Made for relationship

Okay guys, seriously I couldn’t have kept up on blogging this semester. But since it is Christmas break, I thought I would catch ya’ll up on my semester....buckle up.

"yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself."

• Oswald Chambers on Mary Magdalene 

     At the start of the semester I gave my floor this verse - Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,”  Becoming like Him was the theme of our floor this year, and ironically to ‘become like Him” we first must “know Him.” I can’t believe how much God has revealed Himself to me this semester. He has walked with me through an incredible amount of trials, mentally, emotionally, physically, in Chicago, at home; every part of my life went under surgery. 

     To what end will God not go to bring me to Him? I quickly learned that answer, none. He will purge me of everything that is not of Him, He will cast light upon the darkest corners of my soul, and no matter how much it hurts He will mold me into the image of His Son. 

*jump ahead 4 months*

     As my semester came to a close, I wrote a paper on the doctrine of sin. Woof, I know. But, it was probably one of my favorite papers I have written thus far. I used this quote towards the end by N.T. Wright

“Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment.” 

To know Christ, I must first know how much I needed Him - I needed to grasp my depravity. I needed to reveal my sins to Him, I needed to tell Him my true name, confess who I am when no one is around. Suddenly, it all came full circle. I love those moments. My whole semester was grasped in one large photograph. God must be my everything. I must know Him intimately. Larry Crabb writes, 

“So much of our everyday living is designed to disguise the horror of living apart from God. The ache in our soul that doesn’t go away and calls us to a new awareness of our deep spiritual thirst, an ache that can’t be ignored, disguised, mislabeled, or submerged by a torrent of activity. One that will not disappear because we were designed to enjoy a better world that this.” 

I have learned that knowing God is the epitome of my life, the very purpose to my journey. I endure these trials, I feel this pain, I walk through the valley because I know that God is drawing me closer to Him. He is drawing me into a deeper intimacy of who He is, of a stronger knowledge of God. There is a purpose, there is a goal, there is a hope - God.