The Mystery of the Future

 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:1-6 ESV).

 

It may seem strange to use the 23^rd Psalm as a reference for exploring the mystery of our future. However, the image David uses to describe the provision of the Lord for us is very vivid. The psalm is about intentional care and hospitality. It describes the important work of a faithful shepherd for his flock of sheep. Without a shepherd, the sheep would be hopelessly lost and afflicted by disease or predators. This psalm helps us see how the Lord is our shepherd, and we are his sheep.

 

The mention of a table takes the relationship with God even deeper. The Lord prepares a banquet for us. Our host makes sure that everything is taken care of. When we sit at the table, we acknowledge that we can trust our host to sustain us with all he has provided. Full plates give us all we need while God protects us from the enemies around us.

 

Through the years I have built many “picnic” tables. One of those tables was at the request of my oldest son, Kyle. When we lived in North Carolina, our oldest grandchildren were just toddlers. He approached me with the idea of building a playset in the back yard, which was heavily wooded. As I thought about the design, I determined that it would be great to build two towers using the trees as a part of the design. Between the towers I also added a swinging bridge. Of course, I also added a slide, a climbing wall, and a swing extension with two swings and a glider. To complete the scene, I also built a picnic table placing it in the grassy area near the playset. There were many great memories made around that table as the neighborhood children gathered with Faith and Logan to play and eat their snacks. That is the picture we get from this psalm of David. There was always a sense of jubilant celebration around the table! That’s what we have to look forward to in Christ!

 

The Mystery of the Cross

 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25 ESV).

 

The picture I’ve attached today is titled “Destiny.” It was done by an artist who wishes to remain anonymous. It beautifully depicts Jesus as a young boy in Joseph's carpenter shop. The nail spikes and the shadow of a cross fortell the events to come; the destiny Christ that came to fulfill. Our reading today describes the effect of the cross on men whether Jew or Gentile. Paul writes that it is a “stumbling block for the Jew and folly to the Gentile” (v. 23). Yet, this is the only act that God could perform to guarantee forgiveness and restoration to us.  

 

In other writings from the Apostle Paul, we see more of the mystery of the Cross. In his letter to the Colossians, he paints a huge picture of Jesus. He is indeed the fullness of God. Jesus has the authority to rule because all creation has been made through him. Most importantly, though, Jesus is as close as the air we breathe, and he has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to live in us. God calls each of us his own. All this and more gives us reason to worship and to give thanks.

 

We should not only appreciate this news but also to use it as a springboard to pray for others. We do not pray in vain. We pray so that we may know God better, so that our faith may grow. Paul knows that standing on this foundation of truth is worth everything. This is the essence of God’s great grace!

 

The Mystery of the Church

 

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:14-21 ESV).

 

Over the past five decades of ministry, both as a pastor and counselor I have heard many different stories from new believers.  Many of these were from people who did not grow up in a church or who were rejected or bullied by church people in the past. They shared that as they were invited into our church, it was the first time they felt they belonged and were not judged. They learned that there was a place for them. It was the reason they stayed. That has always been my focus. I remind myself that there are no nail prints in my hands and therefore I have no right to judge others.

 

This thought brought me to the mystery of the community of faith. In our reading today the apostle gives us a glimpse of how it felt for Gentiles, who had long been treated as outsiders, to be invited into God’s story of good news for all peoples. Paul reminds them in Ephesians that they are vital members of God’s family. God’s story of reconciliation is amazing. Jesus’ death on the cross for all sinners has broken down the hostility between all peoples. We are all equal at the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross gave us one body, not many. It is the place where we lay down our differences and pick up God’s grace.

 

Too often in the church we have divided over what is comfortable for us rather than what God offers. Today is a good day to meet your neighbor or anyone who needs to know that the good-news story includes them.

 

The Mystery of the Fullness of God's Love

 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:15-19 ESV).

 

Sometimes I forget the “… breadth and length and height and depth” of God’s love for me. Recently I was reminded of that when I leafed through a National Park’s magazine and saw the photo of the Grand Canyon I’ve attached. Our boys were very young when we took a trip to the Grand Canyon. I was insistent that we stop and watch the sunset at the edge of the canyon. That was more difficult than I thought with three impatient youngsters in tow. Somehow, they didn’t grasp the majesty of the moment! We did stay, though I was not able to really capture the moment adequately except in my mind. I do remember how grand it really was.

