“From a distance the world looks blue and green, and the snow-capped mountains white. From a distance, there is harmony, and it echoes through the land. From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band. Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace. They're the songs of every man.” – Partial Lyrics, From a Distance
After a terrible drought in January, we have been blessed with rain in abundance this past week. And what a privilege it was to witness how one of the dams in our area opened all ten its sluices. We made a family outing of it, to go and witness the magnificence of the waters as it thundered over the rocks into the river, just to peacefully disappear around the mountain as your eyes followed the flow of the water. "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.” – 1 Chronicles 29:11
A couple of days after our family outing, a friend of mine shared a bird’s eye view photo of this same picturesque event with me. It was still beautiful, but lost its magnitude when looking at it from a distance! All of a sudden you couldn’t ‘feel’ the rumble of the raging water, and it just looked like a beautiful river finding its way to the sea. Whilst chatting to her about the photo, she reminded me of the lyrics of “From a distance” by Bette Midler. And all of a sudden I realised that the cross of Jesus works in the exact same way!
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18
From a distance it just looks like a cross, and a nice story to tell our children. From a distance you can’t feel the power of salvation, and you don’t experience God’s intense love for us. From a distance you still feel lost, and you don’t genuinely believe in the work of the cross. You doubt in the ability of the cross to truly free you, and your faith is like a roller coaster ride. But the moment you move closer, the moment you zoom in, the moment you go and sit down at the feet of Jesus and spend time with our Saviour, you realise the importance and the majestic power of the cross! You realise that we humans will never be able to truly live up to word unconditional love, but that God does! That His love for us is just so much more than what we will ever be able to comprehend; and that no matter what we do, He will always love us! The question is not if the cross has redeeming power in your life, the question is do you truly believe it? “You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free!” – John 8:32
My wish for everyone is that you will experience God’s unconditional love, and absolute truth in your life this Easter.
“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” – John 3:16
Blessings
Yolandi
A couple of days after our family outing, a friend of mine shared a bird’s eye view photo of this same picturesque event with me. It was still beautiful, but lost its magnitude when looking at it from a distance! All of a sudden you couldn’t ‘feel’ the rumble of the raging water, and it just looked like a beautiful river finding its way to the sea. Whilst chatting to her about the photo, she reminded me of the lyrics of “From a distance” by Bette Midler. And all of a sudden I realised that the cross of Jesus works in the exact same way!
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18
From a distance it just looks like a cross, and a nice story to tell our children. From a distance you can’t feel the power of salvation, and you don’t experience God’s intense love for us. From a distance you still feel lost, and you don’t genuinely believe in the work of the cross. You doubt in the ability of the cross to truly free you, and your faith is like a roller coaster ride. But the moment you move closer, the moment you zoom in, the moment you go and sit down at the feet of Jesus and spend time with our Saviour, you realise the importance and the majestic power of the cross! You realise that we humans will never be able to truly live up to word unconditional love, but that God does! That His love for us is just so much more than what we will ever be able to comprehend; and that no matter what we do, He will always love us! The question is not if the cross has redeeming power in your life, the question is do you truly believe it? “You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free!” – John 8:32
My wish for everyone is that you will experience God’s unconditional love, and absolute truth in your life this Easter.
“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” – John 3:16
Blessings
Yolandi