Revelation 2:2-5 "I see what you've done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can't stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. [3] I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out. [4] "But you walked away from your first love—why? What's going on with you, anyway? [5] Do you have any idea how far you've fallen? A Lucifer fall! "Turn back! Recover your dear early love.
COMMENT: I still remember the first glimpse of his glory. It happened in mid-September 1970, through the testimony of a cool guitar-playing teenager from Nashville singing "Oh happy day... when Jesus washed all my sins away!" He and his youth group (I think their name was The 4th Generation) invaded my life with lived-out testimony of God's transforming grace - and my eyes were opened. God's glory and grace had certainly been surrounding me and pursuing me long before, but on that Saturday night in Englewood High School, I was awakened to the reality of the God who made me and loved me from the foundation of the world. It was the first sign that Jesus gave to me - a glimpse of his glory... and, like the disciples, I faith-ed in him.
Since that time, when my eyes and ears and heart were open, I was given further glimpses of his glory - in gathered times of worship when the Spirit of God broke in with power; in quiet times of devotion when God has spoken intimately into the depths of my soul; on the top of a mountain along the Blue Ridge Parkway; during a walk on the beach as the sun was setting the day ablaze;in the birth of my sons; and in the smiles, hugs, kisses, and the sound of "Papa" that I receive from my granddaughter, in times of tragedy and loss when God embraced me through the embrace and love of others... Yes, the whole earth is filled with God's glory and grace - we only need to be awake enough to see it and experience it afresh and anew each day.
And so, John the prophet, writes to the church - so busy with being good (your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can't stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out), that we have fallen away from our "first love." And the Spirit says to the church (that is often consumed with being "right" and often forgets to be "good) that we need to return to our first love - allow our eyes to be opened again to the glory (impressive, heavy, very real presence) of God!
I have walked with the Lord now for nearly 40 years, and one of the signs of my own maturing in the faith, is the ability to see and experience God's glory in the ordinary... not just the occasional, spectacular moments, but especially in the ordinary, sometimes unspectacular moments. Like water or bread and wine - the ordinary is a vehicle of the grace, glory, the very real presence and goodness of God extended toward all of God's creatures.
And so, my prayer today is that hymn written by Clara Scott:
Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready my God, Thy will to see, Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Soli Deo gloria
No comments:
Post a Comment