Getting to know God
Sometimes it is hard to breathe deeply and take things one moment at a time. The mind leaps forward and suddenly anxiety over something that hasn’t yet happened can take over. But, I am trying to slow things down a bit. Take a moment where a moment is needed and feed my soul so that my interactions with others aren’t out of some warped sense of feeling that I am doing or being “good.”
As I am reading Wide Open Spaces by Jim Palmer and slowly wading through some scripture, I feel a real need to do just that- slowly wade through it. I have learned a lot over the years, and gotten excited about a lot. Some of it sticks, some of it doesn’t. Inevitably things that are rushed through will be soon forgotten or lost in the makings of everyday life. But if I am focusing on a relationship with my Father, if I am trying to settle into who I was created to be and how I was made to love him I can’t rush through it in an attempt to “fix my life” or be a better “Christian.” Because I don’t even know what that word is anymore.
So, this is some of what I’m reading, unsorted, mostly raw, this is what I am feeling impact me and who I am now, mom to be and all (although it’s hard to believe).
Romans 8:33 “It is God who justifies…”
Yes, I am here to love and reveal Christ through me, but the ultimate justice is His, because none of us are deserving (if so justice might mean paying a consequence for every catty thought I have ever had). Thank God for God!
Romans 12:16 “…never be wise in your own sight.”
Ugh, this one is tough for me. I want to be right and have all the answers and when I figure something out I want to be the one to share it. From this chapter I glean not that God wants us to feel unintelligent, but he wants us to show humility, never thinking that we have all the answers, that everyone else is wrong, and never unwilling to learn something about Him. (Ugh because I know I have done this!)
Colossians 1:27 “And this is the secret: Christ lives in you.”
Not only did God send his son, but he sent him to live inside of us. So if we truly believe and we have asked Jesus to enter our hearts then one of the ways we get to know him is by listening for His voice and feeling his presence and direction in our lives and following it! But we must interact with him, we must know Him through prayer and the Word of God, but don’t live in ignorance that he is in you.
From Wide Open Spaces-
…In reality I treated my belief system as if it were my Savior. It was my belief in the right suppositions about Christ that made me saved. When the basis for being a Christian is your specific set of beliefs about God, the most important thing is being right.
Are you interested in knowing God?…His main prinicple for life is to love.
…Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion- he came to reveal God. Why? Because he knew if humankind could physically experience who he is, we would want to know him, and knowing him would change us.
-Jim Palmer
Yes! This is all I can say in response to this. I will only say these words struck me. I am sure you can infer as to why.
God loves me, just as he loves you, and I hope that we can all slow it down just a little to get to know Him more.
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