Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

2 Corinthians 5:7  We live by faith, not by sight.

Isn’t it amazing how different life can appear when seen through the eyes of faith?  I look back over my life and see so many situations where things happened that I struggled with at the time.  But later events would prove that those experiences were blessings not curses.  In fact, some of the greatest experiences I have ever had came about because of earlier disappointments where I was prevented from doing what I wanted to do.

In the midst of defeat, despair and disappointment comes hope because of faith.  In the midst of opportunity, blessing and prosperity comes gratitude and acknowledgment of His blessing because of faith.  When we read the Bible we see so many examples of people experiencing life – its ups and downs.  Some respond well – others don’t.  The constant is that God is at work in and around them.  The Lord wants us to understand that He does the same things with us. 

He wants us to ‘see’ Him in everything.  This is not due to eyes of sight, but of eyes of faith. I find that when everything starts going wrong, I immediately know that God is somewhere in the middle of it, and begin to look for Him.  An initial negative reaction is replaced by the realization that God is there; we are not alone and things are not at all what they seem.

Faith leads to prayer and seeking Him to provide wisdom and understanding.  Faith causes us to use His word as our guide in how to respond whatever the situation.  Faith affirms our desire to trust the Lord and glorify Him in any way that we can.  Faith is not static – it is like a muscle that can be exercised.  The more we use it, the stronger it becomes.  Faith is the antidote to defeat.  Without it, we cannot please God.

Revelation 1:17-18  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Have we ever thought of what our response would be if the Lord took us to heaven in the Spirit as He did the Apostle John?  I imagine the nature of the encounter with Jesus could take on many forms.  I wonder if John ever thought about such a thing happening – and if he did, did he think that his response upon seeing Jesus would be to fall at his feet as though dead.   

Of all the apostles, he is the one identified as having a special relationship with Jesus.  He is repeatedly described as the ‘one whom Jesus loved’.  That doesn’t mean that Jesus didn’t love the others; it’s just that John’s relationship with the Lord had a special love element of closeness in it.  For me, that is what makes his response in this encounter with Jesus so stirring and provocative.

We tend to think along the lines of Jesus warmly embracing someone (one of His own) who goes to heaven and encounters Him.  Sort of a welcome home, like the father greeting the prodigal son.  Joy and gladness just overflowing – and that might be the way it normally occurs.  But here we have something very different.  Does our understanding of God and the relationship that we have with Him include the aspect of what is revealed in this verse?  Can we see ourselves responding to Jesus as John did?

The fear of the Lord and the love of God are two sides of the same coin.  Jesus’ first words to John after falling at His feet as though dead were “Do not be afraid.”  It’s vital that we understand that although we are recipients of God’s love and are His children through faith in Jesus, He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.   In Revelation 5:11-12 John gives this glorious description:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they sang:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

This is our Savior and Lord.  He is the One who died for us and rose from the dead.  He is the One who loves and treasures us so; the One that we have the incredible privilege to love each and every day of our lives.  We may fully embrace His ways so that our lives do just that!

Mark 14: 61-62  But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.  Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”   ⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

When we think of Jesus, what images come to mind?  Depending upon the time of year we might think of the baby of Bethlehem or Jesus upon the Cross.  Possibly we think of Jesus upon a mountain side teaching multitudes or Jesus as the Good Shepherd with a flock of sheep. 

We might think of Him driving out the money changers in the temple; walking upon the water; entering Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd; or at the Last Supper with His disciples.  There are many different images that we have of Him from Scripture.  All of them are rich in meaning and present wonderful aspects of our Lord. 

This morning I was struck by the image of Jesus as He describes Himself to the high priest.  He is the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One.  When He told the high priest that they would see Him as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven, they would have recognized His description as it appears in Daniel 6:13-14,

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

John describes Jesus as he encountered Him in Revelation 1:12-16

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. “

What a glorious picture of our Lord!  He reigns on high!  He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings! He is coming again!  No matter what is going on around us; no matter what the enemy of our souls tries to bring against us – Jesus triumphs over all!!

