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Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 (NLT)
It’s the driving force behind the athlete who spends hours perfecting his/her skills; or the parent who spends every waking moment working to give their children every physical thing they can possible give them; or the professional who thinks nothing of working 70-80 hours a week making sure the business succeeds; or the lover who compromises their values in order to stay in a relationship; some even devote their entire lives to religion and spirituality in hopes of gaining it.
That driving force is passion and its intended goal is to give us the one thing we cherish more than anything else, the feeling we belong and are loved. Many a family has been destroyed or lives lost in pursuit of the goal passion drives us towards.
The problem with passion is it often misguides our thinking about what is important and how to get there. Medals and trophies only give you satisfaction for so long and then they become empty. How many athletes’ lives have been destroyed because even though they were at the top of their game, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the longing in their heart?
It’s not just athletics or business or family relationships that bring us emptiness though. Religion and spirituality have the same effect.
Passion misguides us into thinking that in order to become more spiritual and closer to God we need to do more things, gain more experiences, give up the things we enjoy and speak out against the evil of the world. There’s a misconception that the louder our voices of protest, the stronger our passion for ‘what’s right’, the more spiritual we become and the more God will be pleased with our actions.
One day Jesus is confronted by experts in spirituality. The Pharisees knew better than anyone how to load up the guilt and increase the conditions for ‘spirituality’. But all their rules and regulations couldn’t bring happiness, peace or closeness to God. It’s the same way today. Religion never has and never will bring satisfaction to the driving force of passion in our souls.
Jesus Christ offers us a better way. God doesn’t want your protection, he wants your passion. He’s not impressed with your voices of protest or songs of praise or your pious lifestyle. He wants your heart. Religion measures your worth by your actions. God measures your worth by your heart, your inner being, and your strongest desires.
But he also understands the battle going in inside for your soul. Do you really want to satisfy the hungry beast within that we call passion? Jesus says it’s all about loving God.
PRAYER: Father God, I’ve been duped into believing that my actions will gain happiness, even my actions for you. I’m finding that actions only bring temporary relief at best from the emptiness of my soul. Forgive me for the futile attempts to draw close to you. Empower me to rest in the fact that my life is fulfilled by simply loving you. In Jesus name, Amen.
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)
“I can’t wait!”
“Are we there yet?”
“Can we open our presents now?”
“When can I have it? I want it right now!”
How many times have we heard someone say the phrases stated above or similar ones? Young children tend to be the worst at this. They can’t see 60 seconds beyond where they are at any given moment. An hour can seem like eternity, a year? Well, it’s best not to go there. As we get older we tend to be be a little more aware of time frames, but there is that little kid in all of us that ‘can’t wait’ for some exciting, anticipated event.
The patient parent understands the excitement children have, but wisdom has taught them that sometimes waiting and time serve a higher purpose. “We could get to grandma’s house a little faster, but going at high rates of speed may cause great bodily injury…or death” For the eight-year-old who ‘can’t wait to drive a car’ we realize the wisdom of waiting a few years for the legs to reach the foot controls and somewhat better judgment to refine itself.
Patience benefits the person in need of grace, not the person being patient. That’s why our heavenly Father is patient with us as his beloved children. He knows that it will take awhile to break old habits and learn new ones. He knows the pull of worldly things will sometimes be overpowering to us. He knows that on those occasions when he asks us “What’d you do that for?”, we are telling the truth. We really don’t know why we made that stupid decision to have an affair, to visit the porn site, to get drunk again, or whatever else you are struggling with.
Our Father also knows the wisdom in letting us make a few mistakes along the way in order to build character and learn how to be stronger against sin. Could he have instantly changed you when you accepted Christ as Lord and Savior so that you could be perfect? Perhaps, but then you’d not understand the struggles others have. Could he have airlifted you to heaven the moment you said “I do” when he asked you if you’ll accept his forgiveness? You bet, but then others wouldn’t be able to hear your story.
