kelseyjordan

You can work for God without walking with the Lord. We can be in the family without the joy of the family- but this is never God’s desire. We come up with good solutions, but His are so far beyond what we can craft.

Works don’t save us. Grace and Faith- received from God and extended to others, align us with Christ.  Justifying grace is God giving His reasons for us: His love, affection, and His desire for nearness to His Beloved. His actions (death on a cross) justify us, they give reason for us to live. As we receive God’s grace through faith, we are given the ability to choose what is right, and our desires align with His, leading our actions to be pure and purposeful.

Our actions also justify others. Are we only justifying (giving reason for) Jesus’ lifestyle and behavior? No more letting missed opportunities- ours or others- define our faith. Let us be defined and justified by grace. That we may always give power and glory to the one who rightly judges and justifies.

The whole point of writing my last post was to set up something else, which I then did not include because the toilet story was suddenly the only thing I could flush out.

yes. flush out.

because it was about toilets.

[forced laughter to be polite is quite appreciated]

So now, on with the inspiration for the memory about God using toilets to show me the worth those around me:

I was praying for a friend (I just love when stories start that way) and saw a sink in front of me. A white porcelain sink with clean ledges and a single pedestal. As mentioned before, the Lord speaks to me through bathrooms and so I knew this was Him and not just my imagination or a reminder to pick up Clorox at Kroger. As I asked God “what is significant about this sink?” He showed me a large oval mirror with a beveled edge hanging on the wall above said sink. In the mirror reflected the sun.

radiant.

warm.

I looked at the sun in the mirror and the light grew brighter. warmer. The sunlight began to fill the small narrow bathroom because of the natural light it reflected. With it came an indescribable warmth and comfort.

Then the Lord told me, “Reflect the Son who washes you clean.”

Often the Lord commands us to do things. Never to exert power alone, but to lead us into the fullness found in a life of obedience.

Bob (Wesley’s director) tweeted today “Jesus’ love language is obedience.” I agree. He only did what He saw the Father doing, and only commanded us to do things that pointed to the Father as well. If reflecting Jesus points to the Father, that is what we must do. He has shown us how. Through His Word- written and spoken, through dreams, songs, ideas, prayers, peace, wise counsel.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” 1 Corinthians 13:12

The sun we see, the warmth we feel, the reminders of God’s Presence all around us are only a poor reflection. In all our creativity, beauty, power, uniqueness, gifting, strength, prayers, we are only a reflection of God. So let us share the part we know, the presence we reflect.

“And now I will show you the most excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31

Let us obey His command to love one another and live in the likeness of the Son. Listen to His voice, Read His Word, follow His leadership. Then we lead others to also see face to face the Son who washes them clean.

Then we will fully know, and be fully known. We will never again forget where we are going, or the Love that shows us the way.

A few years ago, I was praying for a friend and the Lord spoke to me about toilets. Weird, I know, but it changed the way I look at those around me, and my willingness to help my roommate clean our bathroom.

 The one place in your house where you put what no one wants to talk about, yet you offer to guests every visit: the bathroom. I saw an image of a toilet. It had just been cleaned. I began to realize the power of cleaning a toilet. Think about what goes into a toilet… that which you put in your body that is of no use. You immediately flush it away expecting it to never come back up, and if it ever does, you call a professional to “fix the problem.”

God spoke to me through that image about the way I view myself and those around me. How often do we see something in our life that we know the Body can not use, yet instead of flushing it away we let it sit, foul and dirty, affecting those who were once blissfully unaware. Yet when we disregard that which does not fuel the Body as soon as it comes into the Light, we are able to walk in freedom and harmony together without constantly stopping to question the air. 

Now for the cleaning. When a toilet is dirty, you can tell. The white porcelain is dingy and dusty, not for lack of use, but lack of care. Yet when you squirt that cleaner around the rim, you can see and smell the smooth coating of a powerful substance at work. As the cleaner sits, you wipe the dust and dirt away from the seat, the back, the stand. Then it is time for the brush, to facilitate the full work of the cleaner and erase any evidence of use at all.Then the same action that removed the waste reveals the perfect bowl flushing everything but fresh clean water.

A freshly cleaned toilet is the whitest part of the bathroom. It shines and reflects the light. Simply walking by the bathroom, I can tell when it has been cleaned, the light smell of Clorox, the twinkle of the porcelain. I love a clean bathroom.

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Acts 10:15

Even that which we consider impure or dirty, God can make clean. He washes away every impurity, every imperfection. Nothing is too big, no one is too far, or too dirty, or worthless. You are of great worth. Because of Jesus’s death, your perfection and purity is real, because of His resurrection, it is attainable now. It only makes sense. It is the logical explanation, the rational thought- that which was impure is now clean. The prophet Isaiah shared this word from God with the people of Israel. They had begun to let that which did not fuel the body sit and affect them all. Yet Isaiah spoke to them,
“Come now let us reason together’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18-19. No matter how dirty we may think we are, or someone else is, the Lord will make us clean. He will remove the dirt, dust and grime, and allow us to shine, to release the aroma of Christ. 

If we let Him.

After a quite frustrating experience with theft this summer, I spent much time apart from the technological world. With the incredible generosity of friends, I have kept up with the goings on of the world, but the time had come to finally find a new computer.  So now hopefully having a blog will actually mean posting things and not simply wishing I had an actual keyboard. As I try to embrace the internet once more, I will fill your reader with semi-amusing/inspiring posts of my life, loves, and humor.

until next time.

kels.