09.18.11
Luke 1.17 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” NIV
Many times the question is asked, “If you were to die today, would you be ready to meet the Lord?” It’s a valid question. Meeting the Lord isn’t like meeting the president, or some celebrity – meeting the Lord is the most awesome thing that can or will ever happen to a person. I think when we share the gospel we often understate that. Meeting the Lord is meeting Someone who will totally transform one’s being at first glance. Meeting the Lord is meeting Someone who will suddenly and instantly bestow a perspective that no one else ever can. Meeting the Lord is losing our precious control…
John was to come in the spirit and power of Elijah. John’s ministry was to prepare God’s people for their meeting with Jesus, the Lord. John was to make them ready to meet Him. The only miracle that John did was to convict a populous of the coming of Jesus. And to some degree I believe he succeeded. Elijah’s last stand was on Mt. Carmel when he convinced many in Israel that the Lord was the only One who would consume the water-drenched sacrifice; it was an awesome display of the Lord’s presence and power (1 Kings18.16 ff). John’s ministry was to prepare them; Jesus’ ministry was to save them. So, if you were to die today, would you be ready to meet the Lord? In other words, are you prepared?
And who is responsible for your preparation? You are partly. You are to make yourself prepared but others are to come alongside as well and assist in the preparation process. The biggest part of preparation for the Lord is simply belief. The thief on the cross believed, and that is why we’ll meet him in heaven. He met Jesus in his way, on his day. Our preparation may be a little less dramatic, but we must be prepared nonetheless. I know, we sing, Just as I Am but that is how we come to the Lord. We also sing, We Are an Offering – that is how we are to live as we wait for the coming of the Lord. Big difference.
What a difference in my life as I live waiting for the Lord, focused solely upon Him. And what a difference my life makes as I do. There is a need today in this world for unflappable people and those who wait upon the Lord are unflappable; their lives are transformed, their lives have a perspective, and they would be the first to tell you: in Him, I’ve lost all control.
Being prepared for the Lord is coming to know Him and spending time with Him. It means praying His prayers and letting Him dictate the cadence of life. It means conforming to His will because much time is spent seeking to discern His will. It means reading His word and looking for those bits and pieces of life to restore those that are lost by the push and pull of this world. It means living in such expectation that even bumping into an angel at work, frightening as that may be, is accepted as God doing whatever He does to get our attention.
And it means living life every day, in ever increasing expectation and anticipation of meeting the Lord face to face. That’s preparation. That’s the measure of our present life and how ready we’ll be on that coming Day.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Don’t Do That
09.17.11
Revelation 22.9 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” NIV
Most parents know the phrase. Many parents have said it to their children all throughout their little lives. I remember going into a public restroom once with one of my toddler kids only to see him to make a beeline for the urinal and place his precious little hands on it… I almost had a heart-attack! Don’t do that! I exclaimed in a voice that scared him. He knew he’d trespassed and dad was serious. I scared him and I think I hurt his little feelings. I don’t think he ever did that again. In retrospect I think I over-reacted, but I never had to say that to him again.
I thought about the inflection in the voice of the angel who said to John: Don’t do that! I think it was along the lines of DON’T DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously, John caught up in the moment, made a beeline for a response and did something that the angel knew he shouldn’t ever do: John took his eyes off God. The exclamation point is there for our edification and exhortation: don’t (ever) do that! Something in me makes me think John might’ve been rattled back into reality during this exchange. Hurt feelings or not, I don’t think he ever did it again.
The angel, I suspect, had witnessed the fall of Satan and knew full well the consequences of taking one’s eyes off of God. The angel I suspect witnessed the fall of man and saw the agony of the Godhead when man chose to exchange the glory of God for his own. The angel, faithful to what he knew, came to John’s aid by slapping him upside the head: Don’t do that!
