The Mystery

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Pete

After over 3 weeks on the shores of Maui, time to break camp. Been a great reset. Mission accomplished: rest, reflection, rejuvenation . . . and some reading along the way. Now time to head back into the fray. And on this last morning I’m in awe afresh of the mystery.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. . . . “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

(Ephesians 5:25-27, 31-32 ESV)

Marriage is the earthly opportunity to experience a heavenly reality. Of being loved and sacrificed for. Of being owned and watched over. Of being the object of an affection driven to bringing out in you all the potential you were created, and re-created for. Of being presented a beautiful bride, not just on the day you first walked down the aisle to the altar, but every day afterward as your work-in-progress-ness continues to bear the fruit of the intrinsic beauty possessed through regeneration. And, for all eternity, one day to be received of the Bridegroom without spot, wrinkle or any such thing. Wholly loved for a whole lifetime that you would be presented holy in His sight.

To participate in such a divine object lesson is a privilege. To have been part of such a unimaginable dynamic, life-changing. To have experienced such a relationship, an indescribable blessing.

This mystery is profound. Christ and the church.

And I sit back this morning and ponder on the profound. Meditating on the multi-faceted realities of being the bride of Christ. Having tasted on earth the best heaven has to offer.

Wooed by a Suitor I would never have sought on my own. Won by the Spirit who opened my eyes to consider eternity, opened my ears to hear His word, and opened my heart to exercise the faith to be saved. Called not just to serve the Master as a slave, but to abide with the Savior as an adopted child of God, and to walk with Him, and for Him, as His beloved bride. Loved steadfastly, though often I languish. Forgiven fully–and that by His precious blood shed on a cruel cross–not just for my past sin, but for my on-going failures. Never forsaken, “that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and with the word.”

Much to be in awe of this morning. Much to be thankful for. Much to compel my heart to bow in wonder and worship.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Such an amazing grace! To Him be the all-deserving glory!

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WDJD

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Pete

For whatever you thought of the WWJD season, “What Would Jesus Do?” wasn’t a bad filter to be running daily decisions through. But it was a season, I think. The marketing frenzy seems to have passed. Not many wearing the wristbands or t-shirts anymore.

This morning, though, it comes to mind because of another question Paul might have us set in motion as a grid for doing life. WDJD?

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love . . .

(Ephesians 5:1-2a ESV)

Be imitators of God. Honestly, first time I read through this very familiar Ephesians passage, I practically skipped right over that command to obey. But a second reading, and a little bit of chewing, and you almost start choking on it. Imitate God?!? Really? That’s a bit ambitious isn’t it?

Maybe not. Though we’re no God . . . ain’t even close . . . we are image-bearers of God. Created to bear God’s likeness. Wired at the most intrinsic level as THEY are (Gen. 1:26-27).

And then we were re-created, by faith in the finished work of the cross, to be conformed to that likeness (Rom. 8:29). Though all that intrinsic wiring from creation had been short-circuited by sin, though we were once dead in transgressions, we were born again, infused with the living Spirit of God, the active agency by which the intrinsic material could be taken and made into a living reality. So, says Paul, “Be imitators of God.”

But how? Not gonna happen by becoming omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. No omni’s about us. Though now infused with a power from the realms of heaven, we’re still frail creatures of the dust of the earth.

But when we walk in love, Paul says, we imitate God. When, as beloved children, we love in return, we mirror our Maker. We reflect our Redeemer. We simulate our Savior. And that, as we ask ourselves continually, WDJD?  What Did Jesus Do?

And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(Ephesians 5:2 ESV)

What did Jesus do? He offered Himself to God, fully submitting His will to the Father’s. And having done that, He gave Himself up for us. His body nailed to a tree. His blood poured out on the ground. The once for all atoning sacrifice for our sin.

And so, we imitate God when we incarnate the gospel. We imitate God by walking in love as Christ loved.  Giving ourselves for others as we offer ourselves as sacrifices to God.

It starts with the sacrifice, starts with a vertical response to Him for the love shown to us through the giving of His Son. Presenting our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1), just as Jesus did.

And with the vertical operational, the horizontal becomes possible. Loving others, whether they deserve it not, because they too are image-bearers. Loving others because that’s what Jesus did. Able to do what Jesus did because it’s “no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

Because of what Jesus did, I’ve been given an example of how to imitate God and how to walk in love. What’s more, because of what Jesus did, I am also empowered to imitate God and love like Jesus loved.

