As I was leaving the sanctuary of a little country church recently, this framed sign on the inside of the door caught my eye.
“Servant’s Entrance”
I secretly snapped a photo with my phone as I walked out the door and down the steps. “What a noble reminder,” I mused.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
Later when I was looking through my photos, I saw the distortion. At first I felt dismayed. Right in the middle of the lettering was a reflection of the stained glass window behind me as the morning light poured through it into the sanctuary.
And then I saw the whole picture. Our daily lives are to reflect Christ in such a way that it takes the focus off of us and people see Him as the center of it all. Just like the image of the stained glass.
It’s not about how we are serving and what we are doing. It is about the light and the glory of our beautiful Lord Jesus!
As you enter into your day, may you reflect Him by serving others with all of your heart!
“We live with great expectation, and have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven… pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
So be truly glad!
There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy! The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls…It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen!”
Yep, those are the living words of God given for our encouragement in 1st Peter chapter 1. (NLT) Aren’t they incredibly full and rich?
I grew up with the King James translation and it is strong and familiar and comfortable to me. Part of my grade school education was actually memorizing 1& 2 Peter and reciting it in front of the entire class.
Back then my greatest trial was being painfully shy and awkward around people. With a room full of eyes burning holes through me, the room would start to spin white and my ears would pound so loudly I could hardly hear my own quavery voice. The panic of public speaking choked me everytime!
My trials now are on a different level than childhood’s anxieties. But the rhythm and flow of these memorized words still speak truth and peace to my soul.
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations…that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold…”
He says the trial is only for a season.
And only if need be.
He knows what we need to keep us from depending on our own strength to get us through.
Remember this gospel song by Andrae Crouch?
“But in every situation, God gave me blessed consolation,that my trials come to only make me strong.
So I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I’d never had a problem,
I wouldn’t know God could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God could do.
Through it all…through it all,I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
Belong to Eternity but stranded in Time. These are such picturesque words!
It is that fragile balance of the “already, but not yet.”
His promises are ours now, but there is a Day coming when we will experience them in a richer fullness. For example, Jesus already overcame death through His resurrection. I rejoice for what it means in my life now and the power of the cross today. And yet! There is more coming! One day death will be totally destroyed! Never to exist again.
I don’t know if Sue knew this song by Michael Card, but she definitely used this phrase a lot with me.
“Thumbs, I never wanted you to feel all this stress. All I ever wanted for you is to have joy in the journey.”
I wish I could tell her what I have been discovering, and I’m using that word, discover, in the way that you would discover with unexpected delight that there are real living sand-dollars lying on the beach at your feet…
I am discovering the quietness of the sand against the roar of the ocean. Discovering that rooted feeling of the sand between my toes while at the same time losing myself gazing into the endless horizon. Discovering that piercing sorrow and exhilarating joy definitely can exist side by side in breathtaking harmony like the sand and the sea.
“There is a wonder and wildness to life…”
That feeling of belonging to Eternity which fills us with unfading joy, but at the same time realizing that in this given moment we are stranded in Time, a place that holds sorrow.
And somehow, in some way, by the Lord’s grace, I feel like I’m coming through while reaching forward to Eternity with my own face tipped upward to catch the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in a way that I’ve never experienced before. 2 Cor. 4
He IS the light we can love on the way…while stranded in Time.
Belonging to and looking forward to Eternity…we find joy in the Hope of the Glory of God!
Romans 5 puts it this way. “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” NLT
So, friends, keep looking forward and upward!
Here are the full words of the song by Michael Card.
“There is a joy in the journey, There’s a light we can love on the way. There is a wonder and wildness to life, And freedom for those who obey.
All those who seek it shall find it, A pardon for all who believe. Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind
To all who’ve been born of the Spirit And who share incarnation with him; Who belong to eternity, stranded in time, And weary of struggling with sin.
Forget not the hope That’s before you, And never stop counting the cost. Remember the hopelessness when you were lost?”
Heading home from my mom’s the other evening, I found myself flying down a familiar road. It is a gravel road shortcut that I’ve used many times in my life.
Trying to multitask, I was on the phone with my sister through the Bluetooth in the car discussing some of Mom’s needs. Suddenly something caught my attention out the passenger side.
No one else was on this darkening back road so I threw the car in reverse, and looking over my shoulder, began to crawl backwards until I was in the right position where my eyes had caught that first glimpse.
Grabbing my phone I quickly jumped out of the car to snap this photo and then stood there for a moment just breathing in the crisp air and watching the colors deepen in the sky.
According to Psalm 8, this breathtaking beauty was brushed by the finger of God. He Himself IS Light so bright that He wraps Himself in clouds when He rides upon the wings of the wind. And this is the very same God who shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4) Now that’s mind blowing!
I love it when God peels back the Edges of His glory and gives me a peek.
Then shivering brought me back to Cold Reality. As my thoughts tumbled and fell back to the earth, I became aware of my sister’s voice coming faintly from inside the car, “Deborah, did I lose you? Where did you go?”
The darkness of the night was already swallowing up the rich color. But in that brief moment, Time stopped and I felt the heartbeat of Eternity.
Sometimes we need to drop everything, put the car in reverse, and step out of our situation for a moment.
Perhaps we should even take a step nearer to Glory and then stand there quietly and let His awe fill us.
He gives us glorious moments like this to remind us of who He is and what He is preparing for us.
Did you know that Sue Thomas was a great lover of good music, and did classical concerts in her younger years, even though she couldn’t hear a single note?
When we were in the Netherlands, we had a private tour of The Beje, which is the name of Corrie Ten Boom’s home where the family hid many Jews during the War.
Here is Sue playing Corrie’s piano in the small upstairs living room. You can see this very same piano in this very same room in the movie, The Hiding Place. Yes, they filmed parts right on location, which really helps bring life into the scenes.
On top of the piano there are family photos…of those who chose to do the right thing and were arrested, imprisoned and killed because of their hearts’ desires to honor God and love people no matter what may happen to them.
When Sue finished playing and was closing the piano lid, she saw those old faded black and white photos. Her shoulders began to heave. “Do you know they gave up their lives for total strangers?” she managed to get out between sobs.
The entire Ten Boom family was hauled away in the back of a military truck.
Those ‘total strangers’ spent several days secluded in The Hiding Place, then walked out free.
This is a great demonstration that there is no greater love than when one chooses to make hard decisions and perhaps even lays down his own life so that others will live.
Such is real love. So much bigger than our normal definition of human love…
Because it flows from the heart of the One Who IS Love.
