SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE

 

“He endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27 NKJV).  Moses could endure suffering because he saw God.  Moses only got to see His back (Exodus 33:23).  What do we get to see?

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV).  The “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” means that somehow we know God’s glory because He has revealed it to our hearts.  The verse mentions the face of Jesus.  When we look into someone’s face, we get a clue about what’s in their heart.

What is in the Lord’s heart?

After Solomon built a temple for the Lord, this is what the Lord said:  “Now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually” (2 Chronicles 7:16 NKJV).  First Corinthians 3:16 says that Christians are the temple of God.  So these days God’s eyes and heart are always turned toward us.  He’s in love with us!  Really.  Many times God says, “I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Leviticus 26:12, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Hebrews 8:10, Ezekiel 11:20,36:28; 37:23, 27, Zechariah 8:8, Jeremiah 24:7, 30:22, 31:33, Revelation 21:3, NKJV).  Does that not read like a valentine? Or a marriage proposal?  He’s saying, “I have given myself completely to you; be Mine.”

“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me” Song of Solomon 7:10 NKJV).  Now that will motivate us to walk with Him even through suffering.

 

 

GOD HAS GIVEN US HEARTS THAT WORSHIP

 

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12 NKJV).  This is an exciting statement, since God has freely given us ALL things (Romans 8:32), including “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3 NKJV).  We’ll spend all eternity plumbing the depths of that.

Here’s just one of the gifts God has given His people:  worshiping hearts.  Even people who don’t worship God do worship something—relationships, power, knowledge, whatever—because worshiping is an automatic part of being God-created humans.  But the Bible says that Christians worship God in the Spirit (Philippians 3:3).  Because God’s Spirit is in us, we love Him, we are in love with Jesus, we burst into songs of praise (Ephesians 5:19).  That’s what worship is.  We want to know the glory of who God is.  We join King David in saying, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8b).  We “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2a) and see in His eyes that He loves us and wants us.  And our hearts are captivated.

 

 

WALKING IN FORGIVENESS

I work as a sales associate at a store that sells jewelry.  One day I unlocked the jewelry case and walked away while the customer was still looking at rings.  My boss reprimanded me for leaving the open case unattended, and I felt terrible.  It wasn’t a willful sin, just a dumb mistake, but I felt just awful.  I’ve spent decades of my life being afraid of making mistakes and feeling bad about sins that had been confessed and repented of.  All of this stress-filled living has been unnecessary.  The Bible says that when a Christian sins, not only is (s)he forgiven, but also, Jesus is her ally, not her condemner.  So when our hearts condemn us, we need to remember:  “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1-2).  In the past I often felt like maybe the Lord would get tired of my sin and ditch me (not in the send-her-to-hell sense, but in the we’re-no-longer-friends sense).  But if we look at Luke 15, we see the unconditional love of God in the parable of the prodigal son. In this parable, a man’s younger son wastes his inheritance on sinful living.  When the money is gone, he finds himself starving.  He remembers his father’s kindness and abundant provision, and this is what brings him to repent, to return to his home where he belongs.   His father, who represents our heavenly Father, runs to the miserable fellow, falls on his neck and kisses him.  Then he joyfully gives his son the best robe and puts a ring on his hand, signifying his acceptance back into the family. He kills the fatted calf, a very extravagant gesture, and declares, “Let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15: 23-24).  The whole point of this parable is that God is very quick to forgive, and He is thrilled when we come to Him, even when we’re coming because we need to escape from the consequences of our sin.

Almost more amazing is how the father deals with his older son.  This son has problems with self-righteousness, and he makes it clear that he’s not going to repent of that.  Yet the father pursues this son and pleads with him, showing no signs of withdrawing his love or giving up on the obstinate young man.  What a tender heart God has!  He doesn’t walk away from us when we sin; He pursues us with His love.  And He rejoices greatly when we reconnect with Him!  He’s OK with where we’re at in the maturing process, and He’s there to perfectly love and comfort us, casting out our fear of messing up.

“There will be…JOY in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7).

 

 

GLORIFYING GOD

“Christ will be magnified in my body…” –Philippians 1:20 NKJV

“I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith.” –Philippians 1:25 NKJV

Paul was confident that he would glorify Christ and help others grow spiritually.  Was it arrogant of him to assume that his life would bear so much fruit?

No, Paul wasn’t blowing his own horn.  He was just acknowledging the truth that the God who is love was living in him, and as the Lord’s love flowed through His follower, others would be built up and God would be honored.  This is the norm for all who follow Jesus.

Isaiah 50:4 shows us how this looks in day-to-day life:  “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.  He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”  This verse is speaking of Jesus, but also of us, since Jesus lives in us!  God is the one who gives us ears to hear His truth, and words to meet the needs of those around us.

 

 

OUR SHEPHERD

 

I woke up in the morning with fear in my heart.  Because I didn’t have a full schedule for the day, I was afraid that I’d make poor choices and not do what God wanted me to do.

Part of this is a fear that making mistakes makes me a bad person.  To which God says that He has given his people the GIFT of righteousness in Christ (Romans 5:17), and mistakes and sins don’t change the fact that those who are in Christ are holy, indwelt by God Himself.

The other reason I’m afraid of failure is that though I know that the Lord is my Shepherd, at the heart level, I doubt that He’s going to show me the way, and I know for sure that the perfect will of God is too hard for me to figure out by myself.  In Psalm 32:8 (NKJV) God promises:  “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”

We may fail to pay attention to our Shepherd, and we may go astray.  But He won’t let us wander alone.  Even if we make our bed in Sheol [the nether world], He is there with us (Psalm 139:8).

The Lord also gives a big hint about what His will is:  “Let all that you do be done in love”(1 Corinthians 16:14 NKJV).  So as you and I walk through our day, we can be asking, “Lord, how do You want to love someone through me right now?”  The people in my life are very busy, and I can show them love by helping them out, even if it’s just washing dishes or other small tasks.  The Lord can show us a million ways to love others.  As we go where love leads us, we will be walking with God, because God is love.

 

 

GOD IS LOVE

 

God brought us into being and sustains us.

God is present in every moment of our lives. 

God lives in His people and teaches us how to love.

Since God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), we can replace the word “God” in these statements with the word “love”:

Love brought us into being and sustains us.

Love is present in every moment of our lives.

Love lives in His people and teaches us to love.

The whole Bible could be read that way.

 

 

JESUS LOVES ZACCHAEUS

 

“Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.  And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.  So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.”

“And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him.  ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’” (Luke 19:2-5 NKJV)

Jesus wanted to befriend the short man, apparently just because the guy went out of his way to get a glimpse of Him.

We see the Lord’s heart for us again in Revelation 3:20, when He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  I like to picture myself across the table from Jesus at a café, chatting over coffee and dessert.  It would so thrill my heart to look into His eyes and take in all that love. 

His loving gaze is always on us (Psalm 34:15).  He understands our every thought (Psalm 149:2) and accepts us as we are. 

If we want to be friends with Jesus, we can be sure that He wants it too.

 

 

LOVING JESUS

 

“A woman in the city who was a sinner…brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with …fragrant oil.”

“’Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.’”

“Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace.’” (Luke 7:37-38, 47, 50 NKJV)

The woman was forgiven because she loved much?  What about repentance?  The tears were surely tears of remorse; she was probably thinking, “Why would Jesus want to have anything to do with someone like me?”  But Jesus never even asked her if she was willing to leave her life of sin; He seemed to know that her life had taken a turn in the right direction.  And He fully appreciated her love for Him, which she expressed so poignantly.  Hmmmmmm.  Maybe Kenny Rogers was right when he sang, “Love will turn you around.”