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Scripture
Flaming fire His ministers. Psalm 104
Observation
It is from verses like this one that John Wesley explained the attraction of his ministry, “Set yourself on fire and people wll watch you burn.”
Some pastors excell at chopping and stacking wood. With laborious exegesis they saw and split cords of firewood but there is no fire. Other preachers are like boxes of matches. There is not a depth of knowing that comes from the word of God. With spit and shout they ignight like a box of match heads all at once the flame is bright but it does not last.
A preacher needs firewood and the fire. He needs both careful study as well as burning prayer.
Application
Next weekend I’m speaking to some of my favourite folks at Peninusla City Church in Frankston, Victoria in Australia. I want to bring the wood as God sends the fire!
Press the arrow to listen to Michael Card and Phil Keaggy sing “The Poem of Your Life”
Scripture “Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, ‘Now at last Naomi has a son again!’ And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.” (Ruth 4:16-17).
Observation
God is the author of each life story. That clear from the first biography God ever wrote – the book of Ruth.
Ruth as a book is perfectly balanced.
The introduction and the conclusion have the exact same number of words. The novel starts bitter but ends better.
There are four main sections that pull the reader along.
Each section has an introductory sentence that introduces segment.
Each chapter starts with a problem that is answered and leads to the next problem.
There is balance between selfless Ruth and selfish Orpah and between selfless Boaz and the selfish relative.
The story starts with a picture of Naomi an empty a widow with two dead sons.
The fairy-tale ends with a picture of Naomi now filled with a baby in her arms.
And in the first biography in the Bible everyone lives happily ever after in the end.
Why is the book of Ruth so perfect? Ruth is not beautiful just because the writer spun a good tale but because the Lord was the author of her life. The book of Ruth is beautiful because Naomi had a God-written life. The book is a masterpiece because there was a master-plot planned by the Master Himself. Remember, God is the best selling author of all time.
Every human life is like a story. Some are tragedies. However, lives given to God are stories authored by the Almighty Himself. If my life is in Jesus then my life is a story written by God. No matter the character, the plot, the scenery, every life-tale under God’s control ends better than it began.
Some like Naomi want to stop reading the story of their lives too soon. At the start of the book Naomi tried to stop the story of her life. When her husband and sons died she thought her story had come to an end. But it was really the beginning of a brand new story.
Application
My life is like a book, being written by God every day. It all takes longer than I think it should sometimes. Writers are notoriously slow. I heard James Mitchner wrote just 3 pages a day. God takes his time working out the plot of our lives.
Our lives are like a book, a plot written day by day. Many pages are senseless. Some seem to have temporary purpose only to be lost in the next chapter. But Jesus is the author skilled at turning bad beginnings into better endings.
In all of the Bible, any human life participating with the Lord has ended better than it began. Jesus wants to dip his pen into my life to inscribe his eternal purposes. My choice is, will I scrawl an autobiography, with each chapter written by me, struggling to find meaning. Or will I let Jesus story blend with my own story so that I can inscribe eternal purposes?
Prayer
Father, here’s a pen, here’s my life, please write your story all over me. Amen.
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Mercy Me God With Us
Scripture “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Luke 24:5-6
Observation
Angels see life very differently from humans. The heavenly sentry at the tomb blurted out, “Why are you looking for among the dead for someone who is alive?” It’s an obvious question if you are an angel and see human life from heaven’s point of view.
But it is not an obvious question if one is a human. Cemeteries seem very logical places to look for the living when someone has died. It’s hard to understand until someone close to you has be placed into a coffin and dropped into the ground. Not an old aunt or old high school friend, but someone so close it is difficult to imagine life without them. The graveside can feel like the closest place to them.
Of course it doesn’t have to be death, it can be the loss of anything in life. It can be the loss of a friend, children, homes, income, reputation, position, relationships. When we lose something there will be some place of sadness that we connect with the loss. In our minds we think that if we can but return to that place something will change. But in fact we feel even sadder.
Application
There are times we need to be counseled by angels to see our lives from heaven’s point of view. If it is hope we are looking for we cannot find it by going back to the place of loss. Hope will be found among the living and not the dead. When we have a loss and want to retract back, we must force ourselves into the mainstream of life. There we will find the Lord. One thing is clear in the resurrection stories: the more they gathered together the more they found Jesus. If we are to find hope we must stop returning to what has been lost and plunge ourselves into the flow of human life. There we will find the Lord in the land of the living.
Prayer Father, today I take the counsel of the angels. I want to see my life from heaven’s point of view. Show me where the living are so that there I may find Jesus who is truly alive. Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
