Built Upon Ruin…
Where is the beauty of God found? On the other side of brokenness. Where is brokenness found? In each human life. It is in using our heart to see the brokenness of our life that sets us free. Without freedom there is no beauty.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ~Ephesians 1:17-19 NKJB
The eyes of our understanding need to be opened. We need to see just how far we have fallen. It is in the seeing we come to understand the brokenness, it is in the brokenness that we can confess and repent that will open our eyes of understanding that we will then see the beauty of the Lord in the broken shards of glass that were once our life. This cycle never stops. This cycle is how we come to the Lord everyday, all day.
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
As the day progresses we should hold these four absolutes side-by-side with our words and our actions. If our words and actions align with these four elements of God, then we are living in His will and we are living a clean life. One of these elements is almost impossible to get past. One of these elements should have us on our knees or at least in prayer multiple times a day. One of these elements should have continually confessing, one to another, and repenting throughout the day bringing us back to the beauty of the Lord found only in the brokenness of our life.
Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, Absolute Love. The four absolutes of life.
Purity is simple to understand. Purity is flawless quality. Gerard Groot in his famous fourteenth century book of meditation, has an essay entitled, “Of Pure Mind and Simple Intention”, in which he says, “By two wings a man is lifted up from things earthly, namely by Simplicity and Purity. Simplicity doth tend towards God; Purity doth apprehend and taste Him.”
Purity is a quality of both the mind and the heart, or perhaps we should say the soul of a man. As far as the mind is concerned, it is a simple case of answering the question, “Is right, or is it wrong?” That should be easy for us. There is no twilight zone between right and wrong. Even in our drinking days we knew the difference. With most of us, knowing the difference was the cause or part of the cause of our drinking. We did not want to face the reality of doing wrong. It isn’t in the realm of the mental aspects of purity that our problem lays. We can all answer the question quoted above to the best of our ability and get the correct answer. Source
Purity is what Jesus referenced on a number of occasions. Why are we doing what we are doing? What do our eyes see? What is in our heart when we see another healed? What is in our soul when raising our children? What, what, what. Quickly followed by why, why, why.
It is through the lens of ruin, anguish and redemption the beauty of God is revealed. When we begin to review our actions and words from the perspective of the four absolutes it becomes clear who’s will we are living in – are we living in God’s will or our free will? The picture clears up very quickly. It is in the change of direction that we avoid having to make a confession and repentance and have the capacity to humble ourselves, serve others and grow in Christ.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations. Isiah 61:1-4 NKJB
Either the Gospel is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of Him, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.
