Seeing God.....

"The pure in heart shall see God."

-Matthew 5:8

"The pure in heart shall see God."...What emotional response do these words evoke in you?  Fear?  Hope?  Hopelessness?  Shame?  Self-righteousness? 

I wonder if we tend too much to fixate on the former part of the verse, rather than the latter, putting the cart before the horse.  When seeing these words in black and white, without knowing Jesus' heart behind them, they can conjure up an image of a God with a white glove, meticulously, perhaps mercilessly, going over our lives, wanting cleanliness for the sake of cleanliness, chastity for the sake of checking off some cosmic criteria.

God does desire purity in His people, but as a means to an end, as a course to communion with Himself.  When we allow Christ's cleasing to wash away the things that obscure our view and varnish our vision, we can more fully engage with our God, we can see the Way clearly to this precious place of intimacy with Him.

God craves companionship with us, His creation; He is not a clean freak, He's a fellowship freak.  His desire is not for a white washed fan base, but for followers He can call friends.

"I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning, but I have called you friends."

-John 15:15 (The Message)

Faith Fall.........

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

-Psalm 119:105

Steadily traversing the path God has plotted out for us requires tremendous trust.  Trust requires intimacy.  You don't trust Someone you don't know.  For all of Christendom's criteria, carefully scripted prayers, religious rites and rituals, our walk in this world always comes back to knowing Him. 

Jesus said, "I Am the way..." (emphasis mine)...When life throws us for a loop, when we're feeling lost, when our trajectory seems to be turned on it's ear, Christ, our Compass, can make our path straight, can displace confusion with clarity, can comfort us when our way is clouded.

We need His vision, as our own is laughably limited.  While there are times on this terrain where I feel like I can see forever, there are also times I can't see the hand in front of my face.  As frightening as the latter state can be, it presents a precious opportunity for sheep and Shepherd alike.  These are the times I draw closest to Him, cling more tightly to Him, and tune my trust into the One Who sees above the trees. 

"He knows the way that I take...Aquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace."

-Job 23:10, Job 22:21

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Breath of God...

"...God, Who holds your breath in His hand..."

-Daniel 5:23

...Breathe in.......Breathe out.........

This world can be a suffocating place at times...Daily demands can feel like weights on our chest...The taskmaster of time can take its toll...others' expectations can stifle us completely.

But the God Who breathed breath of life into man, raising him from the dust, is living and breathing today, lifting us from lowground to highground...resuscitating us when we're starved for air, respirating our weary souls...

God's breath still beckons, desiring that we draw near, inviting us to inhale deeply.  He longs to fill our lungs with His life, He longs to be close enough to do so...

"He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and all things."

-Acts 17:25

...Breathe in.......Breathe out.........

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Rest........

"Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."

-Mark 6:31

The same God who so gently and so intimately washed the feet of His friends, still washes feet today.  When we sit quiet in His presence, without Peter's protest, sans self-conciousness, relaxing into His nail-scarred hands, forgetting fear, consumed by His compassion, trusting our grime to His grace...without judgement, with only gentleness, He begins...

The fountain of God is always flowing, ever moving, a continual cleansing...Where the waste of the world would settle over our spirits and sully our souls, the waterfall of God washes over us and wipes the slate clean.

We emerge from this purifying pool, taking with us into the world the water of the Word Himself, and become for everyone we meaningfully or peripherally encounter conduits of His cascading grace, in which to wash the feet of fellow travelers...as Jesus did for us, so we do, without judgement, with His gentleness....we can begin...

"...according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior."

-Titus 3:5-6

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Glorious Humanity...

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

-Genesis 1:27

We are God's divine design, His very special people, fearfully and wonderfully made, skillfully wrought in His image, the culmination of creation.

As to how many days elapsed between that sixth climactic day and the day of man's demise, we cannot be sure, but we do know that the Father's face fell, and that His crestfallen countenance was mirrored in man; the decline of Deity displacing the Glory of God.

Thus began the recreation of creation, the redemption of mankind.  The God Who made man in His image, made Himself in our image, the Master became the Servant, the One Who had made His likeness our own, came in the likeness of men. 

In an act of humility that verges on hyperbole, our Creator condescended to His own creation; Jesus made the first move and reached out to us, because He knew in our fallen state, we could no longer reach Him, and Heaven's heart could not bear such separation. 

The One Who made man in His image, came in our image, to resurrect His image in us, and return us to Glory.

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"...Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men."

-Philippians 2:6-7

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

-Hebrews 2:9-10

*Psalm 139:14

Gardens....

 "Awake, O north wind, and come, O south!

Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my Beloved come to His garden and eat its pleasant fruits."

-Song of Solomon 4:16 

It all began in the Garden of Eden...A perfect paradise, common ground in which God and man could coexist, freely fraternizing amid flora and fauna,

Nothing to interrupt, no power or persuasion to interfere...

nothing.....

...except a tree.....

The day of the imminent intrusion came, and the Garden was lost forever...

Its mournful Creator, though heartbroken and bereaved, set out to recapture this sacred ground.  There would be another Garden where this communion could be reclaimed, where the battle for His beloved would be waged and won...

...The Garden of Gethsemane...

Wielding every power of His will, summoning all the strength in His body, wresting resolve from His mind, He fought His fears, till blood and tears dually flowed and the decision was made...

...A tree had separated them...another tree would bring them together...

He bore the heavy beams that would bridge the divide; a lesser man would've failed, but for the joy set before Him, He endured...

"Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid."
-John 19:41

His destination, yet again, a garden, in which he would be crucified, in which there was an empty tomb where the division would be laid to rest,

forever.

"The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.  Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing."

-Isaiah 51:3

*Hebrews 12:2
*John 19:41

Wanderings...

"He knows the way that I take..."

-Job 23:10

This endless Exodus

Threads a golden maze of sand,

The grains of which are said

To number Your thoughts toward me...

I sojourn with strangers

We take turns at playing shepherd and sheep

Sheltering each other in arid exile

Offering one another the oasis of ourselves

The manna of mutuality

Intertwined trajectories

Carve a convergent course

Through an otherwise boundless expanse

Thus enfolded we endure,

The communion of common destiny

Our compass and consolation

The sunrise of Promised Land's light

Hints at the horizon

Beckoning our bedouin souls

Leaving languor behind

Like long shadows cast

We set our swelling hearts on Dawning of Day

Home at last...

Home at last.....

-E.A.A. "Hindsfeet"

"You number all my wanderings and put my tears into Your bottle"

-Psalm 56:8

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Let there be LIFE!!

He's Alive!

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbRPWUHM80M )

The End?

Isaiah 53

The depth of their dillusionment rivaled the darkness of that night

Baffled and bewildered, dispirited by despair

Hopelessness held sway over their hearts

As the Life and Love of a thousand days all too abruptly fell silent

Their would-be King called a criminal

This Man they called Messiah now mistaken for a fraud

The One on whom hung all their hopes now Himself hanging on a cross...

But what seemed like separation

Was Communion's highest call

This sublime suffering a sacred trust...

Heavy hearts make it hard to hear

The Father's call to faith

That He will have the final Word

That the Gift will not remain buried in grief...

"...That I may know Him...and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

-Phillipians 3:10-11