Who does He say you are?

"he who overcomes"

Revelation 21:7

Okay, my thoughts today are really a continuation of the past couple of days, so if you haven't read those posts, you might want to.  Yesterday's was on who God is, and the day before was on who we are.  Today's is almost a combination of those.

The Book of Revelation has numerous, beautiful descriptions of God, which I celebrated yesterday.  But it also has reminders and promises of who we are.  When you think, as we did a couple days ago, of how the world sees you, and how you see you, you also need to be aware of how He sees you.

When God makes promises to us, there is a response called for on our part.  Accepting those promises means acting in accordance with who He says we are.  The healed man would never have known he was healed, if he hadn't been obedient to Jesus' command to pick up his mat and walk.

This... is who Revelation says we are:

We are His servants… blessed for reading, and hearing, and keeping those things written in this book… Loved and washed from our sins, in His blood.

We are kings and priests to our God and Father… partakers in the tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ… not tolerating those who are evil… testing those who say they are apostles, and are not.

We are persevering… have patience… and are laboring for His name’s sake.  We have not become weary.

We are overcomers to whom He will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

We will suffer, we will be tested, we will have tribulation… but if we are faithful unto death, we will receive the crown of life. 

We hold fast to His name, and do not deny His faith, though we are surrounded by those who blaspheme, and commit sexual immorality, and hold to a doctrine of heresy. 

We are saints… Kings… priests… Servants… brethren…

We are those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ… We are the Redeemed…

We are followers of the Lamb… firstfruits to God and to the Lamb; without deceit and without fault before the throne of God

We are those who have victory over the beast… having harps of God, singing the song of Moses, the servant of God; and the song of the Lamb

We are with Him… called… chosen… faithful… blessed

We are those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb… who have testimony of Jesus

We are those with whom He will dwell… the bride… the wife of the Lamb…

We are those who do His commands, who keep the words of this book… righteous and holy…. We are those who thirst… we are those who hear… who shall reign with Him forever and ever…

~ "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, 

and I will be his God and he shall be My son." ~

Revelation 21:7

Who do you say He is?

"the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever.  

They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

'You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power!' "

Revelation 4:10

This verse gets me thinking a lot about worshipping God.  Verse 8 says that there are four living creatures who do not rest, day or night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come."

While I do try to accompany my prayers of thanks and petitions with praise, this chapter makes me feel painfully, offensively lacking in my worship.  It strikes me that I don't fully appreciate who He is.

So here is who the Book of Revelation tells me that He is:

Him who is, and who was, and who is to come…  Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, the Ruler over the kings of the earth…  the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End

One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands… the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life… who has the sharp two-edged sword

The Son of God… who searches the minds and hearts… who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars… who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens…  the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God

He who was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance… who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever… worthy… to receive glory and honor and power… the Creator of all things

The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David… a lamb slain, having seven horns and seven eyes… worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals… worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing

He who sits on the throne… who lives forever and ever… Lord, holy and true

Him who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it… the God of the earth… the God of heaven… who shall reign forever and ever

The Lord God Almighty… the One who is and who was and who is to come… Who will rule all nations with a rod of iron

The Lamb, slain… standing on Mount Zion… who has made heaven and earth, the sea, and springs of water… having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand, a sharp sickle

Lord God Almighty, whose works are great and mighty, whose ways are just and true.  King of the saints… Lord who alone is holy, to be worshipped … God of glory and power… who lives forever and ever

Righteous Lord… who is and who was and who is to be… Lord God Almighty, true and righteous in His judgments… He who has power

The God of heaven… God Almighty… Lord of lords and King of kings

The Lord God Omnipotent… who sits on the throne… the Lamb… Faithful and True, with eyes like a flame of fire, and many crowns on His head

Almighty God…the Lord God of the holy prophets… the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last… the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star… He who is coming quickly, our Lord Jesus Christ

No, I don't think my feeble words can truthfully be called worshipping Him.  It wasn't enough for the 24 elders, and the four living creatures, to know who He is.  Worship is proclaiming it.  Worship is telling Him.

