So that we might cling to Him

"Christ did not come into the world so that we might comprehend Him, but so that we might cling to Him, so that we might let Him simply pull us into the tremendous story of the resurrection. He came so that we might simply let Him tell us in total incomprehensibility: You are dead - and yet you have risen! You are in the dark - and yet you are in the light. You are afraid - and yet you can rejoice. These totally incompatible things are side by side only a hair's breadth apart. Just like the two worlds, our world and God's world, they are side by side only a hair breadth apart.....

Our visible life with its joys and successes, with it's worries and trouble and its painful disobedience stands holy and innocent and perfect for Jesus Christ's sake in that hidden world of God before the eyes of the Almighty, today and tomorrow and forever. And no tear flows in vain and no sigh goes unheard; no pain is disparaged and no jubilation is lost. The visible world brutally and heartlessly and violently marches over all of that. But out of grace and mercy and great love, God gathers up our burning, blazing life... Our true life is hidden - but it is solidly grounded in eternity." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Walk with me

"I want Jesus to walk with me. I want Jesus to walk with me. All along my pilgrims journey, I want Jesus to walk with me. When i'm in trouble, walk with me. When i'm in trouble, walk with me. When my heart is almost breaking, I want Jesus to walk with me. Well in my trials, walk with me. In my trials, walk with me. When my head is bowed in sorrow, you know i want Jesus, i want Jesus, i want Jesus to walk with me." - Song lyrics by Eric Bibb

Forgotten Faces

The above images are by a street artist called Michael Aaron. He's a Christian and i like the stuff he does and the reasons behind it.

His Name

"All hail the Lamb, enthroned on high, His praise shall be our battle cry. He reigns victorious, forever glorious, His name is Jesus, He is the Lord." - Dave Bilbrough

I've been thinking recently about the significance of names - both our own names and the names of God. Psalm 9.10 says "those who know Your name put their trust in You." There is incredible trust & faith & hope & victory that arises simply out of knowing God in the light of His names. But more than that, i've been thinking about our own position in relation to this.

I noticed something remarkable recently. Rather than being labelled with our own name, the name that will be publicly on us, the name which others will see and will be written on our foreheads, is GOD'S name, not ours. Rev 22.4 says: "They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." Or as the King James says "in their foreheads" - which suggests the name we dwell on, and is engraved right into us, is His. Rev 14.1 also says "on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with Him 144,000, who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads." I honestly love this. I can't think of any other name that i would rather have written on me than the name of my God. It is a thousand times better than having my own name.

That's not to say we don't have our own names... we have names now - some with good meanings, some with bad meanings.... but ultimately God will give each of us a new name, that defines us much better than any name we're known by now. It says in Rev 2.17 "I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it." But what i love about this, is that it's private.

The name that is written on us, as a public statement of who we belong to, is God's. We are first and foremost known as His.. as His people, as His body.. as His. It's His name that matters not ours. It's who HE IS that matters, not us. I was packing this week, and labelled my boxes with my name... because they belonged to me, and that's all i wanted other people to know.. not all the details of what was in them, just who's they were. He is the One that matters.. and even the name on us will stand to point back to Him.. for His glory.. because it's all about Him.

But i guess, because He loves us, and because there is a depth of intimacy in the way He relates to us, He still gives us names too. He still has an affectionate way to refer to us. I'm happy to know He will give me a new name.. and i am happy that it's just between me and Him. I don't know why exactly though, but i just love the fact that it's HIS name that is written on me, not my own... but i love too that He still does rename me.

"No man can burn a label into flesh and make it stay, when heaven disagrees." - Calvin Miller

Overcoming

"Revelation 12:11—"They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb, for they loved not their lives even unto death"—what does that say? You overcome the devil by the gospel, by believing you are covered by the blood. You overcame by applying and teaching and preaching the blood of Christ, and then by being so sacrificially dedicated to people's lives that you are willing to die rather than run away from a situation. When that happens, when martyrs covered by the blood loving people happens, Satan is defeated. I don't think in order to be seriously engaged in spiritual warfare (where you are freeing people from the powers of the evil one), you have to do exorcisms week in and week out. You have to be a faithful, loving, humble, and repenting teacher—a lover of people. Satan is a liar and therefore he will not abide truth. He is a murderer, and therefore he will not abide love. So if you are a truth-giver and a deep, self-sacrificing lover, you will win." - John Piper, taken from this article