Connecting Points

Friday, June 15, 2012

Today’s Topic: The Most Test

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:13 (NIV)  As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.

The Internet is amazing. Literally billions of people networked together on an information superhighway. In fact, just this morning, I spoke by video using Skype to Dudley and Inge Donaldson in Swaziland, Africa. That was the first time they were able to get it to work, and it was such a blessing. For any of you that have Skype, the best time to communicate with them will be between 2 and 3 PM Central Daylight Time.

But the Internet cannot be compared to the network of life that was created by and is managed by Almighty God. The last 36 hours have testified to God’s amazing network in my own life. Here is a summary of events that actually started four weeks ago, although in reality it has been in place in the heart of God since before the foundations of the world.

• I attended the Moody Pastor’s Conference
• I was led in worship by a music group called This Hope
• I heard a song they sang

Now fast forward to yesterday morning at 1:45 AM. I received a phone call from a scared new daddy. His son had been born six hours earlier, but a serious issue with the baby’s lungs was resulting in a helicopter flight to Mayo Hospital in Rochester. He called for prayer. I prayed with him.

Now, if you remember Tuesday’s devotional about doing the least or the most, you will know that at that moment I had a choice. The least I could do was pray for him. But is that what God was calling me to do? Of course not! So I spent the next hour in prayer and Scripture for this precious baby and for his parents. I asked the Lord to inform me when His perfect timing was right for me to leave for Rochester to be with the dad and the baby. Here is the summary of what took place next:

• I left my house at 3:30 AM, driving to Kwik Trip for coffee. On the way I stopped by the Great Harvest Bread store to tell my son to be praying. He wasn’t there yet, but the two early morning bakers were, and I informed them of what was going on. God is already using that to minister to their hearts.
• As I drove, I played the CD of This Hope I had purchased at Moody. I did not know what was wrong with the baby yet, and was seeking God’s comfort for my own heart as my mind replayed previous experiences I have had like this. I replayed song #9 over and over again and tried to keep my eyes dry of tears so I could see the road and any deer. Three times they ran across the road in front of me and the Lord protected me each time. Song #9 is entitled God of the Storm, and the lyrics go like this:

Like thunder in my day it comes / The doctor’s words just leave me numb / With pounding heart I wonder what I’ll do /  Doubts begin to cloud the way / Will I ever be the same / Father I’m scared and I need you / Though I’m weak and the storm rages on / I know my God is strong / When the thundering trials shake me / When troubles crash and rage / I will trust the Master of the rain/ He’s God of the storm / Lord of the rain / Though I may fear / His refuge remains / He’s God of the storm / His power displayed / Trials will come / I will trust Him the same / He’s God of the storm.

• God had put that song in my heart four weeks earlier knowing that I would need it for this day. Like I said, His network of life is AWESOME!
• I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 AM, and no one was at the welcome desk. As I picked up the phone to call the operator for information, the baby’s dad and grandma walked around the corner into the lobby. God’s perfect timing. He is God of the storm, and of every other time in our lives as well.
• On the way home I put in the other CD I had purchased at Moody. I came to song #9 on this one, and was again overwhelmed with the lyrics God had prepared in the song Rest My Child:.

A newborn babies cry / A mother’s heart is asking why / As worried doctors rush to help her son / What will the future hold / How will this challenged life unfold / Now all that she can see are dream undone / And as her spirit quakes / She hears the One who can calm all fears / Rest my child / I am here to hold you / I am what you need for life’s dark hour / Rest my child / Lay your cares upon me / I am always by your side / So rest my child.

• I prayed for the baby’s mom. Last night I got this word from the daddy – “Emmett had a little rough patch this afternoon with his breathing, but as soon as mommy showed up they cuddled and he did beautifully. Praise the Lord!”
• As I read that I could hear mommy whispering to the baby, Rest my child, I am here to hold you; I am what you need for life’s dark hour…

“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you,” says the Lord. He is here to hold you in life’s darkest hour. He has networked all of life together to be a display of His love for you and His power on your behalf. You can trust Him!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Today’s Topic: The Most I Can Do

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:12a (NIV)  For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;

Oh the joys of grandparenting. Last night we had the privilege of having two of our grandsons for a sleepover. Their arrival at our home was an instant boost. Their eyes gush with love and admiration, and it melts my heart. Their playfulness re-energizes me, even though I’m already old enough to be outrun by a three-year old…almost.

