Out In the Deep

Archive for January, 2012|Monthly archive page

, , ,

Light On the Horizon

In Devotional on January 30, 2012 at 8:16 pm

“But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28)

This time of year in the middle of winter seems like the hardest.  The fall trees are brown.  The holidays have ended.  Even the distraction of football (a draw for fans – I’m not) will go dark in a week.  We tunnel into the middle of winter.  But an idle comment someone made got me to thinking – the days are actually growing longer.  The light in the evening is growing brighter.  There may be a few more months of winter before Jesus returns.  But we are moving in the right direction.


Now To Him

In Devotional on January 29, 2012 at 1:33 pm

“Now to him who is able to keep you from falling.”  (Jude 24)

Some Christians tend towards self-confidence and have to be taught greater dependence upon Christ.  Other Christians tend towards self-doubt and have to be taught greater dependence upon Christ.  Either error has the same solution.  Whether confidence or doubt, self-reliance or self-effacing, the real truth always ends up being about Him and not about us.  Each morning and a thousand moments in between we must be brought back to the same place – drop to your knees, put away all reasoning and argument and commit yourself afresh to the One who is able to keep you from falling.


Those The Father Drew

In Devotional on January 28, 2012 at 7:17 pm

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”  (John 6:37)

The verbal sparring that Jesus engaged in often through the book of John is with the religious leaders who assumed that they were in God’s favor and had been so for quite some time.  Jesus continually made the point that the ones who were in God’s favor were the ones whom God drew to Himself and those He drew were the ones who recognized Jesus as the Savior.   This was the problem, really.  If they did not recognize Jesus as the Bread of Life, then that showed that they were on the outside, not the inside as they had assumed.  The opposite is true as well.  Those who recognized Jesus as the Son of God He was, was given to Jesus from the Father.  And they must never fear that Jesus would cast them out.


Phillip’s Test

In Devotional on January 26, 2012 at 9:41 am

“This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.” (John 6:6)

Jesus knew he was going to multiply barley loves to feed the five thousand.  Yet, he wanted Phillip first to consider the options in order to be tested.  But what on earth was Jesus testing Phillip on?  Perhaps the point was to get Phillip to emotionally grasp the impossibility of the situation.  Once he did, how would he react?  Certainly this mirrors situations where we find ourselves stuck at an impasse – where work or relationships or health or financial provision or life’s dreams are stuck at a dead end.  Will we turn away in cynicism and despair?  Or will we believe that Jesus has been in control all along?


Encouraging Together

In Devotional on January 24, 2012 at 5:18 pm

“…not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

The world is a grand technological system without God that distracts the heart into the awe of human achievement.  The flesh is an internal generator of false beliefs and other lies.  The devil is a being crazed with pride that will use all in his power to persuade and deceive in order to destroy.  There is no reason to fight these enemies alone.  We gather not for mere formalism but because we recognize that together we help each other in lifting our hearts towards God.  Together, we refocus our gaze back on to the truth.  As Dietrich Bonheoffer said, “the Christ in my brother is stronger than the Christ in me.”


Remarkable Escape

In Devotional on January 23, 2012 at 8:37 pm

“But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.”  (Jonah 2:6)

One does not have to hit bottom to become a Christian but those who do are often the most humble, the most compassionate and the most devoted.  When one has a true experience of having their very life and being restored from horrendous turmoil, they tremble and rush to thanksgiving.  One can make the sure case that every Christian is brought up from a murky past.  However, the one who has truly felt the mud sucking him down to irreversible despair can only shiver in awe when he thinks of how God made the impossible escape a reality.


I’ve Only Just Begun

In Devotional on January 22, 2012 at 2:31 pm

“O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand.”  (Deuteronomy 3:24)

At the end of his life Moses pleaded with God to allow him to set foot into the Promised Land but this was not to be.  It was at this point that Moses believed that God had only just begun to show him the reality of God’s strength, power, and greatness.  I may have walked with God for a while now and have scrapes and bruises to prove it.  I look back at my youth and realize the tunnel vision God had enlarged.  I contemplate the experiences that made what was once mere head-knowledge now fuller and deeper.  Yet concerning the greatness of God, my understanding is still at the beginning of the trail.  I’ve only just begun.


For We Are Brothers

In Devotional on January 20, 2012 at 12:33 pm

“So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.’” (Genesis 13:8)

It is easy to be so focused on the right process and procedure that I forget all about the relationship.  There were probably strong arguments about which water belonged to who and which method shares the resources fairly.  When someone’s sheep trample over my expectations, I feel insulted, slighted and disrespected.  Whether it is my right to get angry or not, the hurt within cries for attention.  Nevertheless, I have to shepherd my thinking back to the truth:  we are brothers.  And on this basis, I love the person, hear their heart, overlook the ugliness and work towards the best response.


Whiny Prayer

In Devotional on January 19, 2012 at 7:37 pm

“Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17)

I never felt the explanation was adequate that says that when we pray, God may say “yes” but God may also say “no.”  My reaction was inevitably, “well, then what is the point of my input?”  It was this kind of thinking that led me to spend less time rattling on over a list of requests and simply pray “may your will be done” and leave it at that.  But perhaps there is a value in prayer – even if it is the whiny, misguided, unproductive kind.  Ultimately, God hears my voice.  He sees through my clamor and ascertains the true, God-honoring prayer request – the thing I should be asking for but am too immature to know.  He sets forth into action what I really need.  It may still feel like a “no” but it really isn’t.  It is God hearing my childish ranting and giving me the thing that is best.


The Son of the Father

In Devotional on January 19, 2012 at 6:04 am

“But He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’” (John 5:17)

Jewish rabbis agreed that God continually upheld the universe yet without breaking the Sabbath.  Jesus not only challenged their traditional understanding of how God worked but also implied that His relationship with the God and Father was of a different kind than everyone else.  The charge of blasphemy immediately followed and the Jews would have been justified had not Jesus been correct in his claims.  But more than right doctrine, how does this affect me?  Is it not true that Jesus has the authority to show care and compassion in the time and manner that he wishes?  Is it not true that Jesus is more than just a man but deity intervening in the same world that I walk?

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.