WAKING UP

Jacob was a man on the run.  He was running from his brother, who had vowed to kill him.  He was anxious, frustrated and afraid.  He had no thoughts of God in his mind that night as he pulled up a rock for a pillow and went to sleep.  Little did he know that God had designs on his life, and that He was about to invade his dreams.  In his dream he saw a ladder that reached from the earth to heaven. He saw the angels ascending and descending, and he saw God standing in the heavens above the ladder.  He thought he had stumbled upon the very house of God and so he said, ‘Surely, the LORD is in this place and I did not know it.’

What Jacob failed to realize, is that God had already been working in and around his life prior to this experience.  The problem was, he just didn’t have eyes to see. I read somewhere that The beginning of knowing about God is learning how to pay attention, learning to be fully present where you are, and waking up.  We realize, like Jacob, that we have been asleep.  We do not see what is happening all around us.  For most of us, most of the time, the lights are on but nobody’s home. 

The Psalmist said, ‘Where can I go God, that you aren’t there?  If I go to heaven, your there.  If I make my bed in hell.  You’re there.  If I sail on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. And if this is true, that God is in all places at all times and He’s working in and around our lives always, then we should be able to see evidences of his work in every circumstance of our lives.  Jesus walked in this reality.  And so Jesus is walking down the road and he doesn’t just see a farmer scattering seed, but he sees a kingdom parable and the seed becomes a type of the word of God.  He sees a woman searching for a coin and He turns to His disciples and says, that’s like the Kingdom of God.  And He sees the lilies of the field and the birds in the air and in everything, He is able to discern the movement and handiwork and the voice of God.

And when we get this, what happens is the divide between the secular and the sacred gets smashed.  But when our lives are so fractured and fragmented because we’re not living in the present, then we miss what God is doing all around us.  The trick is to pay attention to what is going on around you long enough to behold the miracle without falling asleep.  There is another world, right here within this one, whenever we pay attention. As author David Geotz writes, 'Even in suburbia all moments are infused with the Sacred.  You don’t have to hole up in a monastery to experience the fullness of God.  Your cul-de-sac and subdivision are as good a place as any.'  And like Jacob, you’ll fid yourself saying, ‘Surely the Lord was in this place and I didn’t know it.’  

--Daniel

Clarity

Over the years, I’ve talked with a lot of people who have said in one way or another, ‘I’m supposed to be happy.  I’ve got everything that this world says a person needs to be happy.  And yet I still feel like I’m missing something.’

As one author put it, ‘We learn through all of life there runs a ground note of cosmic disappointment.’  Haven’t you found that to be true?  Everything falls apart.  Most of the time it seems like the life we’ve always dreamed of, the one where we’re completely content and happy, always lies just beyond the horizon.  It’s always just beyond our grasp.  Just out of reach. Perhaps nobody has ever made this point better then C.S. Lewis who in his book Mere Christianity wrote, ‘Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world.  There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise…

Each of us knows this to be true. We all realize that we haven’t attained.  That we’re not there.  That there’s something missing.  And so we look to different things to make up for that. And the inescapable conclusion from this endless search we’re all on is that nothing can scratch that itch in our souls.

The truth is, in the absence of God, we will inevitably look to other things to give us hope, meaning and fulfillment in life. Some look for these things in success or power, others look for them in beauty or being accepted.  Still others find their sense of worth in their children or in the way they are viewed.  Basically, whatever we look to to give us a sense of meaning value and worth, is our god.  In his book Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller speaks to this point when he writes, ‘Every human being must live for something.  Something must capture our imaginations, our heart’s most fundamental allegiance and hope.  But the bible tells us, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that object will never be God himself.’ And the point is, God always attacks the idols that we erect in our hearts.  He will not share space in our hearts with rivals.

And the whole process of growing and maturing into the fullness of Christ is all about giving God access to our hearts.  That's the key.  The principal thing that God is after is our hearts and only in yielding and surrendering our hearts to Him will we be truly satisfied.  

--Daniel

The Story of Life

All of human history is a stage.  And on that stage a story is being told.  I think we tend to think of the bible as being a collection of stories about different people from which we derive principals and morals.  And I guess, on some level that’s true, the bible does have a lot to say about a lot of different things.  But at it’s core, it is telling just one story.     It is the story of God, and His passionate pursuit to restore all that was lost in the garden of Eden.  This is the grand narrative that has been unraveling ever since time began. And this drama of redemption isn’t just one of many storylines that you’ll find in the bible. It is the story.  And the sooner we get that, the better off we’ll all be.