Recently, a friend of mine came alongside me and (figuratively) slapped me upside the head. He actually said in the course of the conversation: Don’t do that! He went on to say, “Don’t even entertain thoughts like that!” I was rebuked but he made his point and it made its mark. He is still my friend and I value his advice even more – he helped me when I needed help. Encouragement needs to be effective because the bottom line in encouragement is love; and sometimes love must be tough, abrupt, and even to the point of a stern rebuke.
The other inflection I heard in the angel’s voice was: worship GOD! It wasn’t angry but it was way emphatic – worship GOD – for crying out loud man, have you completely missed the point!?
In John 14 Jesus and Philip had this exchange: Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14.8-10 NIV) Jesus was slapping Philip upside the head…
For me my toughest battles are fought in my mind where thoughts assault me to just give up, give in, and cave in on my faith. (Paul, don’t do that!) Thoughts can be very convincing because they are based on – among other things – our circumstances; and often when circumstances go south, so do our thoughts. (Friends, don’t do that!) The toughest refining comes only when we go through the fire but the result is we will come out on the other side unscathed and worshiping God! But we need to be vulnerable enough to admit our needs to one another – and to slap each other upside the head when necessary – true love, true faith, true worship.
Revelation 22.9 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” NIV
Most parents know the phrase. Many parents have said it to their children all throughout their little lives. I remember going into a public restroom once with one of my toddler kids only to see him to make a beeline for the urinal and place his precious little hands on it… I almost had a heart-attack! Don’t do that! I exclaimed in a voice that scared him. He knew he’d trespassed and dad was serious. I scared him and I think I hurt his little feelings. I don’t think he ever did that again. In retrospect I think I over-reacted, but I never had to say that to him again.
I thought about the inflection in the voice of the angel who said to John: Don’t do that! I think it was along the lines of DON’T DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously, John caught up in the moment, made a beeline for a response and did something that the angel knew he shouldn’t ever do: John took his eyes off God. The exclamation point is there for our edification and exhortation: don’t (ever) do that! Something in me makes me think John might’ve been rattled back into reality during this exchange. Hurt feelings or not, I don’t think he ever did it again.
The angel, I suspect, had witnessed the fall of Satan and knew full well the consequences of taking one’s eyes off of God. The angel I suspect witnessed the fall of man and saw the agony of the Godhead when man chose to exchange the glory of God for his own. The angel, faithful to what he knew, came to John’s aid by slapping him upside the head: Don’t do that!
Recently, a friend of mine came alongside me and (figuratively) slapped me upside the head. He actually said in the course of the conversation: Don’t do that! He went on to say, “Don’t even entertain thoughts like that!” I was rebuked but he made his point and it made its mark. He is still my friend and I value his advice even more – he helped me when I needed help. Encouragement needs to be effective because the bottom line in encouragement is love; and sometimes love must be tough, abrupt, and even to the point of a stern rebuke.
The other inflection I heard in the angel’s voice was: worship GOD! It wasn’t angry but it was way emphatic – worship GOD – for crying out loud man, have you completely missed the point!?
In John 14 Jesus and Philip had this exchange: Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14.8-10 NIV) Jesus was slapping Philip upside the head…
For me my toughest battles are fought in my mind where thoughts assault me to just give up, give in, and cave in on my faith. (Paul, don’t do that!) Thoughts can be very convincing because they are based on – among other things – our circumstances; and often when circumstances go south, so do our thoughts. (Friends, don’t do that!) The toughest refining comes only when we go through the fire but the result is we will come out on the other side unscathed and worshiping God! But we need to be vulnerable enough to admit our needs to one another – and to slap each other upside the head when necessary – true love, true faith, true worship.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Giant Oysters
09.16.11
Revelation 21.21 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. NIV
Somewhere there are giant mollusks which produce giant pearls. I believe those exist somewhere right now at this moment. I believe if we were able to go there, wherever they are, we’d see those giant oysters. The gates of the New Jerusalem are pearls; each made of a single pearl – hence the giant oysters.
God’s universe is vast and wide and incomprehensible. But one thing is for sure: everything in God’s universe is there for God’s pleasure. A city is there where God’s people will/do dwell and between giant pearls and streets of the purest gold it is an awesome (in the God sense of the word) place.
