VARYING DEGREES OF LIGHT

The struggle to walk in the Light of Christ in this wicked world is at times; like a ship in a storm at sea!  It's a matter of holding on and crying out to God; because there is nothing to fight against the pounding waves and the power of the winds ripping your sails apart!  How often we Christians feel defeated, or tired of trying when everyone around us doesn't seem to be?  How often we stifle that hurt feeling, or suppress the anger seething inside, only to find we are depressed; because we have not dealt with it?  Well we are to obey Christ and walk and talk and think and love as HE does aren't we? Sooo we cannot say what is truly on our minds, are conscious of how it will be received or damage it can do, and submissively seek to forgive the hurt...stifling isn't the answer!  It will just build up like a volcano (perhaps that is what we can learn from them).  There is always an undercurrent that will either "move" things (us from holiness) or "explode" (our old man returns full of self)!

So how do we deal with such?  I have been reading about living in 'absolute surrender'....and singing the song by "The Newsboys"...."I wanna live with abandon"!  However my life is far from it!!  Why do I walk so well in His Light for a time, only to fall back into the world, and the 'old nature' appears as if it had never left?  My soul hungers for the days when I felt His Presence, I heard His Voice, and saw His Work in my life and in answers to prayers!! That joy that sparked my day with Light, used to permeate everything I thought, said and did! I want that and to KEEP IT!!

I look at the Lights in the world...the Sun, is ever faithful like God is.  The Moon has varying phases.  We are to reflect Christ into this dark world...like the Moon.  Sometimes we are a 'hairline" barely visible, or a quarter, half or full moon of Light, or obscured by clouds of worry, fear, sorrow, anger and hurts...or we are a BIG BOLD HARVEST MOON!  Like God, the Sun is ever-present...though we cannot see it when it is nighttime...it isn't gone, we are just moved away for a bit!  So is the Moon.  We may not always be in the fullest of illumination...but we are still here! Our nearness to either Light is based on the movement of the earth.  While we cannot control the rotation of the earth or its orbit and axis...we can control our nearness to God!  We need to remember, that if it feels like nighttime-- dark, lonely and quiet---He is still there--I need to be trusting, obedient, believing, and focused on being filled with Light; not on the problems and people of my daily life who "darken" my path.  If I continually surrender self to Him...not stifle myself to Him...emptying my "self" tendencies...out of the vessel of my soul and filling it up with Him...what Light there will be!!!

THE RACE BEFORE US

Hebrews 12:1-2...A cloud of witness over our heads--those people in Heaven are there because of Jesus...not because we hope they are there or that they were good folks on earth.  They are there because they kept the faith!  They believed the Gospel of Christ.  They believed Jesus is Who He said He is and that His Death was to redeem those who would accept His Offering.  Now His Death was not an easy thing--to experience the penalty for every sin of all humanity in Divine Justice...nor shall the Road to Zion be an easy thing for us!  Following Christ is the most difficult; yet most rewarded choice we can make.  It's a free gift. You can freely accept or reject it but not without consequences.  There are spiritual laws just as there are natural laws.  Gravity pulls a ball back to the earth as a natural law or force.  To opt out of the Redemption from the Sin Curse leaves one being pulled into all that is not of God.  Where there is Light also exists its counterpart of darkness and where there is Love, Peace and Joy....there is hate, confusion, worry, fear, and sadness waiting in the wings.  Where there is Life and Healing, there exists its alternative of death, pain, and misery.  It's a free choice, but do not mistake that nothing is expected in return.  We are to surrender our will for His--laying down our lives and its desires to please self and allow Him to lead us on the road to Home.  It's not an easy or simple thing to do...living for Christ. The verse goes on to say "laying aside every weight" and "sin" which surounds us, let us run by "patience" to the "fight" proposed to us.

That word "weight"---what's heavy on our minds, weighing down our spirits--that keeps us from moving freely, from doing what we need to, that keeps us from Him? What sin is affecting us? The world seems to deny that sin exists...many of us gloss over what "used" to be called sin.  So many things have been downgraded to "culture" or "simplified" or even "exalted" as the new awakening!  

Let us run by "patience" or rather by determination and endurance.  Nobody runs a marathon at full speed . They pace themselves so as not to expend all their energy early and not be able to complete the course.

We have a lifetime of this "course".  We need to use strategy, exercise our spirit, feed our souls, get needed rest and quiet time, and keep our focus on our goal going towards God in Heaven....not on the other runners, distractions around us, or any other task.  Verse 2 says "looking on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, Who having joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame and now sitteth on the Right Hand of God".

An author writes.  Our stories are already written. He knows everything about us before we are even born.  Governments, hackers, spirits of the world and of the darkness will continue to "collect data and knowledge about us" to "appear" to know everything concerning us--but only God knows EVERYTHING!  

