Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Psalm 116:2  Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

My story Part 2: Nothing prepared me for what happened when I raised my hand – acknowledging my doubt about knowing Jesus as Lord.  I thought it was hopeless, that I had too many doubts, but what did I have to lose?  I was startled to see a young man of about 15 push a chair to the middle of the circle of students and say, “This is where you meet Jesus!”

The evangelist came over to me and said that I could confess my sins and know that I was forgiven – that I would be clean inside; that if I wanted to know Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord – beyond a shadow of a doubt – to walk out to that chair and let them pray for me – so I did.

All of the students gathered around me and began praying – and pray they did!  There came a point when the evangelist asked me if I knew Jesus as Lord.  I replied, “No. But I want to!”  At that moment, it happened – I met Him!  From the top of my head, through my body to my toes, His power went through me!  God gave me a thunderous conversion experience beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of!  My Matterhorn of doubt was leveled in an instant.  Inside I was utterly changed, cleansed and filled with His presence.  Jesus was real and I was His!!!!

I was absolutely overwhelmed.  Within me was a tumultuous mass of joy, excitement, freedom, cleanness – there was Jesus, inside of me! And He didn’t go away!  After praying for others, we walked out of that prayer room into the main meeting area.  I so clearly remember looking out the windows at the woods and the lake.  I thought, “I’m 20 and life expectancy is about 70.  How do I keep this alive and vibrant for 50+ years?”  There was nothing in my experience that led me to believe that something this incredibly good could be sustained for any period of time.  The idea of it getting even better never entered my mind!

October 11^th was my 48^th birthday in the Lord.  My love relationship with Jesus is more vibrant and more wonderful than ever.  It has never grown cold.  Words cannot describe the gratitude that I have because God made me His own; the joy of tears streaming down my face because of Jesus.  I will love Him forever because He heard my cry.  Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

Psalm 116:1  I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy.

My story Part 1: Although I was raised going to church, albeit a liberal one, I never developed faith to speak of.  The idea of being born again or meeting Jesus in a personal way was totally foreign to me.  I came from a good home.  I was close to my mom but my father and I argued when we were together and loved each other while apart.

When I went to college, what little faith I might have had was lost due to atheistic instructors and discussions with unbelieving students who seemed intent on obliterating any ideas of faith. I remember one professor, a former pastor, believed that a nursing baby at its mother’s breasts was in the “Garden of Eden”.   Original sin was when the baby bit its mother’s breast and caused her to stop nursing the baby.  So the baby was expelled from the Garden!  And it went downhill from there.

In the fall of ’68, while a junior in college, I agreed to go to a Christian retreat with my parents.  It still amazes me that I went, but nothing was going on that weekend at college and it was important to them – so I went.  The retreat center was at an old time camp back in the woods overlooking a small lake in Michigan.

In the first large meeting, the speaker for the retreat spoke about the love of Jesus in a way that I had never heard before.  In fact he talked as though he knew Him – personally!  I was saddened by it because I thought, “If Jesus were real, that’s what He would be like – but what good did it do me?”  I couldn’t believe – or so I thought.  After the meeting, all of the high school and college age went to a separate meeting room.  A room full of “teeny-boppers” (a term popular way back then).  My impression wasn’t positive.

There were about fifteen of us sitting in a circle and I was easily the oldest.  Then the speaker came in and asked if there was anyone there who didn’t know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  I was too embarrassed to raise my hand.  He then asked if there was anyone with any doubt about it.  Something raged within me as I sat there and I struggled with whether or not to raise my hand.  In spite of thinking there was no hope for me, I lifted my hand.

I was then startled by one of the young men (age 15) who jumped up from his seat, pushed a chair into the center of the circle of students and enthusiastically said to me, “This is where you meet Jesus!”  To say the best was yet to come is an understatement for the ages!!!

To be continued tomorrow….

2 Corinthians 2:14  But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

Our youngest son Michael was born with an artistic gift.  Even when he was little he could draw beautifully.  I describe him as having the eye of an artist.  After serving in the army, he joined the National Guard so that he could be trained in Broadcast Journalism.  He wanted to become a videographer – one who makes videos.  That was his job in the Guard.

Good videography requires technical competence.  It’s not just taking videos and splicing them together.  It is producing a product that accomplishes its intended purpose.  The quality and attractiveness of the video produced depends upon the skill and technical excellence of the one producing it.  But here is where Michael had a real advantage.  He brought the eye of an artist to his trade.

This artistic gift affected everything that he did in the process:  camera angles, shots taken, lighting, what to include or exclude, music, editing, how things are put together.   This enabled him to produce videos that stood out and received recognition.  They have an inherent attractiveness because they combined art and technical skill.  The resulting product has an attractive ‘fragrance’, if you will that art or technical skill by themselves couldn’t produce.  Michael’s generals and others noted the excellence of his work.