Thus, I can act like God by abiding in the gospel. Mimic Him in some small way as my mind never strays far from WDJD?

By His grace. For His glory.

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Tenderhearted

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Pete

Seems over the past few days that I’m wearing a fairly consistent filter in terms of what I’m taking away from my morning readings as food for thought. A filter that captures things that I don’t want to characterize me as I get older.

Don’t want to be like Solomon who started well but drifted away with a wayward heart. Keep me Lord, as I get older, from becoming a Jeroboam who fell into the trap of taking Your gifts and thinking he needed to use them and protect them for his glory. And this morning it’s not a warning from the kings but an exhortation from Paul that’s surfaced a yellow flag for this aging man.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

(Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV)

In light of our gospel identity, which Paul lays out in the first three chapters of Ephesians, he then turns to how we should live in gospel community in Ephesians 4–how to walk in “a manner worthy of the calling” (4:1). We’re to strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit, and this as we determine to bear with one another in love (4:2-3). We’re to steward the grace enablings gifted to each one of us (4:7) as members of Christ’s “one body” (4:4) for the benefit of the whole body until we all grow up into the fullness of Christ (4:13-14). Each doing his or her part so that the body “builds itself up in love” (4:15-16).

Gospel community involves “one another” work. It’s up close, in your face work as we are tied together “by every joint.” And so it’s gonna come with some unavoidable, interpersonal friction. And, it’s gonna require some divinely enabled, interpersonal skills. That’s just how family life works.

And so, we’re not to walk like we used to walk (4:17). Nor are we to talk like we used to talk (4:29). Instead we are to put on what Paul calls our “new self.” The new man, the new woman, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:24).

And one word has captured my attention in all this. Noodling on one character trait that I’ve seen fade in others who have aged and fear it could happen to me. Chewing on 13 letters that I would want, by God’s continuing, enabling, gospel grace to mark me.

Oh, that I might be tenderhearted.

The word is only used twice in the NT. Once here by Paul, and once by Peter where he exhorts another gospel community, “Finally,all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1Pet. 3:8).

“Having strong bowels” is the literal translation. Kind of loses something, doesn’t it? But the Hebrews regarded the vital internal organs as the seat of affections. I’m thinking it would be fair to modernize the ancient literal meeting with something like “having a well-functioning heart.” A kind heart. A benevolent heart. A compassionate heart. A slow to anger heart. A quick to forgive heart. A tender heart.

And there’s something about aging that I think can often harden the heart. The school of hard knocks creating an increasing hardness. Real life experiences resulting in an increasingly cynical perspective.

So, it’s in gospel community where we have a place to exercise the heart and keep it soft and supple. In the family of God where we can continually practice tender mercies so that our heart isn’t compromised by hardened arteries.

And this we do by never forgetting the gospel–never forgetting how “God in Christ forgave you.”

The cross is the cure for the hardening heart. The reminder of the debt paid on my behalf the intrinsic motivation to cut others some slack. His patience with me as I work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Php. 2:12), my power to deal with others who are also but a sanctifying work in progress. The living Christ in me able to be the loving Christ through me.

Oh, that I might be tenderhearted.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Resisting the “How Do I Protect It” Way

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Pete

Chewing on the story of Jeroboam ascending to the throne of Israel in 1Kings 12. And there seems to be something about getting to be king of the castle which, no matter how you got there–even if the castle was freely given to you–evokes a natural tendency to go into a How Do I Protect It way of thinking.

While God didn’t appear to Jeroboam in a vision, as he had to Solomon, He did send a prophet with a pretty clear, unambiguous proclamation.

“Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes . . . And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in My ways, and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.”

(1Kings 11:31b, 37-38 ESV)

How’s that for a promise to claim!

And guess what? It happened. And Jeroboam didn’t need to fight for the northern kingdom. Didn’t need to campaign or politic. Just needed to get in front of a parade that had already determined to exit the Twelve Tribe Union because of bad decision making on the part of King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. And this too was “a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that He might fulfill His word” (12:15).

The northern ten tribes of Israel were, as the saying goes, handed to Jeroboam on a silver platter. Not because of his power, but because of a promise. Not because of his character or competence, but because He was chosen. Not because he was great, but because he had been called by a great God. Top of the food chain, not because he deserved it, but because the Sovereign God had determined it.

