Reason #423
I believe God gives us nature as an example of His love, His goodness, and His mercy. I think we can learn a lot about God from nature. And really, if you think about it, how can you look at nature and think that it just happened? How could something so incredible come from a completely unintentional, happen-stance situation? There's purpose behind it all.
I noticed the blooms on the Bradford Pear trees today. I have two tiny Bradford trees in my backyard that are proudly boasting a few small blossoms at the top. But as drove through town today, I admired the trees in full bloom. Every branch completely covered in tiny white blossoms, and they are breath-taking. A sure sign of beauty and new life.
As I drove to work, the thought hit me that a mere few weeks ago these trees were bare. Completely dead and stripped of everything that was once. Fighting to make it through winter and into the spring. And these trees did nothing except they hung on. Though they looked dead for months, and though they lost every single leaf they had, they didn't give up and die. They hung on through a harsh winter, through a difficult season, and because of that, the blossoms have come. New life is covering the trees with a promise of beauty. Hope has sprouted and begun to grow. The trees didn't make the blossoms occur, they didn't wrap themselves in white beauty, He did. They waited on Him and He blessed them with blossoms.
We are those trees. Dead in our sin. Stripped completely bare because of our transgressions. And I find myself at this point so often. Feeling naked and ashamed as my sins are exposed and I realize how hopeless I am without Him. I realize that there is nothing I can do on my own to fix it. There is no way to conceal or cover up the bare branches that speak of death. And so I come to a season where all is gone. Everything has been removed and I'm left waiting. Forced to be patient until a new season comes. Hang on to my life, don't give up. And truthfully, in those moments, that's what we must do. Fight to live, and fight to overcome rather than to be overcome.
But every dark season has an end. He shows up and while we sit before Him in our shame, feeling uncomfortably closer to death by the minute, He covers us in His forgiveness and righteousness. No, we don't deserve it and we didn't do anything to cause it. It's His grace . Our seemingly lifeless bodies that have been barely hanging on are robed in white, the color of purity and beauty. White, covering our dark spots. Life overcoming death. We wait for this even if winter seems long. Even if the season is harsh, we don't give up because His red blood shed for our black sin led us to be washed white as snow. And so He purifies us. He brings us new life. And when people look at us, you know what they see? They don't see the dark spots, the shame and sin that has been sucking the life out of us, they notice the white blossoms that we are covered in. Blossoms that give hope, that tell of God's power, and blossoms that are an undeniable testimony of who God is. He is creator, life giver, sustainer, redeemer, forgiver, restorer. And when we wait on Him, when we hang on through those seasons, He will be sure to cover us with beautiful white blossoms, too.
#423 - For life that overcomes death.
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." - Ephesians 2:1-5
I noticed the blooms on the Bradford Pear trees today. I have two tiny Bradford trees in my backyard that are proudly boasting a few small blossoms at the top. But as drove through town today, I admired the trees in full bloom. Every branch completely covered in tiny white blossoms, and they are breath-taking. A sure sign of beauty and new life.
As I drove to work, the thought hit me that a mere few weeks ago these trees were bare. Completely dead and stripped of everything that was once. Fighting to make it through winter and into the spring. And these trees did nothing except they hung on. Though they looked dead for months, and though they lost every single leaf they had, they didn't give up and die. They hung on through a harsh winter, through a difficult season, and because of that, the blossoms have come. New life is covering the trees with a promise of beauty. Hope has sprouted and begun to grow. The trees didn't make the blossoms occur, they didn't wrap themselves in white beauty, He did. They waited on Him and He blessed them with blossoms.
We are those trees. Dead in our sin. Stripped completely bare because of our transgressions. And I find myself at this point so often. Feeling naked and ashamed as my sins are exposed and I realize how hopeless I am without Him. I realize that there is nothing I can do on my own to fix it. There is no way to conceal or cover up the bare branches that speak of death. And so I come to a season where all is gone. Everything has been removed and I'm left waiting. Forced to be patient until a new season comes. Hang on to my life, don't give up. And truthfully, in those moments, that's what we must do. Fight to live, and fight to overcome rather than to be overcome.
But every dark season has an end. He shows up and while we sit before Him in our shame, feeling uncomfortably closer to death by the minute, He covers us in His forgiveness and righteousness. No, we don't deserve it and we didn't do anything to cause it. It's His grace . Our seemingly lifeless bodies that have been barely hanging on are robed in white, the color of purity and beauty. White, covering our dark spots. Life overcoming death. We wait for this even if winter seems long. Even if the season is harsh, we don't give up because His red blood shed for our black sin led us to be washed white as snow. And so He purifies us. He brings us new life. And when people look at us, you know what they see? They don't see the dark spots, the shame and sin that has been sucking the life out of us, they notice the white blossoms that we are covered in. Blossoms that give hope, that tell of God's power, and blossoms that are an undeniable testimony of who God is. He is creator, life giver, sustainer, redeemer, forgiver, restorer. And when we wait on Him, when we hang on through those seasons, He will be sure to cover us with beautiful white blossoms, too.
#423 - For life that overcomes death.
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." - Ephesians 2:1-5