Monday, January 30, 2012

The Breaking (fasting series)

In this season of fasting something incredible begins to happen; the insignificant begins to fall away and the important things of God begin to rise up. Fasting brings many things into clarity and the fact that we are an unfaithful bride is one of those things. We give ourselves to so many things, compromising without recognizing the compromise. We love our Lord but it's not as pure and wonderful as we may think. So many things have crept in that we take to be normal but when the light of Jesus falls on them we see them for what they are, ugly and unwelcomed. You will be amazed at what some of these things are. You will say, "I didn't realize".

There is a breaking that takes place as we realize what we have done with this relationship and as his glory and holiness grips us in those arms of love; we only what to live for him. We want to let go of everything and throw ourselves into those arms, giving ourselves without comprise, only wanting to see him glorified in our life. You may even feel jealous of the woman in the Bible who poured out her love with the lavish gift of expensive perfume. So many who did not understand this act of love criticized such an abandoning gift but I really don't think she noticed and if she noticed she didn't care. In Mark 14 we see Jesus accept this gift with thankfulness and look how quickly and thoroughly he defends her:

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (vv 6-9)

You better believe it is told. We constantly give her a big shout out, for representing us, our love for our Lord, at such a dark moment. That was an act of complete devotion that told the world to go jump off the cliff because she was going to love him any way she could.

As we draw closer to Jesus in our fasting we too will experience this and be overwhelmed by it. It will come in various forms but it will always provoke a desire to re-dedicate our all to him. His love is so great and ours is so small in comparison but we want to give to him, even if it is as poor as our love. He deserves it. He deserves so much more. He deserves our undying dedication and our full attention. Enough with these distractions and the duplicity of our lives. He said it was all or nothing. He said we could not serve two masters. He said he has done it all for us so that we could serve him with our all. The fast will bring you so close that everything that does not belong to him will become repulsive to you. Let it happen. It's a good thing.

Allow the breaking to come. Allow it to wash over you. Allow the cleansing to be complete. Allow his love to fill every crevice, crack and rough spot until his holiness makes you smooth and beautiful in his image. He is our God and we serve him all our days with all our passion and desire. To God be the glory in our life. Come Lord, be the fire inside of me.

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