Our Journey to Christ is influenced by many things. Our early childhood and home life. The family dynamic, whether or not you grow up with both parents, and their parenting style. Many times, cycles continue until they are found to be wrong. Our view of authority, our exposure to God and religion.
Though there are many outside forces to drive us toward Him or things that pull us away, we all, ultimately, have a choice to make. Like a stream flowing and meandering over rocks and around them, we are swept away through life and as God pursues us, we either recognize that or we don't. We come to the precipice of Belief and Faith, to either dive in or to turn away from a Love that is Greater than any other we will find in this life.
My Journey will not be like everyone else's, but there may be some who have had similar circumstances, experiences and events that have brought them here. Here to this point in Life, where they have discovered a God of Mercy and Grace, and not Anger and Wrath. For those who have wandered to this page and have not yet discovered this Love of which I speak, I encourage you to keep searching for this Truth. Do not give up! He is in pursuit of you!
My childhood confession of Christ as Lord and Savior was just that. My knowledge about Christ's Love was limited and there was a road of much sin that lay ahead of me. As I fell further and further into the pit of despair that many find themselves in-- due to the mounting sin debt-- I could no longer believe that He had saved me. Since He could no longer love me for the amount of sin accrued in my life, I stopped confessing. There was no more use and I walked away. Away from church, away from expectations real or imagined, or placed upon myself or from others. When you can’t be good enough, what is the point? I did not know at that time that He knew that we could not be good enough on our own. That is why His Son, Jesus, came to die for us.
As I made my way back to church, I cited recent blessings for my return. Somehow I knew that He was being gracious to me, even though I still was not ready to be surrendered to Him. His patience and long-suffering with me did not go unheeded, but as many of us do, I still wanted to run the show. I made my plans and kept running, with one hand in His and the other taking everything the world could offer. As it all came crashing down around me, He was standing there in the ashes. With an offer of Love and Forgiveness that I had never fully recognized, He walked me out of a life of shame and shambles. All the familiar was over and gone, a New Life awaited me. A life of learning about who He was and had always been, but I just never knew it.
He picked up the shattered shards of broken glass and began to piece together a mosaic that I could never have fashioned with my own two hands. The life and dreams that I had before were traded for ones that would far surpass anything I had dreamt of before. When I began this walk, I brought with me luggage from the past that would hold me back and there were many things that I would have to unlearn. He was revealing to me new Truths and I was soaking them in as quickly as I could. Sometimes my head knowledge surpassed my heart application. Instead of resting in His Love and Grace, I would find myself striving and obeying self-imposed rules. Yet He still Loved me and would continue to show me His Grace. We are less patient with ourselves on this Journey than He is with us. We beat ourselves up for failing Him or for the times we stumble and find ourselves out of step with Him. But Still He Loves, for He can NEVER STOP.
One day I came to the realization that I was missing the Joy that I was supposed to have as a believer and follower of Jesus. It was during this time of attempting to earn something that had been freely given-- and that I should have known I already had-- that His Love broke through those clouds of gloom and self-shaming and awakened me to the Joy of my Salvation. I slowly learned that to have Life Abundantly, I would have to believe what He said about me. I would have to stand and claim the position that He had raised me to. As an adopted and beloved son, I could no longer view myself as less than loved, no matter what I did. In this, there was Freedom. Freedom, not only from sin and shame, but Freedom to believe and be Loved. To live as His child and not an outcast. This changes your whole outlook.
It is when we accept that we are His adored children that we learn that we were never unloved. We refuse to accept the lies that we have to do something to earn His Love. We can live a life full of Joy, for we are worthy because of His Son’s work on the Cross. We don’t have to try harder, or do more, or be something we were never meant to be. The masks can come off and we can simply rest in His Loving embrace. We can lay down our heartaches and heartbreaks. We can lay down that baggage and the record that keeps playing in our head that says we are less than. We do not have to believe anyone other than Him. We can choose Life. We can choose Him. We can live joyful and carefree as children of the Almighty. This is how He would have us to be!
So as you make your way on the road you are on, will you believe? Will you Come Home to Him and rest? Will you learn to dance in His fields of Grace? Will you allow the sunlight to kiss your face as you smile and laugh? Will you embrace the fact the He wants to Love you like no one else can? Will you drop the baggage and brokenness?