Perhaps, if I really want to hear Him, I need to pay more attention to what I tell Him.

Just don't call me late for dinner

"Christ is all, and in all"

Colossians 3:11

Who are you?

How do you define yourself?

What's your "label"?

We love to label.  Both others, and ourselves.  "That's my son."  "I'm an artist."  "We're high-school sweethearts."

But we don't necessarily like to be labeled by others.  Often, that's because the labels are negative:  cheater, gossip, ex-con...  But sometimes those labels others give us are something we're comfortable with, except for the fact that that's not all we are.  Like the 7-foot tall high-school basketball player who'd really rather be in the drama club.

I think we do it for simplicity.  We label someone, and then we can put in the rolodex of our heads where we think they belong.   {Does anyone have rolodexes anymore?}  But unfortunately, when we label someone, we tend to lump them in with everyone who wears that label.  This might make us reluctant to think of ourselves as "environmentalists" even if God has give us a special love for nature and the animal inhabitants of this planet.  Or how about "feminist"?  It used to mean someone who thought women should have equal rights in the workplace and in the eyes of the law.  Now, it seems to have the connotation of someone who feels that women are superior to men.   Very few people seem to call themselves feminists anymore.

Labels are simple.  And sometimes wrong.  We are more than what we are labeled.   Republican.   Democrat.  Recovering alcoholic.  Cancer survivor.  Unemployed.  Dentist.  Surfer.  Writer.  Artist.  Engineer.  Sinner.  Forgiven.  Lost.  Found.

Be who you are.  Be all of who you are.  And be all that He created you to be.

~ "There is neither Jew nor Greek, 

neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; 

for you are all one in Christ Jesus" ~ 

Galatians 3:28

Do you see what He sees?

"When the servant of Elisha got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.  'Oh no, my lord!  What shall we do?' the servant asked.  'Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered.  'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.'

And Elisha prayed, 'Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.'  Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

2 Kings 6

I love this passage.  The army of the Lord was all around them, but Elisha's servant couldn't see them.  If we could see what we can't see, what would we see?

Joseph would have seen that God planned for him to be released from prison, and rise to the position of second-most powerful man Egypt.

Paul would have seen that God planned for him to survive shipwrecks, beatings, stonings, bandits, hunger and thirst ~ and do more to spread the gospel then he could have imagined.

David would have seen that his lust for Bathsheba was going to result in painful consequences; but that God would use David's psalm of repentance to speak to generations of remorseful sinners.

Jonah would have seen that he was not going to succeed in running away from what God had called him to do. 

Job would have seen that God had a plan, and a reason for his suffering.  And he would have seen that God would use Job's story to comfort and encourage countless suffering people, for thousands of years.

The Pharisees would have seen that Jesus was the Messiah.  

Peter would have seen that his denial of Jesus would not be the end of their relationship; and that God would strengthen him to be a leader of His people.

Ruth would have seen that Boaz would be her redeemer; and that she would be grandmother of David, and part of the lineage of the Redeemer of the world

What would you and I see?  Open our eyes, Lord.

~ "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 

plans to give you a hope and a future." ~

Jeremiah 29:11

Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder

"He has made everything beautiful in its time"

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Okay, I have to apologize in advance for this one.  You're gonna think I'm obsessed on the topic, but I need to share again on spiders.  This isn't the first time I've shared a spiritual lesson illustrated by a spider, but God gave me another little glimpse today, and Charlotte was again the tool He used.

While playing in the backyard today, Amazing Boy came upon a spider in the midst of weaving her web, and he called me excitedly.  I mean, how often do you get to see a web before it's a finished product?  The sun was setting, so it was directly behind the spider from where we were standing, and it lit her up beautifully.  We stood there watching while she went round and round.  Awesome Girl took a few pictures for you.

