A few weeks ago we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus and we thought about the sacrifice He brought for all of us. Jesus was crucified and took all our sin, shame and guilt on His shoulders. He took the punishment so that we could be set free. He gave it all so that we could be free.
“We love because He first loved us”
1 John 4:19 is a well-known scripture. But what does this mean? Can we see examples of it in the Bible?
Well, let’s take a look at the life of Mary. The other day when I was in church the preacher shone a new light on the well known Bible story of Martha and Mary. The one where Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and Martha complains that her sister is not helping her. Jesus then said that Mary choose the right thing to do. Often this story is told to give the message that we should not just do works for God but also take time to sit at His feet. And that is definitely true. But this time we took a look closer to the live of Mary.
At this moment when I look outside my window I see a white world covered in snow. There is something magical about it. Yesterday we were driving on a road through a forest. What a beautiful sight to see. The world looks so peaceful and quiet, so different from how it used to be.
Snow is also mentioned in the Bible.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” Isaiah 1:18
What a similarity to the literal sight of snow. While our sins are red as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. You will be as white as snow, unrecognizable, totally different than before. A beautiful sight to see and peaceful.
The Bible states it very clearly: if we confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Lord, we will be saved. Jesus carried our sins, took our punishment and raised from the death. IN Him we are a new creation. We are washed whiter than snow.
God doesn’t see you in your old self, but covered in Jesus, white as snow. You are made righteous in Him. It is time we start to see ourselves the same way. But often we dig up our past. Often our minds go back to our wrong decisions, the lies we told, the things we shouldn’t have done. But as long as we are focused on our pasts, we can’t enjoy our present.
God tells us in His word He put our sins away, as far as east is from the west. They will never meet again. God will not rethink about it and neither should we. It is a trick of the devil to keep our minds occupied, letting us feel guilty and shameful over and over again. But God washed us whiter than snow, He forgave you and me, and He wants to move forward with us.
Casting Crowns wrote a beautiful song about this subject:
Here I am Lord and I’m drowning
In your sea of forgetfulness
The chains of yesterday surround me
I yearn for peace and rest
I don’t want to end up where you found me
And it echoes in my mind
Keeps me awake tonight
I know you’ve cast my sin as far
As the east is from the west
And I stand before you now
As though I’ve never sinned
But today I feel like I’m just one mistake away
From you leaving me this way
Jesus, can you show me just how far the east is from the west?
Cause I can’t bear to see the man I’ve been
Rising up in me again
In the arms of your mercy I find rest
You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other
I know you’ve washed me white
Turned my darkness into light
I need your peace to get me through
To get me through this night
I can’t live by what I feel
About the truth your word reveals
And I’m not holding onto you
But you’re holding onto me
2019 has just started, there is a whole new year ahead of you. Don’t linger on the past but look ahead, trust Gods word, and stretch out to what’s ahead. God promises us that greater things are yet to come. He has good plans for you, a future filled with hope. He wants to give you beauty for ashes and make you a witness for His kingdom.
Read also You are worthy
First of
“I can’t believe it is already 2019!
I just came home from a visit to my in-laws and my mother in law said the same, “I can’t believe it is already 2019! I remember that it was turning 2000, the millennium year, what a panic did that cause and now it is already 19 years later” Even I remember when it became the year 2000, I’m really getting older, it is a fact….
We are standing at the beginning of a new year, do you have specific plans for this year? Special events coming up? Things to look forward to? A new year often gives us the feeling of a new start, a time of starting over or making a fresh start. A lot of people make new years resolutions. Maybe you yourself also have some.
When it comes to God and my personal relationship with Him, I often make new resolutions. I want to spend more time in prayer, read more in His Word, I want to have more quality time with Him etc. The thing is, this is a yearly returning (sometimes weekly returning) resolution. Maybe this is recognizable for you? Where does this resolution comes from?
