Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Psalm 1:1-3   ¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

The beginning of Psalm 1 has always been special to me.  It describes the journey to a Godly life.  It’s a simple summary or overview of what not to do; what to do; and the results of a life so lived.  It’s like a father talking with a son or daughter and giving them counsel that will help them in all they do.  The counsel appears to be general in nature yet presents a clear picture of the types of actions required to have a blessed life.

The principles are really common to us because they exist in all areas of life.  No matter what goal we’re seeking, there are things and distractions to avoid, an attitude of heart to have, things to embrace, and the results consistent with such actions.  Sports, music, school, marriage, child-raising, work, life – it makes no difference, the counsel applies.

Years ago, I was teaching in a private school and in the summer following my third year there, the school without warning closed.  With a family to support, I wound up in sales – not somewhere I thought I would ever be.  Lots of people fail at sales or only marginally succeed.  Many of those around me failed because they wouldn’t discipline themselves.  They did not avoid the distractions, actions and associations with others that undermined what they were trying to learn.  They did not approach the job wholeheartedly.

If we’re supposed to be on the phone, making prospect calls, we can’t be daydreaming, reading other stuff or talking with others who are in the process of failing as well.  If we’re supposed to be studying, there’s TV, talking, messaging or tweeting.  There are things and people and ‘stuff’ that call us – distract us – keep us, from attaining the goal we set.  But we must recognize the issue is us!

Great are the rewards of avoiding the pitfalls, and wholeheartedly pursuing the actions that enable us to attain a worthy goal.  We must recognize that this reality applies to our relationship with the Lord.  The result we achieve will be commensurate to what we do and how we do it.

James 1:22  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Year ago, back when I was surviving as an insurance salesman, I made a significant sale to a small business twice – at least I thought I had.  I remember how excited I was because at the time it was my biggest sale – which meant it was also my biggest commission.  You can imagine my disappointment when their payment check bounced!  Note: At that time most things were paid for by cash or check. I went back to see them again.  They apologized; gave me another check and it bounced too.  I never did complete a sale with them.

Prior to that, I would say I knew I had a sale when a customer gave me a check. That was forever changed in my mind to I knew I had a sale when the check cleared.  The check was a promise of something real.  It’s the money in the bank that gave value to the check.  If there isn’t adequate money in the bank, the check bounces.

One of the problems that has always confronted Christians is having their lives back up what they say when they verbalize the Gospel.  Words are a whole lot easier to express than the Godly lives that give the words credibility.  There’s an old expression that describes this “Talking the talk and walking the walk”.  There is such power when the testimony of following Jesus is backed up by lives that reflect His glory.

Putting this in the context of my sales experience, the Godly reality of our lives is the money in the bank that gives value to the check – the testimony we give about Jesus and our faith.  If we have inadequate reality of Him in our lives – the check bounces.  This isn’t about walking in perfection but about there being ample evidence of us being a Godly work in progress.

Being a doer of the Word affects everything in our lives – our thoughts, attitudes, words, actions, responses, beliefs – our hopes, our fears – everything.  This impacts what we say; how we say it and how we are perceived.  There is such joy and confidence that come with being a doer of the Word – having lives that truly give witness to the Lord we serve.  Remember, this is something we get to do!

Hebrews 6:1a  Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…

When we are born again, God does an amazing work in us.  We become new creatures in Christ Jesus.  Old things pass away and all things become new.  Many of us experience remarkable transformations in our lives that impact behavior, thinking and speaking.  The Lord becomes the most important thing in our lives.  We are His, but in terms of living our lives here on earth, we have not arrived – we are merely beginning.

Have you ever considered the perspective that Christianity involves a skill set to be learned and lived?  Foremost it is a relationship with our Lord, but that relationship with Him and with others has requirements of us.  Some we find easier than others to meet.  Some we really struggle with because of the ongoing work that the Lord must do in our lives.  Although we are new in Christ, it’s amazing the lifetime supply of ‘stuff’ we have in our lives that God will bring to our attention and help us deal with.

Our Christian walk is to become more and more like Jesus.  We need to know what that looks like. All too often we think we know but we don’t.  Think a moment about it in terms of carpentry.  It is a learned skill.  Items must be smooth to the touch – no splinters!  How often in our lives are we prickly or ripe with splinters in our interactions with others – and we might even be totally unaware of it.  Some areas of our lives are in need of reconstruction by the Master Carpenter – while others He is putting His finishing touch on.

Change doesn’t all happen overnight in terms of our behavior; it’s a life-long transformative process with the Holy Spirit working with us.  When the scripture says that they will know we are disciples of Jesus by our love for one another, it’s talking about how we live – how we act and talk.  What attitudes do we demonstrate?  Do we have a servant’s heart?

We rejoice both in conforming to His word, and in His dealing with us where we have far to go.  Jesus is our focus.  I remember the slogan of the Zenith Corporation, ‘The quality goes in before the name goes on.’  The same is true of us but with a twist.  We receive the quality within us in Christ.  It’s how we live that reflects our name – whether we are truly followers of Jesus.

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.

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 (Daniel 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 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.