Let's get it

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A prayer on my mind tonight: God, would isolation be a discovery of the God in our rooms, who says almost more than anything else, to not be afraid. May it be a time of discovery of security that transcends the physical.

A thought on my mind recently: We seem to teach the young kids in Sunday School the craziest stories of the Bible (think like ... Noah's Ark or Daniel in the Lion's Den), then discourage excited Christians later on. It seems to me that the New Testament says we're to experience something even ... crazier in a sense. I'll share some verses below to munch on.

All I'm saying is that I want what it says, not what's become "normal" in my society. I want the pure, unadulterated. I want the Non-GMO, Organic, 100% pure gospel of Jesus Christ. I want the Kingdom of God. Seems like there's more to Jesus and who we are in Him than I'm aware of. Let's get it.

Matthew 13:17
For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

1 Peter 1:12
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

2 Corinthians 3:7-18
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Hebrews 12:18-24
 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Starving for What's Real

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Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The "Kingdom of God" being near to humans was the easiest way for Matthew and Mark to summarize what Jesus went around saying to everyone (check out Mark chapter 1 verse 15 and Matthew Chapter 3 verse 2/ Chapter 4 verse 17).

This thing that Jesus said was now available to people, he describes (as quoted above in Matthew 13) as something worth selling everything else for, if seen properly.

If I had been honest about my understanding of Christianity for most of my life - fear was what drove my religion as opposed to having seen something I wanted to give everything away to get.

I am convinced more than ever, that I am very far from alone in that in Canadian Christian Culture today.

I am convinced more than ever, that a lot of Christians still need to hear good news.

I am also convinced that we are experiencing the same thing the Corinthian Church did that Paul wrote about in his second letter to them in the Bible. Check out Chapter 6 to see Paul pleading with them about something, named in verse 12:

"You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections."

In other words, what was holding them back from experiencing more of this Kingdom available to them through Jesus was what they desired. Not because it was impossible for them.

They actually didn't want to go look in the field at this pearl that was apparently so good. That might mean they would need to sell what they already had, which wasn't something they were sure about doing yet.

Hence a lot of us not really believing this Christian message is really "good news" today. Hence fake smiles and hollow messages of hope.

You can imagine this isn't really an issue for people who don't have much. Nothing bidding for their affection, their desire, their attention. At news that there is something available to them that is so amazing it's worth selling everything for, they're all over that. Check out Matthew 19:24

In a culture and time where there's a lot of things that seem like they will be worth living for, worth hanging on to even if the Kingdom of God is one field over in the waiting - we've got a warning to be heeded.

The warning isn't that God hates you and wants to kill you - it's that you may not really want to hear anything from Him. You may feel you're just fine without a new life in the Kingdom.

We may find ourselves like a lot of people in Jesus' time who just weren't interested, that's all.

I'm convinced that the best "testimony" a Christian can live today is to just get real about whether they believe the Jesus they know is amazing. Is the Kingdom you know and understand really worth selling everything for? Faking it isn't worth it, even if you feel silly about "not being there" because you've gone to church for decades or something.

The truth is you don't need to try very hard to sell something that's real, and amazing. If you're sincerely in love with the Jesus you know - if you're sincerely thankful and believe you were once dead and separate from God and now you've been reconciled - people see it.

I think the "narrow road" of the Christian in our culture today is to unrelentingly fix our eyes on that peal in the field. To never give up until we really see it. Grace is not opposed to effort - it's opposed to earning. Creds to Dallas Willard for that quote

If we are actually diligent about allowing God and His Kingdom their rightful place in our heart (affection, desire) - we may find we just found the most joyful and fulfilling life a human could live, and at the same time, shine among a society that is absolutely starving for something real.

The Free Gift of Eternal Life

Hebrews 11 is a famous chapter of the New Testament, sometimes coined "Heroes of Faith" or something like that. It recounts many stories from the Old Testament, like Noah building an ark for years while people looked on and mocked him. Abraham moving his entire family to an undisclosed location (and moving was no small deal in that day and time).

The author praises these heroes because they had faith. Their love for God was shown in the way they lived, to a dramatic degree.

