Deeper Still by phil mccallum | Archive

Facing Your Purpose

No Comments 16 November 2009

Scripture

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Observation

What is the purpose of my life? That is the ultimate question of living. But where is the answer to be found?

To see Christ is to see our purpose for living. Jesus is man fully alive who alone of the whole human race can show us what it means to be fully human. In Jesus there more than a man with a purpose, he is Christ so he is THE purpose. That is why he calls us to follow him. Jesus is the only human who knows where he is going because he is God.

We will find our purpose for living when we see Christ’s face. That sounds out of reach, doesn’t it? We might as well be asked to see the dark side of the moon. How can we on earth see Christ’s face without dying? Paul says it is simple. He could say for certain because he had seen Christ’s face, brighter than the noon sun. The brilliant face of Christ is to be seen in our hearts.

The blazing glory of the resurrected Christ is glowing inside of us. That is why it is so important for us daily to spend unhurried and uninterrupted time with Christ. The resurrection needs to move from an ancient tomb to Christ alive who speaks to us today. The ascension needs to be more than a Renaissance painting, but the vivid sense of Christ piercing the darkness of evil around us. The throne of God needs to be more than a future hope, but a fresh experience of hearing Jesus Christ pray for us by name before our Father. Jesus is not remote, he is near if we will take time to seek him.

Application

There is more of Christ available for me than I take advantage of. Right now I’m watching a sunrise. Our home has a seventh story, 36 foot glass wall facing east that makes sunrise unavoidable. How many sunrises I have missed in other homes. But not in this one. I see them all. As C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Prayer

Father, I refuse to believe that the vision Paul or John had of the glory of Christ is out of my reach. It is yours to give. I want to see your glory in the face of Christ. I am not seeking some mystical experience, but one connected with real life. I want to see Christ in the faces of those around me, in the words of the Bible, in songs of worship and in the thousands of events in this day where the finger of God moves and just because you are thinking of me. I want to see Christ so that I may know where I am going. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong United sing “Lord of Lords” as you read today’s devotion about the face of Christ.

Scripture

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Observation

What is the purpose of my life? That is the ultimate question of living. But where is the answer to be found?

To see Christ’s face is to find our purpose for living. Jesus is man fully alive who alone of the whole human race can show us what it means to be fully human. In Jesus there more than a man with a purpose, he is Christ so he is THE purpose. That is why he calls us to follow him. Jesus is the only human who knows where he is going because he is God.

Seeing Christ’s face seems out of reach, doesn’t it? We might as well be asked to see the dark side of the moon. How can we on earth see Christ’s face without death? Paul says it is simple. The brilliant face of Christ is to be seen in our hearts. Paul could speak from experience. He had seen Christ’s face brighter than the noon sun.

The blazing glory of the resurrected Christ is glowing inside of we who know him. That is why it is so important for us daily to spend unhurried and uninterrupted time with Christ. The resurrection needs to move from an ancient tomb to Christ alive who speaks to us today. The ascension needs to be more than a Renaissance painting, but the vivid sense of Christ piercing the darkness of evil around us. The throne of God needs to be more than a future hope, but a fresh experience of hearing Jesus Christ pray for us by name before our Father. Jesus is not remote, he is near if we will take time to seek him.

Application

There is more of Christ available for me than I take advantage of. Right now I’m watching a sunrise. Our home has a seventh story, 36 foot glass wall facing east that makes sunrise unavoidable. How many sunrises I have missed in other homes. But not in this one. I see them all. As C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Prayer

Father, I refuse to believe that the vision Paul or John had of the glory of Christ is out of my reach. It is yours to give. I want to see your glory in the face of Christ. I am not seeking some mystical experience, but one connected with real life. I want to see Christ in the faces of those around me, in the words of the Bible, in songs of worship and in the thousands of events in this day where the finger of God moves and just because you are thinking of me. I want to see Christ so that I may know where I am going. Amen.

Jesus

Give Me Jesus

No Comments 04 August 2009

Press the arrow to listen to Jeremy Camp sing “Give Me Jesus”

Scripture

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. John 6:37

Observation

To make the claim that I can know Jesus is as audacious as to say, “I am entitled to a meeting with the President in the Oval Office.” And yet it is as simple as phoning my own son.

