Uncomfortable Truths

 

Daily Gratitude-Year Eleven: Day 154- Today, I am grateful for Uncomfortable Truths. 

Why? Because I cannot improve without constant evaluation.  Someone once told me, "Valerie, you can't stay stagnant in your walk with the Lord. You are either moving forward or slipping backward on the path." I wish I could tell you who the wise soul was. 

I had so many faith mentors in my childhood. (A special shout out to all of those who invested in Nazarene Youth Camps in the Chicago Central District and youth ministries... it was a game changer for me.)

We can all hear the same message and pull different things from the word. Today was communion and the scriptures from Matthew 22 and Hebrews 53. Both were illuminating. Both centered around Yeshua... the Hebrew name for Jesus and my personal favorite... who was both human(his mother) and devine (his Father). 

Jesus was at creation, with Isaiah as he penned what we know as chapter 53 long before his earthly birth. He was physically present on earth to do intellectual battle with the Sadducees and Pharisees in Matthew 22, and what a battle of wits it was! He was the ONLY ONE  who could take on the sins of the world and raise from the dead victorious once and for all. (Oh, my Earworm is singing...)

"Let me tell you 'bout my Jesus!" 

What was once accomplished one sacrificial animal at a time was over. Finished! On a cross at a hill called Golgotha, a greater work was done, once and for all. He did that! 

Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. -Hebrews 7:27

Not to make us feel guilty, but to show us the depth of His love and  His consuming desire for us to not be commanded to love him, but to love Him from the deepest part of our souls. Free will. It is priceless and easily misused.

 There is still an intentionally designed God-sized hole in our souls that only He can fit and only  He can fill. 
HE is our missing piece! HE is our missing peace!  

I cherish my family and friends. I enjoy my hobbies (Photography, Paper Crafting, Scrapbooking,& Genealogy), my writing, reading, the arts, and entertainment. I save the movies on my Philo App that I don't want to miss. Do I reserve time for Him first... or does he fall behind other things? Is HE my first love? 

Before his death in the Congo, Jim Elliot penned one of my favorite prayers: "God deliver me from the dread asbestos of "other things" Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame." And not long after, he was called to the jungle with a passion to share the gospel with those who would never hear it, if he remained in his safety zone. Jim Elliot was one of the missionaries killed during Operation Auca, in an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani people of ecuador on January 8, 1956, Curaray River, Ecuado. 

They didn't take Jim's life that day, he gave it. Just like his Jesus. 

There are many things in this world that we were given to enjoy. He gave us brains that can create wonders like technology, the ability to explore space, and create amazing music concerts given by artists He hasgifted with talent. What other gods, pleasures and desires do we put before Him? When we seek anything before Him, it becomes our God, including success and a comfortable bank account. 

He is really quite clear about how he feels about idols and other Gods.

Today, I am grateful for Uncomfortable Truths. (I often need this reminder.)