28 July 2014 - humble simple greatness

28 July 2014 - humble simple greatness

For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.

We are made to be intimately close to God.  Our lives are supposed to glorify him.  We are made to live "for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us" in Jesus (cf. Eph 1:6). We are chosen by him, individually, intentionally chosen by God himself, "so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ" (cf. Eph 1:12).

We fail to do this when we "refuse to obey" his words and "walk in the stubbornness" of our hearts and "follow strange gods to serve and adore them".  When we do these things we harm ourselves. We become "rotted, good for nothing" when we don't live for the purpose for which we are made.  When we hide "in a cleft of the rock" from the purpose for which we are made we place distance between ourselves and God.  He wants our lives to shine with his own glory.  But when we opt out of this offer we experience his absence.

“I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what will then become of them.
What a fickle race they are,
sons with no loyalty in them!”

We all suffer the effects of concupiscence.  At times we all hear that we "were unmindful of the Rock" which begot us and.  We all hear that we have forgotten God.  Maybe we haven't entirely forgotten him.  But there are areas of all of our lives where we forget him.  There are areas which we keep to ourselves.  We don't see how that these areas can be for God's renown, his praise, and his beauty. These parts of our lives seem too ordinary, too personal, or perhaps too broken.  Yet every aspect of our life is meant to reveal the power and the glory of God.

Even things that seem too small, even mustard seeds can reveal his glory. Even when it seems like what we do is so insignificant that it will be lost in the vast world that surrounds us it can have the effect of yeast leavening everything that surrounds it.

The Kingdom of heaven is not a call to mediocrity.  Even though our lives may be humble, even though our contributions may seem insignificant, in the kingdom they are not at all trivial.  Let us remember God so that he doesn't have to allow our pride to rot.  His purpose for us is more than we can ask or imagine.