A WELCOME NOTE:
Greetings, and a very warm welcome to you. Thank you for taking some time to share in my philosophical foibles. It's my hope that within these entries you might find encouragement, challenge, laughter, counsel and companionship for the journey ahead. Carpe Diem!
Check out www.grantcyster.com for more details. Catch me on Twitter at: GACyster
We see them all over the place. At our front door, alongside our car windows, on street corners...beggars, deadbeats, bums...you know the kind. Always with their hands out, always looking for charity. What, oh what are we to do with all these pesky bums?
In life, we are called upon to make a variety of decisions. Some decisions we make out of our own choosing. Inevitably, the choices we make lead to consequences. Sometimes the scale of the decisions and consequences are relatively insignificant. They result in no lasting or profound impact. There are of course other instances when the scale of choices and consequences is nothing short of life-altering, for good or for bad. In times when the consequences are surprising painful and difficult, or harsher than we might have anticipated, we are tempted to doubt the correctness of the course of action we embarked upon that led us to such a challenging place.
The compassion of the Lord is new every morning. The imposing grip of night cannot restrain the glimmer of the unveiled dawn. The sweet Spirit of God makes all things new and breathes upon all things the breath of life. Let us inhale. For sorrow may be with us for the present, but joy will surely come in the morning. There is hope. Resilient, tenacious, unwavering hope. There is a divine gaze that must be met...a security and freedom from striving and storms to be found in the eyes of him who has turned his eyes toward us. To direct our stare anywhere else is folly. To rest our attention any place else, madness...a self suffocation of our souls that can lead only to despair and dismay. I've felt yet again his tap on my shoulder. Yet again have I sensed his invitation...a call to lose myself forever in him that I may inevitably be thoroughly found. I have heard his call home...and for now at least, at this time, I will say: "Speak Lord. Your servant is listening.".
Sometimes the thought of pursuing God or spending time in His presence makes me feel hypocritical because of the sin in my life that I seem unable or unwilling to let go of. I find myself waiting for some magical moment when I can guarantee a significant period of sinlessness before I approach Him. As I reflect on this, I find the thought rather flawed.
What are the properties of light? A burning candle doesn't glow in the dead of night because the darkness has volunteered to retreat. Rather, the flame does only what it knows to do, and the darkness must surrender it's grip. Never before in the history of this world has the smallest candle been extinguished by the darkest night. Similarly, Christ's light in my life doesn't shine because the grip of sin has relinquished it's hold. The light of Christ shines regardless, and the sin is overwhelmed. The emphasis is not on the weakness or power of sin, but instead completely on the omnipotent power of God. A candle shines because of the properties of light, not because of the nature of dark. It is in positioning myself in close proximity to the radiant presence of Jesus, however dark my heart may be, that I find myself reflecting his glory, goodness and greatness. I don't gain control of my sin before approaching a Holy God. It is in approaching a holy God that my sin increasingly loses control.
- The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
- Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
- Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
I saw flowers blossom again for the first time this year. Yet again, the earth that God has formed reminds me that Winter was never meant to stay...gloom never meant to maintain. As surely as the days lengthen and the landscape brightens, God's mercies remain brand new each morning. The dawn of every new day finds Him turned toward me, arms outstretched, bidding me to claim the healing and grace that His Son died to purchase for my sake. I'm invited to invite within the warmth of a flawless love that ushers in newness and light and expels all traces of night. Life abundant. Peace transcendent. Joy resplendent. Love...always and forever...radiant as the Summer sun.
