Sanctification

I'm failing miserably at an attempt to read through the Old Testament this semester.

I am in Exodus, the rest of my family are already into Leviticus.
Regardless, I am where I am.

Not to be confused with the I am WHO I am. :)

I'm reading along, enjoying the parts that do not contain large lists of numbers and laboring through those verses that do. There is one verse that has remained etched in my mind, that applies very much to my life today, even though it was written hundreds of years ago:
"And you will sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever touches them will be holy." -Exodus 30:29

I love the idea of Sanctification.

Through His Son, God has 'Sanctified' us~set us apart, took us out of bondage, and has made us able to become victorious over sin. It's a beautiful concept.
He has pulled me out of the mire, washed me clean of the filth I was stained with, and continuously washes my feet when I stray onto unclean paths that Satan tempts me with. His mercy endures forever.

The process goes deeper than even this though: God wants us as human beings to revert from our old ways into actions that glorify Him; our lives should become living mirrors of His personality and should reveal His Nature to others.
He has working an eternal action upon our lives, but we must also put actual effort into growing a relationship with God.
Our Sanctification is steadily becoming more influential in our lives, and is not a once in a lifetime event, but must be nurtured.
We were Sanctified in the past, and we are still being set apart from the world, to be lights to the darkness, shining brighter and brighter until the day of perfection.

God's Infinite Wisdom

Bad news hurts.

You know that feeling you get when you hear something from a loved one that just cuts you to your core?
That gut wrenching twist of the knife that rips through your whole body?

I hate that feeling.

Being away from home gives that feeling to you. When you are so far away, you feel helpless, restricted, powerless.
For me, that weakness is crippling, essentially because generally I have maintained a powerful hand above the devil in having control in my life and in the lives of those whom I love.

I suppose this feeling is one I should become accustomed to, even relish. Certain knowledge I have just gained has told me, blatantly, that there is stuff in life that I cannot do anything about. I have tried, but there are no words I can add to what I have already spoken, and choices that I do not LOVE are going to be made, whether or not I agree with them.

I know I'm not superwoman, although the meta-human skills would come in handy. I cannot ascertain what will happen in those lives that I love, but I do know of One that is certain, which does lighten the load that weighs down my soul.

It is only when I recognize that I cannot fix everything around the world, that I must look to the One who CAN fix it all.
God, in His Infinite Wisdom, understands and sees all.

It is so relieving to know that God is not confined to my time schedule. I have never been able to keep a watch running. They are constantly running out of batteries, falling into water, or getting lost. Perhaps that is God's way of reminding me to not become a slave to our human idea of time.
I revel in watching the second hand of an analogue clock circle round and round through the seconds. But as I watch the seconds pass me by, I see my humanity clearly.

Praise God that He is Infinite.

He is the author of the Universes, and sees the entire set of Volumes He has written at one time. My life may seem to me like a time line, but He knows my beginning and my ending. He is not restricted by the bounds of time, for He created it. He knows what happened yesterday, that which is occurring now, and what is yet to come.
Yet still He says, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of Peace, and not of Evil, to give you an expected end."
The Hebrew translation sheds a brighter, more beautiful light to this commonly treasured word: "For I know the plans that I have, declares Yahweh, plans of peace and not evil, to give a future of hope."

Thanks be to the 'One who Is, the Existing One' who is infinite in wisdom, regardless of our human error. I have a future of hope that will last for as long as He Is.

Presents

I recently picked up a marvelously large box from the post office.
It weighed 11 pounds.
I got to carry it up 4 flights of stairs.
It was worth every step.
:D