And like Adam and Eve when given the garden, with a very simple maintenance plan. Listen to Me. Walk in My ways. Do what is right in My eyes. And I will be with you.

But the newly crowned king, rather than trusting the LORD, starts to lean on his own understanding (Prov. 3:5-6). Instead of acknowledging Him in all matters concerning his new responsibilities, and trusting Him for straight paths, he becomes wise in his own eyes as he noodles on how to protect the throne. Rather than fear the Lord, he figures out a plan, now that he’s one top, to stay on top.

And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah. So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

(1Kings 12:26-28 ESV)

So what does he come up with? I need to keep my folks from traveling to the southern kingdom in order to protect my northern kingdom. And why would they go there? To worship the God who dwells there, the God of our deliverance from Egypt. I need to make an alternative to worshiping in Jerusalem. Thus, I need to provide a substitute for Who’s being worshiped in Jerusalem. And one golden calf . . . No! Wait! That failed at Sinai . . . Two golden calves outta’ do it!

Okay. That just sounds crazy. But that’s what you get when you start to try and hold onto something you never earned in the first place. It’s the path you’re likely to walk down when you stop trusting the promises and come up with your own plan. It’s the danger we face when God’s perfect word is jettisoned because of what we think is our better way.

How prone is my heart to be a Jeroboam heart?

To somehow believe that the gift of new life through the Spirit can be brought to fruition in the flesh (Gal. 3:3)? To somehow think that, now that I’ve been seated in heavenly places and given every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3, 2:6), I must now come up with my own game plan to ensure I keep my seat and merit the blessings? To have once trusted the Lord to begin the work, to then rely on my own wisdom and ways to complete it (Php.1:6)? That just sounds crazy. And it is.

Oh to recognize when grace is being supplanted by grit. When trusting His promises is becoming secondary to relying on our plans.

To resist and reject the How Do I Protect It way and, instead, faithfully walk in the How Do I Respond To It way.

By His grace. For His glory.

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It Could Happen To Me

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Pete

Honestly, I read the words on the page and it strikes a certain fear in me. If it could happen to him, why couldn’t it happen to me?

It’s not like the pressures of getting by day-to-day were causing him to cave–he had everything he needed, and more. Not like cultural consensus was applying a peer pressure he was tempted to succumb to–he was top of the food chain. Not like his enemies were constantly nipping at his heals compelling him to lean on his own devices for a way out–he lived in a time of peace such as hadn’t been seen for centuries. And he certainly wasn’t cognitively compromised–he was the smartest, wisest guy in the known world. And, to all this, add the fact that, on not one but two occasions, God Himself had appeared to him. Twice! Two life-changing encounters of the divine kind. Glory of God / Voice of God types of encounters.

He had it all. He knew it all. You could argue he had experienced it all. So like I said, if it could happen to him, why couldn’t it happen to me?

For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

(1Kings 11:4 ESV)

Happened to Solomon, why couldn’t it happen to me? Not the thousand wives thing (11:3), but the heart turned away after other gods thing?

Not that I’m any Solomon, either. Don’t command a lot of power. Probably of average brain. And neither my net worth, nor my position of influence, compares with his. But, like him, I have to admit I live a life of relative ease, I don’t have to worry about where my daily bread is coming from, and, though with the eyes of faith, I’ve seen the incarnate God. Oh yeah, one more thing, like Solomon, I’m definitely more on the “old” side of the continuum than I am the “young” side.

And that’s what frightens me: that someone who knew God like Solomon knew God; that someone who was blessed of God they way Solomon had been blessed of God; that someone who was as immune to outside pressure as Solomon was; that someone like that could turn his heart away after other gods when he was old.

Certainly there’s something about prosperity that can make someone susceptible to idolatry. But add age to the mix, and I’m wondering if that doesn’t increase the temptation by some x factor.

You’re in your twilight years, time to kick back a bit. You’ve paid your dues, time for someone else to pick up the slack. You’ve been through the school of hard knocks, learned a thing or two, what more do you need to learn? You’ve wrapped a good chunk of your life around family, work, church . . . time for some me focus. You’ve sacrificed, now maybe you owe it to yourself to indulge a bit. And what’s happened? You’ve let down your guard.

You get distracted. By your pleasures. Your pursuits. Your idea of what the “retired life” should look like. All the while the flesh still wars against the Spirit. The lion is still seeking someone to devour. The deceiver is still working his clever schemes. And what’s at risk? The heart.

