The path of the diamond
My husband, father and brother have all referred to me as a Bible thumper….and to be honest that phrase hurt me deeply, because all I ever wanted in my Christian walk was to have people see His love flowing from my heart, and for others to see more of Him and less of me; and that desire is going to and has cost me a great deal.
But as I began to meditate on that phrase, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said this simple but powerful message of encouragement, I heard His voice say, “Why be upset? You are becoming just who you asked to be, more like Christ and less like you.”
One day in the month of July 2014, my eyes were opened once again; did I really want those things I said I wanted? Did I really want to be set apart for His purpose? In the book of Mark chapter 10, Jesus speaks to his disciples about His journey and His fate. See James and John asked to be seated at His right and left hand in His glory and splendor. But Jesus responded with a simple truth, they knew not what they were asking. They really didn’t understand the depth of the road Jesus was traveling, they could not at that point see His supposedly final earthly destination; but He did promise them this one thing, He promised that one day they would be baptized in His baptism.
Little did they know The Lord Himself drank from the cup of bitterness and was baptized with the baptism of affliction, and just as He promised those two disciples drank from the same cup and was baptized in the same baptism. In the church of today, we hear of the earthly goodness that comes from serving The Lord, and to be quite honest we at times focus on the wrong things in our walk and that has cost the body of Christ a hefty bounty. Now don’t get me wrong we are truly blessed beyond measure when we accept the call to carry the good news to a dying world, but the journey is not easy, each day brings about a new trial and difficult task of its self. And what I am learning is this…..God will never set us up to fail and He will never take us where He has not predestined us to go, so no matter the journey on the path He has chosen we will come out victorious if we stay focused on His plan and His path.
This excerpt from my true version Bible app…..daily devotional called “My utmost for His highest” speaks volumes of the journey I am traveling right now. We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message—“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.Reading this devotional put a new wind in my sails and a new determination in my heart. If being called a bible thumper hurt me like it did, then why do I ask to be more like Him? I have decided to be who God has called me to be….and that is the spitting image of my Father, for I am in Him and He is in me. Dear Lord Jesus, I take this moment to thank you for my broken heart and Spirit, and that the power of Your Holy Spirit is able to set back the pieces in rightful order so I am able to continue the journey you chose and I accepted. I pray that the conviction of your love will continue to penetrate the soil of my heart to press toward the mark which is in the high calling of Christ and accomplish that which has been set for me through You, Amen!