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Swallowed up by Life

Interesting.

Two incidents within one week. Both observing the same milestone. But one person looks at life ebbing away. The other looks at life lived even more abundantly.

At a birthday dinner for a friend celebrating 60, the talk naturally turned to retirement. With this group of friends, retirement is anything but “retiring”. Instead, it is more opportunities, another chapter to be written with vigor, new paths to follow in great anticipation.

Just a few days later, flipping through channels, I stopped at a movie and listened to one of the characters wailing about her upcoming 60th birthday; she felt she was shriveling up and her life was pretty much finished.

One saw death. The other sees life growing ever more abundant.

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:4-5 (NLT)

(I suppose everyone over thirty groans and sighs sometimes because of a mortal body … )

This chapter is discussing the day when each one of us takes down her earthly tent and moves to an eternal body made by God to live in the eternal. In the NIV version, verse 5 reads:

So that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

One of my favorite phrases in the Bible! Swallowed up by life. What an exciting description of what will happen at the end of my earthly days! Hmmm. Maybe I want that on my headstone … or on that little memory card you’ll get at the funeral home … oh … I digress.

Back to the subject for today. I know this passage is talking specifically about death, taking down our tents here and moving on to what Jesus has prepared for us. But this phrase is so powerful that it often comes back to me when I think about my living now. The word used here for “swallowed” is the same one used in 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

This is what I want to happen, even while I’m still on this earth. I want all that is mortal in me to be swallowed up by Life.

And God has promised this will happen for those who come to Him. It begins as soon as we open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit. The life we live becomes the new life Christ gives us. It begins to happen Now.

My selfishness and limited ability to love swallowed up by His love
My brokenness swallowed up by His wholeness and healing
My weakness swallowed up by His strength
The acts of my sinful nature swallowed up by the fruits of the Spirit.

Lord Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth, the Life. Let my mortal be swallowed up by your Life.

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The Gift and the Glory – Part 2

Ever since 2 Corinthians 3 found me, I have been in awe of the truth that we who have turned to the Lord reflect the Lord’s glory [and] are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Did you catch that? He created us in His image to begin with, then we pretty much ruined it, and now His purpose is to restore us to that image of His own glory.

This has completely changed my former thoughts about glory. First, I always thought the attribute of glory belonged to God alone … but there’s a long list of Scriptures that say it’s meant for us to share, too.

My NLT Word Study System says the Greek word used here for “glory” is a noun meaning “radiance or splendor, with a strong association of importance or display of power. It refers to eye-catching, wondrous beauty, perhaps with a focus on the object shining or reflecting light. Glory means ascribing honor or praise, emphasizing that the person being honored is powerful, beautiful, important.”

Whew. Radiance, splendor, importance, power, wondrous beauty. All of those things, we know, find their ultimate expression in God.

But … all of those things in ME ?

Second, my idea of the glory awaiting followers of Jesus was that it was some reward in heaven, when we will be transformed and made perfect. But this is His plan NOW — He reclaimed and brought us back from the kingdom of darkness so that He can transform us into His glorious image once again. And He’s not waiting — He’s doing it NOW.

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

The Spirit of Christ that brought you a new life is the One who is now transforming you into His image. Hebrews says the Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God. And the Son lives in us.

Isn’t that amazing?

Ann Voskamp, in her very poetic book, One Thousand Gifts, says:

          He means to rename us—to return us to our true names, our truest
          selves. He means to heal our soul holes … He means to fill us with glory
          again.

In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul quotes the Scriptures from Isaiah:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.

Yes! This is hard to imagine. I know me. I know what I once was. And now He is transforming me into the likeness of God, planting in ME the glory that shines in the Lord of the Universe?  This is astounding.

Yet, Paul goes on to say, because we have received God’s Spirit, we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

I want to understand. I want to know the wonderful gifts that He’s prepared for me.

Receiving a new life. Inheriting His riches, hope, and power. Transformed into His likeness. Created first in His glorious image … ruined … now being restored.

