By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. (Romans 5:1-2)
Do you ever get to the spot in your life where life is coming at you so fast you just cannot "pull it all together"? You feel like you are under a mountain of stuff and cannot seem to see any relief on the horizon, much less the solution to the present muddle your are dealing with. I doubt you are in that muddled mess alone! Sometimes we just need a good catharsis to clean out the "stuff" that buried us so deeply! If you have ever gone garage sale hopping, you might have wondered about the people who come, some just shopping for the bargain, but others on a very specific mission - finding the one item they desire or need. Either way, you seek out these sales to unburden the seller of the mounds of stuff they have likely accumulated for which they no longer have any use! You know it is those colorful signs, arrows, and promise of bargains that directs you to the destination. Whether we "stumble upon" the signs, or purposefully sought the destination by following them, we get there! What the seller hopes for is to unburden themselves - what we hope for is to take home the treasure we seek - maybe even one we didn't know we needed. I think salvation is a little bit like this. We hope to be unburdened from the stuff that "clogs up" our lives - God hopes to take the greatest treasure he could find home to be part of his family.
We enter into what God wants to do for us by faith. God has had this gift of grace prepared for us for a long time - we just have to reach out to take hold of it. It is like the people seeing the signs along the roadway to the sale - they had to turn first this way, then that, until they came to the destination of the sale. We often need to pay attention to the signs in life, placed carefully along the paths we travel, designed to draw us into the place we find the greatest treasure of our lives. God did all the preparation - he laid out the course, provided all the neat stuff we would come to experience, and he even prepared a way for us in advance of us even knowing we'd follow that path! When we pay attention to the signs and make the decision to actually follow them, we are doing so by faith. We don't know what awaits us at the final destination, but we trust it will be something awesome!
Sometimes we go about this whole salvation thing from the wrong perspective. We think we can clean up our own act and somehow unburden ourselves of the junk which has accumulated in our inner man. The problem is - we often justify a reason for holding onto the junk (after all, it may have a use down the road). Ever clean your closets and cabinets? You feel pretty good when you do, but trust me on this one - not everyone is thoroughly cleaned out, but many are devoid of the clutter and the "stuff" that we thought we might want to hold onto. Most of us need to realize we might have "cleaner inner cupboards" if we'd let God clean them out! The truth is, we justify the need for some "stuff" in our lives while God knows the "stuff" only clutters us with what only serves to 'complicate' our lives! God is all about creating "wide open spaces" in our lives. His goal in providing for our "emptying" is to allow us to enjoy the sensation of living unburdened (uncluttered).
Do you ever get to the spot in your life where life is coming at you so fast you just cannot "pull it all together"? You feel like you are under a mountain of stuff and cannot seem to see any relief on the horizon, much less the solution to the present muddle your are dealing with. I doubt you are in that muddled mess alone! Sometimes we just need a good catharsis to clean out the "stuff" that buried us so deeply! If you have ever gone garage sale hopping, you might have wondered about the people who come, some just shopping for the bargain, but others on a very specific mission - finding the one item they desire or need. Either way, you seek out these sales to unburden the seller of the mounds of stuff they have likely accumulated for which they no longer have any use! You know it is those colorful signs, arrows, and promise of bargains that directs you to the destination. Whether we "stumble upon" the signs, or purposefully sought the destination by following them, we get there! What the seller hopes for is to unburden themselves - what we hope for is to take home the treasure we seek - maybe even one we didn't know we needed. I think salvation is a little bit like this. We hope to be unburdened from the stuff that "clogs up" our lives - God hopes to take the greatest treasure he could find home to be part of his family.
We enter into what God wants to do for us by faith. God has had this gift of grace prepared for us for a long time - we just have to reach out to take hold of it. It is like the people seeing the signs along the roadway to the sale - they had to turn first this way, then that, until they came to the destination of the sale. We often need to pay attention to the signs in life, placed carefully along the paths we travel, designed to draw us into the place we find the greatest treasure of our lives. God did all the preparation - he laid out the course, provided all the neat stuff we would come to experience, and he even prepared a way for us in advance of us even knowing we'd follow that path! When we pay attention to the signs and make the decision to actually follow them, we are doing so by faith. We don't know what awaits us at the final destination, but we trust it will be something awesome!
Sometimes we go about this whole salvation thing from the wrong perspective. We think we can clean up our own act and somehow unburden ourselves of the junk which has accumulated in our inner man. The problem is - we often justify a reason for holding onto the junk (after all, it may have a use down the road). Ever clean your closets and cabinets? You feel pretty good when you do, but trust me on this one - not everyone is thoroughly cleaned out, but many are devoid of the clutter and the "stuff" that we thought we might want to hold onto. Most of us need to realize we might have "cleaner inner cupboards" if we'd let God clean them out! The truth is, we justify the need for some "stuff" in our lives while God knows the "stuff" only clutters us with what only serves to 'complicate' our lives! God is all about creating "wide open spaces" in our lives. His goal in providing for our "emptying" is to allow us to enjoy the sensation of living unburdened (uncluttered).
If you have ever lived in really close spaces for a period of time, then moved into a bigger space, you might just understand this a little better. When I was in the military, I crammed as much of my "life" into that 10 x 12 foot space as possible. Stereo, shelves, fridge, bunk, desk, chair, locker, and all my worldly belongings. It was crowded. Then I got married and we got a two-bedroom apartment off-base. We had so much space! Then, one day, we looked around and saw we not only filled the space of the two-bedroom apartment, we filled a small storage unit in the basement, as well! Aye! What we did was move from one "cluttered" space into another! Just bigger! That is how we are - we want to "handle" our clutter by getting a bigger space. God wants to clear us out - giving us "grace space". The place where we come to experience his love, enjoy his presence, and really live free of the clutter we have held onto so long. Clutter like unforgiveness, resentment, fear, doubt, and the like are not really that good to keep around. Instead of clutter, we come into God's "grace space" - and a mighty fine space it is! I have come to the conclusion - being "clutter-free" is best! Just sayin!
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