When we look at our children, what do we see, and how do we see it? We look on them with our eyes, and see their physical characteristics, we observe their actions, and come to know their character by studying them with our minds. We go further, and see their heart through the eyes of our own, and come to know their love as it mixes with ours and grows, but there is one other way we should look at our children... one that many neglect, we should see them spiritually.
Are we unacceptable to God? If we live amongst sinners, or in places where false gods are served, are we precluded from knowing Jesus Christ, and the God of Abraham? Do we feel excluded or lost, and do those around us tell us it is so? Well it is not so, and Peter taught this truth to the Gentiles. Though many Jews sought to exclude them from the worship of God, Peter taught otherwise. He told us that God knows no partiality, and if we fear the Lord, and do what is right, we are acceptable to Him. Are those who once believed and behaved in ways contrary to what is right before the Lord prepared to fear the one true God, and do those things He deems right? If so, then rest assured you are acceptable to Him, and worthy of receiving life in Christ
Are we called to be Holy men and women? If we don’t believe so then what might our calling possibly be? These are two questions we should be asking ourselves this morning, and Paul is a good example we can look to as we search out their answer, and the Lord's call in our own lives. We can be called to do many things as we walk with the Lord, but none more important than to be holy.
This morning I ask you to join me in contemplating those times when God has spoken to you. It may have been in a feeling you couldn't shake, a dream, in a voice only you could hear, by signs, or maybe in a vision. Is there a time when you realized that you were engaged in a "God Moment?"
Yesterday we gave thought to wounding Jesus, but today we will look at this in a different light by asking the question... “Do we persecute Him?” On the road to Damascus, Saul didn't understand what was happening to him. He didn’t recognize the voice that was speaking to him; so He asked... “And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
I was convicted this morning as I bore into my devotional thought. I was searching an inconvenient truth... there are times when I wound Jesus in my attempt to achieve righteousness. In those times I am similar to Saul, and face imminent correction.
How simple and trusting is our faith? My devotional reading this morning was focused on the simplicity of faith, and as I studied the truth of this concept I uncovered the depth of my similar belief. Yet, I began to see how I often followed the mantra I hear in commercials on television as they sing... "I want it now!" (NFL), or "It's mine!" (Diet Coke), or perhaps "I want it all!" (Dr. Pepper). I could see that I was applying this urgency to my relationship with the Lord, and wanted every truth in a scripture, every revelation of God, instantly... now!
This morning I am examining my life to determine if I am presuming to know when and how God will enter into my affairs. I am trying to decide if I am attempting to control my circumstances, or if I am trusting in God. Have I been limiting His access to my life without fully realizing that He will interact with me at His good pleasure?
This morning I contemplate our being chosen by God for a life and relationship with Jesus; even as much as we ourselves choose to live that life and love our Lord. I think about Saul becoming Paul and his more intense selection by Jesus. After Saul had been struck down in the midst of his noon day prayers, and blinded, he was told to go into Jerusalem and wait there for instructions. Are we chosen, are we humbled, or do we obey, and go humbly without struggling to meet Him?
This morning I read Oswald Chambers' devotional message titled "Transformed by Insight". He wrote of our becoming a reflection of the Lord when we have been in His presence. This is a discussion that thrills me, and reminds me of not only the outward reflection, but the feeling within.
Our Lord does not want us to wander lost through life. He calls us to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, and guides us with His Holy Spirit. No matter where we are in life He is there watching over us. Our Father teaches us as we follow Jesus, and gives us understanding through His Spirit. So, with all God’s love, and His personal instruction, education, and guidance, what is our excuse for wandering lost, not understanding who He is, or feeling alone?
Do I love the Lord like I did the moment I was saved? Has my love for Him diminished in any way over the years? This is my contemplation this morning. I am looking inward at the love I feel after many years with Jesus and worshiping God.
Have we ever been bold enough to ask Jesus one of the more difficult questions that His twelve disciples asked of Him? Are we afraid that our question would reveal a fault in us, or that we wouldn’t appear to understand something that perhaps we should have? Were we comfortable enough with Him to ask Him anyway? Let’s take one question today, and joining together in combined courage, strength, and boldness, let’s ask Him what we all would like to have answered… who is the greatest in heaven?
In the day of Jesus, like today, a person could argue against Jesus, and that sin would be forgiven him if he repented, believed, and asked for forgiveness. Saul was certainly guilty of speaking out against Christ in those days when he persecuted the Christians, but later, after having met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was converted, and his sin of having spoken and acted out against Jesus the Christ was forgiven. For those among us today who have spoken out against Christ there is also hope, forgiveness, and redemption. No matter how bitter your words, or actions, might have been, the hand of Christ remains extended to you. Forgiveness and eternity are just a prayer away.