He is the "finisher" of our faith.  Perfection is a process.  A diamond isn't produced in a day--but after a long crushing process becomes a glistening beauty of worth.  Is this why Israel is represented by gemstones?  Not everyone's journey is the same.  The road to the Cross was not joyful...the joy set before Christ was seeing all of us taken out of the grasp of death, darkness and evil.  He hated what we were suffering so He came to suffer and die to make a new and living way out for us!  He opened the "portal" to Heaven, to Paradise, to the City of God! He now sits at the Right Hand of God welcoming  moment by moment, soul after soul that has cried out to Him in faith. 

In our everyday struggles, we must realize there are forces we cannot see that try to impede our journey.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood; but against  principalities and powers; against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against spirits of wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6: 12).

God's Word tells us to seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the Right Hand of God, not the things upon the earth. (Coloss. 3:1-2) That does not mean we walk around blind to what is happening here in this world...or like people texting and glued to their iphones...but to have hope and realize we cannot "fix" everything or everyone....we need to do good, be good, and know good while we are here and in our sphere of influence...that "sphere" has expanded incredibly due to technology....social media can be a tool for good or for evil. It can bless us and it can curse us---anything on earth can! Be aware and awake!

Many of us know all this and have been struggling for awhile...we may feel like hypocrites or like we lack faith or hang our heads in shame because we keep coming back to "start".  We don't go all the way back to start....we just get knocked off balance, off to the side of the road, or injured in spirit.  We need to catch our breath, forgive ourselves and others and re-evaluate where we are...how far we have come...remember where we had been...fix our eyes back on the road and keep going!  This may mean making changes, withdrawing from people who are "thorns", recommitting ourselves (not re-baptizing) and learning from the mistakes and mishaps so as not to be so easily thwarted. 

 The Boston Bomber is a personification of evil to stop folks in their tracks...to interfere in the race.  Satan is real, and his minions are real...and their mission is to injure, destroy and keep us from God any way they can....but also remember HEAVEN IS FOR REAL!  As long as we keep believing and trying....we shall see Him as He is ...and we shall be like Him! (1 John 3:2) 

THE STORY OF 'US'!

Just watched the final episode of "How I Met Your Mother".  Of course, the finale could never compare to the esteemed tv series ending of "Mash"!  Yet it is a sad thing when we face change with things in life left behind in the context of memories.

Our lives are in the form of story.  There is the beginning, the subsequent chapters, and the ending.  Unlike a book, we don't have the luxury of staying on one page for too long or to put a bookmark until we decide to revisit.  The story must begin and progress, moving sometimes smoothly into the next body of text or being thrown into the emotional saga of another chapter.  Story has joy, intrigue, sorrow, laughter, tears, and conflict.  Everyone has multiple plots because our lives interact with various characters.  These create the narratives that continue from page to page.

Often we go back and revisit prior chapters; wishing we could change them.  If we could, then the story wouldn't be the same...we would not be the same.  If Jennifer Cavaleri had been cured of Leukemia, "Love Story" would not have had the heart-wrenching effect that is timeless today.  Perhaps, changing the gender of Harry Potter....would not have quite the impact either.  How would the intimacy with God and the ability to forgive be achieved...if the little girl that befell evil in "The Shack" had not happened?  All the supernatural, the personal spiritual journey, and outcomes could not relate the same tale.  They would become entirely different!

We cannot go back and edit our lives.  There is something to be said about proofreading our future though.  We can decisively choose many things...and events that are beyond our control...can still choose our reactions.  Omitting and ripping out pages we don't like or wished never to have experienced would leave us an incomplete work.

Sad as they are, changes are necessary for the progression of the manuscript of our lives.  Marriages, babies, divorce, college, careers, grandchildren, unemployment, aging, church, reunions, holidays, milestones, and death are all part of the 'Story of Us'.

The great thing for the Christian though....is the ending...that last chapter is not final-----IT'S NEVERENDING!!   The story continues with God's Editing.  He has rewritten every line to a climax of unprecedented highs...that never decline or wane!!  The tears of sorrow will not dampen the cheek, and the pains of life shall not exist!  Darkness and evil fade away!  All things are become new!  We are works in progress that are authored by the Creator of all that is; whose literary excellence is unmatched on any bestseller list!!  

JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE!

In considering the different levels of intimacy with God, all I need to do is look at the 12 Apostles!  We know that Peter was chosen to be the leader of the Church.  We know John is thought to be the one who loved Jesus so deeply, and was given the honor of taking His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary to his home after the Crucifixion.  We know that Judas betrayed Him.  The 12 men Jesus chose weren't of nobility and wealth.  They were everyday hardworking folks just like we are!

These guys saw the supernatural up close and personal!  How often do we see anything supernatural today?  If we did, would we say it was from God or would we scream demonic? Or would we find a scientific explanation?  What would we do if someone said, "don't take them to the hospital---there's a guy in town who can touch and heal"?  How about if someone were crying over the death of a loved one, and someone said, "don't cry....there's a messiah nearby who raised a man from the dead....let's go get Him"!  Straight-jacket time eh?

