When have you observed the blazing glory of a tropical sunset
or the soft, silvery shimmer of moonlight on the ocean waves,
or a baby’s birth and first lusty cry,
or a bird weaving her nest, hatching and feeding her young
and wondered, who made it?
When we thoughtfully consider the world around us, we instinctively know our environment is not some haphazard cosmic accident but the handiwork of a Master Designer. The earth did not come about by the snap of some giant fingers but was deliberately planned and prepared in an orderly progression of events. Like Planet Earth around us, your life is not a haphazard cosmos, either. You were deliberately planned to be filled with the beauty of love and joy and peace and purpose-filled with God Himself.
In 1976, just about every self-respecting person in the South went to church on Sunday. It was part of our culture. But I knew the religious pablum the people were being fed didn’t even come close to satisfying their emptiness within-because I knew I wasn’t satisfied.
Looking back, I can plainly see that God was using my need to stir me up and make me aware of the needs of others. But what could one person do in the face of such overwhelming spiritual hunger? When a friend suggested that I do something about the spiritual starvation in our city, I actually laughed. But I started a Bible class that has multiplied ten times during the past thirty-five years so that thousands of men and women have studied God’s Word for themselves.
There are so many needs in our cities but is there one need that God has brought to your attention? Describe to Him what you see and how impossible it would be for you to do anything at all to meet that need. Then be alert to what He may reveal to you further.
In the midst of our suffering, it can often be difficult to glimpse the glory to come. Suffering is so immediate and can seem so permanent that we can easily lose sight of the big picture. The pain can be so crushing and our hearts can be so broken that we just don’t understand why! Why me? Whenever that question tends to fill my mind, I hear Him whisper to my heart, “Anne, why not you? Just trust Me! Trust Me to be with you. Trust Me to bring you through. Trust Me to be enough for you. Trust Me – because I love you!”
When I don’t understand why, I trust Him because . . . God loves even me!
Are you hurt because you’ve thought that if God truly loved you, you would be exempt from pain and problems and pressure? Lay your hurts at His nail-pierced feet – and just trust Him because He loves even you!
Today countless people look for a god within themselves or in crystals or in trees or in a former life or in some statue or in a religious experience or in the stars. But John declares the awesome truth that the glory of God is not confined in any of those things, just as it is no longer confined on a mountain or in a Tabernacle or as a cloud or fire or as a reflection on a face. Instead “the Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John is saying emphatically, “I have seen Him!”
“I’ve seen Him when He was alone.”
“I’ve seen Him when He was surrounded by a crowd of people.”
“I’ve seen Him dead,”
“I’ve seen Him buried,”
“I’ve seen Him risen,”
“I’ve seen Him ascended.”
And in every situation I have seen Him full of grace and full of truth! I have seen the face of God-in the face of Jesus!
Is there someone who comes to your mind as being totally incompatible with you? A parent? Or sibling? Or spouse? Or roommate? Or child? Or supervisor? Or employer?
Have you felt incompatibility was reason enough to sever the relationship? Or at least to avoid it at all costs? Yet there are times when we have no option but to live with or work with or be thrown together with someone who totally contradicts our own personalities and natures. At such times the relationship can become so strained that we can even perceive the incompatible person as an enemy. But there is another way . . .
Jesus focused His disciples on His way of dealing with incompatibility. The key is to make our relationship with Jesus the priority of our lives. Jesus reminded His disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
