All consuming longing.

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart’ (Matthew 5:28 KJV).

  Looking at something with a desire to touch it, taste it, buy it and have it as ours, is a common occurrence in our lives. Allurement to our eyes comes from sexual, psychological, social, physical, egocentric and materialistic desires that we all have. These desires are powerful and daunting and will always be present in the lives of human beings. 

     When those desires are not somehow managed or balanced by insight, self-control, values, character, ethics, faith or some other sense of greater purpose they will damage us and those around us.  From ancient days until our day this is evident in every time and culture. 

    When desires are allowed to follow their all consuming desire to possess, they will eventually possess us and lead to all kinds of evil in our lives.  Ahab was a king of ancient Israel who desired his neighbor’s garden.  His longing became so consuming that in his severe depression, he was unable to even eat or think. Although his wife is usually blamed, all of this led to the murder of his neighbor so that he could finally take possession of the neighbor’s garden (1 Kings 21).

    All consuming longing is simply lust running its course.  Lusting can be extremely deceptive and dangerous. Lust as a word is hardly used in our culture today but our apathetic avoidance and dismissal of the word doesn’t change its power if left unchecked. As Christians we deal with lust by our deeper love for our Savior and the strength of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us to become new in Christ.   As soon as any look travels beyond a glance into the territory of longing we should be aware and purposeful. We must never let any longing  becomes all consuming.  

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17 ESV).

Suggested Bible Reading ... I Kings 21, The Sermon on the Mount and 1 John 2

"My grace is sufficient for you ..."

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

  To admit a struggle we might be dealing with in our relationships, career or our finances is difficult.  To share with another our inner thoughts about disappointment, discouragement or depression over a myriad of possible issues is frightening to most people. To show our vulnerability in coping with familial, age or health concerns often seems like a step too far for our shaking feet to travel. 

     We often pull back, when we should go to others for help.  We often remain stoic, when we should be expressive.  We often are quiet, when we should share and we often cover our face and our problems with a mask when tears are in our eyes.

     Many times this happens because we feel like we need to show strength or other character traits instead of showing what could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. The truth is that we can be experience weakness as we are overwhelmed by overwhelming circumstances or situations.  It is not weakness to be depressed or discouraged when there is sadness or problems in our lives.  You are not a bad person if you are facing things and are struggling a bit.

     How can a weakness become strength? How is it that, something that we struggle with, can be used by Satan to condemn us and by God to strengthen us? It doesn't really make sense but it is not only a truth but a promise.

    We must stand in the truth that good can come out of our weaknesses. Honesty rings out when we admit our needs.  Relationships are strengthened by awareness, concern and responding to needs. Appealing to a friend,our spouse or a family member when we need help ... elicits insight, comfort, experience and support, all of which are helpful in times of need.

     Most of all, we need the grace of Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient for all we face.  Living by His grace, asking for His strength and letting that grace come unto us, often through other people who love us, changes our weakness into strength simply because the change doesn't come by our efforts … it comes by His grace.

Suggested Bible Reading 2 Corinthians 12

Seeing beyond what our eyes see.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV).

  We have to trust our eyes. We use them to understand and navigate our daily world, activities and responsibilities. We use our eyes to see beauty and yet at the same time they are one of the facets that we use to ascertain evil and things that disgust us.  Our eyes filter information to us and can be a determining factor in how we perceive our attractiveness and value.  Our eyes can even deceive us in our thinking, adding a sense of permanence to what might be temporary. Those that have lost their ability to see have to rely on their other senses to facilitate what they cannot see and will use those senses as their eyes unto their world.

      Our eyes may help us formulate opinions and values that might be faulty.  We see ourselves as stronger and more invincible then we are.  We may value the things we see as permanent and yet they might be the most temporary of all things.  Sufferings  and difficulties fit in this category and yet they will someday give way to the eternal.

A deeper and more truthful understanding of all things is far beyond what our eyes see.  It is what our Lord desired that we see and understand.  We were created for more than what our physical eyes can see. God desires and gives us an eternal relationship through Jesus Christ.  It might be unseen but it the only thing that is eternal.

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 KJV).

