my orange bracelet

I talked about this at church last weekend, and as promised, I am posting it for those of you who didn't hear it.

MY ORANGE BRACELET

Some of you may have noticed that I wear an orange bracelet. Lots of people wear stretchy bracelets for causes they're raising money for, but I don't. My bracelet reminds me of other things. This one came from Thailand, and on one side it says "Long Live The King", and on the other side it says "We Love the King" in Thai. (unfortunately, I don't have a Thai keyboard, and I can't type it out for you. Maybe I'll take a picture of it, and post it here so you can see it.)

When I lived in Thailand, I learned a lot about God through the king. The Bible refers to God as King, and I never really understood all the references until I lived in a country that has a king. And they LOVE him. And they revere him. For instance, if I was in Thailand, and I came into the king's presence standing, the guards would probably shoot me. And I'm not even kidding. To be in his presence, one must be lower than him; usually sitting on the ground, waiing. The respect that they have for the king is unbelieveable.

Then I see pictures of the king in America, shaking hands with dignitaries, at eye level with everyone. And I think "If only you knew. If only you KNEW that if you were in his country, you'd be treading on dangerous ground." And I think it's sometimes the same with God.

In his country, Jesus is revered and worshipped. The angels bow down before him. And he comes here to live with us, and we treat him like a geenie in our pocket, or at best, like a friend. If only we KNEW! If only we knew. Here's the difference though, we can know. And this is what I've been convicted about lately: God has given us his word and his Holy Spirit so that we CAN know.

Hosea 6:3 says, "Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him!" and I want that to be the theme of my existence here. That I KNOW my Lord, and that he knows me. I want to live, PRESSING ON to know my God. Reading his word with new hunger every day. Praying with passion, and living with excitement. I want to know what it means to really worship God in spirit and in truth, and to let God's word change my life.

Colossians 3:16 says, "Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise." That can only happen if I actually READ the words of Christ, and let them ruminate in my heart. That's the way to know.

May that challenge you as it has challenged me.