"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as My prophet to the nations."
(Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)
Have you ever had a desire or passion for something so strong it keeps resurfacing? You may put it down for a little while but it comes back again and again. It is not even necessarily the thing you do but it is as close as you can get to fulfilling that drive. What makes a mountain climber climb or a sky diver jump? What burning desire makes the person hike through the wilderness or dive into the ocean? What if these things were remnants of what was and what will be once again? What if your spirit is remembering something your mind can’t comprehend? What if this world has blinded you from the truth, would you give it all up and blindly step out if faith all because this hunger inside cannot be satisfied? Would you let go of the good for something even better?
Now take it a step further what if this adventure was placed in us by a loving Creator who through His great wisdom has given us purpose, not just for the life to come but for here and now. We know this, we are to love Him above all else and that love will compel us to tell others about Him but what isn’t discussed often is simultaneously He is preparing us for something even greater. For each one that is different and the same, all will glorify His name but He has not called us to become angels, nor do we sprout wings when we get to heaven. Neither does that mean we can lose sight of what He has given us to do right now but somewhere on the other side of Jordan something unexpected awaits us. Jacob said this…
I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness You have shown to me, Your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!
(Genesis 32:10 NLT)
And I believe it will be the same once again. This earth, for now is our home and if we love God the way He intended we truly have nothing except Him. You see Jacob was being prepared for something greater but like him when we cross that river Jordan all these shadows will materialize into the tangible, our faith will be increased, and doubt will be no more.
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:12-13 NLT)
Above all else protect what is eternal, for these are the life line that we hold to. By faith our eyes were opened and hope whispers of things to come but love changes and prepares us for that which our hope is set upon. Love the Lord your God, not in part but with your whole being. Do not offer your terms and conditions for being His but recklessly abandon all that you know for all that He is so that one day you may see Him face to face and you will thirst no longer. For on that day what will you be able to look back on and say it was worth holding onto even though it caused you to miss heaven? Your soul knows it to be true, the question becomes will you listen and can you make that leap of faith? Just as the skydiver steps out of the plane to experience something indescribable because he believes his equipment will save him, we have something even greater being offered but you will never experience it unless you take the first step and when you do don’t do it in part wishing to be back in the safety of plane but by faith take in the experience of the here and now and know this is only training for what is to come.
