Love Begins with Self

“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:17-19

 
The desire to love and be loved is one of the innate characteristics of God that was given us when He created us in His image.  Paul understood that, and in writing these verses in Ephesians 3 desired that we would know the love of Christ, yet also describes it as the love that “passes all knowledge”. 

It seems like a catch 22 situation.  He wants us to know the love of Christ, but then tells us we’ll never understand it.  So what’s the point of trying to understand what we cannot grasp?  Sometimes it’s not the destination, but the journey that brings meaning to our lives.  It’s trying to understand it that will give us what we need.  Though we will never fully gain the knowledge of His love, we will understand in portions that will feed our souls.

We will do just about anything to be loved.  In fact, we’ll do things we would not normally do, things we would be ashamed of, things that take us from who we are - to who we don’t want to be.  I’ve found this is far less true of those who are rooted in the love of Christ.  Knowing His love, His unconditional love of us as who we are, fulfills our desire to be loved.  Along the way, we fall in love with Him, which fulfills our desire to love.

No, that doesn’t mean we stop loving others at that point and focus all our love and desire on Christ.  He himself did not want that. In John 13:34 He “commanded” us to love one another  - not as we choose to love - but even as He loves us.  That isn’t possible if we don’t understand His unconditional love.
 
It’s a forgiving love.
It’s a selfless love.
It’s love when they are unlovable.
It’s love when they are disobedient.

It’s love when they ignore us.
It’s love when they treat us unfairly.
It’s love when it’s not returned.It’s a love without end.

Until we know the love of Christ, we cannot truly love as Christ loved us.  Christ “commanded” this kind of love purposefully.  This is the kind of love that allows us to be ourselves, the persons He made us individually to be. 

Look at those around you.  God made some introverts, and some extroverts.  He made some funny, and some don’t have a funny bone in their bodies.  He made some creative, and some without creativity.  He made some great with their hands, and others great with their minds.  He made some to love adventure, and some desire life without excitement.  These variations were purposefully given to us.  But without knowing His love, we will strive to be whomever those around us want us to be instead of the person He created.

God has specific plans for all of us.  His plans require the creative, the adventurous and less adventurous, the quiet and the talkative, those who crack jokes and those who laugh at them, those who give hugs, and those who give handshakes.  We are all specifically designed like a finely tooled part of a complicated machine.  We fit together to become the people He wants us to be. 

But when a mother desires the love of a man so much that she becomes less of a mother, God’s plan for that family is broken.  When a father desires the love of a friend more than that of his family, God’s plans for that family is broken.  When a mother is consumed by the love of her child over the love of her husband, God’s plan for that family is broken.  Broken families….do you know any? 

It all starts with wanting the love of another so much that you are willing to change who you are.  Sure, you can live that life for a while.  But eventually – YOU will surface - and you may not be loved in return.  The antidote is knowing the love of Christ, which allows you to LOVE yourself and love Him more than anyone else.  When you love yourself, you are not willing to drop who you are to please others because you find value in yourself.

Paul expresses that until we know the love of Christ, we cannot “be filled with all the fullness of God.”  What is the fullness of God?  Simple.  God is love. (1 John 4:8)  A lot of us have gone out into the world to love without having the tools to know how to love correctly.  The good news for you is that it is never too late to discover the love of Christ.  Read His book, the Bible, and discover His love.  Reach out to His people and feel that love.  Experience it.  Dive into it as if it were an ocean!  It will transform the way you feel about yourself, and how you love in return.

God’s Warnings About the Solar Eclipse

“And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage…..For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” – Deuteronomy 4:19; 24

On Monday, August 21, 2017 the sun and moon will do a special little dance called a “solar eclipse”.  The longest totality will be visible only 30 minutes from where I live.  This has brought hundreds of thousands of people to this area, threatened gas and food shortages, overwhelming internet usage and outages, and even power outages.  Grocery store shelves have been emptied, traffic has been backed up, and literally, I think some people have lost their ever loving minds over this!  Sorry not sorry.

