Good Morning Friends,
We often do not know what we really want and sometimes what we think we want is not what we really need. No wonder we all too often choose the wrong things. Do You Profile For What You Think Is Your Own Best Interests Instead Of Choosing God’s Better Way?
Scripture: Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Isaiah 35:4-7a (NRSV)
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
James 2:1-5 (NRSV)
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Mark 7:31-37 (NRSV)
Message: James has a word or two to say to those who claim to have faith but do not demonstrate it in their behavior. That kind of faith is dead according to James. But maybe what James means to say is that it is not faith when individuals enforce their own will instead submitting to God’s will. Maybe we need is a funeral service for dead faith and a revival from God of the kind of faith God intends for us. We need to obey the path of wisdom and learn to love God as we respond to His love poured out through Jesus Christ. Maybe we need to realize that an act of true faith is a living faith. Friends, there is only one good faith. Only turning to God is good faith and it is more than blind optimism. Yes, we are justified by faith but if our actions do not demonstrate such an internal state of love for God and others, maybe we really do not believe in the right thing at all. Maybe we are getting in God’s way. Friends, sometimes we are to back off and sometimes to step in. Only if we really love will we know. Maybe you have experienced a love that lasts with you, when a seemingly random event felt extra special and full of meaning and it overflowed into a spiritual burst of importance in your life. Maybe it was nothing less than the power of a small miracle that draws out of our ordinary lives a profound and remarkable gift and blessing and a sense of harmony with the universe of possibilities. We might find security in obedience but typically when we are so challenged, we are inclined to tell ourselves lies in our search for safety and security. We tell ourselves the lies that our safety can be found in a place or in earthly power. Our thinking is too often foolish and can so easily lead us back into slavery. The alternative, when our faith and love is put to the test, is to sense and obey the Spirit believing that it is not foolish to trust God when we recognize His purpose. Friends, each and every day God wants to make His glory known to others…He wants to teach us to trust Him completely…to share in His perspective and rely on His promises. Friends the Lord will fight for you in the small miracles…look for them and let them strengthen and permeate your relationship with God. Here we might also see that the smaller scale, more personal approach can bring Christ into closer focus. C. S. Lewis said that, “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” Maybe that is the message Christ wants our hearts to experience. As people in general, and Americans in particular, we are inclined to measure the import of an event in terms of the scale of its effect. However, in Mark’s story we see a small relatively insignificant miracle recorded in preference to the something more dramatic like the parting of the Red Sea. Great things when it comes to love can come in small things.
And So, fear is nothing more than unbelief that God does not care or is unable to act. The beauty is that by spending even a little time with Jesus each day makes all the difference. Probably here may have been times in your life when you felt like you needed a parting of the seas to survive…something huge and dramatic. But God does not seem to work that way now. We need to look beyond the Cecil B. DeMille’s drama of Big Miracles and experience God directing our energies to help fight for the little guy… the least, last and lost… in extraordinary coincidences each and every day to make a great impact over time. Along this train of thought today we have compared the wonder of the grand scale to a more personal healing that Jesus desired to keep quiet. Today I hope we have exposed the potential of time and small actions as an expression of love that lasts. There is nothing that can extinguish faith faster than fear because fear makes us turn our eyes away from God, it makes us look at all that seem to overwhelm us instead of the love right before us.
Pray we realize that the opposite of fear is not courage or bravery but faith in God’s love. Pray we realize that the miracles of God are still at work today. Pray with this in mind that we are open to God’s healing love. Pray we are open to God’s way of salvation. Pray we do not play favorites but extend love to those who need it most. Pray we seek and knock so the way will be opened. Pray we have the right state of mind. Pray we live in the moment of all moments as an infinite happiness that wants nothing. Pray we do not mistake the world’s ways for the goodness of God. Pray therefor the faith of Christ is alive and filled with miracles of actions that nudge others closer to God. Pray we learn to trust God in every situation. Pray we stay positive under pressure. Pray we stop feeling helpless and hopeless. Pray that when we come to what looks like a dead end, we focus on the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pray that our prayers lead us to action. Pray we find time to be compassionate. Pray we experience the power in small miracles. Pray we realize as a friend once told me that FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real, and that FAITH is Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 