Paul Email -27August2013- God Digs us Anyway

How you doin? WOW!!!!!!! God is some kind of AWESOME!!!!!!! Alone time with Him is going great. Stacey's working her last day of full time work today. Praise God for the way He has strengthened her.  I read an great devotional today from Ravi Zacharias. It was called "Jars of Clay". Of course I was drawn to it because of my love for the band "Jars of Clay". By the way, their new album "Inland" is available today. The devotion lead me to 2 Corinthians 4.

⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:4-9)

Check your pulse if you didn't just give God a shout of praise. Verse 4 is an incredible scouting report on our enemy and of Christ in us. Verses 6 & 7 are extraordinarily encouraging. These verses play into the thoughts of us that are in God's mind. I'm trying to get these thoughts in my mind. He knows we aren't perfect and fragile like jars of clay. Check this out-

"Skeptics and critics of Christianity might still have well-reasoned arguments and legitimate issues to raise with the faith (and with the faithful), but what cannot be denied is that the God on display in the Bible is not afraid or averse towards humanity, nor does that God shy away from making heroes out of those many would consider undesirable.
And if all of that weren’t enough, the biblical writers speak of God loving humanity so much that human flesh became a temple. God became one of us—filling jars of clay with immeasurable treasure. It is the uniqueness of the divine-human allegiance that keeps me believing. Even in the face of hard critique, it is the prevalence of humanity in the narrative of Scripture that keeps me believing in the truth and relevance of the God willing to come near."

YES & AMEN!!!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!! DIG IT!!!!!!! I need some tissues. I love it when, through scriptures an other writings, God reveals who He is in me and who I am in/to Him. In our society we need to identify ourselves in a ridiculous way. Anyone who has been to the DMV lately can testify to that. I've always said standing in front of someone isn't enough to prove you exist. If we only spent equal time proving our identity in Christ as we do in our society... we would better understand God's thoughts of us. In my life time, I've identified myself of several things. It's been in my adolescence and adulthood that I choose my identity. I've chosen things like- dead head, stoner, drunk, womenizer, loser, addict and more things based on lies. Today I know that God digs me anyway. In the past 3 years, my identity has changed. I now choose- husband, father, family member, and most of all son of the Most High. Praise God for His love. Let God fill you with immeasurable treasure today.