February 15, 2012

So many of us self-destruct.  Tragically.  But why???  

GUIDANCE

Lots of reasons.  But certainly at the top of the list is not keeping our relationship with God alive, growing, and dynamic.  We tend to cling to past experiences, imitate the lives of others, or start sliding down the undemanding path of non-spiritual growth. 

PERSPECTIVE

But our God deserves a real relationship from us.  Because He is One.  In fact, everything that is really good began between Them, where love has always lived.  The Father, like the sun, radiating beams of love.  The Son, His glorious reflection, mirroring the Father.  The Begetter and the Begotten.  Eternally.  In the strong bond of the Holy Spirit.  A relationship between the three that is always alive and growing. 

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY

It is this loving relationship which birthed you and me (along with all else). We're chosen, adopted into His eternal family.  This family of those who do His will.  God's strong right-hand Word formed us from frail dust, while His powerful left-hand Spirit energized us into being.  We are now sons and daughters of Abraham, called out of Egypt, given the Law and Prophets, the Incarnate Word, the Written Word, His Holy Spirit, martyrs, trailblazers, guides, friends, and witnesses all through the ages.

And that's not all.  Formed by His many beams of love, we are now being transformed into Him.  We're being re-created to live in our heart's true home:  This eternal relationship of love which painted the first supernova, smiled at the first sunrise, and welcomes children home.  This relationship we call the Trinity is our eternal destiny.  And toward Them, we swim like spiritual salmon seeking our way forward to the Holy Place from which we were spawned.

Anything less will destroy us. 

-Tony

February 1, 2012

There is another kind of silence.

GUIDANCE

Oh yes, there is the silence of anger - the "silent treatment."  There can be the silence of confusion.  Or fear - a "silent scream."  Maybe you have been manipulated or harmed by others who kept quiet when they should have spoken up.  Not hearing from a friend is a silence that can eat away the relationship over time.  Much devastation can happen in this type of silence. 

PERSPECTIVE

But there is another kind of silence.  Sunrise devotions with a loving Father.  Holding a hand at the hospital bedside.  Old friends enjoying the sunset together.  Love hushed into adoration.  Quietly experiencing surges of joy and delight gurgling up from His depths.  A simple place of quiet where beloved children are embraced. 

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY

"My heart is not proud, O Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me. 

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
Both now and forevermore.

Psalm 131 NIV 

-Tony

GPS Journal - January 18, 2012

I didn't understand.  I always thought it was giving praise or adoration.  But it's much, much more.

GUIDANCE

Jesus demonstrated it by example and with words, but still I missed it.  Remember when He prayed:  "Father, glorify your name!" (John 12:28), or "Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you" (John 17:1), or "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" (John 17:5).  But giving God glory here means much more than praising or adoring.  What was I missing?

PERSPECTIVE

Recently re-reading Andrew Murray's book, The Spirit of Christ, the reality jumped off the page to smack me in the soul.  "To glorify is to manifest the hidden excellence and worth of an object" (Murray, p. 75).

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY 

Now the prayer of Jesus for himself and for us in John 17 makes so much more sense to me.  His purpose is simply to point out the obvious excellence and worth of God!  Making the hidden known through His word, work, life, example, and sacrifice.

I've always known somehow that the purpose of my life should be to glorify God.  But never really understood how.  Murray really helped me.  Of course I should praise and adore Him.  But this is more than what I say.

Glorifying God is living so that His excellence and worth is experienced by others with and through me.  In His presence and power, I want my life simply to point people His direction.  And doing nothing to take attention away from Him.

"Father the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" (John 17:5).

-Tony

GPS Journal - January 4, 2012

All the people took him outside the camp and stoned him to death. Why?

GUIDANCE

He was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day (Numbers 15:32-36.)

But let's be honest. Doesn't punishment seem a bit extreme? And why would God make the entire community carry out such a severe penalty? Of course the man had broken the Fourth Commandment.

But stoned to death by family and friends? For gathering wood?

PESPECTIVE

We cannot know entirely why God was so severe. But His reasons must be important to impose such a strong sentence. And a partial answer has to be found in the Ten Commandments themselves.

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY

They instruct us to worship and serve only God.

As a recovering "workaholic," this really challenges me. Is it really true that my work could become an idol? But I serve God! I'm doing His work!!

However, God's severe condemnation of Sabbath breakers remains. Is it possible for me to make the subtle shift from loving Him through serving to loving the serving itself? Taking time to make sure that, no matter how exciting, important, or rewarding service for Him becomes, He is honored first and foremost. "Doing it for Him" while not honoring Him as the highest love of my life. Can ministry activity itself become a disobedient distraction?

I think we both know the answer to that!

The cure is obedience to His Sabbath principle. Regularly withdrawing for deeper fellowship with Him. Giving Him the necessary time to know, prune, and grow us. Thus, the reason for His Fourth Commandment.

One day our work here will cease. He alone is eternal. So it's absolutely critical for us to pursue His primary purpose: Loving Him above all else. Keeping Sabbath with Him now will make it much more likely we will one day hear "well done" rather than "depart from me, I never knew you."

-Tony

GPS Journal - December 21, 2011

 

We learn so much from children, don't we? 

GUIDANCE

Their newborn clarity and pure perspective can melt away some of our darkest complications. 

PERSPECTIVE

They are His gift.

As such they broadcast His values, world-view, attitude toward us, and capacity to love us.

The birth of Jesus certainly demonstrates that no task is too tough or too tiny for His love to accomplish.

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY

Christmas proclaims all this and much more.  Our Father's gift of Love to all His children.

Because we have the most wonderful Father in the universe, it's our prayer that you will take time this Christmas to give thanks and adore Him, allowing Him to saturate your soul with His Spirit.

And may His delight come into your heart.  Like our Father's jubilant rejoicing at the sound of His newborn Son's first breath. 

-Tony and Suzanne