Clay in the Hands

It’s a new week – a fresh start.

I challenged our folks yesterday – and in so doing, myself – to press forward to maturity in our faith.  That requires something of us.  Progression in The Way – in becoming more like Jesus – is not something that just happens.  It does not occur by osmosis or by accident.

Don’t misunderstand, I am not talking about salvation.  We are rescued by the Savior, not by anything we do.  But a one time decision to accept the grace Jesus offers by faith does not mean we automatically become mature in our faith.  Maturity comes through effort on our part.  That effort begins with time and focus.  We will never get to know Jesus without spending time focused on him.  Prayer, silence, scripture reading and listening are ways we connect with him.

Where is you focus today?  How much time are you willing to invest in the only relationship that will make a difference in your life?

Be blessed this day.

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Today, my commute to the office was accompanied by a gentle, refreshing rain.  I could see through the streaks of rain running across my windshield how the ground was welcoming the moisture by changing colors – from it’s normal reddish sandy color to a deeper, richer brown.  Our land has been so dry for so long – it is a refreshing sight to see God’s blessing falling all around us.

As I have continued to reflect on God’s blessing, I am reminded that God showers blessings on us on a daily basis.  But how receptive are we of those blessings?  Or are we even aware of how God is at work all around us?

As we open our hearts to receive God’s blessings, we should begin to take on a different appearance.  Just as the soil welcomes moisture and is changed, our countenance should become deeper and richer.  Our faces should reflect God’s joy.  Our words should carry comfort.  Our actions should reveal compassion.

God is constantly blessing us.

How receptive will you be today?

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If God were human, would God . . .

age?

feel pain?

feel joy?

feel sorrow?

get frustrated?

get hungry?

get tired?

die?

The answer to each of these questions is YES!  I know this because God did become human.  Jesus – God’s one and only son – took on flesh and walked this earth as a man.  He experienced every emotion and temptation we face – but did it without falter and with no sin.

Jesus felt frustrated, even anger at times.  He felt joy and fatigue.  But the one emotion we need to focus on at this time of year is that Jesus felt sorrow.

Jesus knew the cross was God’s plan.  He knew that to fulfill his mission on earth, he had to endure the shame, humiliation and pain that came with such an agonizing death.  But he had a choice.  At any point, he could have decided humanity was just not worth it.

But through that emotional agony and deep sorrow, he focused on the joy of what fulfilling his mission would bring.

As we approach Easter and look forward to the celebration of an empty tomb, don’t rush too quickly past the pain and suffering that Christ endured for you and for me on his way to that empty tomb.

Be blessed!

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It’s Thursday – that day when we are beginning to feel the wear of the week.  We ramp up all week and get busier and busier as we go.  By the time we get to Thursday, everything becomes a blur.  The pressures of the day become more difficult to handle.  We think, “If one more thing gets added to my plate I may just lose it!”

If I just described you today, take heart.  Paul reminds us of something important in Colossians 3.

In verses 1 and 2 of that chapter, Paul says this:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

And then he goes further later in the chapter and says this in verse 15:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Here is what this means for us – the break-neck doers of the world.  When we remember the fact that, as believers, we are no longer residents of this world but rather just journeying through it, when we remember that real life comes only in Christ, then the pressures of this world melt away – they don’t disappear but their significance becomes manageable.  When our focus is on Christ, our lives take on proper perspective.  And when that happens, we realize that the peace that can only come from Jesus washes all over us.  All of the sudden, like a slow, deep, cleansing breath – we feel different – the day is not impossible any longer.

There is an old hymn that comes to mind.  The chorus of that hymn says this:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

May you find room to breathe today.  May you find peace.  May you rest in the arms of the only one who can offer you that peace.

Be blessed – – and breathe!

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Today is a new day.  I got to the office early this morning so I took my coffee and my Bible up to the roof.  As crazy as that may sound to some, I do this when I can.  I feel at peace when I can see the world from a different perspective.  

