-
a post by Jori Sulyma rebloged from facebook
“I want to live a life worthy of the calling Jesus has placed on my life. He said that if we try to save our life we will lose it, but if we lose our life, we will find it. I have yet to lose my life for the sake of Christ, but I plan to. I am terrified. I am terrified to live not for this age, but for a heavenly age, a kingdom soon to come. I am scared that if I let go of the things I cling to I won’t be satisfied, that people won’t like me, that I will be unhappy, rejected, and the dreams of my heart will not be fulfilled, etc. But those are lies, and greater than those fears is my desire to be a faithful bride to Jesus. I will gladly lay down my dreams and my pride to truly live, to see the kingdom of God break into my heart and my life and the lives of a generation. My times are in his hands. By his grace I will lay down my dreams, and find His dreams.
So, by His grace and His grace alone can I do this. I am selfish. I cling to the opinions of others. I base confidence on earthly, outward things. I want to be beautiful. I want to be liked and accepted. I cling to idols like marriage, worldly beauty, worldly acceptance. Jonah 2:4
It’s not just about laying down though, for once we lay down this “life” which is really death, we can pick up REAL Life. I’ve heard us called a “John the Baptist generation”, and it’s time we stop just terming ourself that and fall in love with Jesus and witness what is really living. what does this look like? I don’t fully know but
I believe we’re called to see men fall to their knees and cry out “GLORY to the Righteous One.” We’re called to see the love of God so fall on a people that all they can do is weep before their King. We’re called to see the broken hearts of men and women sewn back together by the hands of their Maker. If we lay our lives down, do you know the life that we will see arise in our own hearts within us and in the lives of those around us? Women who look at themselves in a mirror and see ugly.worthless.used.cheap. are about to see beautiful.worth it.valued.new. Those who have been jaded and perverted by the ways of the world are about to be made spotless and innocent by the ways of the Lord.
And for those who choose to lay down their lives, we, like John the Baptist, will witness all of this. We will witness the blind eyes opened, the deaf ears hear, the lame walk, the dead raised, and the Good News preached to the poor. We will see the glory of God. But first, we can’t be offended at the One who calls us to die that we may live.
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and thepoor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Matthew 11:4-5.
And this is only the beginning. We will not only see the glory of God in the lives of those around us, but we will see the glory of God himself. We will see the glory of GOD. Our eyes will behold the beauty of this man, and we will be changed, forever. We will find True Life, as Jesus says it is. I want to believe it and lay it all down to find it…Him.
Ephesians 1:4As a Prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
God pour your love and grace on us, and open our eyes.”
