"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him." // Psalm 25.14 

Tonight's sermon hit me hard. It revolved around the importance of our relationship with God. How Job, David, Daniel, and John the apostle are spoken of in the Bible as having a special relationship with God. A relationship more intimate than others around them. It was said of Job that there was "no one on earth like him." David lived "after {God's} own heart." In Daniel 9.23 {our text for tonight}, he is spoken of as "greatly loved" by God. And, John - the one whom Jesus loved. 

Something was special about these men. They brought a delightful satisfaction to God's heart. And He rewarded them by revealing more of Himself to them. A prime example of this can be found in John 13.21-30. Jesus reveals to John, his beloved disciple, the one of the twelve that would betray him. 

I was touched with conviction. Our walk with Christ is so often pushed to the number two spot in our lives. The number five. The number fifty! But when we look at these men - imperfect as they were - we see people who pursued their relationship with God with overwhelming ambition. And they were rewarded! Rewarded with an intimate relationship where God revealed more of himself, his will, and his wisdom to them. How beautiful a picture. I sat there tonight jealous of their intimacy with the Father, longing to be closer to him than I am. 

But the sermon ended on this note: we can do something about it. The closer we listen to the scriptures preached, the deeper we delve into the Word, the greater investment we make in prayer - all with sincerity - that is what builds our relationship to God, and thus more of himself is revealed. What we do doesn't save us, but it can grow us. Let us not be lazy Christians as it is so easy to be. Let us be driven to put our relationship with God as the absolute number one in our lives. Let us be the "greatly loved."

Yes the past is His story

A lot of sorrowful things happened this weekend. I found myself subconsciously mumbling, "Oh, it's very sad." My heart goes out to everyone suffering from one lost -  every life matters. 

But all of this sadness has given me a mind to share with you today a list of thankfuls. The Lord has blessed me with so many things. So many beautiful things. And thinking about them reminds me of his continual presence in the world today - his hand sovereign over everything. 

1. I am thankful for the sunshine.

From the month of June to this lovely weather to days at the pool, sunshine simply makes it all a million times better.

2. I am thankful for a refreshing Sunday.

Today was the fifth day of me suffering from a rough cold. It has been an interesting couple of days; however, the rest I got today was exactly what I needed. I was so blessed by the live streaming of our church's service in the morning followed by an amazing online exposition this evening from Ruth by Alistair Begg {listen here}. 

3. I am thankful for pretty things.

Because, honestly, the Lord made things beautiful for me to enjoy them. And you too. Wouldn't want to forget you and the rest of the world.

4. I am thankful for laughs with my church friends.

I treasure every laugh. Laughs are what make friendships last. And our long-lasting friendship is a testament to that. Can't wait to have more tomorrow with you. #ygcloseout

5. I am thankful for my little kiddos.

Goodness, I love my girlies! I love singing with them, snuggling them, braiding their hair, and sticking our toes in the stream until we can't feel them. I'm thankful they understand when I'm not feeling 100% and watch the movie from my childhood that they've never heard of. I found myself anticipating my time with them more every day as school drew near to a close; and here we are. :) We have such lovely days together and I could not be more thankful to call them my girls. 

"Mightier than the waves of the sea is His love for you." // Psalm 93.4

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1. SET YOUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE // Colossians 3.2

So many things occupy our minds as we go about our days. Our thoughts are clouded with all that needs to be done, what we don't have time to do, and what we see like a storm building in the distance preparing to break over our heads. I am reminded of Mary and Martha. Let's be honest, if the Lord Jesus was in our house, would we not be fussing over the crumbs on the counter or that sweet tea you forgot to prepare? All too often, we fall into our inner Martha focusing on earthly things.

Colossians 3.1-4 urge us to "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (vs. 1). Mary sought our Lord; revered our Lord with full attention. All the little scuffs and scratches on the hardwood mattered not to her, simply the glory of her Savior.

2. PUT TO DEATH WHAT IS WORLDLY IN YOU // Colossians 3.5

I could dedicate my time spent on this verse to elaborate on all that Paul says deserves the wrath of God. If you are at all familiar with any of Paul's letters, you are familiar with the type of lists to which I am referring. However, I want to draw your focus to later in the paragraph - verses 9 and 10. They challenge believers to be rid of such things "since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." In our new self, our knowledge of sin should drive us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to shape our lifestyle into the image of Christ.