Can you see that okay?  Isn't it beautiful?  There's even some rainbow colors to the web, but that's hard to see in this shot.  But you can see Charlotte, and the sun glinting off her web.

She wasn't done yet.  She had made the overall structure, and the radii {I love that word.  It's fascinating to me that the word "radius" is made plural by doubling the "i".}  She was working on the spirals.  And as I watched, I thought how lovely and marvelous the whole process is.

And then that thought seemed absurd to me.  I realized that if the web were completed, and I noticed it in my backyard, I'd find it a nuisance.  I'd even knock it down, if it were in my way.  I'd probably feel bad about that, appreciating all Charlotte's work, but I do it anyway.  And if I accidentally walked through it?  Well, of course I'd do the requisite spaz-out, freaky dance we do when we realize we've trespassed through a web.  Yup.  I'd think it a nuisance, and I'd wonder (not for the first time) why God created spiders.  I know, I know keeping the insect population down... but that's not what I'd be thinking while I did my spaz-out freaky dance.

But this web was beautiful simply because it was incomplete.  Or rather, it was beautiful, because she was in the midst of working on it.  And it made me think of the work that God does in our lives.  Because in that case, it's the opposite.  When we're walking through something difficult, when we're in the middle of a trial, that's when we hate it.  It's only when it's complete that we can look back on it, at the finished product, and see what God was doing.  And often, we find it's beautiful.  We appreciate how we've grown, or some circumstance that never would have happened without the trial.

We need to see every chapter that we're in ~ the good and the bad ~ as a masterpiece that He's creating.  It is sooo counter-intuitive to appreciate things we don't appreciate, but it can be done.  The key is faith.  If you believe that the meal you are preparing is going to be delicious when it's done, then you are anticipating it, even while it's still cooking.  How about the nine months before a baby is born?  Nausea, discomfort, sleeplessness... but accompanied by excitement because we have faith that it's going to be worth it.

Spiders, and webs, were His idea.  A miracle of nature that we don't always appreciate.  I think maybe there's a miracle or two going on in my life, that I need to appreciate now.

~ "What are these remarkable miracles 

that He is performing?" ~

Mark 6:2

A Lesson from SportsCenter

"amazing things"

Joshua 3:5

I am not what you'd call a Morning Person.  My eyes want to take more than a few minutes to adjust to every new day.  So I generally turn on the TV to help me get my brain going, and my eyes open.

A lot of the time, what I turn on is the news, just to see if anything has happened that I need to know about.  But when it's baseball season, the first thing I turn on is ESPN.  I like getting the baseball highlights, seeing which players made great plays, and which teams won.  One of the things that SportsCenter does is the "Top Ten", which are the ten best plays in sports from the day before.  The highlights come from a variety of sports, but during baseball season, the majority of them are baseball-related.

Many of the amazing baseball plays are those that require unusual effort.  Now, you might think that all amazing plays require unusual effort, but some of them are just about being at the right place at the right time.

And most of the amazing plays are great catches, almost always characterized by the player reaching, jumping or diving beyond what seems possible.  We find ourselves astounded because it didn't seem like he was going to be able to do that.  But he did.

So here are my spiritual observations on outstanding physical efforts.

1.)  It's going to take preparedness.  For them, it's training and daily practice.  For us, it's prayer and Bible reading, strengthening us for the time when we are called to give more than we think we are able to.  Then, when that time comes, we need to try, exert, or strive more than we think we are able.  When we do, we'll find that He enabled us to do something amazing.

2.)  When an athlete has given everything he has in order to make a great play, he is vulnerable.  I watch these guys making catches, or stopping a ball, or the guy on first catching the ball for the out.  They are literally reaching, stretching to their full length.  The chance for injury is increased in these positions.  Muscles get strained and ligaments get torn more easily; a fielder running for a fly ball can twist an ankle... When we give our all, we might get hurt.  Loving others makes us vulnerable.  As a friend of mine says, "Being a shepherd is hard ~ sheep bite!"  Going out on a limb to serve Him is a risk, whether it's going on a mission, teaching Sunday School, or volunteering for a charity.

