the profoundest of problems

As flight attendant training rapidly approaches, I'm reminded of all the ways in which the Lord has provided for me this past year. The blessing of this job is just overwhelming to me. The past year and a half has probably been one of the most difficult years of my life. With trials ranging from long-term illness to heartbreak, God was certainly refining me.

"And I will put this third into the fire,
   and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name, and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
(Zechariah 13:9)

In years past, facing these trials, I very well may have turned from the Lord. Chosen rather to trust in myself and my friends to get me through the difficulties. I praise God for this year, He has used the hardships to establish a firm foundation in Him. And I could not be more grateful...

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4) 

Friends, nothing will fully satisfy you aside from Christ. Not your career, family, friends, school, success, money, health, etc. All of these things are guaranteed to pass away, but the love of Christ is everlasting. Hear this beloved, through our sin, we have been separated from God.

"One sin unatoned for is as sufficient to damn the soul as one leak is to sink a ship." -Olaudah Equiano

We are corrupted by sin and have rebelled against a holy God. We are a self-indulgent, self-righteous people. We have turned away from the only One who can truly satisfy our souls. "God beckons storm clouds and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, 'You go there,' and He says to the seas, 'You stop here,' and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until we get to you and I. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, 'no'."

David Platt, the pastor of the church I attend, says it best with his exposition on the justice of God. "Therein lies the problem, how can we be made right before an infinitely just God? ... God himself says that if you justify the guilty, if you say the guilty are innocent, then you are an abomination to the Lord. That's not good for us. Because that begs the question, if we are guilty sinners then how can God, who is just, say we are innocent? He would be an abomination to Himself in doing that! This is where we realize, God's forgiveness of our sins is a threat to His character. To His justice and His holiness. John Stott said "forgiveness for God is the profoundest of problems". You think about it, we have got to feel this tension. If there were a judge in a courtroom in our culture today and every guilty criminal who was brought before him, he said 'innocent' over and over and over again. Kept telling guilty criminals 'you're innocent, go free'. We would have that judge off the bench in a heartbeat. Why? Because he's not a good judge. That's not a just judge. And so then, how can God, a just judge, holy, perfect, pure, say to those who are guilty 'you are innocent'? This is setting up the tension that is in the center of the Bible. How can God justify guilty sinners?"

The answer? God is gracious. He shows the guilty free and unmerited favor. 

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

(Titus 3:4-7)

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people"

(Titus 2:11)

He not only spares the guilty what they do deserve, but God gives the guilty what they could never deserve. God does not require anything for you to earn His favor. Praise God that the grace of God has appeared and brought salvation for all people. There is restoration in God through faith in Jesus. We can be restored to God!! Turn from your sin and yourself, confess your sinfulness, and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

"if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

(Romans 10:9-10)

I write this post because this is the overflow of my heart. While I may write blogs about being a flight attendant or friends or traveling, that is not what makes me who I am. If all of those things were to pass away, I would still be identified with Christ. I urge you to take seriously the state of your soul. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have concerning what I have written. The gospel is life changing beloved. It is life giving. Give yourselves to it and I promise you, you will lack nothing.