Seasons change. Depending on its orbit and on our spot on the Big Ball we experience summer, winter, spring and fall.Year-round summer (when life blooms everywhere you look) happens around the equator—where the sun shines brightest and hottest. Like the sandy beaches, sunny days and refreshing ocean nights of a tropical island. Year-round winter (when life fades, hides and dies) happens around the poles. The sun is rarely seen—let alone felt. People have different seasons. Seasons of joy, of doubt, of growth, of stumbling in the dark, of atrophy. A great mystery of God is that He lets us choose the season in which we live.
Our hearts yearn to live year-round, basking in the warm gloryof God’s Son and refreshing in the cool winds of His Spirit. We can find this place. God’s given us the ticket like a boarding pass for a flight to a tropical island. It’s forgiveness. To live daily in the presence of God and grow in our faith is to live like Jesus—to let Jesus live in us. And Jesus is forgiveness personified. We reap what we sow; grasping this concept of forgiving others as Christ forgives us moves us froma cold season of wintry relationships (with God and men)to one that is bursting with passion and heat—a life shining brightly.
It is costly to travel to these islands. Many people never get there. It costs us our pride, sometimes our rights and it means becoming a servant. God is awesome in that He only asks us to give up things that lead to our own undoing. He never asks us to give up something that is good for us. Scratch that. He will ask us to give up something good—in exchange for the thing that is best. The instant we make even the tiniest down payment (in faith, in pride) God shows up and doubles our investment.
We have no say in where the Earth is right now on its trek around the sun. Likewise, we often have little say in the circumstances surrounding our lives. Nevertheless, we can’t move out of the dark, cold days of winter—a passionless understanding of God—until we join Himand become forgiving people. Once we do, we enjoy Him. Our lives shine like perpetual summer.
Dig deeper:
John 17:22
John 20:22-24
Matthew 7:1-14