Rambling

Things I want to write about:

God is good. I want to write with passion. I want to live with passion. I hate the times when I internally try to rein myself in, instead of just being excited. I don't want to be that way. God made me the way he made me for a reason.

Oh! How I love hope! God has been teaching me a great deal about hope lately.

1 John 3:2

ἀγαπητοί νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (NASB)

1 John 3:3


καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἔχων τὴν ἐλπίδα ταύτην ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἁγνίζει ἑαυτὸν καθὼς ἐκεῖνος ἁγνός ἐστιν

And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (NASB)

These verses are amazing to me.

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be."

I mean, listen to that! My goodness. We have not appeared as what we will be. Oh, thank you Father! This means that when we fear things or people we shouldn't fear, when we have anxiety we shouldn't have, when we doubt when we shouldn't doubt, we have not appeared as what we will be.

"We know that when He appears, we will be like Him..."

What? Are you kidding me? We will be like Him. This is just incredible. All things fade on earth until death finds them, but He is eternal! We will not die, but live! Amen.

"...because we will see Him just as He is."

Oh, for that day Lord. Oh, for that day.

And this shatters my thoughts:

"And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

Haha...wow. This is hope--that we have our hope fixed on Him! In the end, all of the growth we experience, all of the joys we know, all of the friends we have, marriage, children, love, death, it is all trumped in the light of this hope. These are all wonderful gifts He gives us, but in the end, our hope cannot end on these things. His mercy to us is that our hope is fixed on Him. Oh Father, thank you. Please, we beseech you that our hope will be fixed on you, and nothing else. Amen.

So, lately I've been thinking, I don't want to be content with my growth in the Lord. I want to know Him more, to love Him more, to desire Him more, to be consumed by Him. In the end, I want my life to be like Paul's, or Spurgeon's, or Luther's.

But after teaching me about hope one night in 1 John, he taught me again in 1 Timothy 4:10.

1 Timothy 4:10

εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ κοπιῶμεν καὶ ἀγωνιζόμεθα ὅτι ἠλπίκαμεν ἐπὶ θεῷ ζῶντι ὅς ἐστιν σωτὴρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων μάλιστα πιστῶν

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. (NASB)

Why do I labor and strive to know the Lord? Why do I want to imitate my heroes of the faith?

"...because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers."

What peace and freedom this truth brings. What mercy he has shown us. Our hope is fixed on the precious name of our Lord Jesus, and nothing else.

I love you Lord. Thank you for letting me write. Thank you for letting me breathe. Thank you for letting me rest in You. Amen.

PS-
Dear Most Excellent Roommate Dude,

This Greek's for you.