Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Proverbs 12:22 The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.

Is it okay sometimes to not tell the truth or to deliberately mislead?  Are ‘white lies’ appropriate sometimes?  Are there ever situations where avoiding hurting someone’s feelings should take priority over telling the truth?  Are ‘half-truths’ okay?  What qualifies as dishonesty?

Have you ever done something like this?  You’re running late for an appointment – say 20 minutes late because you got busy and forgot the time.  En route to the appointment there is a traffic accident that delays you 2 minutes.  Upon arriving at your appointment, you apologize for being late and inform them you were delayed by an accident on the highway.  The impression you want to give is that your tardiness is due to something beyond your control – a highway accident – versus your own negligence.

Think of being asked the question, “What were you doing?”  Suppose you were playing or reading stuff on the internet instead of working; or watching an inappropriate movie; or visiting inappropriate websites; or looking at inappropriate magazines.  How truthful will our answer be?  This brings up an entirely different subject of “What is inappropriate?” which we will look at later.

Our God is a loving God.  But He also informs us of His view of actions and behaviors.  Today’s verse is rather unambiguous to say the least.  On the one hand He detests those who lie and delights in those who tell the truth.  Note that it isn’t just the lies that He detests – it’s the one telling them!  Conversely, He delights not only in truth but in the one telling the truth.

Here is today’s verse in the Amplified version, “Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are His delight.”  The point isn’t to bring condemnation, but to bring God’s word into play in an important area of our lives.  The world thinks nothing of lying.  The world would answer the questions in the opening paragraph with a resounding “Yes!”  Unfortunately, far too much of the world is roosting in the lives of Christians.

While it is unpleasant to ponder the idea that God might detest some things we are doing, it is redemptive if we turn to Him and ask for His help to change.  We are commanded to please Him.  A more redemptive view is that we “Get to please Him!”  What a blessing it is when His Word and His Spirit show us areas in our lives where we fall short.  He enables us to repent and change – to replace our unrighteous actions with righteous ones.  He doesn’t leave us to ourselves, but is committed to enabling us to live lives that bring Him delight.

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Years ago one of our friends named Ric was a pastor of a small church in West Virginia.  A pastor friend of his came to the church for some meetings.  As I recall, when the friend first arrived Ric and some of the members were showing him the church building where the meetings would be.  It was then that the friend spotted the little organ.

The church happened to have a small Hammond organ that had been there for years and the people didn’t think much about it.  Well, Ric’s friend happened to also be an amazing pianist.  Right then and there he sat down at that little organ and the music that came forth was beyond anything the members of that church had ever dreamed off.

They were stunned and amazed to realize that what they were hearing was coming from their ‘little Hammond organ’!  They had no idea that it was capable of such magnificent beauty and power.  Yes, the friend was a great musician, but this was coming from their little nondescript organ.

Let me borrow from CS Lewis a bit.  Suppose that little organ was alive and could talk like the animals and trees in Narnia.  My guess is that it would have been as stunned as those listening.  I can just see this little talking organ incredulously asking Ric’s friend when he finished, “How did you do that?!!!”  It had no idea what it was capable of until played by a master.  From that day forward, its whole world changed.

Today’s verse is not to intimidate but to inspire.  It is to thrill us with the glorious beauty of who we are and get to be.  Because of Jesus and our response in faith to Him, we are “…[God’s] own purchased, special people,…”.

Just as this little organ was the source of stunningly beautiful music when played by a master, so are we.  God wants each of us to understand that He is the ‘master musician’ in our lives.  He desires, “…that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (Amplified)

It is absolutely amazing what He can accomplish in and through us when we commit ourselves to Him.  We must understand who we are and what our destiny is from His perspective, not ours.  We are not to be content with mediocrity.  Because of Him, we are capable of excellence – and He is holding us accountable for it.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Whether it is one task or situation or a slew of them, it is not unusual to find ourselves being confronted with anxiety.  Our situation can be so daunting we feel like the disciples in the boat in the midst of the storm:  we’re overwhelmed and Jesus is asleep.  Their focus was on the storm, the wind and the waves – rather than upon the fact that He was with them.  Then when they did cry out to Jesus, they were frantic. How often do we do the same?

