Life can often get a bit hazy… like a fog. Sometimes it gets so thick you just have to sit tight and wait for the fog to lift. In Exodus Israel followed God in the cloud. Maybe we should take a closer look at that. They moved when the cloud moved. They stayed put when the cloud settled.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul writes,
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (The Message).
So, are you leaving in a fog?
Three things to keep you focused (1 Corinthians 13:13):
At times I’m finding it difficult to “just read” through the Bible. (Don’t be dismayed I’m ahead of schedule none-the-less with my reading plan). On Friday, I read 4 verses in Chapter 5 of Romans and BAM… I just have to stop and reflect on what is being said.
God has such a wonderful way of loving us. He created us with love in mind. That was His plan during the days of creation. He had you and me on his mind. I can’t comprehend that… but it’s the truth.
God has put on display Himself and His love toward us through creation as seen in the sun shining upon the water. He shows us His majesty as we gaze upon the Great Rocky Mountains. The expanse of His grace is revealed in the great open plains. Stop whatever you are doing and take in all His grace has to offer. Praise Him at the top of your lungs… go out somewhere this weekend all alone and proclaim OUT LOUD to God your love for him.
“By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.” (Romans 5:1-4, The Message).
The message of love permeates the world at this time every year. Can you hear it? Do you hear the message? Or are you lost in the packages, parties, and pressures?
The message is this… God came to this world wrapped up in flesh. He is Emmanuel “God with us”. He lived and walked this earth as a man. Now we celebrate the birth of Jesus. He came so that we could be made right with God… he came as a Savior to set us free from our sin and death.
In the midst of the Season, do you hear Him calling? Speaking? Do you hear Him calling you to Himself?
I struggle with forgiveness. I want to be a forgiving person… one that can let the past remain in the past. Today I want to forgive and let love in. Whatever you find yourself struggling with – let the love of Jesus Christ in – he will forgive and the Holy Spirit will fill you.
I bet you only celebrate your birthday once a year! Me too. But not my kids…
About 10 years ago or so Jacqueline started pointing out her 1/2 Birthdays. She would turn 4 then 4 1/2 then 5 next would be 5 1/2 and so on… Well, this was a big deal for her. So, I decided to make a big deal of it too. I decided that on my children’s 1/2 Birthday we would go out to dinner. Just me and the child celebrating the 1/2… a night out with Dad.
A part of the deal is that the child gets to pick the place to eat… anywhere! Jacqueline’s first year was Red Lobster and got Crab Legs! I believe she was 4 1/2 maybe 5 1/2… I’m sure she could tell me exactly. Now it’s off to Dave and Buster’s for Jacqueline and Valerie.
Last week was Walker’s 6 1/2 year old birthday! He wanted Chuck E. Cheese. We had a blast! I loved watching him run through those 80 Tokens!! He ended up with 320 tickets to spend on prizes. He would have come out better going somewhere else eating then letting me buy him something at Target for $10.
But that would have spoiled the fun! It really was fun. We had an incredible time and wouldn’t have missed the moment for the world. He’s a special kid… I love him so much!
The following are some words I wrote down in my journal during Worship at Catalyst Day 2 – October 10, 2008:
God, You are beautiful. I am limited with my words. I do not know how to truly express my love I have for You. I can’t find the words. The only way I can truly express myself to you would be through a life of obedience. Yes – obedience – this is the word… the action… to express my love for You.
In this moment, I recall the words of My Utmost for His Highest this morning:
Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. (Oswald Chambers, October 10).
I don’t know what the latest and greatest material is these days… I can recall Gore-Tex being the material to wear when in the great outdoors.
Colossians 3:12-17 tells us what is the best thing to be clothed in. It’s the one garment that has stood the test of time. It doesn’t fade or go out of style.
12-14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
15-17Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (The Message, Eugene Peterson).
… the only baggage that you can bring. It’s all you can’t leave behind. (U2, “Walk On” Bono).
I love the opening to the song “Walk On” by U2. I was listening to it today while burning up some of that cheap fuel I bought last Saturday!! The words just captivate my heart… it’s a captivity that leads to freedom.
Think about it: Love is not easy… yet Paul says it’s the greatest of all gifts. (1 Corinthians 13). I guess in the context of this verse love is the ONLY baggage you can bring… when a believer in Christ dies the only baggage allowed is love. Love is the only thing you can’t leave behind.
I realize this song is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi. She is a political prisoner in Myanmar. As for her faith, she is a Buddhist. She has been a political prisoner under house arrest because of her fight… dream… of democracy for her country.
Because of this song I pray for her and people like her. People who are held captive for what they believe. It’s people like her who have a quality inside them that bars, prison, and persecution can’t hold.
That quality is LOVE. The truest form of this love is a gift given by Jehovah - The Lord God Almighty. This love was lived out and expressed in it’s deepest form in a man named Jesus Christ. The man who came to bring freedom to all men and women who would believe in him.
For God so loved the world – how beautiful are those six words. I sit here so late at night thinking almost imagining this love – in a way I’ve never known before. This kind of love gives and gives and gives. Seventy times seven this love gives… love is not the easy thing / the only baggage you can bring / It’s all you can’t leave behind.
