too easily pleased

This morning's reading in Isaiah 53-56 was absolutely beautiful.  Beginning with the prophetic description of our Savior and filled with hope, promise, redemption and invitation, this portion of Scripture reminds me of the glory and poetry of life with GOD.

Isaiah 55 begins like this:

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;

and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, 

and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

There are many people who assume that submitting to Jesus means saying goodbye to pleasure in favor of a life filled with rules and stoicism.  But we who know Jesus have experienced that God invites us to a life of freedom to truly live!  In Christ we realize our purpose, we commune with our Creator, and our souls feast on the presence of GOD.  We find joy that transcends our circumstances and discover the true satisfaction of doing what we are created to do- bring glory to our God and Maker.

As C.S. Lewis wrote:  "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased."

God's words in Isaiah this morning stretched me, enlarging my imagination and desires and reminding me not to sin by settling for less than what God offers me.  Oh Lord, let me not be pleased by anything less than YOU!

the everlasting GOD

Our choice:

The everlasting GOD

Have you never heard?  Have you never understood?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.  He never grows weak or weary.  No one can measure the depths of his understanding.  He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.  Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40: 28-31

OR...

anything less

"Present the case for your idols," says the Lord.  "Let them show what they can do,"  says the King of Israel.  "Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence.  Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what's going to happen.  Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.  THen, we will know you are gods.  In fact, do anything- good or bad!  Do something that will amaze and frighten us.  But no!  You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.  Those who choose you pollute themselves."  Isaiah 41:21-24

I believe in HIM and am filled with inexpressible and glorious joy!!

I think it is really important to know what we believe and to be able to explain our reasons for our faith in Christ.  At the same time, in my discussions with friends and family who don't yet believe in Jesus, I always come to a point in the discussion where I am compelled to describe my personal experience with God.  Because aside from all of the reasonable and rational  reasons I claim faith in God, like the ones found in Mere Christianity, More than a Carpenter, and Evidence that Demands a Verdict, my own spiritual transformation is also a very real testimony to the existence of God.  And I just have to say, that way deep down I just know what I know to be true!  I read this yesterday in 1 Peter 1: 8-9:

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

That pretty much captures how I feel about Jesus!

But since I do in fact believe it is important to be able to defend my faith logically, I continue to read and study.  So I am currently reading The Reason For God by Timothy Keller.  What a great book!  In the first half of the book he answers the seven reasons for rejecting the Christian faith that he hears most frequently.  The following quote is taken from the chapter dealing with "How could a Good God Allow Suffering?"

If you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because he hasn't stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have (at the same moment) a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can't know.  Indeed, you can't have it both ways.

I thought about this quote as I watched the end of the Dark Knight.  It made me appreciate the movie's ending even more.

time to pray

James 5:13-16:  Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy?  Let him sing songs of praise.  Is any one of you sick?  He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.  If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

This morning's reading reminded me that it is always time to pray.  When I am troubled, when I am happy, when I am sick, when I need forgiveness, when someone I know is sick, troubled, happy, or in need of forgiveness...  It is always a good time to pray.

Over the past several weeks I have realized anew that I am severely limited in my abilities to help the people I love.  After bible study last week I felt acutely aware that no matter how well I prepared for the study, or how well I led the discussion, the ladies in my group still have really painful challenges in their lives.  In that moment God gently reminded me that I can help them, by asking God to help them.  I wouldn't do what I do, or live the life that I live, if I didn't believe with all my heart that God is real and that He answers our prayers.  What I am helpless to do for the people I love, God is more than capable of doing.  And He loves them more than I do.  

Prayer is a subversive act performed in a world that constantly calls faith into question.  Philip Yancey, in PRAYER.

faith

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

This morning I thought about faith as I read through Hebrews 11.  What an encouragement to read the stories of men and women who acted on the assurance of their faith!  I thought about the simple definition of faith that introduces the chapter.

What is it that I hope for?  My hope is in the character of God and the promise of God's Word.  I hope for the day when I will see Jesus face to face.  I hope for the answers to life's questions, for evil to be overcome by good, and for the promised day when God will wipe every tear from our eyes.  I hope for the full realization of the glimpses of the divine that God blesses us with while we are here on earth-  those moments of pure beauty or utter joy when I question how anyone could possibly believe that there is no God.  My hope is in the goodness and glory of God made known in Jesus Christ.  