This illustration of the importance of artistic gift + technical competence has a wonderful parallel in our Christian life.  The gift is the life of Christ within us.  It affects everything about us and particularly how we view everything.  The technical skill component is walking in His ways.  We have the Holy Spirit within us motivating and enabling us to learn from God’s Word how to do it.  The more we walk in His ways, the greater this component becomes – the more Christlike we become.  Without this, excellence is not produced.

Whereas Michael produced excellent videos; we are to produce lives of excellence.  People watch us just like they do videos.  What are they going to notice and remember?  If we truly and seriously commit ourselves to Christ and His transforming work in our lives, we will spread the wonderful fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus wherever we go.

Isaiah 7:15  He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.

I grew up in southwest Michigan.  I remember hearing my older hunting friends talking about the compass problems they encountered in parts of the Upper Peninsula due to the presence of iron ore.  The ore can cause the magnetic needle of a compass to spin crazily or to point the opposite to where it should.  That’s not good to be in the middle of the boondocks, relying on your compass for directions and to have it go haywire.

Other things can help when our compass can’t identify true north.  If the sky is clear and the sun is setting or rising, general directions can be figured out.  But how do we determine direction in the middle of the day, with clouds, rain or fog; or finding ourselves in the middle of deep woods (and we don’t have a GPS)?

There are a number of major scandals that are unfolding in the news right now where it seems a whole lot of people got ‘lost in the woods’ due to malfunctioning moral compasses – assuming they had them.  I wonder how many of those involved are Christians – or ‘church goers’?

Maybe their jobs were threatened if they didn’t ‘go along’.  Maybe more significant threats were involved – or maybe none at all!  Maybe their moral compasses were so inadequate that they didn’t recognize that ‘wrong’ was being substituted for ‘right’.  Or they simply accepted the perceived reality that they didn’t have a choice, but to go along.

It’s not an issue of being judgmental but one of learning what could happen to us when we find ourselves being similarly tempted.   How do we know right from wrong?  How well will we do in the ‘fog and rain’ of circumstances that might threaten us?  Will our moral compass be immune to the cultural ‘iron ore’ around us, that will try to misdirect us?  Will we choose the right?  Or if we choose the wrong, will we justify our actions because of the consequences of not going along?

In any circumstances we as Christians find ourselves in, we have a ‘Heavenly GPS’ to guide us.  It not only tells us where we are (a compass can’t do that); it also tells us where to go; but we must be attentive!  The assets of our Heavenly GPS include: 1) We are new creatures in Christ Jesus, freed from the tendency to sin, 2) We have the Holy Spirit within us, 3) We have the Scriptures, 4) We have God’s grace to enable us, and 5) The faith in God to trust and believe.

These resources enable us to choose righteously no matter what we face.  The Holy Spirit is with us, to guide our decision making process as we go step by step through any trial.  He enables us to choose the right – no matter what the cost.  The choice is simply ours.  Choosing the wrong must never be perceived as a tenable option.  Our goal is to live for Christ and to always honor Him.

Acts 5:8-9  Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”   “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”  ⁹ Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

Picture this situation:  A little kid has been told to stay out of the cookies.  He comes into the room and his mother asks him, “Did you get into the cookies?”  With jam and crumbs all over his mouth, he says, “No I didn’t.”  It is both funny and serious.  Funny, in that the little kid doesn’t realize the truth is evident on his face; and serious in that he knows he did something wrong and is trying to cover it up.

Unfortunately, if the lying isn’t dealt with, it will lead to him learning to wipe the jam and crumbs off his mouth before he leaves the cookies.  It becomes ‘easier’ to hide his lying.  As he grows older the questions become more serious:  Where are you going?  Where have you been?  Have you done your homework?  Did you cheat?  Where did this come from?  What time did you get home?  Are you doing drugs?  Were you drinking?  What websites are you visiting? – and the list goes on.

The news these days seems to be filled with situations where people are found out to be lying.  It’s almost as though telling the truth is something foreign.  People do things they know they shouldn’t and then lie to cover it up.  It becomes a way of life.  Where it really hurts is when individuals who have proclaimed their faith in Christ are found guilty of it.

Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold property to give the proceeds to the church.  But instead of giving all the proceeds, they withheld some and represented their gift as being the entire amount.  It cost both of them their lives!   They died when confronted by the truth.  Scripture says that “great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

Suppose at any time, in any situation, someone we know or someone in authority might ask us a similarly pointed question regarding actions we have taken or words we have said. Further suppose that a false answer on our part could cost us our lives.  Is there anything in our lives that comes to mind that must be dealt with?  Lies and untruth cannot be a part of our lives.  If they are, repent; seek the Lord and get help from mature believers.  Remember, God’s view of such things hasn’t changed from the days of Ananias and Sapphira.  We must be lovers of the truth!