That all just makes me wonder…how many of those people truly realize who is responsible for such a beautiful display of nature?  Many will say “Mother Nature”, to which I say…exactly WHO is that?  Others will fail to give creation a creator at all.  How disheartening it is to know that God is denied praise for such a beautiful moment in history.

God warns us not to give our worship to such a display of beauty in the sun, moon, and stars, but what is worship?  What would make the eclipse event that we’ll soon be enjoying into a moment of idolatry?  What would cause God to see it as our worship of the things He created, rather than honoring and praising Him for what we will see?  It’s simple.

If we leave God out of it, if we fail to give him the praise and honor only HE deserves, then it’s idolatry.  If we praise how beautiful the light rings are, how perfectly placed Bailey’s beads are, the magical effects of shadow snakes, and its full effect on animals and nature, and don’t give God the Creator the praise, we’ve robbed him of our worship.  Serving the things of the world that we see, even for a brief moment without giving him the praise is idolatry.  Something as simple as a sunset with vibrant colors can be idolatry if we give our hearts over to love the sunset, and fail to love the God who created it. 

This may seem petty to you.  It may seem like “OMG! Another Christian trying to be legalistic and throw a bunch of rules down our throats (insert rolling of eyes!)” Ya know what…I don’t care as much about your opinion as I do your disrespect of Him, so I will tell you the truth.  Now it’s up to you to determine what you will do with it.  He is a “consuming fire, a jealous God” and the One I love. 

 

To me, the eclipse will just be another way He shows us His magnificence, and His infinite wisdom in the creation of our world.  He didn’t have to give us the beautiful colors, sun rays reaching out like light shining through crystals, or create in the animals the mysterious ways of reacting to the eclipse.  It could have been just a simple as a shadow coming across a light bulb.  But NO! He did much more!  He made it something mysterious to see, something to be in awe of.  And why?  Was it for the animals to see? No, it was for US, His beloved.  How pathetically self-centered we would be if we didn’t give him the honor and praise for what He has given us.

“If I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand (thrown a kiss);  this also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God who is above.” – Job 31:26-28

I will give Him my worship and adoration for what I see in the Solar Eclipse.  Will you?


photo creds: National Geographic

 

 

 

 

Grace Trumps Sin

 

“…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,  so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 5:20-21

Grace is so misunderstood.  I think it’s because it’s a gentle, quiet characteristic of God.  It’s not filled with fear, like God’s wrath.  It’s not to be avoided, and neither could we.   We don’t consider its value because it’s free.

Romans 5:20 says that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”  Consider the power of sin, and that is where you’ll see the value of Grace. 

Sin is ever present around us.  I’m convinced that every bad thing in this world is because of sin.  Violence, famine, health issues, relationship issues, wars, hatred – if it’s bad, it’s root is in sin.  I think the reason the Garden of Eden was paradise, a true utopia, was that there was no sin, and grace was at its fullest measure there.  God even walked with them in the cool of the day.  How beautiful is that visual?

And to understand that God sought with all He is and all He has power over to give us back that grace that we divorced ourselves from through sin is nothing shy of the most misunderstood love.  So many think that by believing in Christ we miss out on life because we are not to continue living in sin.  The fact is that life isn’t what it was meant to be without Christ. It’s meant to be peaceful, full of love and kindness, care free – like Eden.

Romans 5 goes on to say that when sin reigned over us by causing death, “even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.  We were made to be eternal beings, God breathing His own eternal breath into us.  But through our sin, we lost that eternal life, and death entered into us.  What sin cost us, grace through God’s perfect plan for Jesus to be our sin sacrifice restores.  John 3:16 reiterates Romans 5 by clearly says that believing in Jesus we “shall have eternal life”. 

You want your utopia back?  You want your peace back? Grace is the cure.  Jesus is the way.  His Holy Spirit is your guide.

If I can just mingle a little rock and roll in here, I’ll quote Prince who said “Dearly Beloved, we are all gathered here today, to get through this thing called LIFE.”  How you get through it is up to you.  The struggle is real, but so is grace.  Grace abounds.  Grace trumps sin.

