Titus 3:4-8 (Message) But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all His doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with Him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come....an enternity of life! You can count on this."
Have you ever wondered what the Lord saw in you? I must honestly say, I did think of this so many times. Being raised in church from childhood, you learn to think on the lessons you learned, at least in the church I was in, "once saved, always saved". Ever heard that phrase? Even as a teenager, I never thought too much of what I was doing, how I was living outside of church, because after all, I was saved forever. Nothing could change that. But no one told me there was more, so much more to what God was about. No one told me that when I would fall into a pit of sin, into an area of my life where I could not stand myself, and could not even bring myself to see myself in a mirror, that God still cared for me.
I was drowning in muddy waters. So mudded up with myself, living like I pleased, not with the life I had been raised to have, but one I fell into through hurts, disappointments, rejection. There are so many things that happen to people in this life that if they are not keeping their eyes on the Lord, the enemy will jump in and take over in an instant. As I had been out of church for some time, the enemy did not meet too much resistance. There was no Christian friend to draw me aside and give me loving counseling on what I was doing, how I was living. Just me, just friends that definitely did not know the Lord. So I found myself drowning, waters so dirtied up by sin that it had such a foul stench to it. But, I remembered my childhood, I remembered the day when I was eight years old going down front in church and accepting Jesus as my Savior; remembered being told, once saved, always saved. This meant I could still ask the Lord to help me. How could I have forgotten all this time, the most important lesson ever taught to me. Jesus had died for me, for all my sins, He died because He loved me. Perhaps, I thought, He loved me still.
So I cried out, dear Jesus, come and help me. He came, He came into those muddy waters and drew me to Him, holding me as He lifted me out of the stench; He placed my feet on solid ground again and began to wash me, washing me gently with His healing waters, flooding my soul with a fresh cleansing of His spirit, pouring into my heart so much love; cleansing love; lifting my worn, trampled down spirit and breathing fresh life into it. All for love. He loved me still. See, He told me that the Father had never left me alone, I was just so out of touch with Him, I thought He was not there. The Lord never leaves us, always remains close to hear if we call, to be right there when we call. He still looks over us, keeping us from harm, we just don't know, we are not seeing, our eyes too full of muddy water.
He cleaned me up, and as repentance left my lips in prayer to the Father, He dressed me with His righteousness, and reput that crown of life upon my head, establishing once again my relationship with my God. Now I am right with my Lord, I am living the good life in my Father. A life that is filled with His blessings, His strength, power and provision. A life in Him. This life is where I will stay until the day He takes me home to Him, I will never let go of His love again, never leave His presence. I cannot live without my God. He is everything to me. He is my very life.
My life is in You, Lord. I never will leave You again and I know You will not leave me. I was once saved, but now I now I am always saved. As I am now always in You. You are my beautiful Savior, my love is only for You. I worship Your Holy Name, and will continue to do so this 26th day of January, 2011.
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