Chosen.
I came upon a verse that blows my mind.
John 15:16 reads
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
God makes it clear: “I chose you. You didn’t choose me. I say when you bear fruit, and I say what your fruit will go on to do”.
God will show mercy on whomever he shall show mercy. And I am so glad God chose me to be spared.
Beautiful Jesus.
I’ve heard people complain about words like “beautiful” being attached to Jesus. Too feminine apparently.
In Isaiah 61:1, it is said of Jesus
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
Maybe my mind isn’t filled with enough testosterone-driven bravado to ignore that verse, but everything about Jesus in this verse is beautiful.
Romans 12:9-10
I like the NLT translation of this verse.
It says:
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
“Take delight in honoring each other”. I once heard a pastor say “Just because I love you, doesn’t mean I have to like you”. I’m sure you can find a way to argue in favor of that, but I can’t say that with a clean conscious in my spiritual life.
If I don’t like you, it would definitely be hard for me to “love you with genuine affection”, or to “delight in honoring [you]“.
God, make this heart of stone into one of flesh that beats for you.
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God…”
My spiritual life is often so noisy, I can’t hear God’s will being whispered to me. I need to learn to shut up.
Forgiveness
Its safe to say I’m a horrible person. I’m a liar, a cheat, a thief, a murderer, an adulterer, an idolater, and by all human standards a lost cause.
And it is because of all of these things, that I stand in awe of God.
He forgives me, and forgets all of my low-down, disgusting, and shameful sins.
Oh, but thats not all!
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
So not only will God forgive me; He will also put forth the effort to “cleanse [me] of all unrighteousness”. Only in the twisted, deranged mind of man can this seem like a bad thing- something we have to question and be unsure about.
Exhibit A- I fall into sexual sin.
I don’t much feel like talking to God at this point. Not because He’s not worth my time or anything- I just don’t feel worthy. You know the feeling. Only, the realization hits me, I’m never worthy of His forgiveness. I digress though; the problem still remains: How do I get over my ego and pride and come to God in humbleness to ask for forgiveness?
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
Now, I would just like to point out: that verse would be significantly different if I was God (so, thank God I’m not). It might go a little bit like this:
“Let us therefore come in fear and trembling to the throne of…”
I think the least God would want is a bit of fear…you know, what with us breaking commandments and whatnot. But no, He asks nothing of us, except the obedience to confess our sins to him.
I encourage you, reader, to think about anything you need forgiveness for, and ask God, our Father for His grace and righteousness. I’m not a huge fan of the more Christianese words (like mentioning grace arbitrarily), but I assure you- no other words cross my mind right now to describe what God does for us, except words found in His word.
Go God.
