Gravel and Stones

               For what I received I passed on to you as first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. I Corinthians 15:3-6

There is a visual aid that pastors and motivational speakers have used for years to emphasize the importance of setting priorities; it is the exercise consisting of a bucket or jar of gravel and stones. Gravel is meant to represent the small details in life, things we should do, like vacuuming the carpets, grocery shopping, or tearing down that old shed in the far end of the yard. Not unimportant things, just, the small details. Larger stones represent the important things in life: Time spent in the Word, prayer, relationships, etc…, whatever are the most important things in your life. 

   In this exercise, if you put the gravel in the jar first, there will not be enough room left for all of the large stones. But…if you put the large stones in first, not only will all of the large stones fit, but all of the gravel will spill around the large stones, filling in the empty spaces.

            Christ—believing Him, praising Him, striving to be like Him, telling others about Him—should be the largest stone in the “jar” of our lives; let everything else spill all around Him. He should be the first priority of the day, the first priority of our existence. Paul said, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins…” (verse 3). There is nothing in life more important than what He has done! No greater priority, no greater purpose for our lives.

Lord Jesus, I make You my priority! Help me not to put the gravel in first! I place You in my life first. I repent of not making You first in my life. Change my heart, oh God! And renew a right Spirit within me.

Losing Focus

              One of the things we need to overcome in a long fast is losing our focus. Whatever way we are participating in this “21 Days of Great Beginnings”, we must remember it is not about what we are giving up, but it is about taking time to seek God.

 It is so easy to put off spending time with the Lord.  So many things scream at us for attention. Try putting off those things for a few minutes, focus on the Lord and your relationship with Him; the other things will fall in place. 

    Psalm 127:1-2 puts it in perspective:

  Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
   the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—

    for he grants sleep to those he loves.

We can spend our time trying to do life on our own, even become a success according to worldly standards but be a miserable failure in life and the things that are important in life.  If that is where you are in your life, why not use this chance to change your life focus?

            Lord, keep me focused, give me clarity of thought for the things You are trying to reveal to me. Forgive my failures and my lack of focus, and set my eyes on You.

In Awe of Him!

      In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 

        “How big is God?” was yesterday’s question. He is big, bigger than we can create words to describe. Today let’s consider another question: “How small is God?” God’s creation is massive beyond description, and yet…also tiny beyond imagination. Consider, for example, the following scientist’s description of a single-cell: (it has) Artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory banks for information storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving the principle of prefabrication and modular construction…and a capacity not equaled in any of our own most advanced machines, for it would be capable of replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours. (From The Way of A Cell by Franklin Harold)

        And these single-cells are microscopic, not visible to the naked eye. The human body is made up of over 80 trillion single cells of all different types and specialties. And each of those 80 trillion cells are indescribably complex little factories of life! And it gets smaller: because a typical cell takes 10 million atoms to build. How small must an atom be?

         How small is God? As big as He is big, is as small as He is small! Please remember, we are not equating God with His creation. He is the creator, separate from His creation, eternal and self-existing, who spoke all things, great and small, into existence! How great is our God!

        And we have not yet approached the greatest example of how small our great God is willing to become. He was willing to become an embryo implanted in the womb of a teenage girl named Mary. How small did Jesus the human begin, how many cells, what stage of development…we don’t know exactly. But wow how small was God the Son! And that isn’t the smallest He became. As it says in Philippians 2:

        Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8 

Lord, every time I consider something new about You I am more in awe of Who You are! Out of this awe please guide me in making you First in all things!

With His Arms Outstretched, How Big Is God?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

              How big is God?  When our kids were little we used to play that fun game that recognized how rapidly they were growing.  The one where we would ask “How big is Nicole, or how big is Josiah”…and they would stretch out their little arms and we would say together “Sooooo big!”  Not a bad practice to help “in the beginning God” become our first and life-defining sentence.  How big is God?  He created the heavens and the earth!

 How big are the heavens?  There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.  Our sun is 150 trillion miles from the center of our galaxy.  Our galaxy is just one of more than an estimated 100 billion galaxies, and each galaxy has over 100 billion stars! God created the heavens and the earth!   He spoke these things into existence! 

How big is God? 

Lord, You must be first! Your greatness is so far beyond our comprehension!  Rather than try to comprehend, we worship! We put you first in our lives, our priorities. 

My Shadow Mission

         
             But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 

             In his book When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box, John Ortberg says, "Just as we all have a mission - a way of contributing to God's kingdom that we were designed and gifted for - we also have what might be called a shadow mission. My shadow mission is what I will do with my life if I drift on autopilot. It consists of the activities toward which I will gravitate if I allow my natural temptations and selfishness to take over. Everybody has a shadow mission."

             He goes on to give some examples. One is the rich fool in the Bible, whose shadow mission was to build bigger barns and lay up plenty of goods for the coming years. Another is Esther, whose shadow mission was to be "arm candy for the most powerful man on earth". What God had for her was much different - to save all of her people from slaughter. God's mission for us might not be to save an entire race from annihilation, but He has gifted all of us with different talents, strengths, and weaknesses to accomplish the mission He has prepared for us before we were even born. And it is probably not to go to work, come home, watch TV, surf the Internet and go to bed every day on autopilot. During this time of fasting and prayer, let's ask God to reveal to us what our real mission is and then let us listen and obey.

             "If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." Martin Luther King Jr.

             Lord, help me not to get so caught up in my shadow mission that I do not fulfill Your mission for me. Help me to know the difference and to set my priorities. Help my becoming more like Christ be the top priority of each new day. Lord, the most important mission You gave me is to carry the name of Jesus always, everywhere I go. My gifts and talents I lay at Your feet to use for Your glory; reveal to me how to best use them for You.

My Greatest Enemy

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

          For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. II Peter 1:3-8

Fasting brings me face to face with my greatest enemy.  It forces me to deal with the root cause of most of my problems. I suspect that all of us, if we could be honest with ourselves, have the same problem. Self will.

I know what the Lord commands us to do as Christians; To love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). But sometimes, when I know I need to do something, the first thought in my mind is “I will do that when I finish what I want to do”.  There it is again, Self Will.  It isn’t always something I need to do for someone else; it can be something in my life that is not pleasing to God that I need to deal with. 

We need to realize we are in a spiritual battle.  Read II Peter 1:3-8 again and see that God has given us all the power to be successful in everything we are called to do.  We need to use what He has already given to us.

Thank You, Father, that your divine power has already given me everything I need for a godly life! Help me to grow in knowledge and see past my self will to do Your will. Help me to reflect on the things You desire to change in me, and help me to change.

      

Be Like Anna

Is it time for a new beginning?  As we reflected yesterday, we may have known Jesus for a long time and remained steadfast in our faith.  But there is, indeed, a difference between being steadfast and having joy in Christ. Has the excitement of your first encounter with Christ diminished? Let the testimony of Anna’s life fill you with renewed faith:

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.  She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.  Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2: 36-38

Father, Help me, like Anna, to celebrate Jesus with us, and inspire me to boldly introduce Him to everyone I know who is seeking.