This was the seen from atop the church today.  As I watched the sun rise through the clouds, my mind was drawn to Psalm 51, particularly verse 10:  “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

What the Psalmist experienced was a new dawning – a realization that God is not after what we can do or how hard we can work.  God does not take pleasure in how good we can be or the accolades we can pile up for ourselves.  God is not even honored in empty words sung in worship or spoken from a pulpit.

What is pleasing is a pure heart – open and transparent to God.  When our hearts are right, then all the things listed above do honor God.  With a heart that is focused only on God – humbled and broken – our lives take on new meaning.

Praise God that every morning God’s mercies are new and fresh.

Today is a new day.

How is your heart?

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Genesis teaches us that God created humankind for relationships.  When man was created, God then created woman so that the man would not be lonely.  But even beyond the relationship between man and woman, both were created for relationship with God.

But in order for this to be a true and authentic relationship, humans needed a choice.  If the first man did not have a choice but to love God, then the relationship wouldn’t be real?  In order for the relationship to be meaningful, God allowed an option.  Humans could choose to have a relationship with the creator but they could just as readily choose to ignore the creator.

When we choose to ignore God and go it on our own, we fall prey to our own selfishness and that leads to sin.  Sin then creates a barrier between us and God.

Throughout the generations since that first man and woman, sin has continued to move humankind farther and farther from God.

But God’s plan to redeem humankind back to the relationship for which we were created meant something drastic had to be done.  God had to put on skin and walk among us to show us the path back to where we were intended to be from the beginning.  So Jesus emptied himself and came to earth to teach us what it means to have a relationship with God.

But there was still the issue of sin and the way it had deformed the creation.  Something had to be done about that.  The barrier created by sin had to be pulled down.  The greatest lesson had to be taught.  The only way to defeat sin and pull the barrier down was a sacrifice.  So Jesus went to the cross to defeat sin.  He offered himself as payment for sin – and not just some sin, all sin!

What we learn from this lesson is that in order to fully live in authentic relationship with God, we must die to our sin – die to our self-centered mentality and lifestyle.  When we do, and focus our lives on living for God we begin to experience the life God intended – the relationship that God has desired from the start.  But this only possible through the gift of grace Jesus gave us through his sacrifice.

God invites each of us into this relationship.  But we are given a choice.  We can choose to go it our own way – or we can choose to surrender our desires to the one who created us and knows our needs better than we know them ourselves.

Your choice.

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We are all spiritual beings.  Like it or not – know it or not – agree with it or not – each and every one of us is a spiritual being.  God created us this way.  We are created to need God in our lives.  In fact, life is not complete when we exclude God from it.  But our nature wants to live life on our own.  We can do this all by ourselves – so we tell ourselves.

When I went back to school a few years ago, what drew me to the degree was the opportunity to concentrate on a discipline called spiritual formation.  Growing up in the Baptist tradition, I was intrigued by the description of what this might involve.  My studies took me down paths I had never experienced and to authors of whom I had never heard.  And on the back side of the degree, I – like most – realized I know even less.  My eyes were opened to new worlds of thought I did not even know existed before – there is so much more to learn and experience.

But what was solidified for me through the process was that all of us are spiritual beings and we are all being formed.  Our choices, our experiences and the people we encounter are all instruments of formation.  I have begun to see myself as a deformed spirit that God is slowly but methodically forming into the being God intended.

You may disagree (and that would be fine), but the way I see it, sin has deformed my being.  My drive to do things on my own – my selfish desires – my poor choices – they all have deformed the spirit God created.

When one is willing to allow God to shape her or him, God can take a deformed spirit and form it into something beautiful.

Are you the person you want to be?  The better question is are you the person God intends for you to be?

Allow God to shape you.

You won’t regret it!

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In talking about the coming of the Messiah many, many years before his birth, the prophet Isaiah said this:

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

We often think of the glory or splendor of God being flashy and shiny.  We think of mighty strength and magnificent power – and we are correct to do so.

But don’t miss the splendor and magnificence of God’s selfless act of love.  The creator of the universe became a little baby – self-emptied and completely humble.  That is splendor in the most simple form.

Praise be to God for loving us that much!

Be blessed today.

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