Suggested Bible Reading 2 Corinthians 4 

What we are!

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1 NIV).

  Do we really grasp what we have been given?  We are children of God because of Jesus Christ our Lord.  We have been given everything from the riches of heaven.  We are heirs in His kingdom and cannot be displaced or separated from Him as His child.

    Children of rich and poor, struggle from the opposite ends of the spectrum with the inheritance and legacy they have in their relationship with their parents.  Children of the rich often struggle because they do not think they have been given enough materially when the reality often shouts of their lack of responsibility, self-control and wasteful lifestyle.  Children of the poor often struggle because they literally have not be given enough materially.  Yet sometimes the children of the poor end up with the greater gift of deeper and substantial character in the way they might live and more grateful for any gifts that come their way.

    We are poor in ourselves but we have all become children of God and heirs because of Christ to the great inheritance of riches in grace in our relationship with Him.  We can rest assured; we will be given abundance in things that are needed not only to sustain us but to make us into His workmanship bringing glory to Him as His children.

We can know we have a Father loving us more dearly than we can ever imagine. No matter what we face, endure and go through in whatever realm, we have in Christ abundantly more than we need to be victorious over it by the constant power and presence of the Holy Spirit .   We have been given a relationship and inheritance beyond our understanding.  Rejoice in it, treasure it, be ever aware and thankful for it and live fully as the child of God as that is what we are!    

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ (Romans 8:14-15 KJV).

Suggested Bible Reading Romans 8 & 1 John 3

A bit of nudging ...

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him … (Luke 10:33 KJV).

  It is common to all of us, we need a bit of nudging to get us past our prejudices.  Our eyes are often blinded by the appearance of others.  We cannot see beyond their ethnicity, their clothing, their religion, their color and even their demeanor or attitude.  We do not see their heart, character, motives, activities or even their abilities or generosity.  We cannot see deeper because we have stopped looking as we have chosen to shut our eyes to the person in front of us. 

    Jesus gives us the story of the Good Samaritan as a timeless reminder that character, compassion and generosity are never determined by ethnic or religious appearances but are matters of the heart, compassion and authenticity of faith.

    Sometimes God simply has to intervene. He came to Peter in a vision and sometimes He uses the Word and His Spirit to help us to open our eyes to see others as they truly are and to see our own prejudices.  God had to tell Peter three times that all foods were good to eat … literally giving him a great object lesson about the universal nature of the Gospel.  God saw and honored the faithfulness, humbleness and desire of Cornelius to come to Him. God moved Peter to go far beyond all that he could see and understand to both welcome and encourage Cornelius on journey to find salvation in a God full of grace for any and all.

    If we are honest … we do close our eyes to really see those around us.  A simple prayer like the following prayer, might need to be daily offered up to our gracious Lord to help us become like our Lord. 

Dear Lord, Open our eyes to see like You see and love like You love that we might become like You.  Amen

“Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” (Acts 10:34-35 NIV).

Suggested Bible Reading … Luke 10 & Acts 10

More than just a saving act.

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

 (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV).

  There is nothing wrong with speaking of the “Gospel” as “Good News” in reference to our being saved from our sins.  It is good news for us as sinners … that we, who have no hope, now have a saving living hope in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

     Still there is more to our faith than just our salvation. We are born again when Christ has our heart and life.  In our seeking of God we find everything about Him and all that He gives is lasting, eternal, fulfilling and substantial.  His promises and His Word becomes alive in us because He is life (1 John 5:11-12). Eternal life does not come to us only after our death, it also comes to us now as we live in all that our Father gives to us and as we follow His ways and commandments.  Nothing about our Lord fades away or perishes over time.  He abides forever and never abandons us.  Everything about Him and everything He gives is from everlasting to everlasting.  That is amazing reality we often forget in the allurement of the fading and temporary.  Everything else in this world fades away but everything about Him and all that He gives lasts forever.  That is "Good News" in the world we live in.

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever."

(Isaiah 40:8 NIV)

Suggested Bible Reading … Isaiah 40 & 1 Peter 1

The bread by which we have real life.

 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV).

