Do we really understand?

I've been reading in Exodus. In the past, as I read through all the animal sacrifices and pouring of blood that had to go on before anyone could stand in God's presence, I immediately thought, "I am SO glad we don't have to do that anymore!" But yesterday was different. Yesterday I thought, "What an understanding they must have had about God's holiness."

We are so far removed from all of that, I think sometimes we take it for granted. Can you imagine people going through all of this process for years and years and years.... then the news that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. A greater sacrifice than all these animals. A sacrifice for all time. And now they were free. They were free to step into His presence. No more sacrifices for atonement. No more going through priests. They  were free to approach God.

I'm guessing they really understood the magnitude of Jesus's sacrifice. They understood how huge that really was. They had never had this freedom to approach the Father before. And I'll bet they approached Him with the most humble of hearts. And grateful. Can you imagine how grateful they must have been?

Sometimes I wonder if we get it. On Sunday mornings when we gather corporately to worship... do we understand the magnitude of what we are able to do? Do we humbly come before Him with grateful hearts that we are able to stand in His Presence? As we begin to worship, are we swept away by His goodness? His love? His undeserved mercy?

Or are our minds wandering to places we'd rather be? Do we say, "Stand by, God... I don't like this song. But I'll catch you on the next one." Are we distracted, emotionally unattached? Are we thinking about ourselves.... or Him?

People used to have to go through a process unimaginable to us to be in His presence. But they did it. Because they desired Him that much. Now we can walk right into His presence. But don't think for a second it's because He's lowered His standards. If anything He raised them. No longer are animal sacrifices sufficient. It's only the blood of Christ. He gave Himself. He went through the pain, the humiliation, the torture. All so we could draw near to Him. He is still every bit as Holy as He has always been, and it's still every bit as big of a deal to be in His presence.

We've never had to experience the painstaking processes of animal sacrifice that those early people had to go through. And neither they nor we had to experience the excruciatingly painful process of sacrifice that Jesus went through. He did it for us. He did it for all of us. He made a way for us to stand in the very presence of The Most Holy God. God is every bit as Holy as He has always been. And Jesus paid a price that is far greater than anything we can imagine for us to approach Him.

Take time to really think about it. How can I stand before a God who is so Holy? Let the magnitude of what we're able to do really sink in.

With all creation I sing, "Praise to the King of Kings". You are my everything. And I WILL adore You.

Dying to Self

As is often the case, the way things work in God's kingdom are quite contrary to how things work in the world.

Dying to self.... it doesn't sound as if it could possibly be a good thing. It sounds as if you have to cease to exist... or at the very least have a miserable existence because, frankly, you don't get to matter anymore. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In the realm of the Spirit, dying to self is the very path to real life. If you find yourself in a place where you are miserable, maybe feeling hurt all the time, maybe feeling like you don't matter... chances are you haven't learned of the freedom that comes from dying to self. 

We all have dreams, desires, hopes for our lives. But I have this theory that it's really not about the dream itself... it's about how we think we will FEEL after the dream comes true. Everything we hope for, everything we desire... it's all tied to the belief that if we get what we are wanting we will feel happy, satisfied, completely content with life. It's that feeling we are really longing for. We want to FEEL better.

But the truth is, as long as we are focused on ourselves and what we want, we can never truly be happy. God created us to love and trust Him. And because we love and trust Him, we LET GO of ourselves and spend our lives loving and helping others. If we really, truly love and trust God, we can tell Him, "These are the things I really feel like I want in my life. But I know I am only working with part of the information, and You are working with ALL of the information. I know and understand that you know me better than I even know myself. So I want to lay these dreams at your feet and trust you to lead me on the right path. I want to live out your will for my life, whether it's easy or hard. I want to live the life YOU want me to live."

The big question in all of this is do we really believe we can trust Him with our lives? It's easy to say yes. It's much harder to believe it... and to live it. Is it possible that deep down we have a gnawing feeling that he doesn't care about us as much as we do? 

Again, nothing could be farther from the truth. He knows us. He loves us. We can trust Him with our lives. There is no better place we could possibly be. There is such a peace that comes from knowing and trusting He will lead us down the path He has for us. And as we travel that path with Him, He will use absolutely everything that comes our way, both good and bad, to help us grow and mature and be closer to Him than we were before. We can relax... and live.

And once we know our lives are secure in Him, we find we no longer have to worry about finding happiness for ourselves. The pressure is gone. We are free to focus on others, helping them to succeed, putting their needs ahead of our own.

If you have never really gotten to the place before where you were able to lay down all your hopes & dreams, as well as your pain and suffering... I highly encourage you to take the step. It's such a freeing experience. A good test of where you are at? Are you miserable? worried? hurt? anxious? Chances are, your focus is on yourself. Turn your focus to Him and lay it all down. Choose to trust Him with your future. Choose to believe He knows what He is doing and let go. Determine in your heart that it no longer matters what you want. It only matters what He wants. Commit yourself to living the life He wants you to live. It's what Christianity is all about.

And one day, you're going to sit down after a long day and think, "Hey... when did I get so happy?"