Come and Rest.
Though there are many outside forces to drive us toward Him or things that pull us away, we all, ultimately, have a choice to make. Like a stream flowing and meandering over rocks and around them, we are swept away through life and as God pursues us, we either recognize that or we don't. We come to the precipice of Belief and Faith, to either dive in or to turn away from a Love that is Greater than any other we will find in this life.
My Journey will not be like everyone else's, but there may be some who have had similar circumstances, experiences and events that have brought them here. Here to this point in Life, where they have discovered a God of Mercy and Grace, and not Anger and Wrath. For those who have wandered to this page and have not yet discovered this Love of which I speak, I encourage you to keep searching for this Truth. Do not give up! He is in pursuit of you!
My childhood confession of Christ as Lord and Savior was just that. My knowledge about Christ's Love was limited and there was a road of much sin that lay ahead of me. As I fell further and further into the pit of despair that many find themselves in-- due to the mounting sin debt-- I could no longer believe that He had saved me. Since He could no longer love me for the amount of sin accrued in my life, I stopped confessing. There was no more use and I walked away. Away from church, away from expectations real or imagined, or placed upon myself or from others. When you can’t be good enough, what is the point? I did not know at that time that He knew that we could not be good enough on our own. That is why His Son, Jesus, came to die for us.
As I made my way back to church, I cited recent blessings for my return. Somehow I knew that He was being gracious to me, even though I still was not ready to be surrendered to Him. His patience and long-suffering with me did not go unheeded, but as many of us do, I still wanted to run the show. I made my plans and kept running, with one hand in His and the other taking everything the world could offer. As it all came crashing down around me, He was standing there in the ashes. With an offer of Love and Forgiveness that I had never fully recognized, He walked me out of a life of shame and shambles. All the familiar was over and gone, a New Life awaited me. A life of learning about who He was and had always been, but I just never knew it.
He picked up the shattered shards of broken glass and began to piece together a mosaic that I could never have fashioned with my own two hands. The life and dreams that I had before were traded for ones that would far surpass anything I had dreamt of before. When I began this walk, I brought with me luggage from the past that would hold me back and there were many things that I would have to unlearn. He was revealing to me new Truths and I was soaking them in as quickly as I could. Sometimes my head knowledge surpassed my heart application. Instead of resting in His Love and Grace, I would find myself striving and obeying self-imposed rules. Yet He still Loved me and would continue to show me His Grace. We are less patient with ourselves on this Journey than He is with us. We beat ourselves up for failing Him or for the times we stumble and find ourselves out of step with Him. But Still He Loves, for He can NEVER STOP.
One day I came to the realization that I was missing the Joy that I was supposed to have as a believer and follower of Jesus. It was during this time of attempting to earn something that had been freely given-- and that I should have known I already had-- that His Love broke through those clouds of gloom and self-shaming and awakened me to the Joy of my Salvation. I slowly learned that to have Life Abundantly, I would have to believe what He said about me. I would have to stand and claim the position that He had raised me to. As an adopted and beloved son, I could no longer view myself as less than loved, no matter what I did. In this, there was Freedom. Freedom, not only from sin and shame, but Freedom to believe and be Loved. To live as His child and not an outcast. This changes your whole outlook.
It is when we accept that we are His adored children that we learn that we were never unloved. We refuse to accept the lies that we have to do something to earn His Love. We can live a life full of Joy, for we are worthy because of His Son’s work on the Cross. We don’t have to try harder, or do more, or be something we were never meant to be. The masks can come off and we can simply rest in His Loving embrace. We can lay down our heartaches and heartbreaks. We can lay down that baggage and the record that keeps playing in our head that says we are less than. We do not have to believe anyone other than Him. We can choose Life. We can choose Him. We can live joyful and carefree as children of the Almighty. This is how He would have us to be!
So as you make your way on the road you are on, will you believe? Will you Come Home to Him and rest? Will you learn to dance in His fields of Grace? Will you allow the sunlight to kiss your face as you smile and laugh? Will you embrace the fact the He wants to Love you like no one else can? Will you drop the baggage and brokenness?
Come and Rest.
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