We live in a world mixed (I believe) with far-fetched fantasy and rigor-mortem reality. I have a feeling that people in this world, whether they recognize it or not, suffer from the effects of sin and fallenness and because they do, I firmly believe that most people in their suffering long for something more (or other) than what they have. I also believe that most people in the world when confronted with the facts of giant pearls and streets of gold would say something like, “Huh-yeah, right.”
Believe it or not, the truth is, giant oysters and streets paved with pure gold do exist… whether I want to believe it or not. And since they exist, it follows that so does the Maker of those things. And since He exists, then I am accountable to Him for He also made me. Giant pearls and gold as paving material is no big deal to God. His biggest deal (if He has deals) is getting you and me to believe in Him because the Psalm says: Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. (Psalm 128.1 NIV) I would add, because their eyes will see prodigious pearls and pure pavement.
Right now it’s by faith and not by sight – tha’s all we got. I have to accept by faith that there are giant oysters out there which produce pearls big enough to be used as gates for a city. I also have to believe that God is working in me to transform me into the man, the disciple, the Christ-follower He’s created me to be; despite my herky-jerky belief – you know, the when-things-are-going-good-then-God-is- really-real belief. And the when things are going bad then He must be off distracted in some other part of the universe and has forgotten about me somehow – or He’s not who He says He is. Such is the sad, sick, fickle heart: so easily pleased with trinkets and so easily discouraged when the trinkets are removed.
Giant oysters are along the lines of: Okay, it could happen. Real belief and deeply seasoned faith however are along the lines of steadfast and immovable belief when it’s all going (or gone) to crap and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight – just a knowing that God has promised somewhere in the midst of it, and in control of it all. Whew! I can’t wait to see those oysters.
Revelation 21.21 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. NIV
Somewhere there are giant mollusks which produce giant pearls. I believe those exist somewhere right now at this moment. I believe if we were able to go there, wherever they are, we’d see those giant oysters. The gates of the New Jerusalem are pearls; each made of a single pearl – hence the giant oysters.
God’s universe is vast and wide and incomprehensible. But one thing is for sure: everything in God’s universe is there for God’s pleasure. A city is there where God’s people will/do dwell and between giant pearls and streets of the purest gold it is an awesome (in the God sense of the word) place.
We live in a world mixed (I believe) with far-fetched fantasy and rigor-mortem reality. I have a feeling that people in this world, whether they recognize it or not, suffer from the effects of sin and fallenness and because they do, I firmly believe that most people in their suffering long for something more (or other) than what they have. I also believe that most people in the world when confronted with the facts of giant pearls and streets of gold would say something like, “Huh-yeah, right.”
Believe it or not, the truth is, giant oysters and streets paved with pure gold do exist… whether I want to believe it or not. And since they exist, it follows that so does the Maker of those things. And since He exists, then I am accountable to Him for He also made me. Giant pearls and gold as paving material is no big deal to God. His biggest deal (if He has deals) is getting you and me to believe in Him because the Psalm says: Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. (Psalm 128.1 NIV) I would add, because their eyes will see prodigious pearls and pure pavement.
Right now it’s by faith and not by sight – tha’s all we got. I have to accept by faith that there are giant oysters out there which produce pearls big enough to be used as gates for a city. I also have to believe that God is working in me to transform me into the man, the disciple, the Christ-follower He’s created me to be; despite my herky-jerky belief – you know, the when-things-are-going-good-then-God-is- really-real belief. And the when things are going bad then He must be off distracted in some other part of the universe and has forgotten about me somehow – or He’s not who He says He is. Such is the sad, sick, fickle heart: so easily pleased with trinkets and so easily discouraged when the trinkets are removed.