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13-16 

They died still believing a promise that God gave them. They "agreed" (in accordance with this promise) that they were "foreigners and nomads" here on earth.

I was told recently that the word "holy" means "set apart". So when we sing of how holy God is, properly understood, we exalt Him at the sight of who He is in contrast to everything else. Being "most holy", he is "most set apart". He's nothing like anything else, in a good way. Far above.

These heroes of faith were set apart too. They didn't see themselves as being just human. Considered their national heritage as being second to the country they were seeking. A "heavenly homeland". Their true created identity.

Jesus told His followers He went to prepare a place for them as well. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if every Christian everywhere really believed that. It's worth dwelling on.

So for these people in the Old Testament, and for every Christian today (followers of Jesus), we have the idea that we weren't made just to be human. This isn't the full extent of our existence. We were created for more. Created for a different place. Something about believing that causes us to be set apart from the ways of life considered "normal" here on Earth.

Jesus says in Matthew 16:25:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Similar to the idea that we are foreigners here, we have Jesus telling us that an attempt to hold our lives selfishly will actually result in the loss of life. I think this is actually a loving appeal for us to accept a truth that challenges entitlement and pride: you weren't made for you.

I think we see this in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve live in harmony with God, but decide they want to decide for themselves what is good and evil rather than submit to God's Lordship (the tree they ate from gave "knowledge of good and evil"). They have lost their access to God's presence because their taking of this power is a giant rift in how they were created to live. A disconnection with God occurred, because they wanted to take something rightly His, for themselves. They've actually lost their identities.

We are all in this same state of being severed from our true created identity, and we all experience the emptiness/treadmill of life that forever keeps us wondering why we're here .. "is really it?" Subliminally wondering if after we graduate college we'll finally be fulfilled and happy, or maybe after marriage, or after travelling a lot and seeing the world, or after raising kids and seeing them succeed....

Some simple examples of this seen in my own life: When I was a kid I had a hard time with competition. Especially wrestling or play fighting. I took it too seriously and would over-react. I didn't find it fun. That applied in many avenues of competitiveness, really. Even in to young-adulthood.

God spoke to me and told me that I was afraid of what I thought losing meant about who I was. You don't need to be much older than 4 to begin being mad at yourself and crying because you feel like "you suck" and wish you were better.

Adults do the same thing. Whether it's me slamming weights around angrily at the gym because I didn't get the bench press I wanted, or a self conscious teenager worrying about her hair - we look to anything to affirm that we don't suck. We need to believe something good about ourselves, and it's painful to believe the opposite.

Jesus tells us that we weren't made for ourselves, and we observe it in all of these insecurities and attempts to prove ourselves. They will never satisfy. You will never bench enough. Even if you're the best in the world - you're selling yourself so short of who Jesus is saying you were really meant to be.

For most of us who never get to be the best at bench pressing in the world and deal with the constant comparing ourselves with others, feelings of worthlessness, questions about what the point of all of this is, obsessively worrying about what others think of us for fear that our insecurities might be true.

For most of us haunted by this constant fear and exhausting battle to fight the destructive things we believe about ourselves: the faults we always find in the mirror, the never-ending focus on everything we did wrong or should have done better without getting to rest in improvement or a job well done. To us, Jesus speaks words that the whole world has hung on for thousands of years:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

I strongly encourage you to read the entirety of Matthew 5

We are blessed, because God sent His son as a way of restoration back to the Kingdom of Heaven. A new life, a fresh start, and a clean slate from every sin, that we may stand before Him "holy and blameless". An eternal life that no one can take from you. God calling you a friend, a co-worker, a child of God.

It takes accepting His invitation to be King again in our lives. The way we lived thinking our lives were for us is turned from, and we walk with Him, being born again and becoming a new creation.

It's as simple as asking Him, if you're curious. You don't need to be in a church or a special place.

Jesus puts an end to our identity crisis, and gives us rest. Like it said in Hebrews, as we live believing that we haven't found our home yet - we live each day believing that who we are in Christ is the real us.

Don't miss that God calls you "holy and blameless" if you've received that cleansing gift in Jesus (if you're a Christian). "A child of His own". You didn't need to bench press a lot of look nice for Him to call you that, and that won't change. He teaches us to see ourselves in the mirror as He sees us, and it's not fault-finding.