You see – I have this thing. If you keep up with things here at focus, you will know something of this thing. I desire peace… not just some mamby pamby passive peace… I’m talking a strong victorious kind of peace. Peace must be found. I must not allow the love of God who fills me be tarnished by all of the opposing feelings, thoughts, and attitudes that try to win me over. I know it’s not the easy thing. And the fight must be waged on a spiritual level.
Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Love is not the easy thing.
I know I have posted this song recently. I hope you will take a moment if you haven’t already to think about the lyrics here. They are posted below the video…. if you don’t want to watch the video and just listen and read them… think… pray… whatever God leads. For me they are inspiring and I hope they are for you too.
And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage that you can bring…
And love is not the easy thing…
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can’t leave behind
And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it’s a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on, walk on
What you got they can’t steal it
No they can’t even feel it
Walk on, walk on…
Stay safe tonight
You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom
Walk on, walk on
What you’ve got they can’t deny it
Can’t sell it, or buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight
And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on
Home… hard to know what it is if you’ve never had one
Home… I can’t say where it is but I know I’m going home
That’s where the hurt is
I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on
Leave it behind
You got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you feel
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress-up
All that you scheme…
The sacrifice made by the WWII generation is something those of us who reap the benefit of freedom today will never be able to comprehend. I’m thankful to those who served then… I’m thankful for those who serve now!
There have been so many lives given so that our Nation may be free… so that many in other nations may live in freedom.
That last scene in the movie is so moving… it stirs the soul. “Tell me I’ve lived a good life.” Those men gave their lives to save this one Private.
When it is all said and done the bottom line is… How did you live? What have you done with what you have been given in this life.
We can work and work and work some more… we can gain all the stuff our houses can hold… but without love what’s it worth? Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”(Mark 8:36, NIV).
I was listening to U2 this weekend. “Walk On” always moves me. I was driving down the road while it was playing. I leaned over to my oldest daughter and said, “Look, this song does this to me every time.”
I love the first verse,
And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage that you can bring…
And love is not the easy thing…
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can’t leave behind (From, “Walk On”, U2)
At times, I find it so hard to love. To put aside all the “stuff” that goes on in and around my life. I find it hard to put down the troubles and let love rule in my heart. Jesus is the source of true love. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.(John 13:15, NIV).
We all have something greater than ourselves to live for… to sacrifice our lives for.
I’m overjoyed… I’m over taken with His love tonight. This love God has for me… for you… for them. The love he has to give leads us to respond, “Here am I. Send me!” To respond to His love any other way would be to deny Him. I am thankful God has seen fit to love me and that He has chosen me for Himself.
When you close your eyes and pray, who do you see? Do you see faces of people he draws your mind to? My heart is drawn to the men and women serving our country. I know what I think this means. I’ve got a few things yet to see Him move.
I had a moment yesterday much like the moment I had this past Saturday while at a get together. I sort of just wandered away from the moment to pray. As I prayed, my mind saw those serving our country overseas. As I stared at an empty ballfield yesterday and a swimming pool with children playing Saturday – I wondered as to what they (the soldiers) were looking at. I’m overtaken with this love for them.
My thoughts have been on those who have gone – and been wounded in battle. There are hospitals with those who have been wounded in combat in need of God’s love for healing: physically, spiritually and emotionally. There are others who’ve never seen the hospital – yet they are wounded in heart… emotion… and mind. There is a great need here. I can’t even begin to imagine. John 15:13 comes to mind:
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
I’ve been talking about God’s love, knowing God, walking a road few dare to travel, being intimate with God, and going deeper. This past week has been around the metaphor of the ocean. God’s deep and wide limitless love. I want to learn to swim in this ocean of love.
It’s Mother’s Day weekend. As I think about God and wanting to learn to swim, I’m reminded of my grandmother, Mommy Bo. I can recall some bright sunny days in the shallow end of her pool when I was very small. I recall her wearing her swimming cap with me in her arms teaching me how to swim. I guess she taught most of her grandchildren how to swim in her own backyard.
I remember learning how to kick and move my arms but the one thing I didn’t like to do was to keep my head down. I couldn’t stand to put my face in the water. Maybe it was the water in my eyes or up my nose that I didn’t like. I think more than that I worried about how I was going to breathe. I trusted her as I was in her arms but I didn’t trust swimming with my face in the water. She had faith I could do it when I didn’t have the faith. She loved me with a love I never understood at the time. But as I grew and became an adult I came to a place where I understood her love. She was a great cheerleader for me… and all of her family!
Today, close to 40 years later I am asking God to teach me to swim… To teach me to swim in the ocean of His love… Trusting Him with the me He created. Much like the trust I had in my grandmother’s arms. At a certain point I had to swim on my own… to let go and swim in her pool. I guess I’m sort of the same with God. For so long He has been holding on to me teaching me to swim – now it’s time to believe I can swim in His ocean of love. It’s His pool… He’s still there watching with great joy. I guess it’s time for me to believe I can do it.
Thanks Brad for the encouragement. I’m trying to understand.
When it gets right down to it – it’s not about learning how to swim but rather learning how to drown in the ocean of His love. Thanks for the insight Glenn. Total surrender would be to drown in the ocean of his love.
I bet you only celebrate your birthday once a year! Me too. But not my kids…
