Better Than Baby Toes

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Thursday, April 27, 2017

You love him even though you have never seen him.  Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:8-9^(NLT)

Peter wrote to Christians scattered throughout the world, many of whom he’d never seen, and yet he had confidence in their faith, and understood their joyful stand for Christ in the face of extreme hardship and persecution.  When he exulted in their love for Christ even though he knew they had never seen Jesus in the flesh, it was because he was remembering the words of Jesus to Thomas shortly after the resurrection:

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me.  Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”  John 20:29^(NLT)

How is it possible to love someone you’ve never seen?  How is it you can trust someone with your eternal soul without a single personally-witnessed event displaying that person’s trustworthiness?  How can you have overflowing joy when all you’ve got to show for loving and trusting is hardship?

The answers to those questions are simple, but not simplistic; it is expressed in the lines of the simplest song we teach our children about faith:

Jesus loves me, this I know…

Jesus can be known even without seeing him face to face.  Untold millions have experienced the inexpressible joy of loving and trusting him throughout the last two millennia, and it is entirely by faith.

This is possible is by the spiritual eyes faith gives us to love, even before we’ve seen.  I look at my little great-granddaughter Sophia’s toes and an inexpressible joy makes me want to sing; it is a reaction to the worth of that little life we anticipate for the future;  we see (by faith) the possibilities, sorrows and joys her life may hold.

In the same way when a person begins to love God by trusting Christ for salvation, God’s Spirit opens our eyes of faith to see the incredible future of a saved soul.  And that speaks the eternal language of joy to our souls.  It is a language that is simple, basic, and makes the clearest possible sense…and yet, is unintelligible to anyone who resists the love of God in Christ. 

That’s why Peter called this loving, trusting joy inexpressible.  There is no way to explain it to someone who has not experienced it, and totally unnecessary to explain it to those who have.  It’s like tasting Häagen-Dazs® Rum Raisin ice cream for the first time; there’s just no way to tell anyone else just how you know will need to have more – it’s just so!

For You Today

The love of Jesus is sweeter than any ice cream or watermelon on a hot summer’s day.  Loving and trusting him with all you are, and will be, is better than baby toes, richer than a stuffed bank account, and more satisfying than any praise the world offers; He brings inexpressible joy to the core of your soul!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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 ^I Title image: By Chelsea Tate

Joy Unspeakable

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.     Isaiah 55:12 - 13 (NRSV)

Macrina is a Benedictine Sister whose writings stir me.  Just yesterday she wrote about resilience.  In that post she used a line from a book, The Faithful Gardener, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a reflection “about Clarissa's uncle who, after being wounded and broken in spirit by war, returns to life through planting trees and gardening:

‘Something is waiting for you to make ground for it so that it can make its full presence known.’"[1]  

Every farmer is interested in the harvest.  It would be pretty silly to invest your time, energy and future on all that tilling, planting and the rest without the hope of reward poking-through the ground, the full-presence of our hope in God’s Providence.

Isaiah’s prophecy raises the banner of God’s supreme reward:  joy and peace!  Even the creation applauds and opens up its bounty for God’s people.

At times in history visionary political leaders have aspired to peace and prosperity, only to be thwarted and cut-down by evil.  The 1960’s were full of heartache over the assassinations of Kennedys and Kings.  What was to be “joy” turned to agony. 

And the promise of Camelot and equality and brotherhood seemed like a mirage of a carrot, dangling in front of the downtrodden.

Jesus’ hopes for the New World seemed to suffer the same crushing defeat as other altruistic and starry-eyed political organizers.  But Jesus was no political leader; He was God, come to die for us.  And He does not serve an elected term; the Kingdom is eternal.

The fisherman Apostle, Peter, expresses the inexpressible: joy anticipated in loving and being loved by a God Who knows everything about me (omniscient), is present in every moment of my existence (omnipresent), and can turn the universe on its ear with a thought (omnipotent) -- yet still loves a weak, sinful, but hopeful somebody like me.

Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.   1 Peter 1:8 - 9 (NRSV)

This is that which is waiting to make its full presence known in the ground you have prepared for it – joy, unspeakable and full of glory; God – not just God incarnate – but God incarnate – In You!

Today…for you

Do you suppose you can take a few moments to stir the ground….disturb the soil of your existence a little, to make room for God to take root; for God to plant His love down deep in you?

That’s where the joy starts!

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[1] http://macrina-underthesycamoretree.blogspot.com/2014/03/more-on-resilience.html