J
As I was delving into Jesus tonight begging for a word, I was reminded of the very first scripture ever given to me. I was week or possibly days old in The Lord and I wrote a letter to the only Christian I sort of knew thanking them for embracing me and encouraging them. The mother wrote me back and included Isaiah 43:1, 2. I meditated for a while on the verse and pictured myself crossing a dangerous river, rushing waters up to my chest, my hands above my head carrying a basket of grapes. All that was on my mind was getting to the other side to sacrifice my fruits. I was almost oblivious to the path God had me on because I could only hope in the end result, the end of pain and challenge. At first glance it seemed like a positive. I was conquering life's trials with a smile knowing there would be an end where I could praise God for the trial. Unfortunately, I sensed a rebuke. After all that verse says God will walk with you through the waters. In trying to interpret it practically I prayed some more and heard 1 Samuel 15: obedience is better than sacrifice. In my spirit I knew they clicked but I couldn't quite fit the puzzle together.
As Christians many of us are so focused on the end goal that we don't allow God in the process. He promises to walk us through that river, but we gather up all our fruits (our good works, or the fruits of our labors) and we charge ahead forgetting that God wants to be in the water with us and not waiting for our offering when we've reached our goal. The goal should be walking through the water with Jesus, not trudging through on our own strength so we can offer up sacrifices on the opposite shore. Then we end up celebrating our efforts and missing the communion God desired to have with us in our sufferings.
We don't need to prepare our offerings. Our obedient lives are living sacrifices, but only if we forge the river with The Lord at our side. And the fruit will be birthed within us during the crossing. There's no need to pick the fruit and carry it overhead. If we walk with Jesus we will bear the inevitable fruit of communion with God, the fruit of our obedience.
As Christians many of us are so focused on the end goal that we don't allow God in the process. He promises to walk us through that river, but we gather up all our fruits (our good works, or the fruits of our labors) and we charge ahead forgetting that God wants to be in the water with us and not waiting for our offering when we've reached our goal. The goal should be walking through the water with Jesus, not trudging through on our own strength so we can offer up sacrifices on the opposite shore. Then we end up celebrating our efforts and missing the communion God desired to have with us in our sufferings.
We don't need to prepare our offerings. Our obedient lives are living sacrifices, but only if we forge the river with The Lord at our side. And the fruit will be birthed within us during the crossing. There's no need to pick the fruit and carry it overhead. If we walk with Jesus we will bear the inevitable fruit of communion with God, the fruit of our obedience.