I have had many times in my life where a mountain of trials that I came upon seemed insurmountable; just too steep to climb. I knew that I could only stand at the base of the mountain for so long before I had to start climbing. Every time I scaled an elevation and was close to reaching the top, I would fall down, backsliding back into the unstable and sinful things of the world. Who else can relate to this? The problem I had when trying to get through these trials is that I kept trying to use my own strength to conquer the peak, but I never could. I was trying to do it on my own and was drowning in the constant deficiencies and sin that I was ensnared in. I was finally able to overcome when I understood that I had to let Jesus put me over His shoulder and carry me to the summit. I was taking into account the Grace that saved me, but I was not letting that same Grace lead me.
Listen, for anyone in this world to have a life that God intended for them, then the beauty of Christ has to come and overtake the failure of fallen man. 1 John 2:6: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.” I was trudging up those mountains as Doug Gorman instead of trying to subdue it in the example and name of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus, I now know that any highlands can be taken because the salvation Jesus gave is ours and we are made conquerors by His name. But to be these conquerors, we have to fully understand that the beauty is not us, but it is our Savior. Jesus will tear down the house of sin that we have built up, but when He knocks we have to let Him in.
I had to see that I was a beautiful failure. I still am. As are all true believers. As we will be until our Savior comes to take us to be with Him and gives us our new glorified bodies in heaven. We are made eternally beautiful by the wondrous grace of Jesus Christ; but while in the flesh we are still wretched, destitute and vile. Psalm73:26: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Being made a new creation, the failures of our flesh stay with us to be the motivation to push us to be more and more like Christ every day.
There is no shame for us in Jesus; only victory. So we should give Him His due honor by emulating Him. 1 Peter 1:16: because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Strive to be Christ-like in every aspect of your life. Brothers and sisters, I know that the catastrophe which is our flesh will always miss the mark, but the beautiful that is Jesus Christ will never waver. Hebrews 4:16 : “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Our problem is that we cannot see the beauty that we have become in Christ because we cannot remove the veil of deception that covers our faces. The Holy Spirit will eliminate that veil when we pray, repent of our sins, stay in God’s Word and long to be in fellowship with Him. Remember, the love of Christ can cradle the most fragile person, slowly removing the stains and scars of old wounds. His renewal is brought forth so that we can love ourselves as He loves us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7: 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” We are told to love this way because God loves us in this manner – unconditionally. We go through life thinking we deserve what we already have. Jesus took for us what we deserve and now we have the gift of God’s love - forever. Colossians 3:3: “For you (your old self) died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Jesus Christ, the most beautiful man, the most beautiful human being, the most beautiful God that our human eyes have yet to see; He absolutely adores us, even though we will still fail. Do you not know that our faith in Him has made us so beautiful that we are the envy of all creation? We are wrapped in Him now, tomorrow and for eternity. 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.” We can only traverse this life through the benevolent heart of God. Without taking the narrow path through the center of the heart of Christ, we can only barrel down the wide path grasping nothing but pain, destruction and death.
1 John 4:7-9: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. All of our burdens and sins are dismantled by God from the appreciation of the faith in His Son. How precious is that? He loves us so much that He forgave us while we were crucifying Him.
Luke 23:34: Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Our sin put Him on that tree. Our mouths cursed Him, but He would still kiss us. Our hands beat Him, but He would cleanse and wash off His blood from our hands. We would tire from flogging Him and He would offer us to lean on Him to rest. We nailed His hands, His feet and we pierced His side, yet He intercedes for and has prepared a place for us to be with Him. Jesus is love. Love is Jesus.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “You can’t analyze God. He is too awesome, too big, and too mysterious. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You Yourself are the answer.” We can never fathom the depths of His love for each of us individually, but we can thank Him for it with all that we have. The greatest wealth this world will ever be given is sheltered from physical eyes. We have to see it through faith, through spiritual eyes, we have to see and obey His gift the Holy Spirit that quietly captivates our soul. 1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.” His love and grace allows us the tranquility to know that when we die, we are instantly with Him. Knowing this we should be fully obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God.
Colossians 1:13: “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves...”
Our hearts are hazardous and when left in depravity, the crack in our foundation that is caused by it will widen each passing day. When we harbor anxiety and doubt, they only swell into unbearable pain. Why do we always entertain temptations, contradictions and uncertainties? Because we are the fool in the documentary that our life is focused on. That is why. We have to relinquish the hold that we have on ourselves and become fully submissive to God. People do not like the word submission. But, we should long to submit to Him! I have never known what life truly meant and the joy and purposes for it until I strove to submit to God.
