Praise the Lord!

What would happen if you said these words to 3 different people today: "Praise the Lord! God is so good!" How would those people respond? What kinds of conversation would come from a statement like that? Who needs to hear you say something like that? What would that do to your heart? When would you imagine a statement like that coming out today?

As this Christmas Break Exercise continues, stretch a little today and give a little shout out for God!

"Praise the Lord! O gives thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all his praise? Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times." Psalm 106:1-3

The Vineyard

I praise God for this Christmas Break Exercise where we have the opportunity each morning to focus our minds on the way of Jesus to water our hearts for the day. Hear the word of the Lord from Isaiah 5:1-2:

"Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes."

Notice that Isaiah is singing a love song for God. Interestingly enough, the love song is startling for Israel. It speaks of all that God has done for Israel, his provisions, and his protection. In spite of all of it, however, Israel returns sour grapes! As we see a few verses later (Isaiah 5:7), the Lord expected to see justice, but saw bloodshed; he expected righteousness, but heard a cry!

We pause for just a minute to thank God for all that he has provided for his people, for us who desire to draw near him and learn his ways! Spend a minute (or four) to thank God for his provisions in your life.

Let us pray that God's provisions result in the fruit that He desires for us. During this break, may God see in us useful grapes! Search us, O God, and know our heart; test us and know our thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Amen.

Apologetic Heart

As a word guy, I have sporadic moments where words just come to me. Lately, they have been manifesting themselves in poetic attire. A few days ago this poem appeared.

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It comes in moments
You and I apart
I taste God's love
And am cut in heart

Apologies are hard for me
I must admit and you know
It pains me the humility
But to the cross I must go

I'm sorry for my slacking
In the humble leadership we need
I'm sorry that I hurt you
In word, in thought, in deed

I love you because of God
And your captivating beauty a perk
I commit to you again this day
To love you like God and kill the jerk

Glory Appears Again

I was listening this morning to scholar, teacher, and Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright, talk about a book of his (Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense) and take questions from the audience (its a 7-part lecture I would suggest listening to). Its been out a while now, but I've never read it, so I gave it a whirl!

As he was lecturing about beauty being one of those things that we just get. It is hard to explain and even not completely agreed upon, but we understand that this thing (whatever we are talking about) is just beautiful. There is a glory to it, a mystery to it, an attractiveness to it. Some are so attracted to it that they want to begin studying it much like a musician, enamored by the glory of a symphony, is draw to understand the intricacies of music. They go to college looking to dive deep into this mystery and find that the glory has disappeared. Wright says that it sometimes takes years for the glory to appear again, if at all.

At this point in his lecture, I was struck. I couldn't help but think about how this happened to me in grad school with my theological studies. The attractive glory and mystery of God disappeared for me. I was no longer captivated by Him as I once was.

Oddly enough, when I'm being captured by these thoughts, Wright says something like, "While this is a whole other study, this same thing [about music] happens with theological studies."

Having been removed from my theological studies (proper) now for 4.5 years, there is a small element of rediscovery happening in my soul. God's glory and mystery is reappearing. The glimmer I got recently was in a conversation about my life in college. I spoke of being caught up in the Spirit, spiritual warfare, trusting God, speaking to demons, and more.

Here it is: As I recalled the glory of God being revealed in my life during that time, I then realized (or God revealed to me) that I have lost God's love; I haven't been loving the other. My heart, as Bernard of Clairvaux would say, was loving self for self's sake. Clairvaux might contend that I was even in the second degree of love where I was loving God for self's sake, but I realized (once again) that my love was not motivated from a deep desire for God, but for self.

I wonder what would happen to this campus ministry if I would let God's glory be exactly that...His. What does that look like? I wonder what would happen if I began to love the other deeply, to long after the mystery of God, to groan for his people, to rest in his love above all else. How will God use this? Well, I'm going to try it out and see what happens!

Will you join me?

Where to start?

Spend some time to reflect on Psalm 40:5:

"O LORD my God, you have done many miracles for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them."

Read it a few more times slowly; pause the think about each sentence. Let this be a prayer to our Lord, a praise to him. This is what stands out to me this morning: "Your plans for us are too numerous to list." God actually has plans for us. He cares enough to take some time to think about and plan what he wants for us. God is personal; he cares; he loves. The only place to start is with God's love.

Think about the plans that God has for you. Why did he put you here? Why do you have the friends you have? Where is God leading you? When you think about God's plan for you, where do you start? Let it be with God's love.