David wasn’t a perfect man, but his heart was wholly true to the LORD. He got tripped up in sin and failed big time. But he never stopped seeking and submitting to his God. David’s son, though he had run so well for so long, didn’t finish the way his father did. In his old age, his heart was turned after other gods. Ugh!

Happened to him. It would be folly to think it couldn’t happen to others. Arrogant, to think that it couldn’t happen to me.

So, what do I do?

Determine, with a holy determination, to not let down my guard, to not succumb to any worldly idea of what “freedom” looks like in retirement. Continue to run, by His enabling, the race I’m still running, still pressing on for the imperishable prize. Continue to fight, with His power, the good fight still before me. Continue to seek first, through abiding in His presence, the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Guard my heart. Fix my eyes. Delight in Him above all things.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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Incline Our Hearts!

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Pete

The house is completed (1Ki. 7:51). The ark is brought into the Holy of Holies, placed under the wings of two massive gold cherubim, and the glory of God fills the place. So, what’s left to be done? Pray!

And that’s what Solomon does in 1Kings 8, pray. And what a prayer!

A prayer about prayer. A prophetic prayer about the future need for prayer. A pleading prayer that when the people blow it–and to be sure they’ll blow it . . . Solomon imagines a number of scenarios–and they ask for forgiveness, that God will see and hear in heaven their repentance and confession on earth. A persistent prayer asking God, again and again and again, to not only hear but to forgive.

And as I chew on this pattern of prayer I’m reminded that the only basis for such forgiveness is grace. That the only just way a just God can forgive iniquity is if the wages of sin has been paid in full. That the only way a holy God can dwell in the midst of those defiled by transgression is through the cleansing by blood of a spotless, atoning sacrifice. That the only way of reconciliation with God for those who have gone their own way in rebellion and infidelity, is through the intervention of God in making a way back through a peace offering.

So again and again, Solomon asks, When we sin, and when we pray, then Lord, show grace. Abundant, repetitious grace. Forgive.

But what really captures my thoughts this morning is another ask of grace made by the king as he concludes his petition.

“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which he spoke by Moses His servant. The LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His rules, which He commanded our fathers.

(1Kings 8:56-58 ESV)

“Incline our hearts.” How’s that for an ask?

Encompassed in the word incline are the ideas of stretching out, spreading out, making malleable, and bending, or turning, the heart. Do a work in my soul, Lord. So massage the depths of my inner person, that my heart is changed. That it’s open to You. Ready to be molded by You. Wanting to do what my flesh doesn’t want to do, longing to walk after You.

Isn’t that also the unfathomable grace of the gospel? Beyond forgiveness, beyond restoration and reconciliation of relationship, a deep, heart work that increasingly compels us to want to walk in His ways. An imparting of a thirst for obedience. The gifting of longing for a supernatural enabling to live in a supernatural way. Of desiring a transformation from the inside out. Of hoping in the sure hope that a work will be accomplished through us that only an all-powerful, steadfast-loving God could work in us.

Incline our hearts, Lord.

Show patient, repeated, abundant grace.

Finish the work you’ve begun according to Your promise (Php. 1:6).

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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A Big Deal!

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Pete

I don’t think the editors of my reading plan could have a designed it this way, but maybe. But, then again, maybe not. There’s just been too many times when the different readings line up that I can’t imagine how you would coordinate them all. Unless, of course, the coordinator was a divine Coordinator.

Anyway, I know this morning’s confluence of readings in 1Kings and Ephesians has caught my attention before. But I don’t think I’m any less amazed by the “coincidence” and the implications.

First, reading in 1Kings 6 and the description of the temple Solomon builds for the LORD. As I usually do when I read this passage, I pull up an artist’s rendering of the temple to look at while I read. Helps me take the technical details recorded in God’s word and see a picture of the magnificence of the finished product in God’s house.

And as I’m reading, I’m struck again that God cares about where His glory dwells. We saw that back in Exodus, through the elaborate instructions given for the tabernacle in the wilderness. And we see it here, through the painstaking, God-breathed, eternally preserved description of what Solomon built. God’s house is a big deal!

And that sets me up for this morning’s Ephesians reading and for these verses in particular:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV)

Come on people! That’s gotta get ya’ excited!

The church, she isn’t perfect, but she is being built into a holy temple, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. And in Scripture, dwelling places of God are a big deal!

