..Thoughts

Man, it has been a long time since I sat down and blogged. It is not because I have nothing on my mind that I want to talk about. Rather, I have too many things on my mind. I do not know which one to blog about. I figured that today I would summarize most of what I have been thinking about lately:

God is a jealous God. He wants to spend time with us. He is jealous of all the other things we pursue. He wants us to pursue Him whole-heartedly! He desires us to be with Him. He delights in us. He pursues us with everything. He is relentless, and He won't give up.

Being in the presence of God is my favorite thing in the world. I love to worship my God, my Savior, my King. Why is it so easy for me to forget this? I spend my time on other things that have no value - the Bible says that everything here is rubble, it will all pass away. I have access to the Creator of the Universe! How can I not spend time with Him? Not only does He allow me to, but He has a burning desire to spend time with me!

Priorities: The things we spend our time/money/effort on reflect what we deem to be important. What is important to us? God should be our number one. How can we claim to be Christians, yet have no passion/desire to spend time with Him? Why is it that when we get really busy, our time with God is the first thing to go? It should be opposite! Entertainment has no real value to me. Why do we desire it so much?

I recently heard a short message on how God relates to His people: It is like God is on one end of a rope, and we are on the other end. God tells us to draw near to Him and He will draw near to us. It is not like we have to pull the rope all the way to God, he meets us in the middle. Once we start to pull on the rope, God pulls on the rope with all of His might. He comes running towards us. It is like in the parable of the prodigal son. As soon as the father saw his son coming from far down the road, he ran out to meet him. He not only accepted him back into his house, but he threw a party for him. God is waiting for the prodigals to come home. He doesn't expect more than you can give, He just wants you to take the first step. He will welcome you with open arms and with a love that I cannot comprehend. No matter what you do, God's grace is sufficient.

Passion. Where is the passion in the children of God today? God has a brilliant plan for our lives. He wants to use us mightily. He loves us so much that He will not force us into it. He allows us to choose. Are we like Salmon who swim with the current, enjoying the easy life and good water? Or, are we like the Salmon who swim against the current, striving for the best water up stream? God wants us to be set apart - to come after Him with everything. Why are we waiting?

God never promised that living sold out for Him was going to be easy. As soon as we say, 'God, I am yours. Use me.' He will. This doesn't mean that life is going to go perfectly and all of our problems will be gone. But, we will live life abundantly in Him. Nothing else matters.

Matthew 22:36-40
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Jesus doesn't just say to love the Lord your God, and end it there. He says that with all your heart, soul and mind you are to love God - with everything! What does it mean to love God with your mind? Does what you think about bring glory to God? Do the things you use your mind for (work, etc) bring glory to God?

Also, I recently realized (or, at least, I have been thinking about it more) that in the second greatest commandment, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. This means that we need to love ourselves. If we don't love ourselves, how can we love others as ourselves?

I was also talking to my friend recently about how the heavens declare the wonders of God. Creation points to a Creator. This world is so beautifully designed, and with an intricate attention to detail. And, space! It is huge! We cannot even know how big the universe is, yet we don't believe in an intelligent Creator?

God is an amazing designer and he has designed an ultimate plan for our lives. If we only let Him, He will turn our ugly lives into a beautiful masterpiece.

God, I am Yours. Use me.


Cheers.