Let Us Meet the Conditions

Proverbs 2:1-2 (ESV)

My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
 making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;

Holy Father,

How do we make our ears attentive to listen? 

By receiving Your words - taking them in graciously, with the mindset of being genuine and humble before You.  By stockpiling Your commandments, recognizing they are our life tools…Your doctrines are sweet, offering us grace and salvation in Christ, our Hope Eternal.

By focusing on not just the words communicated – but on the One communicating them. Recalling that the majority of communication is non-verbal, let us read Your body language. That unspoken language reveals the heart behind the words.

By inclining our hearts to understand – leaning in, tucking our hearts close to Yours that we may hear and feel Your heartbeat…as in leaning in for an intimate hug in effort to connect on the deepest level.

What a beautiful picture you paint!

Proverbs 2:5 (ESV)

then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

Then - such a wonderful conclusion!

We shall glimpse Your awesome nature,

Your amazing holiness,

Your absolute truth,

Your unfailing love….

Precious Father, keep us quick to

To receive Your words

            To treasure Your commands,

                        To keep our ears inclined

                                    And our heartbeats in tune with Yours.  Amen

Eternal Aliens

I have a favorite praying place. While there, I often pray with my eyes open scanning the trees visible through the window. I treasure looking to the Lord to display His different attributes just from that limited view through those panes.

While pondering the eternal and the fact that as believers we are aliens (1 Peter 1 -2 ESV) this week I was struck by the woods in our lives….the busyness and details that allow us to function in this world and yet can consume our time and attention. Negotiating the trunks, roots and stumps my gaze can remain downward. I often  stumble or even fall.

Thomas à Kempis said, 

“Let temporal things be in the use, eternal things in the desire.”

Those trees, roots and stumps do serve our use – they allow us to see our frail humanity and they give opportunity for us to walk beside others while we love and model Christ. We just need to remember not to lose sight of the eternal as the object of our desire. We need to look ahead to eternity.

Back in my praying place….looking through the trees, barely glimpsed in the distance is a streak of color. Zeroing in on that strip of brightness I realize there is a flag, a symbol of freedom and hope standing tall. I find that so refreshing a reminder.  This is not my home. One day in the future I will know true freedom. I will see my Hope! And I will experience true hospitality….

”Welcome home!” Jesus will say!

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1-2 ESV)

Surprised by God's presence?

A recently posed question still floods my mind….

Was there a time when you were surprised by God’s presence?

                                                                                                            

As I began to think this over and compile a list, I was drawn to the thought I should never be surprised by His presence. He tells us in His Word that, “He will never leave us nor forsake us.” (Joshua 1:5 ESV) so why would His presence by surprising?

One memory I drew upon gave me glimpse of that why….

After having spent 15 years at home raising our family, God gave me an opportunity to be involved with chemistry again, that until it was returned to me I hadn't even realized I was missing! My Lord, the Lover of My Soul,  gave a gift I didn't even know I desired – but I truly did – and I was surprised with joy at His presence in my life!

For God to not have the surprise element would be a

                   God I could predict….

                                   One I could take for granted...

                                               A God my ordinary mind could grasp….

But,

His ways are higher than my ways, and for that I am so thankful!

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9 ESV)

So look for ways God surprises you with His presence and take joy in it!

Not getting the gift but receiving the gift.

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. WE Corinthians (4: 1-2 ESV)

To walk with God is to reflect on our own unworthiness and His absolute perfection.  We may not understand Christ’s willingness to sacrifice His perfection for our lives. However considering the passage in I Corinthians, we must seek to understand His love and the mystery that it is. 

Jesus is the lover of our souls!

We can feel His love walking us through this life but if we forget to reflect… if we forget to kneel before the cross and die daily to ourselves… to submit our desires and discipline to Him, then we have lost sight of the mystery.  We may not understand this kind of selfless love but we can marvel at this amazing gift!

