Sonship finale

Well, Sonship is over. Amy and I are on the plane heading back to Katy where there is a moving truck sitting in front of our driveway, waiting to be packed with all of my worldly possessions, along with what I can steal from my neighbors. Our brains and hearts are pretty much totally filled up. You know the feeling. When you have to cram for 24 hours straight for a major test. It seems like there is literally nothing new than you can cram into the tiny crevices that remain in between your ears. We have heard such horrible and awesome teaching which has made us question our own historic view of faith and grace, made us question Sonships’ theology (and thanks to Josiah’s patience and wisdom we are assured of it’s faithfulness to Scripture) and made us, most importantly, look deep within our hearts, way past the visible actions of sin and/or apparent integrity, leaving us pleading with the Lord to have mercy on us. And he did not, nor does he ever, leave us in that pit. Sometimes it seems like it. When your own sinfulness becomes as clear and sharp as the wire cutters Nashville International Airport confiscated from me, you are left crumbled on the ground like the slow kid in dodgeball (ah, the horrid Junior High memories come flooding back). In our small groups, we spent hours in confession and repentance. But the Lord lifted us from that because the Gospel reveals the sin only as a stage in the process of basking in his Grace.

One of the coolest things that I learned this weekend (can I list just one?) was the incredible paradigm that our life is spent more fully comprehending 1) the glory and holiness of God and 2) the depth of our rebellion and sinfulness. And the more we realize both, the more we realize our need for Christ and the more we appreciate the fact that Jesus has fully bridged the gap between the two. In life, I realize more and more that the gap is broader than I had ever imagined. And therefore Christ is more incredible, loving, powerful, sacrificing and enduring than I realized earlier in life. And next year I’ll realize it even more.

The week was about so many things. One of the biggies that I take away really is a greater need that I have for Jesus. Everyday. Everyday. That he really is my daily bread. That he really is the breath I breathe in the morning. He really is my all in all. He is. I don’t act like it most of the time. But he is.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Brian Land