Amazing Grace

I have a confession to make. I have let my relationship with God over the past few days become boring and stale. It has probably been going for longer than I would like to admit. I remember the zeal, the passion, and the desire I had for God when I came here. It was insane. I am still a devoted follower of Christ, but I have allowed myself to settle for less. To be content with having "enough" Jesus and checking off my devotional time like it was one a to-do list. But praise the Lord, because he is a God of all grace. Today I was blessed with the revelation of this truth in my life and it was definitely not a routine Tuesday.

1 Peter 4:10

¹⁰And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Today I was listening to a Francis Chan podcast and he was talking about spending time alone with God. He quoted 1 Peter 2:2-3 and how we should desire the Word like an infant desires milk. And listening to this I was so convicted, because I used to have such a strong desire for time alone with God in his Scriptures. I hadn't stopped doing that, but my desire and thirst for the "pure spiritual milk" was waning. Then I was reading through Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution and the gospels and I was again beginning to see just how exciting Jesus' life was. I seriously doubt Jesus was ever bored. He was too preoccupied with the Way and the will of the Father to allow himself to be bored.

So today after reading through some Scripture and repenting I asked for this day to be different. That I would slow down and take the time to hear people out and to live like Christ with the will of our Father in mind. And the Lord definitely answered that prayer. Today Tom Short was speaking in Turlington, and I had totally forgotten about it. (For those of you who don't know who Tom Short is he is a missionary brought in by GCL to speak on college campuses.) The Spirit is alive and working in him. He definitely reflected Christ and a Biblical lifestyle it was a refreshing experience. I was trying to think of a metaphor to describe the atmosphere of the preaching, and all I could think about was how insects are attracted to those bug zapper things. Tom Short was bringing the light and people were peaceably gathering around, and every now and then someone would wrestle with the Truth and walk away limping. It was just like the metaphor Jesus gave in the Bible commanding us to be the lights to the world. Tom Short did so in a loving Christ-like manner which opened the door to talking to the listeners. I was able to talk to someone a little about what he was saying and invite them to church, and they seemed really interested it was awesome. God is alive and he was definitely on the UF campus today.

After Tom was done preaching he called all of the Christians together and he talked about grace and we circled up holding hands and sang Amazing Grace. It was beautiful and definitely what I needed. Looking around and seeing the faces of people full of Jesus gave me joy beyond words. Our God is a God of amazing grace and we cannot forget. I pray that we will desire Him more than we ever have and that others will taste and see that the Lord is indeed good. Praise the Lord for his steadfast faithfulness.

1 Peter 2:16

¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

When we've been here ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we've first begun.