{When I’m Just a Memory}

Do you ever go through seasons of life that you think of death more often than others? I feel that I am going through those seasons more and more as I pass the “Alert” signs on 65 N/S that continue to update us on how many people have had fatal car accidents in TN this year. I pass by that sign at least 6 times a week. I can hardly drive by it without reading the sign, being in awe of how much the numbers have changed, and then thinking of how many lives were changed because of those deaths. Today marked 617 deaths… lets put that in perspective… let’s say that each death impacted only 10 people, I say “only” because that is a very low realistic number… it is probably more in the hundreds, but for example sake we will say 10. That means in the past 8 months in Tennessee alone over 6,100 people have been affected by a fatal car accident… not to mention all of the other hundreds of ways people can die. I don’t know about you, but this makes me immediately think of my own countdown.

After dwelling on this thought this afternoon I was cooking this evening and the song, “Live Like That,” by Sidewalk Prophets came on.

 

      Sometimes I think

What will people say of me

When I’m only just a memory

When I’m home where my soul belongs

 

Was I love

When no one else would show up

Was I Jesus to the least of those

Was my worship more than just a song

 

I want to live like that

And give it all I have

So that everything I say and do

Points to You

 

If love is who I am

Then this is where I’ll stand

Recklessly abandoned

Never holding back

 

I want to live like that

I want to live like that

 

Am I proof

That You are who you say You are

That grace can really change a heart

Do I live like Your love is true

 

People pass

And even if they don’t know my name

Is there evidence that I’ve been changed

When they see me, do they see You

WOW! So my heart wonders if I “Live Like That?”  God has been gracious to us and shown us what is good. And what does He require of us? To act justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) Do I walk humbly with my God? Do I act justly? What does that even mean? How does one “Live recklessly abandon never holding back?”

It seems that to be recklessly abandoned to something or someone we must know Him. How or why would we ever desire to be abandoned to something if we did not know Him. Therefore, to know Him is to love Him and to love Him is to obey Him.

Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” Again, in verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching.” Verse 24: “He who does not love Me will not obey my teaching.” Jesus in 15:10: “If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love…”

So, it seems simple right? Know, Love, and Obey. I am the first to admit I do not have this together… but, I will say that the more I know God (spending time in the Word and prayer), the more I fall in love with the characteristics of Who He is, and then the more I fall in love with Him… the more I desire to trust Him and with trust comes obedience! If we are trusting God and obeying Him and listening to His still, small voice… then mountains will move (Matthew 17:20) and our faith will become that of a mustard seed. Then, we will be living a recklessly abandoned life to Jesus Christ our SAVIOR!

I URGE you to get to know HIM today… not religion, not worship songs, not woman’s events (although they are amazing), not your own agenda, or even knowledge… GET TO KNOW HIM and YOU WILL BE BOUND BY HIS GRACE AND LOVE THAT WILL MOVE YOU TO A RECKLESSLY ABANDONDED LIFE!!!!

I want my memory to be… that I was recklessly abandoned to Jesus Christ. “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus- the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” -Acts 20:24

Jessica