Steady Light

I want to burn as a steady light

never waning.

I want a flame that maintains its glow
in the darkest of nights,
the coldest of days.
I want a warmth that draws others in
never excluding.
My fuel is constant
never emptying.

My source is powerful

in the driest of hours,
the bleakest of moments.
My source is Jesus
always full,
always flowing.
May my life, my heart be a pleasing aroma to You, Lord.

“Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning." Exodus 27:20

Who Knows You?

It is a rather telling question, or maybe a telling answer.

Oftentimes, people name-drop, place-drop, knowledge-drop, etc. I'm not sure why, other than we might feel a bit more important if those around us think we know someone personally. There have been times during conversations, where I feel like I want to make it known that I know the one being discussed or lauded. Why? Pride, I reckon. yuck. I realized this week that it is meaningless for me to lay claim to knowing someone special. What matters more is whether or not that person knows me. I know the president; fine, does he know you? I know Jesus; great, more importantly, does He know you? There's a reason why He warns us so clearly of this truth...
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23

May we desire Him with our whole hearts, seeking Him now, this day. This matters more than anything else. Jesus matters more than anyone else. May we know Him like sheep know their shepherd; may He know us like a Shepherd knows His sheep.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14-15

A Ring

A while ago, my engagement ring had gotten badly bent, the diamond was leaning, similar to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This past weekend, I planned to take it to the local jeweler to have it fixed. Before I left, I did what I thought was a pretty good cleaning job. I had it glistening. I took it in to the shop, told the jeweler the problem, and handed it over. He went over to his little jewelry microscope and studied it closely. He looked up and told me that though it was leaning dramatically, it was fixable. He also said he would clean it up. Clean it up? I had already done that. It was shining....on the outside. Underneath those shining diamonds and gold was a little gunk. The gunk that didn't come off with my cleaning. It was in need of some close examining and careful cleaning by a jewelry master. Well, my gunky ring got me thinking about my own life and heart. Each day, I get cleaned up, hair washed, clean clothes on, etc. But my heart may not always match my outside presentation. Like my outwardly shiny ring, I might look just fine to most people, when inside, my heart is gunky. It may just even be a small bit of gunk (that is, unconfessed sin), or it may be thick gunk. Either way, I am in need of some close examining and careful cleansing by my Master.

"Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;" Psalm 26:2

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

May He purge from my heart any sin, any dishonoring thought or motive, and may He replace it with Himself, all that is good and lovely and true and right and excellent and praiseworthy. May my heart desire Christ above all things, worshiping Him alone, and finding Life as I look to Him on the Cross, having died to save me and set me free, having risen from the dead that I might also have new life. May my heart shine as brilliantly as that jeweler-cleaned ring; may my heart glorify the Lord.

Abiding

If we are loving, following, serving, resting, trusting, believing Christ; and if we have left this world behind, with everything it offers us to lure our hearts from our Savior, and if we are clinging to Christ alone, abiding in Him, then we will not be "running to Him for protection" - we will already be there, protected and anchored before the storms come.

Treading on Beauty

I had considered the Cross of Christ many times before, looking upon the Savior hanging there, dying there, bleeding there, for me. I had considered the wrath of God the Father that Jesus endured in my place. I had wept there, with Mary and John, at the foot of the Cross many times before. I had rejoiced there, knowing that because of that death, His death, the death of the Creator of the world, I had been forgiven, changed, transformed, brought to life. What I had never considered is that the blood that cleanses, that washes hearts whiter than snow, fell to the ground there beneath the Cross. Oh, that I might linger there beneath the Cross, on that precious blood. Oh, that I would tread on such beauty. Let me linger there, near the Cross, treading on the beauty spilled there, kneeling on the beauty that was shed for me.

In an instant

It is amazing to realize what can change in an instant. In a moment, a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, neighbor can endure a stroke, an aneurysm and be on the cusp of meeting Jesus. My heart hurts for the husband, the children, the grandchildren, the friends of such a woman; I am praying for years to be added to her life like they were added to King Hezekiah's.

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value."

Thomas Paine