Listen, I never knew what true freedom was until I realized what the prison of sin is. Most of my life was spent bowing down into submission to the altar of the world and the sins of the flesh. But bowing down to Christ has brought me His love and a place with Him for eternity. Others who have not yielded in submission to God are still compliant to this world and eventually that will crush them and send them straight to hell if they don’t turn in repentance to Jesus Christ.
That is the beauty of the love of Christ. No matter how many times we mess up, backslide, or do something irresponsible, He is always right behind us waiting for us to fall into His great arms. That is why He is patient with us. He knows our desires, our callings, our gifts and what we will do for Him to bring Him glory before we are even conceived in the womb. I love Christ with everything within me. I just want my attitude, my persona, and my mind to follow to that accord. I have seen many tribulations and struggles in my life (many self-induced) and God has always, ALWAYS given me a way out. But, Christian maturity brings the ability to avoid temptations altogether.
1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
You start gaining wisdom when you understand that if you stay in the shielding of His perfect will, He will guide you around those mountains and through those valleys that steal so much time away from you in your life. Stand strong in the storm and cry out for Jesus.
Proverbs 20:22: says…”Wait for the LORD, and He will deliver you.” Jesus Christ extracted the stains of our selfish and prideful pasts from us, giving us inner peacefulness by way of His Holy Spirit that resides in our still vicious dwellings. Christ gives us dignity in our shamefulness; He gives us peace when we should fear, He gives us true life when we stand in death. Jesus Christ the God-man is the truest man and the greatest man among men. The making of a man of God is not how tough or how rugged or successful in business he is; real men associate with, follow and imitate Jesus Christ. Real women associate with, follow and imitate Jesus Christ. Those bring about the virtues that God intended for true manhood and true womanhood.
Be like Jesus! He is the perfect example to follow. If He is the perfect example to follow, that means there are no other examples to follow!
Scripture gives us countless step-by-step instructions on how to do so. We have no excuse and our lives have no significance unless we are doing the work of Christ to spread His message to the lost of this world. The most intelligent, wealthy, beautiful, and gifted people in this world will go to hell without Christ.
They will go to hell separated from His love because they will not accept the free gift of that love. Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.” We have to love as Christ loves. John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” But that love and your representation of Christ cannot be fake. You cannot say with your mouth that you love God and also love the trappings and sins of the world with your heart. You cannot say you love God and hate your brother or sister.
False converts may be able to fool many of us on the outside, but God sees below the surface. He knows our hearts. Romans 12:9: “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Be the beautiful failure that you are. That will show people the genuine love of Jesus. That shows your testimony; that is your witness for Jesus. Show people that He saves in spite of all of our mistakes and disappointments. Why does He hold us so dear? Why are we worth it? Because the God of all creation made us in His image, the crown jewel of that creation. God wants our love and He wants us to choose to love Him. Yet we sinned against Him. We ran from Him as fast as we could and when He finally came down to us, being like us, we wanted to kill Him. Jesus came, showing us that it did not matter the cost it took for our love, He wants it and died on the cross for us to prove it. His willingness to love us cost Him everything, even though we were the least worthy of such love.
Christ left heaven, where He was worshiped and honored as He merited, coming to earth as a man where He would be taunted, betrayed, trampled, and crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, rising again from the dead on the third day; for us.
Sometimes people may give their lives willingly for ones they deem as worthy—a friend, a relative, other “good” people—but Christ’s love goes beyond that. Christ’s love extends to those most unworthy of it. He willingly took the punishment of those who tortured Him, hated Him, campaigned against Him, and cared nothing about Him, those who were most undeserving of His love. What greater love is there? You can search for love in every crevice of this sin cursed world, every false religion, every human being, every worldly thing and it will not be true love. I would call the greatest love you find in this world as hate - compared to the true love of Jesus Christ. No love is comparable to His. The love of God in Jesus screams out to us from the pages of scripture. His love is so tender and magnificent, but we overlook it in so many ways. When no one else will listen, He will.
When you have no comfort, turn to His Comforter who lives within you. When you trust no one, He is the One you lean on. The inseparable love of Jesus Christ is the safest place that human beings can run to.
His perfectness covers our imperfections. His faith in us remedies the unfaithfulness we at times have in Him. Jesus took the three nails, the scars, and the crown on the cross; taking the first step toward ascension to heaven for all of us. The beauty amid these horrid ruins; His grace and His silent, powerful intrusion has to change us to the point where true believers are almost beyond recognition to this world.
The highest peaks, the deepest abyss; are minuscule compared to the love that He has for us; each one of us individually. Our God who holds the expanse of the universe on His fingertips, a distance our minds cannot comprehend; still insisted on coming to earth to die for us all. That is how important we are to God. That is how important you are to Him. Hold your head up knowing that the failure that you were; you are now the most beautiful to God in all of creation because of Jesus Christ.