And this leads to feeling guilty
Resolutions are things we want to approve, do more or less, want to be better at, things we weren’t satisfied about when we look at the past year. What makes a lot of us unsatisfied about our relationship with God? We never think it was enough. There are days we pray 5 minutes, there are days we pray 10 minutes, but sometimes there is a day that we don’t take the time to pray at all, or read in His word. And this leads to feeling guilty. So we want to do better. W
Well, let me tell you something. God is happy with every moment we spend with Him, He is not angry about the moments that we don’t. Guilt should not be leading us to spend more time with God, but our love for Him should do that. It’s a good thing to want to spend more time in His word or in prayer, but we have to check our motivation to do so. It should not be out of guilt or shame or fear, but out of knowing that God is our loving Father and He loves it when we seek Him and bet to know Him better.
When you want to listen to a certain radio station you have to find the right channel. When you are on the wrong frequency, you won’t hear a thing, you have to finetune to hear the result you were looking for. Well, the frequency God is using is love. You get connected to His channel through love. He loves you and He promise us in His Word that He will be with us, always.
Love, we are all familiar with it, we use it daily in our relationships with our family and friends. My husband and I enjoyed the past week. We were both free from work and had some great quality time. Watching a movie together on the couch, playing a game, shopping, enjoying a meal together or sometimes just being together is enough. But it isn’t always like that, there are also times when we are both busy and we rarely speak to each other. I finish a work task while he puts the kids to bed, he goes to a meeting while I prepare a meal etc. But we are aware of the love we have for each other.
It is the same with God. When you are at the soccer field cheering for your kids, Jesus is next to you cheering along. When you are busy at work, He is there with you. God is never more than a prayer away. He loves it when you take quality time with Him, but He also loves it to be involved in all you do. Not every moment we spend with God will be wonderful and amazing and feels like we are in heaven. There are also times that it will be a quick prayer while we drive our car, a thought we share with Him while preparing the meal.
Remember God is happy with every moment we spend with Him, but guilt
or fear should not be leading to us spending more time with God. Our love for Him should do that.
Read also Steadfast unconditional love
Lately I am realising how free we are in the choices we make and it amazes me. Sometimes when I drive my car, my mind takes a trip of its own and when I refocus I’m glad I didn’t miss my exit. But what if I did… I could decide to drive as far as I could, I could decide in an instant to change my plans and drive to the other side of the country, I could decide I would want to go bungee jumping and just do that.
BFF’s, do you know where this shortcut stands for? Best Friends Forever. I teach 7 graders and this BFF thing is not something small. It is a big deal in the lives of children, teenagers, and even adults. The knowing of belonging to someone as a friend, a best friend, having friends in your class, at sports, in church. And for girls, it’s a much bigger issue than it is for boys. Women are more sensitive, we often feel more insecure. We are very social beings, we like to interact and do things together. When you go shopping with a friend, you can talk all day long, when you have dinner with your husband it can be quiet after 15 minutes. Women even go to the bathroom together.
“I just can’t believe it! Look at her, she can sing, dance and looks gorgeous! Some people just have it all! While others…..while I….”
Sounds familiar? Well, it shouldn’t, because no one is your competitor.
This week I was having tea with two old neighbors, we meet every 3 months or so and we update each other on how we’ve been. And every time I am amazed at how many women struggle with a critical voice within them. We criticize our own thoughts, the things we do or don’t do, our actions, our words, and it seems we are never happy and glad about the way we are.
What do we want to teach our children when it comes to God? And how do we do that? These are some big questions. When I look at myself it’s my biggest desire for my kids to have a personal relationship with Jesus for the rest of their lives. It’s my prayer that they will follow Him and be builders in God’s Kingdom. I can only pray and hope that they will, it’s their decision, but where I can, I hope to influence them in a good way. I hope to set an example and to learn them God’s ways.
Do you like to eat a salad? And do you put seeds in it? Healthy and tasty pine nuts, pumpkin seeds etc. But by eating these seeds, we don’t let them come to their full potential.