Psalms 66: He Touched Me

Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. - Psalms 66:16 NIV

Sometimes I think I am the only one who has doubts, the only one who hears that small voice, when I am reading the scriptures, that whispers, 'Is it really true?'   Is there a god that placed the stars in place, that called forth the waters of the deep, that can cause the mountains to crumble?  Is there someone who called the life of this sphere, floating in space, in to being, in to life?   Is there someone who heals the sick and raises the dead?  Is there someone who guides the actions of kings and princes, even presidents?   Is there someone who numbers the days of the mighty, who in fact numbers my days?   Can there be someone that big, that great, that awesome?

As then, as I read on, I come upon the answer..."Let me tell you what he has done for me."  Therein lies the answer.  I am a changed person.  I once was hopeless.  I looked at the future lying before me, and knew it could only end in despair.  There was no hope, no future.  Then I found it, when I let Him find me.  All the running, climbing, clawing, was futile.  It only took me further away from the peace I so desperately needed.  In the midst of my runnung, I was overtaken by his love and life has never been the same.  That little niggling doubt is crushed by the reality of my changed life.  As the Gaither song says, "He touched me and made me whole!"

Psalm 62: How Wonderful, How Marvelous

One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong,
and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done. - Psalms 62:11-12 NIV

It's so hard to get this right, the picture of a loving yet strong God.  For a lot of us, love is a wimpy, soppy, one-sided sort of affair that reduces the lover to mush.  It produces a situation where the person who loves must be ever trying to please the object of their affection in order to win their love and approval.  If the lover was a stronger person, they could live without their beloved, but instead they must bend to the desires of the one they love.  It's always a cat and mouse game where one or the other has the upper hand.

It's not that way with God's love.  He loves us from a position of strength, never a position of weakness.  He doesn't love us any more if we cling to him or run away as far and as fast as we can.  He does not change.  His love is immutable. He is strong, he doesn't need us, but he loves us.  As the old song says, 'How wonderful, how marvelous.'

Romans 12: A Place to Love

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  -Romans 12:9-18 NIV

Sometimes, I think the world does a better job of assessing our love than we do.  If they will know we are Christians by our love as the old song goes, what kind of love is the world seeing from us?  I fear we have become almost as consumed with self love as the world.  People float in and out of different churches as if the relationships that were built there are expendable. That's not love.  That's treating church as if it a restaurant where, if the service or the food is bad, you don't return.   "I'm not getting fed there." I hear people say by means of explaining their absence.  Fed?  Church is not there for our consumption.  It is there for fellowship, for relationship.  It is there because it is Christ's body, with all of it's imperfections.  It is the place where we rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  Where we share our joys and our sorrows.  It is the place where we get to practice love as demonstrated by Jesus and the Word.  It is a place where we can be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.  A place where we share, where we practice hospitality.  It is not a place where we receive, it is a place where we give...a place where we practice what it means to love.

Romans 7: The Life of the Spirit

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  - Romans 6:21-25 NIV

I could easily have written these verses instead of Paul.  There are so many things that I struggle with over and over again.  I tell myself repeatedly, I will do differently, but I find my self being easily pulled back into my old habits.  As Paul said, "What a wretched man I am." 

I could spend my time sitting on the pity pot, crying over my inability to do what is right, but that would not change my actions one iota.  There is only one solution.  I go to the rock, the rock of my salvation, the stone that the builder rejected.  I cry out for God's mercy and I receive his grace.  I can hold my head high, in spite of my sinful nature. I am no longer condemned because I have been set free.  In fact, I no longer live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. - Romans 8:1-4 NIV

Sometimes, I think we Christians spend too much time apologizing for our beliefs and not enough time exhibiting the life and peace that comes from being redeemed.  If I concentrate on my deeds and my failures, it brings me down, but if I let my mind be godly, one controlled by the Spirit, my outlook and even my actions change dramatically.  I experience what I have been promised:  life and peace.  The lusts of the flesh no longer appeal to me, instead I have the life of the Spirit.

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;- Romans 8:6 NIV

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.- Romans 8:11 NIV

Psalms 51: A Contrite Heart

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Ps. 51:6  NIV

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. -Ps. 51:10-13 NIV

We wonder why we are not more effective in our witnessing and the obvious answer is there all along.  We need truth.  We need to be the truth, but before we can be that, we need to accept truth and that means looking inward as much as looking outward.  What the world sees and what we know to be true is often the complete opposite.  If we are truly fooling ourselves, even the world sees the truth of our heart.  In either case, God sees it all.  He sees our actions and even more importantly, he sees our hearts.  Scary, isn't it? 

We cannot be used of God as a witness, or as the Psalmist said, we cannot "teach transgressors your ways", until there is truth in all aspects of our lives, until our heart is pure.  It is when our heart is pure that we have the joy of our salvation that draws people to God.  There is nothing else we can do to lead a lost and dying world to the truth.  It requires looking deep inside, to the depths of our heart, where the truth of how much we need the cleansing blood of God's Son and the Holy Spirit's power is revealed.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  - Ps. 51:17 NIV

Lord God, teach me to be broken, broken and contrite.  To weep for my sins even more than I weep for the sins of my country and of the world.

Psalms 45: The King is Enthralled by Our Beauty

Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house.
The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. -Ps. 45:10-11 NIV

We hold on to too many things.  It's not just possessions that enthrall us, but people as well.  We hold on to our family, our cities, our schools, our churches our nation.  The Psalmist saw this as an exercise in futility.  None of these persons or institutions will ever love us or give back to us in return for our adoration.  None of them!

But, the King, imagine that, the King of Glory is enthrall end by our beauty.  He sees his creation as beautiful when even our closest friends and family see our faults.  Just as a bride leaves behind all if her family to be joined to her husband, we  as the bride of Christ should leave behind our earthly loves in favor of our eternal King.  He wants to be our beloved, our passion.  He wants the place of honor in our lives.  He wants to be our Lord.

Years ago, after living life on my own terms for years, I was suddenly struck with the truth that, although I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, I had never made him my Lord.  What a difference it made when I gave him first place in my life, when I put him on the throne rather than any other gods.  Even after all these years, I still find myself  sometimes slipping back into old habits.  Does my life get better during those times?  Certainly not!  In fact, the more I pursue my own pleasure, the more miserable my life becomes.  The more I look to friends, family, community, or even Church for my happiness, the more miserable I become.  It is only when I become enamored once more with the one who is enthralled with me, that I find the joy I so earnestly seek.  That God can see me as beautiful is something that I have trouble understanding, but he does, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Romans 1: Not One Iota

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. - Romans 1:18-25 NIV

For those who  would think that our society is at the tipping point as far as sin and perversion is concerned, one must only read Paul's description of the society around him at the time, to know that man is no different now .  Since the beginning of time, there has been no limit to the depths to which man can sink.  If you question that, consider Cain and Abel, brother killing brother, consider Sodom and Gomorrah.    Because of he technological advances of the last few years, we may feel that sin and wickedness is more prevalent, but it's not.  It is just that our knowledge of it is more acute.

Just as man's depravity has not changed since the creation, so God has not changed as well.  His eternal power and divine nature has always been there and has always been visible to those who would see.   God has given our society and this whole world over to the sinful desires of their hearts.  If they become fools, so what?  They have no excuse and their rebellion will not change the nature of God one iota.