Beauty

    Have you ever stopped to wonder the beauty of God? Take for instance a warm glow as the sun sinks below the ocean, lighting the sky on fire as it leaves. Bright oranges and pinks bleed red as they sink into the ocean. We look on without a second thought most of our lives. God spends time painting the sky for us in unique ways every day. We may never think about the beauty it holds, But God still takes the time to make it new everyday. If you're like me and grew up in Oregon, you will understand we have few sunsets as beautiful as this and a lot of rain. Most Oregonians pull a hood on and complain about the weather, trying to avoid getting wet. I remember in High School wanting to do the very opposite. I loved walking in the rain; no hood to shelter me from the bullets of water that barraged my head. For me, witnessing the beauty that would unfold soon after was well worth the assault. The smell that filled the air once the rain ceased fire and crawled, retreating, back into the clouds. The smell that is so hard to describe but anyone who has ever paused for a moment after the rain had stopped knows it all too well; fresh, new, life...and that is also beautiful.

    I could go on describing moments of my life where I have witnessed beauty that comes from nature, I could even go into describing the beauty I have seen in the hearts of men, the beauty I see in my wife that goes beyond just her physical appearance and into the depths of her soul. How it awakens in me the beauty God has created me to live out. Sometimes I don't think I am worthy of the love I have been given. I doubt that there is any reason I should have this beauty, this ability to live a life drawn out by the creator God. The God who fashioned me from dust and breathed life into me as I lay in my mothers womb. To be honest I know better than to think this but as a fallible man I cannot stop myself from falling into this train of thought. This is a poison flowing through my veins trying to reach my heart, slowing my breathing to a dead stop, unable to draw life into my lungs and then seeping into my mind; filling my head with thoughts that are untrue, dark and deceitful. It causes me to stumble and fall into sin and self loathing. Lies that belittle me to less than a man to the point I am a slave to the very poison that runs through my veins. Doubt is its name. It's in these moments I realize something is not right, I can feel God calling me back to Him and I have to be the one to make the decision, do I stay or do I go...?

    That is the Beauty of God. He created us so that we might have fellowship with Him, to love Him and be loved by Him and yet He gave us the choice to make that decision. He left it up to us. God is so infinite in His wisdom and knew some of us would fall, and some of us would never rise to meet Him at all, but He still desired us and crafted us. God once sent Jeremiah to the potters house to sit and watch as the potter went about his day, for God would speak to him there. As Jeremiah sat he watched the potter working the clay into a shape, and shortly after it collapsed. Instead of the potter getting angry and throwing out the clay he simply worked it into something else as it seemed good to the potter to do. This is found in Jeremiah 18, but the lesson is the same in our lives. God is the potter molding our lives but sometimes we make bad decisions or slip and cause the clay to collapse in His hands. This doesn't stop God though. He simple starts to mold you into another pot. God wants to craft you into a beautiful piece of pottery and paint you with beautiful colors so that when He is finished He will look upon you and say “well done my good and faithful servant.” 

    Sometimes being molded by God to shine His beauty is hard and the road is difficult to walk. God is break us down and making us pliable, shaping and molding our character. If we jump off the path that is before us because we think there is a short cut or an easier way, we often times miss the thing God is trying to do with our lives. We don't stay on long enough to understand that following the road God places before us comes with many blessings along the way, and all we have to do is keep the faith and know that God has already walked the path in front of us, and will keep us safe along your journey. Even if the road seems rocky at times, trust in God to walk you through life and always be there for you. Take the time to admire the beauty of God that is all around you, God created it for our enjoyment and His. God will work His beauty through your life, and when He does, don't forget to share that beauty with those around you. It may be the spark that leads them into His hands to be molded and shaped into something beautiful.

Much Love,
The Bear.

Light Bearers

Psalm 119:11 (ESV)

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

    I want this! God you know the desires of my heart and it is to stand in you so sturdy I can't be shaken because your Word has been stored in my heart. God engrave this on my heart like the tablets of stone bearing the 10 commandments, permanent and everlasting!

    As I read this verse I was so encouraged I don't know if I can ever get over it...This was the cry of a man desperate to know God so intimately that His Word never left his heart. The Word is a representation of Jesus. I want Jesus to settle in my heart and leave the Holy Spirits presence so strongly that even when a stumbling block arises before my feet, I can be ready and avoid falling on my face. Praise the Lord!

Galatians 4:6-7 (ESV)

"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

This is the fruition of the first verse. I before mentioned that Jesus is the Word and in Psalm 119:11 we see the craving to have the Word of God stored up in the heart. In Galatians God tells us that is exactly where Jesus, the Word is at!

 

    This is crazy!!! God loves us too much sometimes I swear! Not in a bad way just in the best way. He is constantly doing things like this, constantly finding the desires we have and fulfilling them before we ever realize we needed or wanted it. He does this over and over again in the Bible because its alive and active. Its God's guidance, its His way of giving us hope and peace and to top it all off its where we can see His love lived out. It gives us an example of how we should live our lives. We should emulate or shine back the light of Jesus so others may see it like a lighthouse burning on a cliff. They're lost in the dark night just as we were, then we found the light and it guided us safely into Gods presence and into the safety of the sunlight.

    What I love about this picture is how great it represents this concept. God is willing to leave the 99 in search of the 1 and often times sends us out to find the lost. He equips us with a flash light, a way to shine the light of Christ that lives in us and sends us out so that people may see what we have, that it is different and that they want it. I mean lets be honest, if were all living in utter darkness shuffling around trying not to fall flat on our faces, wouldn't we want a flashlight? But not just any flash light, an everlasting no need to recharge or replace batteries flash light. That's what God gives us and He equips us with the ability to show others the light we have been given, so that others might turn towards it and see our Abba, our Father and desire that light and be renewed in Him. They then get to live out Psalm 119:11 and Galatians 4:6-7 and find Jesus at there center, in there heart. 

 

    Jesus says in His own words" I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12. Be encouraged that we are not left alone to trip and stumble in the dark and take pride in the light that you carry, don't be ashamed of it and shine it bright so all may see who lives in you. Be a light bearer for Christ and help bring others into His amazing love.

 

Much Love,

The Bear