A River Part 2

Psalm 51:2
Today is the next part of my object devotions on rivers. Yesterday, I spoke on the life-giving properties of rivers and their similarity to God. The next attribute of a river I was thinking about is its life-altering abilities. The canyon I sit in is slowly being carved, shaped and transformed by the constant flow of water through it. In fact, each rock, including the one I was sitting on, are under continual change which made it quite comfortable to sit on unlike other rocks higher up the canyon walls. Years of water flowing over it had removed sharp jagged edges, polishing the surface. Over the course of our lives God polishes us, working to make us more like Christ. It is a gradual process just like polishing a stone or carving a canyon, as the Lord is merciful, shaping and refining us in a careful, planned way. If things were to go too quickly, like when the river floods, there would likely be devastation setting the whole process back. So day after day the work continues at just the right pace moving us towards perfection. With the process comes cleansing. Just as the river carries away debris cleaning itself and the area around it, so God removes our impurities in the purification he is putting us through. The old is washed away so the new can be revealed. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm 51:2 NIV).

A River

Revelation 22:1-2
I spent the afternoon yesterday sitting beside a river. It didn't take long before all kinds of images and symbolism about water came to mind. I decided to focus my thoughts on the life giving power of rivers which reminds me so much of God. That whole canyon of mesquite, palo verde, and a myriad of other plants would die without its nourishment. That doesn't even account for all the animal life relying on its presence. The book of Revelation paints a similar scene we will encounter in heaven. "Then he showed me the river whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Through the middle of the broadway of the city; also, on either side of the river was the tree of life with its twelve varieties of fruit, yielding each month its fresh crop; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing and the restoration of the nations (Amplified Bible). A river and trees bringing life and healing to all those blessed to gain access to its splendor. It's amazing to believe God has prepared a place more beautiful than this canyon in which I relax. Yet, Revelation describes crystaline waters and trees with multiple kinds of fruits growing on them. Wow! Why not? Our God can create anything! With all the majesty here on earth its overwhelming to realize God's saved the best for the next life! Finally, as water is critical to our survival in this state, there would be no life now or hereafter without God, the ultimate Creator and Sustainer of all things. Give glory to God for all that he has graciously provided.

The song to go with today's devotional is "River" by Chris Tomlin. (Not an exciting video so listen carefully to the lyrics and imagine yourself alongside your favorite river.)

Small Creatures

Psalm 136:1 & 25
Today's devotion is actually a reflection on my day at Sabino Canyon as I took time to enjoy some of God's smallest creatures going about their daily routines. The full reflection can be found on my blog Sacred Spaces Travel.

Speed Limit Sign

Exodus 20:1-17 (click here to get the scripture from: Bible Gateway)
No, I didn't pick this object for today's devotion because I got pulled over, but I was just out driving and the idea came to me (No, I'm not lying, that would be a bad thing to do - well since this is a Christian devotional ya know). Kids I work with always have this idea that it will be great when they're grown up because then they can do whatever they want. That looks to be true - they just miss that when you're an adult some rules go away, but are quickly replaced by new ones. A good example is that mom won't call and yell at me because I stayed up all night blogging, my bedtime as an adult is whenever I want it to be. However, when I was a kid I didn't have to worry about obeying the speed limit (try as I might, my bike wouldn't go that fast!) which I now have to be concerned with. The point is no matter how old you get there will always be rules for you to follow. Some rules have no age boundaries, the 10 Commandments apply to all of us, for life. While there are many who try to rebel and not follow the rules, the thing they fail to see is that they were created for our own good. When you're a kid you have a bedtime so you get the sleep you're growing body needs and you don't sleep through school. As adults we have a speed limit on the road to follow so we hopefully don't harm ourselves or others when we're driving. God gave all of us His rules so that we would live in harmony with Him and with each other and life would go well for us. Since breaking rules leads to undesired consequences it is to everyone's advantage that we do our best to follow them. Just think what the world would be like if everyone followed the rules. So, I've said goodbye to my younger rebellious days of speeding around in my Eclipse humming, "I Can't Drive 55", and do my best to follow societies rules and God commandments, which is what Jesus would do. Let us all pray that the way we live our lives will be an example to others. Then, not only will we be moving on towards a more perfect, Christ-like life which God desires, but we will also be doing our part in creating a better world.

