"Love is that condition in which
another's happiness is essential to your own."
~ Robert Heimlich
another's happiness is essential to your own."
~ Robert Heimlich
Heavenly Places
Who is like the LORD our God,
Who dwells on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes.
~ Psalms 113:5-8 (NKJV)
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us ... made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
~ Ephesians 2:4-6 (NKJV)
We sing songs of amazing grace and amazing love. We are rightly awed that Almighty God, the Maker of the universe, should have humbled Himself so much that He put on human flesh, knelt before mortals to wash their feet, then submitted Himself to a horrific death on our behalf.
The psalmist says the Lord humbles Himself to even look upon His creation. The Hebrew verb for humble, shâphêl, means to be brought low, to sink down, to be humiliated. The greatness of God, far above and beyond human comprehension, stoops low to simply be able to see and hear us. (Our corruption and lowliness is that bad.)
Then He does the unthinkable. Having stooped down to us, He raises us up to sit with Him. He seats us in the heavenly places, together with His Son, the Prince of Peace and King of kings.
Have you given yourself to Jesus Christ? Understand how low you have been. Understand how high you have been raised.
And never, ever doubt His love and favor for you.
Lord, how can You do so much for us and ask only our love in return? How can we ever love You enough?
Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
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Thank you, my beautiful Lord.
ReplyDeleteSo true. What amazing heights! Our Lord is full of incomprehensible mercy. Thank you Anne for so eloquently pointing out his loving grace. Your blog never ceases to amaze me in it's thoughtfulness regarding our Lord and his kingdom. Bless you.
ReplyDeleteI think it's only in understanding how low I've been that I realize how high He lifts and will lift me.
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
:-)
ReplyDeleteWendy, so true. Anne, I think this would be a great topic for our church right now. People need some encouragement. Thanks for being an encourager!
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think of how low Jesus had to go to meet us. I feel very blessed, though, at how high He can take us if we but commit to Him.
ReplyDeleteI don't like that word, "humble". It makes me feel bad! I've spent my whole life working on my self and now you go and ruin it:)
ReplyDeleteDavid@Redletterbelievers.com
Natasa, He gives us unending cause for thanks.
ReplyDeleteT. Anne, the Lord is an inexhaustible treasure. I'm blessed to not suffer writer's block whenever I speak of Him.
Wendy, "... where sin abounded, grace abounded much more ..." (Romans 5:20)
Russell, :D backatcha!
Rosslyn, if you find anything here worthy of passing along, I'm blessed to have you use it.
Eileen, it defies explanation at how much goodness He extends to us. I can hardly wait for the day when we fully understand His love and mercy.
David, since the Lord is the one humbling Himself in the passage, I can't feel too bad to ruin 'humble' for you. ;D
His love lifts me higher, and higher. I cannot praise Him enough, but I will never cease trying.
ReplyDeletejust letting you know that you are doing a wonderful thing on facebook' Thank you !
ReplyDeleteTo my anonymous friend, thank you. I pray I bring His light WHEREver I am. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteAnne, Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this story applies but as I read about our Lord stooping down and picking us up. I remembered a story of a young mother at a cafe with her five year old daughter born, very unique; no ears, just holes, blind, no thumbs. She was beautiful to her mother but not to the ten year old boy looking on. He called her a freak right out loud. The mother scolded the little brat and scooped her daughter up with tears and ran out the door. I picture our Lord scooping us up in our low estate and showing us how beautiful we are to Him.
Merry Christmas.
Doug, what's most amazing is that the Lord found us covered with the filth of sin and loved us, then gives us the beauty of His Son's likeness. Wonderful, wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, absolutely! I'm hoping I'll see you a few more times before then.