Perspectives: Compass Rose

 Do you know, where you're goin' to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you?

Don't you see it?

Inspired by Isaiah 43:16-21

Almighty, All loving, all knowing God,

The God who parts the sea

Who divides the ocean

Who makes a dry path in water,

The God who is more powerful than 

anything we can imagine, 

anything we describe,

tell us...

Forget about the way it used to be

Stop thinking about the past.

Focus instead on what I am about to do.

I, the God who created the universe out of nothing,

is doing a new thing.

I have done it, 

Don't you see it?

I, the God of the lost and forsaken,

have made a path in the wilderness.

I, the God of the parched

have brought rivers to the desert.

The wild animals recognize it,

they see what I have done,

and they honor me.

I bring water where they never expected to find it.

I quench their thirst.

And to you, too,

the ones I created,

the ones I love,

the new thing,

sprung up in the unexpected places

is for you.

Don't you see it?

Surrender

The following is a devotional I wrote for the West Virginia Annual Conference Lenten Devotional Ministry.

Hebrews 10:16-25

I have a friend, who, when talking about the hymn I Surrender All, jokingly calls it “I Surrender Most.”  I don’t think I am alone in my unwillingness to easily surrender all (or sometimes anything) to God.  I like to hold on to control.  I like to operate under the illusion that I can handle whatever comes my way – that I can, in fact, fix it all.  And we all know that is not true, don’t we?  We can’t fix it all.  We can’t control everything.

 

This morning, I was listening to Casting Crowns’ song I Surrender All to Jesus.  The lyrics include “At your feet I lay me down, all my scars…”  And it goes on “No more chasing yesterday.”  As you think about those lyrics, read verse 17 from our scripture for today: “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

 

Do we surrender our sin to God? Do we offer the pain of it, the burden of it to God? Will we let go of it?

 

Look at the grace God is offering to us.  “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”  This is the covenant God makes with us.  It is a promise from the heart of God.  This is grace freely given – not offered in exchange for something, but already given to us.

 

In our transaction-based society, it is hard to imagine that something as infinitely valuable as God’s love and forgiveness are given to us freely.  It’s hard for us to let go of that which we are ashamed us, isn’t it?  We relive our wrongdoing, playing it over and over in our minds, regretting what we did, wishing we could change the past. We can’t.  We can’t fix the past.  We can’t fix our sin.

 

Will you surrender your scars to Jesus?  Will you stop chasing the burden of what you did wrong yesterday?  Will you hear the words from God, “I will remember your sin and your lawless deeds no more” and believe it?  Will you open your heart and surrender all of your sins to Jesus, and feel the flood of healing grace God has already given to you?

 

Prayer: Loving God, we come to you in gratitude for the grace you have provided for us, for the loveliness of clean hearts and guilt-free souls.  Strengthen us to let go of our past mistakes so that we can experience your grace.  Amen.

Perspectives: Celebration

  I hope you celebrate something this coming week.