Jeff Deyo, formally with SonicFlood, is a best selling Christian recording artist.
One of my true heart’s passions is to see God’s original purpose and plan restored to us, in us and through us. When I look at my heart, I am truly motivated with a deep desire to see all people return to the purpose that God had in his heart when he made us. If we could only see exactly what God was thinking the day he created man ? why is it he really made us? What was in his heart? What did he imagine?
Even though I can’t see his exact thoughts that day, I can see when I read his Word that it was all about relationship. In John 14:3, Jesus says, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am.” The very reason Jesus was sent by God to die was not simply that our sins be forgiven, but so that we could be restored to the intended relationship with him (which did require our sins to be forgiven). When Adam and Eve were in the garden, what did they do? They actually walked and talked with God. Can you imagine that??
I really don’t know that God needs relationship with us, but he seems to desire it. Maybe he desires a people who would understand and be amazed at his awesomeness and enjoy it together with him. Maybe he simply enjoys being God and longs to share his greatness with us, much like we enjoy telling others when good things happen in our lives. Maybe even though he already has the angels to worship him, he desires more.
No matter what he intended our lives to be, I long to see exactly that restored. In fact, that is the only real reason I would like to stay on this planet. I have to believe his plan is the best possible scenario for us ? the best path and best direction. Any deviation from his perfect plan only seems to bring frustration, pain and suffering or at best, short term pleasure.
Somewhere in my head and my heart there is this voice that cries out, “you’ve forgotten me ? you haven’t truly sought me ? you don’t truly know me.” Somewhere deep inside, I know that we have gone way off the path of God’s original plan. But, it only makes sense to me that if we were to return to God’s first plan, we would see blessing replace sorrow, hope replace despair, kindness replace wickedness, truth replace selfish lies, peace replace anguish, and lasting love replace temporary emotions.
I believe I exist to be a part of seeing mankind restored to its original place with its creator. It’s at this place that we will experience the fullness in life and that we will have the greatest possible amount of joy and peace. It’s here that we are most satisfied in God and with our lives and where God is most glorified in and through us. I long to see myself truly restored to a real, lasting, deep, intimate relationship with God, and I long to see everyone I know personally, as well as everyone in the world experience the same thing. This ought to be happening on a daily basis. We can’t expect it overnight, but it should occur at a greatly accelerated rate.
Here’s the deal. Our concept of God seems to have drifted far from God’s original plan. Amazingly, though, we don’t see this. We are completely blind to the way things can be and ought to be, but we don’t even realize we are totally lost and utterly separated from God. We don’t see that the way we live our lives is 90% apart from God ? even as proclaimed Christians. We think the way things are is just the way things are supposed to be. We are so accustomed to our daily rituals and habits that we’re completely ignoring (sometimes intentionally but often unknowingly) who we are supposed to be IN God. We don’t consider the possibility that we are supposed to be something we aren’t.
Being who we are without God is so “normal” to us that we don’t even miss the benefits of being with God in relationship. In fact, it is so “normal” that we actually believe we ARE with God in relationship ? at least the best possible relationship that humans can have with an Almighty God! We are like the women at the well in John 4. Jesus said she and her people worshiped a God they did not know. This seems true of this generation. There is NOT a lack of “worship,” per say, but there is a void of knowing the God we worship!
Someone might say that is what heaven is for! We can not expect everything to be perfect here on earth. That time will come. I agree. But for us to not even realize things are as far from perfect as they are and to continue living our lives blindly to this fact is a major problem. We should at least be SEEKING for God to change us. We ought to at least be concerned that things aren’t right, and this fact should drive us to want to see things change.
Some want to argue that we are human and that God understands we can’t be perfect ? EXACTLY! But thankfully, he made a way for us to follow him MORE perfectly, and that way is through Christ and the Spirit of God living IN us! It seems we’ve forgotten that Jesus left the earth so that the Spirit of God could come upon us to change us!
The Spirit is NOT here to comfort us in our shortcomings!!! He is not here to make us feel better about ourselves when we fall, saying “better luck neck time” while patting us on the back. He is here to convict and to GIVE US HIS POWER to live right, good, and just lives before our God in heaven! Romans 6:11 says, “So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and ABLE to live for the glory of God.” (emphasis added)
Our minds have become so clouded that we can’t see anything beyond the fog of what we think is reality. We are so used to the physical world that we don’t even realize there is a spiritual world and that the spiritual world (God’s world) is more REAL than the physical world we think is so powerful.
We need to know there is a real “Matrix” we live in that blinds us to the fact that we aren’t really living the way we were meant to live ? a false reality that seems so right and so real and is so alluring that it makes us forget about everything that is truly real!
We need to be shaken free and helped to understand the real truth about God’s grace ? not the grace we’ve come to know that saves me FROM sin (that is mercy), but the grace of the Bible (or FAVOR) that saves us TO live our lives unbound to sin, unbound to insecurities, unbound to death, and FREE in Jesus name! Grace saves us TO freedom through Christ, not FROM the consequences of sin! There is a BIG difference, and when we grasp this, we will suddenly discover the POWER that exists for us through the Holy Spirit to live for God!!!
Romans 8:12-14 sums it up by saying, “So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful natures urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it, and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (emphasis added) PRAISE GOD!!!!
So, be free through Christ to love, to serve and to give away your lives. Do not be concerned with whether you live or die, but with the One who died so we could live! Do not love your lives ? not one bit ? but love the One who can give or take away life. In chapter 8, verse 13, Isaiah said “If you fear him [God] you need fear nothing else.” Pray and ask God to open your eyes to the “Matrix” the devil has blinded us to. Ask him to show you who you really are. When he does, you will likely repent ? again. Then after you receive his forgiveness (again), ask him to show you himself! When he does, you will say like Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
Written by Jeff Deyo Copyright © 2004 Jeff Deyo, Used with Permission.
Jeff Deyo, formally with SonicFlood, is a best selling Christian recording artist. Visit jeffdeyo.com
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