I'm not a photographer. Big cameras scare me, and I know I would get distracted trying to get the perfect shot. But I do love seeing awesome photography and I am even lucky enough to have several friends, who are very talented photographers and who capture beautiful shots of the people and places I love. Have you ever seen those photos that look too real to actually be real? Like the sharpest lines and the most vivid and vibrant colors that you've never actually seen in real life.
I find that it is like that with God, often times. Try to bear with this poor attempt of portraying my thoughts. When He captures us, like truly captures us, we finally see this super real image. (In this case it actually is real, though.) We go though life seeing things that are beautiful, things that are sad. We see ourselves in sin and we think "Man. I stink at life." Our society views the cross as "Oh!-What a nice gesture! That was really a kind thing to do." Christians see grace as a free gift and we accept it, we abuse it, and we take it for granted. But we fail to realize the depth of these things and truly see how grave our sin is, how devastating to Jesus the cross was, and how truly marvelous His grace is. We need to see the depth of reality and not just the surface level we live in day-to-day.
You and I need to realize how depraved we are to realize how beautiful the cross is, and how vast God's love is to have done such a thing. We need the true nature of our sin and fallen condition to be impressed on our conscience. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have fallen short of the Glory of God. None of us are good enough. When we realize this, we discover that we have absolutely nothing to boast in accept how despicable we are. I used to have a problem with this terminology of self-loathing and hatred. But it isn't at all that we need to hate ourselves. In fact, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. BUT, back on track, we need to realize that we cannot do anything apart from Christ, because we truly are that bad. We cannot handle this world without His provision. We cannot fully grasp and accept His provision until we admit that we are a much bigger mess than we think we are. Until we say "Hey, I'm in deep trouble and can't rescue myself," we will not truly grasp the help we do have in Jesus: His saving grace, the good news, the ever-sufficient plan of salvation.
Our salvation has nothing to do with us, but it is something Jesus has done. We need it. We need it bad. We understand that when we realize how bad we are. And when we realize who Jesus is and what He has done, we can walk in Him with joy and gratitude. We walk in humility knowing it's all Him. Boast only in Christ, as He has done what we could not (2 Corinthians 10:17). He has lavished His great love on us (1 John 3:1) and we must be grateful.
Look at life and truly see the nature of yourself, because when you do, you can grasp the marvelous love of Jesus and what a beautiful thing that is.
I find that it is like that with God, often times. Try to bear with this poor attempt of portraying my thoughts. When He captures us, like truly captures us, we finally see this super real image. (In this case it actually is real, though.) We go though life seeing things that are beautiful, things that are sad. We see ourselves in sin and we think "Man. I stink at life." Our society views the cross as "Oh!-What a nice gesture! That was really a kind thing to do." Christians see grace as a free gift and we accept it, we abuse it, and we take it for granted. But we fail to realize the depth of these things and truly see how grave our sin is, how devastating to Jesus the cross was, and how truly marvelous His grace is. We need to see the depth of reality and not just the surface level we live in day-to-day.
You and I need to realize how depraved we are to realize how beautiful the cross is, and how vast God's love is to have done such a thing. We need the true nature of our sin and fallen condition to be impressed on our conscience. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have fallen short of the Glory of God. None of us are good enough. When we realize this, we discover that we have absolutely nothing to boast in accept how despicable we are. I used to have a problem with this terminology of self-loathing and hatred. But it isn't at all that we need to hate ourselves. In fact, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. BUT, back on track, we need to realize that we cannot do anything apart from Christ, because we truly are that bad. We cannot handle this world without His provision. We cannot fully grasp and accept His provision until we admit that we are a much bigger mess than we think we are. Until we say "Hey, I'm in deep trouble and can't rescue myself," we will not truly grasp the help we do have in Jesus: His saving grace, the good news, the ever-sufficient plan of salvation.
Our salvation has nothing to do with us, but it is something Jesus has done. We need it. We need it bad. We understand that when we realize how bad we are. And when we realize who Jesus is and what He has done, we can walk in Him with joy and gratitude. We walk in humility knowing it's all Him. Boast only in Christ, as He has done what we could not (2 Corinthians 10:17). He has lavished His great love on us (1 John 3:1) and we must be grateful.
Look at life and truly see the nature of yourself, because when you do, you can grasp the marvelous love of Jesus and what a beautiful thing that is.
