Meditations of My Heart

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Throughout my life I have seen God’s hand. In the people He has put in my life, in the situations I have been in, and in every little “coincidence” that has happened to me. Sometimes I get discouraged because I don’t see how things are going to work out. But it’s good to know that He always sees the end result. He created me for good works (Ephesians 2:10) and I am convinced that what ever I do for God will accomplish what He wants it to.

Thank you Lord for using me for your purposes.

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, and It Will Be Given

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

When Jesus says “ask, seek, and knock” here, in the language He was speaking, he is really saying, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.” Be persistant, never stop, never give up.

Some times God says no, sometimes God says not now, and many times He says YES! But we have to wait on Him and trust that He knows better than we do what is right for us and when. God’s timing is not our timing. He knows what we need and He knows just when we need it.

After all He lives in eternity, we live in time. To Him 100 years is just a blink of an eye.

So the key here is persistance mixed with the faith that God will never…ever…ever…let us down.

It's a tape measure

My son and I were taking measurements on his window so we could replace the blinds. He was measuring, I was writing down the numbers. He stretched the tape measure out on the window.

I said, “Whata ya got?”

My 4 year old grand daughter said, “It’s a tape measure…why didn’t you know that?”

Proverbs 15:1

Psalm 30

Psalm 30:2 “O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. “

This is not a verse about God healing my neck, although I believe He did that through the surgeon. But He also has healed me emotionally, mentally, and in many other ways. He is YAHWEH RAPHA…the God that heals. Read all of Psalm 30 and go to Him for healing.

Lunch is served (or) What's Your Excuse?

The feast was ready.

I had spent two days making the pulled pork, baked beans, and my wife made coleslaw, and three of the most amazing desserts you have ever seen.  Now it was all ready. The problem was, of the seven people I had invited, only one guy had shown up. The rest of them had good excuses for not coming:

“I have a funeral I have to go to.”

“I got called in to work.”

“My kid has a soccer game.”

All good excuses, but it didn’t help my situation. I had enough food to feed way more than seven and only one guy to eat it. What to do?

It happened to be a very nice day (few and far between in Oregon) and all the neighbors were out working in their yards. So, my wife and I went around the neighborhood, explained our situation to our neighbors, and invited them all. Some came. One guy I had to practically drag over to my back yard. Not to brag or anything, but those who came enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Jesus told a similar story:

Luke 14:16-24

But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’  And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

Jesus was always talking to the “religious” guys of his time. They were called Pharisees. It’s no different here. He was telling them, without coming right out and saying it, that God was ticked at them. They had become too religious to be able to hear God calling them. So now God was sending His invitation out to everyone. “Come and feast at my table.” And the final group of people in that story weren’t only invited, they were “compelled” to come. That’s a pretty strong word. It means, “Make them an offer they can’t refuse.”

So what group are you in? Are you an invited guest who’s making an excuse, trying to get out of it? Are you one of the “poor, crippled, blind and lame?” Are you feeling a little forced, compelled.” It doesn’t matter what group you’re in, don’t be left out.

The invitation has been given. God wants you at His table. The banquet is laid out. Every good thing imaginable is there. There’s your seat right there. Are you going to take it?

Or are you going to make another excuse?

Consider my servant...

Recently, a friend of mine went out to mow his lawn. While he was mowing, his 4 year old son came out, with his toy lawn mower, to “help” him. My friend was so excited and proud and impressed that his son wanted to help, that he took a picture of it and posted it on Twitter.

It’s a very cute picture: there is the front of my friend’s lawn mower (I think it’s a John Deere). To the right of the mower is the freshly cut grass, to the left of the mower is the uncut grass, and right in front of it is his little boy pushing his toy lawn mower that looks almost like Dad’s.

Now, you know he’s not really helping…it’s a toy, it’s not really doing anything, but I wonder what was going through that little guy’s mind. I came up with five things he might be thinking:

1. I want to be with my Dad.

2. I want to be like my Dad.

3. I want to please my Dad.

4. I’m really helping him out.

5. I bet he’s proud of me.

(Knowing my friend like I do, and the fact that he posted the picture, I know number 5 is true.)

I thought of a similar story in Job 1:6-9:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan  also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

(A side note: If God twittered this question it would look like this: Have U considered my servant Job, that thr is none lk him on the earth, a blameless & upright man, who fears God & turns away from evil? He also would have posted a TwitPic.)

Just like my friend, God is proud of His children who do good, after all it’s what we were created for. (Ephesians 2:10)

The thing that struck me the most is the fact that, even though God is proud of me for doing good works, and even though I get all full of myself for “helping” my Heavenly Father, I sometimes wonder if I’m mowing the lawn with a toy lawn mower. And then I think, maybe that’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

My motivation for doing good should be 1, 2, 3, and 5 on that little boy’s list:

1. I want to be with my Dad.

2. I want to be like my Dad.

3. I want to please my Dad.

5. I bet he’s proud of me.

If I convence myself that any of my good works are worth anything I’m kidding myself. (Isaiah 64:6) But I’m going to keep doing them, because I want to make my Daddy proud.

He is risen...

When I was a little boy, each year for Easter, my mom would buy me a new outfit. Cute little shirt and tie, slacks and a blazer, and (my favorite) a new hat.

Easter morning would come and she would dress me all up in my Easter suit and off we would go to church. I looked sharp…until the egg hunt in Sunday school. By the time I had my basket full of eggs the jacket was off, my shirt tail was half way out, my tie was off (it was a clip on) and my hat was shoved back on the back of my head. When I got home the suit came off, usually for good. But I wore that hat until it was worn out. I loved my hat.

I think, sometimes I treat Jesus more like my Easter suit than my beloved hat. I tend to call on Him only when it’s necessary. He is my Savior all the time. He is Lord of my life all the time. But I don’t always act like He is, I don’t always treat Him that way.

I want to treat Him more like my hat. I want to put on my salvation every day. I want Him to be in control of my life every day, because in fact He is..whether I act like I believe that or not.

The last thought is this: Unlike my hat, that wore out with use, Jesus will never let me down.

Hebrews 13:5-6

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

C. S. Lewis

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.