We Americans have always admired famous people who seem to possess that indescribable something we feel is missing in us. Perhaps they are beautiful, handsome, or intelligent. Even eloquent speakers… able to sway even those don’t necessarily believe in their views.
The TV show, American Idol, has captured an audience of millions. We usually pick one with the most talent but also they must possess a distinctive personality and as well as good looks. Occasionally, we are surprised. Someone who isn’t necessarily beautiful or handsome will knock us off our feet with a gorgeous voice or personality. We loved to be surprised.
In the first century, idols were easy to identify. They were statues of wood, stone or perhaps covered with gold and other precious metal. They were representative of the god’s to whom the people prayed. They possessed the personality of a human…and were just as capricious. Idols could do what most people wished they could do. They possessed great riches, could obtain beautiful women and could inflict punishment on those who opposed them. One dare not anger a god who might extract punishment. An idol was worshipped and feared.
Sorry to say, we still have idols among us…perhaps not the stone images that we see in the ancient ruins. No….however these idols of ours often interfere with our worship. In fact any one thing that stands between you and God becomes your idol.
Jesus told his followers about idols although he didn’t call them that as such. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”(Matthew 6:19-21)
Think about this. Our fear of losing wealth…..our mindset of the material rather than the spiritual….even our obsessive love of family… our jobs… our security!! Could these be our idols?
Yes, even family, the nearest and dearest to us take second place. Our Lord must come first. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37) How can that be possible?
The Torah (instructions given to Moses), told us to “honor our fathers and our mothers, that your days may be long….. (Deuteronomy 5:16). Yes, we love them, and obey them. We care for them. However much we love our parents, our children, our husbands, nothing must come before our faithfulness to Him. The first commandment is “You shall have no other God’s before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
Yes, we have our worries about job, finances, family. After all, this is our world.
They aren’t idols of course. But at the same time if we place anything or anyone above our love for the Lord then we are to reconsider our priorities. Examine your hearts.
Where are your treasures? Are you chasing after idols?
Most of us have grown up with Mom or Dad reading those wonderful make-believe stories. The heroes were always, brave, strong and handsome. The young damsels were usual in trouble and needed to be rescued.
We loved hearing those stories again and again even though we knew the outcome.
Cinderella married the handsome prince; Snow White was revived with a kiss and carried off to the castle by her Prince Charming. Even Jack escaped the wicked giant by climbing down the beanstalk. Now, he and his mother had gold in abundance.
They all lived “happily ever after.”!!
Unfortunately, real life is not a fairy tale. Cinderella’s handsome prince is killed in battle; Snow White is left for another (younger) girl; and Jack’s money is stolen by robbers and he and his mother are left in poverty.
We know that “happily ever after” is just wishful thinking. There is unfaithfulness, death and poverty that surround us every day.
Even Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Yes, the dragons, and demons are still there. And no, He isn’t removing them.
It’s not the absence of the dragons……but how we face them. We have a Helper. He gives us the grace and courage to face these dragons head on.
He is our advocate. He is our Lord and Savior. He is also our real Prince Charming!
Matthew 6:25. “The eye is the lamp of the body.” This is a Jewish metaphor for being generous. The Lord is quoting an old proverb here. According to Messianic writer, David Stern, when a Jewish man had a good eye he was generous…..a bad eye meant he was stingy! In other words his “eye” determined his relationship to his fellows and to God.
Although I am extremely nearsighted (myopia) with help of my contact lenses I am able to focus on two things at once!! Well not quite. One eye is corrected for reading and the other for seeing at a distance. Sometimes my brain doesn’t cooperate and I have to practice closing one eye or the other for the objects to come into focus.
Perhaps we need to train our spiritual vision as well. One eye needs to focus on those around us. Those who are in need, not only physically, but spiritually. Give a kind word, a thoughtful card, a smile or perhaps just inquiring about their life. Something to show you care……do this because you are a Christian and tell them so.
Our other eye needs to focus on the spiritual. …on our personal relationship with God and how it will affect our eternal soul…the life that we live after this one. It is our distant vision but just as important as the here and now.
May the Lord open our “both our eyes”……. to those in need here and now… as well as our personal relationship to Him for eternity.
How many of us women wouldn’t love to have wrinkles removed, droopy jowls lifted or that saggy double chin eliminated? I have the solution. On TV there is a commercial for “Life Style Lift”. Time to get beautiful….that is on the outside.
But what about a real “life style lift”?……one that works on the inside and actually becomes better over time. This “lift” is absolutely free and yet cost the Physician His life! It comes with a guarantee. If one follows directions and stays in touch with the Physician forever, the results will be amazing. Our inward “lift” will be renewed every day. Great news!!
The apostle Paul tells us that “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day .(2 Corinthians 4:16)
Paul knew about life style lifts and he stayed connected with the Great Physician who did the surgery. Paul was cut and bruised. He said he suffered beatings, stoning, and shipwrecks but through it all he became the man that the Physician intended him to be.
We all need a “life style lift. It might be painful at first….but the results will be worth it!
I did not write this but thought it very meaningful and wanted to share it with you
The greatest man
The greatest man in History, Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him master; Had no degree; Yet they called Him Teacher; Had no medicines yet they called him Healer; He had no army, yet kings feared Him; He won no military battles, yet he Conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today. WE feel honored to serve such a leader who loves us eternally.
John 3:16…..”for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
If I asked each of you to quote your favorite Bible verse……which one would you choose? I daresay that each person has a verse in mind because it gives a special message to their hearts.
How about John 3:16…….”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
There is enough in those few words for a year’s worth of devotionals.