“Come to Jesus,” the pastor says. Hands go up. People walk forward. Prayers are prayed. Lives are changed. It can seem as if it is we who are going to Christ. But in fact, it is always the other way around. Jesus comes to us. We don’t deserve him. We are blind to him. The door is locked….

…unless the Father opens the door for us. In our rush to have a personal relationship with Christ, I think many of us have forgotten that we have nothing to do with starting that relationship. Our salvation is all God’s idea. The fact that we are moved to turn to Christ, is because the Father wants us. He puts the desire into our hearts for Christ because he desires us.

Salvation starts and ends with the Father. This should change the way that I pray. There should be a humility in my knowing of Jesus. Instead of assuming that I know him well enough, I should start each and every day with humble prayers like this:

Father draw me to Jesus.
Father I listen to you and learn from you.
Father, grant that I may come to Jesus.
Father I believe Jesus is the Christ.

These are the kinds of prayers Jesus had in mind for us to pray. (See John 6:29, 37, 44, 45, 65.)

Application
I believe in Jesus as the Messiah, chosen by God and long awaited by the people, the focus of all the human race and all human history.

I need to come to Jesus Christ again. Every day, I need to come to Jesus. I cannot take Jesus for granted. I don’t know him well enough. I don’t have the ability to know him more. That’s all Papa’s doing. He’s waiting to see if I will make my life purpose to believe on the one he has sent. Then he will open heaven for me to know just a little more of him.

Prayer
Father, I come to you knowing that the relationship you have with your Son is the the most intimate, personal and private thing in all the universe. And yet, I ask to be included in that. I have nothing to give you for it. But I have everything to receive from it. Grant today that I may come to Jesus. Amen.

Jesus

Keep Simple

No Comments 11 April 2009

Press the arrow to listen to Chris Tomlin sing “Messiah” while reading today’s devotion about devotion.

Scripture
“Pure and undivided devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 13:2

I moved into a cluttered church office to start a new ministry. I hauled away piles and files. Sitting on top of a shelf was a piece of elegant calligraphy, beautifully framed and matted. The text read, “Keep simple and pure in your devotion to Christ.” That picture went to the centre of my display shelf. Like a rudder it kept me on course through many confusing days.

We are to look to Jesus only. This is not just a gaze with our eyes, but one with our hearts. We can’t take our eyes off of Christ. That is both a command as well as a desire. We can’t take our eyes off of him, because if we do life becomes confusing very quickly. We can’t take our eyes off of him, because Jesus is alluring. We want to stare at his glory.

Application

Complexity is the description of my life. Even the books written about Christ that I turn to are overwhelming at times. I must keep simple with my eyes focused on Jesus, with nothing contaminating that devotion to him.

Prayer
Father, keep me simple today.

Christmas, Jesus

Bookended

No Comments 25 December 2008

Press the arrow to listen to my favourite Christmas carol, “The Holly and the Ivy” by the choir at Winchester Cathedral as you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
This is the one who came by water and bloodâ€”Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:6

Observation

The life of Jesus is bookended between twin miracles. On one end is Christmas and the other is Easter.

Christmas is the miracle of water, in this case that the eternal God became human and entered the world through the waters of a mother’s womb.

Easter is the miracle of blood, that the eternal God entered the miracle of the resurrection through the veil of blood shed on the cross.

This is Jesus Christ, a life unlike any other.

The life of Jesus Christ is in me and my life is sandwiched with his miraculous life. I live between the uneplained and the unexpected. The unexplained has happened, because I have experienced new birth through his life. The unexpected is ahead because my resurrection is yet to come. I live squeezed between the bookends of Jesus’ miraculous life.

Application
My life is an unpredictable life because Christ is my beginning and myÂ end. The best is yet to come.

Prayer
Father, today I choose to live with expectation because my life is caught in the middle of Jesus’ life. Jesus is victor. Amen.

Jesus

Simple Jesus

No Comments 22 November 2008

Press the arrow to listen to “Still” by Hillsong Church as you read today’s devotion on rest.

Scripture
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Observation

Question. The closer I come to God, will his demands be harder?

Answer. Easier.

