You may be wondering, like me, where the time went. I last blogged in August, and even then didn't find time to write anything. Words were hard to phrase as I wanted to say so much and had time to say so little.
But really, the writer's block that I faced was the lump in my throat called pride.
Last week my mother went to be with the Lord, 2 days after our 6 month birthday, and she had yet to meet these boys. How I wanted to share things with her, to take a picture of her with her newest grandsons, to have her know me as a mother. But instead of saying that our chats were about changes in the boys or trials she faced 5 hours away.
What I learned, as I have cried, moaned, wailed, and mentally struggled with reconciling her sudden and final departure from earth on December 4, is that there are no second chances on death. It is something we all think we understand, but we don't truly grasp. She was a mere 66, 20 years younger than my healthy grandmother and 30 years younger than my healthy great-aunt.
And what I most want to demonstrate in my daily walk with the Lord, by whose grace we will see each other again, is that we should NOT wait for someone else to take a first step. We should NOT consider that someone else needs to do something or be something before we are able to take steps we should take. Scripture has no pre-requisites. There are no actions that precede the actions we must take. In other words, when Jesus said the greatest commands were to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor (everyone is our neighbor) as yourself, he didn't say "Once you get your life straight...”, and, “once your neighbor starts to love you."
He says simply to DO. Through-out the Old Testament the desire of God to have a personal relationship with us is evident in the writings of Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah... time after time he offered 2nd chances to the Israelites based not on their actions, their reputation, but rather in spite of it. When Jesus was born to this world He did not come to be served but to serve- and considering the selfish motives and worldly intentions of mankind, it's a good thing. As we cruise past the homeless or justify our stubborn refusal to apologize for something we didn't think was wrong to begin with, do we really think we would have served him? If our own actions were required to be good enough, would we really pave our own way to heaven?
I know that for all the praise-music I may listen to, all the encouragement notes or prayers for others I send out, any good act or work, I am not good enough for Heaven without the shed blood of Jesus. This month marks 5 years since I asked Him to be Lord of my life. And the end result of five years? It sure wasn’t that I was demonstrating that same grace and compassion and forgiveness … in fact I was letting pride stand between myself and my mother, and I thought we had time to continue working toward resolution. Praise God resolution in Him is instant and requires no labor. (Ephesians 1) As soon as we ask Him to forgive us, He does. (I John 1:9, John 3:16) As soon as we humbly ask Him to accept the sacrifice of Jesus in our place, recognizing that we are all sinners and not worthy of His grace, His free gift of grace covers us. He sees Jesus in our place. Where our filthy human nature would stand, Jesus stands with his arms spread wide. Jesus literally stakes the claim on our soul with the cross.
Today's Turning Point sermon
http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio_player.aspx?id=297
was one I wish I had heard some time ago. But I think of the nudges from God that I ignored and know that the truth of the sermon was just a summary of the truths in scripture that have elbowed my ribs several times.
Praise the Lord my mother did know Him, trust in Him as her Savior (for even the devil believes but we must take the extra step to recognize that it is not of ourselves, not of our works but wholly in Christ), and she is already with Him and with our children who have preceded us to see Jesus. Scripture says if we confess with our mouth and believe with our heart that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved. Romans 10:9, Matthew 10:32, Luke 12:8
So I know she and I will be together again, and am so thankful for the peace and truth of this knowledge. What I hope is that you will be able to have this same peace. Seal today your fate, for there are no second chances on death. Once we die, or once our loved ones die, the outcome is final. Make your decision today, pray to the Lord to give you wisdom and reveal to you his will. Confess to Him the human shortcomings we all share, ask Him to let the shed blood of Jesus cover those sins. Because Jesus rose again from the dead, which no one has done in all of history of their own accord, we can trust and know this truth. Rejoice that as it says in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Setting aside our differences and rejoicing that if we truly have Christ in our heart, having confessed and asked Him in, we share an eternal Father who deals with us as individuals and works out our flaws to bring himself glory is something I regret not doing more of. But I rejoice that in Him is reconciliation and cling to my life motto from Psalm 118:24:
This is the Day The Lord Has Made- I WILL Rejoice and Be glad in It!
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