Nehemiah 1:5  Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,”

There is a scene in the movie Fantasia called Night on Bald Mountain.  It is a scene where the mountain top becomes the god of evil; one of Disney’s most powerful and terrifying villains.  In the middle of the night he unfolds his wings and the whole mountain top becomes this evil being.  He terrorizes his minions and is frightening to behold.  But the coming of the dawn, forces him to withdraw and conceal himself once again.

I find this representation to be the antithesis of our ‘great and awesome God’.  Yes we read in Exodus 19 where God came down on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lightning, billowing smoke and the whole mountain trembled violently.  And I truly believe that the fear of the Lord includes elements of this Mt. Sinai reality.  But Nehemiah’s prayer in addressing the LORD, refers to his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.  Daniel addresses the LORD in the very same way in his prayer (9:4).

While we must come to grips with the serious reality of our God, our focus is upon the amazing love relationship that He has established with us.  We are not minions, but sons and daughters.  He does not terrorize us, but He is totally for us and works in us to be totally for Him.  We are able to daily experience His love for us and express our love to Him.

The experiences I had with my last boss at Medical Mutual provide a really helpful perspective in understanding my daily relationship with God.  I remember Mike’s first meeting with our unit in Cleveland.  He was very pleasant, but he let it be known that if something was of unethical or illegal or even close to it, he didn’t want us even thinking of doing such things. He went on to describe the working relationship that he wanted us to have – which was wonderful.

He was a joy to work with and for; but he was no one to mess with.  The more I got to know him the more thrilled I was.  He cared about what we thought – and more than that he cared about us.  Mike was a wonderful Christian man.  Importantly, he lived his faith in all his actions and attitudes with us at work.  He was a picture of integrity and doing the right thing.

I worked with and for Mike for the next 3 ½ years.  Never, in all my years of working had I worked for a more wonderful, caring, competent person.  He was there for us whenever we needed him.  The practical outcome of this was both functional and relational.  I was able to excel in doing my job – it was both my opportunity and responsibility.  I also relished the relationship with my superior (boss) and how it was able to thrive as I responded consistently with his (appropriate) expectations.  He relished my success.

Day by day, our Heavenly Father wants us to experience the joyful reality that comes with being His child and living our lives for Him.  We get to experience and live out His covenant of love in all the situations we find ourselves in.  It’s easy to understand why He cares so about what we do: our actions have such impact on our relationship with Him – and that’s what He treasures most of all.  It is a covenant of love.

Luke 6:37  “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

I earlier wrote about my adventures with my ‘difficult to start’ weed-whacker.  I wrote about it in the context of recognizing the many trials we face on a daily basis and responding appropriately in a faith-filled manner.

Well – I had a new adventure with this delightful little contraption that I’m still laughing over it as I write.  The machine works fine once it is running.  The problem is getting it started and today I set the record for futility!

I was thinking of my devotional as I got it out after mowing the lawn.  I confess that when I earlier wrote of having to pull the starter cord about 100 times, it was a bit of an exaggeration.  Today I was thinking about how it would start faster than ever.  I pushed the priming bubble and started pulling.  Because I thought it would start quickly, I was counting my pulls.

Well, nothing was working!  6, 12…30…48…60…72…78 pulls plus adjustment – not a hint of response.   In the midst of this, I’m praying; asking the Lord for wisdom; asking Him to ‘heal’ the machine.  I’m kneeling next to it in the heat, sweating from mowing the lawn, my arm was ready to drop and I’m laughing at this goofy machine and the difficulty I’m having getting it going.  All the while talking to the Lord, trying to understand what is going on.

Then I saw it! – and could hardly believe it.  It was right in front of me.  If the Lord had chosen to speak audibly to me, He would have said something like, “Son – You have to turn it on first.”  Well, I turned the switch on and in 3 pulls it started!

In my elation (and feeling a bit dumber than dirt for missing the off/on switch) I thought this is another devotional.  The lesson in this just jumped out at me.  First things must come first.  Similar to “If…then” propositions.  If this happens – then that can happen.  God gives us all manner of instructions that must be obeyed in order to produce Godly results.  How often do we skip something that needs to be done first and then wonder why the results of subsequent actions are less than desirable?

Think of forgiving, apologizing, acknowledging we’ve made a mistake, asking for forgiveness…to name a few.  These are all actions that are critical to relationships and our growth.  Failure to do these things when incidents happen radically affects the outcomes and the quality of our relationships.  It’s like trying to start a weed-whacker without turning the switch on!

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Our 3^rd son Andrew was part of a mission intern program in Colorado Springs from August 1999 – June 2001.  The program included an extensive amount of physical training along with the spiritual.  During his first year we got to watch the interns (both guys and girls) working out on the “Ropes Course” that was similar to the one used by the USAFA Cadets.

