Sincere
April 6th, 2007, 08:42 PM
The Reason for Life
A Passion for His Glory
I've seen, heard, and experienced many glorious splendors. Some simple some complex. And yet, some so grand as to not only take your breath away, but to serve as a reminder of how small and insignificant man is. Consider the Grand Canyon. No one stands at that marvelous sight and turns their back to it to notice the formation of clouds. There is glory in beholding that awe-inspiring sight. There is glory in beholding something much greater than yourself. At the moment of beholding glory manifested, whether it be at the grand canyon, or the sun setting over the Niagara Falls, time seems to stop. Consider a basketball game. Yes, there is glory in that too. The home team has the ball and is down by one point, with two seconds to go, and they make the shot. The crowd erupts in unanimous cheers as the team celebrates in remarkable disbelief. Waves and waves of ecstasy flows through the audience as they celebrate the victory of their team. There is glory in that.
Consider love. Oh, what a glorious splendor it is to experience love. To have your heart skip a beat every time you witness a smile. To laugh and cry and hold hands and kiss and fight and make up and smile again, there is glory in that too. Consider sex. The passion and the intimacy and the ecstasy and the sheer pleasure that comes with it all, what a glorious thing. These are all marvelous and glorious things. Yet, I have come to know that this isn't all that life is about; for all those glorious things, i.e., the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, family, friends, music, food, sex, children, cars, money, fame, laughter, summer breeze, snow flakes, art, etc., all point to a greater joy and a much greater Glory - Namely, the Glory of God in Christ.
It is He [Christ] who spoke the world into existence and gave us all these pleasurable things. It is He who ordained art and music and gave us creativity, whereby we may excel in these things. It is He who made sex pleasurable and gave us marriage. He created the snow flakes; each one different from the other. He created emotions and gave us laughter. He created the awe-inspiration sights that take our breath away and made us in His own image, whereby we may appreciate love and desire intimacy. It is He [Jesus] who became flesh, had his dwelling among men, and who's glory shown through sad eyes.
He is King of kings, yet was born in the worst of circumstances. His riches are infinite in worth and He rode a donkey and didn't have a home. He baffled the wisest of intellectuals with His wisdom and was simply enough to be understood by children. He is powerful enough to stop thunder storms with a single word and is patient enough to allow ravenous and wicked men time to repent. He has power over demons and they fear Him. He saves from sickness and calls the dead to life. He is mighty over all, yet gave Himself over to wicked men to be slaughtered. He is the Almighty King, yet He gave Himself as gentle lamb. He was dead and now He lives. The famous American Preacher, Jothan Edwards, said over 250 years ago, "what makes Christ glorious is that we observe in Him an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies."
He is the ultimate paradox: The Almighty and Sovereign God who gave himself to be beaten, ridiculed, spat upon, tortured, and murdered. At anytime, His Almighty hand could have stopped it. He who commanded the winds and the waves, in one word, could have stopped the agony. Yet, He did not. He died and rose to defeat sin and the power of Satan, and yet in sovereign wisdom did not destroy him, but left him to watch his defeat play out by millions of souls choosing Christ' excellencies over sin's pleasures. He is glorious - the very definition of the word! Have you had a real encounter with Him? I'm not talking about praying a prayer and accepting Jesus into your heart, nor am I talking about being born into a religion or religious family.
I'm asking do you know Him? Has He become the all inclusive center of your life whereby all other joys and pleasure revolve around? Is He the passion of your life? Do you love Him? Do you aim to have Him as the the sun of the solar system of your heart, whereby all other desires like money and love and sex and children and wife and husband and fame and happiness, all revolved around? I dare say, if this isn't the case, you are wasting your life and you have absolutely nothing.
All known joys and pleasures will come to an end and life is but only a vapor. It is here today and gone in an instant. As I said in the beginning, there are many glorious splendors to behold and experience. But, if you only seek after them and not succeed in finding the glory in which those things point to, namely God in Christ, you would have missed it and wasted your life. Don't miss out on the share and indescribable sweetness of God in Christ. Know Christ, that you may be fully satisfied in Him and that God may be fully Glorified in you. Become one with God's will and allow His passion for His Glory to become your own passion. Seek that you may find Him and have a reason for living.