For many Christians this is, in practice, is not much more than a distant biblical truth. I think it looks very different in all areas of life when you walk around believing every day that you are a holy, blameless, child of God.

I should mention that I'm not suggesting that the bible teaches us we are all perfect at living out the truth of who we have been made in Christ. We grow in that, and that process of growing is called "sanctification" in biblical terms. Growing to be more like Christ.

I'm suggesting that even our greatest failures are paid for in Christ, and sin is still sin, but He wants us to stand on the forgiveness that gives us access to Him in the first place, and keep learning from Him, seeking Him, and living every day with Him.

It should not spiral us in to an identity crisis every time we mess something up, it should be a platform for the "true" us to come through in this life, by "being transformed in the renewing of our minds".

You are not only as good as how well you do. You are as good as Jesus made you clean in his atoning blood. How's that for the opposite of religious thinking?

"Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" Matthew 16:25B

Here's to the great freedom set before us that we don't need to fight to live for ourselves anymore. Here's to the peace, love, joy and abundance that it is to allow our lives to be about Him. The free gift of eternal life. The "better" way that cannot be taken from us".

Here's to an answer for every fear and insecurity. Here's to lives filled with unending love that no longer competes in the mad scramble of the world to "get theirs".

Here's to living water - John 4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”"

And to a treasure worth selling everything for.

The Supernatural Operating Table

In Luke chapter 2, a "righteous and devout" man named Simeon - meets Mary and Joseph bringing baby Jesus to the temple. 

Verse 34 and 35:

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

 I thought about what it means that a sword will pierce Mary and Joseph's soul, that the thoughts of their hearts would be revealed.

 It actually felt a lot like what I've been experiencing lately. I've felt like God has been showing me that the deep motivations of my heart are selfish, prideful and coming from a place that's hurt.

To give you an example of what I mean - I've felt convicted about my attitude towards girls over the past while. To get real with you, I found myself evaluating girls around me as candidates. Not in a level-headed way or healthy way, but in a desperate and judgmental way. A way that had great expectations and insecurities that I don't think will ever really be met in a relationship with a girl. I don't think they were really meant to. Other human beings are not something you shop for to decide if you'd "like that one". You shouldn't just "hope you get a good one".

God convicted me of something that was really broken in my thinking, my outlook, here. I think these are the "thoughts of the hearts" that Jesus cuts to reveal.

I've experienced personally in my life, and believe the Bible reflects the same truth, that Jesus doesn't cut us open with intentions to harm. He gets us on the operating table to expose deep wounds and broken things of the heart, that He would heal and make us whole.

Check out these verses:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Matthew 23:37

For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
Matthew 13:15

This is the Surgeon we are talking about. The one that longs that people would turn, that He could heal them. The sword talked about Luke chapter 2 is not a sword swung to destroy, but a surgeon's knife in the hand of a passionately loving Father. A God that subjected himself to being a human and suffering death on a cross to rescue you. It's important never to lose sight of that.

I felt like God gave me some understanding as I thought on these things this morning, thinking of it in view of this passage:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

We often come to Him for help when we are hurt. We need rest. We're beat down and heavy laden. I don't know how well understood the second part of this has been, for me, though. I imagine the "yoke" that Jesus puts on us, the learning he tells us to do, is post-operation advice he gives to us as Surgeon. So that we don't just repeat a constant cycle of needing the same surgeries.

For us to remain healed, we need that second part. The transforming of the way we think.

As Surgeon, he doesn't just cut out the bad leaving an empty shell - but he gives us new life. He gives us a new heart and a new mind. See Ezekiel 36:26 and Romans 12:2

So I mentioned before that I've been experiencing a lot of this "exposition" of the deep motivations of my heart. I've been shown them, so that I would turn to him, climb on the operating table, and let him guide my life with post-op advice. He wants to instill a new heart and way of thinking in me, and the transformation of God working inside of me is nothing short of supernatural. I have walked free from addictions, seen peace and confidence given in areas of my life I thought were hopeless, and been overall changed as a person, as I've followed this surgeon's advice.