How can we ignore such a gift?

Spirit, help us believe and understand.

　

　***

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV); Colossians 1:27: Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 2:9,12 (all NLT)

More Scriptures about the glory planned for us: John 17:22; Romans 5:2; Romans 8:16-18; Romans 9:23; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Hebrews 2:10; 1 Peter 4:14; 2 Peter 1:3-4

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The Gift and the Glory – Part 1

You love a good steak. Your best friend knows this, and on your birthday, he stops at the meat market and buys you two of the fattest, juiciest, best cuts of meat you’ve ever seen. When he drops them off, you thank him and stick them in the refrigerator. Two weeks later, the steaks are still in the meat drawer.

Not likely!

You bought raffle tickets at a fundraiser, hoping for the grand prize: an all-expense paid getaway at Pebble Beach Golf Resort, courses most golfers can only dream of playing. But it’s your lucky day, and you hold the winning ticket! A month later, you settle into the resort, but somehow never get around to playing those two free rounds on the famous (and expensive) fairways along the ocean.

Ridiculous!

A rich uncle dies (OK, let’s change this cliché and make it a rich aunt) — A VERY rich aunt dies and leaves you her mountain home and 3,000 acres in Colorado. Wow. Isn’t that exciting? But you never make the trip to check out your inheritance, the house sits unused, and you do nothing with the property, except pay taxes on it.

Unbelievable!

Who would neglect to do such things? Whether it’s wasting a free and desirable gift or ignoring a lavish inheritance, what kind of person would not take advantage of such opportunities and endowments?

Me. You. Too often.

Some very simple statements in Scripture convict me —

 

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.        The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.

…we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.

 

He created us in His own image. But we went our own way and ended up looking very … un-God-like.

So He made a way to bring us back to Himself; and when we chose that way, He adopted us, claimed us as His children, and gave us new lives that included an inheritance of hope, riches, and power.

How exciting! What a story!

It’s your story, child of God.

But where’s your story line going right now? Are you ignoring the new life and the inheritance that are now yours?

Or are you receiving, enjoying, and living the gift?

 

Part 2 tomorrow — Some really deep (and amazing) stuff about the gift.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17,18; 6:1 (NLT)

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Gazing at the invisible

He was only 18 months when the first “incident” occurred, and from that point forward, I noticed that my youngest grandson has a special gift: He sees birds. Not the kind of seeing that we do when someone says, “Look! There’s a woodpecker at the suet.” No, this little boy sees birds that the rest of us miss.

On that Sunday afternoon we were in the front yard, involved in some kind of game, and suddenly my grandson said, “Look!” and pointed upward. There, so far above us that I had to search for a moment to find it, was a bird drifting serenely on the currents. My daughter ran into the house for the binoculars and identified it as a bald eagle, a rare sighting for our area.

Such incidents have happened often enough in the past year that I’m fairly certain:  This boy has eyes on the top of his head. He may seem to be intent on his sandbox or spraying everyone with the garden hose, but suddenly he calls attention to something in the sky. Everyone else is absorbed with what’s going on here at ground level, but his eyes are catching those things above us that we would otherwise miss.

I’d like to have his sight, see things far beyond ground level. Even when I’m totally involved in day-to-day work and busyness, troubles and pleasures, I’d like to be able to catch sight of the realm beyond the earthly, temporal, and finite.

We are not just waiting for some far-off day when we’re ushered into a perfect place called heaven. The kingdom of heaven is now. Jesus entered this world and established His kingdom and it is here. When God adopted you as his child, the Spirit opened a new dimension of life for you.

The apostle Paul put it this way:

we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Isn’t that an interesting choice of words? We fix our gaze — words that imply seeing — on things that cannot be seen.

Hebrews 11 recounts all the trouble Moses had with Pharaoh when the Israelites wanted to leave Egypt, but he did not fear the ruler’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

Apparently, there are two kinds of sight: Eyes that see things we touch and eat and feel and own.  And eyes of faith, that see invisible things that last forever.

