I’ve been a little
tired this week and haven’t wrote one letter to the King. In fact, the last
time I engaged with Him in that capacity was on February 23rd and it
seems like forever ago. I can’t say honestly that I’ve intentionally poured my
heart out to our Lord in quite some time but instead I have been sporadically
directing my thoughts to Him in and out of awareness.
As you know, if you
follow these weekly entries, work has made it challenging for me to fully
disclose my faith. Over the past three weeks I’ve felt withdrawn and timid but
thankfully there have been moments where Jesus’ name just kinda flew out of my
mouth in a room full of colleagues. True, if they were listening or not, I do not
know, but I have had conservations with some of them which suggests that they
were.
Now as I sit here
writing, I reflect and mediate on the ways that we believers share or hinder
the Gospel of Truth. It’s not always in our words but dare I say, more so in our
actions. If we’re constantly trying to figure out how to bring up the Salvation
amongst us in conversation, perhaps we push it further away than if we just
allow His timing to provide it. God has been so kind to me in easing the
tension I felt in quickly trying to introduce Him to our office and allowed
for His way to slowly infect our work. How gracious! While it’s only been three
weeks, God has been and is doing more than I know and I’m reminded that it is
the same for my personal walk with Him.
My relationship with
Jesus has not been an overnight transformation or even a hurried meeting. It is
constantly being evolved through continual meetings, even in the times where it
feels stagnant. My relationship with the Truth has steadily been revealed to
me and there’s more I come to enjoy as He proceeds to affect my heart. But trying
to stay focused on the Kingdom is challenging and trying to exercise the
purpose of our creation is even harder because we are created for His glory and
the worship of Him!
This is challenging not
only because of our personal feebleness but also because of our surroundings,
because of what our world is putting in front of us. Subtly, but powerfully, we
are told what to seek after, we are influenced in our sight, and conditioned by
what we hear. I think about the times of Moses or the times of Christ and what
their society must have been like. They memorized the Scriptures in their free
time, they spoke of God regularly, and sought after Him in a way that seems
lost these days. However, even in those times and those dedications, we as a
people were impatient, always looking for something greater, something more to
do with our time. How beaten we get on that path, trying to find something else
to fill us with joy, or with purpose.
Everything is a cycle,
history repeats itself, and I’m beginning to see the revival of Spirit amongst
us, as well as the importance for seeking Truth. But with that being said, I’m
also seeing the division amongst us, the hiding of Truth in rules or
regulations, and the striking explosion of a desperate attempt to highlight
other half truths or the distortions of It. We have collectively been
separating ourselves to push for issues that seem inhumane or unjust, while we
should be pushing for unity in His love. Yes, some may say that’s what’s
happening now, but I can’t clearly see how that’s true. All things fall under
Jesus’s domain and if we were focused or angry at the depletion of His name
then perhaps all other gratuitous situations or unfounded biases would be
remedied. Just saying.
I’m also saying this could
be done in His light. Not in a way that segregates or blames, not in a way that
condemns or berates, but in a way that is aligned with the love of our Savior.
It has been said by Dr. Ravi Zacharias that, “if love is lost, then God is
lost, and I do not want to lose God in our conversation.” I think that
brilliantly sums up what we should collectively be seeking. The love of the One
King, the Alpha and the Omega, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Beginning
and the End. Of course we can disagree with our fellow persons. Of course our
views can be different. But we should never lose sight of the reality that, “there is no distinction
between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
I
have a few friends that openly profess their love of Jesus but at the same time
speak vile things from their mouth, demeaning others, regarding them as
unworthy or condemned. They divide the rest of the world from believing in the
grace of God because if that’s what it means to trust in Jesus, then they want
no part of it. In that, I tend to agree. It’s hard for me to hear those things
from my friends and believe that Jesus is working in their heart, but I am not
the Judge, and I am not always privy to the work the Holy Spirit is doing
within them. I find that I myself have actions that could be considered just as
hurtful to the Gospel and often think while Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners, “I am the worst of them all.”
However,
this does not stop me from continuing to pray. I pray for my heart to love our
Savior more and for Him to soften the hearts of my friends who speak such
ungodly things. I pray for the world to see His Truth and the guidance of His
Spirit to captivate the lost, guiding them back home to our Father. It’s in His
name of grace and mercy, the love of Jesus that I pray, amen!
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