Giant oysters are along the lines of: Okay, it could happen. Real belief and deeply seasoned faith however are along the lines of steadfast and immovable belief when it’s all going (or gone) to crap and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight – just a knowing that God has promised somewhere in the midst of it, and in control of it all. Whew! I can’t wait to see those oysters.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
True Success
(To my readers: I apologize for the awkwardness of this post - some days are just like that...)
09.15.11
Revelation 20.6 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. NIV
(6:00 a.m.) There are, it appears, two deaths: the death of a life – the separation from physical life; and the death of a soul – the eternal separation from God and all that He has done. There are also (apparently) two resurrections: the first for those who will go into the everlasting presence of God; and the second only for those appointed, first to face, then second to go into the second death. The first death has eternal promise; the second death, eternal power. Those in the first resurrection are immune to the eternal power of the second death, and those in the second resurrection are immune to the eternal promise of life everlasting.
When I went to bed last night, I thought of how hideous I must be to God in my brokenness and sin. I realized (as I often do) how much I try to manipulate God into giving me what I think I want and realized as I do, I must come off as one who is horribly unclean and yet tries to make himself appear as acceptable. Bad breath, bad body odor, and stinking oozing sores are not things I want to embrace… and yet, God does. The promise of Christ is: I will be with you and I will be in you. Jesus, dwelling in a cesspool like me…
I know in Christ I am accepted in the Beloved but I also see the realities of how I try to take advantage of God. Recently I thought about how to measure the success of a day – any day. The true success of a day is for me to realize I am in the presence of God and that He, for all my faults and failures, is with me. My true success is not based on what I accomplish but how much and how often throughout the day I sense His hand upon me and His presence with me; and whether or not I celebrate His presence. (To be continued)
(14½ hours later) I must’ve been successful today because I cried aloud often to God. I had a miserable day by my standards and yet I managed not to throw my faith out the window and tomorrow I am going to dive right back into the fray. For those still engaged in it, work is an amazing teacher and revealer; teaching us about what we don’t know of God; and revealing just how much we try to manipulate Him.
So blessed are those who are saved from the second death and the second resurrection. Blessed are those who throw themselves on the mercy of God today and know that it’s a done deal when earth’s last canvas is painted. Today, I saw favor and mercy and a God who stands steadfastly by me at my worst. I’ll admit Heaven seemed fairly silent today but my car – and my heart – seemed full of its presence and God’s patient and knowing smile…
True success is to show up at the one death and the one resurrection and miss out on the second death and its resurrection. True success is spelled out in a life measured by just how often is spent in the presence of God and ignoring the push and pull of life that gets in the way of celebrating a presence like His.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
His Highest for the Heights
09.14.11
Ezekiel 36.8 8“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, 10 and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12 I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children. NIV
How vast and deep and wide is the love of God that surpasses knowledge! I know I’ve chosen a rather lengthy portion of Scripture today but I really felt like one verse just wouldn’t quite get the job done in expressing the beauty in what I see here in Ezekiel 36. (Not because I see it, but because it’s there…)
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is, How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52.7 NIV). Mountains play a very important role in Jewish writing. I think it’s because they represent Princely portion, power, protection, and provision. And so my heart was drawn to these words that speak good of the mountains that were in the homeland of God’s people. Those mountains had grace!
Having never seen those mountains, I can only conjure up thoughts of what they looked like way back then and compare my thoughts to the mountains here in my own homeland of northeastern Oregon. I wonder what God thinks about my mountains. I wonder what the people here would think if God said to our mountains: “But you, mountains of Oregon, will produce branches and fruit for my people... I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of my people. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will cause people, my people, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.”?
Do you wonder about what God thinks of your homeland? Do you think God thinks favorably about it or otherwise? Does it matter? The homeland of the Jews was God’s gift to them. Our homeland is where God in His wisdom and election placed us to carry out His will: From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17.26-27 NIV)
Today, I am glad about what God thinks about my homeland and about what God thinks of me: He calls me His child. And He has chosen for me to live in the mountains and they are pretty!