They arrived late, so it was off to bed right away. They were both tired and fast asleep within minutes. The oldest one rose at 6:40 am and we took some time to talk on the couch while grandma and his brother slept a little longer. When grandma got up and got dressed, it was my turn to go shower and shave and prepare for a day of ministry. I was a little sad that I wouldn’t be there to spend more time with them, but grandma has a great plan for their day.

When I finished dressing I started to make the bed, knowing that grandma was busy with the boys in the kitchen. There was an instant flash of the flesh that said I was too busy to make the bed and I should get going to work. I quelled that thought immediately, and continued to get the bedroom in order. Then another thought came to my mind – This is the least I could do for her. I was overwhelmed at that moment with a total distaste for that statement. Why do we say it, and what makes us think that it’s a good thing to only do the least that we could for someone?

I started to think about that statement in relationship to what God does for me. What if He only did the least He could do? As I thought about it I found myself doing a little bit extra straightening of the comforter and pillows on the bed. I looked around the room for anything else that needed to be picked up or put away. As I left the house and move the car seats from my vehicle to my wife’s, I did so with extra care and precision, buckling them firmly in place to protect those precious lives.

I started thinking about what God promises to do for His people in Isaiah 66, and how He would never do the least He could do, but will go beyond what is expected or even deserved. As I read verses 12 through 21 again I saw so much more than the least God could do. I saw Him granting peace and wealth. I saw the people flourishing not just surviving. I saw God extending Himself beyond anything He had ever done before to bring people who had never heard of Him to the place of eternal worship. I saw Him extending grace to “newbies” in the Kingdom by promoting them to positions of priesthood. He did far more than the least He could do.

Then I was reminded of one of my favorite words from the Bible – a word used in 1 John 3:1, where it says, How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. When God loved us it was not with the least love He could give – He LAVISHED His love on us. He could have extended just enough love to forgive us so we could have access to eternal life. But instead He lavished His love on us so that we could be called His children, with full rights of inheritance of all things with His Son Jesus.

I choose to live my life that way. Never again will I intentionally do the least I could do for someone. Never again will I allow my selfish desires to influence the expression of the love of God to others. From this day forward, I want my life to be lived lavishly – not in the materialistic way many choose to bring honor to themselves, but with the heart of a servant Savior who lavished His love on me. I will not settle for doing the least I could do. I will serve them to the full extent of God’s love that was lavished on me.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, June 11, 2012

Today’s Topic: Danger of Compromise

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:17 (NIV) “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things–they will meet their end together,” declares the LORD.

It’s not just because this is Monday. I know it’s not the Monday morning blues. It goes much deeper than that. It goes to the very core of my being as I stand before my awesome and holy God. My soul continues to be overwhelmed with a burden for the souls of people who are lost in their sin and are moving rapidly towards eternal death.

Again this morning I read the entire sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah. In this concluding chapter God is explaining the final separation of the righteous from the unrighteous – the righteous into His presence on the new earth that will endure forever (66:22), and the unrighteous into eternal punishment (66:24). The judgment of God on the unrighteous will be severe, beginning with the harsh treatment of verse 4, to His fury of verse 14, and His fire and sword of verse 16.

But what I am most burdened with is God’s statement in verse 17. I am burdened because it describes good-willed people with religious inclinations and spiritual values who are included in God’s judgment. These are people who have put on an outward appearance of spiritual life, and who participate in religious traditions and sacraments, but on the inside are still lost in their sin.

Every day I am confronted with connections to people who are trusting in the wrong things for their security. They trust their goodness, reminding others that they are a good person. They trust their success, displaying their abilities to the world around them. They trust their wealth, building bigger and bigger kingdoms to their own credit. They even trust their churches, seeking to find spiritual security in their obedience to the sacred duties declared by their leaders to be necessary to earn the approval of God.

But their hearts are unchanged from their conceived condition of sin. As a result, in one of the most painful and heart-wrenching statements God ever makes, they will meet their end in the same way as those who absolutely rejected anything to do with God and His Son Jesus. The one who did their spiritual duty will be condemned right alongside of the one who did abominable things. Oh how that breaks my heart!

But it goes even deeper. I wonder how many there are in my own church, and in my own family, who are trusting in a man-made, man-honoring religious exterior when in reality their heart has never been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? I am concerned that there are people sitting under my preaching every week who are going through the spiritual motions of faith but are walking through life following those who are doing abominable things.

