For me, to live is Christ

This song has been hugely active in my faith this past year.  The first time I heard it was a week after moving into college last year for my freshman year.  I was homesick and longing for someone to talk to who I had known longer than a week, and found myself sitting on a step behind the Chapel.  I could hear the song being performed inside, but I had no clue why, as there were no events being held in the Chapel at that time.  Now, looking back, I know it was one of the worship teams preparing for their weekly Thursday night worship, but at the time all I knew was that it was sent from God.

I've found that the words in "Let it Be Jesus" by Christy Nockels is a prayer that works as praise for joyous times and as a cry out to God in hard times, because no matter what it rings true.  So often I want to take credit for my blessings and successes and I want to control my struggles, but I have to give it all to God.  He is the Light and the Guide.

If you're going through a high in life, I encourage you to listen to this song and praise God for your blessings.  Take a moment to remember that it's all about Jesus and His victory on the cross, and use the blessings that He's bestowed upon you to glorify Him.

If you're going through a valley of life, listen to this song and cry out to God.  Ask Him to glorify Christ through your sufferings and to use them to His purposes, even if it's really hard to understand now.  Try to focus on God's sovereignty, and know that He loves you more than you could ever hope to comprehend.  Keep your eyes turned towards Him and He'll bring you inner peace and use this situation to His purposes.

Even if you're not going through a valley or a high, and you're in a middle ground of life, listen to the song and pray for God to make your thoughts and actions Christ-centered.  I've found that the middle-periods of my life are the times where it is easiest to get complacent in my walk with God, because I feel as though I don't need His comfort, and the blessings He's given me seem less obvious.

Let it be Jesus.

God's Glory Revealed

Look outside.

Isn't that incredible?  Isn't God great?  He created all of that.

I have a tendency to let my mood reflect the weather.  When it's bright, sunny, and even the sky is happy, so am I.  But when it's gloomy, misty, and threatening floods all day, my attitude dampens.  Just a few moments ago, I was standing in my dorm room, folding laundry, staring at the gloomy sky outside, but then the skies opened.  God revealed His mighty greatness and roared for the clouds to open in a mighty clap of thunder, and then it was pouring.

This didn't dampen my mood at all, though, in fact, it made me happier.  There's something about the kind of thunder that's almost loud enough to hurt your ears that just shows God's power in a new light.  The rain that follows, the heavy pouring and the subsequent steady drizzle, is no longer depressive, for it is the herald of God's power.

It's the same with every kind of weather, though I don't always recognize other types of weather for what they are.  God commands the skies, and creates the flow of rain, snow, sun, and wind that we ultimately see.  God is revealed in even the smallest things in life.  Where has He revealed Himself to you today?

Becoming New

We're twenty two days into the new year, and if the crowd at my college's fitness center is any indication people are working on their New Year fitness resolutions, myself included.  I've been working out most days of the week and trying to eat less junk food in an effort to get healthier and stronger.  Phrases like "a whole new you!" and "transform your body" are all over the place, and people are looking at their post-holiday bodies thinking "yeah, that could be a good idea." 

Everyone wants a beautiful body, but what gets overlooked at this time of year, and any time of year for that matter, is that no amount of body fat (or lack thereof) and no amount of muscle mass (or lack thereof) is going to make you more beautiful.  It might seem that way, but it just won't.  You're already the most beautiful thing in the world.  You're a child of God.

"So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them" (Genesis 1:27).  You don't need to lose ten more pounds to be lovable, you don't need six pack abs to be beautiful.  God made you in His image, and you already are absolutely beautiful.  God has the power to make you new in so many ways, not just physically, if you'll ask Him and let Him into your life.

Colossians 3:17 says "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."  Think about this while you're working out, and really while you do anything else.  Worship isn't just singing, worship is glorifying God in everything that you do, whether that be studying, working, singing, dancing, working out, or anything.

Think about altering your New Years Resolution to ask God to transform your mind, body, and soul, because He can and He will make you new this year, in all kinds of ways.

Legacy

Legacies.  A legacy is what we leave behind when our time comes, and what we're remembered for.  Legacies tend to reflect how much a person loved God and loved others in life. 

When Jesus was asked which of the commandments was the most important, he answered "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31).  Jesus boiled down the purpose of our lives to love God and to love others.  He gives us a bit more direction in this in the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).  This is the kind of legacy we should be living now, leaving behind later, when we join our Father in Heaven.

People remember you for how you make them feel, not necessarily for what you do.  A good teacher is not remembered only because of the knowledge that they passed to their students, but also, often more so, because they made the student feel valued, regardless of how quickly or how well the student learned the material.  A good parent is not remembered for the number of presents under the Christmas tree, but for the times they were cheering at soccer games, for the times their child felt loved and worthy of love.  These are just two examples, but this is true, at least in my life, in almost every situation.

Legacies go deeper than this, though.  You are also especially remembered for the way you react in times of trouble.  "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).  The Message version of verse ten helps us to understand its meaning, "What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives!"  One of the reasons that we face these trials in life is to help fulfill the Great Commission.  Jesus' love for the Father and for His people, us, didn't falter in times of trouble.  Jesus should be our guide in life, and this is His example.  When Jesus was on the cross, dying not because of anything that He had done, but because of our sins, we mocked and scoffed at Him, but He asked God to forgive us, when we deserved it least, "Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).  This is a difficult example to follow, but we can draw strength from Jesus' words.  Right after Jesus gave the Great Commission He also gave this encouragement "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

When we react to trials as Jesus did, we are building a legacy for God.  In all of this, the goal isn't to be remembered as "a good person".  The goal should be to be remembered as men and women of God.  I want to leave behind a legacy that God smiles on.