Sustained by the King

Words truly fail when it comes to all You have done to bring us back to You. I could fill paragraphs with Scripture, share all my journal entries, recite every account of the Gospel, and it still wouldn’t properly convey how deeply He loves you.

God has done big things this month, and I truly don’t know yet what to share and what to treasure in my heart. My weeks have been packed with starting a new job, deepening friendships, and preparing for an upcoming trip to Africa. Carving out time with the Lord has taken more intentionality, more energy, and more focus than before. Even in my exhaustion and endless to-do’s, He’s reminded me how good and worthy He is. There truly is nothing better than knowing Jesus; receiving His perfect love, pursuing His compassionate heart, trusting His flawless strength, and being awestruck in His beauty. My church and my One-Year Bible have been moving through Philippians for the last few weeks, and this passage has captured my heart this month:

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
Philippians 3:8-14

Everything else is worthless when compared with knowing Jesus: your achievements, your finances, your career, your popularity, your health, your appearance. All garbage. As an insecure and vain fitness instructor working 4 jobs to live comfortably, that’s a desperately needed reminder. How my body looks and performs, how much validation I get from others, how much money I have at the end of each month, and how secure I feel in my relationships is all garbage compared to simply knowing Jesus. None of those things are inherently bad – your body is a temple God has entrusted to you to steward, you’re called to do all things with excellence unto Christ, the list goes on. But if any of that goes before or beside Christ, it’s absolutely worthless. My body will one day fail me, I could lose any or all of my jobs, and all of my friends could abandon me. Christ is the One thing we have to spend our days on, the One thing we can fill our hearts and minds with, and the One thing we can shape our whole lives around.

We press on to possess the perfection for which Christ first possessed us: the full restoration of our broken bodies, hearts, and minds. What’s past is dead and gone, and what lies ahead is life in Christ. When we live in our past, we discount the Gospel work Jesus did on the cross. Focusing on our past mistakes and regrets leads us to submit to shame and lose sight of how we’ve been redeemed in Christ. Alternatively, longing for the past and craving what only lives in photographs and memories will keep you from finding contentment in the present. There is no joy there. When we live in our future, we submit to anxiety and lose sight of Christ as our daily bread. Just as He gave the Israelites just enough manna for each day, He gives us exactly what we need for each day. You can’t change your past; you can only learn from it and move on. You can’t predict your future; you can only take one step at a time in the direction of grace. We can have hope in the future and take wisdom from our past, but we are called to live in the moment God has placed us in. If He wanted you to stay in that house, that relationship, or that job, He would have kept you there. If He wanted you to be in a new season, He would put you there. This present moment is where you’re meant to be.

We press into the Lord by being present with Him, by lifting our eyes to Heaven and giving Him praise for how He’s moving in our right now. He waits for you in every moment, for you to see Him and reach out for the blessings that lie in His Spirit. This deep awareness of Him strengthens our faith and makes us righteous. We don’t become righteous by striving to be good or moral, we become righteous by being with Jesus and letting His glory illuminate our faces like Moses did. That is where we experience the mighty power of resurrection, redemption, and reconciliation. Making time for Jesus and making an effort to see Him in every moment is where the real, refining work begins. We press into the Lord by practicing His presence – praying in traffic, filling our eyes and ears with music and entertainment that honors him, carving out time to read and meditate on His Word. When we suffer in heartbreak, grief, or rejection, we still give Him glory. As we press into Him and shape our lives around Him, our faith becomes more beautiful and we’ll get more opportunities to love people really, really well. Do you know how sweet it is to be a conduit of Christ’s love in someone’s life without even trying? Do you know how much it delights the Father’s heart when someone sees His presence in the way you speak to them and the way you respond to life?

This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Jeremiah 9:23-24

May we boast in the fact that we truly know Jesus and understand the full glory of His unfailing love and mercy. May our humility and compassion be beautiful to those who don’t yet believe and inspiring to those who are apathetic in their faith.