Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Sea and Its Boundary

Job 38:8-11
Unlike the sea that rages and bellows but knows its boundaries and goes no farther, the waves of my discontent rise and swell.  The tides of my complaints attempt to breach the bulwarks and flood the shorelines of contentment that have been established for me.  My “proud waves” reach stupendous heights that crash down upon the budding seed of faith, intent upon drowning it in a murky sea of sin.

The tumult of my rebellious youth roars loudly in my ears like the bellowing sea.  I was but a grain of sand burdened by the weight of the great sea of sin.  Tossed about and carried by the raging waves, helpless and unable to free myself from its terrible grip, it carried me deeper and deeper into the vast abyss waiting below.  Falling away from the light above, the dark sea began to swallow me as I struggled against its force.

But as the sea of depravity threatened to drown me forever in its depths, the Lord heard my cry, “Save me!”  His ancient eye saw me as I impotently fought against the powerful and dreadful pull that was hurling me away from Him.  And with a loud voice He commanded, “No farther!”

As the sea has a boundary established by its Creator, there was also one set for me.  Among the myriad grains of sand hurtling through the raging torrent, God stretched out His arm and plucked me from amongst them.  He had set the limit to which He would allow me to sink before He would intervene.  And when the time came, He pulled me out of the sea of sin, set my feet firmly upon His Rock, and surrounded me with a impenetrable wall of protection against the pounding waves of the world.

The stormy tempest of tribulations and trials will come often.  They will assault the harbor of safety in which my ship is moored.  I will be tossed about on waves of indecision and buffeted by the winds of doubt.  The tides of despair may even threaten to drown me.  But even these have a limit prescribed by God.

The Lord has set another boundary for me which cannot be breached by the storms of this life and the world that woos me toward its briny deep.  I have tasted the sweetness of the water from the bottomless well of His grace, and my soul has been washed clean of the brackish and bitter water of sin.  Like the travailing winds that fill the ship's sails and steer them to safe harbors, I have felt His soft breath upon my cheek as He carries me into the safety of His.  And I have felt His powerful hand of divine protection pull me away from the desiring currents of sin and anchor me firm and fast to His Rock.

Never again will the raging sea of sin threaten to carry me into the dark abyss below, for the ship upon which I sail is captained by the Lord, and the sea knows its boundary.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Servant

 John 14:6

There once was a servant whose Master had shown  him the Way.  His love for His Master and others was so great that he traveled from place to place to share the Good News, hoping that the others would see the love and concern he had for them and also desire to know it.

As he journeyed through villages, towns, and cities that bustled with people rushing to and fro on their own pathway, he thought to himself, “I will approach them and point them to the Better Path, and they will see how much my Master and I love them.”

While he watched the crowd scurry about, he spotted a man he knew well who was struggling to pull a heavily loaded cart through the mass of people in the street.  In his attempt to move the over-burdened cart, he would gain a few feet, then be driven back by the bodies pushing against him.

Seeing an opportunity, the servant approached his friend and said, “My friend, I see your cart is overloaded and you are unable to move freely.  Perhaps if you lightened the load by  removing some of the burden, your progress would be easier.”

“What kind of advice is that?” his friend growled.  “I have worked hard to acquire the things in my cart, and you are telling me I should throw them in the street?  They will be taken by others and then I will have nothing!  If you truly love me, you will help me pull the cart!”

Not to be discouraged, the servant said, “But, my friend, I can show you a Better Treasure, one far beyond the value of anything in your cart.”

Suspicious, his friend peered at him.  “Why would you want to share a priceless treasure with others?  Why not keep it for yourself?”

“Because it is a free Treasure that is available to all who would accept it.  The cost to my Master was great.  But He has given it to me, and now I freely offer it with great love to you.”

“Nothing is free!” scowled his friend.  “I have spent everything I have on my possessions! If this treasure is free, it must have no value in it!  There is always a cost for true treasures!”

“The only cost is unburdening yourself of the items in your cart and allowing me to show you my Master's Way to acquiring this Treasure,” the servant replied.

“You are a thief and a liar and so is your Master!” the friend roared.  “I want nothing of this Treasure you imagine!”  In anger, the servant's friend turned back to his cart and inched his way down the street.

Because of the servant's great love for others to learn of the Way, he moved on in search for willing ears to hear of it.  As his eyes scanned the busy street, he spotted a woman sitting on the corner.  Her eyes were fixed on her hands that lay limply in her lap.  But as he approached her, she lifted her eyes, revealing in them despair and sorrow.

“I have seen you before,” she muttered, averting her feverish gaze.  “What is it you want?”

“I saw you sitting here in the gutter and my Master's love for you drew me to you,” said the servant.

“If you love me, you will give me what I need,” she replied.

“But the need you desire is not what is best for you.  There is another Way that is better, a Way that will free you from your despair,” he offered.

“Take it to someone else.  I have pleasures that serve me well and I have no desire to give them up.”  Rising from the gutter, the woman wandered away from him and blended into the rushing masses on the street.

Saddened that the two people he had approached refused his gesture of love, the servant looked up to see a small crowd that had gathered on the corner.  They appeared to be deep in conversation with each other.  Standing, he slowly moved toward them, curious over their lively discussion.

As the servant got closer, he overheard a well-dressed man exclaim, “The conference was enlightening!  There were representatives from all the ways, each proclaiming the deception of only one Way!  I went away from it, awakened and encouraged!”

