1 John 2

I've really got to get better at blogging more often. I'm so sorry for my lack of commitment.

It's my first week back in Cape Town after a really great visit with family and friends in America. I've had a few days to relax, enjoy the sun, and get myself settled. I've spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing, a lot of time on the beach, and reading from what seems like a never ending pile of books that I got for Christmas :).

Anyways, God has really opened my heart to two specific things this week that have utterly rocked my perspective. I am currently reading I am not but I know I AM by Louie Giglio and all I can say is WOW! Our story is so small and ineffective on our own, but thankfully we have a BIG and mighty God who chooses to involve Himself in our lives. In one of the chapters, Louie goes on to explain the various distances and facts about outer space. Please read the next few sentences slowly to so that you can understand the full effect! For example, did you know that it is a 93-million-mile journey to the Sun? 93 million miles! So if you wanted to go to the Sun (which isn't a good idea) it would take you about "five years flying nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, in our fastest jet, travelling at a constant speed of 2,298.6 miles per hour". Do you know how long it takes for light to travel from the Sun? 8 minutes. Yeah...let that sink in. You ready for some more? Okay, so this light travelling from the Sun to the earth is just a small fraction of the distance of a light-year (how far light travels in 356 days). One light-year is equal to 5.88 trillion miles or 5,880,000,000,000 miles. Thats a pretty big number to comprehend! Now, looking at the Milky Way (the galaxy we call home), you'd be surprised to know that it is between 100,000 and 120,000 light-years across. So basically, it would take you about 100,000 plus years to travel across our galaxy alone! To put it simply, we are REALLY REALLY small in comparison to God. 

So that's what I've been reading, and yes, it made me feel very small. It made me think about how short my life is in the eyes of God and eternity. It got me thinking about how insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things. Thankfully I know that I am nothing. I am not God. I am not the centre of everything. I am not in control of my life. BUT I know the one and only I AM. I know God who is, plain and simply, the I AM and the BE of life! He is all encompassing! He is everything. 

I had read that in the afternoon, and when I was in bed that evening I was reading the first two chapters in 1 John. It was almost like God connected the dots. My heart was enlightened in the afternoon with knowledge, and God provided the practical application in the evening:

The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.....Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:4-6, 15-17

Our lives are not insignificant if we obey God's Word. Our love for Him is made complete by obedience! Obviously we are fallen and sinful, but the Holy Spirit walks with us and enables us to walk the way that Jesus did! We must align our tiny lives to God's BIG and glorious story and can strive to walk the way Jesus walked! Our momentary pleasures from earthly things are just that - momentary. Living out God's will is fulfilling and everlasting, binding the hearts of all the I am nots to the great I AM and completing God's love!

Unfaithful.

Unfaithful. Adulteress. Vile. Guilty. This is the wife I've been to Christ. Unfaithful, because He seeks me and chases me, loving me with all the love in the world, yet I worship idols rather than Him. Adulteress, because He gives me life, food, health, and breath. He sustains me and cares for me. He desires simply to have a relationship with me but I desire love from anyone but Him. Vile, because my life and sin in His eyes is unbearable and heart breaking. It's atrocious and nauseating, causing His wrath to be toward me. Guilty, because my sin is undeniable. My need for Christ is undeniable. The fact that He is worthy and that He is Lord is undeniable.

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land." Hosea 4:1

The LORD said to me, "Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her the way the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." Hosea 3:1 

Woe to them, because they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against Me! I long to redeem them but they speak lies against Me. Hosea 6:13

My people are determined to turn from Me. Even if they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them. How can I give you up? How can I hand you over? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zebolim? My heart is changed within Me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate you. For I am God, and not man- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. Hosea 11:7-9

I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. Hosea 11:4

But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. Hosea 12:6

Oh how Christ seeks after you. He will never relent. He will pursue you every second of every day, even when you are determined not to accept His love. But eventually you will realize it is Him who bends down to feed and love you. It is Him who desires and longs to redeem you from your sinful life. Return to your God and wait from Him always, because He waited for you. 

In view of..

God's mercy.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

In view of God's mercy... How can I not try to please my God with my life?

In view of God's mercy... How can I not show gratitude towards Him, when He has given everything for me?

In view of God's mercy... When we truly consider how His mercy was shown and what it has done to our lives, how can we respond in any less of a way than "Here I am, Lord send me." Hands held high, opened wide, and full of surrender.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

Then Noah built an alter to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, He sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart, "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Genesis 8:20, 21

God, how wonderful You are! PLEASE let my sacrifice to You be a pleasing aroma.. Let it cause Your heart to remember Your promises and Your covenant to all of mankind. Let it bring a smile to Your face, Jesus.

Teach Us.

LORD, Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 BECAUSE, We do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is our life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4:14 AND THANKFULLY, The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8

ULTIMATELY, Be very careful, then, how we live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17