Through the Lenses

   My life the past few months, summed up in one word: chaotic. My life the past few weeks: blessed. So many things have happened between church, school, and high school swimming season that I couldn't write for a long time. Hopefully, that will all change soon! : )

   God has shown me some pretty amazing things lately, and I believe that He put it on my heart to share it with all of you.

   I first want to start with 2 Peter 1:1-9. This text was used last Sunday by my dad in his sermon, but it ties together many of the things I've been struggling with. Also, it is just a beautiful scripture to really dig deep into.

"Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 His divine power has granted to us all thing that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins."

   I'm going to back up by explaining part of the reason I am writing this. As most of you know, I'm a competitive swimmer. This last high school season, I was voted to be one of the captains of my team. Being a captain means being a leader in everything, in and out of the pool. You are looked up to and have a great deal of responsibility. In taking this position, I wanted to above all show Christ to my teammates. I prayed for doors to open throughout the season. Sometimes when we ask for these to open they don't come about in the way we expect them to.

   Going into state this year, I was seated fairly well considering my taper, and I had great hopes to make it to finals this year. Long story short, I didn't make it. This hit me pretty hard, considering all the training I had done throughout the season. Since state is a two-day meet, I had to come back Saturday for my relay that made it to state. I didn't feel like going; it would reopen wounds that I wanted to stay closed. However, God showed me that night that perhaps this was the opportunity I had been looking for. Many of my other teammates had made finals and I could be there for them to give them encouragement and support. Most of all, I could be happy for them instead of dwelling on what I thought was a loss.

   I went to the meet. Many people asked me how I was doing, and it was all I could do to hold back tears. God helped me have the strength to keep it together, and ultimately going was the best thing that could've happened to me. God knew exactly what He was doing. I have no idea if I made a difference to anyone there, but I know that God used it to help me heal and move on from that loss and turn it into a victory for Him. In the context of this passage, I was being nearsighted to what I thought could happen instead of trusting in Him the entire time. He helped me to see past that and look towards the goal that I had really had all season: to show Christ to all.

   The verse above starts by addressing Christians. Peter calls them people who have "obtained a faith of equal standing with ours." He helps us recall that God has given us so many things, including His promises that He has made. Through these promises, we have been able to become partakers of Him because He rescued us from corruption with His blood.

   The next part expands on qualities that are important in order to follow Christ: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These keep us effective and growing in the knowledge of Christ. However, not striving to grow in these areas causes us to lose sight of what really matters. It's exactly what Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us our goal is: Christ. If our goal is Christ in all things, our life becomes much more simple. Everything we do is focused on becoming closer to Christ.

   When Christ isn't our goal, we forget what He has done for us. His miraculous gift to all gives more than enough reason to love and serve Him.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him." - John Piper

   What goals do you have? Is Christ the center of those goals? How can we adjust them in order to better serve Him?