“I was there, too!” a woman said with excitement.  “It opened my mind to the reality that we can all share our many ways and attain the same goal!”

"That is so wonderful!” another said.  “A true break-through!” another gushed.  “Their teaching has certainly answered a lot of questions,” said still another.

“It is a lie,” the servant quietly said to them.

All eyes turned to him in anger, and the first man asked, “Who are you to say their way is not truth?”

“Because there is only one Way to point to Truth,” the servant answered.  “And there is only one Truth that will give you Life.  My Master has shown me this Way.”

Outraged, the crowd all began to speak at once.

“These were men and women educated in truth!”...“Who are you to say they lie?  You  and your Master are the liars!”...“You are being hateful for those who have a different way!”...“How dare you judge another way!”...“You need to open your mind and be accepting of other ways!”

The servant stood silently among them until the furor died down.  Looking at them with compassion, he said to them, “If you knew me, you would know that I bring you this Truth with a tremendous love for you.  And my Master, Who has shown me the Way, has sent me to tell you He loves you more than I.”

“What kind of love is that!” one man sneered.  “You are bringing us a lie and your Master falsely condemns others who follow a different way!  Be gone from us!  We have no use for His intolerant and exclusive Way!  There are many truths!  Take His to another!”

And they all turned their backs to him.

Moving away from the angry crowd, the servant felt sorrow in his heart.  “Is there no one willing to hear me as I speak of my Master's love for them?”  The man wandered down the street, his heart heavy and downcast within him that none wanted to know the Way to Truth and Life.

“Hey, mister?” a voice called out to him.

Lifting his eyes, the man saw a dirty and bedraggled child standing alone in the town square.

“I have been following you and listening to the things you have told others,“ the child said.  “I would like to hear more of your Master and His Way.  Would you be interested in telling me?”

Love and hope once again over-powered the servant’s heart.  As the sun set on the busy street and the people rushed to and fro, he began to tell the child of His Master's Way to Truth and Life.

When the servant had finished, with excitement the child said to him, “It is true!  Come!  There is not much time!  We must go and tell others about our Master's Way!”

Rising to their feet and taking each others hand, they moved with great love and boldness into the bustle of the crowded street, searching for those with a willing ear and an open heart to learn of their Master and the Way that had set them free.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The Only Absolute

Acts 17:22-28

There is an old saying that the only absolutes in life are death and taxes.  That paints a pretty grim outlook on our short lives here on earth, and it certainly offers no joy in the anticipation of living them out.   But in reality, the only absolute we have is in God Whom we have never seen.  Think about it for a moment.

Because we are human and sinful, we only want to believe in the things we can see, touch, smell, taste, or hear.  They become our realities on which we rely to survive in this world.  Our senses are tuned in to respond to physical stimuli and tangible objects, sending currents of electricity speeding along the vast and complicated organism of nerves that wind through our bodies to our brain, and back to the object.  The pen I hold in my hand becomes a reality to me with such speed that, unless I focus my entire attention upon it and consider the magnitude with which my nervous system responds, the pen is taken for granted.  I can see the pen in my hand, I can feel it resting there, and I can watch it as the words flow from my mind onto the paper.  But as I do so, the paper then becomes another absolute because of its own physical existence, the table the paper is resting upon becomes another reality, and the list goes on and on as we live out our lives in commonplace ways.

But what if you were suddenly deprived of all the senses you so heavily rely upon?  If, all at once, you were unable to see, to smell, to feel, to taste, or to hear what you consider to be your absolutes, would you continue to believe in their existence?  The answer to these questions depends solely upon what you base your own existence.  If you believe, as many do, that your physical life here and now is all that you will have and that you will just cease to exist when it ends, then your answer would be “no”.  But if you believe that there is a greater unseen Absolute - the One Who created all your realities and gave you the ability to experience them - your answer would be very different.  You would know with undying certainty that there is only one Absolute, one continual and eternal reality that can never be taken from you.

It is no wonder that unbelieving men build idols of wood, stone, money, possessions, and even other people.  They are objects they can physically hold and see.  But like all the elements in our universe, they also have no value and rot and decay over time.  It is the spiritual realm, that men so often fail or refuse to believe in, where the sole Absolute of all creation dwells.  Because unbelieving men can not see God, can not touch Him, or hear Him, He does not exist for them.  They continue to cling to what they consider to be the only absolutes, those that are physical and tangible and genuine to their perception of reality.  By remaining in their unbelief, they may one day find themselves deprived of all their senses.  Except one.  Thought.  As they are separated from God for all eternity, they will realize that their failure was great, that there is only One Absolute, and they will mourn throughout eternity for refusing to acknowledge Him.

I do not need to see my God to believe He exists.  Although He is currently invisible to our sinful eyes, He has made Himself plainly known in all of creation (Psalms 19:1-6) and revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14).  Our Creator continues to hold the balance of all things in His capable hands (Psalms 50:1), knowing that we are in need of certain worldly absolutes in order to survive.  He dwells in a place He is preparing for those of us who believe that He is the only Absolute in which we can find salvation, peace, and eternal life.  And He will one day fulfill all the things He promised long ago that will bring us the joy we could not find here.

Of this, we have His absolute guarantee.

Suggested reading:

  • Numbers 24:17
  • Job 42:5
  • Psalms 8:1-9
  • Psalms 29:1-11
  • Psalms 33:6-8