We must have humility and recognize that without opening our hands and receiving the package, we can't enjoy what is within. It’s a package wrapped by a fine jeweler and craftsman who understands the value of what's inside and wants to treasure it. On first inspection, we find the packing tape wrapped so tightly that the scissors can barely get to the brown paper underneath. Once through the tape, we can undo the brown paper to find exquisite wrapping paper held together with ribbon. Next, we get to a heavy impenetrable box filled with packing peanuts placed carefully to surround the smaller box nestled within. Prying open this smaller vessel, excelsior has been laid strand by strand to cradle a fine linen ball. Finally, within the linen we find….our soul!

How can we be anything other than grateful! That is the mystery!

What are you hearing?

Mark 10:46-47
And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Consider the healing of Bartimaeus, the blind man in Mark 10. Imagine sitting by the roadside unable to see who was coming but able to hear the crowd. As they approached, envision Bartimaeus asking the first passers-by, “Why such a crowd?” or “Who is with you?” He must have been eager to know what was happening. He would have been able to sense the energy of the crowd, and even feel their excitement.

When he realizes that Jesus is coming, note his response.

Bartimaeus calls Him, “Jesus, Son of David,” demonstrating that he not only has heard the man Jesus approaching but that he sees this man as the Messiah! The Lord allowed Bartimaeus’ ears to be opened that his eyes might truly see!

And his heart’s response?

“…have mercy on me!”

Have you heard the Son of David approaching?

Have you seen that He is the Messiah?

Have you responded with a heart in need of mercy, recognizing the One before you?

Improving Your Love Language

Gary Chapman’s Book entitled The 5 Love Languages^®, the Secret to Love That Lasts has become a classic tool used for improving relationships. It has been years since I read this book. Recently when asked to introduce ourselves in a mixed group we were to share our name and our love language. Although this provided levity, it also caused me to reflect on what God thinks about Love Languages.

God is our Maker, knitting us together in ways that we don’t even understand about ourselves. He knows how we best express our love, and He knows how those we are in contact with: spouse, family members, friends and co-workers – function as well. There is value in understanding how we perceive love and how it differs from how those around us perceive it. This takes us outside of our selfish boxes and allows us to minister to others with a deeper understanding of their makeup.

However, let us consider Christ’s model: He didn't limit himself to one method.

Christ’s Words of Affirmation are seen in His words to the woman with the alabaster jar, “…She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mark 14:8-9 ESV) His Tangible Gift is seen in the feeding of the 5000 in John chapter 6. His Quality Time was demonstrated with his disciples as they shared the final Passover Meal with Him as relayed in John 13 and following. His sweet Physical Touch is displayed there as well as He humbly washes their feet beginning in John 13:4. An illustration of an Act of Service was His first miracle in the second chapter of John when He changed water into wine for His mother.

The love Jesus showed each of us on the cross embodies all of these languages, allowing His touch to be felt by all who seek Him! Aren't you grateful!

So rather than asking what your love language is, perhaps a better question to ask is: which love language do I demonstrate the least? Lord, help us to be better at reflecting and demonstrating love for You and the others you have placed in our lives.

Let us be  “ looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”( Hebrews 12’2 ESV)

(Chapman, 1992, 1995, 2004, 2010, 2015)

Inadequate words....

How do you respond when called up on to speak out for the Lord?  If you are like me your first response may be to pull back in fear, inadequate or unsure that your words will be right. The desire to be faithful to represent our Savior well is good and right. However, if our desire is eclipsed by fear and no words come, then we represent our fear not the Spirit and power given. Christ came that we might have salvation. He left His Helper with us that we might rely on that Spirit and demonstrate to our world a loving God who cares more about our hearts than the tangled words we use to express our hearts.

These words from I Corinthians 2:3-5 reassure us:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (ESV)

So Lord, in our weakness may You be strong. May we know nothing except You, Jesus, crucified on our behalf and may we represent you well. For our glory alone!