Hello hello, friends! Time has a funny way of just sneaking right past you, right? Wow! Only a couple more weeks until I leave for training camp. I am in awe at how God has moved this past semester in my life. Well, you probably are wondering what the purpose of this blog post is, and I will get to that now. This past semester in one of my classes we were given the assignment of reading the entire New Testament, so that’s what I did. Now it’s something I have done before, but I read the whole New Testament over the duration of this past semester again because you can never read the Bible too many times, right? Now, some of this reading was just that, reading, but I will say that some things I read caught me off guard. I couldn’t just keep reading. I would literally stop for the day or days and just ponder what I was reading, and this is one of those things that I reflected on.
“For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.” ~ James 1:11
So, if you can’t help but notice, this is just the first chapter. I seriously couldn’t even finish the first chapter because I don’t know if you have realized but the book of James is dense! I love it. The beautiful imagery and figurative language have a way of captivating the reader. It’s vivid. James 1:11 is speaking truth and calling us out. The sun is a beautiful thing, but sometimes because it is so powerful, it can just wreck you and tear you apart- not just physically but also mentally and emotionally. It can drain you. The things that we are pursuing in our own will can be draining and tiring out who we really are. We cannot get ahead of ourselves. We must have the Lord take our will out of our hands because it is not our will that we should be pursuing but His will that will be worked towards and achieved. What are you called to pursue from the Lord? This verse is a reminder that trials and tribulation will come your way each and every day. It can knock you down and destroy you. It does not matter what is on the outside because it will fall away eventually. What matters is what still stands. The grass is dead and the flower petals are all gone, but where is the stem? You are that flower. Where are you? What are you rooted in? Who are you rooted in? Who is your community? What is in your heart? What do you build up on the outside to protect on the inside? Humble yourself and let your inside shine. Your true nature will show no matter what. The light that we shine comes from Him. Let him strip you of what is holding you back from Him. We are made in the image of God.
So I will leave you with these lyrics from Elevation Worship that sum up our nature:
“I need you to soften my heart and break me apart. I need you to open my eyes to see that you’re shaping my life. All I am, I surrender.”
I surrender.
