Images by Beautiful Light Photography
“In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
But with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeemer.” Isaiah 54:8
Can you imagine loving someone so unceasingly and they aren't always 100% in it for you? We are the partner in this relationship that is not necessarily always 100%. You know, our hearts may say that we are 100% in it for the Lord, but the reality is, not everything else is. Adam and Eve made that mistake right off the bat for us; they ate the apple when they were clearly told not to.
We sin, we make mistakes, we do dumb things, we unfortunately do things that hurt the Lord…and these things unfortunately tear us away from the Lord. How can we be 100% when part of us is putting this gap between us and the Lord? So now, could you imagine constantly keeping your cool even though the people you love aren’t putting their all into it?
Could you imagine still loving them and wanting them to be with you for the rest of time? Could you imagine constantly desiring heaven and salvation for that person even though they aren't putting in that 100%? How can we expect the Lord not to be upset with us when He kept up his end of the bargain?
I think we should fully expect the Lord to be frustrated with us when we choose other things over Him; when we choose to sin, rather than go to Him, when He isn’t the first thing we run to. He loves us so much, so mightily, so unceasingly… all he wants is forever with us.
He turns his face from us in those moments that we don’t choose Him. But because He loves us so much He takes pity on us, continues to show us His mercy, and to shower us in it so that we still have the opportunity to be with Him. His mercy is given to us every single day so freely and lovingly. He will forever give it to us, as long as we make sure that we are trying to put our 100% in, or to work towards rectifying to get the chance to be as close to 100% as often as possible.
We need to be working every day to be either all in or not. So, are you all in or not?
