My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3: 14-21
I am living in the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. I am living the full life. I am living the part that says God can do anything. I am seeing the faithfulness of Jesus. Just because I have cast my lot with him. I am seeing His faithfulness.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
in pursuit of hope
Sometimes hope has a funny way of slipping through out fingers and it is only when we most need it that we realize it is gone. And so, we must pursue it. Search it out. Reclaim it. Sometimes, though, hope finds us.
I spent the last year and a half looking for hope. Looking for a glimpse of the goodness of God; For anything that would say, despite what we see in the world around us, that God is fundamentally good. I may have been pursuing it, but hope was chasing me too. It finally caught up to me in India; half way around the world from where I started searching.
I saw hope in the eyes of the children we met; hope in the way they pursued Jesus. I felt it in the hands of the women in Mother Teresa’s home as they squeezed my own. I touched hope as I carried a child, and as she held onto my neck. I felt it as I rubbed the feet of an old woman. I experienced hope as I walked the streets of Calcutta, knowing that the Lord has not forgotten any of his children. I knew hope as Jesus spoke it into my heart; softly, yet, undeniably.
And so, I am home now. I will continue to run after this radical, costly, generous, hope. This hope that says Jesus is enough. This hope that says no to darkness and yes to light. This hope that spins in the light of who the Lord is and dances in the face of adversity. This hope that yearns for more of Jesus and not less. This hope that cannot be denied. This trusting, pure hope; that knows God prepare a place for us in the midst of our enemies. This hope that produces and gives life.
I am still pursuing hope. And it is still pursuing me.
I spent the last year and a half looking for hope. Looking for a glimpse of the goodness of God; For anything that would say, despite what we see in the world around us, that God is fundamentally good. I may have been pursuing it, but hope was chasing me too. It finally caught up to me in India; half way around the world from where I started searching.
I saw hope in the eyes of the children we met; hope in the way they pursued Jesus. I felt it in the hands of the women in Mother Teresa’s home as they squeezed my own. I touched hope as I carried a child, and as she held onto my neck. I felt it as I rubbed the feet of an old woman. I experienced hope as I walked the streets of Calcutta, knowing that the Lord has not forgotten any of his children. I knew hope as Jesus spoke it into my heart; softly, yet, undeniably.
And so, I am home now. I will continue to run after this radical, costly, generous, hope. This hope that says Jesus is enough. This hope that says no to darkness and yes to light. This hope that spins in the light of who the Lord is and dances in the face of adversity. This hope that yearns for more of Jesus and not less. This hope that cannot be denied. This trusting, pure hope; that knows God prepare a place for us in the midst of our enemies. This hope that produces and gives life.
I am still pursuing hope. And it is still pursuing me.
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