  Bread is critical to life. It has been labeled the “staff of life.” Since ancient times, variations of bread have been the staple food for numerous cultures.  Some types of bread are simple to prepare and basically use some form of ground grain, legume or seed mixed with water which is quickly cooked over stones and kettles. Some forms of bread involve cultures, yeasts and exotic ingredients consuming hours and days to prepare and cook.

    Is it by the created substance of bread that we have life or is it from the Creator of life that we are given bread to live?  It was God’s provision to give his children wandering in the wilderness bread as manna that they might have life.  It was His word that brought the manna by which they had life.  Without His word, there was no provision.

    Beyond His provision of bread for life is the greater bread of eternal life. There is a bread of life beyond what can be eaten and this living bread is Jesus Christ.  He is the “Bread of Life.” We must never forget that simple reality and as we seek His words and His presence, hungry for the bread by which we have real life. “Do not labor for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27 ESV).

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (John 6:35 NIV).

Suggested Bible Reading … Deuteronomy 8 & John 6

The agreeable soil of our hearts.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest (Luke 8:11-15 NLT).

  In the soil of our hearts lies the potential of the abundance of God’s blessing and beauty. There is nothing in the soil alone that can grow anything. There are seeds of God in His presence and in His Word that He plants in the soil of our hearts and as we are soft and agreeable to Him, the Holy Spirit nurtures and gives life to the plant of faith imparted to us.

    If we are hard to God’s Word always closing ourselves off to the moisture and nourishment of life He gives, we will fade in the heat of the day. If we are seeking other sources of sustenance we will be choked off from the life His Spirit will lead us to. If we are unsure about Christ being life to us, we will be smothered by the other things and the life He so freely gives will be pushed aside.  If we do not trust in the life He gives, our roots will not grow deep and we will die in our faith as immature plants.  If we do not see the evil weeds around us competing for nourishment, they will sap the strength we need in our life with Christ.

    Be soft and agreeable to God, His Word and His Spirit.  Let Christ bring you, life as He teaches, refines and nourishes you.  Do not be fooled into thinking other sources can bring you life. Don’t be rebellious to the only true life for our souls.  And don’t let temptations, cares, riches and pleasures ever choke out the potential, abundance and beauty that only He can bring to the soil of your heart.  

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV).

Suggested Bible Reading Luke 8 & Hebrews 3

Revelations in the large and the small.

I usually write longer posts at my other blog (www.srmaas.blogpsot.com) but today as I read about Elijah and thought about him ... I decided to share something here that I wrote a few years ago.  I adapted it bit and it is a much longer posting than I usually put up here, but hopefully you will find a devotional thought or two in the words. Thanks, Steve

  Is it the spectacular or is it the common that we find our deepest moments in our faith? Which has greater impact? Was it the words that Christ spoke with compassion or was it the miracles that burst forth from his God/powered interactions with people and situations that truly brought people to belief? Was it not both? At times it was not the spectacular but the quiet and the smallest of moments. At times the gentle words of Jesus nudged people to believe in him and at other times the unbelievable was hardly noticed, much less acknowledged even though the miracle might have echoed as a witness of God’s power in the Son. Sometimes the teaching words of Jesus were sneered at and yet a miracle brought change to the very lives of those who experienced its wonder even as they could hardly believe what had just happened to them. Impact and influence even during the ministry of Jesus the Savior seems to be unpredictable. Is it a matter of the hardness of the heart that negates the seeing the working of God?  Sometimes God doesn't have to do mighty works to speak to us, we just have to listen.

    For a week or so, I had been praying to be in the right place at the right time for God's power to be evident. On a cold morning on one of the first few days of November, I had awoken with a start at 4:30 A.M., eyes wide open, with a distinctive earnestness; desiring on this day to be in the right place at the right time for God to use me.

  
     Just a few hours later, this earlier prayer was even again on my lips, as a cloud of steam appeared on the side of the highway just ahead of me. As I got closer, the car from which the steam was rising up from was now beginning to burn. Bight orange flames were beginning to appear around the bottom of the engine, ugly black smoke began to billow upward. I came to a stop and realized there was a man was still sitting in the car. I jumped out and ran up to the side window and told the man that he needed to exit the car quickly. He stated, "It’s not that bad, it is only a blown head gasket."

