2 Words in 1

When I consider who You are

When I consider who You are and all You have done, there are many things that come to mind. But at the forefront of them all, there is one thing that rocks me to my very core and fills me with thanksgiving.

“You love me just as I am, and not as I believe I should be.”

To some these words may seem to good to be true. To others they will resonate as utterly scandalous, yet it’s true. God could have waited far off in the distance. He could have demanded that I get my act together before He would give me the time of day. If that were the case I never would have made it!

No, it is because He bridged the gap with His love and reached out for me in my brokenness that I am free today. What could not be accomplished through self effort He has done through the blood of Jesus.

What’s more, my Heavenly Father has not left me there. He has invited me to consecrate myself unto Him. He has invited me to walk in holiness. While I could have never done either on my own, with His Spirit inside of me I find myself walking in the realm of what this world calls “impossible.”

That’s not all. Because He loves me so I find my heart resists Him less and obeys Him more. How could I not respond to such love with thanksgiving, awe and obedience?

If these things seem foreign to you I want you to know that they do not have to be. You may think you’re too far gone or perhaps you have given up hope. Yet you are not beyond His grasp. Choose Him now while you are in the land of the living so that you may dwell with Him forever in the land that lies ahead.

If you think you need to fix yourself before coming, think again. Our Father waits for you to come just as you. Only then can He begin the process of molding you into who He made you to be.

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My heart is made alive in You

My heart is made alive in You. I did not earn this relationship nor this love which is so freely given. Yet I am the beneficiary of these priceless treasures.

Even before I ran to You, Your arms were stretched wide to receive me. You saw me in the distance. It would have been enough that You did not turn Your back on me for the ways I cast aside Your love and soiled your name. Yet You did so much more. You closed the gap. Each step taken towards You was reciprocated with a step of Your own.

Much sooner than I anticipated we were face to face. Speech failed me as I began to stutter and stammer. I was trying to find the proper words to express my regret and sorrow over all I had done to You.

Before I was able to fully frame the words You embraced me. Tears of bitterness and sorrow were made sweet in the span of those few moments.

It was then I knew that where I had been and what I had done was not nearly as important as where I was now. I had wandered restlessly but now I was home. I had sold myself into bondage but now I was set free. I had squandered perfect love but now I was being lavished by it.

This grace is beyond comprehension and yet I am its recipient.

I wonder, can you relate?

 

~ Mitch Salmon

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Mitch Salmon is the founder of Fisher of Men Productions and a follower of Jesus Christ and proclaimer of the Good News – The Gospel of Christ Jesus!