A Clover

1 John 5:7
Top of the morning to you! I had to go with a St. Patrick's Day theme for today's post. The clover can be used to remind us of the Holy Trinity (as long as it's not a 4 leaf clover). It's three leaves that are generally of equal size as each part of God is of equal importance to us. As, the Trinity is a difficult subject even for Christians to fully explain I am going to provide a few solid sources I have found on the internet that present an excellent discussion on it.

1. Dr. Brown is a Messianic Jew and does an excellent job in explaining the Trinity in this video on YouTube. He also has a great website discussing Jesus as Messiah at Real Messiah .com
2. The website Bible Knowledge also has an easy to understand explanation of the Trinity

These give a lot of help in understanding that we worship one God who has three distinct personalities or natures, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each is co-equal and co-eternal. While the word "Trinity" is never used in the Bible, there are multiple places where each person of the Godhead is present. We see it when Jesus is baptized and scripture states the Spirit came as a dove upon him, and that the Father spoke from heaven: ¹⁶"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' (Matthew 3:15-17 NIV)" John also mentions the three in one: "⁷For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (1 John 5:7 KJV)" Our God is wonderful and not easy for the human mind to comprehend. Thankfully he gives us a glimpse at who He is, but we must remember that for now we see a dim reflection like a mirror, only in the next life will we fully see (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Bubbles

1 John 2:15-17
I took some kids from the group home to an event on the weekend, which is always interesting with 5 kids as they want to take off in all directions. At one point two of the boys took off towards a tent that had a bubble machine because they wanted to try to pop the bubbles (of course). Life in our culture is so like that. There are all kinds of distractions being thrown our way and if we're not careful we'll go running after those things. The apostle John warns us of this, "¹⁵Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.¹⁶For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].¹⁷And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever (Amplified Bible)." There are oh so many things that draw us in, seeking to take our eyes off that which God is calling us to. It seems that hating the materialistic, self-centered way this world operates is the only way we can be focused on God and not be led off to whatever the next fad or gadget is that we are told we need in our lives. Unfortunately, for those attracted to these things they will get a whole bunch of stuff and never find any meaning in it, and their bubble will burst. Trying to grab on to stuff in this world is like trying to grab bubbles, it is here one moment and gone the next. Doing God's will and seeking the Kingdom of God and its treasure is the only thing that will last, as for the stuff in this world, well, all of it ultimately ends up in a landfill. What will you choose to pursue?
Pray for eyes that are fixed on the eternal, not the temporal.

The Christian song that goes with today's devotion is "The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes, and the Pride of Life" by Smalltown Poets. I can't find anything but an mp3 for this song - link is above.

Luke 6:39-49

Pastor Rob covered a loaded section of scripture this morning, part of which I have spoken on before, and that is building your house (life) on a firm foundation (that is Jesus Christ). He taught about how we need to watch how we live because God cares about the quality of your life and he cares about the destiny of your life. The first point is to possess faith in God, making our desire going after God and not finding our satisfaction in the things of this world. Without this everything else is useless. The next part of the scripture is a warning about the blind leading the blind. That means we should be careful who we follow and be careful how we lead. Following anyone but Christ will lead us on a bad path and we are also called to be imitators of Christ so that those looking to us will see the character of Christ in our lives. It should be evident in our lives and leadership that we are seeking the Lord at all times. We also need to be about practicing love towards others. Our faith should be evident through our actions. As I've spoke on before our faith should show in the good we do for others and in how we treat each other. Our love for each other will have a huge impact on unbelievers. We must also practice honesty with ourselves, cleaning up our own lives before were start trying to help those around us fix their failures. God is also looking for obedience in his disciples. Our lives need to be built with Christ as our foundation. Anything else will come crashing to the ground and will not stand the test of time. In the end good things will flow forth from a person with a good heart and evil things from a person with a bad heart. The essence of who you are flows from your heart - so how is yours?