 

As I sit on this snowy day in Texas to write these devotionals, my question is simple: “What does ‘the fullness of God’ mean to you?” I often wonder what would change in our lives if we began each day by reminding ourselves that all of God’s resources and love and power are ours, regardless of what might unfold in our day. I believe our foundation would grow stronger and deeper; we would respond to our world differently if we did. We certainly would fall in love with Jesus at a new level of understanding, appreciating what his death and resurrection accomplished.

 

I hope you can find a way to be still enough today to recognize this mystery as God gives us glimpses of the marvel of His love toward us. I hope you will be filled with the fullness of God in a way beyond anything you may have yet experienced!

 

The Mystery of God's Greatness

 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV).

 

I’ve never been able to attend many of the live theater performances offered in Fort Worth. However, when I have, they have always been an incredible surprise in the excellence of presentation. One in particular stands out in my memory. Mary and I were given two tickets to Cats at the Bass Performance Hall many years ago. The seats were in the third-row center stage. I was a bit skeptical that it would be entertaining, though all the folks I had talked with told me it was wonderful. When the song “Memory” was performed, I was truly moved. You might remember that "Memory" is the show tune composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Trevor Nunn based on poems by T. S. Eliot. It was written for the 1981 musical Cats, where it is sung primarily by the character Grizabella as a melancholic remembrance of her glamorous past and as a plea for acceptance. The performance delivered more than they had imagined.

 

God is like that. He always delivers more than we could possibly expect. Our reading today is the Apostle Paul’s declaration of that truth. Through Jesus, God has provided new life and amazing possibilities for us, and our Lord is able to do more than we could ever imagine in our wildest dreams. He knows every detail of our lives, and he knows the best life for us to live. There is a great mystery in that truth, yet it remains.

 

I hope you use today to simply sit still and imagine being with Jesus. Start with a Bible story you know, or read one that is new to you, and imagine what it was like to be there. What did God do? And what were the people around you doing? Immerse yourself in the details. Then, imagine what your story today could look like. Invite Jesus into your activities today and expect to have your imagination stretched.

 

The Mystery of New Life

 

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV).

 

I have been privileged to be a part of many groups called in to do various acts of ministry for people that have suffered natural disasters. Some were homes destroyed by tornadoes or hurricanes, others were people whose homes and business were damaged by simple aging. I was always reminded of the incredible gift of life that we were able to give to them with the simple tasks of reconstruction. I was also amazed at the resilience of the people who lived in these places as they continued with life, even though they were severely handicapped by the destruction left in the wake of the natural disaster.

 

In a way, this reminded me of God’s great promises for us. Even before we felt the breath of new life, when we were still separated from God because of our sin, Jesus, through his love for us, gave us the hope of becoming fully alive. His sacrifice for us gives us the challenge of becoming fully alive in him.

 

To be fully alive is to be aware that the life God calls us to is dripping with meaning (even if it doesn’t always feel that way). And we are called to work at living out that meaning in a deeper way every day.

 

The Mystery of Being Chosen

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-10 ESV).

 

Our dog, Teddy, is a rescue terrier. After our previous dog became so ill and died, I was hesitant to get another dog. The pain and emotional distress of such a loss, I was simply not ready to begin that journey again. Mary was ready much quicker than I. Every Saturday she would make a trip to the PetSmart where Russel Rescue was set up to assist people in adopting a dog from their kennels. I happened to working in the shop that day and received a call from her informing me she had found the dog for us. She said, “I’m coming to get you to see him. They will hold him until I get back with you.” If that sounds like I had no choice, well, Mary often needs to nudge me into action. We went and sure enough, he was ready for me to fall in love with. He is a cutie, and I do love him. He is a part of our family.

 

The Apostle Paul talks about our adoption and being chosen by God to be a part of His family in our reading today. It should inspire us that God has been pleased to create us for fellowship with him. God knew that through the sacrifice of Jesus we would become His sons and daughters. His plan for our lives is to include us in his story. It wasn’t enough that God created us and made us his image bearers; he also loves us and wants to live in relationship with us.

 

When our lives reflect the realization of all this, we display God’s glory and his love, and something changes in us. We carry ourselves with the knowledge that we belong and are part of God’s family. It is a great mystery why God chose; however, it is no mystery that He has adopted me into His family for an eternal relationship of blessing and grace.