 

 

Need your Joy back?

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:11-15

God instructed me to search the Word for the phrase “My Joy” today.  This is where it lead me.

How wonderful that Jesus Christ would be concerned not only for our salvation, which He gave His life for, and put down His crown in Heaven to come to provide us, but He also wants us to have that same JOY as He had! He then tells us what it takes to have that heavenly Joy on earth. 

I’m just going to say it.  Seeing and hearing all the drama and hardships within relationships these days, we all – self included - need to take His advice and find the Joy that He had.  Seriously, I wonder if we grasp the worth of what He’s saying?  Do we understand that NO ONE has ever lived with the adversity and hatred that was spewed out on Jesus?  And yet, He loved us all.  Yet, He had JOY.  Don’t we all want that?

Joy isn’t the same thing as happiness.  Happiness is based on events.  I can be unhappy on a bad hair day.  But JOY – it has roots deep in our soul.  JOY is not determined by events.  Your JOY isn’t up for grabs when people put you down or you feel slighted.  JOY is that deep down peace and ‘all is right in the world’ feeling you have in your soul.

Jesus breaks it down for us by first saying that we must have peace through selfless actions for each other (“love one another as I have loved you”).  When’s the last time you did something for someone else without ulterior motives or anything to gain?  If you can’t remember, today is a good day to do that.  Find a total stranger and just determine to put a smile on their face.  There’s a unique feeling you get that is fueled by love when you know you’ve improved someone else’s day.  Try it and see.

But Jesus goes even further to tell us how to be His friend, and be in unbroken fellowship with Him.  It’s pretty simple – do as He has taught and is teaching.  He says we’re His friends “if you do whatever I command you.”  The Holy Spirit has been given to us that have accepted His salvation as our guide and our measurement of truth.  Listen to His Spirit in you and follow that lead. 

If you follow the Holy Spirit’s lead….you won’t be as easily taken down by what others say or do because you WON’T CARE!  People’s opinions become very small in the light of what the Holy Spirit of God requires.  Ask yourself instead, “but, is God happy with me in this matter?”  Release yourself from public opinion.  It is a prison cell without a door.

Instead, study God’s word to find approval. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needed not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  Get rid of the desires to please people by feeling no shame through pleasing God.  In the end, people’s opinion will not be the judge of your life – God’s opinion will.  I think we all place too much value on pleasing people, and when it becomes more important than pleasing God, they become our lord and master.  There is no Joy to be found in pleasing people, because it’s here today and gone tomorrow.  Instead, follow Christ’s instructions, and do whatever HE commands you and has taught you.

 

Joy is described as “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness”, and is even said to cause “tears of joy”, to bring jubilation, triumph, and delight.  Are you living with joy in your day to day life?

My Redeemer

“For thus says the Lord: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” – Isaiah 52:3

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” – Ephesians 1:7

I carry a lot of coupons in my purse.  But this morning while praying God gave me an analogy of those coupons.  I wasn’t even thinking of them – but that’s where He showed up. 

Those coupons are NOTHING.  They’re just worthless paper, UNTIL I redeem them.  Then they could be worth 30% off at Kohl’s, or $3 off dinner at Red Lobster, or $1.00 off laundry detergent.  But until I redeem them, they’re worth no more than what they’re printed on, which is just cheap paper.  Often they expire before I redeem them, and then there’s nothing I can do about it.  They have no value at that point.

In Christ we are all offered redemption, the redeeming of our soul (worthless) for something greater (forgiveness and grace).  Many daily die without Him, which is like those coupons I let expire.  No worth was ever in them, because we are unworthy of God’s fellowship without the forgiveness of our sins.  His sacrifice on the cross, His blood, provides redemption.  But it must be used!  It won’t come to you unless you ask Him to redeem you, to be your sacrifice.