And lastly ~ 3)  Most of these great catches have to be immediately followed by.... yup ~ a great throw.  In the infield, if it wasn't a fly ball, a catch has to be followed by getting the ball to first base to get the batter out.  In the outfield, it has to be gotten back to the pitcher in a hurry, to prevent the runners from advancing.  So no matter how amazing the catch, the player's job is not done.  There is no time for resting on his laurels.  For us, walking a faithful life is a long-term proposition.  Our success has to be followed by another effort... and then another one after that.  That endurance calls for relying on Him, not to mention that preparation we talked about in #1.   But the results will be amazing!

~ "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow

 the Lord will do amazing things among you" ~

Joshua 3:5

If ignorance is bliss, what is knowledge?

"when you become aware"

Leviticus 5:5

I've been thinking a lot lately, about things I don't know.  Or more specifically, about things I don't know that I don't know.  Of which there's probably a lot, but I can't be too sure, if you get my drift....

I've been helping Amazing Boy do a thorough cleaning in his room.  Sort of a spring-even-though-it's-the-height-of-summer cleaning.  Under the dresser, in the backs of his desk drawers, at the bottom of his toy trunk, etc.  And you know what we've found?  Things he didn't even know were there.  Stuff he didn't even know he had.  And most definitely, things I didn't know he had.  Like a part to a game, that we've been looking for for months.  Or that other sock.  Or a few coins.  Each discovery accompanied by exclamations of, "There it is!" or "How'd that get there?"  Same thing happens to me, of course.  Cleaning out a closet, or a junk drawer in the garage.  I didn't know I still had that... I didn't know that was there....

The other reason that "stuff I don't know" is on my mind, is that I just finished reading James Bradley's Flags of our Fathers.  I know I mentioned that a few days ago, but you can't read something that profound, and not have it settle into your consciousness.   The book is about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and there was a lot that I didn't know about this very important battle in World War II.   And to be very honest, there was a lot that I didn't want to know.  I know enough enough about history to know what happened, but I don't always want to know the details.  There are horrors that are more than my mind can handle, about the Holocaust, and in this book, about the brutality of war in general, and the atrocities committed against American soldiers, by the Japanese.  Mark Twain once said, "the mind that becomes soiled can never again be washed clean."   And sure enough, I wish I didn't know what I now know.

But there are times in life, when it's necessary for us to know what we don't know.  Ignorance might be bliss, but it's also a cop-out.  I believe that it's my responsibility to subject myself to some unpleasant details about what American soldiers went through ~ and go through ~ on behalf of my freedom.  These men endured.  The least I can do is not bury my head in the sand.  Some of these men struggled with nightmares for years after the war; am I owed a good night's sleep every night?  It is about honoring their sacrifice.

By the same token, but in a lighter-hearted example, it could be said that Amazing Boy should do a better job of keeping track of his socks.  He has a responsibility to get his dirty clothes into the laundry, and not let them get lost under his dresser.   And as he matures, he is realizing this responsibility on his part.

All of this begs the question: What is it I don't know about my spiritual life?  In what way am I ignorant of something that it's my responsibility to know?   Job chapter 1 tells us that Job would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his children, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."  It impresses me how important it was for him, to acknowledge the sins his children could not, because they were unaware.

Today's highlighted verse in Leviticus talks about the transition from unaware to aware.  It talks about our responsibility.  "If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty... they must confess in what way they have sinned."  Awareness should lead to confession, and confession will lead to forgiveness.  Whether we seek to know how we have sinned, and He reveals it to us; or we come to realization on our own, we have a responsibility to know things we don't know.

Finding out things we didn't know can make us feel foolish, or it can be downright painful.  But when it comes to sin, ignorance is no excuse.

~ "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just 

and will forgive us our sins 

and purify us form all unrighteousness." ~

1 John 1:9