My friends, the Scriptures are very clear – there is only One Way to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. His death and resurrection are the only qualifier for eternal life. And those who have repented of their sin and been forgiven by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross not only must not, but in reality cannot go back to a life of sin and compromise with the world. The warnings of the Apostle John are clear:

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

And again the Holy Spirit speaks through John and says:

1 John 3:9 (NIV)
⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Oh dear people, we must declare boldly whom we will serve. Will we serve ourselves and seek acceptance with the world, or will we serve the Savior and forfeit the world of today for the eternal world that is coming? There can be no compromise. You cannot serve both because you cannot love both. Make your choice carefully. It is the product of what you choose to love. Make your choice carefully. It has eternal consequence.

Connecting Points

Friday, June 08, 2012

Today’s Topic: There’s Only One Way

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:3 (NIV) But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations;

A line has been drawn in the sand. It is along that line that a chasm will soon be fixed for eternity. For the moment, while the line is still crossable, many people pass from one side to the other and back again as if there were no line at all. As they do, the line becomes obscured by sand that is kicked on it by feet that tread on the truth under the direction of hearts and minds that are motivated by selfish sin.

Back and forth across the line go millions and millions of people. They seem to have good intentions when in reality they are blind to the existence of the line. Their blindness to the line is their choice, having decided not to look at it because they have chosen to look only at their own lusts and take delight in their own desires.

In their blindness to the line they are convinced that they can have all the desires of the flesh and still earn favor with God and somehow attain eternal life. So they continually cross the line from religious duty to sinful pleasures and back again. Little do they realize that the line is still there, and one day, maybe very soon, that line will become an un-crossable chasm and they will be trapped for all eternity on the side of death and destruction with no hope of seeing the Creator they have denied.

There will be many on the eternal life side of the chasm. They will be those who were esteemed by God because of their humble hearts, their repentant spirits, and their awe of the Word of God. They will be the ones who continued to see the line no matter how obscured it became to the rest of culture.

God drew the line in the sand in the Garden of Eden. It has been there ever since. Then one day some 2000 years ago His Son re-traced the line with His finger dipped in the blood of His own sacrifice.  He declared clearly and concisely that He was The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He stated truthfully that no one can ever get to eternal life with the Father except through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection to new life. He taught frequently that crossing back and forth over the line is unacceptable and inexcusable. The person who believes they can cross back and forth between surrender to Jesus and selfish sin is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

As I read Isaiah 66:3 I am deeply moved by the blindness of people to the blood-stained line in the sand. Billions of people who are being misled and deceived by the enemy of God – our selfish pride – to believe that they can obey some spiritual law or sacrament and thereby earn the favor of God, all the while doing only those things that please themselves and fulfill their own desires. How my soul is tormented by their lostness. How I grieve for their souls on that day when the sand that has obscured the line falls into the eternal chasm of separation between eternal life and eternal death.

All of their sacrifices and spiritual rituals will mean nothing from God’s perspective if the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary is ignored. That is the line God drew in the sand. There is no other way to God than through His Son Jesus. That may sound narrow to many, but to those who are being saved by the power of His death and resurrection it is the way of freedom.

Many people are very sincere about their religions. However, nowhere in God’s sacred and holy Scriptures are we told that God rewards sincerity with eternity. He rewards humility – a broken and repentant heart that turns in faith from a life centered on self to a Savior who gives real life. Salvation is not available to the person who intends to keep kicking sand on God’s blood-stained line. Forgiveness is a one way bridge across the line from the side of sin to the side of salvation. Forgiveness is not to be a cheap and easy way for us to keep crossing the line back and forth between religious duty and personal gratification. That is a denial of the Gospel truth and intentionally ignores the reality of the coming chasm.

My friends, many are deceived. Many are doing spiritual duties to earn the favor of God while they continue to seek and serve self every day. Let us blow away the sand that has obscured the line in our own lives, so that it can be clearly seen by those around us. They need to see the line, and be drawn by the Holy Spirit to cross it into the arms of a loving Savior who drew the line with His blood.

Connecting Points

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Today’s Topic: A Father’s Joy

Today’s Text:  Proverbs 23:24-25 (NLT)  The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise. So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy.

I must praise God! He alone is worthy of all the glory. It is by His hand and according to His plan that these things are the way they are. I am to be considered most blessed by the LORD because His mercy has covered my flaws, and His grace has redeemed my failures. Thanks be to God for the gift of wise children who honor and fear the LORD.

I am overwhelmed with this thought today as our family celebrates the birthday of our oldest child, Rochelle. What a joy it was 35 years ago as Denise and I were awakened by labor pains at 5:30 AM. She was, and remains to this day, a morning person like her dad. I wonder if there’s a correlation to one’s natural body clock and the time of their birth.

