See None but Jesus

Dear Jesus,

I'm so blown away by you. By your capacity to love me. I've been making my life about me for so long but here it is. Less of me and more of you. I want people to look at me and just see you. See nothing but you. Like Tyler said, we can never worship you too much or too passionately. We can never exalt you beyond what you are. We can't over-exaggerate your glory. And our whole job is just to lift you up. Remove everything from my life that is not lifting up your victory. There are many things that make me happy but nothing fill my soul the way you do Jesus. We were made for this.

a lot of recent conversations have gone to religous relativism and the idea that we cant call other things wrong and other cultures are just different but no worse and beliefs are socially constructed and its one God different religions and none of those arguments really resonated with me and I've recently gained some knowledge in it...

We have this inherent moral code. There is a sense of right and wrong, of good and bad. Yes it varies a little culture to culture but not really. No one sees lying or stealing or backstabbing or raping or genocide is positive. To say there is no bad at all is to say that what the nazis did was just cultural or that mass rape in the sex slave industry is not that big of a deal or that cheating on your spouse is awesome. We know that there is bad and good. Thats why kids favorite phrase is "thats not fair." Thats why being cut off while driving makes our blood boil even though it makes a ten second difference in arrival time. We naturally want to see justice done. Yet we recognize that we are actually part of the problem. We hate evil but we do undeniably evil things in secret and in public, in our minds and out loud. So were not right. There is some higher right and wrong we know of and believe in yet we don't follow. So we try to get there and we fail. Every life is striving for some standard, some perfection that is unachievable. Be better, do more, try harder. And at the same time having a deep, unquenchable thirst to be known and accepted and love thats never fully satisfied. And Jesus comes and says: "none of your sacrifices and nothing that you have done, memorizing the scriptures, praying, fasting, charity: none of that will ever be enough for God. Its me. I'm the one." Our badness, which makes us need to surrender and die to ourselves, also keeps us from being able to do so on our own. Because of our utter brokenness we can't pay the price. Only one who is perfect can, only one who does not need to die and who does not owe that price.

Thats Jesus.

Nothing in Gods nature involves sin, suffering and death. We can only do it, if God does it in us, and that can only happen if God became human.

Thats Jesus.

So it costs us nothing and it costs God everything. WE've got to realize the hopelessness of our situation and have some inkling of the depth of our brokenness before we can realize that we are more broken and flawed then we can imagine and yet we are more loved and accepted and cherished than we can dream possible. We have been transformed and made one with Christ and his glory is ours.

Thats the gospel.

Its worth everything. Its my whole life. Its why I am here. This victory changes our eternity. There is nothing for me to do but proclaim is greatness and point to him and lift it up and rise up.

(this was all taken from Tylers sermon tonight and C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity except the prayer at the beginning)