Psalm 119:130  The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

An interesting insight occurred to me recently.  It connects the Old Testament to Southern Magnolia trees.  In this insight, the attributes of the tree are reflective of the view that a person has of the Old Testament.  I realize that many of you might not be aware of what a Southern Magnolia looks like, but we’ll get to that.

If the Old Testament is something that we don’t read much, except for some of the Psalms or Proverbs, than the tree that is reflected by our actions is very small with few flowers on it – if any.  We have a misperception of what it is and what the Lord has there for us.  But here is where the other side of the coin comes in to play.  What is the true reality of what Southern Magnolia are?

I thought they were at most trees that could grow to 20’-25’ high and I had never seen one loaded with flowers.  I still remember how stunned I was to see how big these trees can be and to see them in full bloom!  They can grow to 80’– 90’ tall.  In the spring and early summer they are covered with huge flowers that can be over a foot in diameter.  The beauty of these flowers is amazing and their fragrance is so special.  I never cease to be amazed by seeing the buds grow and turn white and then open into such spectacular flowers.  The Old Testament and what God has there for us is even more stunning!

The Old Testament is not a small flowerless tree.  It is a very large tree, filled with flowers that are open and buds that are about to be.  The Lord is beckoning us to come and look for them.  It is a treasure to be studied just as the New Testament is.  Once we recognize what the Lord has for us there, we spend more time in it – and our perception and appreciation for it grows.

The insights that the Lord gives us are like the flowers that open on the Southern Magnolia.  We can be reading a passage of Scripture and the Lord just unfolds an amazing truth or insight to us, just like the Magnolia blossom opening.  I think of time-lapse photography that shows in seconds what might take hours or days to happen.  We are captured by the beauty and blessing of what we are seeing.

Fortunately here in Tennessee these trees are everywhere.  Now when I see one, I am reminded of all the treasure the Lord has in the Old Testament that He wants to bless us with.  Every time we see things in His Word, it is just another magnificent, fragrant flower opening up on this magnificent ‘tree’.

1 Peter 1:8  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

This morning I am still overflowing with joy over the wonder and thrill of what Jesus does – and has done – in our lives.  Yesterday’s devotional seemed to just trigger an eruption of that joy.  It recounted how God used my friend Andy and me in His plan of drawing this young Muslim man to Jesus.  The experience of that flight was priceless, but then to receive the email of him finding Jesus!  It just tapped into the wellspring of gratitude and joy that I have for my own experience of finding Jesus.

I’m sitting here writing this, grinning and basking in the inexpressible and glorious joy that Peter writes of in today’s verse.   The joy for this young man and the joy for my own encounter with Jesus nearly 43 years ago are still just engulfing me.  And those salvation experiences are just the beginning!

Becoming a follower of Jesus is not a one-experience life!  If our testimony is simply recounting what God did in our lives years ago, we are missing the mother lode.  Yes, my encounter with Him 43 years ago was astounding.  As I told a friend yesterday it’s like the rock of Gibraltar in my life – it is huge!  But that was simply the transforming invitation to ‘come in’.  It’s like the Lord saying, “If you thought that was good, that is merely the foretaste!”

We belong to Him, and as His family we get to experience the treasure of His Word, His ways, His love, His protection, His presence, His provision….  It just goes on and on.  He also surprises us, delights us, disciplines us, prunes us, tests us, comforts us, confronts us, encourages us….  Best of all, we get to experience Him.

Hopefully, this triggers joy within you and the refreshing that comes from remembering the wonder of our God.  But if it doesn’t, hopefully it will spark your active pursuit of Him.  His plan for all of us is for our lives to be filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy because we belong to Him.

1 Corinthians 3:6  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

Yesterday I asked you to picture yourself on a jet that has just taken off for a long flight.  The person next to you is not a Christian and is searching the various religions to find the right one.  He has been reading the Bible as part of his search and is filled with questions and begins to ask you them.

