II Kings 1-3 / Psalm 82 / I Timothy 1
I Timothy 1:14 “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
Today’s title is a decision, that we all eventually have to make. When Jesus pours out His love, and grace will we stand under an umbrella letting all of those things fall to our feet like the pounding of a hard rain only getting our toes wet, but never effecting our lives in a meaningful way, or will we act like Children who are more than willing to stand naked in the rain? I don’t mean a drizzle, I mean a torrential downpour of rain.
Paul even uses that metaphor of pouring out. Christ is holding a 5 gallon pitcher of love, and he wants to pour that out onto us. His grace is there constantly and there is a never ending flow. It seems that all we have to do is come out from underneath the umbrella and allow what God wants for us to permeate to our very soul, to the depths of our being.
When we get caught in a pouring rain while driving, we can barely move, and would probably be much safer if we would just pull over and wait it out. Similarly, when we allow the grace and love of Jesus to overtake us, we are given the chance to pull over and rest in the face, in the fact that we are known and loved, and forgiven by a holy and righteous and just creator who loves us to our very CORE. Not only that, he wants to be with us, and us with him.
He wants you.
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June 20, 2008 at 1:28 am
Demus
Right on! I would echo your reflections and add that we also need to help each other get out from under the umbrella. Just like the kids cheering each other on to come out and play in the rain. As the Michael W Smith song goes:
Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of Heaven
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad
Let the distance shores rejoice
Clouds and thick darkness surround him
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne
A fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side
His lightning lights up the world
The earth sees and trembles
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord
Before the Lord of all the earth
The Heavens proclaim His righteousness
And all peoples will see His Glory
We want to see Your Glory, God!
Do you want to see His Glory?
Lift your voices, lift your hands!
Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of Heaven
July 11, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Gabe
It is the commitment we need to make. We have free will-will we choose to ‘bare’ our souls and our shortcomings and accept Christ and the positive change that will come forth or do we stay timid, meek, ashamed, bashful as you stated by hiding under the umbrella.
The love and comfort is there if we would have the smallest courage to step forth and accept.