At 10:10 AM on June 7, 1977, we welcomed Rochelle into our family. We were already so in love with her, but when I saw those big wide-open eyes emerge from the birth canal I was gone. I shouted out, “Push!”. The Doctor shouted, “Stop pushing!” The umbilical cord was around her neck. My eyes met her eyes again, and as the doctor worked to free the cord, I realized that I was not in control. I saw my daughter in great need and I could do nothing but trust someone else with the outcome. Her eyes cried out to me for help, and I could do nothing.

I saw that look again two years later when she was being prepped for heart surgery. Again, I had to release her into the hands of another person who was more qualified than me to resolve the issue.

I didn’t always behave that way. In fact, I was a very authoritarian father. It hurt my kids. That’s why today I give more thanks to God than ever as I realize His amazing grace that accomplished His purpose even when I got in the way. No matter how hard I pushed, God was faithful to lead them to His heart.

Even though this is the birthday of my oldest, I thank God for all three of my kids who are living for Jesus Christ and serving Him faithfully in their local churches. I know that based on my personality and pride I don’t deserve it. But God has been faithful to His call on their lives, and my kids were wise enough to listen to Him and model their lives after Jesus Christ. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Today I have cause for joy!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Today’s Topic: Contrasts

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:1-2 (NIV) This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

Two weeks ago I attended the annual Pastor’s Conference at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. As is typical of me when I go to such events, I take lots of notes. I especially like to write down quotes I hear. One of them came from Crawford Loritz as he spoke on handling the pressures of life.

He told a story that resonated with my heart. It revealed the typical ways we respond to pressure. Sometimes we expend exceptional amounts of energy trying to resolve the things that are causing the pressure to build. Other times we go into full-blown performance mode and overcome the pressurized attacks on or worth by accomplishing bigger and better things. At times we even attempt bigger and better things for God and call it faith, when in reality it is nothing more than a self-serving attempt to re-establish the baseline of our personal value.

But then it happens – the bottom falls out. Everything goes wrong. All of our best efforts are destroyed, and we fall flat on our faces as the problems pile up around us. How could God allow this to happen? Where is He in my time of need?

Then Dr. Loritz said this – On my way to accomplishing something, God is working so I will become something.

You see, being is more important to God than doing. Who we are matters more than what we do. In fact, are we really capable of doing anything that matters apart from what God is doing in us and through us?

The prophet Isaiah spoke of it here in the first two verses of chapter sixty-six. God does not esteem the one who thinks He can accomplish great things. After all, what can we really accomplish? Has not God done it all? The one God esteems is the one who is becoming the reflection of His love and grace – the one who is humble and broken (contrite) and lives in reverential awe of God.

FREEDOM! That’s the shout of my heart at that moment of recognizing that God no longer requires my accomplishments, but honors my brokenness. It is in my weakness that He is proved to be strong and mighty. It is in a simple vessel of clay that God has placed the eternal treasure of His glory (2 Corinthians 4:7). Let the pressures come. Let the cracks be exposed. As Stuart Briscoe said, The more cracks that develop simply allow more of the light of God’s glory to shine through.

That’s the contrast between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. We are either on the way to accomplishing something, or we are watching to see how God works so we will become something.

I know which one I choose!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, June 04, 2012

Today’s Topic: Footstools

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 66:1 (NIV) This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?

There’s one in the bathroom for the grandkids to use, and there are two of them in the pantry so that the grandkids can help in the kitchen. There’s another one in the laundry room. There’s one in the guest bedroom in front of the rocking chair. Finally, I think, there’s one in the living room where Denise sits and reads. Our house is filled with footstools.

Some are placed specifically to assist little children in accomplishing tasks. They raise the kids up to higher levels of functionality. Some are available to adults for the same purpose, like reaching the top shelves of kitchen cupboards. Still others are used primarily for rest and relaxation, lifting tired feet off the floor.

One thing is true of all footstools – they were designed and created to assist others by lifting them up. They never complain about the weight they must carry. They never argue with the user about how they are being used. They are kicked from one location to another so another task can be accomplished. They have cake batter and cookie dough spilled on them by less than careful grandkids that are learning to bake with grandma. They have dribbles of another kind on them from little boys being potty trained. They have absorbed the smell of stinky feet placed on them after a long day of work. Dirty, battered, and sometimes with covers that are wearing thin, they just keep doing what they were designed to do – lifting up others.

