Every day I am more amazed by God. I know who I am, and the fact that God has given me so many opportunities to serve in his name is truly humbling a testament to his grace, mercy, and love. His grace has swept me off my feet, and each day I am learning more and more what Paul meant when he said all things are rubbish in comparison to knowing Jesus. At Central Student Ministries it is all about Jesus, and the pursuit of knowing him. In the second week of my series Back to Basic I stressed the importance of how we perceive God. Often our picture of God is distorted by our dirty laundry, and so it is essential that as Christians we pursue the endless truths about God found in scripture.
For a lot of us understanding God as a father can be difficult. The majority of my generation has grown up in single parent homes, or homes where the father is not an example of God. But repeatedly God calls himself our Father, and sets the example for fatherly love. He designed us to be his children, to trust in his guidance, to cry on his shoulders, to be wrapped in his arms, and swept off our feet by his grace. When we accept God as our Father, we have to ask ourselves how we are doing simply being his children? When was the last time we sat quietly and dwelled in the presence of our Father? I am fortunate enough to have a dad who exemplifies my heavenly Father, and one of favorite memories was when he drove me from Seattle to Idaho for a wrestling camp. It was a very long drive, and for the most part we sat silently. There was a peace in my heart as I sat there; I didn’t have to move my mouth to feel connected. I knew that I was safe; that he was taking me where I needed to go, and that I was going to make it there. Sometimes all we need to do is slow our pace to a stop, plop down on the ground and sit with our Father. Let him give you a hug, and let your heart experience the peace of knowing that you’re safe and loved.
Our Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to rescue all those who believe in him. It is all about Jesus. I love asking the students I work with how their devotional time is going. Most of the time I get an answer that is along the lines of, well I got excited and started in Matthew, but wow the first chapter was so boring I gave up. I applaud their honesty, and in some ways I can understand, however Matthew’s first chapter speaks volumes of who Jesus is. Every book that was written about a King started with their genealogy. The New Testament starts with the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, because Jesus is our King. He is our hero, a King who stepped off his throne to rescue an undeserving people. When we gather to worship, we are humbling ourselves and praising the King who loved us enough to die for us. Jesus is a King who wants us, who seeks us out as individual and redeems us by his grace. When we reach the end of our days on Earth we will be accountable to Jesus, the King of glory. I want to live in such a way that every breath that fills my lungs allows my body to bring glory to the King who rescued me. Every time we gather at CSM we want to encounter the King, we want to pursue Jesus.
We pursue Jesus so that we can align ourselves with his will for us. It was his will that we come to know the Holy Spirit, as our helper, advocate, counselor, and comforter. In John chapter 16 verse 7 he explains that he must leave so that we may know the counselor. The Holy Spirit is often thought of wrong. He is God, not a Casper look-a-like floating around. He dwells in us and grieves when we choose to sin and separate ourselves from him. We are designed to follow him; often we wake up, plan our days, and pray that the Holy Spirit follows us. It is as if we are saying, “Well, you are my counselor, but my way is better. Just be sure to fix all my problems.” We have to learn how to let him guide us. We have to let him be the light unto our feet. How we view the Holy Spirit changes everything and it is time that we allow him to dramatically change our lives.
When we see the beauty, power, and sheer magnitude of the God we worship, we begin to see how flawed we are and how great his grace is. CSM exists to offer consistent opportunities for intimacy with God. I have the privilege of opening the doors to a place weekly where a group of students make Jesus the center of their life. I absolutely love what I do, because I absolutely love Jesus.