Well I don't know if you can see that, in fact I'm pretty sure I spend more of my time seeming or thinking otherwise. I smile, I laugh, I can be full of energy. I do things I need to do and go about life as usual.
But I know that a lot of the time, when I stop and think, when I look into my heart, it is empty. When I think about my spirit, it is thirsty. You see, I am constantly searching for something to quench my emptiness, Facebook, friends, food, possessions, grades, approval, praise, sleep, being better, physical beauty. But after much searching, I am where I began-empty. If anything, more tired and frustrated and hurt in the process.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
(Jeremiah 2:13 NIV)
Yet I know that I have no need to keep thirsting, that I don't have to keep searching. Why? Because Jesus is living water, we can drink His presence and his goodness and we are well and truly satisfied.
"Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
(John 4:13, 14 NIV)
In Him our souls find rest and healing.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28, 29 NIV)
In Him, we find life!
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
(John 3:16 NIV)
So why am I still empty, if I have access to springs of living water? Why do I return to broken cisterns time and time again? Because I wrestle with the sin that lives in me, distracting me from the riches of God and turning my eyes and heart and mind to everything else-everything apart from the God who satisfies.
"So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
(Romans 7:21-25)
So as a Christian, I testify that whenever I do return to my Heavenly Father- as I am, broken and empty-I have known a deep and inexpressible joy unlike anything I've ever experienced. An overwhelming reality of Gods love for me-his daughter, a peace that transcends all understanding, and rest, finally. Rest for my weary, wandering soul.
And at the end of the day, I can say: "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:1-4 NIV)
If only I remembered to choose Jesus always! Return o soul to your shepherd, for He will comfort and guide you all the days of your life :)
*see corresponding prayer in the next post
How very often do we look at our sin and are disgusted by the state we have become. Romans 7 shows us how wretched we all are. There is no escape from our sinful nature. But God has given us the spirit which is told in the very next chapter.
ReplyDeleteRomans 8:1-4
There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Don't give up for our journey doesn't end here. We have hope for the life that is to come which FAR outweighs any treasure on this earth.
thanks for sharing these truths :)
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