This specific scenario happened to me and a young friend named Andy several summers ago.  We were in Europe and were on the first leg of our trip home.  The young man next to me was raised a Muslim but had concluded that it was not the answer.  In his search, he had narrowed it down to Judaism and Christianity.  He had been particularly struck by the concept of ‘loving one another’. 

This Q&A and discussion of our faith went on for the entire flight.  The more we talked the more apparent it became just how thorough his search had been.  He was aware of the price he would pay with his family but determined to find the truth.  He had been waiting for over a year to make this trip to come to school in America.  The Lord timed the flight so that we would have the blessing of being with him on this leg of his trip.  How I thought of this verse as we experienced the joy of responding to his questions and sharing our faith with him. 

Shortly before the end of the flight, Andy told me that the young man had said to him, “It was no accident that I sat down with you two!”  What a marvelous opportunity this was to be a part of God’s plan to bring someone to Himself.  We had been given the opportunity to water the seeds others had planted.  In the subsequent months, I wondered if this young man had completed his search.  You can imagine my joy and gratitude to the Lord when I received the following email at Christmas of that year:

“Merry Christmas Don,

I guess you don’t remember me. Well, we met in plane when we were travelling from Ukraine to Amsterdam this July.

Let me share something with you what god has done to me, it may surprise you. If you remember me then you will remember that I was on a spiritual journey. And I was not able to find god’s way or light. I was living in darkness. And when we met, I was on the point where I knew that God’s way was in Judaism or Christianity. Well, on the night of 14th Oct, when I was talking to a pastor I found a light. I was literally crying afterwards. I found Jesus. I tell you after that night, I have lived every moment as a complete life. I am thankful to him that he could come to a sinner like me.   

Well, I just wanted to share my experience with you.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.”

2 Corinthians 3:2  You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

Picture yourself on a jet that has just taken off for a long flight.  You begin a conversation with the person next to you and discover that he is searching the various religions to find the right one.  His background is not Christianity but he has been reading the Bible as part of his search.  He is filled with questions and begins to ask you them.

Why are you a Christian?  If you had to identify one or two aspects of your life as a Christian that were the most important to you, what would they be?  How does your daily life reflect your Christian faith? 

What would your answers be to him?  Would you be experiencing excitement at the opportunity to share your faith?  Or would your experience be tempered by awareness that other ‘stuff’ has diminished the vibrancy your relationship with Christ in your life?  If your daily life of thoughts and actions were written out, what would they reveal to him about you and your faith?  What would they reveal to those around you?

Today’s scripture presents the reality that our lives are being read by those around us. Their lives are being read by us.  That is simply the reality of life.  It is not an issue of being judgmental, it’s a matter of people being cognizant of the encounters they have. 

Is faith reflected in the story, or letter, of our lives?  Do our lives consistently reflect more of our Lord than the worldliness of our culture?   The Holy Spirit is leading each of us to make Jesus the true love of our life.  Hopefully, each chapter of our lives will reflect us coming closer to achieving this goal.

Luke 24:30-32  ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

This incident of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus encountering Jesus is one of the more wonderful ones in the Bible.  These two men were walking along, downcast and discussing everything that had recently occurred, when something unusual happened to them.  Jesus himself came along and walked with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. 

This was the day of his resurrection and they had no understanding of what had happened.  The Scriptures are clear that understanding of the unfolding events of Jesus’ suffering and death were hidden from the disciples whenever Jesus spoke about it prior to his death.  It was only afterward that Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

So Jesus joined them and as they walked along, “he explained to them all that was said in the Scriptures concerning himself.”  Then, since it was nearly evening, they stopped for the night and strongly urged this man walking with them to stop and stay with them.  It’s apparent that they were deeply moved by what he had said to them, even though they didn’t know who he was. 

Moses encountered God when he responded to the burning bush and didn’t pass it by.  Likewise, these men responded to what God was doing in their hearts and did not let this man pass them by.  Because they insisted that he stay with them, they experienced the wonder of God in having their eyes opened to see this man was Jesus – raised from the dead.

