Heavenly Father, we praise You today and every day for your great love and grace and mercy. Please lead us this week as we focus our minds and hearts on you. We desire to do your will, and to fulfill our calling to be salt and light to the world around us. Fill us, Holy Spirit, so that the character of the living God shines through us, allowing you to do a mighty work in and through our lives. We give our lives to you and pray that you use them for your glory. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life…
Psalm 23:6
It is the goodness of God that overflows into this world and makes it habitable. It is His goodness we experience that make our lives bearable, even enjoyable.
But sometimes that goodness becomes overshadowed by pain, grief, disappointment, disillusionment.
Like thick billows of never-ending clouds, they can block out the light. And sometimes there’s rain for days, weeks on end. Maybe it’s like living in Seattle.
I’m sure it can get dreary, and even depressing, and yet, there’s a certain beauty to Seattle.
The frequent drizzles allow for some of the most beautiful growth in the world, and also some of the most diverse, life-giving wildlife.
No matter how many weeks the shadows overtake the city, no one wonders if the sun is still there. They know it is, and they trust they’ll see it again.
I have to remember that when my world has been darkened with shadows for too long. The Son is still there. And His goodness will shine whether there are rain clouds that bring new growth, and maturity, and life, or He moves them away.
I have to remember that when everything in me, all my feelings and understanding want to tell me that because I don’t see or feel the Son He isn’t there.
I have to set aside my understanding and believe in what I know to be true – surely His goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…
Because that’s who He is. What I feel doesn’t change that. What I see doesn’t change that. And I am thankful.
“Lord Jesus, help us hold onto our confidence that you are who you say you are. That you are good, and that you love us, and no matter what’s happening in our lives you’re still there, and you are still pouring out your goodness into our lives, and we are thankful.”
“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-58
The apostle Paul wrote these passionate words in a letter to a church he founded in Corinth, Greece. I can imagine the pleading of his heart as he wrote to encourage them to not be lured back into the materialistic and immoral world that churned around them.
He reminded them, and us, that this life is not all there is. There is a resurrection, Christ being the first, and because of Him, we will follow.
We no longer belong to this world, and our victory is not here. Our victory has already been won through Christ – the gift of our immortal souls and our resurrection to the next life with Jesus Christ, our Great Reward.
There is no shortage of attention-grabbers whether it’s social media, or the news, or just the busyness of our own lives. They can suck us in, altering our perspectives from spiritual matters to earthly ones, and rob us of doing the work for which we’ve now been called.
Not much has changed in the 2000 years since Paul wrote to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
All of us who have put our faith in Christ know how difficult it can be to keep our hearts and minds focused on the Lord, especially when the world revels in sin all around us.
After all, sin looks fun, and we can feel like we’re missing out on something. Well, we are, but nothing good. We miss out on the consequences of those sins; we miss out on feeding our flesh but not our spirits; we miss out on a life of fruitlessness. We miss out on leaving our faith behind.
But Paul reminds us there is so much more given to us in its place.
We have a real Christ-given hope that when our bodies die, our immortal souls will live on for eternity in the joy and peace of the presence of God.
While, tragically, those who lived for the temporary thrills of this short life will abandon all joy and peace when their mortal bodies die, and their souls will be given over to judgment and eternal death.
While we who have put our faith in Christ may have to give up a few things here, we already have the ultimate victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, what do we do? We get back to work. We let go of the distractions of this world and stand firm in the faith, being about our Father’s business and fulfilling the calling given to each of us just as our brothers and sisters in Corinth did almost 2000 years ago.
“Let nothing move you.”
Nothing. Don’t look to the left or to the right at what others are doing. Don’t worry what others may say about your faith in God. Don’t worry about what can be done to you, even if it means your earthly life, because we already have the victory.
Look to Christ and “give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.”
The text in the Greek puts it like this: “always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
Abounding is the Greek word perisseuō which means “to superabound, be in excess, be superfluous; to excel, abundance, be the better, enough and to spare, exceed, excel, increase, be left, redound, remain (over and above).”
If there’s anything we should strive to do with excellence, it’s our work in the Lord.
He’s not only given us life, but He’s give us an abundant afterlife. He sees our labor in His name, and He will reward us with eternal treasures worth far more than the trinkets of this life.
Heavenly Father, please help us keep our minds focused on you and not get sidetracked by the world or even by fear. Help us serve you with all our hearts, with the excellence that you deserve, that through our lives the world may see your love and grace and you may be glorified in the salvation of many. Thank you for the victory you’ve given us by clothing us with immortality and preparing a home for us in heaven with you. We praise your glorious Name, Jesus, and pray it all in your Name, amen.
Why is it so hard for some of us to go to God when we’re hurting?
I know for me at least, when I’m feeling down or anxious I naturally want to retreat from everyone and everything. I don’t want to have to put on happy face and pretend everything’s okay. I want to find my corner of the world and hide, and that can mean from God, too.
But instead God says to be “…casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
The word “casting” is the same word that’s used in Luke 19:35 when the disciples cast or threw their garments onto the colt that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem.
We are to take our garments of anxiety and worry and grief and discouragement – all that we care about, big or small – and lay them upon our Savior.
Why?
Why can’t I huddle in my dank little corner of the world until I feel like coming out again?
Because Jesus tells us in Mark 4:18-19 that if we hold onto the cares of this world, we will be consumed with them instead, and the Word will be choked out and rendered unfruitful in our lives.
So I have to decide to walk in the Spirit, doing what is supernatural instead of what is natural, come out of the darkness and into God’s light, giving Him those things and people and circumstances that I care so much about knowing and trusting that He cares for me.
I hope you know that He cares for you, too. Everything that concerns you, concerns Him. Nothing is too big or too small or too old or too anything.
And the thing with God is, we don’t have to put on a happy face. He knows our heart’s pain anyway, and He hates hypocrisy. We can be real with Him. He wants us to be real with Him. We can trust Him with our deepest desires and emotions and conflicts. And then, in place of our garments of anxiety, He’ll give us a garment of praise.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139:7-12
If you’ve been praying a long time, if you’ve asked why more times than you can count, if you wonder if God sees you, this video encouragement by Sheila Walsh is helpful.
One of the names of God is El Roi – the God Who Sees Me. This is not just what He does, this is who He is. This is His character, and not just with some, not just with those considered “special,” but with everyone.
God is not a respecter of persons. He is not moved by a person’s social standing or financial position or power. Know that He sees you. Yes, you who’ve suffered a long time and feel invisible, you whose child is lost, you who feel you have no where else to turn, He sees you, and He loves you.
I don’t know why His timetable is different for each person, but deep down I know that He is such a personal God that He has a different, yet always good plan for each of us who love Him and put our trust and faith in Him.
God has reminded me that the cracks of a broken heart are the perfect places for God’s healing love to flow in.
In Christ’s love,
‘m