While the NIV speaks poetically of "clothing ourselves" with these qualities, the ESV undoubtedly breaks down this concept in the words "put on." In either case, the message stands that these qualities should become a part of our identity as children of God.  It is from these that true beauty and loveliness stems, and as aspiring "Colossians 3 women," these should be our clothes adorning our identity as those living in Christ.

4. BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER // Colossians 3.13a

A similar verse comes to mind when Ephesians 4.2 states, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." The third verse goes on to explain the fruit of such bearing as the "preservation of the unity of the Spirit." How hypocritical we would look as believers snapping at each other with pride and hostility! A large part of this command is to further reflect the image of God through healthy, flourishing relationships with his people.

5. FORGIVE AS THE LORD FORGAVE YOU // Colossians 3.13b

I'm just going to lay out this full verse for you: "Forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." 

When I spent my first summer on staff at Camp last year, my fellow coworkers and I completely fell in love with this passage. It held so much relevance to where we were as a bunch of teenage girls living together 24/7 for a month. This verse was where, I found, we excelled. If someone clunked too loud down the stairs early in the morning and woke another up, the latter brought it up during a group "pow-wow" and humbly asked for the former to be quieter the next morning. No hostility held. No offense taken. It was beautiful to see them embody such Christ-like forgiveness. I will love those girls forever.

6. OVER ALL THESE, PUT ON LOVE WHICH BINDS THEM TOGETHER IN PERFECT UNITY // Colossians 3.14

1 Corinthians 13 lists practically all of the qualities spoken of in the previous verses in its definition of love. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a

Later in that passage, love is declared "the greatest of these." John tells us in his first epistle that "God is love" (1J.4.8). As image bearers of God, are we not to embody the one quality stated as equal with God? 

Some others quickly,

7. LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS // Colossians 3.15a 

8. BE THANKFUL // Colossians 3.15b

9. SING TO GOD WITH GRATITUDE IN YOUR HEARTS // Colossians 3.16

Whole verse - "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."

And, take this final one as a charge:

10. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS // Colossians 3.17

Whole verse - " And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

xo, Alyssa

{Much thanks to the Bible Gateway for the citing of this devotion}

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Do we really mean it when we sing with gusto of the love that demands our 'soul, our life, our all"?

The times I have sang this hymn without contemplating this deep lyric outnumbers the stars. I remember the first time this thought pierced me - it wasn't when I sang it. In retrospect, I believe I have touched on this very article before, but the SheReadsTruth devotion app has a series of reading plans entitied Hymns, and one of those they chose was "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."

It was in the reading of this hymn that I was convicted. Read it again - or for your first time - with me:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small. 

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all. 

Wow. I am so unworthy. 

In this sermon, my pastor spoke of all the distractions we have in our everyday lives. How much time we spend - we make to spend - on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix (yes that one cuts deep) -  and we don't give a second thought to spending that "made time" in his presence. The church was silent. I know for a fact that every attentive person present that morning was instantly convicted. 

The hymnwriter is saying that even if I had the entire realm of nature to give as payment for my sins alone, it would be far too small. But, Christ's amazing and divine love washes away our sins leaving us as white as snow. We deserve nothing except the fires of hell. Can we not repay even the slightest fragment of the debt by devoting our soul, our life, our all to him?

Naturally the question comes: what is our all? 

And it is a tough one to answer. So I'm going to refer back to the wisdom of my pastor. 

We have been studying the book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings. Nestled in the middle of the book is the celebration and the prayer of the people upon the miraculous completion of the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. What struck me was the behavior of the Israelites during this service of sorts that lasted over six hours.

1. They were hungry for the Word.

My dad used to teach fifth grade English. Naturally, every English teacher has a favorite read-aloud, and his is Caddie Woodlawn. I remember him coming home from school one day describing the eager students meeting him with the book in hand as he entered the classroom begging him to pick up on Caddie's next adventure.

When was the last time our hunger for the Word was this ravenous?

2. They were attentive to the Word.

I'm not going to lie; I know without the Lord sustaining me that I could not remain attentive to a six hour sermon. A ninety-minute sermon would be a stretch. But, Nehemiah states in chapter 8 that "the ears of ALL were attentive..." My pastor also stressed that this attentiveness was part of their worship and is part of ours today. Their hunger drove their attention. And if they grew weary, they called upon the Lord and He sustained them.

3.They were sensitive to the Word.

In their hunger-driven attentiveness, they absorbed what they were hearing and applied it to themselves. The Bible says they wept at their shortcomings before the Lord. They sensed their unworthiness for the miraculous act He had just performed through them in the building of the wall. But, short were their tears!

