"I Am" Living

A dear friend shared with many in his blog this quote from Helen Mallicoat:

“I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking: My name is I Am. When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I Was.

When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I Will Be. When you live in this moment, it is not hard. I am here. My name is I Am.”

That got me to thinking:

God called Himself “I AM” in Exodus (Ex 3:14) when Moses asks for a name to give the Hebrew people in Egypt. This is the basis for the Hebrew name for God which we spell Yahweh. In Genesis, God uses “I AM the Strong God” (17:1-2; 34:11-12); in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel HE uses “I AM the Living God” ( Is. 49:15-18; Jer. 22 & 46; Ez. 5, 14, 16, 17,20, 34, 35,).

In the New Testament Jesus uses the “I AM” description as well for Himself. In John’s Gospel we get the Great I AM’s: I AM the Bread of Life (6:35), I AM the Light of the world (8:12), I AM the Gate (John 10:6), I AM the Good Shepherd (10:11), I AM the Son of God (10:36), I AM the resurrection and the Life (11:25), I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6), I AM the Vine (15:5); and in John 18:5-6, we get “I AM” directly, and the entire crowd falls down at the power of it coming from God!

So often we lose sight of the fact that God is here with us, every minute of every day. God does not dwell in the past or on it. God is not just looking at the future. Nothing we can do will change one detail of what is past in our lives. Nothing we can worry about will change the future. HE is here with us. If we will just focus on God each day, we will no longer hold ourselves hostage to the past nor be consumed by worries about the future.

The great Christian songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song some years ago that focused on the “next five minutes”. What would you do today, if you knew it was your last few minutes on this earth?

Throughout the Gospels, we get an example of how Christ lived His life each day to its fullest; using every opportunity each day to show the Father’s love to those who needed it most. His was an urgent ministry. Let’s pledge to be the Good News in people’s lives each day (that means building people up instead of tearing them down). Let’s pledge to make our churches hospitals for the hurting instead of country clubs for the saints. Let’s pledge to take time each day to invite our Lord and Savior into our lives and hearts through the reading of His Word. Let’s pledge to make a point of listening in our prayer time and see where God leads us.

More Blogs from Pastor Mac

Listen to Stephen Curtis Chapman's Next Five Minutes

Listen to Stephen Curtis Chapman's Next Five Minutes