There is something disarming and simple the closer we come to Christ. At the core, we expect God, the Holy One, to be demanding and aloof, until we come to know him. In Jesus, we see that at his centre, God is humble and gentle. Those are two words that would not roll off the tip of my tongue in describing the Almighty.

The epicenter of God is more like a porch swing than a throne room, for what he offers to us in uninhibited relationship.

The call of Jesus is to take burdens off of us and not to load them onto us. So why do we become heavy-laden? Because we must be heading toward something other than Jesus. Maybe it is the expectations of others. Maybe it is the demands of an organization. Maybe it is wrong thinking about who God is. Maybe it is the voice of our mother-in-law. When we come to Jesus, life becomes simple. He gives us one obvious thing to do and then supports us in the doing of it.

Application
The goal of all of my work must be to just be with Jesus and nothing else. The reason the yoke is easy and the burden is light is because he is with me. Time with Jesus is not the reward after my work is done, but while I am doing it.

Prayer
Jesus let me sense you today as we work together. I chose to come to you. Take off from me what doesn’t fit. When I find gentleness and humility I will know I am close to you. Help me to live in that, for I often wander. Amen.

Anointing, God's Presence, Jesus, Love

The Most Valuable Real Estate in Heaven

No Comments 24 April 2008

Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong sing “From the Inside Out” while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
â€œMy Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.â€ Matthew 11:27

Observation
The most valuable piece of real estate in heaven is not found on the streets of gold or in the walls of jewels but in the few feet that separate the Father from the Son. In that gap there is a vortex of love, an inferno of acceptance as the Father loves his Son and the Son loves his Father. That space is so holy that no angel would dare to step into it.

And yet, and yet, and yet Jesus breaks his embrace of the Father, opens his arms wide and invites the likes of us into the greatest of the hugs of heaven. Like any son on earth who can invite a friend over for a family dinner or to tag along on a father and son camp out, so Jesus, if he chooses, can invite us into the heat, light and joy that arcs between he and the Father.

None of us is worthy to stand there. Yet we are invited when he chooses us.Â When Jesus does the choosing we are to boldly walk into that intensely private space and to make ourselves at home with God. Who could imagine it? Who would be presumptuous enough to ask for it? And yet, Jesus invites us in.

Application
Our goal as believers is to live moment by moment in the hot zone between Jesus and his Father. When we live in that space we hear the confidential whisperings of God, we become conduits of power to do greater things than even Jesus did while on earth and we walk with confidence known only by those who are deeply loved.

Prayer
Father, against better judgment, Jesus has invited me into the private space where you and he know each other best. Why do I become indifferent? Why am I distracted? Why do I wander? You have called me on earth to live here as if I were already in heaven. You have asked me to use faith to make invisible things visible and to treat them as realities. I don’t trust my own commitment to stay there. I am so easily distracted. So Lord Jesus, continue to invite me again and again home with your Dad. I want to enjoy every moment of it. Amen.

Father, Forgiveness, God, Jesus, Salvation

Love So Fearful

1 Comment 13 January 2008

All I can say about this video is, WOW.

Scripture
“The Fear of Isaac….” Genesis 32:42

Observation
Twice in this chapter, Jacob calls God by an odd name: The Fear of Isaac. If he used the name twice, then it must have been a name for the Lord that Jacob had heard at home. The man whose name meant “laughter” called God by the name “Fear”.

I wonder if that came from Isaac’s experience as a boy with his father Abraham on the mountain. Isaac was bound like a sacrificial animal on the altar and the knife of his father was ready to slit his throat. Then God stepped in and saved his life. A boy would remember that moment; and a man would never forget it either.

I don’t think the fear that Isaac felt was a fear of harm God could do to him as much as it was a respect of the God who saved him. Abraham, by putting his children on the altar, gave his son a front row seat view of God the nature of God. As a result Isaac knew the Lord personally enough to give him a special name.

Application
Do I fear God enough? This is not a fear of what God could do to harm me, but of what the Lord can do to save me. My life should be toast, but God rescued me from the toaster. That is reason enough to reverence the Lord who can save me. If he saved me then, he will save me now.

Prayer
Father, today I need your salvation and I fear you Lord, for you are the one who can save. With you is forgiveness, therefore, you are to be greatly feared. I fear you today, and that causes me to trust you and to love you more. Amen.