Friday, February 20, 2015

That's Harmony

So check this out -
I've never really spent a whole lot of time thinking about the Father/Son thing that God and Jesus have, but after reading Hebrews 1, that imagery came to life more vivid in my mind than ever and I just had to write it down.

You've already clicked on it, so track with me all the way to the end! :)

Hebrews 1 says:
-God appointed Jesus as the heir of all things.
-Through Jesus, God created the world.

Can you imagine the two of them creating the world together? 

{The father directing his son's hands and empowering him to create galaxies and mold continents...and then smiling and saying, "it's GOOD!" when he's done.}

"Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God" (his father, duh) and "the exact imprint of his nature"...
                   ...This means when you look at the way Jesus lived on earth, it is the exact
                   picture of who his father is!

Imagine the coolest father/son relationship possible...
Where you can see so much love, where one knows what the other is thinking, where you look at the son and see the spitting image of his father - mannerisms, language, and all
- that's an intentional fingerprint left by our creator!

[Because God appointed Jesus and made him heir of everything and because he created the universe with him, it implies that God didn't create Jesus, but rather they have existed as father and son alongside the Spirit for all of past eternity.] 

It is in this beautiful, harmonious relationship that 
they catch the same squint on their masterpiece...
their hearts break the same for the most broken in this world...
they love the unlovable and touch the untouchable...
they dine with sinners.
                       ______________________________________________________

Here's what this means.

When Jesus died to purify us from sins, it was not only a gift of salvation, but also a proposal to enter into their beautiful relationship and harmony...
This is where our hearts will break and beat the same,
where we will experience the joy of his masterpiece in full
...as his sons and daughters!

Now just in transparency, for me, a life distant from Jesus means:
...I don't really want to dine with "prostitutes" & "tax collectors"
...it means I don't really care about the most broken people and places in this world
...it means the cool spring breezes I enjoy dearly become mere breezes
...it means I feel distant & disconnected with the people around me and with the Father, the lover of my soul

I don't really know what it looks like all the time, but ya know, I'm tryin to live all up in harmony with my Father!


Sunday, January 4, 2015

Life is a response to love

Take the good things you know to be true of God: creativity, relationships, love, joy, beauty, etc...

He has enjoyed all of these things with himself (i.e. Jesus and the Holy Spirit) for ALL past eternity and 

A) he initially created us to enjoy these things with him &

B) when we spat on it, he ran to meet us and invited us back in, giving us everything!

Huh? Really?

-To us older brothers, he says, "What're you waiting for?! You're missing the point, get in here where there is dancing and feasting and love!"

Knowing this provokes me to live in response to his love, joy, and creativity. But "the freedom of living loved is not the sort of thing that happens overnight." 

So DIG DEEP into the character of God, rest in it and watch your life change! You'll find ways to stir affections for Jesus in the world around you...