We are going into week 3 of SMI Philly 2016…Time is an interesting thing, because it is this element of change and uncertainty that we as humans face, from one day to the next, from one season of our lives to the next. And what is even more interesting to think about is God being outside of time, which may bring one to think about God’s character and to think about us humans, whom he created. Man asks “who am I?” and I believe we can only answer the question in relation to God, because God created us to know him and to love him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. I find myself oftentimes complicating the Gospel, and God convicts me that the Gospel is enough. We love because he loved us first. Everyone is made in his image, and God desires for all to be saved by grace through faith in His son Jesus Christ.
There is this tension for those who know and love Christ – of living in the world yet not being of the world, of being subject to time and other human limits yet having eternal life in Christ, and so not being bound by anything in this world. God has been helping me in these past 2 weeks at SMI Philly to live in this tension, to live in the freedom of security in Christ. God has been giving me his eyes to see; he has been growing my faith.
During these past 2 weeks in North Philly, I have seen a little of the brokenness that is in this world. And I believe that God draws near to the brokenness and offers Jesus who was broken for us so that we can be made whole.
During these past 2 weeks in North Philly, God has loved me more than I probably have had faith for, through my brothers and sisters in Christ. I find that people love me for who I am, which is a reflection of God’s character; I realize that God accepts me as I am. He sees me differently from how I see myself. He doesn’t want me to be someone I’m not. I don’t need to compare myself with others.
A Scripture that comforts me when I get bogged down by all the thoughts in my head is 1 Cor. 8:2-3, “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” I have peace in the truth of being known by God, in the midst of weaknesses, trials, and everything in between.
Throughout SMI Philly, I have seen how I am a member of the body of Christ, and how beautifully we work together by God’s grace, when our hearts are set on God. I love how he has made each of us differently with great treasure (we are all jars of clay), and how we can honor how God made each of us. I love that God is a good Shepherd and leads each of us so perfectly. I love that we can meet brothers and sisters in their homes in North Philly, as well as people who will become brothers and sisters! I love that we can rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. In heaven there will be no more tears and no more suffering, and until then, we live in the tension of brokenness in this world and wholeness in Christ.
I pray that God gives us his eyes to see him rightly, to see ourselves, one another and this world as he does; that our hearts break for what breaks his; that the Gospel is enough for us to live every day until we see him. To live is Christ, and to die is gain.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure (1 John 3:1-3).