Take the plunge!
I really have been thinking about how to write this without discrediting where I started my faith journey. Going through those times made my understanding better, relating it to the present, realizing the overwhelming joy of where my journey has arrived now in knowing God.
I came to know God even when I was a child. I grew up with a sense of devotion to God through my family. They impressed on me that God is an important part of life. I knew him through the things and ways we pray, like the common prayers and the images. And because He is an invisible God, I was taught that those images represent him. I just accepted the ideas as they were.
I had a turnaround situation before I graduated from high school. As I desperately wanted to fix my mess, I prayed in my heart that I wanted my focus back to God. I never knew this prayer will be answered a year after.
Back in college, I met a group that introduced me to the Christian community. They shared with me the word of God from a different perspective than what I was used to. They shared with me a personal relationship with Jesus rather than religion. I wanted to know more so I decided to grow and stay in the community of believers.
I was taught of things to draw closer to Him through the word, prayer, and service in the ministry. But there were days when I feel I wasn’t good enough, doubting my faith, and maybe doing things out of “fear”. Some said what I felt was normal.
Few years passed I was relocated to another place because of work. It was a new chapter in my life. I had to start all over again. I never knew it would make a huge difference in my relationship with God. God blessed me with people who shared with me the gospel of Grace. I had a lot of questions! It was too radical for my limited mind to understand. I found it contrary to what I was used to believing about Him, but gradually made sense as I allowed myself to receive it. The good news became better news!
I met the person of grace. Jesus.
If I can illustrate, imagine a fish living in a fish tank all its life. It lives because it is still in the water but contained. On the other hand, when we put the fish back to the sea, where it really belongs, it will certainly live to its fullest enjoying what the sea had already.
To know Jesus in the fullness of his loveliness is true freedom. Now I understood the passage “The truth shall set you free”. Receiving his love first will compel you to love him back in natural response and not out of requirement or demand. It is understanding that you are completely forgiven. You are made right with Abba Father through Jesus alone. Nothing you do will make him love you more or less.
The revelation of his Grace reminds me of an old Nestea commercial; showing a happy person faced up at the sky, arms wide open, and freely falling in a pool of water. The tag line was “Take the plunge!”.
The heart of God is redemption. He gives seeing eyes and hearing hearts to those who come to know him. I pray that in your personal walk with Jesus you will have a fresh revelation of his love every day.
Take the plunge!
Revised 2021, originally written 2013