Mark 8:36 says “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”  I can redeem coupons all day long, but there is nothing of more value than having a redeemed soul.  It’s not just an insurance plan against hell, its fellowship daily while you’re alive with God.  Don’t wait till it’s too late to ask for it.  You’re missing out on living a redeemed life, having God within you (the Holy Spirit) to guide you, His grace to provide for you and lift you.    

Focusing on Christ

 

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” – Isaiah 26:3

It has been said that to know Christ is to know peace.  Without Christ in your life there can be no peace as it is only the relationship with Christ that brings peace with Father God (Ephesians 2:14).  But even with Christ in your life, even with peace in your soul, we must conquer the battle of our minds that wars against all peace. 

Isaiah describes this peace of mind as “perfect peace” because our mind becomes focused on Christ and we trust all things to Him.  Consider what He is saying.

When you’re worried about finances – the Lord is our provider, Jehovah Jirah.

When you’re worried about your health – the Lord is our healer, Jehovah Rapha.

When you’re feeling defected by the enemy – the Lord is our banner of victory, Jehovah Nissi.

When you’re feeling lost and without direction – the Lord is our shepherd, Jehovah Rohi.

When you’re feeling brought low by the sin that encompasses you – the Lord is our righteousness, Jehovah Tsidkenu.

There is no need we have that our Lord does not fulfill.  But how do we keep our mind focused on him?  What exactly do we think about?  Do we think of the various paintings and human ideals of what He looks like?  I believe we should think on the things we know are true about Him.

Think about His miracles.  Imagine yourself in the role of the one who received the miracle. 

Think about His wisdom.  What parable did He teach that speaks to your situation?

Think about His care for children, the widows, the poor, and the helpless.  We’ve all been one of these as some time.

Think about His tears over the death of His friend Lazarus.  God’s word says He is our friend as well.

Think about the simple matter that He knew where the fish were when the disciples were fishing, and told them where to throw their net. 

Think about what makes Him smile.  Yes, I think Christ did smile, and even laughed.  He was fully man and fully God.  Consider the “camel through the eye of a needle” parable.  Where would you start at pushing that camel through?  Seriously, that’s hilarious.

Whatever issues face you, your peace will always be found in looking to the One who can change it.  Prayer will ease your worries as it allows you to communicate with God, and lay it down.  But without focusing on Him, you may pick it back up and it will control your mind.  This is how satan seeks to enter in.  If you cease the worried thoughts, and replace them with pure Holy thoughts of Christ, placing all your trust in Him, there will be no worry. 

Will your problems go away?  One thing for sure, they won’t be as painful over you.  Jesus did say that a man who doubts shouldn’t expect to receive anything from him.  TRUST Christ, lean on Him, put your mind on Him when those worries begin to fill your heart with worry.  He is our perfect peace.

Squirrels and Birds

 

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:3-4

One of our favorite things to do here around the house is just to watch the wildlife.  We put out corn in two squirrel feeders, bird seed for the birds, and just sit and watch them.  We listening to the birds sing, watching for the occasional rabbit or wild turkey to come around, and pass the time in complete peace.

But lately we’ve had a lot more squirrels than usual.  I counted NINE hanging out around the feeding tree.  Many of them are very small, just babies, and we love to watch them hop through the yard precariously to the tree and eat from their little hands.

The birds are amazing to watch.  Yellow Finches, paired with Blue Birds and red Cardinals, just make my eyes happy!  We watch the tiny Titmouse as it hops down the tree, and then back up the tree the same way.  The red headed woodpecker we do believe it has gotten drunk of humming bird juice, as he wants to punch holes in our aluminum gutter.  He sounds like a machine gun going off in the middle of our peace and quiet! 

And yes, the humming birds.  They are so greedy for the sweet water we feed them that they cannot even move far from the feeder.  We watched as one would come drink for a while, then go rest in a tree branch while watching the feeder.  The moment a fellow hummingbird attempted to get a drink, he would buzz in and attack to shoo all others away.