You can take your mighty cedars of Lebanon, your planks of cypress, your slabs of chiseled stone, your rooms of gold, and your towering gold-covered cherubim–take it, in all it’s magnificence, and hold up to the church, and it pales in comparison.

Blocks of granite and marble replaced with living stones, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. Cedars of Lebanon supplanted by an old rugged cross. Gold-plating perishing over time, unlike the blood of Christ that covers forever those being made into a holy temple in the Lord. The curtain blocking the holy of holies in Solomon’s day torn from top to bottom today so that all who are brought into His new and improved, blood-bought priesthood–the household of God–might enter boldly before His throne of grace.

Sure, we’re still a work in progress. But what a work! And the finished product will be beyond what we could ever imagine!

Not because of who we are, but because of what He’s done. Not because of what we’ve done, but because of who He is.

We are the church. A holy temple in the Lord. A dwelling place for God by the Spirit. And that, my friends, is a big deal!

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.

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Open Our Eyes!

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Pete

Okay, yesterday I thought it was a good ask. This morning I know it’s a good ask. Yesterday I had two witnesses testifying it was a profitable prayer, Solomon in 1Kings and Paul in Ephesians. This morning, the songwriter chimes in as the third witness. No doubt about it. This is solid ground. “Open my eyes” is a good ask to ask.

Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.

(Psalm 119:17ESV)

Deal bountifully. Be generous with me (MSG). Dish out blessing, a lot of blessing (PJC).

Stop there and imagine all that the songwriter could have had in mind. What kind of bounty could he be asking the Lord to deal out? Wealth? Health? Favor in business? Happiness–however that might be defined? Yup, coulda’ been any of those things. But it wasn’t.

The songwriter wants to live life, and life to the full. Whatever his threescore and ten (Ps. 90:10 KJV) might be, he wanted to max it out. And that, he knows, is possible only when the creation is in step with the Creator. When image-bearers walk in the way of the One whose image they bear. When daily duty is enveloped in divine direction. Be generous with me, says the psalmist, so that I might do life. And real life is living according to Your word.

And so, the ask. Teachers? Preachers? Mentors? Bible studies? Books? Blogs? Podcasts? Video streaming? What’s the bounty the songwriter’s wanting to be dealt?

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

(Psalm 119:18 ESV)

Open my eyes! That’s the ask.

Uncover them. Remove any blinders of bias. Take down walls of know-it-all-ism. Dispel the remnant darkness of a corrupt heart. Because, when I read Your word, I want to behold wondrous things in Your word. And I can’t do that, unless You open my eyes, Lord. Unless You illuminate Your word.

And far from his petition being sourced in some sort of academic orientation, it is actually an intensely practical, in touch with reality ask.

I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me!

(Psalm 119:19 ESV)

I know I am a sojourner. A temporary inhabitant. A foreigner with no inherited rights. Just a pilgrim looking for a land. This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. (Catchy . . . someone should write a song about that.)

And because I’m a stranger in these parts (MSG), I need a GPS. I need direction. I need wisdom. I need to know the pitfalls. I need to know the way. And I really need to know the way to get back on the way when I trip up or get distracted from the way. And that, Lord, is found in Your word.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

There was a season when every morning I prayed that prayer as I opened my Bible. Still do sometimes. Perhaps I should more.

Can’t think of a better way to engage God’s word than to ask God to open our eyes. To believe that there are wondrous things, extraordinary things, marvelous things to be discovered every time we enter into encounters of the divine kind with words breathed-out by God Himself. And believing that, to ask God, through His Spirit, for help in receiving that.

Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

(Psalm 119:24 ESV)

Open our eyes, by Your grace. Direct our sojourning, for Your glory.

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A Good Ask

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Pete

Wasn’t really a genie-in-the-bottle-granting-any-three-wishes thing, but you gotta admit, it was kind of close.

At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

(1Kings 3:5 ESV)

Ask, says Jehovah. Apparently it’s in the imperative voice. So essentially God is commanding Solomon, “Tell me what you want!”

No parameters. No caveats. No restrictions. Lay out it for Me, Solomon.

We know that had Solomon sought to personally profit from this once in a lifetime offer it wouldn’t have surprised the LORD. Had the rookie king asked the King of kings for good health, or money, or fame, or even tried to be tricky and asked for unlimited wishes, God, knowing His creation inside and out, would have understood where the ask had come from.

But none of those things, nor anything else that might benefit or promote self, were at the top of Solomon’s wish list.

