Jesus changes everything.

I repeated the words to myself on the way to the doctor’s office… as I sat on the floor in my ballet studio, catching my breath…. and as I erased the math problem for the fourth time and rubbed my temples.

The hard moments. The beautiful moments. The mundane moments. Every moment.

Hello, dear souls! Welcome back to Apple Blossoms. If you like, brew yourself a cup of tea and sit yourself down.

Something God has really put on my heart this past year is the idea of “every moment.” The idea that, in light of the gospel, every moment is holy.

It is so easy for me to fall into the mindset that I will only be able to serve the Lord when He provides more opportunities. “When I start going to college, I’ll be able to witness more. After I graduate I can start pursuing ways to love others and follow Christ through some great calling.” But the truth is, Jesus isn’t asking me to live for Him in those moments. He wants me to live for Him right now. To live in the light of His love right now. To love the people He has put beside me in this moment.

The love of God truly changes everything. The more God opens my eyes to the gospel the more it changes me. In the past few years, in the face of the brokenness of the world and the brokenness in myself, I have felt such a great need. And I have believed and have come to know a Love that is the answer. Love that enters into our darkness, a Love that gave itself.

Let this one great, gracious, glorious fact lie in your spirit until it permeates all your thoughts and makes you rejoice even though you are without strength. Rejoice that the Lord Jesus has become your strength and your song-He has become your salvation.

Charles Spurgeon

You know those times when you read something and it touches something deep in your heart and won’t let you forget it? Several months ago that happened to me while reading a blog post by Katie Davis Majors. It was titled God Who Wants All of Us and it is 100% worth your time to read 😉 (the post was part of a devotional series that included a reading plan, so don’t be thrown off by the schedule at the beginning). The part that I copied out in both my bullet journal and the note pad on my phone said something like this:

Those everyday moments of washing the dishes, picking up the living room, waiting for the red light to change, the moments of frustration or discontent or worry when we automatically reach for our phones or utter a complaint… those moments are to be our sacrifice to God.

It is in those moments that Jesus wants to not only transform parts of us, but all of us. He came and died to redeem us according to His great grace. He didn’t come to redeem only part of our lives, oh no, He came to redeem and restore and change all of them.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

God’s love is so deep, so wide, so real and so true that the apostle Paul says that it surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). He showed that love by dying for us while we were still sinners. By spreading His arms out upon that wooden tree, His soul in such agony that He sweat drops of blood. And His love is able to restore all that is broken.

This love changes everything. Why is it so easy to forget to live in light of it?

But how do we live every moment in light of the good news of the Savior? It can be a daunting thought. The only way we can do this is through the working of God’s might. So let’s pray. Pray that God would continually draw us closer to the right perspective. That as God and His love is real to us we would, by His grace, sacrifice the lesser for the greater. By continually offering up to Him sacrifices of praise, continually loving others and shepherding faithfully each person and moment He has given to us this day. All through His grace and the working of His Spirit. Because it is so, so worth it. 

These moments that we are living right now might seem very small. As Katie Majors said, they might seem as inconsequential as two copper coins. But they are the moments God has put us in right now. In the light of God’s kingdom, an hour spent comforting your sibling or serving your parents or praying for a friend matters. It matters so much. These moments are what make up the majority of our life. Be of good heart, pilgrim of Christ!

Because God is love and because of His sacrifice, love matters and each moment we spend loving matters because of Him.

Let’s try it. Try whispering a prayer instead of reaching for our phones. Try preaching the gospel to ourselves when something goes wrong in our day. Remember Jesus. I promise we will not regret it.

We won’t do it perfectly. I wish we could, but we cannot. This is why Jesus has to change the mundane moments. It isn’t easy and we are going to fail, but as we seek to abide in Him we will bear fruit. The striving and struggling is so worth it. Press on for our King. Know He is working in even these moments.

Jesus is what matters, thus every moment matters.

O LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn men to dust and say “Return, o children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night… So teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom… O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:1-4,12,14