Purpose in the Waiting

As you well know, it's that time of year again!  Time for family gatherings and celebrations.  Time for busy malls and holiday deals.  Time for decorating and gifts.  Time for recognition and celebration of our Savior's birth into this world.  While contemplating this time of year, something seemed to click today.  It simply BLOWS MY MIND that Jesus would leave all His splendor in heaven to bind His infinite being in the form of a helpless baby.  A baby!  The most helpless and dependent of creation!  He came to grow up with His people.  To LIVE among us!  He could have come as a man.  He could have made a way to not have to come at all.  BUT, He chose to come.  He chose to leave glory behind.  He chose to be born into our world as a baby and grow for 30 years into a man before He began His service ministry.  ...that's what hit me.  He WAITED for 30 YEARS to learn and grow and mature as a human before He began His ministry to the masses.  And what was He waiting for?  What did He come for?  To teach for 3 short years and to DIE.  He was waiting to die.  To SAVE us from our sin!  To provide the ONLY way to the Father.  He waited until the time was right...until God's timetable told him to move forward.  Could He have stood that first night of His birth and preached to the shepherds, wise men, and His parents?  OF COURSE!  He was still FULLY God!  But, He waited.  He spent time with the people of earth experiencing all the things of life that we experience.  Making relationships.  Learning to walk and talk and read and write.  Falling down and scraping His knees.  Running to His mother when His brothers wouldn't share.  He struggled with our same emotions and faced our same trials...with one HUGE difference...He NEVER sinned.  He NEVER complained.  He NEVER gave up.

I am facing a season of waiting.  So far, this season has lasted 4 1/2 years...How long will my waiting last?  And there it is...Christ waited 33 years to fulfill God's plan for His life and never once complained or got mad at God or questioned His purpose...He just trusted the Father and followed the plan...  what do I have to complain about?  Jesus came to reveal the things of God. In His waiting, Jesus revealed that even the waiting has purpose.

Even the Waiting has Purpose.

Waiting can be hard.  Waiting can be torture.  Waiting can be annoying.  BUT, at the end of the waiting come RELIEF!  AND, the LONGER the wait, the BETTER the blessing.  I truly believe that!  Think about it.  The longer you wait for something, the anticipation grows and grows and the poof!  You get what you've been waiting for and it proves to be MORE that you ever imagined!  Praise God for waiting.  As I seek to draw nearer to Christ, to become more like Him, I will seek to embrace my wait and look forward to the end with anticipation and joy...NOT with complaining and a sour spirit.

May God bless your wait with more that you can ask or imagine!  May God grant you the peace of knowing in your heart and mind that there is purpose in all of it, even in the waiting.  May God grant you rest from worry, fear, doubt, and may He strengthen your faith and belief that He is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do!

Obedience

^"Though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.  After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, and He was declared by God a high priest in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 5:8-10

Hey friends!  There are no words for how much I have missed you these past months.  I'm not sure how the time has gotten away from me...then again, I guess as we get busy, some things get pushed aside...forgotten...re-prioritized.  I have been struggling to get myself back to the computer and back to the commitment I've made to you through Saturdays with Sara.  Not that this is something you have come to expect, but rather something I have been called to by God, He expects it of me...He expects my obedience...He deserves my obedience.  Recently, this is the last thing I want to give Him.

Obedience is an interesting thing.  Obeying one thing ultimately means disobeying another...Matthew 6:24 tells us "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." Examples might include God and money (as indicated in the Matthew verse), good and evil, work and rest, diligence and entertainment...etc.  God requires our all...He requires our obedience for He sent His Son Jesus as the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.  I have a confession.  I have not been obedient to God.  SO many times He has whispered and called me to His word, called me to His purpose, called me away from my distractions and every time I have turned away from Him.  PRAISE God He is willing and ready to take me back now!  What great forgiveness He offers!  No matter how far we have run...no matter if we keep on running, our Heavenly Father, our Emmanuel waits for us to turn back to Him.  He waits for us to confess our disobedience.  He waits for us to repent and turn away from whatever it is that has distracted us from His glory.  And He waits for us to RUN into His OPEN arms so He can welcome us back!  Thank you Jesus!

I am emptied.  I am humbled.  I am changing.

God allows trials in our lives to stretch us, to grow us, to challenge our faith and I believe that the trial  of disobedience is one of the most powerful testers of our faith!  God requires our obedience but He also gifts us with FREE will.  God is not a tyrant.  God does not wish to force truth and obedience on us.  He loves us and wants what is best for us and above all He wants us to make the choice!  To make a choice between obedience and following the pattern of this enemy world.  For a time, I chose the pattern of this world.  And what did I gain?  Trial.  Difficulty.  Battle.  True, the only thing I have gained for myself in my effort to embrace the world's pattern is a deeply rooted battle for my mind, my heart, and my soul.  Satan want's so badly for me to fail, and I've made it so easy for him to win.  Praise God for the Holy Spirit who nudges and leads and reminds and helps speaking truth into my heart all the while.  No, there is nothing to gain by seeking to imitate and fit into the world.  I count it all as loss.

As I turn back to my Heavenly Father, I feel him gently lift my head to gaze fully into His glory so that He might begin to fill me once again.  My prayer is this: that God would continue to empty my heart of the temporal pleasures I've used to replace Him in my life and fill the emptied spaces of my heart with His eternal mercy, glory, truth, and love!  I pray the same for you, friends.  What has distracted you from Him this week?  How have you chosen to disobey Him by putting off your obedience.  In what way will you choose to sacrifice yourselves and obey Him this week?  My commitment is to get back into the Word.  To fill my heart with truth once again and purge my soul of the lies I've welcomed.

As Christmas dawns and we begin  to reflect on the gift and coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what better time to recommit to truth and obedience?  Run into His arms loved ones!  He's waiting for you!