No photo filter could portray to you the heavenly aroma of my beautiful roses! Our music teacher cut them fresh out of her garden for us and they are intoxicating! Of course this reminds me of something Scriptural…
The gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are quite similar at surface glance and yet it is in mining their differences that we unveil astounding revelations. See if you can catch the difference in the following two verses that depict the same event…
Mark 1:11 (NIV) And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17 (NIV) And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
If you didn’t catch it, the difference is found in the audience! In the first verse the Father is speaking to Jesus, in Matthew the Father is speaking to the crowd, about Jesus!
Oh how I LOVE this because there are times I need affirmation directly from God and it doesn’t matter who else may know or hear. Other times like Psalm 43:1 (NIV) declares, Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation…. sometimes we need Him to stand up for us in front of others. By God’s amazing grace He does both, and we serve a God who understands the need for both!!
No matter how hard I try, I cannot give you the total experience of my roses through a simple photograph. You must be able to go deeper than what the eye can see. …The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
Don’t drag your sins behind you with ropes of lies (Is. 5:18) rather be set free by the God who TRULY SEES YOU, loves you, speaks Truth to you, over you, about you, AND is willing to meet you in the need only He can see.
Allow your life to take bloom in the Truth of His hand and you too (like my roses) will become an intoxicating aroma; the aroma of Christ that fills the air everywhere for others to truly get to know AND experience Him too (2 Cor. 2:14)!
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