One event called the Pamper Pole really amazed me.  It was a telephone pole about 30 feet high that the interns would climb – wearing a harness and blindfolded.  Once an intern got to the top of the pole, s/he had to somehow get himself up on it so s/he was standing on the flat top of the pole that was about 15” in diameter.  Being blindfolded meant they had to trust the leader who was directing them.  He would tell the intern to turn so that s/he was facing a trapeze bar that was suspended out away from the pole.  Then the intern had to leap out from the pole and grab the trapeze bar that s/he couldn’t see.

We saw some interns fall off the pole; while others, who made it to the top, we saw leap out and miss.  All of these interns were swinging, high off the ground, in their protective harness.  Then there were those who caught the bar, did pull-ups, and were then lowered to the ground by means of the harness.

The interns were doing something that was frightening and difficult.  They knew if they made a mistake, the worst that could happen was a little embarrassment and they would be swinging in the air before being lowered to the ground so they could try again.  Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it.

The security and safety provided by the harness form a wonderful illustration of how our faith in the Lord is intended to do the very same thing.  Faith in Him protects us and enables us to perform adventures that we otherwise wouldn’t do.  We need to recognize that our faith is every bit as real and protective as the harness the interns wore.  We might fall or stumble.  We might miss the bar, but faith enables us to overcome fear and pursue the adventures the Lord calls us to.

2 Corinthians 4:18  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Have you noticed how birds will sing in the morning as the dawn approaches but it still appears to be totally dark?  The other morning I was up very early and the birds were really singing.  Somehow they sense dawn coming or maybe they see something we don’t see.

A few years ago as we drove through Eastern Tennessee on our way to North Carolina, I was able to view the entire spectrum from darkness to dawn to the rising of the sun.  I was thinking of the birds singing while it was still dark and I wanted to detect the very first, faintest hints of dawn.  It is such a blessing to watch the dawn unfold in all its glory.

I knew to look east, but importantly, I knew which direction was east.  I was also confident; as we all are that the sun will come up.  This all speaks to me of faith.  When we are in spiritually dark places – even when it is at its blackest, it’s important that we know that the spiritual ‘dawn’ is coming and by faith we know where to look.  Faith will sing and rejoice in the coming dawn when others might be wondering if there is anything to sing about.  Faith sees what others don’t.

I think of Lucy in the Narnia Tales.  She is always the first to see Aslan.  She sees him when the others don’t.  It has to do with faith and relationship with our Lord and having eyes that see the unseen.  We have a God and Savior who is with us always.  In those dark and difficult places we can sense and see the evidences of Him.  In fact we can be confident He’s there whether we see Him or not.  We are not alone.  Nor are we at the mercy of anyone but Him.

The next time you feel down or alone, think of it as the early morning before the dawn.  Faith enables us to have confidence the spiritual ‘dawn’ is coming.  The Lord is with us and it is to Him that we must look.  As we do, faith enables us to experience His blessing and reassurance just as our physical eyes enjoy the dawn.

Scripture to follow…

One of the realities that we live with is that we are all works in progress.  We have strong points and weak points.  There are areas where we have really grown in God, and then there are those areas where our growth is stunted or nonexistent.  We can become callous to the reality of who we are; the ‘who we are’ that others encounter.

In looking at our lives, there are many attributes of our character.  I would like us to look at each of the following and prayerfully ask the Lord to help us to have eyes to see where we are in the continuum that exists for each.  This assumes that we know what each of the attributes is.  Do we know what being polite looks like?  What about the nuances of being rude?  Do we readily recognize inappropriate pride in our lives?  How does it differ from humility?

Considering the illustration of ‘sour to sweet’, do we understand that there are many degrees between the two?  Such as really sour; to sour; to slightly sour; to not sweet enough; to just right.  Where do you see yourself on each of the following spectrums?

• Rude               to                     Polite
• Proud             to                     Humble
• Boastful          to                     Not boastful
• Unkind            to                     Kind
• Easily angered             to         Not easily angered
• Remember wrongs      to         Overlook wrongs
• Impatient         to                   Patient
• Envious             to                   Not envious
• Self-seeking               to         Not self-seeking
• Delight in evil             to         Rejoice with truth
• Unprotective              to         Protective
• Untrusting                  to         Trusting
• Skeptical                     to         Hopeful
• Gives up easily           to         Perseveres
• Fails                             to         Never fails

We must recognize that the ingredients on the right are those of God’s Kingdom.  Those on the left speak of another kingdom in this world.  (It’s a place we aren’t even supposed to visit alone live there!)

You have probably surmised that this listing has to do with the attributes of love from 1 Corinthians 13.  The more our lives fall to the right side of each of the above continuums, the more they are demonstrating love of Christ.  Think of them as identifying ‘whose’ we are!  (Children of Light or children of darkness)  Here is the way Paul puts it:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  ⁸Love never fails.