He does not condemn me. He does not feel ashamed of what He finds as he cuts me open. He's God almighty and knew what was in there anyways - he just longs that I would walk like I was created to. That in receiving His healing, teaching and covenant - I would walk as a son of God. I'm loved by God almighty and created with a purpose (you are, too). The bible teaches that heaven rejoices when someone climbs on the operating table (see Luke 15:7). I think God is excited for us, and sees more potential in us (something worth dying for - it's that big) than we can really imagine. I've just got to trust these words and keep getting on the table, man!

In concluding my time thinking on this, this morning, I felt warned as this passage came to mind:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James 1:22-25

If Jesus cuts to expose these things - he holds a mirror up to my face (again, with loving intentions). I still have a choice as to whether I want to receive the operation and post-op advice. It feels important to know that there is lots to entice, tempt and distract me that I would "go away at once and forget what I was like in the mirror". Caught in the motions, busyness, lusts of what the world has to offer.

Something to be heeded, I guess!

Wholly

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.
Psalm 23:1 (NLT)

If we have the Lord as our shepherd, we have all that we need. But if our hope is deferred, our heart is sick.

The book of Genesis presents the idea that the reason we exist is for a relationship with God, and we are born broken, away from that purpose - needing to be redeemed back to that.

The rest of the bible acts as a giant arrow pointing to Jesus - "He's the way back to why you were created."

This is why, if you've been redeemed back to your created purpose - "you have all that you need". It's what the "owner's manual" prescribes as us needing.

1 Timothy 1:1 says that Christ Jesus himself is "our hope". Our hearts become sick when our hope is placed elsewhere. This is the same idea that, with Him as our shepherd, we have all that we need.

I think everyone knows what it feels like to be disappointed. To have hope in something that wasn't fulfilled.

I wonder what Paul understood, that I don't, when I read this passage:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed  

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

If you read about Paul's life, he went through some pretty insane stuff.

What does it look like to have your hope so set on Christ that you are in a state where you are whole, fulfilled, at peace and one with God?

A better example is to look at Jesus and see what his life looked like - because Paul (the dude that wrote the letter to the Corinthians I just quoted) is a good example, but Jesus was perfect.

Jesus went through insanely difficult things as well. The first thing I note, is that Jesus had emotions. He wept when he saw the crowd gathered in mourning for his friend Lazarus who died. Even though he was about to literally raise him from the dead - the son of God wept (see John 11).

Jesus definitely wasn't deadpan and stoic when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing he was about to be delivered over to be crucified. He experienced extreme emotion (see Matthew 26).

If Jesus was perfect, and had emotion, I guess having your hope set completely on God doesn't mean you are exempt from emotion and trial either.

So this is about as far as I've gotten. Don't know if I can wrap this up in to a well articulated teaching, but I hope my musings are valuable. 

I wonder if the answer to my question (which I haven't stated yet, but will) lies in reading the bigger section of the passage from 2 Corinthians I quoted earlier. Let's read:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Jesus was perfect, and laid his life down as a sacrifice for others. He is the way we are redeemed back to our created purpose - a relationship with God. He gives us a new spiritual life in "his Kingdom" where you're not just someone in a kingdom, you are made a part of His family. A son or a daughter. A co-heir with Him. Eternally His. 

Paul experiences this new spiritual life, and goes through extreme trial and emotion - speaking of a hope that sustains him even though he is driven to despair, crushed, persecuted and struck down. He experiences those things and, like Jesus, felt emotion and pain. He considers his life not to be lived for himself anymore - but as a vessel for God to continue to make his appeal to others who are in need of redemption. A "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1) - a "seed that dies in the ground to bring life" (John 12:24). Maybe this is what Jesus was saying when he said "You must lose your life to gain it" (Matthew 10:39).

He's concluded that he will make every effort to set his hope on Christ alone, elsewhere saying that he counts "everything rubbish in comparison to knowing him" (Philippians 3:8). 

He considers his true self to be from another place. A spiritual, eternal kingdom.

Paul tasted and found and wrote that Jesus was the thing he longed for and spent many years looking for elsewhere. That in having Him as his shepherd, he had all that he needed. 