What is the unseen of which I am certain?  It is the presence of God, even in life's toughest circumstances, working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Faith in God is a beautiful thing.  I thank God for the faith He has given to me, and I pray that He would increase my faith day by day.  I pray that I would live my life in such a way that I could be listed in Hebrews 11.  And how I long for everyone in my life to experience the kind of faith in Jesus that serves as an anchor to the soul, no matter what trials and challenges life throws at us.

THE GREATEST GIFT EVER!!

Today is my birthday!  This morning I read about the greatest gift ever given.

Hebrews 9: 11-14:

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.   He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean to sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

It might be a little cumbersome to read through the description of the old system's rituals and sacrifices.  But it is so good to be reminded that JESUS did for us what no religion can:  He gave us REDEMPTION!  He gave HIMSELF so that we can live our lives totally forgiven and free.  Today I thank God for another year in which I am blessed to serve the living God!

p.s.  In a smaller and more superficial way, I also really like the gift that Chip gave me- a small, portable speaker system for my ipod that I can take outside!

Hosea and the prostitute

Earlier this week I read the book of Hosea.  I keep thinking about it, even as I am continuing in my Life Journal reading.  So I thought I'd write about Hosea this morning.

God told the Prophet Hosea to go and marry a prostitute.  She was of course, unfaithful to him.  So God told Hosea to go after her:

The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress.  Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods..."

Here's what I've been thinking about:

• The relationship God wants with me is as intimate as a marriage relationship.  God knows me, loves me, pursues me, forgives me, and accepts me.  How will I respond?  Will I spend time with Him, getting to know Him more?  Will I gladly receive the love He offers me, or will I take Him for granted?  Will I love Him in response to His great love for me?

• When I sin, and when I put anything else in life before God, it grieves Him.  To be sure, idolatry has always invoked the righteous anger of the Lord.  And that anger was poured out on the cross.  When I am unfaithful now to God, I believe it breaks His heart.  He wants the best for me, and He knows that He alone is the best for me!  It adds a new dimension to my understanding of my own sin to meditate on the analogy of God as the husband and God's people as the ungrateful prostitute.  My sin is really, really ugly.

• God's love for His people is incomprehensible.  We will never wrap our heads around it, we will not fully understand it; it is more than we can imagine.  But I want to spend the rest of my life growing in it, being transformed by it, and expressing my gratitude for it.

week with mom

I haven't written for a while because I was enjoying a week with my mom!  We had a great time going to parks, the Eugene 08 Festival, Walmart, the lake, berry picking, and of course, to Chuck E Cheese's!  My favorite part of my mom's visit was watching her spend HOURS with Joshua doing Origami.  Only a grandma!

Isaiah 6

In the year 2008, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:  With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried!  For I am a woman who has held too low a view of God, among a people who have done the same, foolishly imagining that we could create God in our image and cast him aside as irrelevant.  But my eyes have seen the KING, the LORD ALMIGHTY.

This morning as I meditated on Isaiah 6, I wondered what my response would be if I saw the vision that Isaiah saw.  I closed my eyes, really trying to picture the scene Isaiah describes, trying to grasp the glory that is God.  As I did that, I realized that God's glory is truly overwhelming!  People today know so much, have so much, and do so much that we lose sight of the reality that our lives are but a vapor.  But God is eternal.  It is GOD who controls life and death and the course of the world.  A glimpse of God's glory brings the appropriate humility to the prideful human heart.

As I go through the day today, I am going to pray that my response to God would be like that of Isaiah's:  humble repentance, acceptance of God's forgiveness, and then a willingness to go wherever God might send me.

faithfulness

The message from Sunday's worship service has stuck with me throughout the week.  The theme was faithfulness, and the main idea was that our faithfulness is seen not so much in the things we do as in the heart attitude with which we are doing them.  The text was Revelation 2:1-7 where God exhorts the church in Ephesus because in spite of their deeds, hard work, and perseverance, they had forsaken their first love.  How do we maintain that first love?  By meditating on, resting in, and receiving daily Christ's great love for us.  We can do this through our daily devotional reading of God's Word.  Here's a sampling of what I have read over the past few days:

Isaiah 1:18  "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.  "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."

Titus 3:4-5  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Psalm 116: 5-6, 8-9  The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.  The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that this kind of amazing love from God to us should be enough to keep me crazy in love with Jesus!!