The first assumption of course is that there is a God who is the Creator and Sustainer of the world. This God has a love for all of His Creation. He isn’t a “hands-off” God. He doesn’t just sit on some heavenly throne and look down at his people and say…”I gave them some guidelines for life and they have disobeyed every one of them. Now they will be punished.”
No, this God says, “I love these people I have created. I love them so much…. however, they must pay for their disobedience. I demand justice from them but at the same time, I love them. Only by giving of myself can I pay the punishment for their disobedience. No earthly man can offer himself because all humans are sinful. Therefore, I will give of myself in their place. I will offer myself as the blood sacrifice for them.”
So God himself took the form of a human and came to this earth and died as a justification for us. Because of our faith in this God/ man we no longer are under condemnation for all the sinful things we have done or thought or failed to do. We know that this God/ man came to die for us and that at our death; our souls are saved from the punishment we deserve.
And what is the name that God chose for himself when he came in human form? We all know it………..Jesus the Christ, or his Hebrew name, Jeshua, A Meshieach.
The title of this devotional might be confusing or perhaps even misunderstood. Let me explain. As I was reading the 46th Psalm (vs. 10) God inspired David to write “Be still and know that I am God.”
How does that happen? The noise of life surrounds us. We are deluged with noise. From the hum of the TV set; radio, MP3 players, to the everyday noise of cars roaring along our street; dogs bark; the garbage guy picking up trash. There is a constant hum which surrounds us……from the first glimpse of the morning sun to our last “goodnight” before bed.
People now take their daily walk with ear buds, listening to music they have downloaded from the internet. After all, one must keep pace to the sounds of the music.!!
There are TV’s in bedrooms, and I Pods that lull us to sleep. Good Christian music to be sure. Not all bad but when do have time to listen to God?
Unfortunately, we are never alone with silence. We never seek the beauty that comes only when it’s just us and God. “Be still and know that I am God.”
In the 70’s there was a song by Simon and Garfunkel called “The Sounds of Silence”. Does silence really have a sound and it is still silence?
I am not going to try to understand all of that but here’s what I do know.
God is in fact, the creator of sound. The very act of creation itself must have come with sounds. Imagine the sound of mighty crashing waves of the oceans; the braying beasts of the field and the birds singing in chorus at the beauty of a perfect and sinless world. Every creature was praising God in His newly created universe.
Job71 “At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. 2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth. 4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back. 5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
This doesn’t seem as though God is silent. No, the He came with thundering and roaring into His perfect creation. But then imperfectionentered that world. We call it sin, disobedience, rebellion etc. Now the beauty of those sounds would forever be corrupted.
That is until “Perfection” was born. It was then the “morning stars sang together,” (Job 38:7) and angels, singing, announcing His birth.
In Revelation we read where we will be singing praises to the Lord and rejoicing in Him.
6Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns”.
There is a time for singing, rejoicing, and praising. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with singing.” (Ps. 100:1-2) Yes, there is a time for making this joyful “noise”.
However……..there is a time for silence. “Be still and know that I am God.”
The prophet Elijah expected to hear God’s voice roaring in the wind….but it came to him in a small gentle whisper….(1 Kings 19:12).
We too can hear God’s still small voice speaking to us from the pages of His book. He sends His Holy Spirit, who speaks to us through reading His words and through prayer. It’s just us and God. “Be still and know that I am God.”
So you and I must leave the noise of the world and enjoy the “sounds of silence” that come only when we are communion with our heavenly Father. Listen to His voice as you read His Holy Word. Pray those verses back to Him. Then there will be music…….now it is in our heart. “Be still and know that I am God.”
Those of you that know anything about music have heard the word…….Grace Notes. I am a musician but have never thought of grace notes in my relationship to God. What are grace notes anyway? They are essentially a type of musical ornamentation. They are a special series of “extra” notes added by the composer or even the performer. Some grace notes are long and others are short. They can come at unexpected times in the music but add much interest and variety to the music. I have always been aware of grace notes but just how do they apply to my walk with God?
God provides his children with grace notes. They are little reminders of His mercy and sovereign care for us. These little reminders pop up in our lives ever so often and provide a reassurance that our Heavenly Father is constantly aware of us and our needs.
I like to think of the grace notes of God as His multiplied mercies that come to us in the circumstances of our daily lives. They are small blessings of God. They can be easily overlooked because of the anxieties that beset us every day. But these blessings come in small ways……..sometimes unexpectedly. The loving kindness of a friend; a friendly hand on our shoulder; help we needed that came just at the right time. Coincidence? Hardly.
Perhaps Jeremiah was speaking of these grace notes when he wrote: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s mercies are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness!”
As we approach the Thanksgiving season we might be facing great challenges in our life. We might be tempted to focus only on our problems and the circumstances that seem to surround us. Where is God anyway? I thought He was there to help me in times of need.
Yes, life’s circumstances could leave us far being thankful this Thanksgiving. That’s why we need to look for God’s “grace notes” in our life. It takes a certain amount of discipline, attentiveness and prayer on our part, but when God shows us His mercies, it becomes an occasion to remember long after the moment is gone.
It might be good for us to make our own list of “grace notes” that God as arranged for our lives. Write them down! This list can be private or something to share around the Thanksgiving table. We find blessings abound even in the midst of trials and suffering. We find evidence of God’s favor when we face our own limitations and frailties. In fact, it’s when we can no longer manage our life, that God’s “grace notes” become more meaningful.
Yes, we serve a great and good God…………Look for God’s “grace notes”. They are there ornamenting your daily life. Give thanks to the Lord……. for his faithfulness never ends and it is new every morning!