Ezekiel 36.8 8“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, 10 and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12 I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children. NIV
How vast and deep and wide is the love of God that surpasses knowledge! I know I’ve chosen a rather lengthy portion of Scripture today but I really felt like one verse just wouldn’t quite get the job done in expressing the beauty in what I see here in Ezekiel 36. (Not because I see it, but because it’s there…)
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is, How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52.7 NIV). Mountains play a very important role in Jewish writing. I think it’s because they represent Princely portion, power, protection, and provision. And so my heart was drawn to these words that speak good of the mountains that were in the homeland of God’s people. Those mountains had grace!
Having never seen those mountains, I can only conjure up thoughts of what they looked like way back then and compare my thoughts to the mountains here in my own homeland of northeastern Oregon. I wonder what God thinks about my mountains. I wonder what the people here would think if God said to our mountains: “But you, mountains of Oregon, will produce branches and fruit for my people... I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of my people. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will cause people, my people, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.”?
Do you wonder about what God thinks of your homeland? Do you think God thinks favorably about it or otherwise? Does it matter? The homeland of the Jews was God’s gift to them. Our homeland is where God in His wisdom and election placed us to carry out His will: From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17.26-27 NIV)
Today, I am glad about what God thinks about my homeland and about what God thinks of me: He calls me His child. And He has chosen for me to live in the mountains and they are pretty!
Monday, September 12, 2011
God’s Man
09.12.11
Daniel 4.27 Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” NIV
Telling a king what to do is risky business: he might act… or he might react. Throughout Scripture men have been appointed by God to tell (advise) kings what to do. Some were very good at their jobs and others were just yes-men. The good ones were few and weren’t always favored. The yes-men were plentiful but often just told the ruler what he wanted to hear anyway. Daniel was one of the good ones.
Daniel saw the both the glories and the abuses of Nebuchadnezzar; he saw when the king abused his power and oppressed people needlessly. For all of the things that Nebuchadnezzar did, apparently he was a despot and had a mean streak. So God warned him to straighten up and fly right or suffer the consequences. And God sent His man to deliver the message. It makes me wonder, in whose life today am I God’s man; the messenger?
Well, I know for sure I am supposed to be God’s man to my family. My wife and kids are watching how I act and react. They will size up my faith by what faith they see in me. They will size up my faith by the advice and attention I give them. They will size up my faith by how I treat them, love them, and accept them. They'll notice whether I talk the talk or walk the talk.
And I am to be God’s man among God’s men in the Church. I am to be God’s man in my neighborhood, at my work, and while I am out in the community, shopping or getting gas, or whatever I happen to be doing.
But most importantly I am to be God’s man in my heart – like Daniel was. Daniel apparently did not see himself apart from the Lord. And so like him I am to see myself the same way. Daniel’s foundation was a little different than mine – he was raised in Jewish nobility, and I, in American ignobility – but the truth is our mutual faith is cut from the same bolt of cloth; his before the blood was spilled; mine after. Daniel seemed to get it much earlier than I did and so I have some later-in-life catching up to do. I prayed tonight on the way home: Lord, it isn’t the size of the job, the size of the paycheck, the size of the calling that counts: it’s the size of the heart for You; and the size of my character that counts for anything at all. That’s all that will matter in the end.
I’m not Daniel and I haven’t been called to advise a king but I am Paul and I am to serve a King. My other biblical friend, the apostle Paul, said this: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10.31 NIV) My life is pretty tame (and at times pretty lame) compared to Daniel’s but my calling is to walk like him with a heart for God, and in my vocation and avocation, to be, in my day and my way: God’s man.
Daniel 4.27 Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” NIV
Telling a king what to do is risky business: he might act… or he might react. Throughout Scripture men have been appointed by God to tell (advise) kings what to do. Some were very good at their jobs and others were just yes-men. The good ones were few and weren’t always favored. The yes-men were plentiful but often just told the ruler what he wanted to hear anyway. Daniel was one of the good ones.
