Ok, here’s the deal. If you know me at all, you will know that sometimes it takes me a little while to understand what someone is telling me. Physically, this can be because I do have bad hearing and I have a hard time hearing people when there is background noise. But more often than not, it’s because I do a horrible job of focusing on one person or conversation. Listening to God is no different. Sometimes I get so busy or distracted that I have a hard time hearing what He is saying to me. Lately I have been dealing with feelings of failure as a Christ follower. No “giant’ sins in my life, but mainly an emptiness, like I was a disappointment to God.
His message to me has been clear during this time. Failure in human standards or not, My righteousness does not depend on me, but it has been paid for by Christ. It’s easy to say, but has been more difficult to understand and embrace. When I went to Summit Church in North Carolina, JD Greear explained Jesus as our mediator in a way that made it click for me and the burden began to feel lighter. But where His message has been really clear has been in song. I had not heard the old hymn “Before the Throne of God Above” in so long, and twice in the past 7 days I have had the opportunity to sing it and let the truth of it wash over me. I leave you with this version of it. Listen to it and read the words, and let the truth of what Jesus has done for us speak to you right where you are.
