One Sunday after the service, Mrs. Carley came up to me and shared with me about a creation video that she had watched during the Thanksgiving holiday that really put into perspective how big God is and how small we are. The result was a fresh reminder of how we need to prepare ourselves to seek Him. We cannot just waltz into His presence. Listen to what David told his son before he died:
As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 10“Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.
Is this not the summation of how we ought to live? Here we are upon the earth. We are created by a God who is so far beyond us that it ought to be amazing to us that He should desire that we should enter a relationship with Him. He calls us to serve Him with a loyal heart and willing mind. He knows my thoughts before I even begin to seek Him. He does not need me to seek Him, but He desires me to seek Him. This amazing Creator wants me to know Him! Given who He is and who I am, it is only the rational thing to say that I should search for Him with all loyalty and that I should seek to understand Him with all my mind. Will I ever understand Him completely? Absolutely not! Can I understand Him truly? Absolutely! As I seek Him with all my understanding and loyalty, He will reveal a little bit of Himself to me. I can delight myself in all that He reveals to me knowing that it is only a small part of Him. I will spend eternity getting to know the God of the Universe and never exhaust being able to learn what He is like! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 150
It is said that St. Francis of Assisi would preach to the animals. That is a little strange if you ask me. However, he seemed to take Mark 16:15 literally, and I guess Ps. 150:6 lent a little credence to his practice. I suppose if the stars themselves sing praise to the Lord, then anything that has breath could also give praise to the Lord. Maybe I should teach my dogs to sing. In what ways do lions and tigers and bears (Oh my!) give praise to the Lord? But then, if the very rocks would cry out in praise in the presence of the Lord if we did not, then I am sure that everything that has breath would do the same. What would a dog look like when it is praising the Lord? Would it tilt its head? Would it roll over? Would it whirl in circles? Would it howl and sing? When the manifest presence of the Lord came down on Sinai, even the animals were forbidden to touch the mountain lest they die. The creatures described in heaven, which were created to live in the constant manifest presence of the Lord and give Him praise, seem to cower at His greatness. If all these praise the Lord, then why do we, who were created in His image, not constantly declare forth the glories of His praise? He has hidden His face from us, lest we die and have no opportunity to repent. Lord change me, so that my breath is constantly spent giving praise to Your name. You are indeed worthy of all praise! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ZECHARIAH 12
“Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens.” Dr. Ross Humphries has a book, Starlight and Time, where he deals with this oft repeated phrase of Scripture. He demonstrates how using Einstein’s theory applied to this phrase that starlight could have the appearance of billions of years old and yet only be thousands of years old. Interesting book. However, the point is that He is the Creator. All things come from Him. This Creator became flesh. He came to His own. His own did not receive Him. Not only did His own not receive Him, but they nailed Him to a tree. Yet, one day the descendants of those, who nailed Him to the tree, will look upon Him who they pierced and they will mourn. They will return to Him. He will receive them. That is His glory! Christ receives sinful men! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
2 PETER 2
Part of the glory of our Lord is that He bought us. Now stop and think about that. There are only a few people that any of us love enough that we would give all our financial resources in order to buy them. Oh perhaps, you would buy your parent, your spouse, your sibling, your child, your cousin, your aunt or uncle. But outside an immediate circle of close friends and family, if you were honest, there is probably no one that you would give all your finances to purchase. But not Jesus, He gave everything. He gave up all He enjoyed in heaven to become a man. He gave up not only riches outside Himself, but He also gave up His very life to purchase us. With His own blood He purchased every person who ever lived or shall live. There is great glory in that in three respects: 1) He has the ability to do so. 2) He has the desire to do so. 3) He chose to do so
Amazing is it not that so many humans, who have heard the good news, still try to twist it to their own designs? Whether they realize it or not, when they twist to their own designs, they are attempting to steal the glory of our Lord! But it is in the glory of the Lord that He is patient with them, giving them time to either repent or to show to the fullest the devilishness of their plotting against Him. Those who never repent have already been judged. The judgment of the Lord is never idle. That is part of His glory as well. He does punish evil. Good will one day triumph. For 6,000 years it has appeared to many that good does not always triumph.
So what would we rather have, a share in His glory with perhaps some unpleasantness until we receive it in its fullness or to enjoy the sensual things of this earth but miss His glory? That is an easy decision when laid out like that, but we too often look too long upon the sensual things of this earth without looking at His glory. It is then that we lose our motivation. That is why it is so important that every day we spend time in His word, looking for His glory and then speaking it to someone else. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
No comments:
Post a Comment