“How beautiful are the arms, which have embraced Christ, the eyes which have gazed upon Christ, the lips which have spoken with Christ, the feet which have followed Christ. How beautiful are the hands which have worked the works of Christ, the feet which treading in His footsteps have gone about doing good, the lips which have spread abroad His Name, the lives which have been counted loss for Him. How beautiful upon the mountains were the feet of them who brought glad tidings and published peace saying unto Zion 'Thy God reigneth:' how beautiful was the wisdom of those unlearned and ignorant men, whose very opponents felt that they had been with Jesus."

~'Called to be Saints' by Christina Rossetti~

(photo from google)

God bless the artist of this piece! I love this

for it precisely portrayed how I see myself before Jesus. I usually 

hear Christians say that they want to hear a "well done" when they come 

face to face with God. As for me though, if I were to 

choose the words I would want to hear from God, it would be just like 

the words of Jesus to the woman on Luke7:47.
 " She loved 

much, for her sins that were many, were all forgiven."

(photo from google)

We are still paddling on the edge of the ocean of the possibilities of grace. Put a holy dissatisfaction in us tonight.
~ Leonard Ravenhill!~

I am but a stage where You display Yourself. Your love, grace, mercy, joy, meekness, and faithfulness.

I am but a beggar and everything in my hands are Yours.  (1 Cor. 4:7)

My brain is Yours, let it think great thoughts about You. ( Rom. 12:2)

My eyes are Yours, let it continually behold Your beauty. ( Psalm 27:4, Isa. 33:17)

My lips are Yours, let it speak Your truth. ( Pro. 8:7)

My ears are Yours, let it hear Your still small voice. (Deut. 4:36, Ps. 95:7)

My heart is Yours, let it beat for the things that You love. ( Eze. 11:19, 36:26)

My hands are Yours, let it do works of righteousness. ( 1 Cor. 4:12, 1 Th. 4:11)

My feet are Yours, let it go to the places where Your Name is unheard. ( Isa. 52:7, Rom. 10:15)

Only make me not bring myself with its prejudices and self- preservation. Rather,carry me, clothed in Your grace, mercy and unconditional love, to the place where You will seek my lost  brothers and sisters.

While it is true that to be in 'mission is merely an opportunity to die' ( Amy Carmichael), my life, however, is not what they needed but You, O Lord.

Go before me in all Your glory, beauty, and majesty. I can't win the war without You. The battle is Yours. (  Sam. 17:47)

((photo from tumblr)

Before you turn into a spitfire for my seemingly irreverent address to the Almighty God, may I just say that those are my doting words for our Heavenly Father? I know, just like you; I thought it inappropriate at first to even think that our God was an inconvenience. However, as we learn more of His glorious nature, attributes, and character as revealed in the Bible, and of our spiritual experiences of Him, we’ll have to admit that He’s not the comfortable God our finite minds have pictured, or should I say, pigeon holed?

Perhaps you can identify with my idle flesh when at times it doesn’t want to yield to the Spirit’s voice of witnessing to somebody. Truth is, not all of my soul winning acts were moved by a natural compassion for souls. When I try to resist the Spirit’s urging, the burden of my indifferent attitude shatters me. It’s just too great and my pride, with all its self-justifications, could not withstand it, so I end up on my knees crying. Having the same sentiment of  Paul in 1 Cor. 9:16, let me say, ‘woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel’. We cannot love people enough to toil for their souls but the love of Christ powerfully constrains us to obey (2 Cor. 5:14).

Now, this is not just in application to the great commission. It’s for all the commands of Christ. Love thy neighbor as thyself (Mark 12:3). Like the first great commandment have we stopped and really pondered what ‘loving others’ mean? Then in John 13:34 Jesus goes on to say,

“A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye love one another.”

Come to think of it. A new commandment? Why? Well, for me, I know for a fact that I don’t love myself that much. Oftentimes, I abused my body through accepting many workloads, pushing beyond my limit because asking for help makes me feel embarrassed.  Furthermore, I have frequently endangered my ‘being’ by carelessly believing people. Being gullible (and I don’t mean reaching the point of stupidity) is my greatest source of trouble! So if I can’t fully love myself, then how much less others?

You see? Loving our neighbor must not be based on our version of self-love but by Christ’s. Love them as Jesus loved us. The greatest quality of His love is that it gives, demanding nothing in return. Loving like He does is a call to servant hood. You won’t just be called a servant; you will, literally, be treated like one! And you know what its most difficult test is? That is, with the people closest to you, your family. It’s easy to develop a servant attitude for anyone outside your family, but it’s so hard with your siblings! When they’re being a pain in your neck, you can’t help becoming a contemptuous servant.

I’m laughing as I say this, ‘if only I’ve seen this coming, I should have not prayed to God my conformity to the image of Christ.’ Now He’s tremendously giving me lots of opportunities to be Christ-like in the persons of my family (I dote on them okay?) and other visible faces of discomforts. If we’re to be honest with ourselves, we repetitively go through a state of physical unease whenever we practice selfless love. Do I sound like complaining? I’m not, but I wish I could say I’m one of those dynamic Christians, who was just filled with much love for everyone and never once thought of self- preservation. Nevertheless, my flesh constantly protests in God’s sanctifying work in me fearlessly crying, ‘why do You distress me?’ I try hard to silence it for the fear that God would one day thunder in a loud voice saying,

 ‘I am God, Lord of the universe, worshiped in heaven and earth. As your Maker have I not the right to do unto you whatsoever I please?’

Even so, Jesus, in His patience and daily loving kindness, gently shepherds me to continue. The cross was not convenient to Him either .Gradually, He makes me see the reality of His promises in my life. He delights to do me good and not evil (Jer. 29:11). He will not withhold anything necessary to my perfection (Ps. 84:11 Eph. 4:12) for I am His workmanship (Eph. 2:10).

((photo from tumblr)