Just a few minutes ago, I was reading "Enoch's Ghost," the 2nd book in Bryan Davis's "Oracles of Fire" series. I'm almost done with it, and it is so sad, but so...wonderful at the same time. Don't worry, I'm not going to give away the ending or anything. But I had a revelation--everyone in the story is making incredible sacrifices, which for the longest time I couldn't understand. Why would someone want to give up their greatest gifts, or their life, or their speech or hearing or anything? Why would someone want to endure such pain and torture, only to die? It made no sense to me. Until I realized.
God created us. Our sole purpose is to live for HIM, not for our own pleasure, not for someone's else's pleasure, not for riches or food or animals or anything else. Everything we do should be a reflection of God's glory, and ONLY His glory. When I finally grasped that, I realized why so many of the martyrs, if not all, in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" were willing, sometimes HAPPY to die for Christ's cause. It doesn't matter what kinda of pain or suffering we have to endure. If we're doing it for God's glory, and only God's glory, it really doesn't matter. Our lives will be a witness for other believers, as well as unbelievers, and it will bring glory to our Maker. What better way to show our love and devotion, our gratitude, to Jesus for His incredible sacrifice than to die for His cause?
What I'm trying to say is, no matter what suffering, what torture, what pain, what outcome happens, we're doing it for God. Our SOLE purpose in life is to bring glory to God. So if we die for God, we're bringing Him glory.
Does that make sense? Sometimes these revelation things only work if you're the one experiencing them. And I'm not saying that we should all die for Christ this week. But if any of us are called to that extreme, I hope we can all realize why and be willing. After all, Jesus was. This doesn't just apply to dying, either. Whatever we do should be for God. I know that's hard for me, we all struggle with it one time or another. But I'm going to make a conscious effort to glorify God in whatever I do.
What about you?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Revelation
Posted by Shelby at 9:57 AM
Labels: Enoch's Ghost, God, revelations, Trusting God
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4 comments:
One phrase I made up that I really like is "We shouldn't give 90 percent of our life to Christ because he didn't give 90 percent of his life for us."
Don't worry, your point is both well understood and taken as a lesson. I've often thought of what I would say if I encountered an extreme condition like that. But the point is, if we're living for Christ, for his glory, then it really doesn't matter what people can do to us. We serve Christ, for His glory alone,
Camden
That's a really good phrase! I'll have to remember it. :)
Wonderful post...you guys' blog is so awesome!
Bekah
Hey,
You know, I totally understood that post. And you're right. We're not supposed to live our lives so that people like us, that we're in all the right places. We don't sort all that stuff out, then focus our time on God. We focus on God, then God will make everything unfold as it should. Our purpose here on earth is, afterall, to live our lives for God. Do everything for God. And a lot of the time, a lot of us forget that...
xox emii
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