Separation

If you have not done so yet, read Psalm 51. I'll wait... :)

Ok. So first of all I have to REJOICE in the fact that God has been doing SO much in me the past month. At New Years He challenged me to let Him be enough, to earnestly seek Him with all my mind, soul, and body. I took the challenge and had no clue how much He would show me in such little time.

Separation. At the beginning of Psalm 51 David speaks of his sin and transgressions before him. These are against God and he claims that God is right in judging and justifying his actions. These sins and transgressions have separated us from communion with God. He is just and must therefore deny His presence from us. ALL have sinned and fallen short of His glory. (Romans 3.23)

We were born into iniquity and sin. In sin, our mothers conceived us. That doesn't mean that our mothers sinned BY conceiving us, but we were conceived into sin through our parents. We have inherited the separation. When Adam sinned he brought upon all of us a curse of separation from God.

God did not create man as sinful. He created Him in HIS image and breathed HIS life into him. He gave us a soul that is breathed from His Spirit. We were created for fellowship with Him. He created us to worship Him and give glory to Him. Something with in us yearns and cries out to be with Him.

But, how many times do we allow that separation to become natural? We become numb to our need for Him. We allow the part of our soul that longs to cling to Him become background noise to all the things we want to cling to here. Family, friends, a home, a car, the comforts of life, work, play...the list could go on forever. We let life comfort us through our separation.

I think every person must, at some point in their life, recognize that there is a deep void in their being. There is one part of their person that they rarely allow access to. Because if they opened up those feelings they would have to realize how wretched we all are and how much in need of a God we are. Sin becomes who we are and we become so engrossed in those sins that we loose sight of why we were created. FOR FELLOWSHIP WITH THE MOST HIGH GOD, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH AND EVERYTHING IN IT, AND WITH HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHOM WE HAVE HOPE FOR FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.

God is holy and just, but He is also loving, merciful and gracious. We cannot come into His presence with out first being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb. Redemption from separation and death. How do we do that? Well God has always been clear in that from the beginning. We must die. The wages of sin is death. We either must continue in separation with Him for all eternity or we must kill our will and our desires and DIE to ourselves and allow Him to live in us.

I am dead. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

For me physical death (when my heart ceases to beat in my chest) is not the end, but the beginning of who I was created to be. Death is but the end of my opportunity to show Christ to as many people as I can. Back to Psalm 51. After David receives redemption from his transgressions and sins he in turn proclaims salvation to those who are still in sin. After we die, our new life is fashioned around following God's leading to those with whom He wants us to share about Him. The new life we live is now all about Him. Not about me or what I can do but about how He works through me for His Kingdom.

There is a void in our lives with out Him. And I think if everyone was honest we all can sense it. We are separated. Something has been removed from us. Don't let that void become a part of who you are. Do not let it become natural. I challenge you, as He challenged me. Seek Him.