Yet these 12 men saw a child raised from the dead...saw Lazarus come out of the tomb after 4 days!  They saw the blind men see, paralyzed men leap, the bleeding woman that no doctor could remedy...find healing just by touching His Garment! They watched a fig tree wither and die...bread multiply to feed thousands...and Him tell the storms to "be still"....and walk on water!  These stories have all been told.  They were all EXPOSED TO THE SUPERNATURAL! 

Of the 12, Jesus chose 3....to be a bit more intimate.  He chose Peter, James, John to see Him in His Transfigured Glory....BEFORE...He actually died and ascended into Heaven...oh yeah....they got to see THAT also! SPECTACULAR!

Did Jesus love these 3 more than the others?  I highly doubt that!  Rather, I believe it is because they were open to receive more from Him, thereby seeking and able to grasp a deeper revealing of His Majesty!  Those people who need explanations for everything or a scientific reason--- it is by inquiring minds that many discoveries have been made; but to dismiss the spiritual explanations as antiquated or for weak-minded people----rejecting religion and faith-based teachings---limits you.  You can enjoy science and God!  To me, science is only teaching what God already knows! 

 Thomas just had to see for himself!  Jesus said He had many things to tell the Apostles but they weren't able to bear it just then...He took them on a journey and grew them up!  To see the Divine in His Glory beforehand...wow!  Peter went from denying him three times to beholding the Fantastic Glory of God in Christ while He was still alive!!  Now that is intimacy---seeing the complete person inside and out!  It was not given to the others...maybe they weren't ready? Maybe their walk was still on the natural side of things? Perhaps, they were still doubting? Were they just content to follow and watch the Teacher do all the wonderful things for the crowds? We don't know...but we do know...Jesus had an "inner circle".  I want to be in that Light!  I want more than this natural world! I want to do more than just follow teachings! I want a closer walk with Him!

IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE!

This is one of those verses that I meditated on and the Holy Spirit began to speak volumes. He began to talk about Heaven and what "rewards" we would get!  We think of mansions as huge homes with many, many rooms that only the very wealthy reside.  In our day, images of the skyscrapers come to mind as well for me....the lobby all the way up to the penthouse.  The wealthy reside in those also.  The neat thing about Heaven, is that it isn't the value of wealth that determines our place of residence in the City of God!  Just think of the extreme poverty in Africa and Haiti and others. Those poor souls may surprise us in Heaven! We may be shocked at what we think we deserve and what we shall actually receive!!

Rewards come to mind.  Jesus said some would get 30, some 60, and some  a hundredfold. Obviously not the same for everyone.  What did He mean by that?  I liken it to "you get what you give"!  Our faith journey is determined by us-- not our circumstances.  If going to church and thinking about God only at Christmas and Easter is all you need...with minimal investment...why would you be upset that your place of reward offers a small cottage? Would you be upset if your neighbor was given a beautiful suite of rooms in a lavish mansion?  You know, the fellow that you rolled your eyes at because he wouldn't go to the strip club with the guys, or the woman who actually said she wouldn't go see Magic Mike at the movies?  Heaven, everyone is saved!  Not everyone gets to the penthouse!  

What is the difference you say?  I tend to think of it as....I may be introduced by the "doorman" into the lobby....staring at the beautiful scenery and enjoying the music....but my "clearance" won't allow me to go up to see my neighbor with the suite of rooms on the sixth floor.  The neighbor can go from his floor and visit everyone on the other floors below...but he cannot go up to the penthouse either.  The family in the penthouse can go anywhere in the building because all the floors are below him. Soooo...maybe you don't want to see that neighbor and who cares about a penthouse anyhow?

What if your child is up in the penthouse...and you can't go to them...but if they want to see you ...could only come down to visit?  Perhaps, your grandparents are on the 10th floor...and you are in the lobby...you have missed them terribly and desire to see them now.  You cannot go where they are...they can only come down to you.  You are happy, you are saved, you are blessed...but you are not on the same level as others you wish to be with!  Would God do that, limit us?

It's not about limits as much as how much you have been able to grasp, to understand, to develop.  A baby is beautiful but has no language skills, the toddler is precious but cannot do Algebra, the high school Freshman is striving and achieving but is not the teacher, the teacher knows enough to educate but is not on the genius scale with the incredible IQ.  Your journey is going to take you down many paths and reveal wondrous things...but if you are too busy to take in the scenery, or too distracted to hear all the music and sounds, or too lazy to work and build on the way---you are limiting yourself!  This is not to say that only church -going people who volunteer for every ministry is guaranteed the penthouse...its not about "works" in the world as much as "works in the heart".  How much have you sought God? How much have you tried to incorporate His Teachings into your daily life?  Does the world know you are a Christian? Or is it a "personal" thing?  It is a personal thing...but your actions will reveal  how your personal faith affects your life.  

So when I examine myself for Lent--there is consideration about where I may find my reward...am I doing enough to get by?  Am I going to see loved ones I miss?  Am I going to see the Apostles?  Am I going to given the panoramic view in ecstasy or a narrow window?  The Angels are ranked by degrees...the Seraphim are closest to God's Throne...the " burning ones"...how bright will my glory be...a simple light in a closet or a blinding planet like the sun!!