I didn't state a question to start this post off, but what I'm digging in to is this:

How do I place my hope in Him alone? Is the pain in my life because I've placed it elsewhere, and I'm feeling the effects of trying to fill a place only He can fill? 

If Jesus and Paul felt pain and emotion - I guess not all pain is from "hope deferred" - or, better yet, if you're hope is completely on Christ, it doesn't mean your life is a constant state of cheerful nirvana. 

If that's the case, what does it look like, then? 

Not sure. Maybe there will be another blog post with the answer :)

Cosmic Treasure

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7

As I look back at the blogs I've written here, and the drafts that sit unfinished, you discover a theme of what I've been working out in my faith over the past few years.

I sat for a while yesterday and today thinking about the final sentence in this passage above: being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

Reading the bible is helpful because it pushes me from complacency. It's a hard book to read and believe that Christians are just regular people who are fearfully obeying 2000 year old rules in hopes of not going to hell afterwards.

I think God's heart breaks for us and the box we put Him in sometimes. We were meant to live like we have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. His heart breaks for His created children who were meant to be prophets, priests and kings with Him in His family forever, and never know it. Who keep on keeping on because this sentence has never been made "real" inside of them. It just remains words on a page.

So I share this section of the Bible that stood out to me because it forces me to ask the question: Do I live like this? Do I believe and live like I'm an heir according to the hope of eternal life because of the mercy of God in Jesus? If you're like me and the answer is "nope" or "definitely not always" (maybe your answer is "what in the world are you talking about") - I think we've got some treasure to discover yet.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
Matthew 13:44

 

Magical Rocks

"Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones." 

Matthew 3:9

John the Baptist (a dude in the Bible) warned the religious leaders of his day not to get caught up in pride because of their heritage. God could have made more "children of Abraham" from the very rocks around them.

Sometimes we tie our personal worth to what we can do, as well. We only feel good about ourselves if we are doing certain things. We read the bible and hear Christian teachings on what Christians should be doing. If we aren't doing these things, or we really really don't want to, we begin to question our very identity. "Am I really a Christian?"

The truth is that God doesn't need us to do what we do. He's God. He can heal people, feed the hungry and teach the truth to people with the very stones around us. The truth about who we are, the answer to this question "who am I", and the root of our faith that everything else grows out of - is that we are simply loved. God just loves you. That's who you are. Your worth is determined by what God paid for you, and what He paid for you was with His son's life here on Earth. Look at the life of Jesus and what He subjected Himself to, and think about what it would mean if this was for your sake. It was done out of love for you, and it was done to restore you to a relationship with Him. It didn't make you a part of His business plan. It was just His plan to bring you home, and to live with you.

God doesn't want us to try and earn His approval with works. People tried that for the entirety of the Old Testament and we still needed a new Covenant. This new Covenant is that you are considered to be as perfect as Jesus, because He stepped in and took the wrath of God upon himself, for what you deserved. Getting to know this, getting to know Him and how much He unconditionally loves you, is the primary purpose of God in your life right now.

When we get confused and prideful, thinking that God is in this for what we can do for Him - we're missing the point. If you are a Christian reading this, you are a child of God adopted in to His family because He cares for you that much. You're free from everything that enslaved you beforehand, and you have the privilege of being able to take part in what God is doing here on Earth because He lives inside of you now, and no one can take that from you.

This verse has become quite personal to me, because I frequently find myself feeling not OK if I'm not doing anything. A friend suggested to me once that busyness can be a tool used to distract us from the truth. I think he's right about that. If I spend a day from morning until evening doing "stuff" that seems like it's what Christians "should" be doing, or if I spend the whole day inside doing nothing - God's love for me does not change. I think getting to know Him and to know who He's made me to be is the root of the rest of it. It's the most important thing. I don't save anyone, and I walk on a lot of rocks that God could use instead of me to do things. The gospel message is that you can't do anything to save yourself, but you do have the opportunity by the mercy of God to be saved and live life with Him. And the message is that, if you saw it for what it really is, you would really, really want to. You don't have to. You'd just really want to.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

Matthew 13:44