But like Morpheus said in the movie,
The Matrix, you need to “free your mind” to break away from the world you see
with your eyes, and see the world with the Spiritual Eyes that we’re all
supposed to have.
God doesn’t work to
bring glory to us. God doesn’t work
miracles simply to make us happy or be our Jesus Genie that pops up to grant
wishes when we rub our Bibles.
Are
we Christians because God is Holy and Righteous and Sovereign, and should we
serve Him because He truly IS the King above all Kings? Or are we Christians because Jesus is
preparing a place for us?
But we don’t always
wear the Armor of God. We wear the armor
of ME!! And I grab my Belt of
Half-Truths, and the Breastplate of Self-Righteousness, and my feet are fitted
with the worries of this world because my worries outweigh His Peace. And I stand behind a Shield of Weak Faith
(that sometimes falters when it’s tested), and I don’t need a Helmet of
Salvation because My Big Dumb Hard Head is helmet enough for me! And lastly I use a dull, rusty sword. And my sword is rusty and dull because I
never sharpen it. My sword (which is the
Word of God) lays in my back seat all week long until I get it out to carry it
in on Sunday morning. Then I carry it
back out (having never opened it) when church is over, and when I finally need
my Sword of the Spirit, it’s mostly useless to me…because I don’t know how to
use it, because I never have.
And feel the
comfort God offers when He pulls you to Him unexpectedly in a great, loving hug
and says, “I was never angry with you. I
was sad because you had lost your way.”
God’s love is
perfect love, and He gave it to you when He didn’t have to. So crank your love for Him to 11 and rip the
knob off!
Be the kind of
person that you need to be so that your Christianity is never ketchup on a
baked potato.
Don’t try to be like a kid at the store…close
enough to see mom, but trying to stay far enough away to still find mischief
and be out of swatting distance.
After creating the
universe, I’m feeling pretty certain that God was capable of naming the animals
and then telling the man, “Hey, Jethro!
This is an elephant. This is a
camel. This is a dog. No, that’s not a monkey, THIS is a
monkey.”
But being the best goat in the goat pen,
doesn’t make you a sheep.
And there you
have it, folks…a quick snapshot of these devotionals. Presented in quick, rapid-fire format were ten
snippets of the 78 devotionals that preceded this one. Now for the twist – because oh no, my
friends, this wasn’t just some quick stroll down memory lane of the weird
things I’ve said – so the twist is this:
Did you get a full understanding of any of those 78 devotionals from
those ten highlights? Me either, and I’m
the guy that wrote ‘em! So here’s the
follow-up question for bonus points: If
you can’t get the full meaning of some devotionals by reading 10 cut and paste
segments, why do we try to do that with the Bible?
John 3:16, Psalm
23, Genesis 1:1, Philippians 4:13, Proverbs 3:6, Galatians 5:22, and 1
Corinthians 13 dissertation on true love are all wonderful Bible verses (I’ll
let you look them up on your own). But
why is that we think we can truly understand who God is and what God wants us
to do in this world if those are the only glimpses we’re getting into the
Bible? Ephesians 6 lays out the full
armor of God from which I drew my parody above, but if we’re not reading the
instructions that came with it…it’s useless.
Listen for the
Whisper that tells you that the whole Bible is God’s Word. If you want to understand, to learn, to grow
closer, to love someone then you have to try and get to know them. Going way back to your school days, when you
wanted to get to know a girl you liked, you didn’t spend the whole time talking
TO her. You listened to what she
said. You read the notes she passed you
between classes. And if you want to get
to know God, then His Word is where He speaks.
It’s all there. His power, His
holiness, His jealousy, His anger, His compassion, His promise…His promise to
Abraham and His promise to you…all that God is can be found in His book. Along with some very weird allegories when
reading the prophets, but it’s still there.
You can’t learn
anything about a new girlfriend if you only see her for an hour or so one day a
week when someone else tells you about her…like we pretend to do at
church. We go to church on Sunday
morning, and we listen to a preacher tell us a few points about how God expects
us to live our lives. And somehow we act
like we know God? Let’s say you go to
church 3 times a week and call it an hour a “go”. 52 weeks a year. That’s (pulling off my shoes
to do some ciphering) 52 times 3…carry the one, remainder of four, rounded to
the slope of the tangential angle divided by the speed of light through a dirty
window on a cloudy day…is 156 hours a week.
Quick back figuring for 156 hours and 24 hours in a day…is 6.5 days for
156 hours. Six and a half days per YEAR
is what many people spend getting to know God.
How well do you know someone that you only see six and half days per
year? That’s not even a full week. Take your yearly vacation week and spread it
out over the year in one hour chunks and see how refreshed you feel. My guess is not very. And if you only go on Sunday mornings, then
that time gets cut by a third…and then you’re talking a whopping two days a
year that you spend “getting to know” God.
Take time to know
God. God took the time to put together a
plan of Salvation for all of mankind.
Jesus Christ came to earth and took the blame for all of history’s and
all of future’s sins onto Himself. And
paid the price of death for you. And for
me. And for the person you hate most in
this world. I’d want to get to know the
guy that did that for me. I’m never
going to get to know God by reading a few verses someone posts on Facebook –
even if they come with a funny graphic.
It’s time to blow the dust off your Bible. Open it up and wear the pages thin reading
and rereading it…then go buy another one.
Maybe get a reference Bible that explains extra things in the margins,
or a keyword bible to get back to the root languages. But even if all you have is a basic New
Testament with Psalms and Proverbs thrown in…that’s a start. It’s all right there in the Bible. And you’ll never truly get to know God if
you’re only reading random, disconnected verses. God loves you. And God’s asked you to be like Him. How are you going to act like Him if you
don’t even know who He is?
~Dwayne
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com
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