Category: Christians

  • I Can’t even Imagine

    This diptych (a work made up of two matching parts) shows two things. Firstly, it shows how my mind and imagination work. Second, it shows why it takes me a long time to walk in the woods. The right-hand side is obviously an ai generated visual of the sort of thing I imagine when I’m out in the woods.

    I have a pretty vivid imagination, but there are some things I cannot, for the life of me, get a grasp on. Here are a few.

     For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.1 Corinthians 13:9-12 ESV

    What will it be like when we see the Lord face to face and others fully modeled into everything God created them to be? I can’t imagine.

    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

    What will glory look like?

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

    How long is eternity?

    There are plenty of things about God, His Word and what is to come that I can’t fully grasp. I’m okay with that. I know it will be better than anything I can dream up, even in my vivid imagination.

    There are also some things I do understand. He loved me enough to come and die to free me. He seals me with His Spirit. He is shaping me into the image of His Son. I might not fully understand those things, but His Word, the testimony of the church, and what I have seen and experienced convince me of their reality.

    We don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We don’t need to understand fully to share the truth with others.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to life and grow deeper in your faith. Give Him all the glory.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    My imagination cannot picture what it will be like to see the Lord face to face. I do not need to understand that fully to trust it, or to keep telling others about Him.

    TAKEAWAY

    Can you imagine what it will be like to see the Lord face to face, and to see others fully become everything God created them to be?

    You don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to you.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to your life, and grow deeper in your faith.

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  • Blown by the wind? Read the Word

    Years ago, this whirlymagig used to hang outside our dining room window. Some people call them wind spinners, or whirligigs, but I’ve always known them as whirlymagigs. One of our sons built it at camp.

    It is a spiral of popsicle sticks, mounted with a swivel on a string. Whenever the wind blows, it spirals around with the wind; then the tension in the string spirals it back in the opposite direction when the wind stops. 

    It can be quite relaxing to sit and watch them spiral as the wind chimes toll their delightful melody. 

    If the wind gets to be too strong, though, the whirlymagig blows all over the place, and the wind chimes just clang with noise.

    Many people in the church are like this spinner. They don’t know what they believe or why they believe it. Never having read or studied God’s word for themselves, they blow to and fro with the teachers of their favorite pastor and clang about in a storm.

    The Bible warned that this would happen. 

    I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:1-4 NIV

    We need to be diligent in testing out the teaching we hear with what the Bible actually says. Ask God to reveal His truth when you read. 

    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8 NIV

    By all means, listen to sermons, read solid teaching books, read devotionals like Gleanings, but ALWAYS compare them to the Word. If you’re not spending time in your Bible, give up Gleanings or one of the other things you read (or listen to) and invest that time in reading the Bible. Gleanings is only designed to supplement your time in the Bible, not replace it.

    Invest your time in reading and listening to the Bible. Learn what you believe and why you believe it, then when the winds of life blow (and they will), you will be anchored to a foundation that will stand.

    Our hope, our faith and our salvation is in Christ alone. Much of our understanding and our ability to apply the truths of that relationship comes from reading the Word. Studying the Scriptures teaches us more about Christ, about His power and His promises for our lives and those things help us to withstand the turbulence of life.

    Read the Word. Read THE WORD. READ THE WORD. Just in case you’re not certain as to what I’m saying, I’ll repeat it: READ THE WORD

    Invest in a good Bible, perhaps a couple of different translations, get a good concordance, and a Bible dictionary to help if you can. If you have no budget, there are a plethora of free resources available on the net.

    There are all kinds of delightful commentaries out there to help you understand, but the most important thing is time in the Bible itself. READ THE WORD!

    Don’t be like my whirlymagig, blown around by the slightest change. Study God’s truth for yourself. If the church you belong to tells you not to study the Word or won’t allow you to ask questions about it, find another church.

    Until next time, read the Word.

    Be blessed

    SUMMARY

    My whirlymagig only flies out of control when the wind gets too strong, and too many Christians do the same thing spiritually. Stop being blown around by every teacher and get anchored in the Word instead.

    TAKEAWAY

    If you’ve never studied God’s Word for yourself, you’ll blow around with whatever your favorite pastor says.

    Test every teaching you hear against Scripture.

    Don’t let a devotional like Gleanings replace your time in the Bible. Let it point you back to it.

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