pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: adoration


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How Majestic!

Reading: Psalm 8

Psalm 8:1 – “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!”

Photo credit: Greg Rakozy

Psalm 8 begins and ends with the same words, praising God for who and what God is. The words in between celebrate the creation and humanity’s place within the world God created.

The psalmist looks up at the skies and is awed. The work of God’s “fingers” is vast and powerful and amazing. We’ve had these feelings and responses when we’ve looked up at the stars. The Psalm then pivots to humanity. The psalmist muses about God even paying attention to something so relatively small. We’ve also each felt our own smallness as we have stared heavenward.

In verse 5 the psalmist acknowledges that God has made humanity “only slightly less than divine.” Of all creation, only humanity is created in the image of God. Accordingly humanity has been charged with ruling over God’s “handiwork.” All has been put “under their feet.” It would be easy to read these words and to find justification for devouring the planet and its resources, eating our fill of the earth’s “fruit.” When thus tempted, may we be reminded of our smallness and of the earth being God’s handiwork. These reminders keep us humble and invite us to care for our world as God would care for our world. May it all be so.

Prayer: Lord God, yes, Lord, how majestic is your name and your creation. From the skies to a baby’s cry, your handiwork calls for praise and adoration. Lead and guide us to care for this world as acts of praise and adoration, bringing you all the glory. Amen.


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The Cornerstone

Reading: Matthew 21

Matthew 21:21 – “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt… You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen.”

Photo credit: Aaron Burden

Today’s reading begins with Matthew’s version of what we know as Palm Sunday. Jesus’ triumphal entry is highlighted by praise and adoration from the crowd and from his disciples. There is a buzz in the city. Jesus rides this wave into the temple, where he overturns tables and chairs, throwing out those who have made “God’s house of prayer” into a “hideout for crooks.” He then heals the blind and lame who come into the temple – likely for the first time since becoming blind or lame. Children run around the temple shouting praises. The religious leaders are deeply offended by all of this.

Returning to the city the next morning, Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree. The disciples are amazed at his power. He says to them, “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt… You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen.” Build your faith on me, he says, and be amazed at what God will do. As Jesus enters the temple again we see the opposite of this. The leaders question Jesus’ authority. His response begins with a question: Where did John the Baptist get his authority? There is no right answer for the religious leaders. So Jesus tells two parables to reveal their lack of faith and to condemn their fruitless ministry.

In the first parable the religious leaders know it is the first son who does the father’s will. He was obedient. Jesus then tells these leaders that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of them. They heard and believed John, changing hearts and lives. Even this fruit didn’t convince the religious leaders to change. In the second parable tenants mistreat and even kill some of the servants sent to collect fruit. They then kill the son who is sent. The religious leaders tell Jesus that the owner will “totally destroy” these wicked tenants. Jesus then quotes Psalms, claiming to be the stone that the builders rejected. But he tells the leaders that this stone will become the cornerstone, the foundation of the new, coming kingdom.

Prayer: Lord God, you call us to shout “Hosanna!” with our voices and with our actions – not one day a year but every day. When things get in the way of us doing this, clear our lives like Jesus cleared the temple. Build up in us a faith without doubts, a faith that stands firmly on the cornerstone, on Jesus Christ. Amen.


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Unfailing Love

Reading: Psalm 31:9-16

Verse 9: “Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress.”

Today’s reading comes from the middle of Psalm 31. David cries out to God: “Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress.” He is in a time of hardship and trial. The Psalm opens and closes with praise and adoration. Our verses today are about a time that wasn’t good: “I have become like broken pottery.” That’s pretty low. Yet we all have these days or seasons sprinkled throughout our lives too. We have times when “our strength fails,” when we are “weak with sorrow,” when we feel “terror on every side.” In these times we too cry out, “Be merciful…”

David shifts gears in verse 14, where he writes, “But I trust in you, O Lord.” Yes, it is bad. Yet David chooses trust. Trusting that his days are “in your hands,” David asks God for deliverance. He wants God to rescue him, to restore him. We can all relate to this desire. In our valley and on our dark days/seasons, we long for God to deliver us from the trial. David’s trust is what leads him to believe that God will come through. This trust is built. It is built on David’s past experiences with God. David has learned that the trial doesn’t last forever – joy comes with the morning. He has learned that God is always right there with him – the rod and the staff, they comfort and guide. As we learn into God again and again, our trust will be built. Doing so we too will come to know and trust into God’s faithful and steadfast love.

As we invest in our relationship with God and as God invests in our life, we too will come to say with confidence and assurance: “Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.”

Prayer: Lord God, the trials and the hard days are never welcomed. They are never easy. It’s when Satan whispers loudest. Yet these times refine us, they shape us. In these difficult experiences we learn to cling to you even more. Today, Lord, I thank you for even the hard and painful days. Amen.


