May God, who puts all things together, makes all things whole, Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus, the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant, Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead, Now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him, Make us into what gives him most pleasure, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
~hebrews 13:19-21
God has been challenging me to reevaluate my relationship with him recently. he reminded me of a prideful moment i had a few years ago and one that sometimes shows up again. after watching the life of someone(s) in ministry who didn’t seem to consult God on a regular basis i thought to myself, “how can they possibly live their lives that way?” as arrogant as that sounded my heart at the time was so dependently desperate for God’s leading that i truly could not understand how someone could live moment to moment without the wise counsel of an almighty God.
here i am a few years later and my lazy, unfaithful spirit has been walking the same path as the one i wondered about back then. as a result i’ve been thinking about the message of Jesus. what’s beautiful about his story is the many layers to it. God directed his son to leave the perfection of heaven to come to a fallen imperfect world, live a life of poverty with less than perfect parents, and lead a bunch of disciples who had no idea what he was all about, only to be innocently tortured and murdered publicly.
what’s speaking to me about that story is the amount of trust and faith in God Jesus had to agree and follow God step by step throughout his life. God gave his son a promise and the tools to effectively carry out his calling on this earth. at the end of it all God would glorify his son Jesus and bring him back to heaven as the king of all kings sitting at God’s right hand. many times in Jesus life no one could have blamed him for embracing a small or significant amount of doubt because of the circumstances surrounding him. yet Jesus never doubted or stopped believing in God’s purpose, will and promise. hebrews says that Jesus trusted the father in life, death, and after death.
what a great example he has set for us. our messiah loved the father so much that no matter what arrows were thrown at him, he never relented in trusting God. he had every reason to get mad or frustrated but he didn’t. this is the example i have and we all have for how to handle life, and we should desire to have this same trust and faithfulness in our walk with God.
i believe at the core of each one of us (especially myself), it is a huge struggle to trust anyone, especially a God we can not see. through his son Jesus, God has given us the perfect example of how to live our lives in stride with him by trusting him through the day to day, to death and eventually our own resurrection. the promise he has set for those who believe is a life eternally with him, where there will no longer be the struggles and imperfections we see in our lives here. i’m grateful for the many layers to the story of jesus, and for the example he has set for me.
