Remember. Follow. Joy.

I love this song! Gungor stunningly blew music out of the water at Passion 2011.




Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. ~Phil. 1:27

Passion 2011: no better way to start a new year, hands down! I could spend the remainder of my life explaining all that God spoke to me, (in fact I hope to!) but I especially want to share how God used three powerful words.

Remember: (transitive verb [which requires an object that receives the action of the verb])
to have a renewed apprehension of; to bring to mind again; to be continually aware or thoughtful of; to preserve fresh in the memory; to attend to.

God urged me over and over, through the scriptures shared by the speakers and worship leaders, to remember His goodness, to renew my mind in His attributes. Paul faithfully walked in remembrance and urges us to “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David…” Jesus asked us eat his represented broken body and blood in remembrance of Him. David proclaimed, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord ; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” The scriptures that reference remembering the character, attributes, and deeds of God are overwhelming.
Beth Moore spoke, focusing on the renewing of our minds. The mind is not simply instinct, it is knowing what we are doing and why. Remembrance is an active verb performed by the mind! We must actively pursue God’s words and by remembering them, renew our minds which, as Ben Stuart beautifully illustrated, stir our affections and motivate our will. There were things I had forgotten, things Christ calls me to remember. {f.y.i. I’m feeling a poem involving remembrance, communion, the thief on the cross… hmm, creative wheels are turning!}

Follow: (transitive verb [this thrills me because transitive verbs require a direct object and that direct object in this case is Christ! Oh the wonders of language!] )
to go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with; to accompany; to attend; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress.

“…they left everything and followed Him” (Luke 5:11). During a worship session lead by David Crowder, I was singing the words “I will follow You,” and suddenly saw grass, trees, rivers, rocks, all swirling miles and miles and miles below me. I grasped at the air behind me but had nothing to hold on to. My heart rose and sank like the moment before a rollercoaster drops. Panic! Then a voice, “you said you wanted to follow me, I’m out here,” in the open air, thrilling and terrifying. David Platt explained it so well, “Follow is a far different word than believe, confess, proclaim, or accept.” I realized that following Jesus means following Jesus, no modifiers attached! “Jesus is not a means to an end, He is the end!” –David Platt. I shouldn’t follow Jesus for peace, health, happiness, etc, I should follow Jesus for Jesus. I loved how Francis Chan put it, “Jesus requires you to drop all things and follow Him, but He is worth it; He is so worth it.” Simply in Himself, Jesus is worth everything.

Joy: (either a noun [God!] or a transitive verb [action with God as the object!] )
a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated; an outward show of pleasure or delight; rejoicing; happiness; blessing.

Here’s the ringer. Before Passion, conviction set in as I realized my circumstances dictate my joy. Like love, joy is not simply an emotion, it is an active state of being. Joy is produced in our lives by the Spirit. -But I wasn’t living that out.
John Piper (unintentionally) made me feel unsaved when he asked, “what is the bottom (root, gut, center) of your joy? Self? Or Christ?” You don’t have to guess my answer. So often my self wins out over Jesus. But, “self can never satisfy a heart that was made for God” – John Piper. How intrinsically true! “To get life, we must run to the author of life” –Ben Stuart. I cannot be joy. I am not something to rejoice over (outside of God’s love and mercy). Christ is all. He is all, the source of joy, joy itself. He produces joy, He is worthy of rejoicing. And yet how often I forget! How often I replace God with self! Thank God for the Puritans- “How do you dislodge a beautiful thing from the human heart? Replace it with a more beautiful thing.” Amen. As I remember Christ and follow Him, He becomes my joy.

This is only a taste of what God taught me at Passion. It overwhelms me at times and I regret how far I am from the image of Christ. But I take comfort in Paul’s words: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own... Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” ~ Phil. 3:12, 16