Now, this whole concept of life being like a story or a movie or a play is something that I think we can all track with.  It’s something that I think even appeals to us.  We like to think of life as a grand stage upon which the story of our lives is being played out.  But the part that we struggle with is the part about the movie being about somebody else.  That part bothers us.  You see, in the movie of life, we like to think of ourselves as the main characters.  We like to think of ourselves as the stars of the show.  We like to think that we are at the center, and that the rest of the world just kind of spins around us.  I guess it makes sense right.  We’re the only people who show up in every scene of the movie of our life.  Others come in and play bit parts or minor roles.  But we are the stars in the show about us.  But here’s the problem with living life like that. It doesn’t work. The more we try to put ourselves at the center of life’s purpose the less fulfilled we become.

So here's my thought.  What if we took ourselves out of the spotlight, if only for a moment, in order that we might see the beauty, and wonder, and splendor of this great story that God is writing.  If we could do that, I think we'd have to start thinking in a whole different way.  It would cause us to ask a whole new set of questions about life and God.  Like, we'd start thinking in terms of, what is my role in this grand story that is unfolding and how can I fit my life into that role?  And here’s why this is so important.  Only as we begin to live life from this vantage point will we find ourselves being fulfilled.  Only then will we be able to enjoy life.  Because that’s the way God has scripted it. 

--Daniel

 

Seasons of Life

The holiday season is officially upon us.  It won't be long before we're all knee deep in wrapping paper and Christmas ornaments.  As the popular Christmas song says, 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.'  

But for many, the holiday season is far from wonderful.  Many of us have loved ones that are serving our Country overseas.  For those who have lost a loved one in the past year, the pain of that loss is accentuated during the holiday season.  The truth is, for a lot of people, the Holidays are a real struggle.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is in John 12.  That chapter tells the story of one woman’s extravagant love for Jesus.  In this familiar passage, Mary takes some very expensive perfume, and anoints Jesus with it, and then begins to wipe His feet with her hair.

It’s interesting to me that every time that Mary is mentioned in the Bible she can be found sitting at the feet of Jesus.  In every season of her life, she would make her way to the feet of Jesus.  In seasons of busyness and stress {Luke 10}, in seasons of grief and loss, {John 11} and in seasons of joy and rejoicing {John 12} Mary is found at the feet of Jesus.

What a wonderful encouragement that is to all of us.  No matter what season of life we may find ourselves in, whether it be a season of busyness and work, or a season of grief and sorrow, or a season of joy and thanksgiving, we ought to follow Mary’s lead, and make our way to the feet of Jesus.

God Bless,

--Daniel    

Wrestling with God in Prayer

'For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Ephesians 3:14

If you’ll look at this prayer, here’s one of the things you’ll discover.  When Paul prays and asks God to dwell in their hearts.  He’s asking for something that he’s already said is a reality.  And when Paul prays that they would be filled with the fullness of God.  Again he’s praying for something that he’s already told them is true.  So all of these things Paul is praying for are things that he’s already told them are true.  So why pray for them at all? 

You see, Paul understood something that’s crucial.  And that is this, information alone doesn’t lead to transformed living.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Paul could sit there and tell them all kinds of wonderful things about God and about what He’s done for us and about salvation and grace and all these things but unless the Spirit of God moves in those peoples hearts and takes that information and breathes life into it, then it will just sit there in there heads.  They might be well informed.  They might have perfect theology.  But it will do nothing to transform their lives.  That’s why Paul stops where he does, after he’s just shared the most amazing truths about the person and work of God, to pray that the Spirit of God might take that message and massage it into the hearts of the Ephesian church.  Because Paul knows that information without divine revelation never leads to transformed living.  But when all of this information about God is combined with divine revelation from God’s Spirit, then watch out.  That’s where transformation occurs.  

So we need to be careful.  Otherwise we’ll end up becoming like the guys who write Valentines Day cards for Hallmark for a living. They say all these wonderfully romantic and sappy things.  But they don’t really mean any of it.  It’s a job.  But God has called us to be more then that. God is not a crossword puzzle.  God is not a math problem.  Christianity is not Jeapordy.  It's not about knowing all the answers and filling in all the correct bubbles.  It’s about experience, and life, and relationship and pain and joy and tears. 