A proud parent looks at the little infant in their arms and can’t wait to watch them grow up. Your Father in heaven is the same way. He is so excited to see how you will turn out. He is passionately looking forward to the day he can spend every moment with you. But for now, he’s patient. He looks at you and says “I can’t wait!” But he will because he wants to make sure you are the best you can be and that takes time.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m so tired of struggling with life. I’m tired of being sick. I’m tired of being poor. I’m tired of making the same mistakes over and over again. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for your grace that grants me the forgiveness I need as I grow older with you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Continue to have faith and do what you know is right. Some people have rejected this, and their faith has been shipwrecked. 1 Timothy 1:19 (NCV)
“Well, I know we shouldn’t have sex until we are married, but…”
“Sure, I push the speed limit a little, but I’m a careful driver. Never had an accident, so I…”
“I probably should forgive her, but how many times do I have to do it? I mean, she never even asks forgiveness. She deserves everything she gets.”
“Sure, I pad the expense account a bit. But the wages they pay me and the amount of extra time I end up giving this place isn’t exactly fair either.”
“At least I don’t have any big sins. Little sins here and there won’t matter, will they?”
I live near one of the most beautiful river valleys in the entire world…well, at least in my world. I like nothing more than to take my family or a few friends up the river in our boat. We take the trip slowly and enjoy the scenery. If we’re lucky we see dear, bald eagles, bear and a variety of other wild life. Nothing beats a quiet cruise on the river.
For all of its beauty, however, there is something ominous about the trip. Something that every boater must be aware of or else trouble can come quickly. That danger is dead-heads. Dead-heads are the tips of logs from trees that have fallen into the river over the years, or from logs from logging days long ago.
Dead heads are dangerous because they seem to appear out of nowhere and can render a boat helpless in seconds if one is not careful. They seem worse in spring so your first couple trips call for extra caution. Carelessness and lack of attention to details in the water are disasters in the waiting.
Our lives are much like a river trip. They require attention to detail. That’s why the Apostle Paul warns his young pastor/friend Timothy to continue to do what is right. Letting yourself grow careless in your spiritual walk is like driving the boat at full throttle without concern for what might be lurking just below the surface. The result? Spiritual shipwreck. Suddenly you find yourself floating aimlessly with no control over your life.
So maybe that’s where you are finding yourself on the voyage. Quiet calm waters are a thing of the past. Safe harbor is nothing more than a dream. You feel like you are taking on water at a rapid rate and sinking is inevitable. So, now what?
That’s the good news. A life that’s shipwrecked doesn’t have to stay that way forever. God is pretty good at building boats. Look what he had Noah construct. It doesn’t matter how many poor choices you’ve made. Each of the holes in that hull can be patched through the forgiveness Jesus has to offer. Grace says that no matter how badly shipwrecked you find yourself, there is always hope for a new voyage because of Jesus.
PRAYER: Jesus, you say you see me wherever I am. You say you will be my strength. You say all my sins can be forgiven through you. I’ve tried to navigate these waters on my own for far too long. It’s time for a change. I’ve run aground. I’m powerless to continue. I claim the forgiveness I can have in you and from this day forward will allow you to help me navigate the dangers of life. In your name, Amen.
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Matthew 14:27 (NLT)
It was dark. The storm was so deep that even the ambient light of the night was swallowed by the roaring wind. Only the occasional flash of lightning gave the men any indication of their situation and allowed them to see the fear in each other’s faces. While some rowed hopelessly, the others prayed. Where was Jesus? Why had he sent them out to die in this way?
Then, almost as if on cue from a distant director, they saw it. A faint glow on the horizon wafting over the waves and coming towards them. As if the fear of the wind wasn’t enough, now a ghost was coming near. Panic consumed even the hardiest of men who had weathered many a storm on this sea.
A voice in the dark. Loud enough to rise about the howling of the wind, but at the same time mysteriously gentle and quiet. “Take Courage. I am here!” The actual Greek rendition states, “Don’t worry, the I AM is here.”
