The Peace of Christ

I imagine that it looked this very way all those years ago in Bethlehem. Now I've never been to Bethlehem mind you but i imagined it looked the same. In my mind it looked like tonight. Rolling hills that run into mountains on the horizon. Palm trees in the midst of the desert. A few lights on here and there on the hillsides. A calm, clear night with only a few clouds dusted across the midnight blue sky and brilliant points of light so easily seen by the human eye. Light falls across it all, only tonight not by a star, but by a full moon. It casts enough light to see dimly but clearly all that is on the landscape around me. I imagine that I'm there, seeing His manger, seeing His parents hold Him closely, and seeing His face, His gentle face for the first time. The face of innocence, of purity, of peace. And then a gentle breeze blows the palm fronds back and forth and though it's cold outside, ever so cold, I am warmed by His presence. Not only the presence of innocence and purity, but of majesty and power, might and awesomeness. And as I breathe it all in it is peace. Peace knowing that even as much pain and tumult that occurs in the world, it is under His watch. Peace knowing that He wins, and His will prevails whether we understand it or not. Peace that fills my very being as His Spirit washes His beloved presence over me in the stillness of this night. Peace knowing that even though I see dimly yet clearly in the light of Him, He sees all things, knows all things, holds all things gently in the palm of His hand. Peace knowing that He has given me this night, the beauty of His presence is mine, is for me as He envelops me in His adoration, though I am not worthy. Yet He is so worthy of all of my adoration, all of my honor and glory, all of my worship, yet I rarely give it all. But He constantly gives it to me and sadly that's what we want isn't it- for Him to give to us all of His love? And He does so freely, though we rarely return the sentiment, because we are His Beloved. We are His lovers. We are His passionate pursuit. We are His joy and the ones whom He adores. We are His. And in that, there is everlasting peace.

God our Rescuer

What is it in us that says "oh God will totally help me get out of a mess in this area of my life, but not in another?" What is it in us that can't quite translate his faithfulness from one part of our life to another? We all do it. I don't know anyone who hasn't thought this way at one point in their life. Let me give you an example of a dear friend of mine.

The other day my friend said to me that she didn't want to ask God to help her with her finances because she (and her family) got themselves into trouble. Now, where else in our lives is that applicable to the way God works? Isn't the whole basis of our relationship with Him that we could not get out of our own sin and so He chose to provide a Savior for us? Do we ever ask non believers to clean themselves up and get themselves all together before they come to Jesus? No! That is what Jesus does! He provides us with the righteousness that we cannot attain on our own! So why, then, would my dear friend be surprised when the Lord decided to provide her with an extra $550 within a matter of a week when she humbled herself and finally asked for His help? He is so good at getting us out of our messes! That's what He does! If He's merciful in one area of our life, He's going to be merciful in all because that is His character- to be merciful! If He's faithful in one area of our life He will be faithful in all because that's His character- to be faithful! Yet something in our mind doesn't translate His character across the board. We think- oh but I made a poor choice so why would God help me here since I was the one who made the mistake? Um.... weren't you the one who originally made all the sinful mistakes for which He saved you? When you give your life to Him, you belong to Him! His death and resurrection didn't only cover the vagueness of our sinful nature. It covers every specific sin that we commit; every mess we get ourselves into and we sure do get ourselves into some doozies! He is faithful to pull us out of whatever pit whether we dig and jump into it or fall into it. He is faithful and merciful to help us in whatever our time of need- no matter how big or small. He is our provider, our protector, the warrior on our behalf. He is our lover, our husband, our best friend. How could we expect any less from Him, and yet we always do. We have an awesome God who loves and adores us and would sacrifice His Son to draw us to Him. It is more than we could ever deserve. If He never did anything else for us it would be enough. But that's not Him. His desire is to be in constant relationship and to constantly rescue us. Does He allow the consequences of our sin to take effect? Yes absolutely. Does He require us to fix it? No way because we cannot. He is the capable one. He is the one with the God-sized vision. He is the one who lovingly adores us out of our mess. He is the Rescuer.

There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still

-Corrie ten Boom.