Book Cover or the Heart?

10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy.
++ Psalm 147

Many of us have heard the saying, "God is not looking for your ability, but for your availability." Or we have heard a similar version of this. Yet I believe that the central sentiment communicated in these verses is consistent with the teaching of the scripture as a whole. We must admit that they do seem to run counter to what is naturally intuitive. Is it not very normal for most of us to marshal our forces and get the job done. Git er done! echoes across the lighter thoughts of our goings-on.

Yet, God's Word, parlays to the believer a whole new system of values. In the Old Testament during the selection of a new king, there was a scene in which God's prophet was commissioned to go to a man's house who had eight sons. The man of the house, whose name was Jesse, paraded seven of his sons before the prophet. These seven sons were physically fit and well prepared for the task at hand. Yet the prophet rejected all seven and then asked, "Are all the young men here?" Then Jesse responded, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.”

Ultimately, this eighth son, David, was selected as the next king. Why? Well the bible goes on to tell us that during the course of this process of selection, even the prophet misunderstood the value system of the Lord. God had to remind him as the prophet made a erroneous selection, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Too often in today's world we are enamored by the outward appearance with little to no consideration for the content of the character...the heart of that individual. We idolize persons whose lives are comprehensively antithetical to the teachings of the scripture and the person of Jesus Christ. Let us be courageous and live with gusto the counter-cultural life that is pleasing to God resulting in an wide open doorway to His power through His Holy Spirit. Be supremely blessed, beloved.

Is Our God too Small?

Is our God to small?

One of the unfortunate elements of the circumstances of life and its incumbent consequences is the predictable and effortless development of a perception of God that is limited and characterized only by our experience.  The degree to which grace, forgiveness, patience, commitment, longsuffering, boundaries, and tolerance is conspicuously absent in the least and inadequately demonstrated at best (even among the redeemed) is evidence par excellence by our underdeveloped perception of God.  Even as believers, many of us are operating under our own steam with a smattering of religious jargon floating along in the process.  It seems that as committed as some of us are to orthodoxy, we have neglected the very teaching that enlarges our God and introduces and releases His limitless power into our lives. 

For quite some time now, the Holy Spirit (who is the Person and Power that indwells true believers) has been uncomfortably relegated to Charismatic/Pentecostal circles or others that are nonconformist with regard to some of our beloved traditions.  Matter of fact, The Master Himself had some fascinating observations of the religious regarding traditions, “He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?   Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.” (Matthew 15)  Furthermore, the kind biblical instruction that enlarges God in the mind of the believer and that regards the Holy Spirit typically is only mentioned otherwise in bible studies and fitfully in a scant few personal interactions.  The Apostle Paul addressed this dismissive attitude with some very strong words to Pastor Timothy in his second letter, “² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power.”  A casual view across the expanse of this present cultural church can only result in an affirmation of this truth.

Subsequently, we continue to deal with all that comes our way with this aforementioned limited view and the resultant pygmy perception of the Lord of Glory though the scripture clearly teaches us to “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor 5)  In the midst of all of our complaints and misgivings about the church and what it is doing or not doing, we need to be reminded that we are the church.  Therefore, if the church is ineffectual, this is partly due to our neglecting its health by not being personally involved or being involved with a belief system whose God is diminutive and insipid.  The very power that many of us deny by living life with a personal and not biblical perception of God is the power and person of the triune God that is graciously gifted to us at the monumental moment of the new birth…the Holy Spirit. 

Back in the day, some trucking companies would install governors on the carburetors of their trucks that would limit the driver’s ability to go faster than is safe.  Many Christians live with “governors” in the belief systems of their lives which limit their ability to rightly perceive and acquiesce to the God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or imagine.  “Lord, enlarge the expectations of our faith commensurate with Your immensity, in Jesus name, amen.”