OVERFLOWING LIFE

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  (Titus 3:4-7)

We fence God in by the boundaries of our experience. "How much do Daddy and Mommy love you?" we ask a three-year-old; and the child stretches baby arms to their limit while answering happily, "This much!"  Yes, indeed -- and vastly more.  But a child's capacity to perceive and to describe is limited by the length of his arms and the measure of his experience.

So it is with our expectations when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives.  After all, we have so little basis for comparison.  Our secular culture promises extravagant possibilities from miracle drugs, or from investments, or from the lottery genie that may drive to our address.  We evaluate such problems cautiously, as we should; and then we recognize, with pain, that we need much more than that, and we want much more.  Something deep within insists that life ought to hold more.  But we rarely realize that the "much more," the overflowing life we desire, awaits us in Jesus Christ.  We think He is a membership to be joined, a cause to which we enlist, a doctrine to which we will subscribe.  We are slow to understand that He is a King in whom all of life finds a new center and a new circumference, new time and new eternity.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “New Testament Stories from the Back Side”


#4594

SERVING GOD

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  (1 Corinthians 9:6-8 NIV)

One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since He is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve Him in our neighbor; which He receives as if done to Himself in person, standing visibly before us.

-- John Wesley in “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection"

#4593

GOD’S WORD, ALIVE AND POWERFUL

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”  (Hebrews 4:12 NLT)

Have you ever read a verse [of Scripture] scores of times and yet never had it affect you? Then you casually pass by it again and -- ZAP! -- it hits you squarely between your heart and mind.

There are times when you welcome the Spirit's intrusion. The new insight makes you smile. Out of nowhere you see what God means. A bright new idea opens up.

At other times… no smiles. The new insight only brings a groan or tears. You're convicted of manipulating a friend. You're crushed over snubbing a new coworker. Shamed for gossiping about a neighbor, you've been wounded by the Word of God, and you have no excuse not to obey from then on.

Andrew Murray put it this way: "Jesus has no tenderness toward anything that is ultimately going to ruin a person in service to Him. If God brings to mind a verse which hurts you, you may be sure that there is something He wants to hurt."

That's the way God works. He is so exacting. That's because He doesn't want us to see our disobedience vaguely or in general. Specific verses have a way of convicting us specifically.

-- Joni Eareckson Tada in “Glorious Intruder”


#4592

ENGAGEMENT WITH GOD’S WORD

“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.”  (Matthew 7:24 NIV)

More people these days feel an absence in their lives, expressed as an acute desire for "something more," a spiritual home, a community of faith.  But when they try to read the Bible, they end up throwing it across the room.  To me, this seems encouraging, a good place to start, a sign of real engagement with the God who is revealed in the Scripture.  Others find it easy to dismiss the Bible out of hand, as negative, vengeful, violent.  I can only hope that they are rejecting the violence-as-entertainment of movies and television on the same grounds, and that they say a prayer every time they pick up a daily newspaper or turn on CNN.  In the context of real life, the Bible seems refreshingly whole, an honest reflection on humanity in relation to the sacred and the profane.  I can't learn enough about it, but I also have to trust what little I know, and proceed, in faith, to seek God there.

-- Kathleen Norris in “Amazing Grace”


#4591

A SPORADIC PRAYER LIFE?

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  (Ephesians 3:20 NLT)

What would my life be like if I just stopped praying altogether? I mean, what if God promised me that things would stay the same regardless of whether I prayed or not: would I still continue to pray? That’s a hard question. But I’ve thought about it because on a whole other level I’m a little curious about why some of us feel compelled to pray, even when our scales of belief are tipped toward the negative.

But even with a sporadic prayer life, I can’t imagine a life without prayer, without some effort to reach for God with all the cares and worries I drag with me wherever I go, and without some effort to invite God to speak to me in the times when I am sensible enough to just be quiet. Plus there’s a side of me that doesn’t really know how to express my love for God without prayer in my life. I’m not sure when or how I started feeling this way, but somewhere along the line, I’ve discovered that when I do pray, I am reminded of who God is and who I am. It’s hard to pray for anything without at some point naming God as one who is capable of all things.

-- Enuma Okoro in “Reluctant Pilgrim”


#4590