From reading today’s verse, it’s pretty clear that God knows about our tendency to become anxious.  From finances, to illness, to family issues, to jobs – our lives are ripe with opportunities for us to choose the wrong way to go when the ‘storm’ of anxiety comes.  But it’s important that we recognize that His prescription isn’t intended to be a ‘fire alarm’ – pull in case of fire – although it can still work that way.

It prescribes a way of life and the establishment of a relationship that will enable us to live in peace while in the midst of stormy situations.  We are to live the verse day by day.  Think of a college student who doesn’t really study all term and then crams like crazy for the final, versus the student who has faithfully studied day by day throughout the term. Both might do well on the final, but one has chosen wisely and the other hasn’t.

Each day, the Lord wants us to be looking to Him.  He cares about us and the situations we face and wants us to become confident of that.  A very helpful illustration comes from nature.  Waterfowl have a tiny oil-secreting gland located at the base of their tail known as the uropygial gland or ‘Preen Gland’.  When a duck is preening, as we have all seen, its head and beak are spreading this oil over its feathers. This oil helps to maintain the luster of the feathers – but more importantly it makes the outer feathers waterproof.  Without this protective barrier, a duck’s feathers would become water-logged.

Praying and presenting our requests to Him daily with thanksgiving is His wisdom for us.  Doing this develops a protective barrier for us and is an antidote to becoming ‘water-logged’ with anxiety.  Through these actions He also enables us to become so much more aware of His working in our lives.  Our confidence in Him becomes strong resulting in appreciation and gratitude.  Thankfulness becomes the reality of our lives.

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.  May we fully embrace His ways so that our lives do just that!

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 his 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 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 57 years ago was astounding.  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.

Part 2 – 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 20 years ago.  We were in Ukraine and were on the first leg of our trip home, flying across Europe.  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 3 hour flight.  The more we talked the more apparent it became just how thorough his search had been.  He raised questions on specific passages throughout the Bible.  He was also very aware of the price he would pay with his family for leaving Islam but he was determined to find the truth.

He had been waiting for over a year to make this trip to come to college 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 we exchanged email addresses and 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 traveling 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.

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

Part 1 of 2 – 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 of 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.  Think of the incredible opportunity this provides us with, repeatedly every day, to have His love and life shine forth from us!

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.

Tomorrow – an amazingly wonderful experience I will never forget!

Romans 2:4b  …not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Have you ever had a friend or someone in your life that believed in you and was for you, no matter what?  Have you ever been that person for someone you know?  The relationship is so strong and motivation so right that difficult things can be communicated because the trust is there.

Many years ago when we were involved in ministry, we moved back to an area we had lived in before.  When we arrived we heard very negative things about two individuals we knew – Bill and Erik.  Bill had been a very good friend and Erik was more of an acquaintance. Erik was a newer Christian and bit more radical.  He had also been the recipient of some good things that I thought (at that time) should have come to me.

Although I am forgiven, I am still humbled by my very different responses to these two brothers.  I was so troubled by what I heard that I met with Bill at our center late one night.  I shared with him what I had become aware of and reaffirmed my love for him and our friendship.  I let him know that I would help him in anyway that I could.  We shared, wept and prayed with each other.

With Erik, the troubling things I heard fit with my perception of him.  I simply wrote him off.  Sometime later after we had moved away, the Lord confronted me with the question of why my responses to these two brothers were so different.  As I pondered the question, the answer became so embarrassingly obvious:  I loved Bill and didn’t love Erik!

When the Lord showed me this, it wasn’t like a trip to the woodshed or the Principal’s office.  It was like a treasured friend taking me aside and sitting down with me for a talk.  Although painful to hear, the relationship we had enabled me to hear Him and receive the truth about myself.  Instead of experiencing rejection, my Lord had His arm around my shoulders – affirming me.

Because of God’s kindness, I was lovingly being offered insight into my own misbehavior so that I might repent and learn.  Isn’t that one of the most marvelous realities of our life with Him?  He will regularly show us where we need to change – and enable us to change – so that our lives will be a continuous, ongoing transformation into the image of Christ.  May we all see that this is our daily way of life with Him and recognize His kindness.