Daniel saw the both the glories and the abuses of Nebuchadnezzar; he saw when the king abused his power and oppressed people needlessly. For all of the things that Nebuchadnezzar did, apparently he was a despot and had a mean streak. So God warned him to straighten up and fly right or suffer the consequences. And God sent His man to deliver the message. It makes me wonder, in whose life today am I God’s man; the messenger?
Well, I know for sure I am supposed to be God’s man to my family. My wife and kids are watching how I act and react. They will size up my faith by what faith they see in me. They will size up my faith by the advice and attention I give them. They will size up my faith by how I treat them, love them, and accept them. They'll notice whether I talk the talk or walk the talk.
And I am to be God’s man among God’s men in the Church. I am to be God’s man in my neighborhood, at my work, and while I am out in the community, shopping or getting gas, or whatever I happen to be doing.
But most importantly I am to be God’s man in my heart – like Daniel was. Daniel apparently did not see himself apart from the Lord. And so like him I am to see myself the same way. Daniel’s foundation was a little different than mine – he was raised in Jewish nobility, and I, in American ignobility – but the truth is our mutual faith is cut from the same bolt of cloth; his before the blood was spilled; mine after. Daniel seemed to get it much earlier than I did and so I have some later-in-life catching up to do. I prayed tonight on the way home: Lord, it isn’t the size of the job, the size of the paycheck, the size of the calling that counts: it’s the size of the heart for You; and the size of my character that counts for anything at all. That’s all that will matter in the end.
I’m not Daniel and I haven’t been called to advise a king but I am Paul and I am to serve a King. My other biblical friend, the apostle Paul, said this: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10.31 NIV) My life is pretty tame (and at times pretty lame) compared to Daniel’s but my calling is to walk like him with a heart for God, and in my vocation and avocation, to be, in my day and my way: God’s man.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
What Life is Really About
09.11.11
Daniel 2.30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind. NIV
Had Daniel been someone else, he might’ve eaten the king’s food, drank the king’s wine and claimed glory for himself in the interpretation of the king’s dream – had Daniel been someone else. But Daniel wasn’t someone else, he was a man of integrity and great faith. Men like Daniel are rare.
So much of whom we are and what we are is based on (we feel) what we have, do, or are called: possession, performance, and/or position. At least that’s how many sum up life – what I own, how I do, or what I’m called. It takes a tremendous character to leave it all in God’s hands and give Him the glory for where we are, what we are, and who we are. Daniel was quick to deflect attention from himself in order to keep the conversation pointed in the right direction: King Nebuchadnezzar, as important as you are and as much as what you have and have done, there is Someone far greater than you Who has given you possessions, performance, and position to accomplish His will in the earth! Daniel was given the opportunity to tell a great man what life was really all about: God. As I said, men like Daniel are rare; he realized it was all about influence and not about ambition.
Our world doesn’t understand faith like Daniel’s. Unfortunately many in the church don’t understand it either. Faith is that unshakable conviction that this life is all about knowing God – nothing else. Faith is the immovable understanding that everything in life is because of God. And faith is the steadfast expectation that everything in life is done in the wide open presence of God. Every situation or circumstance, every test, trial, triumph, or tragedy is done so that God can see what and where our hearts are. God is present with both believer and betrayer because God’s purposes transcend people though He uses people to cause His will to be done.
The difference between Daniel – a captive taken against his will to place against his preference – and everybody else in the narrative was that Daniel understood the presence and power of God. Daniel understood that God will do whatever He has purposed with anyone – including despots like Nebuchadnezzar… or our boss, or our neighbor, or our elected politician who does and says, over and over, what we don’t like. The way to approach these people is not because we have more wisdom than anyone else, but from the foundation of faith where we firmly hold that only God is God and the rest of us aren’t. God chose for a pagan king to know that; and He chose a man like Daniel to bring the message.
The events of this coming day and week are divinely designed and deployed to show where my heart really is. All that I am going to go through is to show how real my faith in God is. May I reflect His glory and give Him glory is all I say, think, and do…
Sola Fide, sola Deo Gloria, sola Christos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)