There is one thing I know, none of us have to or need to
claim we are great (The Scriptures say: not
many noble in flesh are called...); claim to be super talented or
intelligent (The Scriptures say: our
sufficiency is not of ourselves, but of
God...); nor claim to be so knowledgeable (The Scriptures say: knowledge puffs up, but love edifies...).
Yesterday I was thinking about the Bible - all there is in
it, Christian service - all the ministries, works that have been done in the
Lord's name. And then my thoughts went
to the letter at Ephesus in Revelation 3, and the Lord's commendation of their
deeds; also, that they did not tolerate false apostles (error). And yet He said to them the one thing He had
against them was they had left their First Love.
Well that made me think.
My salvation experience seemed like a "scotched taped"
one. It was never dramatic. Actually, I felt like I had to "do"
it a number of times, before it took. I
was young - and perhaps it was because I either did not "hear" the Gospel
in full or in Truth, or I did not understand it. Nonetheless, my heart did indeed hear the
name, Jesus and I received Him In all sincerity.
But my life and walk were also weird (to me). And as I look back it was all because I was
"trying" to be a Christian.
That brought a lot of confusion for me and a not so easy journey. There is no doubt God has had His Hand of
mercy on me - His loving grace existed then as it does now. " 'Tis grace has brought
me safe thus far and grace will lead me home."
So I asked the Lord yesterday to show me more about this
First Love. For again, when I was saved,
I never had the experience of the Love of God hitting my heart like some talk
about. It was more like, "Okay, now
you are a Christian - let's work on being a good girl."
It seems to me though, the Scriptures point to our knowing
Love more than anything. How many of us
can say we know deeply the love of God in truth? Do we know more knowledge? Or do we know more of His great Love?
In I
Corinthians 13 Paul says, "though I have all knowledge and not love, I am
nothing." And then he says the same
about having all faith, giving our bodies to be burned, etc.
Ephesians 3 is a powerful prayer Paul penned: "That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you may be rooted and grounded
in love, and may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth, the length, the depth, the height, and to KNOW the love of Christ,
which PASSETH knowledge, that you might be filled with ALL the fullness of
God."
Last night I had a dream.
For when I went to bed, I specifically asked God to give me a dream
about His love. God answered this
prayer. However, I am surprised by the
dream. For I might have thought it would
be all fluffy and fairytale like - you know floating on a cloud with Jesus,
etc. But it wasn't. Yet it was so real and profound to me, that I
woke up and it caused me to fellowship with the Lord and pray. And you'll know what I prayed in just a
minute.
In the dream, I was walking out of a building like I had
been in a class. And seemingly the
person who walked out with me, might have been the professor of that
class. Anyway, he offered that I might
walk with him and later, give me a ride to my destination. As we walked, we talked. But where we were walking was across a large
field, with mountains in the background.
It was rather glorious.
It was soon that he announced that up on a hill, was where
he used to live with his partner. So then I knew he was indicating clearly, his
lifestyle was that of depravity. Yet
then he said, "I used to live there, until my partner met Jesus." In the
dream, those words were the sweetest of sweetest words.
After he said this, in the dream I sensed his depravity - I
felt "death" in him. And yet
later, when I woke up, I understood too
like us all, I had also been depraved myself in my own way, in my own
sins. However, we all know, there is
such a thing where sin can take you so far, that the pit gets incredibly deep
and in the powerful clutches of Satan.
Yet the answer remains the same for all. To
meet Jesus.
Next, we got in his car and he was going to drive me where I
needed to go. And it was then he further
elaborated how he now went to church too - somewhere - or at least was
"trying" it. And I gathered in
the dream he was "trying" now to be a Christian supposedly, "like" his former partner.
One met Jesus and was taken away - changed by the One he
met. The other was still the same, but
had not met the One who alone would and could changed his entire life. Also, God was saying to my heart again, that
His LOVE in and through His Son is to REACH into the deepest depravity and pull
that soul up and away into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love. Colossians
1:13 I thought of the song, "The Love of God," and the line
in it which says His love: "reaches
to the lowest hell."
The field we were walking across was a picture of how close
God's salvation is to anyone. That which
He is offering to any soul and their opportunity to have "their
place" in God, in Christ. (I go to prepare a place for you...) But only,
if they will indeed, meet Jesus. And
since Jesus lives in us, God does use us to help people meet Him.
Our greatest need though, as believers who have already met
Him, will still always be to encounter JESUS in a fresh way, over and over
again. We do meet Him though, in and
through His Word, we do meet Him daily at the gates, His Table of Grace (as
Proverbs says), we do encounter Him with expectation, as our First and Only and
Forever Love. His Spirit in us delights
to lead us.
We are betrothed to Jesus Christ - engaged - waiting for the
Marriage Supper of the Lamb as His Bride - as His Beloved - as His Redeemed -
as His Chosen ones - the ones who have believed in Him, as the Great Love, in
which He gave Himself for our sins, our depravity and death, with His body and
blood.
Can it be any more special than this? Can it be more glorious? Yes, may we encounter Jesus over and over
again. This is what I prayed: "Lord, I want to encounter You, over and
over again, as if for the first time."
I do want to know about God's history, the church, Israel,
future events, His coming - all those things.
To me, that's what He wants - it is His will. But I think too, according to His Word, He wants above all this, (that surpasses knowledge - Ephesians 3)
- to know what it means to know Him personally, as our First Love, now and
forever.
Sue Gaither
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