    
     "No, no, your car is on fire," I exclaimed. Moving slowly, he hesitantly began to leave the car, but he also wanted to go around to the front and look under the hood. “Sir, we have to get out of here and there isn’t time to stand around,” I nervously tried with my words and hands to get him to move away from the fiery danger. Finally he listened to my words and we slowly we moved back from this heart pounding scenario ... first about 20 feet and then further back to about fifty feet away from the ever increasing fire. The flames began to grow ever hotter and higher and soon the car was a large fireball. I hurriedly dailed the fire department and they said they were on their way. The tires began to blow off like bombs and soon after this, his wife came driving up. She thanked me and said to me, “My husband has suffered some strokes and moves sorta slow” before telling her husband to get in her car. Afterwards she slowly moved further down the road. Now the spectacle became a reproduction of a movie set with cars stopping all along the road, sheriff sirens and neck straining drivers coming dangerously close to causing additional accidents as they strained to look at the event in full production.

   
     After a few more minutes the sheriff said to me, "You are free to go" and I shook the old man’s hand. He smiled and said, “Thanks so very much, I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn't come along.” I turned and walked away taking some deep deliberate breaths, which I hadn't noticed I had needed until that moment. I sat for a few minutes in my truck and wondered about God’s powerful hand in this fiery encounter.

     
    At the end of the day as I was falling off to sleep, a simple thought broke through, as I thought about the events of the day. A small voice came to me. God impressed this thought upon me ... He was there in the spectacular but he was also with me in the many moments during the day when I did not even sense Him. He was there in the directed words that I spoke to the old man in danger and He was there in the countless other words that I had spoken to different people I encountered throughout this same day. It should not have taken a revelation in a fire for me to understand anew, God's reveals Himself in mighty power but His small voice might speak of bigger things for those that will listen. After all ... He created the universe and He can move mountains but He can also speak in the smallest of words directed to a tender heart. I know what happened in the fiery scene earlier in the day but I don’t really know what He did with my words spoken throughout the rest of the day. The crux of the matter remains ... God is God and we need to let Him be God. Whether He moves in the common or the spectacular is not really to be argued as to importance but we are simply to delight in the involvement of Him in our lives as His children. What a wonderful and humbling reality it is to realize, God is involved in all of the moments of our lives.  He can and will use any of them to deliver His messages and show His glory. Fiery miraculous spectacles are impressive but the still small voice is just as important because it too, comes from God himself. 

Dear God, help us to always listen and let our hearts be tender to you whether in the small or the spectacular. Help us never to miss the smallest of words from your voice because we are looking for a revelation in fire. Help us to simply seek you and be still and trusting as we wait for you. 

 In the name of Jesus our Lord, Amen.

"The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave" (I Kings 19:12 NIV).

Does having more make our lives better?

“He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

  It is an ageless dilemma and timeless fallacy.  The striving and the struggling to acquire more things,  has and will consume huge amounts of time, energy and most definitely financial means as we as human beings fall prey to this quest.  It is not just more in just the acquisition of material things that pull us into these insatiable pursuits but it can be something better, faster, shinier and even things smaller and quicker.  There are myriads of reasons, ways and concepts alluring us even as they fail to really satisfy us.

    Christians are immune to this. In fact, some in the faith seem to delight more in this acquisition of things than in the working and refinement of God’s riches of grace, peace and love in their lives.

    We must all be sober minded about the allure of more.  We must be even more resolute in never truly accepting the equation of acquiring more as always being better, as rock solid truth.  Sometimes less is better, sometimes enough is enough and sometimes what we have will service us way beyond what the advertising might tell us of its uselessness. Sometimes we simply do not really need anything else in our lives.

    Our lives were made for fellowship with God.  Our deepest needs and fulfillment are to be found in Him.  If we get lost in the pursuit of abundance and the material things in this short life on earth and miss the riches of God, we will have been quite foolish and have nothing at the end of our lives.

“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:19-21 KJV).

Suggested Bible Reading Ecclesiastes 5 & Luke 12