So, how are you doing today at lifting up your Designer and Creator? Or would you rather not be the footstool of the LORD God Almighty?

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Today’s Topic: On Mission

Today’s Text:  Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)   Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What is your mission?

Do you have a personal purpose statement?

What is the ultimate objective of your life?

These questions, and many more like them, haunt us at various times of our lives. I have had my time with the Lord on this issue, and I have reached an absolute conclusion based on absolute truth. For me and everyone like me who is a born again follower of Jesus Christ the mission is the same – make disciples of Jesus Christ.

I’m praying that you do not stop reading. Listen, this is very serious business. We have been declared children of God and joint heirs of all things with Jesus Christ. We have been forgiven of our sins by being washed in His blood shed on Calvary’s cross as the full payment for our sin. We have been set apart as His chosen people and as such will never be judged or condemned for our sin. We have been given the Holy Spirit to reside in us – the very eternal Presence of God the Father in His fullness abiding in us. We have been granted access to the powers and provisions of God to meet every need. Yet daily we tend to choose to live by a culturally dictated and personally defined mission, rather than the mission mandated by the Master.

When Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 28:18-20 to His disciples after He rose from the dead, He spoke them with all the authority of eternity. In His last words to His followers, as He passed the torch of God’s mission for the world to those who loved Him and were committed to follow Him at all cost, He had the authority to tell them anything. He could declare absolutely anything as His final words. As the One and Only earthly representative of God the Father, He chose to declare the Father’s mission statement for the rest of earth’s history. He said one thing and one thing only – go and make disciples of all nations.

It is called the Great Commission, but for so many in the church today it is the Great Omission. I have concluded that one reason is that we have been duped into believing that the Great Commission was given to the church as an organization, not to the church as an organism. As an organization, the church can program and delegate certain responsibilities based on skills, and many in the church claim no skill at making disciples. We don’t believe we are qualified to witness about our faith in public, and we don’t think we have the time or training to get involved in personal mentoring of those who are being saved. So we assign committees, teams, and pastors to do those things, because fundamentally we believe the church is an organization.

But the church is not an organization, it is a living organism – the Body of Christ. As such it carries the spiritual DNA of the One who gave birth to it. For sure there are many parts to the Body, and each one has a specific function. But each cell of each part, no matter what its role, is fundamentally identical. Each cell – you – have the exact same Holy Spirit as any other cell. You have the identical purpose of every other person in the Church – to go and make disciples of all nations. We have all been given the same mission. We may have different functions and methods of accomplishing that mission, but we all agree on one thing – it is our mission!

But we also agree that we must accept the mission, and place the highest priority of our personal life on the accomplishment of that mission. Knowledge of the mission is irrelevant if there is not action to accomplish the mission. After all, to be brutally honest, how can we claim to love Jesus if we do not first serve Him rather than ourselves? Are not our choices and priorities ALWAYS an indicator of what we love most?

As parents, our mission is not to raise children to enjoy life and be successful– our mission is to disciple children to live for Jesus. As employees and employers, our mission is not to become wealthy and have more things – our mission is to make the most of every opportunity to serve others with the unconditional love of God so that they can be made into disciples of Jesus. As members of a church, our mission is not to proclaim self-righteousness through participation in programs – our mission is to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth by accepting His mission and doing it for His glory.

In a few hours I will be joining a group of men and women from our church on the mission of Christ. We are going to be on a roof replacing shingles for a family that needs help. We have bought all the materials. We will provide all the labor. We will pour out God’s love on them. Why? Because it is our mission, and nothing is of higher importance in our lives than serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We will go and make disciples.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Today’s Topic: Getting Younger

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 65:20 (NIV)   “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.”

Never say never.

We have been warned to be very careful how we use words that express absolutes – words like never and always. Sometimes these words are added to a statement as an emphatic expression of the truth. But for most of us, they are words that are used to try to make a point and convince others of something that we may not be convinced of ourselves.

For example, after being caught for the third time doing something wrong, little Johnny says to his father as the discipline is being enforced, “Daddy, I’m sorry. I’ll never do that again.”

Or how about the married couple that is in a heated argument, and neither one is staying on point. Soon one or both are saying, “You always…!”

The words never and always are valid words when used to express truth. In fact, the word never is used 315 times in the Bible, and the word always is used 129 times. In Deuteronomy 28:13 we read, If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

God is the God of absolutes. Everything He speaks is absolute truth. Everything He does is absolutely perfect. He never uses never inappropriately. He always means what He says.

As we look ahead to the coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth the prophet Isaiah is given insight into its conception and culture.

