Advent 2015 - Day 15

"We must both read and meditate upon the nativity. If the meditation does not reach the heart, we shall sense no sweetness, nor shall we know what solace for humankind lies in this contemplation. The heart will not laugh nor be merry. As spray does not touch the deep, so mere meditation will not quiet the heart. There is such richness and goodness in this nativity that if we should see and deeply understand, we should be dissolved in perpetual joy." (Martin Luther)

Prior posts:

Day 14
Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Advent 2015 - Day 5

Jesus, throughout Advent, I want to give you more worship than whining, and more gratitude than grumbling. Just knowing you, or rather, being known and loved by you, makes us incalculably rich. For “I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Who do I have in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:23-26) So very Amen I pray, in your near and joy-igniting name. (Scotty Smith)

Advent 2015 - Day 1

"As we begin the season of Advent this Sunday, grant us grace for seeking your kingdom first, and our fiefdom of self, last. Rather than spending more money and worry on ourselves, where would you have us invest our time and treasures, talent and tears? Free us to love and serve others with joy, with the same generous love and sacrificial care you lavish on us. So very Amen we pray, in your grace-full and glorious name." (Scotty Smith)

Take Heart. Get Up. He is calling you.

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. - Mar 10:49-50

The more I reflect on this seemingly insignificant passage in Mark's narrative, the more implications I see and the more challenged I become. After you read the passage (Mk 10:46-52), I would ask you the prayerfully consider the following:

It is always Jesus who calls.  Sure, Bartimaeus was calling at the road side, but until Jesus said "call him" nothing changed in Bartimaeus' life.

It is right and good to call out to Jesus. Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus to the point of annoying the disciples. In God's timing and providence, we may need to appear annoying to others as we seek out Jesus. We may need to be the persistent widow. But God does reward those who earnestly seek him.

There is an honor associated with Jesus calling us. I've lost sight of this. I'm too American, I guess, and think salvation and God's favor, grace and mercy are mine by right. They are not. So when Jesus calls us, it is an immense honor, privilege and it really, truly is a gift that is undeserved.

There is an unfettered joy (dare I say glee) in being called by Jesus. It is not just a religious transaction. It is not just a check box on a to do list. There is a joy in receiving something beyond expectation or imagination or deservedness. I've forgotten the immensity of my prior lostness. I've shrunk (in my mind) the gulf that had separated me and God. I've watered down the blackness of my sin. And yet Jesus' says of me: "call him"

I think one could find more here, but I need to stop and repent. Too often my approach to Jesus is much more like the the disciples (look back a few verses in Mk 10) than it is like Bartimaeus'. Perhaps today the Holy Spirit can open my eyes more fully to the powerful call of Jesus, to the need to be continually seeking after Christ, to the incredible honor of being called by Jesus all driving me to joyfully spring up and come to Jesus, my Lord and King.

To God Alone be the Glory

The Throne of God in the Depths of Humanity

(excerpted from God is in the Manger, a collection of writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

"We cannot approach the manger of the Christ child in the same way we approach the cradle of another child. Rather, when we go to his manger, something happens, and we cannot leave it again unless we have been judged or redeemed. Here we must either collapse or know the mercy of God directed toward us.

"What does that mean? Isn't all of this just a way of speaking? Isn't it just pastoral exaggeration of a pretty and pious legend? What does it mean that such things are said about the Christ child? Those who want to take it as a way of speaking will do so and continue to celebrate Advent and Christmas as before, with pagan indifference. For us it is not just a way of speaking. For that's just it: it is God himself, the Lord and Creator of all things, who is so small here, who is hidden here in the corner, who enters into the plainness of the world, who meets us in the helplessness and defenselessness of a child, and wants to be with us. And he does this not out of playfulness or sport, because we find that so touching, but in order to show us where he is and who he is and in order from this place judge and devalue and dethrone all human ambition.

"The throne of God in the world is not on human thrones, but in human depths, in the manger. Standing around his throne there are no flattering vassals but dark, unknown, questionable figures who cannot get their fill of this miracle and want to live entirely by the mercy of God.

"'Joy to the world!' Anyone for whom this sound in foreign, or who hears in it nothing but weak enthusiasm, has not yet really heard the gospel. For the sake of humankind, Jesus Christ became a man in a stable in Bethlehem: Rejoice, O Christendom! For sinners, Jesus Christ became a companion of tax collectors and prostitutes: Rejoice, O Christendom! For the condemned, Jesus Christ was condemned to the cross on Golgotha: Rejoice, O Christendom! For all of us Jesus Christ was resurrected to life: Rejoice, O Christendom! ... All over the world today people are asking: Where is the path to joy? The church of Christ answers loudly: Jesus is our joy! (1 Pet 1:7-9) Joy to the world!"

To God alone be the Glory.

Have mercy on me, O God.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
    then will you delight in right sacrifices,
  in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 51

To God Alone be the Glory

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. [19] Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. [20] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:18-20)

Can it be as simple as that?

Maybe the better question is: How can it be as simple as that?

Joy, happiness, satisfaction, purpose, meaning. Whatever word you want to throw out there to describe that feeling of completeness, wholeness, oneness, safety and security, belonging, loving and loved, we try to find it in a thousand different ways. Some are godly and some are not. But based on Lk 10:20 (and the rest of the Bible) our complete joy / satisfaction / completeness is found in only one place:  In Jesus.

The cool thing here is that all of our striving, all of our searching, all of our longing is already fulfilled. We really can rest. We really can trust. We really can give away everything we have, because all the work is done, all the documents are signed and all we have is God's and He has guaranteed us so much more.

So, I pray that whatever is facing you today. A huge success or miserable failure. Completing a marathon or finding our you have cancer. Celebrating a new baby or laying a dear loved one to rest. that you will find joy not in what you are doing (these are like backdrops on a Hollywood set) but rather in the reality that as a believer and disciple of Christ, your name is engraved in the Lamb's book of life. And, it is engraved with indelible ink, the blood of Christ.

To God Alone be the Glory

Rejoice That Your Names are Written in Heaven

If you have all the comfort and prosperity in the world, do not rejoice in this. You may yet die comfortless. If you possess all the comforts in this world, do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Joy in these mercies is not absolutely prohibited, but a higher joy is preferred. All of our spiritual blessings come because our names are written in heaven. We have an interest in the electing love of God, and are partakers of the redeeming love of Christ. The Spirit of grace has changed and sanctified us and given us a right to eternal life. We are certainly and distinctly known by God: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). We are decreed to this by the eternal love of God before the foundation of the world. We are called to it by the preaching of the gospel, and actually enter into it when we are renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The greatest ground of joy imaginable is to have our names written in heaven (Luke 10:20).

-- Matthew Mead

http://christcenteredquotes.blogspot.com/