. Our time on this planet is a flash when it was meant to be unending. Knowing this is not an excuse to check out. How we live our lives and run our races matter. Keeping a perspective of limited physical time, helps clarify what is and is not important. How we treat each other matters. How we make each other feel, matters. The things we make ultimate are often things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Money, possessions, the fickle emotion of happiness. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is, it is easier not to sweat the small stuff when you have an eternal perspective. It’s easier to know what is important when you remind yourself that your time on earth is limited, and could be gone tomorrow.  

[true-mud]

"It is the default posture of the human heart, wicked rebellion against our Creator. The response of God is not o destroy but rather to send the Son, not to condemn, not to show up with a new list of things you will not be able to do, but rather show up as a way out of condemnation, to create a way out from under our failures, shortcomings, and rebellion, to eradicate past sins, present struggles, and future screw-ups".

[true-mud]

Vapor Meditation

[true-mud]

Saying you are a Christian, attending a church, or even leading one, does not make you one!

Would someone be a surgeon just because they hang out in hospital lobbies and tell everyone they are a doctor? In the same way, if that person somehow tricked his way into getting a chance to botch a surgery, would that give sufficient reason to judge all doctors by his actions?

[true-mud]

If you think that your successes or your failures have any ability to enhance or inhibit God's ability to bring salvation to others, then you think to highly of yourself and to little of God!

[true-mud]

Our fear should not be that we are wrong(because everyone is from time to time), our fear should be that we are wrong and no one cares enough to tell us!

[true-mud]

✝✝✝ http://goddaily.tumblr.com✝✝✝

[true-mud]

"Under the Faucet"

[true-mud]

Generosity is not giving with the expectations that God is going to give back with interest. Generosity is giving with the knowledge that all you have has been given to you by God already! That you keep loose fingers on things because they can not sustain you, God can! You seek to bless others because you already know all the blessings God has given to you!

[true-mud]

If your love for someone is dependent on whether or not they fulfill your expected level of happiness, you do not love them. You love yourself! 

[true-mud]

✝✝✝ http://goddaily.tumblr.com✝✝✝