Wanted
Wanted
Have you ever felt as if you were being tolerated? You were with people, they were kind enough, but you were getting some strong signals that, at best, they were tolerating your presence. Maybe it was just that you did not connect and it really did not seem to matter to them if you stayed or if you left? Maybe it was even worse, they were making it clear that they were only tolerating your presence because of some kind of external pressure? You work there so they had to allow you to stay or you were married to someone they really wanted to spend time with. It is a very uncomfortable feeling that will mess with your view of self! You can’t bring it up because they will simply deny it and it will only serve to increase their desire to see you go. No one likes not being accepted.
Listen to this verse, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst”. That is God speaking to Moses in Exodus 25 as he is about to give him all the details and directions for making a huge tent so that he could camp with the Israelites. God wanted to be in their midst. There were huge barriers to Him camping with them but God was willing to overcome those barriers just so he could be right in the middle of the wilderness with them. He wasn’t making them jump through hoops just so that they could prove they wanted to be with him, he was working with them so that he could fulfill his desire to be with them. To their credit, they were excited to do what they needed to do so that God could dwell in their midst.
Today, we are the beneficiaries of God’s desire to be with us. He sent his son, he lived among us, he lived a perfect life, died in our place, rose again, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. He made us new creatures because he could not dwell in our old sinful natures and walks with us through all things in our life. It is a joy for him to dwell with us. He pursued us, he loved us first, and he inhabits our praise and love for him. Jesus never tolerates us, he never loves us less, and he wants to be with us.
I am ashamed to say that I am not always as welcoming to him as he is to me. I do not always seek his company and fellowship. I have ignored him. Maybe, at times, I have even simply tolerated his presence. I have longed for others to accept me and desire to spend time with me more than I have loved the truth that Jesus chose to spend time and to live with me. And through all of that, he never loved me less. Through all of that he never desired to be with me any less. What a gift his desire to camp with me is.
I want to thank all of you who are praying for our VBS. It is going amazingly well and I am excited about all that God is doing in the lives of these precious children. He is pursuing them with an everlasting love and we have the privilege of sharing that truth with them. Continue to pray, Satan is doing what he can to stop the truth, but we know that he is powerless to stop the love of Jesus from penetrating into these young hearts.
Have you ever felt as if you were being tolerated? You were with people, they were kind enough, but you were getting some strong signals that, at best, they were tolerating your presence. Maybe it was just that you did not connect and it really did not seem to matter to them if you stayed or if you left? Maybe it was even worse, they were making it clear that they were only tolerating your presence because of some kind of external pressure? You work there so they had to allow you to stay or you were married to someone they really wanted to spend time with. It is a very uncomfortable feeling that will mess with your view of self! You can’t bring it up because they will simply deny it and it will only serve to increase their desire to see you go. No one likes not being accepted.
Listen to this verse, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst”. That is God speaking to Moses in Exodus 25 as he is about to give him all the details and directions for making a huge tent so that he could camp with the Israelites. God wanted to be in their midst. There were huge barriers to Him camping with them but God was willing to overcome those barriers just so he could be right in the middle of the wilderness with them. He wasn’t making them jump through hoops just so that they could prove they wanted to be with him, he was working with them so that he could fulfill his desire to be with them. To their credit, they were excited to do what they needed to do so that God could dwell in their midst.
Today, we are the beneficiaries of God’s desire to be with us. He sent his son, he lived among us, he lived a perfect life, died in our place, rose again, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. He made us new creatures because he could not dwell in our old sinful natures and walks with us through all things in our life. It is a joy for him to dwell with us. He pursued us, he loved us first, and he inhabits our praise and love for him. Jesus never tolerates us, he never loves us less, and he wants to be with us.
I am ashamed to say that I am not always as welcoming to him as he is to me. I do not always seek his company and fellowship. I have ignored him. Maybe, at times, I have even simply tolerated his presence. I have longed for others to accept me and desire to spend time with me more than I have loved the truth that Jesus chose to spend time and to live with me. And through all of that, he never loved me less. Through all of that he never desired to be with me any less. What a gift his desire to camp with me is.
I want to thank all of you who are praying for our VBS. It is going amazingly well and I am excited about all that God is doing in the lives of these precious children. He is pursuing them with an everlasting love and we have the privilege of sharing that truth with them. Continue to pray, Satan is doing what he can to stop the truth, but we know that he is powerless to stop the love of Jesus from penetrating into these young hearts.
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