Monthly Archives: June 2014

Look At Me!

DSC_0519By Judy Villanueva

My son, pay attention to what I say;  turn your ear to my words;  Do not let them out of your sight,
 keep them within your heart,  for they are life to those who find them
 and health to one’s whole body. ( Proverbs 4:20-22)

I was ready for the challenge!  I was twenty-three years old.  She was a baby.  I had a college education.  She had determination!  I saw the look in her eyes and knew that sin had entered her tiny little heart.  She made her move and crawled as fast as she could for the electrical outlet!  She looked over at me and then reached out her dimpled hand in defiance!   I sternly said, “Look at mommy!  Don’t you dare touch that outlet, baby girl.”  We had been here before…many, many times!  She seemed to need to have the lines of authority clarified every single day, and thus, here we were again establishing that I was mommy and she was baby!  I knew stuff.  She did not.  To her credit, she looked right at me and stalled for about ten seconds.  I can’t imagine what went through her baby brain, but in the end, she touched it!

“Look at Me!”  It’s a directive that parents use to get their childrens’ attention.  It is meant to entice the child away from one focal point and onto the parent in order to give needed correction or guidance.  Babies, of course, do not appreciate  the good intentions of the parent and simply want what they want!  This remains a challenge throughout life!   Submitting our desires to God and turning to Him for direction is essential to maintaining a balanced and healthy life.  The problem is not so much that we want this or that, but rather, with the excesses, the points at which our “loves” become disordered.  In other words, where occupations become preoccupations, where passions lead to addictions, and busyness to an anxious heart.

Can you hear God when He calls to you?  It might be a still, small voice…an internal nudge or a louder invitation, like an ulcer, or a life that is falling apart.  If we are not in the habit of “listening”, His might sound like one voice among many.  Noticing God in the midst of ordinary life is learned as it is practiced.

There is nothing more profoundly reorienting than looking at God!  It finds us!

Being willing to be interrupted and guided by God is necessary if we are to be helped to want what is most worthy of wanting!  Do you want God?  I do, in theory!  But, in reality, I want what I want and depend on His kind, steady voice in my days to help me turn away from things that distract me and look at Him.  Discovering how to hear God and being willing to do as He says becomes a holy pathway,  one that fills and quiets the soul…one that brings order to all other “loves”.  Take a minute, listen for God’s voice and then look at Him.  He is the way, the truth and the life…and He loves you!

“Father, I thank You that you are a wise and watchful parent.  Help me to hear You call  when I am in heading away from Your will.  Thank You for all the ways you have made for me to find You.  Keep finding me!  Amen.”

 What about you?

 How ordered are the “loves” in your life?

Are you aware of any excesses that have led to an unbalanced, addicted or an anxious life?

Do you want God?

Can you hear God when He calls to you?

Are you learning how to pay attention to God?  How to tune in to His voice through His Word?  Through prayer and worship?  Though silence and solitude?  Through community?

God is a faithful parent and watches over us with love.  Look at Him.

Worship

Speak to Me by Tommy Walker

 

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Are You The One?

DSC_1050By Judy Villanueva

Matthew 11:2-6

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

John’s was the voice that cried out in the wilderness “Prepare the way of the Lord!”  He is in the guy who wore camel hair shirts and ate locusts with wild honey.  We definitely get the impression that he was sold out for Jesus, and bold in his message to repent and be baptized! Yet, here in this passage, we find him in prison sending his disciples to Jesus to ask a curious question.  “Are You the One, the Messiah or should they wait for another?”  It seems to imply that John might have been off balance and in need of reassurance.  It makes me wonder if he wasn’t scratching his head trying to make sense of the life unfolding around him. Was being in prison part of the plan or did something go wrong?  No doubt, his circumstances were not what he had expected!

John the Baptist might seem like  a hard guy to relate to, but as I witness him straining toward Jesus in need of strength and direction, I feel an immediate connection!  John’s question is my question and was my question this very morning!  I ask it often during times of disappointment or fear, and certainly, whenever I cannot make sense of how the pieces of my life fit together.  You know those times when life is not how we imagined, or when it seems like God is taking forever to answer our prayers?   I’m afraid we might find Jesus’ response to John less than comforting.  He doesn’t say, “Hang in there, cousin!  I’m on my way to break open the prison doors!”  Instead, Jesus tells John that the blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised and the good news is being preached to the poor.  In other words, “Take heart.  I am He!  I am the One!”

Jesus’ words might feel both reassuring and disconcerting to the hearer because while it announces His reign as Messiah, it does so right alongside John’s plight in prison.  This is always the case!

Jesus is Lord and Messiah, always AND right alongside the life that is ours…the life that we may love, as well as the life that may include the hardest trial we’ve ever faced.

It was John’s challenge, as it is ours, to hear Jesus announce His reign and to trust beyond his own understanding.  I need to hear Jesus say, “I am the One!” when life has caused my heart to falter…and allow the reality of His reign to strengthen and remind me, that despite present conditions or anything I may not understand, His kingdom has arrived!  It’s already here!  That’s what Jesus was telling John!  That’s the good news being preached to the poor and that’s the blessed Truth that sets us free today.  Take heart.  He is the One!  Look no further!

“Lord, help me to hear you announce that You are healing, raising  the dead and reigning over all!  It gives me strength to wait with hope and trust You rather than lean on my own understanding.  Help me to lay down my need to know everything and instead, to bow in faith.  Thank you that you are the One!  Amen”

What about you? 

When do you feel off balance and in need of reassurance?

What does the arrival of God’s kingdom mean to you?

Are you able to rest, knowing that Jesus reigns?

Above and beyond whatever circumstances you find yourself in,  God is good and He reigns!

Worship