Wildflowers in central Texas. Copyright (c) Wendee Holtcamp
Today is America's Independence Day, and I love my country, and this was my favorite holiday when I was a kid. I always spent it with my dad, and sometimes we'd watch the fireworks over the Columbia River on the border of Washington and Oregon. It was exciting because it was close to my birthday. But I was thinking today that my real Independence Day came the day I accepted God's free gift of grace and the love of Jesus, the day my sins were forgiven for all time. I wrote this a few months ago and just thought I'd share:
Atheists (and I used to be one of them) upset by the injustice caused in the name of religion come to the wrong conclusion (that God doesn't exist). God is love. Does love exist? God is that which is pure, unadulterated joy. God is truth. God is holy. Do you see pure beauty in life, rare as it may be? That's God at work.
[W]hatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
In all religions, we humans have a tendency to not act like God. We have a tendency to not tell the truth, to steal someone else's joy and not feel it ourselves, to act ugly, to not be pure. That's just the plain facts. In Christianity, we believe that the God of love came here to Earth to teach us and ultimately reconcile our crappy nature with his holy self. He forgave all our crappiness. Love covered it. He smothers us in his love! Like a dumptruck. We're free, we're a dead man walking that got parole, who got off free and clear with the exchange of our soul - but we're giving our soul to a life of love, of our best effort at love. There's a bonus. The real Holy Spirit of God will enter in, we can access its power to live this life!
This song says it all and makes me cry every time I hear it... this is Pocket Full of Rocks singing Come as You Are.
"Come as You Are."
He's not mad at you
He's not disappointed
His grace is greater still,
than all of your wrong choices
He is full of mercy and he is ever kind
Hear his invitation, His arms are open wide
You can come as you are,
with all your broken pieces
And all your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart,
bring it all to Jesus
You can come as you are
Louder than the voice that whispers you're unworthy
Hear the sound of love,
that tells a different story
Shattering your darkness and pushing through the lies
How tenderly he calls you,
His arms are open wide
You can come as you are,
with all your broken pieces
And all your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart,
bring it all to Jesus
You can come as you are
You can come as you are
You can come as you are with all your broken pieces
And all your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart,
bring it all to Jesus
You can come as you are
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