A Love Story.
Father,
I know that I love her so desperately… But I know that You are the One Person who loves her so much more.
I came up out of the water
Raised my hands up to the Father
Gave it all to Him that day
Felt a new wind kiss my face
Walked away, eyes wide open
Could finally see where I was goin’
It didn’t matter where I been
I’m not the same man I was then.
`Changed - Rascal Flatts
Father,
You came to this earth as a human, in our likeness except perfect, beautiful, and sinless — to save a wretched mankind in need of desperate saving and a lost soul like mine. You came to love, heal, forgive, teach, sacrifice, atone for, and humble Yourself before all. There was a demand for the payment of our sins, and that was Your fate from birth. You came to wash our red-stained sins white as snow… No longer are we condemned to hell, but invited to spend eternity in heaven. Thank you for dying in my place, for pardoning all my offenses in my past and future, and for loving me so immensely that not even I could fully comprehend..
“Grace, what have You done,
murdered for me on that cross?
Accused in absence of wrong,
my sin washed away in Your blood.
Too much to make sense of it all.
I know that Your love
breaks my fall.
The scandal of grace,
You died in my place.”
Isaiah 58 really wrung me recently, and I saw a reflection of our culture and especially my own heart. Here the Jews “fasted,” but it wasn’t acceptable before God because they continued in their evil practices…
God said:
“For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. ’Why have we fasted,’ they say, ’and You have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?’”
Sometimes I think I’m really fasting, that I’m doing good in God’s eyes, or maybe that my “religious activities” please Him… Then I read this:
“Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.”
… and realized that my ‘fasting’ is not fasting at all. Sometimes I’m more worried about taking revenge, hating on someone, gossiping about them. And the condition of my heart is not pleasing to Him at all. Then He corrects me, and says:
“Is not this the kind of fast I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice… to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor and wanderer with shelter…”
*Smack in the face* (me slapping myself). He tells me this is what true fasting is. And as usual, I am humbled before Him. And lastly…
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I… He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Truth is, we can’t call ourselves His followers if we’ve forgotten what true fasting is… to loosen. Untie. Set free. Break every yoke. Share. Provide. Clothe. And satisfy.
I hope you guys were humbled, as I was, today :)
Father,
We live in such a broken world in need of Love. We’ve lost sight of what’s most important, what’s real, what really matters… You. We were created to yearn for love, but we seek it in all the wrong places. Disappointed, we wander aimlessly hoping to find something that will satisfy us. We don’t realize that we were meant to love and be loved by You - an Almighty and just God, a father, a companion and redeemer who gives love freely. Every day I see brokenness in broken relationships, on TV, in pictures I see on Facebook, in the quiet student sitting at the back of the room… and in church. We’ve made everything more about ourselves and our own interests, losing sight of our true purpose. You’re no longer our motivation, our sole desire, our purpose of worship, or our center of attention. If we surrendered everything and followed You, what would the world look like? Be like? Act like? Live like? LOVE like? We need you desperately.
Lord, You assured me that You came to save the broken, imperfect, poor, and unfaithful. You didn’t come to save people who have it all together. When I’m at my lowest and feel like the least person who deserves Your love, I remember that Your anger does not remain forever. Though I disappoint You, You forgive me time and time again. Thank You for loving me as the broken and imperfect person that I am… and for giving me sight when I’ve lost sight of You.
“But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Malachi 4:2
I want to leap like a calf released from her stall… :)
