On a beautiful day in Michigan, my eyes are lit by this sunlight of His warming my heart.
But lowering my eyes to the pavement, I find what pains my heart as well. The cracks, the tears, the splits in the pavement that quietly remain even on beautiful days.
Searching my memory, I see people blindly walking through the doors of this earth, smiling and laughing, blind to the One reigning and shining over them in glory. People with hearts set on the broken things of this world, content with the emptiness of desire, people untouched by God's restoration and healing with gates closed and locked to Him but swinging open to take the arrows of this world without a second thought. Silently they pass through our lives...and we let them.
Looking heavenward once again, I see a sky full of beauty and Light waiting to be exposed. I see a world high above our own fixed in the sky with a God who reigns on high, waiting for those who love Him to bring Him down, for them to reach up and bring His grace breaking through the barriers of this world...yet we hesitate.
We wait for tomorrow to become the person we desire to be instead of making the change today. We leave it to other people to reach out, to step up, to lead, to take risks. We dwell not in the present but with hearts set on a future we have limited control over and we miss out. We continue walking through with sights set on our own path, blind to the fact that our stories are all being woven into one of greater Love and Glory, purposefully intersecting with these certain people around us so that we may be what God uses to connect them to Jesus.
Yet fear, self-doubt, and beaten down courage stand in our path and taunt us.
Psalm 143:3 reminds us that the Enemy is also pursuing us along with Christ and that his mission is to stamp out our faith in Christ, pushing our life of faith to be buried. Doubt is a key way that we allow our hearts for God's people to lie dormant. We think to ourselves, "I can't possibly make a change in that person's life. I am only one person in this world."
My challenge to you is to think again.
With the acceptance of Jesus into your heart, your forever will be changed. Both in the days that you walk this earth and in the life to come. Shattering chains, splitting hearts of solid stone, unveiling the King's glory in our hearts, coming to earth was one single person who changed the game for every single one of us who did not deserve any part in His story and that person is Jesus Christ.
As a follower of Christ, you are called to be one who will have Kingdom impact. Sitting wherever you are, at home, on your campus, at your desk, you have what it takes. Not because of who you are but because of who Christ is. You have the Spirit to guide and lead you into the places where you will need His courage. You have been equipped with the unending passionate love of God not simply for you but because He needs you to spread it. You are called to bring forth life in the lives of those around you, bearing witness to the Light who has brought you out of darkness.
It is time to take hold of the life God has been calling you to and to accept the invitation to join His team. You could be the one God uses to do amazing things, the one rising up in strength and courage to be the reflection of Christ that this world desperately needs to see, someone who steps aside and decreases so that the true Light may explode and spark a flame that ignites.
One man laid down His life, His everything so every one of us may truly live.
The life and unfailing promise He blesses us with should inspire us to live our lives passionately pursuing opportunities to be representations of the One who saved us and deserves all we have to offer in this life.
"Be the one who truly follows Jesus, then trust God to unleash His loving power through you." -Ken Cochrum "Campus Crusade for Christ"