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Heavenly Worship

Reading: Revelation 7:9-12

Verse 9: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.”

Turning to Revelation today we get a beautiful picture of heaven and worship. To be it is beautiful for two reasons. The first beauty I read of is the kaleidescope of people: “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.” Because the count is beyond anyone’s ability to record, I am reminded of the vastness of God’s love. I choose to believe the word “every.”

The second beauty I read of in today’s passage is the worship that happens in heaven. All there – the great multitude, the angels, the elders, the four living creatures – they all fall down and worship God. I cannot imagine the power in that praise choir’s songs. The most powerful worship we’ve ever experienced will hardly compare! The praise and adoration of God will be amazing.

Imagine for a moment what that will be like. Imagine being one of a countless choir worshipping the Lord our God. What a glorious day it will be. Tomorrow, as we gather to worship God, may we remember this heavenly worship and may we worship the Lord our God in this way too!

Prayer: Lord God, all power and glory and might and honor are yours! You reign forever and ever! Amen!


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Imperishable

Reading: 1st Corinthians 15: 35-38 and 42-50

Verse 42: “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable”.

In chapter 15 Paul has been speaking of resurrection. He now turns to a question we often ponder and discuss: what will we be like in heaven? The same line of questioning resonates today as people wonder if we will have bodies or not, if we will eat or not, and so forth. Scripture tells us that we will be raised, that a new heaven and earth are coming, that all things will be made new, that Christ will reign, and that we will dwell in His light and love.

In reality Paul does not exactly answer the question today either. He begins by comparing our bodies now to seeds. A seed is placed in the ground and it must die to be transformed into something new, something living. Our physical bodies, this shell that we inhabit, will be shed and it will remain in the earth. But what is in us – our soul, our spirit, our essence – will rise to new life. We do not know what we will look like in eternity or even if we will look anything like we know now in our earthly minds. Paul writes, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable”. Just as Jesus was raised and sits at the right hand of God, so too will all who know Jesus as Lord and Savior. We too will be raised and we will surround the throne, offering our worship and praise and adoration.

Paul goes on to remind us that we will be as Jesus is. In verse 48 he writes, “as the man from heaven so also are those who are of heaven”. Paul goes on to tell us that we will be in the image of Christ in heaven just as we have lived in His image as a follower here on earth.

We may not know what heaven will look like or what we will be like. But we do know that we will be imperishable and we will dwell in Jesus’ presence. Heaven will be a beautiful expression of joy and love and peace that will last forever. What a glorious day it will be when we enter into our eternal rest!

Prayer: Lord, how and what and who we will be does not matter. All that matters is that it will be with you. Help me to walk each day as a faithful servant of Christ. Lead and guide me to know Him more and more. Amen.


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Imperishable.

Reading: 1 Peter 1: 17-23

Verses 18-19: It was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed… but with the prescious blood of Christ.

Today’s text plays with the contrast between the perishable and the imperishable.  Peter calls us to pursue the imperishable and to strive for the things of God.  This is in contrast to the world’s view of what matters and what is worthy of our efforts.  Peter encourages the believers to set aside the ways passed down by their fathers and to not follow in pursuing an “empty way of life”.  The chasing after the gold and silver leads to emptiness.  This is a lesson we all eventually learn.  To be rich in things most often leaves one pour in the soul.  At some point all people look in the mirror and come to realize that money and things and status do not bring true happiness.  Living a full life cannot rest on the perishable but must instead be founded on the imperishable.

Peter calls on Christians to “live your lives as strangers in reverant fear”.  To live as strangers means to live not of this world and its cares.  Another phrase that parallels this idea is “in the world but not of the world”.  Our true citizenship is in heaven.  To have ‘reverant fear’ is to have holy respect for God.  It is to be aware that the world’s choices lead to death and destruction.

This passage reminds us that we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  This sacrifice made in love calls us to love our brothers and sisters with a deep and sincere love.  Jesus demonstrated what this love looks like and He calls us to follow after Him and to love like He loved.  Verses 18 and 19 capture this love: “It was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed… but with the prescious blood of Christ”.  The blood and love that made it flow so that you and I can be redeemed are imperishable.  This love of God that was poured out on the cross can never be lost.  There is nothing we can do to find ourselves outside of God’s love.  Nothing.  This is why God is our only hope in this world.  This is why God alone provides for our salvation.  He is our eternity.  It is not founded on our fickle love for God but upon God’s unfailing love for us.  It is a gift far more precious than any gold or silver and it is far more enduring.  For the imperishable love of God that we have in Jesus Christ, this day let us offer our praise and thanksgiving.