If you've ever watched "The Wizard of Oz," you'll remember the moment when Dorothy opens a door to Oz--and your screen suddenly changed from boring black-and-white to brilliant color.
Becoming a Christian is kind of like that...or like getting glasses for the first time. You start to see in new ways and notice things that you were blinded to before.
In today's passage, there was an excerpt that illustrated this phenomenon. The speaker is talking to God and contrasting the view of God's people compared to others:
Who you are and what you've done
are all we'll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
they don't seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
blind to the splendor of God.
You hold your hand up high, God,
You hold your hand up high, God,
but they don't see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
to see your zealous love for your people...
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
because everything we've done, you've done for us.
Here are a few of my observations today from this passage:
- God is enough to fill a hungry soul.
The first part of this excerpt addresses a human need that we actually talked about a few days ago (see "Hunger and wholeness"). Instead of chasing after other people or "stuff" to fill their souls, we can first look to God Himself. - Without God, people can be blind to grace.
Have you ever heard people say things like, "I never knew what love was until I had a child"?
I think the same experience can happen for people when they first get a glimpse of the grace and pure love of God. There's nothing that could compare to the pure love of God in human flesh dying for you . You don't deserve that kind of love, but there's nothing you can do to make Him love you more or less. There's nothing you can do to earn a ticket to Heaven--that's God's free gift to those who simply believe in Him and accept Him as Savior(see Romans 10:9). It's overwhelming when you really start to get that God loves you that much--that He knows your name and has a plan for your life. - God's the one who opens people's hearts and eyes to His love.
Some well-intentioned Christians share their faith in God with aggressive, forceful tactics resembling guerrilla marketing. Should Christians be bold with their faith? Yes. But Jesus didn't force His message on people: He loved, cared and served others. God is not a product to be sold. It's Christians' responsibility to love, care and serve people. It's our responsibility to talk about God when we're given the opportunity and prompted by the Holy Spirit. However, it's important to remember that we're the messengers--God's the Savior. He's the one who opens hearts and changes lives. - Christians can impact people through their lives...and recognition of God's transformation.
The most important message every Christian delivers does not even require words--it's how you live your everyday, ordinary life. When Christians are content, happy and at peace with God and others, we shine. Our lives are a big signal of God's transformational power at work--a practical proof point that He's really doing something in and through us. A key thing to remember? Don't take all the credit--because everything good that we've done, God started, provided for and allowed us to finish.
