IBS: A Sight To Behold

Mark 8:35—

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and gospel’s will save it.

I was standing on the porch with Paige (a fellow intern) this morning, stunned by the utter beauty that the Lord blesses us with. It was still early and the air was quiet save for a few birds singing. The lake was completely hidden by a thick layer of gray fog. As the fog stretched upwards towards the heavens it slowly faded from a monotone gray to a soft purple, then pink. The tips of the trees peaked out of the pink sky. Above the fog and trees the sky that was the purest blue held the big white moon. Paige and I stared at the view in silence, praising the Lord; and then she began to tell me where the scene brought her mind.

She explained to me that when there is pollution in the sky and the sun rises or sets over it, the pollution becomes colorfully beautiful. Pollution is gross, disgusting, and bad for us, but when brought to light, it is a sight to behold. She said that looking at the colorful fog looks like the Holy Spirit. When we lift our pasts and shame to Jesus, He covers them with His beauty and turns our failures to victories.  The Lord is able to use our transgressions to further His kingdom if we allow the Holy Spirit to breathe on our lives.

If we are willing to lose our lives, leave everything we’ve ever held onto, for Christ’s sake, then he will surely transform us into something beautiful. He will use our lives that we’ve laid down for Him in a way that we couldn’t even imagine.

I am so excited to give the Lord my future, I know He could do better things with it that I could even dream for myself. But giving God the past and allowing Him to use it is something I struggle with. I need to be willing to give God every part of my life, past, present, and future.

I see people laying down their lives for the Lord all throughout the New Testament. Paul, Timothy James, Peter, Jude—all men who call themselves bondservants of Christ Jesus.

They put themselves aside, put their lives aside, in order to serve the Lord and they were all blessed men. By giving up control of their lives, God gave them a new and better life.

Every time I see in the Bible someone introducing himself as a bondservant it grows my desire to set my life aside and be a servant of Christ.

It’s an easy thing to want; when you love the Lord with all your heart of course your desire is going to be to serve Him.

The application, however, is a bit more difficult, in Galatians is says, that if we are truly seeking to serve the Lord we will not be seeking the approval of man.

“Galatians 1:10—For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

I need to examine my heart. Who am I truly trying to please? Am I willing to lie down my own flesh and desires to follow the plans the Lord has for me?

I’m always so worried about how people see me, or if they will see me differently because of things I’ve done and places I’ve been. I need to put those worries to death and take the things I’ve done and give them to the Lord so he can use them, so that I can be a servant of the Lord.

Written: 8/16/11