stare at jesus

i just finished reading "an echo in the darkness," which is the 2nd book in Francine Rivers mark of the lion trilogy. Francine is a phenomenal writer and story teller. she is able to use words to convey messages few have mastered. but what sets apart her works from others isn't those qualities, but how beautifully she saturates her writing with the gospel.

God has totally used her words to challenge and encourage me...

the story is set in biblical times, and chronicles a young jewish christian girls life (hadassah) after Jerusalem is destroyed by roman occupation. her family is killed, and she becomes enslaved to rome.

in the midst of the greatest sorrows and sufferings, she lived out the gospel. she remembered that He would never leave her or forsake her, and she lived a life of desperate dependence on Him.

how often do i look to circumstance to determine my welfare. thinking if i'd only had parents who loved me like they should have, or people in my life who didn't constantly disappoint me. if i could only go back and change this or that, wouldn't things be different.

God is that really how i treat you, do i really believe my plans are better then Yours?

if you took my sight
if i could never walk again
if my voice ceased

would i still praise your name?

something that continues to stick with me is the story of phoebe, the wife of hadassahs master. God used hadassah to share the gospel with her mistress, who came to faith. phoebe desired to live in the same desperate dependence and began using the wealth God had bestowed on her as a means of furthering His kingdom. but she began trying to earn the grace given her by acts of service. she began losing sight of Him over His kingdom. she began using ministry to distract her from her lost children whom God was placing on her heart. God forced her to stop, and listen. she had a stroke which left her paralyzed, leaving her face to face with her creator. God used this discipline to bring her closer to Himself.

"my son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when He rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those He loves,
and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son."
hebrews 12:5-6; proverbs 3:11-12

how often do i take lightly His discipline? how often do i complain over my circumstance?

why do i forget that even the pain and sorrow is to bring me closer to Him?

this past weekend our pastor (matt chandler) presented the gospel. God used his words to speak powerfully to me.

"we want everything to be so complicated, we want something to do, when really all scripture requires is that we just stare at Jesus..."

oh the power of that statement, the depth of it's understanding. to just stare at Jesus.

to be so awe fully overwhelmed by His majesty, to walk in His strength, to overflow with His love, and to die as He died.

to depend desperately on Him for my every breath, and walk in grace and truth.

father, i can't do it but your son did! make me that kind of man. a man who can just stare at Jesus.

for by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
colossians 1:16-17