Saturday, November 26, 2011

His Way, The High Way

Nehemiah 8:10 - Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Make sure your security and significance is in Christ and not in your son or daughter [or anyone/anything else]. Your identity is in Christ. Your Savior defines your success. Make sure you go to Christ for a cup of joy. Drink often. The Lord’s joy is limitless. (Taken from reading #82 in the 90-day devotional book, Seeking God in the Psalms.)

I was out for a glorious walk yesterday with a friend. What a beautiful day, probably the last for awhile. What I loved about our walk was the nearly three+ miles of sharing about and with Jesus. We don't yak about the big sale at the store or gossip about this person or that. Jesus is our center...and you just gotta know if He's the center of our talks, He's right there with us! And then the lunch we shared...we shared with Him as well.

The quote above from a Wisdom Hunters devotion tells it like it is. As we walked I brought up the sometimes frustrating feeling I get when people "don't get" the concept of Christ. In my heart I know the joy that comes in a relationship (not religion, not denomination). Jesus wants all men to know Him. That breaks down the denomination barriers. Such an easy concept yet, like the Pharisees, clinging to religious beliefs is the stumbling block to knowing Jesus the way He wants us to. There is the belief there is more than one way or it’s their way or the highway. How about His Way, the high Way?

Yes, it’s frustrating because I was once there, pushing Him away for my belief that I know who Jesus is. Isn’t that enough? I have to remind myself, however, that I came from that side of understanding, or rather not understanding. I didn’t want this relationship, this born again concept thing, shoved down my throat...and I know that’s how others feel. But when He grabs hold of a heart...and truth is revealed, you don’t want to let go. 

When Jesus came to this earth as this baby boy and grew into His ministry, to make Himself known as the Savior of the world, He was not received very kindly either by the religious leaders who also "thought they knew it all." They exchanged the truth (of who He was) for a lie (that it's not about religious rites but a relationship...with Him) (Romans 1:25). They just didn't get it. Their pride in who they thought they were as these leaders got in the way of this humble concept that God sent His only Son to earth to die for all mankind. And the response should be: Just give me Jesus, as Fernando Ortega sings!

If I sound like a broken record, I don’t care...it’s all about Jesus! There IS such joy in knowing Him. We still go through tough times but there's an underlying sense of peace knowing that He is walking beside you to be there at your call or prayer for comfort, peace, guidance or whatever is needed. How hard things can be without this in-depth knowledge of one single Man. It may not seem a difficult life, but there’s so much more on the “other side of knowing.”

We discussed how thankful we are that by having this relationship we can stand secure in knowing no matter what life throws at us. Even with the issue of death, we are secure in Him. He takes our death today on earth and turns it into life. That’s all the hope I need. Heaven awaits those who turn to Him.

His joy is limitless if you make Him the center of your life, if you think/talk about Him all day, spend quiet time with Him, seeing things in life through His eyes, expecting Him to be in and around your circumstances, giving opportunities for you to show off His glory!

Joy starts with thankfulness. It’s biblical! Tough situations of life may be just that, tough, but thankfulness...to God...will strengthen and help. Sometimes we allow a burden to capture our hearts and minds. We can't let it go. But when we finally do, when we finally give in to Jesus and say "I’m giving this to You, Lord," because His yoke is heavy but His burden is light, a shift occurs, and joy takes hold again. The burden in our heart lifts knowing that we serve a God who is always in control. A good kind of supernatural joy...

Just take hold of Jesus...

Psalm 30:5 - ...Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. 

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