In Him, I have hope

I was doing my Bible study this morning in 1 Peter, and one passage really stuck out to me.  It was 1 Peter 3:15-17, which says, "But in your hearts revere Jesus Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

As Christians, we are called to always be ready to share Christ with others; to share what He has done in our lives. To tell others why we always have hope in Him. But, we shouldn't do this in judgment or condemnation. By that I mean the "turn or burn" theory of bringing salvation to others.  All that does is attempt to "scare" people into believing in God.  A true relationship with God doesn't involve fear.  It revolves around love.  His love for us; our love for others. For that reason, we should share His love with love. 

In today's world, Christians are stereotyped as judgmental & hypocritical. These two things should never truly describe a follower of Christ, because after all; He was neither. And isn't our goal to be Christlike?  He never threatened people with Hell to get them to believe in Him; He loved them, plain and simple. 

Wait

Wait for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

The past year has been extremely difficult for me.  All this time, this verse played a big part in my life.  God has provided for me, now, in an amazing way; in a way I never thought possible.  Last October, I was finished with school & planning on taking my certification for FNP.  I never foresaw a year-long search for a job.  I never imagined I'd be working in dermatology; a field not many nurse practitioners (around here) get the privilege of working in.  

During the past year, I got discouraged...A LOT.  It began to feel like finding a job was hopeless. Things would come up that would seem to be promising, and then like that it would fall through.  Even when this job came up, I was afraid to get my hopes up.  

God used Psalm 27:14 to speak to me numerous times during this past year.  I am stubborn and it took a while for me to get what he was saying.  It takes the most strength to wait for Him to do His will.  I wasn't being strong when I was anxious about money or about a job falling through, or not getting a phone call that I was hoping for.  When I was trying to do it for myself, I was at my weakest.   When I reached the bottom of what I could do, He was there to carry me to the wonderful plan He had for me all along.  Not that I'm saying that I've arrived now & I don't need Him anymore.  I need Him now more than EVER! He is the only reason I'm where I am.  

Praise God.  If you are going through a difficult time, remember, He's still there, waiting...sometimes we have to wait for Him.  His timing is always better than ours.  

He loves me anyway

God seems to speak to me a lot through songs. Certain songs lift me up & leave me feeling refreshed in my walk with my Heavenly Father.  There's nothing better than jamming out to a song that sings about our awesome God.  One song that really spoke to me the other day is You Love me Anyway by Sidewalk Prophets. 

Here are the lyrics:

The question was raised

As my conscience fell
A silly, little lie
It didn’t mean much
But it lingers still
In the corners of my mind

Still you call me to walk
On the edge of this world
To spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far
My heart is so frail
I think I’d rather stay inside

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me
How You love me
It took more than my strength
To simply be still
To seek but never find
All the reasons we change
The reasons I doubt
And why do loved ones have to die?

But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
You love me anyway
Oh Lord, how You love me

I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway

See now, I am the man that called out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with this smile on my face
With this sin in my heart tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night, I still called out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life


I found myself listening to this song, driving down the road with tears streaming down my face.  It hit me hard as I realized that each piece of torture Jesus bore was because of me...for ME he took the crown of thorns on his brow, for ME he took the nails in each wrist.  He bore it ALL for a sinner, who would betray him like Judas, who would mock him & call for him to die like the Jews.  He loved me even when I didn't love him.  Before I was born He LOVED ME!  He bore it all so I could spend eternity with him.  He loves me that much! 

Don't get me wrong, all this is stuff that I already knew but it's almost like it's something I forgot.  As Christians I think sometimes we don't see the depth of His love in the cross.  Like we KNOW that he died for our sins so we can have eternal life in our brains, but we picture his death on the cross like it  is so often depicted in pictures like this:

Completely intact & peaceful.  When it's so not how it was.  He SUFFERED!  He was beaten...his blood was literally spilled everywhere for us.  He was in anguish because the sins of everyone was on his shoulders.  More like this:


My God loved me First!  I didn't have to be good enough or try hard enough for him to love me...he loved me ANYWAY!