Hearing the Music

The Throne of the Majesty

I hope that your Groundhog Day is going well? Some of you remember the movie with the same title in which the Bill Murray character goes through an endless repetition of the same day. In many ways the movie, which is billed as a comedy, is asking the question of how we obtain meaning, if there is any at all to be had.  In this sense, Groundhog Day is a parable for lives which can feel repetitious and sometimes seem to touch only tenuously at deep meaning. 

Our passage for this week offers what we might consider a "deeper touch to transcendent meaning" in Hebrews 8:1 where we are told that Jesus, as our most excellent High Priest, "is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven". What is singular about this verse is the idea of "the Majesty". The word majesty is used only one other time in the the NT (Jude 25) and this is certainly the only time that it is used as a definite noun to describe God. Used this way we get a sense of the mind-blowing greatness of God. It is one thing to use a term like Father, which helps us formulate an idea about God, or to used terms like omnipotent or omniscience to seek to describe an attribute of God. But it seems to me, that the preacher of Hebrews here uses a word more transcendent and less specific to remind us that God is bigger than anything that we we can strictly conceptualize.  The preacher is seeking to lift up the drooping hands and weak knees of the believers by saying there is a Being in the universe that is so absolutely worthy of our worship. A Being that gives meaning to every blade of grass and every seemingly pointless interaction. That there is such a Being is mind-blowing enough, but to note further that Jesus, as Priest who represents God to us and us to God, is seated at the right hand of the throne of this Majesty serving us! I don't know about you, but at the very least the preacher here is pressing us to consider that there is something more to this universe than the everyday humdrum of life. Taken in their fullness, the preacher's words are an invitation to celebrate a life that is rich with the Majesty brought near to us!

Financial Fast

As the New Year rolled in, Lisa and I along with several of our children and some friends embarked on a 21 day financial fast*. The goal of the fast was to evaluate spending habits and more importantly our heart attitudes toward finances in light of God's word by refraining from spending beyond necessities for 3 weeks. This meant no eating out, Amazon purchases, new clothes, etc ... for 21 days.  

I would say that it has  been a good experience for all. We have encouraged each other in our group text chain. We have had great conversations around topics of generosity, tithing, needs v. wants, budgeting, use of credit, etc... One memorable conversation centered on the cost of not following God's law, and by cost I mean $$$$. Our idols (sports, fashion, music, etc...) cost us regularly. Part of the 4th commandment is an invitation to rest our wallets. When we fail to rest it often comes with a cost. Our sexual sin is so financially draining, especially when you factor in divorce and its cost. The list goes on. It is an interesting exercise to run down the 10 commandments and think about their financial implications.

I am not advocating a financial fast for everyone, but it is good to acknowledge just how pernicious finances can be when it comes to living in the Gospel. Our Savior promises us that not a hair will fall from our head. He promises that he cares for us as he cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air (Mt. 6). He reminds us that He is our inheritance, that He alone is our source of joy (Eph. 1). In Him we are richer than an oil tycoon or a hedge fund manager.  There is nothing on earth that can compare with what is already ours in Christ (Ps. 73). In the end, whether it is through a financial fast or some other discipline, this question will need to be answered, "Are our hearts overwhelmed by the love which Christ has demonstrated through the Cross?" "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” (Jer. 31:3)  That is more than enough for me.

Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash

Start Small, Dream Big

“Small decisions can lead us to great destinations or great destruction.”       -Matt Bradner

Including my years as a college student, this was my 22nd time attending the Campus Outreach New Year’s Conference. (Personal favor, do not stop and do the math to calculate my age.) And without fail, God has used this event to rock my world every time. One of our keynote speakers, Matt Bradner, challenged us with the principle of sowing and reaping (see 2 Corinthians 9:6) -- our small everyday decisions in life will accumulate into large outcomes. Matt unpacked this principle using King David’s journey -- the runt in his family whose older brothers were all serving in the army. David, who was left home guarding the family sheep, was beckoned to deliver food to the men at battle. Fast-forward. In the end, it is that boy David whom God uses to defeat the enemy Goliath and free His people. To God be the glory, who accomplishes much with little. 

Do you want to be used by God like David? Certainly, David was not perfect. In fact, later in life, it was David’s small decisions that led to his great moral failure in 2 Samuel 11. Nor is David the hero in the Goliath story. God is. And yet, God has given us this wisdom principle of sowing and reaping to guide us in life. David had a history of trusting God with the seemingly small things in life and that set his life on a trajectory to then trust God when faced with great difficulty that day on the battlefield.

Today, I’m reminded to be faithful with the small things in my life. Reading our church’s daily devotional is one great example. We don’t have to read the bible every day. We get to. It’s our great privilege to read God’s Word and let this small daily decision shape our future character bit by bit. 

Another quote from the conference equally struck me. It was not from a speaker but from a Michigander attending for the first time, “Evangelism, I have always said I value it. But today I realized I never do it.” {Pause. Read those simple yet profound words a second time.} Humbling to admit but it’s those “small” words of confession that can be the start of incredible, life-changing results. 

Confession is hard. And yet it is so good because when we admit our weakness, that is when our mighty God can best be seen right there at our side eager to carry us into the battle and onto victory. My prayer this year for myself, my team of missionaries and volunteer leaders, and the CAM students I’m working with is this -- that we would all face our weaknesses head-on day by day, look to God to be our strength, and ask Him to lead us into the harvest field sowing gospel seeds. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see incredible results of friends' and family members' lives changed forever? The results are not our responsibility. We must leave them in the hands of our Sovereign God and simply do our part. Oh, God, use us for your glory! Amen.

Photo by Christine on Unsplash