What I Have Been Learning in My Faith Journey
A posted on a friend's Facebook page today that the Lord has been revealing to me some glorious truths.He asked to share, so I wrote an extremely long comment. The more I thought about what I shared I thought that I should not keep it between just me and him. I should testify about how the Lord is guiding me, teaching me, revealing Himself to me. Here is what I shared with my friend.
The Lord has been revealing to me as I read His Word, pray, sit under the preaching of the Word and meditate upon my faith journey that He is the Superme Lord of all. He is in control. I havae suffered greatly at times and have been tempted to throw in the towel. I used to get discouraged often at my lot in life, but the Lord has revealed to me after extensively reading and studying the book of Hebrews that Christ is a suffering Savior (Hebrews 2 & 4). He walked in our shoes. He experienced pain and frustration. When you read about his intehraction with His disciples there were times that He was frustrated that they were not yet grasping the glorious truths that He was teaching and modeling for them. Our Lord knows by expereince the pain we suffer. When people began to accuse God of being indifferent to the sufferings and tragedies of life, they are failing to see that our God is a suffering God. He has walked in our shoes.
On the other hand, if He were only a sympathetic and suffering God we might appreciate His concern and understanding, but we would be without hope if He did not have power to help us. He does have power to help us, but He does it in ways that don't make sense to our flesh. Through His cross, resurrection, and ascension He is presently redeeming sinners and transforming them into His glorious image. We can live lives of praise when we dwell on these things (See Hebrews 13).
Understanding that I am perfectly loved by the Father and by Jesus because of what happened on the cross has rocked my world. I know that nothing I do can ever make God love me more of less because I am always perfectly loved by Him. Such knowledge helps me to carry on when days are dark and bleak. I know that when I sin I must not wallow in it or sink into a pattern of sin. I must seek Christ's help to repent, get back up, and, live in His love in view of the cross. I must then walk in the victory He purchased for me. Living a life through the lens of the cross has kept me from sinking into despair when life seems to be going wrong. My heart breaks when I observe how little many of my Christian brothers and sisters understand about God's glorious grace. I close with one of my life verses.
8 "To me, [though I am] the very least of all the saints (God’s people), this grace [which is undeserved] was graciously given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the incomprehensible riches of Christ [that spiritual wealth which no one can fully understand]," (Ephesians 3:8, AMPLIFIED)
