Archive for October 2014

How Much of a God?

2014-10-07 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I’m convinced that a question lurks down inside each of us that we’d like to ask God. We’ve probably never formulated this question in our minds, much less in our mouths, but I think our hearts ask it. As we seek God in the face of our needs, whether big or small, we probe for an answer:

How much of a God are You willing to be in my life?

I believe God exists up there somewhere. I believe He is real, that He forgave my sins, and that someday He’ll bring me to heaven. But I have needs now, especially on the inside. I want to know what He is really willing to do and be in me. How much of a practical part can He play, or will He play, in my daily life? For example:

  • I have anxieties that waste my energy and destroy my peace of mind.
  • I need guidance and wisdom in a thousand hourly decisions and problems, big and small. Uncertainty and inadequacy eat away at me.
  • The same old temptations keep returning, and they’re hard to face. Can I really be the victor every time and escape all the guilt and frustration that failure brings?
  • Can I be free from self-centeredness to be thoroughly loving all the time?
  • Am I good enough? Am I who I should be, and can I ever totally please God?

I’ve been a Christian for more than fifty years, and I grasp for such answers. I want to know how constant and how sufficient God will be in all such areas.

But I continue to make exciting discoveries. I’m finding that whenever I turn to Him with anything, no matter how daily or small, He is there, my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1, NASB).

When I remember to take my problems to Him, specifically, simply, openly, I find Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20, NASB).

I find a God who constantly prompts me to speak to Him; who hears and understands every murmur of my heart, every unspoken question, every secret shame; who longs to draw me closer and never stops forgiving me; who, for His part, will never let anything come between us.

And I realize that if any silence is in my life and in my relationship with Him, He is not the silent One. The silence is from my own preoccupation with other things. It is the silence of my indifference to Him. It is the silence of my unbelief.

What needs does your Father see you face, yet never hear you share with Him? What concerns does He deeply feel with you that you never bring to Him?

How many simple prayers would our God gladly, beautifully, bountifully answer if we simply prayed them?

How much of a God am I willing to let Him be?

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Ever Standing in Your Presence
Recording
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The Second Coming

2014-10-05 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4, NASB)

The New Testament teaches that the same Christ who came in weakness as an infant will return in power and great glory. His first coming was secretive. But the second time, “every eye will see Him” (Revelation 1:7, NASB).

But nearly two thousand years have passed, and still, no Second Coming. And since our Savior Himself said that no one can know when it will occur, it could be another ten thousand years before the prophecy is finally fulfilled.

So why do we continue to teach, write, sing, and make movies about it? To many, the idea of Christ coming in the clouds, in full view of every living human being, seems hard to believe and remote from practical daily life. Why should we risk embarrassing ourselves and alienating our listeners by emphasizing such an incredible idea, one that even believers admit might not happen for generations, centuries, or even millennia?

Consider this:

  1. Jesus taught His return as centrally important. He spoke about it clearly, emphatically, and at length. Realize that He knew life both in heaven and on earth. He had seen both time and eternity. If He considered His return important, it’s important!
  1. The New Testament writers unanimously teach it. The Spirit of Christ spoke about His return through each and every one of them. They considered it essential to believe that Christ will come to finish all that He has started and to consummate our salvation. For all the New Testament writers, the truth of Christ’s return fueled faith, hope, perseverance, and holy living.
  1. The stakes are high. When Christ returns, He will judge every individual. Depending on our relationship with Him, we will go to eternal life or eternal death, to joyful union with Him or complete and final separation from Him (Matthew 25:31-46).
  1. When He comes, we must be ready. Since no one can know when He will return (Matthew 24:36), His return will seem sudden and unexpected (Matthew 24:37-44). He will come as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2). The only sure way to be prepared is to stay prepared (Luke 12:35-48).
  1. Christ’s first coming had been foretold for centuries, and He did come, at God’s right time. His second coming, long foretold, is just as certain. It will occur when the time is right. The reality of Christmas proclaims the reality of His return.
  1. Peter reminds us that with our eternal God, “one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (2 Peter 3:8, NASB). His sense of time is far different than ours. But be assured that He is not lax about His promises but “is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9). God’s “delays” are His patient love.

Consider the beautiful things Christ has done in you already, and eagerly anticipate His completing each one. Look forward to that wonderful day. Wait patiently for it, knowing that it will happen in the fullness of time. Keep first things first. Stay focused on Him. Stay faithful.

In a world completely obsessed with the shallow and temporary, it is vital that the people of Jesus Christ continue to proclaim the ultimate things: Jesus’ return, the judgment, and the world to come. Whether He returns today or in a thousand years is not the point. The certainty of His return shapes the entire reality in which we live.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Second Coming Hymn
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

More on Stewardship

2014-10-02 Devotional with Hymn No comments

A steward is one who handles an owner’s property as the owner would want it handled. In a day when slow travel and communication created many absentee business owners, the steward was responsible for making daily decisions as the owner would make them.

As God’s stewards, how are we to manage His resources? What is important to Him? Sure, He wants us to value and respect His ownership too much to waste what He has entrusted to us. But penny-pinching and maximizing profits are not the essence of the stewardship He desires. Remember, He can create anything He wants by simply speaking the word.

What is important to Him? Where does He want His resources focused?

God is love (1 John 4:8). Love is precious to Him. People are precious to Him. Look at the way He spent His one and only Son. He was willing to sacrifice what was most precious to Him for the good of His people.

If we want to please our Owner, we must treat people well. That means everyone: family and strangers, friends and the unfriendly, next-door neighbors and people across the globe. God is love. If we love Him, we will love those He loves. They are all unspeakably dear to Him. He asks us to love them all as much as we love ourselves.

This “golden rule” isn’t some secondary, optional commandment. It is the prime directive. And there is no business exemption. He doesn’t say, “Treat people the way you want to be treated, as long as they treat you fairly” or “as long as it doesn’t cost too much.” Jesus said that loving God and loving other people are the two greatest, most essential commandments in all the world. Everything…everything…hangs on these two commands. (Read Matthew 22:34-40.)

Further, if you want to please your Owner, trust Him. He treasures the simple faith of His children. Trust Him with every need and every concern. Words of trust aren’t good enough. He wants you to prove your trust by the way you use His resources.

In summary, if we want to be a good steward and please the God who trusted you with His resources, use them to love people. That’s how this Owner wants His resources spent. Treat people as He would treat them. And show God that you trust Him by the way you spend what He has lent you. Remember what Jesus said:

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [the necessities of life] will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Listen to Love
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

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