How often do we miss that? Especially during the storms of life. We hear the treacherous howling of the wind. Our minds replay every mistake we’ve made. The voices tell us this is all God’s way of getting even. The doubts rise mysteriously and whisper in our ears, “He’s not real you know. If he was he’d never let you go through this.” We live in the false conviction that we deserve this for our sins or we blame others or question God.
Jesus seldom calms the storm until we look to him. He saw the disciples struggling but waited until they looked to him. Even then he didn’t calm the storm until Peter took a dip in the cold lake water.
How often, during the storms of life do we miss the glow, the faint shadow of God’s working? How many times have we forgotten to attribute to Jesus the calming of our fears? Sometimes the things we endure are consequences of our own selfish decisions. Sometimes our pain is the result of malicious and evil acts of those hell-bent on our destruction. Sometimes we are devastated by the seemingly strange quirks of nature. But always, we are under the watchful eye of a loving God and passionate savior who is willing to come to us in the darkest night of our suffering and in the midst of the storm remind us to be brave because he is there.
PRAYER: Jesus, right now I’m going through a storm of sorts in my life. It seems like everything is falling apart around me. I sense the fear and hopelessness of the disciples as I try to battle the waves that want to overtake me. Help me to see you in all this. Calm the storm, but if you don’t choose to do that, calm my spirit so that I can trust you. In your name I pray, Amen.
This will happen on the day when the Lord Jesus comes to receive glory because of his holy people. And all the people who have believed will be amazed at Jesus. You will be in that group, because you believed what we told you. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 (NCV)
What does Jesus look like? Many artists have tried to give us a glimpse of what he may have looked like to satisfy our curiosity. In the pictures I grew up with he looked like some frail little Scandinavian guy with feminine hands knocking gently on a huge door or kneeling by a rock. He was surrounded by a halo and looked ‘other worldly’. Later, some tried to portray a more ‘Jewish looking’ Jesus with more masculine features.
The prophet Isaiah brought a message of repentance to a stubborn people. He thought he knew God. He thought he knew himself. But when he saw God for who he truly was (Isaiah 6) he fell to his knees and cried ‘Woe is me!’ God was so much more than he could have imagined and this view of God caused him to see himself for what he really was. I think when we finally get to see Jesus it will be a similar effect. When we see him as he is our first response will be a gasp because we will see how magnificent he truly is.
Those of us who are Christ-followers will see him differently than others. We will see our coming king dressed in regal robes that signify power. We’ll see him as a high priest. That has a different meaning for us today than it did in Jesus day. The priest, in some ways, held more ‘awe’ than the king. It was the priest that showed us all the way to the Creator God.
I’m looking forward to seeing Jesus in all his majesty, but it won’t be the robes that draw me to him, it will be his eyes. You can tell a lot by looking at someone straight in the eyes. When I see Jesus on that day I think that rather than showing power and majesty his eyes will show love and compassion…and grace.
When I see those eyes I’ll know for certain that all my hopes have been satisfied. Those sins I confessed really are gone. The emotional pain of yesterday will melt into the joy and peace of eternity. The physical stress of wondering how I’ll get through this next project, or make the money last another week will become insignificant. The inner longing I’ve had to know…to REALLY KNOW I’m okay will disappear. I’ll know for certain that I am loved by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I have questions of course. And so do you. All those things you and I have said flippantly about “When I get to heaven I’m going to ask Jesus why he did this or allowed that”. But in reality, those things will seem so insignificant that I’m quite sure I’ll completely forget about all those questions for at least a million or two years.
Remember the story of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil? She forgot about her social standing. The cost of the oil was insignificant. The reaction of the crowd didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she was with Jesus. I’ll be there with her.
I can’t wait until Jesus comes.
PRAYER: Jesus, son of the living God, King of Kings, Lord of Lord, friend of the downcast and lifter of those who have fallen. Great healer, provider and passionate lover. I am so thankful that you love me. I’m so grateful for the forgiveness you’ve given me and the life I have here on earth. But with all you have given me, my greatest joy will be when I can look into your eyes and be amazed. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 