Every once in a while, I try to step back from my life and gain some perspective, and God willing, a vision for the future.  As I like back on my past 6 or 7 years, I see a sinner saved by grace, struggling to work out my theology, struggling with sin in my life, and struggling to develop a heart that truly wishes to serve rather than be served.  There are some struggles that have largely been conquered, some right away, some over time, and then there are others that I seem to have barely made a dent into.  All throughout, I can see a love by God that surpasses all understanding, that He would continue to love and pursue a sinner – truly amazing.  There are some things about living as a Christian that have gone from seemingly simple and clear to complicated and grey, and there are others that have gone from complicated to simple.  During my time, there has been one thing that has driven me towards God, and the cross, and that has been tasting and seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 34:8 – “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” 

So if what has been helpful to me, is seeing more and more clearly the glory of God, and delighting in Him; I of course want to make it my task to lift Christ up as glorious, good, holy and mighty.  I want to present Him to others, so they can see Him clearly, and then tell them, everyone who wants to come, come… taste and see that the LORD is good.  For most of us, our greatest obstacle to Christ is not intellectual, but moral.  I think most people understand the idea of the gospel, but do not see that Jesus died to free us from sin, so that we might delight in Him forever.  I think most people never hear, or understand the “so that” part.  There are many people who want to take Jesus, but on their own terms.  That is tragic because these people are deceiving themselves to believe that is possible, and they are missing out on the greatest joy possible, knowing and walking with God.

I want people to see that the gospel is more than a get out of jail free card.  The gospel doesn’t terminate on you as an individual.  The gospel isn’t a means for God to make much of you, to show how important you are.  The gospel is a means to reconcile sinners to the one true Good in life, that they would know and make much of God, Jesus Christ.  The gospel is an invitation to salvation from sin, and to joy in God.  A Puritan, Thomas Watson, who wrote it this way in 1692 – “Would it not be an encouragement to a subject to hear his prince say to him, You will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away?  So for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can, and the more happiness you have, the more I sall count myself glorified.”

Christians, the whole world belongs to you.  Everything that has been created, was done so to reflect the glory of God that we would enjoy Him forever.  Every word of the Bible, every sunset, every mountain range, has something to say about the glory of God.  Dig deep.  Taste and savor the glory of God, and rejoice in your Treasure that has no end.

Grace and Peace,
Adam