- Sincere
A Passion for His Glory
I've seen, heard, and experienced many glorious splendors. Some simple some complex. And yet, some so grand as to not only take your breath away, but to serve as a reminder of how small and insignificant man is. Consider the Grand Canyon. No one stands at that marvelous sight and turns their back to it to notice the formation of clouds. There is glory in beholding that awe-inspiring sight. There is glory in beholding something much greater than yourself. At the moment of beholding glory manifested, whether it be at the grand canyon, or the sun setting over the Niagara Falls, time seems to stop. Consider a basketball game. Yes, there is glory in that too. The home team has the ball and is down by one point, with two seconds to go, and they make the shot. The crowd erupts in unanimous cheers as the team celebrates in remarkable disbelief. Waves and waves of ecstasy flows through the audience as they celebrate the victory of their team. There is glory in that.
Consider love. Oh, what a glorious splendor it is to experience love. To have your heart skip a beat every time you witness a smile. To laugh and cry and hold hands and kiss and fight and make up and smile again, there is glory in that too. Consider sex. The passion and the intimacy and the ecstasy and the sheer pleasure that comes with it all, what a glorious thing. These are all marvelous and glorious things. Yet, I have come to know that this isn't all that life is about; for all those glorious things, i.e., the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, family, friends, music, food, sex, children, cars, money, fame, laughter, summer breeze, snow flakes, art, etc., all point to a greater joy and a much greater Glory - Namely, the Glory of God in Christ.
It is He [Christ] who spoke the world into existence and gave us all these pleasurable things. It is He who ordained art and music and gave us creativity, whereby we may excel in these things. It is He who made sex pleasurable and gave us marriage. He created the snow flakes; each one different from the other. He created emotions and gave us laughter. He created the awe-inspiration sights that take our breath away and made us in His own image, whereby we may appreciate love and desire intimacy. It is He [Jesus] who became flesh, had his dwelling among men, and who's glory shown through sad eyes.
He is King of kings, yet was born in the worst of circumstances. His riches are infinite in worth and He rode a donkey and didn't have a home. He baffled the wisest of intellectuals with His wisdom and was simply enough to be understood by children. He is powerful enough to stop thunder storms with a single word and is patient enough to allow ravenous and wicked men time to repent. He has power over demons and they fear Him. He saves from sickness and calls the dead to life. He is mighty over all, yet gave Himself over to wicked men to be slaughtered. He is the Almighty King, yet He gave Himself as gentle lamb. He was dead and now He lives. The famous American Preacher, Jothan Edwards, said over 250 years ago, "what makes Christ glorious is that we observe in Him an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies."
He is the ultimate paradox: The Almighty and Sovereign God who gave himself to be beaten, ridiculed, spat upon, tortured, and murdered. At anytime, His Almighty hand could have stopped it. He who commanded the winds and the waves, in one word, could have stopped the agony. Yet, He did not. He died and rose to defeat sin and the power of Satan, and yet in sovereign wisdom did not destroy him, but left him to watch his defeat play out by millions of souls choosing Christ' excellencies over sin's pleasures. He is glorious - the very definition of the word! Have you had a real encounter with Him? I'm not talking about praying a prayer and accepting Jesus into your heart, nor am I talking about being born into a religion or religious family.
I'm asking do you know Him? Has He become the all inclusive center of your life whereby all other joys and pleasure revolve around? Is He the passion of your life? Do you love Him? Do you aim to have Him as the the sun of the solar system of your heart, whereby all other desires like money and love and sex and children and wife and husband and fame and happiness, all revolved around? I dare say, if this isn't the case, you are wasting your life and you have absolutely nothing.
All known joys and pleasures will come to an end and life is but only a vapor. It is here today and gone in an instant. As I said in the beginning, there are many glorious splendors to behold and experience. But, if you only seek after them and not succeed in finding the glory in which those things point to, namely God in Christ, you would have missed it and wasted your life. Don't miss out on the share and indescribable sweetness of God in Christ. Know Christ, that you may be fully satisfied in Him and that God may be fully Glorified in you. Become one with God's will and allow His passion for His Glory to become your own passion. Seek that you may find Him and have a reason for living.
- Sincere