I know it’s easy to lose sight of Jesus’ kingdom and the One who is invisible.

I know our days get so busy and we are besieged by so many responsibilities and demands that sometimes we feel as though we can’t think clearly.  I know that sometimes troubles hang like a heavy fog that keeps us from seeing any clear path.

But if you look at the context of both these passages, the writers are saying that this is how we will get through our troubles, this is how we can cope with earthly life, this is what keeps us going — seeing the invisible.

I want eyes to gaze at the invisible, eyes to look beyond ground level and see Jesus’ kingdom more clearly.

May the Spirit grow eyes on the tops of our heads.

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Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:18; Hebrews 11:27 (both NLT)

　

　

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The Sword of the Spirit

The Scripture was so accurate, I laughed aloud.

Psalm 119:25
I lie in the dust;
    revive me by your word.

I saw the picture immediately — me, lying face down in the dirt, too discouraged to even move. Just about as low as I could get. Almost ready to throw in the towel.

Yup, that’s how I felt that morning.

OK, I confess, before that morning, I don’t think I had ever read through the entire chapter of Psalm 119 at one sitting. Sometime long ago, I had learned the obvious fact that this is the longest chapter in the Bible. That could be why I’ve avoided sitting down and reading it, beginning to end.

I also know that every one of those 176 verses has a reference to God’s word.

God certainly got my attention by throwing that verse at me on that blue morning. As I read through all of chapter 119 (yes, I did) I began to notice all the things the Word of God does in our lives: It is a light for my path, it makes me wise, it guides my steps, it revives me (I needed that), it brings encouragement, renews my life, and leads me to joy and freedom.

Why not saturate myself with the power that does all those things?

And then my ten-year-old grandson wanted to teach me to play a new Wii game. When we were young, my siblings and I sat in front of the TV and watched Bugs Bunny blow up Yosemite Sam or Roadrunner smash Wile E Coyote. Now, two generations down, the kids are blowing up droids with a lightsaber. (Do I have those terms right?)

So on that day, I picked up the little white control thingie, trying to understand which button or movement makes me, the good guy on the screen, jump, twirl, kick, run, or change into some super-hero.

And then I discover a secret. One push at the right time on the right button shoots a shining, pulsating stream of light that looks like a sword (to my old-fashioned mind) straight toward the nasty creature advancing to attack me. I flick my wrist and … slice! slice! slice! I’ve chopped up the menace and dispensed with that danger. On to the next alien!

I was grinning as I sliced and chopped all advancing threats. (Oh dear, that’s a horrible thing for a Mennonite pacifist to admit!)  But I was smiling because, in the middle of that Wii game, the Spirit was reminding me:  “This is exactly what the Scriptures can do to all those things that attack you.”

Eph 6:17
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Spirit lives in me, and His weapon, that with which He does battle against my enemies, is the lightsaber of the Word of God. When I am under attack from things without and within, the Word can slice up and dispatch those threats.

The Word fights our discouragement, our doubt, our fears, our tendency toward envy and jealousy and anger and malice, our insecurities, our pride, our lack of faith, our blindness, our stubbornness, our bitterness, our hunger, our cynicism, our forgetfulness of God … I could go on and on.

All of those things that Satan, hoping for our defeat, sends to attack us, the Spirit can vanquish. His weapon is the Word.

Put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil … Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

　

　

*****

Scripture: Ephesians 6:13,17

Recommended Read: Psalm 18 is one of my favorites. It begins with the writer entangled by the ropes of death, overwhelmed, caught in a trap, helpless. He cries out to God, who dramatically comes to save him, and then God arms him with strength, trains him for battle, gives him a shield of victory. The psalm ends with the writer saying he chased down his enemies and struck them down, put his foot on their necks, ground them fine as dust, and swept them into the gutter like dirt. What a victory story!

Spirit, give us those victories, too!