He reached out and took my hand over a decade ago, the most intimate day I've ever experienced in my life... God reaching down and rescuing me from a personal darkness and an eternal darkness. He was as real to me any spring breeze, as my own reflection, as real and close as the best of any friends. Joy was imminent, regardless my situation.
The zeal and zest and passion that filled my life came from an overwhelming sense of humility to a God who had done abundantly more than I could ever repay... and did it willingly and sacrificially.
How could I not love immensely this Jesus who first loved me?! I wanted nothing more to know everything about this person who had changed my life for all that was good, for the God who took time out of His schedule and found it worth it to create us, knowing full well what it would cost Him in the long run. He has known, loved, and had my best interest at heart from eternity past to eternity forward. He knows the fads of yesterday and the hearts of tomorrow.
He knew, and knows still, that I would and will drift from His presence. He knows where I fail. He knows the junk in my heart. And He knew it all before there was time and proceeded on to know me anyway... is there anything more humbling? Is there anything more exhilarating? All of my excitement and my worship and my praise are due Him! Nothing can compare to this Jesus! No sports team, no hobby, no job, no... other... person.
Jesus must become all to me. Every breath, every thought, every decision, every word spoken and every desire. My spirit will ooze Jesus when every bit of my life is wrapped up in the love I've found in Jesus. Then, and only then, will my attitude and life smell as a sweet aroma to the Lord first, and also to my husband, children, family, and friends. Only when I'm grossly aware of the sacrifice and love and that nothing is 'right' without Jesus will I begin to have the passion necessary to love Him as I should.
Jesus is everything. My husband isn't everything. My children are not everything. My happiness is not everything. My circumstances are not everything. My income, my career (or lack thereof), my comfort are not everything. Most importantly, my sin is not everything. Jesus is everything. And all of the other things are wrapped up in the way I love Jesus.
We get one journey... here's putting into words what is going on in ours.
This was beautiful, praise God. Most importantly, my sin is not everything. Jesus is everything. I echo this. So many of my dear friends are so wrapped up in the gravity of their sin, and while no sin is worthy of glorification, I am SO, so, so thankful it's not all about me and my failures, but rather about how my Jesus paid for it all. Praise Him!
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