THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME

I remember as a child wishing that I could be a Hollywood Movie Star. Who hasn't wanted to live out the role of someone beautiful and engaging? To so immerse oneself in the role and personality of another as to convince an audience that we are in fact that person, even if not in looks, in deed.

An actor or actress will spend countless hours researching even the tiniest details and nuances of the character they are going to portray. No stone is left unturned. They purposely take their old man and sit him aside as they put on the new man. Their goal will not be accomplished if they continue to focus on the old man and neglect the new. They intentionally see themselves and begin to think of themselves as the new man. The more they do this, the more convincing their role becomes.

Hollywood's Big Screen grows pale in comparison to the role God has asked us to throw ourselves into. Paul tells us to "put off the old man and to put on the new man". In Romans we are told to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ". 'Put on' in the Greek is the word 'endyo' and it means to "become so possessed of the mind of Christ as thought, feeling, and action to resemble Him, and as it were, reproduce the life He lived".

God has called us to play a major role in the most epic film of all time...History, which is really 'His-story'. He has cast us to portray His most beloved Son. The language He uses to coach us into our new role is a language of great intensity. He commands us to "become so possessed of the mind of Christ...as to reproduce the life He lived". We are called to become so one with His character that it is impossible for others to see where we end and He begins. We have been called to represent Him on earth, that is to re-present Him on earth. No stone should be left unturned. In every scene of our life we are called to be Jesus to a hurting and dying world all around us.

It begins by being possessed with the mind of Christ, to think like He thinks and see as He sees. It seems impossible to the human mind, and with the human mind it is. It is a working of His Spirit that dwells on the inside of us. Because He lives on the inside of us we have complete access to Him and His ways. He came to dwell on the inside of us not as a small reservoir but as a great river. He lives on the inside of us, but He is longing to get out! Not to leave you, but to be released to others through you. It's what we were created for, to re-present Him to a world that longs for His appearing. His-story is still being written...it's never too late to play the role He has cast you in! It is the role of a lifetime and all of heaven waits to arise and give a standing ovation.

You were taught, with your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it's deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 2:22-24

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill it's lusts. Romans 13:14

SHE FOUND HIM WHO HER SOUL LOVES

I lost a precious loved one this last week. It doesn't seem real. It's the place on our time line when Heaven and Earth seem to collide. It happens so fast. Heaven extends it's ladder down to touch earths broken places and without a sound, our beloved takes flight. We will not enjoy her beautiful smile again, until we too, make our journey beyond the gates of Heaven, where she and all of those who have gone before us, must excitedly await our arrival.

She fought a good fight! To our human eyes and our broken hearts it may appear that she lost...but truth be told, she lost nothing, in fact, she gained everything her heart has ever longed for! In the twinkling of an eye, she stepped out of her worn and tattered earth suit and into her heavenly robe of glory.  For the first time she will see Love, face to face. She will "know" even as she has been known.

The One who gave her her very first heartbeat and knows every thought she ever had, will embrace her with an unfathomable love that has pursued her, every step of her life. But there, on streets of gold, with no earthly distractions or disappointments, she will for the first time KNOW how wide and long, how high and deep His love has been for her. (Ephesians 3:18) In that moment she will have divine clarity and seeing her life played out before her with all of it's broken pieces and disappointment, she will shed a tear for having looked at it so long while on earth and getting so lost in it, when for the first time ever she will clearly see that Love was there with her every step of the way. Those will be the last tears she will ever cry. She would plead with those of us left behind to fix our eyes on things above. To feast on His love even while we make our way through the famine we call our lives. She would beg us to stop and as if searching for our next breath, to search for His fingerprints in our lives. She would beseech us to strain to peak beyond the veil that separates us from where she is and to cling to His hand as we make our way through the days that make up our lives.

We have been called to live in the tension of here and there. He has told us to live in the world but not to be of the world. We live in the realm where we see with our eyes and believe "this" is reality. Yet truth be told, there is something inside each of us that is always longing for something we can't find...always searching for something to satisfy that craving within us. Many times we spend a lifetime trying to fill that craving with a plethora of things that always fall short. Only He satisfies the longing of our hearts! Only He can satisfy the craving.

Truth in the New Testament is derived from the Greek word "aletheia". Aletheia denotes "the reality clearly lying before our eyes as opposed to a mere appearance without reality." Much of what we are convinced is our reality here on earth is actually just a "mere appearance without reality". His reality always trumps ours. We have been given breath on this earth to come into agreement with His reality instead of our own. We have been called to live in the tension of them both...and war to align ourselves with His truth and not the one that is a mere appearance. We are in a tug of war between what our soul "thinks" is reality and what our spirit "knows" is reality.

As long as we live on this side of the veil of Heaven we will have to war against the pain and disappointment that finds itself rooted in the depths of "mere appearances without reality." We will have to take every thought captive and cast down vain imaginations that are contrary to the finished work of the cross. We will have to purpose to set our minds on things above, for things which can be seen are temporal and those things which can't be seen are eternal. We must continue to ask Love to help us see our reality through His eyes and not our eyes of flesh. The tension between these two realms is very real. We were created for the more and that is why the longing and craving of our souls continues. Our soul knows that "this" reality is not where we were created to dwell...but we were created to live from heaven to earth...not from earth to heaven.

My loved one, now knows this truth in full measure. Where she is, there is no more longing, no more craving of her soul. She has found the one that her soul has always longed for. She is for the first time, completely satisfied. She is more alive than she has ever been. She is once again dancing...but this time on streets of gold. She is finally home!


"...When I found him whom my soul loves; I held on to him and would not let him go..." Song of Solomon 3:4

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Cor. 13:12

FAITH WEEPS

Today is a day for planting. Spring is bursting all around...even if winter refuses to leave her heart. Broken pieces lie everywhere and no broom is found big enough to sweep them away. Without her consent time marches on and the earth longs for it's seed while her heart longs for peace. So she does what every daughter of the King will do...she looks for her seed and pushes aside the tears that refuse to cease.

For a moment she is lost in the whirlwind of memories full of pain and grief. She finds herself wondering if things will ever change? Wondering if she will ever be whole again? Then the song of a bird just outside her window catches her attention. It sings with joy as it rallies in the newness of color bursting everywhere. She is reminded once again that Love has not left her nor abandoned her. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will never leave her nor forsake her. She is loved with an everlasting love.

Once again she finds herself standing in the tension of two realms, the one she sees with her own eyes and the one she sees only through His. They are always at odds. Always. In that moment she evaluates the two realms and is reminded that this realm is only a vapor and it is purposed to test her heart. Will she prove her love for her Lover and deny what her eyes and mind keep whispering to her or will she fall prey to the temporal and the pain? For a moment it appears that the wounded cry of her heart might win, as she rehearses the pain of all that is broken. The same broken pieces that have lied around for years staring at her as if screaming for her resentment.

She wills to look away from the scattered pieces and as tears stream down her cheeks, she reaches for her bag of seed. She steps outside into the sunshine where the warmth of His presence beckons her to come and cast her seed into the earth and wait patiently for her harvest. So once again she opens wide her bag of seed and gently dropping it into the womb of the soil, she waters it in with her tears and trust that as she goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, she will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with her.

No harvest is sweeter than the one sown through faith, though it weeps.


Psalm 126:6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carryings sheaves with them.