If there’s one attribute that squirrels and birds have in common, I would say it is selfishness.  The squirrels will run each other and even the occasional rabbit away from the food.  They eat on separate sides of the tree, knowing that if they are seen, it’s time to scamper up the tree to safety, and wait until their foe isn’t watching to move back down to the food.  The birds will swoop in, get the food, and fly away, or as the Blue Jay’s do, fend off any others that dare eat!

This past weekend while we were watching the birds something happened that was amazing.  In the midst of good conversation with our friend Megan, a cardinal did something that stopped us midsentence!  He came down the tree, got a few seeds of food, and then carried it up the tree to give it to another cardinal – from one beak to the other.  He did it several times as we sat there just in awe of the love he was showing to the female cardinal.  It was fascinating because it was so unlike all the others we were watching.

I do believe God never shows you anything like that in life without using it to teach you a lesson. 

Days later I’m reading His word and they come back to mind – the greedy squirrels and birds, and the two cardinals.  We’re all much like the greedy ones, and sometimes – possibly rarely even – like the cardinals.  We look out for our own interest before anyone else’s.  Think about it.  When we cut the pizza, do we pull the piece with the most pepperoni to our plate?  Do we look for the best piece of fried chicken and put it on our plate before anyone else can take it?  Of course we do! 

But it doesn’t stop at food.  We fail to share our time.  Perhaps that’s one way in which I am the greediest.  I enjoy time with my hubby and alone time so much that I rarely spend it with anyone else.  We also fail to share God’s word.  Seriously, if you know it and don’t share it, that is sin, for James 4:17 says those “who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  We fail to give as much as we should of what we control.  Yet by keeping it, we only hurt ourselves as it begins to control how we live and pulls us away from God’s plan.

Jesus continually teaches us to “love one another as I have loved you”, and “love thy neighbor as thyself” and to “look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others”.  Galatians 5:22 gives the fruits of the Spirit, purposefully naming LOVE as the first. 

When Paul speaks of Timothy in Philippians 2:19-24 he compares him to the rest saying of them, “For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.”  Can that not be said of all of us? 

We need more Timothy’s in this world.  We need those who will show others love, instead of being self-centered.  We need those who will give not only of their possessions, but of their hearts and their time. 

Be an Elijah

 

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.  Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” – James 5:13-18

As a church, I think one of the greatest ways we doubt God is in healing.  We pray for our friends and family to be healed, and they sometimes get better, and sometimes get sick again, and sometimes die sick.  Yes, death is part of God’s plan, and sickness opens the door to Heaven sometimes. 

But when our brothers and sisters are sick, how often do we DO WHAT GODS WORD SAYS.  How often do we take them before the spiritual leaders of the church, anoint them with oil in the name of Jesus, and pray over them that their sins be forgiven and God release them from that sickness? Rarely.

Yet, God’s word says this is the path to them being healed.  Confession leads to healing! 

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  Oh, don’t go looking for someone who is without sin in this world to pray.  You’ll never find them!  Look for those who are righteous!  We who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, are the righteous!  Our fervent – never give up – prayers can change circumstances.  I’ve seen it far too many times.  Yet, our faith puts a leash on our prayer life, because we only trust God for the things we can believe He will do. 

Stop putting God in a box!  Take Him out of the boxed in reality of your mind and realize that with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.  Realize that He is the same God that listened to Elijah’s prayers, and He is listening to yours.  James 4:2 clearly says that we do not have the things we desire because we do not ASK.  We don’t ask because we have no faith that God will give us our petitions.  And yes, some of our petitions are based on our own selfish desires, and no friend, you won’t get them.  God is a good Father, and He knows when the million dollar lottery will cause you to walk away from Him, turn on your friends and family (or they would turn on you), and He forbids such evil to come into your life. 

We’ve all read Psalms 37:4, which says “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”  But we’ve misunderstood this verse to say that whatever our heart desires, God will give.  NO.  When you delight in the Lord, he gives you the DESIRES of your heart, and they align with His purpose for you, which is to give you a hope and a future, making you into what He designed you to be.  It’s not the foolish desires of your heart he fulfills.  How horrible that would be if He did that for each and every person who prayed for them! Think about that for a while. 

