As a "transplant" to the glorious state of Colorado, I've witnessed this numerous times. The mountains constantly awe me. Each day they change, from blinding white against a brilliant blue sky, to deep purples against the orange hues of a setting sun, or deeply set amongst fog and clouds, always glorious and powerful, beautiful and full of splendor and majesty. Sunsets and sunrises here constantly amaze me, the colors so vibrant and spectacular. I've always been a lover of sunsets, but here that love affair has grown oh-so-much deeper.
As someone who didn't grow up in this state, I see this beauty with fresh eyes. It's not commonplace or ordinary. For many people I've met who grew up here, the mountains don't hold as much magic as they do for me, just like the Arch in St. Louis really isn't that cool the twentieth time you've ridden the jolting cramped cart to the top.
Just as this happens in my life with the St. Louis Arch, it happens in my faith life too.
It's so easy to slip into Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and unending love being a bit formulaic, especially if you grew up some sort of Christian home where you began learning the Bible stories from the moment you could understand words, whether you truly understood their meaning or not.
- Jesus became human and was born
- Jesus and His disciples traveled as He taught, performed miracles, and loved the lost
- Jesus was crucified for our sins
- Jesus died
- Jesus rose from the dead
- Jesus lives in us and now we can be free from sin
This is no simple story of life, death, and sacrifice. Though that in and of itself is always incredible.
It's love, greater than I can ever comprehend, ever imagine, glorious and beautiful and free. It's sacrifice for the undeserving, the unworthy, the sinner, the captive. It's freedom from sin, redemption for the broken, grace beyond all measure, love beyond compare.
Let's tell the story again, the real story, the one that is so incredible I can hardly believe it to be true, a story that amazing.
The story that Jesus loves us so deeply He gave up everything for us. No only did He die for us, but all of our sin was placed upon His shoulders. Every bad thing we have ever done, are doing, or will do He took the punishment for. He died that we might live. And now we are His children.
His love extended past dying for us and into living for us as well. How can we not live for Him in return? He has done so much for us, loved us more deeply and fully than we can ever imagine, how could we not fall on our faces and worship Him, give Him absolutely every part of our lives? How could we not love Him in return, for He first loved us and we most definitely did not, and do not, deserve it.
That's the beauty of this story. It's not your typical love story of two people who love each other equally and thus make sacrifices for one another.
Jesus' love came first. He created us to be loved by Him, to be in a relationship with Him, and to in response love and adore Him as well. We were made for love, nothing less. But because of sin, we our first love is ourselves, but even though we've been unfaithful to our Lord, He still loves us. He still loves us! So much He died. He died for then unrequited love, and still often unrequited love. He didn't just die for the people who believe in Him. He died for everyone, because He loves everyone equally and fully and beautifully.
His love is so amazing, so divine. It's not something we can just say, "Oh, yeah, Jesus loves me. We're cool, no biggie, man," with a nonchalant shrug a too-cool-for-school look on our faces. It's incredible, this love beyond all measure or comprehension.
It's love so beautiful and free that all I can do is fall on my face and worship the glorious Jesus who died for me. Each day I should be filled with complete awe in His sacrifice and total reverence of His love.
No comments:
Post a Comment