Mountains part 1
Have you ever heard the expression, "God gave us mountains so we could learn how to climb"? I think its used when we face adversity, right? So instead of looking at obstacles as "problems" we can see them as "oppportunies." I get that. I think we could all benefit greatly if we would stop judging things according to appearance and start judging (or executing) righteous judgment. But I think what the book of Isaiah tells us gives a whole different idea. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain" (Isaiah 40:4). See, I think the idea of the straight and narrow path that leads to life being a hardship is totally wrong. Its straight. Its narrow. The mountains have been made low. The valleys have been exalted. Its not crooked, or rough. Sometimes it FEELS like a long and winding road, but... quite honestly... sometimes we STRAY from the path and make things much harder than they have to be. See Jonah, for example. But if the way is straight, all you really need to do is put one foot in front of the other. Walk by faith, and not by set. Let the Word of God (which is Jesus, which is love) be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Look at another verse in Isaiah, Isaiah 30:21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." So first things first, the Word (again... Jesus... LOVE) is BEHIND you. You're not following the path (or the Way--Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life) in order to GET to the Word. The Word is from the beginning. The Word IS the beginning (John chapter 1). And its this Word, LOVE, that comes from behind you... that comes from the finished work of the cross... that keeps you on that straight and narrow path when you start to lose your way. When you--and this is really the thrust of my Rant series--start to make mountains out of molehills. Because I DO believe that we go through things. I'm not blind to the tribulations of this world. But believe we go through things for mainly two reasons: 1. To learn and grow. 2. To help others when they go through what we've gone through. But I think a lot of times we see mountains where they aren't any. We create problems. We try to do things ourselves instead of resting in the finished work of the cross. We try to FINISH the work, and miss out on enjoying the fruit of HIS labor. We try to overcome, instead of understanding what it truly means to BE an overcomer. You can't be an overcomer until you overcome. Labeling yourself as an "overcomer" doesn't mean all of a sudden you can overcome things. We OVERCAME (past tense) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Because His blood IS our testimony. HIS testimony is our testimony. HE made the mountains low and the valleys high. Which is what allows US to walk the straight and narrow. We don't have to learn how to climb every mountain we put in our own way. We can, in all honesty, walk on water. We can stop letting the exterior dictate to the interior, and we can live from the inside out!