Elijah prayed EARNESTLY (continually, without fail, never giving up on God) that it would not rain, and God stopped the rain for three and a half years!  But why did God do it?  Because when Elijah asked for it, it was to make a believer out of Ahab. His words concerning the matter point to God’s abilities, not his own.  He said in 1 Kings 17:1 “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”  Immediately God provided water for him, and food. He continued to provide for him during the drought.  Elijah had a full ministry within the drought years.  This was God’s purpose!  It wasn’t simply to say “OK Elijah, whatever you want son, I’ll just give it to you.” No, Elijah was praying in accordance to God’s desires that had been placed in his heart.  And God delivered!

Elijah seems like a man far above any man we know today.  Who of us could pray this prayer and God answer, we think.  Yet, God’s word clearly says “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”.  Now, why would James make that point if it wasn’t to say to us, to even say to me, “Faithie, you CAN BE an Elijah!”.  The only difference is us, in me even, and Elijah, is that we have not allowed God to invade our hearts to the point of changing out desires into His so that all our actions become God’s actions.

If you want to see the impossible, believe in the one who can do the impossible.  Let Him give you desires in your heart to see His will. 

God's Invisible Character

“And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” – Matthew 10:30

Don and I love to sit outside, listen to the birds, watch the squirrels play, and enjoy what God has placed around us.  It’s peaceful to just “be” in nature.  A few days ago we were watching as a bird was flying in and out of one of the ferns in our front yard.  She was a small bird, smaller than a sparrow.  But back and forth she went, from one fern to the other, checking to see where her nest would be best placed.

Now I don’t know what the construction criteria is for building a nest.  I would imagine it would have something to do with levelness, maybe to do with height since they’re susceptible to predators, and possibly something to do with being out of the wind.  But that tiny bird, with a brain smaller than a dime knows.

She also know what to gather to make her nest strong.  A bird nest can fall from a tree and still be intact.  They use their beaks and feet to somehow weave together grass, leaves, branches, and all sorts of natural debris to make a nest sturdy enough to hold delicate eggs, and their young for up to three weeks.

Squirrels have a different kind of wisdom.  They will take every acorn in our yard (we have at least 6 large Oak Trees) and they will bury them in the front and back yard.  In the spring when we go back outside after the cold winter, our yard is filled with small holes, just the size of an acorn, where they’ve returned and gathered their food for the day.  Literally, there are thousands of them, and yes, I’m not a fan of the holes.  But it intrigues me to think that a squirrel with a brain smaller than the acorn can remember all their hiding places, and dig them up.  Some days I’m just a little jealous because I can’t find the simplest things in the set perimeter of my own home!

A few days ago I came across this amazing video of a puffer fish creating an intricate design on the ocean floor sand.  He worked tirelessly to create what is truly art with the greatest precision, and perfection that just spoke to my obsession for organization and perfection.  But he was just a fish!  A fish has a brain smaller than a dime. 

That same fish has only four teeth.  They’re formed to make two bridges, upper and lower, that have the strength to crush seashells to and extract the mollusk that lives in them for food.  Had they not been given that capability, as have some other fish as well, the entire oceanic eco system would be imbalanced.

At my age, nature shows me age as well.  The trees and the flowers coming back to life often resemble our own lives.  We go through seasons of winter, when we don’t feel good, we don’t grow, we just become stagnant spiritually, emotionally, and yes even physically.  But God doesn’t give up – He keeps reviving us.  Matthew 10:30 says He even knows the number of hairs on our heads.  That’s a lot of data! Consider the number of heads in this world, the number of new hairs that sprout each day, and the number that fall.  I can safely say there is no computer in this world powerful enough for that kind of calculation!  If I were in fact to try to make my one life’s goal to keep track of the number of hairs on my own head, there would be inaccuracies and imperfections to my numbers (which would probably make me lose the rest of my hairs to be honest!).

