It’s that time of year. Where the sun comes out and bud’s spring forth, bringing with them the beautiful signs of Spring and the promise of warm weather. Winter is over and the warmth from the sun creates Spring fever, bringing yard work, spring cleaning, open windows, flowers and warm breezes.
Air conditioners will soon be running, as will lawn mowers, weed wackers and blowers.
But my favorite part about this time of year has nothing to do with any of the above. Instead, I love that the sunshines down and with it comes the chance to just lay in it. I LOVE to lay out in the sun. Sometimes, I lay in the middle of the street on the warm asphalt. Other times, in a chair by the pool. I love that just by getting still in the sun-that it changes you. Yes, I am talking about getting a tan. And I am NOT the only one who loves to tan…I know I am not alone.
I was sitting by the pool yesterday, soaking in the rays, knowing that I probably was sitting a little too long and would be red, but loving it too much to stop. As I was basking in the warmth of the sun, the Lord was quick to awaken a desire in my heart. Not for the sun, but for the SON. Suddenly, a word picture began to develop in my heart. Would it not be nice to find time to just bask in the SON?
Moses knew that time in the Presence of God changes you. His face glowed as a result of being in the SON, to the point that they asked him to veil His face. His glow was apparent. He had been marked as a result of His time with the Lord. Physically marked. His countenance changed, His face shone bright and people knew where He had been. Acts tells us that it was apparent that Peter and John had been with Jesus. You could just SEE it all over them.
Would it not be nice to get still, in the SON, and find ourselves changed and marked, glowing as a result of just being with Him? Would it not be awesome to find space and place to be just linger in His Light and to let His radiance be reflected from our faces because we took the time to let Him change us. Spring is often a time for busy activity. Ball games, cleaning, yards and more. But it also brings with it a desire to play in the sun, to enjoy the warm weather and yes, even get a tan. But perhaps, we should be just as motivated to lean in and linger in the SON and find our lives marked by His Light. You may have a really good tan this summer….but how’s your heart reflecting Jesus? Will everyone know you have been with Jesus just by the reflection of your face? We will spend time and even money to be sure our skin looks as if we have been in the sun. But will we spend the same time and money to be sure our lives reflect someone living in the Presence of the Son?
Doxa….Christy
ALL FOR YOU

God is not our maid

Have you ever cleaned up a mess, only to have someone come behind you and dirty it up as fast as you clean it up? I have 3 sons and it seems that as quickly as clean up, they mess up. It is so frustrating. To spend all that time cleaning, only to have it dirtied is an aggravation. But also to have those you love not care about the time and energy it took to clean it up, makes you feel unappreciated. Not to mention, the carelessness of just making a mess and thinking someone else will take care of it. And why is it that we think it is okay to mess up what someone else has cleaned up without any concern for what it cost them to do so?
It was in the thinking through of these things that I began to get more and more aggravated. That is, until the Lord convicted me of doing the same things. Perhaps not with the house, but certainly with my heart. God, in His grace, sent Jesus to clean up my mess. And as quickly as He cleans me up, I seem to dirty myself up again. Careless and with lack of concern of what it cost Him, I choose to step into the muck and mire and track it around, assuming that God will come again and clean it up, forgive and make it right. After all, that is what He does.
Don’t you know that it grieves His heart to see the lack of gratefulness and the bulk of carelessness that comes out of us. He cleans us up and we just dirty us up again-assuming He will just be the maid and clean us up again. While He is a God that cleanses, restores and redeems. Do we really want to be children that just assume God is our maid. That assume that we deserve the right to do as we please, mess up and then have Him come behind had clean us up over and over again…making light of His sacrifice and the gift of His Son. We trample His gift of grace when we just continue in sin so that grace may abound (Romans 6). He sent Christ to restore and cleanse and we should do all we can to keep ourselves from the stain of sin, not track it up all the more. God is not our maid. He is our Savior.
ALL FOR YOU