Isn’t it fascinating that God would have Jesus appear to these two men but prevent them from recognizing him?  It was important for them to listen to the message of this stranger and understand the “why” of what happened to Jesus.  The events that happened to him were foretold in Scripture and they needed to understand it – rather than simply see Jesus and get excited.  When God opened their eyes to recognize Jesus, they understood!  The life, death and resurrection of Jesus were fulfillment of God’s purpose.

Matthew 7:24  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

In my NIV Bible, the heading for this portion of scripture is “The Wise and Foolish Builders”. How we respond to the words of Jesus determines the foundation of the house we build.  It’s a major league choice that we have because the alternatives are rock or sand.  The structures built upon rock survive the storms and floods while those built upon sand don’t.

Yesterday I used the Three Little Pigs children’s story as an illustration of foolish choices and misplaced trust.  The first two little pigs were more interested in playing than working and took the shortcuts that enabled them to play.  They didn’t consider the consequences of their decisions until it was too late.  In terms of today’s scripture, they were the foolish builders.  Their homes built of straw or sticks are the equivalent of building them upon the sand.

The third little pig built correctly.  He was the wise builder and his home of bricks is the equivalent of building upon a rock foundation.  It not only withstands the storm and wind (huffing and puffing), but it withstands the floods as well.  When the foundation of a house goes – the house goes with it.  The issue is to be able to withstand whatever comes.

Such a simple story yet it’s significance is profound: doing things the right way leads to good results, while doing them the wrong way leads to catastrophic results.  The obvious question then is how do we determine what the right way is?  Or more accurately, what are the right ways?

Every area of life is affected: how we live, work, raise our children, relate to others, treat our spouse, respond to our parents – to authority, to responsibility – it goes on and on.  There are so many ‘voices’ saying, “This is the way.” – and so many of them lead to building upon sand – houses of straw or sticks.

How do we recognize the wise from the foolish?  Jesus makes it clear that the answer is hearing His words AND putting them into practice.  His words aren’t suggestions where we can pick and choose.  Nor do we have the option of not becoming familiar with what they are  Our lives are to embrace them.  We are to become so a part of them that they are engraved upon our lives.  Let us set our hearts upon becoming wise builders so that every area of our lives will glorify our Lord.

Isaiah 31:1  Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

Once upon a time there were 3 little pigs.  One built his home out of straw.  The second built his home out of sticks, while the third built his out of bricks.  The wolf comes upon each of the pigs in their homes with the result that straw and sticks are no match for his “huffing and puffing”.  Their houses get blown down and they suffer the consequences.  But the wolf was no match for the third little pig with the brick home.  Not only did it withstand his “huffing and puffing’, but this little pig outwits the wolf resulting in the end of the wolf.  He also wasn’t shaking with fear at the wolf at the door.  He actively countered whatever the wolf tried.

Right now there is a whole lot of “huffing and puffing” going on all around us.  So many things seem to be taking on a threatening nature.  How are we responding to it?  Is our ‘house’ beginning to shake and come apart?  Do we find ourselves awake at night consumed with fear – because of the ‘wolf’ at the door?  Where do we turn for help and assurance?  Where do we place our trust?

The Israelites were tempted to go down to Egypt for help because they had horses and chariots and horsemen for hire – in spite of God’s warning not to.  With the threat of enemy armies approaching, it seems reasonable to want something that can be seen versus trusting what isn’t seen.  But it’s where do we place our faith?  It’s tempting to succumb to the worldly wisdom that faith is nice but we need something that we can get our hands on.  If we’re going to be in a ‘war’, we need an army; we need to be able to defend ourselves.

Fortunately, God is calling us, if we only have ears to hear and eyes to see.  We are to look to Him, the Holy One of Israel, to seek help from the LORD.  Even if we’ve built our lives out of ‘straw’ or ‘sticks’, it is never too late to turn to Him.  He not only will be there for us, He will likely lead us to those who have built their lives with ‘bricks’ so that we might learn of His ways from them.  He will use them to help us to stand securely in the circumstances we face.  God loves to overcome the ‘wolves’ in our lives when we truly turn to Him.

Tomorrow we will talk about the relationship of the bricks and the Rock.