Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A process

A friend read this passage to me this afternoon from Romans 5:1-4, and talked about the 'process' of growth that each of us go through and how God uses our suffering to shape us into the people He wants us to be.

'...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.'

On my way home I heard a song that's often playing on 103.2, 'Break My Heart' by Jonny Diaz. The words that are often ringing through my head: 'Let me see through the eyes of the hurting, come break my heart... true grace sees a face not a burden, come break my heart, Lord, break my heart.' It's one of those songs that reminds me of an older pastor in our church who often challenged us about the words we were singing, I can imagine him saying, 'Dangerous words!! Are we really ready for God to break our hearts?!'

I want to be a person who God uses to reach out to others with His love, but I get in the way. Little old me, focusing on my own pain, instead of on Jesus.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Delight

Been thinking tonight about that verse that talks about delighting in God. It's so easy to get distracted and to put our hope in other things. Searched Bible Gateway to find the verse (Psalm 37:4), and came across lots of other verses that talk about 'delight', but surprisingly (to me anyway) often in reference to the way God relates to us, rather than only the other way around.

This one in particular stood out to me in the context of a question Sarah asked today, 'Why does God love us?'. It still baffles me that the God who created this universe would 'delight' in us, that He would send His only Son into our world - though a King (the King of Kings), born in a lowly stable and laid in a manger - and that His Son would take our place, my place, on the cross, and pay the price for my sin, all those times I go my own way instead of God's.

Despite our sin, because of Jesus, He delights in us. Oh to delight in Him!

Psalm 147:11 'The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.'