New Realities 1

Well, the other day, August 22 to be exact, was my blog's 1 year birthday. I should have written something profound, but to tell you the truth, when the day came, I forgot about it...oops.

I thought I'd share some new realities with you all that I've had through "Scandalous," by D.A. Carson. This will be the first of many to come.

Jesus receives a desperate plea for help and demonstrates his love by delay.

John 11:5-6 "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." We all know the story well. When Jesus does come to Judea, both sisters tell Jesus that if he was there things would have played out differently. Sometimes we have a warped sense of time, and like children we say, "I want it NOW." Life gets rough, real struggles come, real suffering comes, and most of the time we say, "Lord, if you love me, you'd get me out of this heartache and pain." Or maybe we don't say it because we know that the Lord doesn't work that way, but I would venture to say that we all think it. And still Jesus delays. Its hard. In Romans 5:3-5 we see that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us." The knowledge of these verses does not make the realities of hardship easy. But the hopeful part about our situation, whatever it may be, is that the Holy Spirit is given(has been given) to us in love. He comforts us, leads us beside still waters, gives us peace, and he directs us to Jesus which is exactly what we need.

"We need the reality of God himself- God as he has spectacularly and definitively disclosed himself to us in the person of his Son. He will require of us that we focus our attention on him, both for this life and the one to come," D.A. Carson.

So, even though life knocks us down, we have a savior who knows our weakness and he gives us strength to make it through. To him alone be the glory in our lives. We are not capable of saving ourselves or picking ourselves up by our bootstraps; while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He is the glorious one. He is the almighty redeemer. Savior King. Living God.