4. They were joyful in the Word.

This ceremony of sorts where we find the Israelites was in celebration of this work. The passage says they lifted their hands shouting "Amen! Amen!" Full of Joy.


All this to say, I believe our all has to do with these four things. Our increased hunger, attention, sensitivity, and joy for the Lord and his Word will grow our fullness of love to him. Understand again that this goal of giving Him our all is unattainable; the whole realm of nature  as a gift would not even scratch the surface of what He deserves. But, rather than discourage, this should drive us to give him everything we have.

How he loves us. Oh, how he loves!

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Amidst all the craziness, I have been observing. Observing the way people think about themselves, about other people, and about the religious realm. When I say people, tonight I am considering the non-Christians among my acquaintance. My observations are as follows, and I write them in hopes of deriving application to myself and do not count myself guiltless in any of these areas:

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1. Selfishness 

This one has struck me in a unique way and has perhaps been the most obvious to me in my observation. When I write of selfishness, I am speaking more of the self-focused mindset that threads itself into everything they think, say, or do. Never does a thought directed toward the customer's perspective cross their mind. 

"It was so rude of them to not leave a tip on such an expensive order."

"Perhaps they didn't leave a tip because of how painfully expensive the order was. Or maybe they had a rough work day. Maybe their cat died this morning. Maybe today they found out their spouse has cancer."

You just don't know. 

Their selfish attitudes towards others has reminded me to put others first. To be understanding. To put myself in their shoes. To treat them as I would want myself to be treated. To serve them and expect nothing from them. And to love them. 

Their selfishness has revealed to me another dimension of Christ's humility. True humility is not merely the absence of pride. It is a complete denial of self. It penetrates us to the core. And, it is hard. I struggle with it every day in so many different areas of my life.

May our pride be in Christ as our only source of salvation.

2. Language 

My observation here is simple: it is called a "dirty mouth" for a reason. Outward beauty is shattered with foul language and degrading criticism of others. The Bible speaks so clearly on this topic - both in judgement and praise. I will let the inspired Word of the Lord speak on this issue.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Matthew 15:11

James reminds us in chapter 3 and verse 8 that "no human being can tame the tongue." Here lies the root of problem  - their hopelessness without Christ.

Let our words be gracious like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healthy to the body. (Proverbs 16:24) Through them our Christ's beauty can shine through us.

3. Hypocrisy

In the sense of speaking behind someone's back, hypocrisy can be friendship's greatest combatant. This observation is practically a subdivision of my previous point, but its significance in our world today demands our undivided attention. As certainly most of you have, I have watched one person speak to another about a shortcoming of a third party, and then watched the first speak to the third negatively about the second. What sort of twisted approach to relationships is this?

Unfortunately, an all too common one.

Tying my first two points together, I would also translate hypocrisy to one who treats you as a friend and then berates you to feed their own pride.  These people are hard to love. Hard to not lash out at with snide remarks or even raw rage.

"But I tell you, 'Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.'" Matthew 5:44

Lord, help me when I am provoked.

//

Now by and large, those I speak of are very nice people. But, my heart aches that they would open their hearts to receive truth. I feel that all too often we categorize unbelievers as unreachable especially if they have proved themselves on the heavier end of fallen human nature. Strive to channel Christ's light to them. Show them who he really is. His character as loving and faithful speaks volumes; let Him do the talking.

Pray for them. Live for Christ. 

"Arise, my darling,

   my beautiful one, come with me.

 See! The winter is past; 

   the rains are over and gone.

 Flowers appear on the earth;

   the season of singing has come." // Song of Solomon 2:10-12

"For flowers that bloom about our feet,

   For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet,

 For song of bird and hum of bee,

   For all things fair we hear or see,

 Father in heaven, we thank thee!"  // Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden."

"Hark! I hear a robin calling!

List, the wind is from the south!

And the orchard-bloom is falling,

Sweet as kisses on the mouth.

"In the dreamy vale of beeches,

Fair and faint is woven mist,

And the river's orient reaches,

Are the palest amethyst.

"Every limpid brook is singing,

Of the lure of April days.

Every piney glen is ringing,

With the maddest roundelays.

Come and let us seek together,

Springtime lure of daffodils.

Giving to the golden weather,

Greeting on the sun-warm hills."

// Lucy Maud Montgomery

"The joy of the LORD is your strength."