“And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. . . . Give Your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern Your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this Your great people?”

(1Kings 3:7, 9 ESV)

And just like they do when I go through a Starbucks drive-thru, the LORD repeats the “order” to make sure it’s what Solomon asked for:

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word.

(1Kings 3:10-12a ESV)

Understanding. Discernment. Hearing the voice of God. Having insight to the ways of God. The ability to recognize when the right heavenly principles should be applied to complex earthly situations. Good ask, Solomon!

One of my early mentors (didn’t call him that, just a guy a few years older than me who was willing to hang out with me and live Christ before me) used to pray Solomon’s prayer, asking for insight and wisdom in doing what God had called him to do. Forty-plus years later I still think of him as one of the wisest, most discerning guys I know.

But it’s not only my buddy of way back who thought Solomon’s ask was a good ask. As I then got to Ephesians in this morning’s readings, I’m thinking Paul would have thought it was good ask, as well.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe.

(Ephesians 1:16-19a ESV)

Isn’t that what Solomon wanted? The eyes of his heart enlightened? That God, through His Spirit of wisdom and revelation, might give knowledge of things not seen with the eye, nor heard with the ear, nor learned through a textbook?

Paul wanted his children in the faith TO KNOW. To know the hope. To know the riches. To know the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us.

Shouldn’t we, like Solomon, ask also for such understanding and discernment? Might it be a good idea to pray Paul’s prayer on own behalf? To know deep down the reality of our forever future? To be firmly convinced that we labor now for a treasure yet to be realized? And that we do so drawing on a source of power the likes of which the world can’t really fathom–because that power created this world, that power raised Jesus from the dead?

I’m thinking it would be a good thing to push other needs to the bottom of the wish list, I mean prayer list, as we first ask, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord!”

Isn’t that a good ask? I’m thinkin’ . . .

By His grace alone. For His glory alone.

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The Obedience and Optics of Blamelessness

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Pete

Complete. Whole. Without blemish. Without fault.

Blameless.

Not a word you really ever see in someone’s bio. Certainly not one you’re gonna see in mine. Unless . . .

Came across the attribute, blameless, in two of my readings this morning. First, in the Psalter as I started in on the grand love song concerning the Word of God, Psalm 119.

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways!

(Psalm 119:1-3 ESV)

To be sure, there is blessing in obedience. Makes sense, doesn’t it? He who made us for Himself would know the dos and don’ts of what will make us happy in ourselves. To walk in the ways He’s revealed; to keep the testimonies He has provided; to wholeheartedly seek to follow His instructions; just makes sense that it’s gonna be the happy way, the blessed way, the blameless way. That’s the obedience of blamelessness.

But how many of us know it also as the illusive way? Though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. We know it ’cause we’ve experienced it. No matter how hard we’ve tried at obedience, no matter how often we’ve been somewhat successful at it, most of us are more likely to put “chief of sinners” on our business card than we are “blameless.”

Cue Ephesians 1.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

(Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV)

I love feasting on Ephesians. For me, it’s the finest meal in a Michelin Three Star restaurant. Especially the opening inventory of who we are and what we possess “in Christ” (Eph. 1:1-14).

Possessors of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ. Adopted as sons and daughters of God, through Christ. Redemption by His blood. Forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of His grace lavished upon us. And all this, in the Beloved.

Having obtained an inheritance, in Him. Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee until we take possession of it.  Because of faith in Him.

Brought into union with who He is, His perfect nature. More than conquerors over sin and death as we appropriate what He has done, the finished work of the cross. And all to the praise of His glory.

And within this glorious inventory, He chose us to be blameless before Him. Or, as other translations render it, without blame “in His sight” (CSB, NASB, NIV). Before the face of God, on display without veil before His eyes, nothing hidden, He looks upon us and sees us without blemish. Because we are in Christ. That’s the optics of blamelessness.

And while there may be a “but” of reality with the obedience of blamelessness, there is no “but” when it comes to the optics. To be sure, I aspire to walk, however feebly, without fault by loving and seeking to obey the word. But I also rest and rejoice in my unblemished standing, holy before a holy God, because Another has clothed me in His blemish-free holiness, and has credited to my account His perfect righteousness.

And while I may be blessed through whatever measure I attain to an obedience of blamelessness, He is to be blessed forever because of the once forever determined optics of blamelessness.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

What amazing, glorious grace “with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.”

To Him be all the praise!

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