Return

All things seem to start with good intentions...and then life gets in the way! Shortly after I decided to blog this journey through One Thousand Gifts, my computer was zapped in a thunderstorm and spent several weeks in the shop. That seems to be the story of my life...good intentions laid out, life happens, and I fall back again. But that is precisely why I want to commit to doing this. I long to slow down...to live in the now and not get caught up in the rat race of life! I long to engage in life with my kids and to focus on relationships above to-do lists and to see the beauty in the now. I don't want to always be looking for the next stage of life and that elusive moment when life will all come together and I can rest and breathe easy. I do believe that will happen one day when I am in Heaven! So, I am choosing to slow down...live in the present moment...and see the beauty that God graces me with each day.

In reading One Thousand Gifts, something really stuck out to me that has been further confirmed in other books that I have been reading lately (always a clue to open my eyes and ears!). Ann Voskamp takes the story from Luke 17 of Jesus healing the ten lepers and one returns to thank Him. Jesus tells the man in Luke 17:19 "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." He already physically healed the man, but now He tells the man that his faith has made him well. The Greek word for "well" used there is "sozo" and the KJV version says "made thee whole." This same word is used in John 3:17 where it says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

Voskamp writes, "Sozo means salvation. It means true wellness, complete wholeness. To live sozo is to live the full life. Jesus came that we might live life to the full; He came to give us sozo. And when did the leper receive sozo -- the saving full, whole life? When he returned and gave thanks."

Jesus came and died to save the world...to save us from the brokenness and hurt and wrath. To offer life and wholeness. And the verse just before says that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Believe in that verse is the Greek "pisteuo" meaning faith, belief, knowledge or assent to, confidence in, trust, commit to trust. It's more than a simple head knowledge of the facts that Jesus came, died and rose again. It's putting one's faith in the historical facts of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection and committing trust in the person of Jesus Christ today.

And Paul offers in his letter to the Romans...

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow." (Romans 15:13)

This is the same trust/pisteuo...as I believe in, put my faith in, commit to trust God the Father...who sent His Son to save/sozo the world, I will not perish, but have eternal life. And by that same trust/pisteuo, I turn to the God of hope and am filled with all joy and peace, so that I may overflow. That is sozo/salvation...that is wholeness and life! That is what I am longing for now. That right here, right now, in the circumstances of my daily life, I will live in all joy and peace and will overflow to others.

And how does that happen? Eternal salvation happened instantly when I accepted Jesus Christ and put my faith in Him. But, I believe that the wholeness and fullness of life promised in John 10:10 happens as I daily commit to trust/pisteuo the God of hope.

Ann Voskamp furthers this point by looking at John 6:29 in the Amplified Version:

"Jesus, replied 'This is the very work (service) that God asks of you: That you believe in the One whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].'"

She says, "Then, a true saving faith is a faith that gives thanks, a faith that sees God, a faith that deeply trusts....That's my daily work, the work God asks of me? To trust."

Yes, it's a daily commitment to trust the God of hope...and in that trust I begin to live out the fullness of life that He has for me. And I am able to find joy and peace no matter the circumstances, because I know that He is in control and will provide all that is needed for this day. When I am confused, He provides direction. When I am anxious, He provides peace. When I am weary, He provides strength. Daily trust. Daily thankfulness. Daily reliance on Him.