• Jerusalem will be a delight to all the nations of the world rather than an enemy. (66:18)
• The wailing wall will become obsolete as God promises that the sound of weeping and crying will never be heard again. (66:19)
• Never again will a baby die. (66:20)
• There will always be prosperity (66:21-23)
• There will be perfect fellowship with God. (66:24)
• There will be perfect peace on earth. (66:25)

What a glorious Kingdom that will be, and all of those who by faith in Jesus Christ have been washed of their sin and born of the Spirit into the eternal family of God will be a part of it.

As I ponder the splendor of our eternal glory in Christ, something has become clear to me that is especially meaningful at this stage of my life. It’s in verse 20 which I posted above. In the earthly Kingdom of Christ, an old man will live out his years, and anyone under 100 years of age is still a youth. So here’s the thought that is dominating my mind right now – I’m not getting older, but I’m actually getting younger.

That is totally true if I consider it from God’s perspective. Of course, if all I see and confirm is the flesh, than I am getting older. But I can renew my mind so that I see what God sees – until I am 100 hundred I have not yet reached maturity. The Kingdom of God will be like the first 2000 years of earth’s history when people lived to be over 900 years old. Imagine that. According to Kingdom lifespans, right now I have only lived 6.5% of my projected life expectancy. My dad has lived less than 10% of His Kingdom life expectancy. This is incredible. At the moment of my death I actually become younger.

Now, for you theologians out there – LET IT GO! I know there are so many things wrong with the age arguments because all of us alive now will be raptured into our new glorified bodies before the Kingdom begins. But the point is this – there will be those who will live that long in the Kingdom, and the age we all are right now will be considered youth. So why not change your perspective on how old you really are and recognize that age doesn’t equate to value or usefulness. Come on, start thinking young again, and get busy for God.

Connecting Points

Monday, May 14, 2012

Today’s Topic: Monocular Vision

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 65:18 (NIV)   “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create”

Ah, the joys of a Monday morning. I love Mondays. I’m still invigorated with inspiration from worshiping God in the company of people whom I love. I’m still basking in the blessing of spending quality time with my wife and family on Sunday. I’m rested and restored because I choose to use Sunday afternoon and evening as a Sabbath day. I’m energized with enthusiasm about the week’s ministry opportunities and waiting with wonder on the work God is going to do.

I know for most people Monday is a drag. But may I suggest that the reason for Mundane Monday is monocular: you know, looking only through one eye rather than two.

When I was first learning to shoot a rifle as a young boy, I was taught something very important by the man who was training me. When I put that .22 caliber rifle up to my shoulder for the first time and looked down the barrel at those sights, I shut my left eye so I could focus completely on the target. Before I could pull the trigger, he stopped me. He told me to open my left eye and learn to focus on the target with both eyes open.

I had a lot of trouble with that at first. By nature, because our eyes are separated by space, we see in stereo, making it possible for us to have depth perception. In addition, one of our eyes is more dominant than the other, and when trying to line up two objects in a straight line we need to use the dominant eye. Trying to line up a rifle on a target is very difficult when both eyes are open.

But I did what he said, and kept practicing. Now, when I hunt, both eyes are always open. In that way, I never become so focused on one target that I miss another potential target that may be just left or right of the first one. On several occasions I have been looking through the scope of my rifle at a deer when out of the other eye I see the movement of a bigger deer to one side. Monocular vision limits potential.

This morning, as I sat on the couch looking down at my laptop computer checking out all the latest news, weather, and sports, I noticed movement through the window on the other side of the house. I looked up and a bluebird had landed on the top of my birdfeeder. I have been trying to get bluebirds to nest at my house for years, yet they never seem interested in the houses I have put up. But this was not about bluebirds nesting, it was about the Lord revealing Himself to me and reminding me not to get so monocular about life that I forget to see His presence around me.

Mundane Mondays are the result of monocular vision. We are so focused on the fun we had over the weekend, or the stresses of life in the week ahead, or the disappointments of life, or any other issue that exists, that we miss the blessings of the Lord’s presence. We have closed the eye that can see the movement of the Lord and we are seeing only the targets visible through the scope of self.  We are so intent on
what we can create for ourselves that we are missing the splendor of what God is creating in and around us.

This is not a Mundane Monday – this is a Magnificent Monday. It is a Marvelous Monday. I rejoice that I enter into this day and this week with both eyes wide open to see the splendor of God’s presence. I have already seen the bluebird of happiness.

Pastor John