Tag: Jesus

The Simplicity of Christ

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? ~ Micah 6:8b

Maybe the greatest beauty of the Christian Faith is it’s meek simplicity. It is true that you can multiply ad nauseam the theology, doctrines, practices and controversies of the church making the most simple things complicated. Over the centuries, well-meaning men have excelled in the art of making straightforward things complex. But ultimately, the question that should most intrigue the heart of the true believer is: What does God require of me?

The passage before us offers a wonderful summary of both God’s demands and desires for His people. And it is presented here in plainness and eloquence in three equally significant parts; do justly, love mercy and walk humbly. Imagine what the Christian life would look like if we but just consistently and faithfully followed these? How different would your life be?

The purpose of this short devotion is to remind the reader to keep their eye on those aspects of their faith and life that most matter to the Lord. These three requirements here in Micah essentially sum up the law to love God and love your neighbor. While engaging in the more weightier matters of our faith has its place and is important, we must begin and retain the simplicity of Christ as well, to do justly, love mercifully, and walk humbly with the Lord.

His Path Alone

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“You will show me the path of life” – Psalm 16:11a

In Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken, he describes one path that eventually diverges into two deep in the woods. This individual spends the greater portion of the poem contemplating which road to take. Yet, unable to take them both, and having to decide, the traveler chooses the one that looks less worn, less used. And his conclusion upon taking “the one less traveled by” is that it made all the difference in his life.

When it comes to our spiritual path, our soul’s life journey, only the path God shows us is the path of life. Though other paths might entice us with the lure of worldly treasures and temptations, ultimately they lead to death. Jesus would put it this way, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” If He has not done so already, pray God would show you the path of life. For in His path alone, lays all true difference.

Free Indeed

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. ~ John 8:36

I love music, but I never learned to play an instrument. Yet, one of my favorite pastimes is listening to music. And though I never personally learned to play a guitar, the drums, a saxophone or piano, I can certainly appreciate the amazing talent, commitment, hard work and devotion that goes into mastering one of these or many other instruments.

Though I love music, I am not free to make music on my own. At least, not through instrumentation. Those who first train on those instruments, and take lesson after lesson for years, are the ones who are free to produce the wonderful sounds of rhythm and harmony who others, like myself, are not free to make on our own. In other words, it is only through the confining discipline of submitting oneself to the rigors of apprehending the musical instrument that one is truly free to play whatever they choose.

Likewise, it is only through submitting yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ that one becomes spiritually free. Until then, we are in bondage, in bondage to sin and confined to the limitations of our own sinful nature. Limited in our freedom to spiritually enjoy the richness of Christ. It is by discipline, apprehending, and submitting oneself to God that one truly tastes freedom.

The world will try to offer you it’s version of freedom. But it is a false freedom. It will seek to entice you with freedom from discipline, from responsibility, and from accountability to God and others. But this is not real freedom. Like the concert pianists who only through years and years of disciplined training is he free to play whatever he chooses, it is only through discipleship to Jesus that spiritual freedom ever comes. Freedom to love, serve and honor the Savior. But, once Christ sets you free, be assured dear friend, you are free indeed.

~ apl

Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

~ A Prayer Life ~ 1 Comment

Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still;
We drink of Thee, the Fountain-head,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill!

Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,
Where’er our changeful lot is cast;
Glad when Thy gracious smile we see,
Blest, when our faith can hold Thee fast.

O Lord, be Thou our strength and stay!
Make all our moments calm and bright,
Chase all dark thoughts of sin away,
Shed o’er us here Thy holy light.

~ Bernard of Clairvaux

But To Serve

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For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

~ Mark 10:45 (NKJV)

The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus was to serve others. Jesus came to serve, and to be an example of what it means to live a life serving, loving and helping others. Though Jesus was, and is, God in heaven, in coming to the earth, He took on the form of a servant. He came not with pomp and glory, but as a man in humble life. He practiced self-denial on their account, and for them was about to lay down his life.

Jesus came to us in the form of a servant in order not only to show us the importance of serving others, but also ultimately to give His life for us – the greatest act of sacrifice and servitude. We have to choose this day whom we are going to serve. The Lord or ourselves? Jesus wants us to take on the heart of the servant. To find fulfillment, peace and joy in serving others just as He did during this ministry. Pray to the Lord to grant you a servant’s heart. A pure desire to see the needs of others even above your own. To think and esteem others before yourself. To humble yourself before God and man that you might better others through your acts of service. For, in the final analysis, when we really let our heart dwell upon it, is this not what Christ has already done for you?

~ apl

Purpose In Parables

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The basic assumption which all expositors seem anxious to secure is certainly right, namely, that the ultimate purpose of a parable is to help and not hinder the apprehension of the truth. But beyond this, we may say that it belongs to the very nature of revelation that the capacity to receive it depends upon the prior surrender and obedience of the will… The disciples had so surrendered to the sovereignty of Jesus and could therefore know. If temporarily a parable concealed the truths of the kingdom from the outsider on the intellectual plane, it was only in order that moral conviction might first be secured with a view to intellectual enlightenment afterwards. There are many who, through intellectual pride, would like to have it otherwise, but it cannot be.

~ C. E. Graham Swift (1949- )

Search For Significance

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The search for your significance is over once you know the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says He is our Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. He is our all in all. We don’t need to look any further for our purpose, value, self-worth, than Christ to find our significance. For to have Christ is to have everything, and to not have Him is to have nothing. The significance of the Christian is not found in the thoughts, words and opinions of others. Nor is our true significance even found in our own opinion of our self. Rather, the true purpose and significance of the individual is found in Jesus and in Him alone.

~ apl