Like a Tree by the River...

This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD

He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

-Jeremiah 17:5-8

This is one of those passages that really struck me as I was reading along through the book of Jeremiah. It speaks of the importance of trusting God rather than man. It says that the man that looks to mere mortals for strength is like a bush in the desert - he can never flourish to his potential. He will wither because there is no water for him to draw upon. The man that relies and trusts in God, however, is like a tree planted by the river. He will flourish because there is a constant supply of water to draw upon - even in years of drought, even in the hard times, he will still thrive. If we put our trust in man, he will fail us, and in the hard times, we will have nothing to draw strength from. But if we place our trust in God, He will never fail us. We will thrive in His hands. Even in the times of struggle, in the times of suffering, he will be a constant source of strength for us to draw upon.

Hope in the Glory of Christ and Our Sufferings!

...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
-Romans 5:2b-5

These verses have been carrying me through since I was in the eighth grade. Those who know me know that the words "perseverance," "character," and "hope" are tattooed on my shoulder. Just a few weeks after I was baptized at 13 years old, my mother was diagnosed with stage-4 Breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and the next summer, was declared to be in remission. She was in remission for 3 years, until I was about to enter my senior year of high school. It was then that her CEA levels (a cancer indicator) skyrocketed, and for the next year, she would go through a battery of tests to find the cancer. They found it a week before my 18th birthday in her liver, and they knew at that point that it was terminal. I watched my mother die 14 months later, within the first week of classes my sophomore year. By that time, the cancer had spread to almost every conceivable place within her body. I have been told that I am an extremely strong person, to have continued on with my life the way that I have, and to be able to speak about my mother with the frankness that I do. Any strength that I have, comes from my hope in Christ alone. Through my suffering, I have persevered, which has refined my character, which brings me hope. My hope is not found in anything of this world, but in the GLORY of CHRIST. My mother was an incredible woman of faith, and the image of Christ RADIATED through her life and actions. Christ was GLORIFIED in my mother's life, and also in her death. It is through the hope in the GLORY of GOD that we can rejoice in our sufferings, and find true peace and joy in our lives.

A quotation to ponder...

"If Jesus was only a good man, then his death on the cross, while commendable and selfless, is not worthy of great notice. Lots of good men have made similar sacrifices. But if Jesus is GOD, then his death on the cross means something else entirely. It is profoundly humbling to think that Almighty GOD lowered himself to die naked on a cross, feeling both the acute physical pain of a human, and the excruciating spiritual pain of God, as the weight of OUR sin lay on HIS shoulders. The power of the crucifixion is that our GOD, sovereign Lord of the universe, humbled Himself to die for you and me."
-Wendy Alsup; Theology for Women Class at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA

This quotation really stuck out at me while I was listening to some of the teaching audio in the Mars Hill Church Featured Audio podcast. It reminds us that it is not the death of a man that saves us - many men were crucified in Jesus' time; many men have died excruciating deaths for a cause over time. What is so amazing about Jesus' death is that GOD, Almighty, all-powerful GOD, brought Himself down to our level, and DIED such a humiliating death...for OUR sake, so that WE might live.