It only seems right to journal about the season
of thanks… I love the sentiment,
and the opportunities to tell others just how grateful you are for them, but I
feel the most thankful when I see others using this season to slow down enough
to remember that which they are thankful for. This “slowing down” from the busyness of our day-to-day
lives has to be the greatest thing about Thanksgiving. Let us not forget how important it is
to slow down, reflect, and give thanks.
I finally found my time to do a bit of
reflecting after a very busy few weeks, and it would take much more than one
blog post to write all that I am thankful for in this moment. The lengths that my friends have gone
to encourage me in this last week have been humbling: letters, “goodbye” gifts,
hugs, prayers, emails, beard jokes, and free coffee and food. While I will miss my home in Nashville,
I was encouraged to see God at work when I left and am excited to see how much
more at work He will be when I return.
Words truly cannot express how encouraged I have been by you all.
After all of the craziness of moving away
from Nashville for a while, I spent about 24 hours, over the course of three
days, in a car driving across the country with my new friend from Columbia. It offered the perfect opportunity to
think about all which God has done in my life in the last year, and what
exactly I am grateful for this holiday season.
Here it is:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. –I Peter 2:24
This verse has absolutely wrecked me. While I am thankful for many other
things… the joy that comes from a life in Christ, and the protection and
provision that God has promised me, I cannot find anything more worthy of my
thanks that Jesus bore my sins, so that sin
may be put to death in my life! Maybe this finds a few of your heart strings the way it has
found mine, maybe not. But as
those created in God’s image who are in constant struggle with selfish desires,
pride, hatred, and all other forms of immorality, Christ promises us freedom
from this so we may live as true image
bearers of God.
I am not saying that from now on I will
remain without sin, even though that is the goal. It is my hope that in revisiting this promise we are
reminded that with Christ, we can put
sin to death; and when people see us they see a glimpse of who God really is
and just how much He loves his image bearers. Maybe, just maybe, if we focused a little more on this
promise, and actively desiring to put sin to death and live for righteousness,
people will understand that what they desire is not to be around us, but to be
closer to the love that comes only from God.
Friends, in this holiday season may we
remember this…
We no longer have to live in sin.
We are the image bearers of true, unfailing
love; and God has given us His son, Jesus, not only to bear our sins, but also
to show us how to live in righteousness.
We have been healed of our sin, by His
wounds.
We have been given the honor and
responsibility of sharing this love with everyone.
Grace, Love, and Thanks.
I Peter 2:24-25
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