That’s why I love the Psalms so much. Their basically a stack of prayers, most of them written by David.  And in so many of them, David’s calling out to God to show up, to be real.  To act, to listen, to save, to heal, to touch, to work, to shape, to speak.  That’s what God wants for us.  He wants a relationship.  That’s why David was called a man after God’s own heart.  Because he was constantly pursuing God’s heart, chasing it down, seeking it.  That’s what prayer is all about.    

Homesickness

'That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.' {Ephesians 1:10}

In this verse we are given the purpose of God's eternal plan that has been working itself out in history.  It’s all to this end, the consummation of all things in Him.  This is the event that all creation is waiting for and longing for.

It's the reason for that lack of peace.  The reason we can never seem to arrive or get there.  The reason why we never really feel satisfied, is because at the deepest level, we remember the Garden of Eden.  So there is this understanding within each of us that we we’re made to live in relationship with God.  But that was fractured in the garden with the fall and so now we think we want this or we think we want that, and then we get it, and it doesn’t satisfy us or bring us peace.  And the reason for that is, because ‘God has placed eternity in our hearts’ and at the deepest level, we’re desperately trying to recover what was lost in the garden.  As the twentieth century philosopher Martin Heidenger said that all human beings are characterized by a kind of homesickness.  We’re all in a sense, alienated and feel as though we’re not really home in this world.  We find that our deepest desires are all at variance with this world.

And so those times, when we see beauty, or get caught up in a song and just get lost in it, or those times when we’re standing outside in the mountains watching the sun set and it’s so beautiful it takes your breath away.  What that is is God calling out to you.  Those are faint reminders of what God intended.  As C.S. Lewis said in his essay titled, the Weight of Glory, ‘These beautiful things are not the thing itself (not what we’re really desiring) they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.’  

And so every beautiful sunset, and every longing of the heart is communicating to us that God loves us and wants to restore us to that place of wholeness and home.  I was reminded of this the other day as I sat on my front porch watching the sun set.  It was one of those amazing Colorado afternoons that we get here where the clouds had rolled in in just such a way that the shafts of light we’re breaking through the clouds and creating these columns of light. It was so beautiful it just took your breath away.  And then I was reminded of what Augustine said, ‘If these are the pleasures afforded to sinful men, what does God have in store for those whose hearts are his?’

These moments are like the previews of the coming attraction which is when God comes back and establishes His kingdom on earth.  And in that day, all things will be gathered together in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.   

  

The Heart of the Matter

God wants your heart.  Over and over and over again the scriptures place the emphasis on the inner life.  In the Bible, there are more than 800 direct references to the heart.  There are more then 300 direct references to the soul.  And there are more then 100 direct references to the mind.  Beyond this, there are countles allusions to the soul, countless allusions to the mind, countless illusions to the heart.  God is constantly addressing the issue of the heart.   I think we need to stop and ask ourselves why?  Why would God hammer home and speak to this particular issue so frequently.

In the Proverbs we read, ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.’ {Proverbs 4:23}  In other words, just as a river flows from its source and waters an entire village and feeds the crops and sustains life in that village.  That’s like your heart.  It is the fountain-head from which all of life flows. And that’s why, for God the essential aspect of our life is the heart.  The first commandment is love the Lord your God with all of your heart…  because it all flows from there.

And I think that’s part of what makes this thing so difficult for a lot of us.  Jesus wants our hearts.  And He ruthlessly and aggressively pursues our hearts until they are His.  But that's not necessarily what we always want.  Giving God access to our hearts can get messy.  It can get ugly.  We don't really want God digging around at the core issues of our lives.  So we'd rather just pretend like everything is ok, even when it's not.  

The problem with this is over and over again God attacks right action that doesn’t have a right heart to it.  Jesus said, ‘This people draws near to me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.  And in vain they worship Me.’ {Matthew 15:8-9a}  What that means is, you can do all the right things, but if your hearts are in the wrong place, it doesn’t please God.  God wants our hearts.  If our hearts aren’t engaged, then our worship and our work for God are in vain.  True worship engages the heart.  Dutiful worship is a contradiction in terms.

Ok, so what should those of us who aren’t there and aren’t experiencing that in their hearts do?  I mean, I’m talking to those of us who are here and would say, my hearts just not there.  My heart’s dead.  Or maybe, you used to have this sweet real intimate connection with God but lately your heart has just become cold.  What can you do? 

Here's what Jesus had to say to a church that had lost that love and feeling... 'Remember from where you have fallen from, repent, and do again the first works.'  His advice to the church in Ephasis was, go back to what it was like in the beginning.  And repent of your sin, and then just fall in love with Jesus all over again.  

--Daniel