reflections on the love that changes everything
Jesus is telling us that our fears reveal the areas where our faith is lacking, and it’s God’s power to calm the storm that strengthens the faith he gives us in our feeble hearts. The king who rules over creation gives us his power to stand firm in the chaos and glorify him with our lives.
The reality of our guilt is not a matter of debate…. But what we do with our guilt depends in large part on the perception of God that we have in our heart. When we believe that God truly loves us and has our best interests at heart, we do what David does and openly bring our guilt to God.
On a cross outside Jerusalem, Jesus suffered what we deserve so he could give us what he deserves: unconditional love, grace, and acceptance by his heavenly Father; life with God that lasts forever; and a destiny in paradise, where all creation, including us, will be fully healed and restored.
Jesus uses the same self-dialogue as the psalmist — his soul disturbed, yet he spoke directly into that disturbance rather than let it have the last word. He anchors his hope in the Father’s purpose rather than the relief of escape. That resolve carried him through the mockery of the cross and into three dark days in the tomb,…
Jesus is God’s answer when we suffer and God seems silent. … Because he went through death for us, we can know that should the worst happen and we die, the quality of life we will have with him on the other side of death will far outweigh all the suffering and sorrow we experience here and now.
When enemies surround you and threaten to destroy you, boldly trust in God’s faithful lovingkindness and pray persistently and passionately to God. Because of Jesus, we know that God loves us, God is always with us, and we are forever safe with him.
The solution to our fears—especially our fear of death—is living grounded in the God who holds us. Or that’s another way of saying: living by faith in the God who saves.
Because Psalm 16 is true—because God really is our refuge in life and our security in death—it reshapes how we live right now.
The God who lifts our eyes with His majesty is the same God who lifts our lives with His mercy. In Jesus, He restores our dignity. He renews our calling. He invites us to live as His beloved children, reflecting His love into the world He has entrusted to our care.
The blessed life is not something we achieve. It is something God is already growing in us. Because the One who is the Living Water has come near. Jesus Christ — the Word made flesh, the true Tree of Life, the One whose roots go down into eternity — has stepped into our world of drift and weightlessness. He has taken on our chaff-like tendencies, our wandering hearts, our shallow roots. And in His death and resurrection, He has given us His life, His strength, His rootedness.
Let the hope of Revelation 21 shape how you grieve, how you love, how you forgive, how you endure, how you worship, and how you live your ordinary, everyday life. Because the One seated on the throne has spoken: “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Farewell to Shadowlands 