In everything we see in Nature, God’s word tells us He is revealed. Romans 1:20 says “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”  The way to see the invisible God is to view His creation and learn about it.  It’s not just that he thought about it and created remarkable plants and animals.  Think deeper into WHY He did. 

In Genesis 1:26 God plans the creation of human beings.  In His planning he states, “They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”  All we see in Nature is about God’s infinite love and care for us.  Every bird created, every fish in the ocean, every plant, every breeze of air, every drop of water – all was created with us in mind.  His love is as boundless as His wisdom. 

And for that reason, I have confidence that I don’t need to count the hairs on my head, worry about my nest, or my next meal.  In fact, I don’t have to worry about anything.  God has taken extremely good care of this human being and proven His love for me – and for you!  Today let us rest in the assurance that He loves us beyond our own meager understanding, and has everything in the universe under His infinite control.  He is God, and there is on other.

 

Restored

“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” – Psalms 23:3

Many of us have grown up reciting at bedtime, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…” and so on.  For some of us, Psalms 23 was the first passage we ever memorized.  But sometimes in processing those words into memory, they become recited rather than understood.  We sometimes fail to comprehend the words as we read them.

The word “restoreth” has deep meaning in Psalms 23:3.  To have something restored to you, it must have been yours at one time, and then was taken away.  The word also means to turn back, or return.

The Hebrew word from which it is translated, shuwb (H7725) is what is called a primitive root word. Primitive root words originated before Hebrew language, and were written with symbols that are cuneiform logo syllabic markings that had specific meanings.  These began as markings on clay tokens for record keeping.  For example, as early as 8000 BCE Mesopotamia, they can be found on clay tokens.  If you were keeping record of sheep, the token would have a symbol etched in it that meant sheep.  You’ll find it prophetic that the symbol for a sheep was that of a cross marking on a disk shaped token.

As it became difficult to manage multiple tokens, cuneiform characters evolved to note more than one thing at a time.  For example, a wedge meant one, and a circle was ten. To write five sheep, you would write five wedges and the sign for the sheep, a cross.  The earliest markings eventually became words, and those words are known as primitive root words.  The word shuwb, or “restoreth”, is one of those words.

To fully understand “He restoreth my soul” we have to realize that it was once ours, and then was not, and had to be returned to us. 

Go back to Genesis 2:7 and you’ll find where the soul was given to us.  It says “God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul“.  God’s eternal life that flows in Him was given to us, giving our SOUL life. We were made in God’s image, and (Genesis 1:26-27) His breathed in Spirit was eternal, and we became eternal living souls.

But through our sin, that Spirit was taken.  God warned in Genesis 2:17 that if we rebelled and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  But when Adam and Eve did, they did not suffer a flesh death.  What they did suffer was a soul death.  The first effect of the fruit was that the “eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7).  This wasn’t just a physical nakedness, but spiritual nakedness - helplessness.  The word eye is translated from the Hebrew word ayin (H5869), which is both “of mental and spiritual faculties”.  You’ll find the word eye often used in the Bible to mean spiritual sight or blindness.   

So through sin our soul died.  Spiritual life was lost.  This is why we refer to those that have not been restored through the righteousness of Christ as “lost” and those that have as “saved”.  To be saved is to be restored.  For at that time of salvation, we are given His Holy Spirit, our soul is given life again, and we receive eternal life in us. 

1 Corinthians 3:16 says “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 

1 Corinthians 6:19 says “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 

Ezekiel 36:27 quotes God as saying to the prophet regarding His people, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Ephesians 1:13, it tells us we are sealed (marked), with the indwelling of His Holy Spirit as it says “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have been restored!  We have been given back what was lost in Eden.  Why?  The rest of the Psalms 23:3 tells us why.  It says, “…for his name's sake”.  It is for God’s fame, God’s reputation, God’s glory.  For that purpose He shows His glorious grace, love, and forgiveness to us.

As we live restored to Him, let us make Him famous!  That is our purpose.  Love as He loved, forgive as He forgave, and always give Him praise.