Closer than You Think

A selection from Max Lucado's In the Eye of the Storm

Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." Matthew 14:27

When the disciples saw Jesus in the middle of their stormy night, they called him a ghost.  A phantom… To them, the glow was anything but God. 

When we see gentle lights on the horizon, we often have the same reaction.  We dismiss occasional kindness as apparitions, accidents, or anomalies.  Anything but God…

And because we look for the bonfire, we miss the candle.  Because we listen for the shout, we miss the whisper.

But it is in burnished candles that God comes, and through whispered promises he speaks: “When you doubt, look around; I am closer than you think.”

Not Perfection, But Forgiveness

A selection from Max Lucado's Walking with the Savior
"Christ had no sin, but God made Him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God." -2 Corinthians 5:21

It wasn't the Romans who nailed Jesus to the cross.  It wasn't spikes that held Jesus to the cross.  What held him to that cross was his conviction that it was necessary that he become sin - that he who is pure beome sin and that the wrath of God be poured down, not upon the creation, but upon the Creator.
   
When the one who knew no sin became sin for us, when the sinless one was covered with all the sins of all the world, God didn't call his army of angels to save him.  He didn't, because he knew he would rather give up his Son than give up on us.

Regardless of what you've done, it's not too late.  Regardless of how far you've fallen, it's not too late.  It doesn't matter how low the mistake is, it's not too late to dig down, pull out that mistake, and then let it go - and be free.

What makes a Christian a Christian is not perfection but forgiveness.