In that quiet place...

Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.” (I Peter 1:13-16 CEV)

In medical assessment, a patient who is less alert than their baseline assessment had been at a previous point might be under the untoward influence of a sedative, or perhaps have suffered a life-altering event such as stroke or bleed into their brain. To be alert, one is to be fully awake and able to direct full attention toward something. If someone is awake, but drifts easily back to sleep, without being able to focus or concentrate on what you are asking them to do, we begin to look for causes of this "drift" in attentiveness and alertness. It is this "alertness" faculty which gives us our ability to make decisions, engage in thoughtful process, and even follow along with a train of thought someone else may be discussing. Without alertness, we are simply "there", but not really engaged in the moment. To be less than alert places us at risk - for what we turn our attention toward is what we often pursue or become. When we are unable to focus our attention, the dangers are often great!

Be alert and think straight. If you have ever tried to 'be alert' when you are just a little bit scattered in your thoughts, you might find it is kind of difficult. Even when you have your thoughts well-ordered, you might find yourself drifting out of alertness just because there are distractions all around. The two work together, yet they are not entirely 'dependent' upon each other. The influences of life's demands place us at risk of decreased alertness and into circumstances where 'ordered' thought is more than a little bit difficult! When we are alert, we are keenly aware of what is going on around us. We process this "data" and form certain opinions of how it is we are to use it, reject it, flee from it. If we possess the ability to "think straight" in those same moments, we can trust the input to be "sorted" well and those things which should be embraced will be, and those which should be rejected will find their way quickly out of our minds and hearts. Obedience is based on being alert and thinking straight - for in embracing the "correct" stuff and rejecting the "lame" stuff, we are beginning to walk as we should - as obedient children of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Most of us don't consider ourselves as "holy" - we are just on the journey which leads to the incorporation of better choices, upright living, and honesty in our actions. In some sense, we see this as being "less than holy", but in reality, we are already declared to be holy - we are just in the process of learning to "walk this out" in our daily lives. Even when we don't "feel" holy, we are. What God is to remain alert to the things which will "dissuade" us from making right choices - in other words - be alert! Use some good "thinking skills" in making our choices - not allowing our minds to become so cluttered by life's demands and distractions that we make spur of the moment choices that are not well thought out. When we begin to live in such a way, the steps toward obedience are quicker and more reliable.

What consumes our thoughts will impact our choices. If we are "on alert" to what can so easily consume our thoughts, we will be quicker to reject the stuff that is just going to add "clutter" to an already complicated amount of thought. If we let our "alertness" drift, we might succumb to the loudest impressions we are exposed to - making our choices less than reliable and very inconsistent from what we would desire for our lives. 

When our focus is fully awakened, we are "alert" to the possibilities of what stands in our midst. Some of the time, we engage in life without bringing our focus into full "alertness" - we just go about life without really spending time to get our focus right. This is why I start my day with study in the Word, over a cup of coffee, and in a quiet place. I remove distractions, focus my attention, and let the level of "alertness" begin to bring order to my thoughts. Anything less would place me at risk of hasty decisions, and not very reliable actions. How about you? Are you allowing your focus to be fully awakened? You might just be surprised what purpose you might discover in today's activities when you allow such an awakening! Just sayin!

Alert! Alert! Alert!

Modern-day cell phones have those built-in 'public safety alerts'. Why? We want to avoid the harm associated with the warning or be on the look-out to help someone who is in danger themselves. The purpose of a warning is to give us sufficient notice to prepare or be 'alert'. Even when I take my car into the local auto shop to have them fill my tires with air and rotate them every 5000 miles or so, they check the tread and general condition of the tires. This simple practice is designed to alert me to the potential of uneven wear, possible sidewall damage from road hazards I did not recognize, or wearing tread that may result in the need for new tires. They are concerned about safety. They know I will come back when I recognize the need for new tires - sometimes even before I truthfully need them. I take their warnings seriously - because they are the experts! Why is it we don't take other warnings in our lives just as seriously? It isn't because they aren't delivered by an "expert", but perhaps it is because we are trying to be the "expert" in our own lives!

It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living. It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. (John 5:24-27)

When Jesus takes up residence in our hearts, he expects to become the "expert" we trust and listen to uncompromisingly. The issue is us being asked for obedience and actually choosing to listen to the voice of the expert in our lives. Between thought and action there is always choice. It is kind of like the "dash" between two numbers. This "space" between thought and action may not be very long, but a lot is determined by what occurs in that tiny space! It is often the place where we choose to listen to the voice of authority (the expert), or we choose to live as the voice of authority (the rebel).

The voice of the authority is Christ. He puts it all out there for us to see, so there is no second-guessing his intention or purpose for our lives. It is urgent that we listen carefully to his words. As we all know, the space between hearing and listening is almost as significant as the space between thought and action! Hearing and listening are two entirely different things. One is casual, the other is focused and intentional. Jesus requires the latter. Belief should lead to alignment. We can attest to all kinds of beliefs, can't we? Christ asks for our heart's belief to align with our life's actions. In other words, when we say we put our trust in him, he expects us to actually do it. He is the expert, so we have to step aside and trust him to guide our lives as he sees fit.

Trust is the basis for relationship. As we align ourselves with Christ, we are coming into restored relationship with the heavenly Father. No other path exists to God the Father other than that of Christ Jesus. We take a step from being on a course with death into a lasting and permanent relationship with God's presence and peace. Life is not lived on our own terms. We may try to live it that way, but whenever we act as our own authority, choosing our own path, we find the "space" between thought and action doesn't always keep us from making wrong choices! Our thoughts may start out as good intentions, but they don't always end up in wise choices.

We have plenty of warnings, but we don't ask what they mean. If we did, we might just be kept from some pretty unwise choices which only end in "death" within our lives. It may not be physical death, but any form of "disconnection" from that which gives life is a form of death. Jesus' warning is clear - pay attention to the voice of authority in your life. It makes all the difference between life and death! Just sayin!

Just pondering

How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. (Psalm 111:2-3)

All who delight in him should ponder his deeds. What does it mean to ponder? To consider something deeply and thoroughly - we get the word meditation from this concept of pondering. Meditation isn't sitting cross-legged and chanting - it is taking time out to just dig a little deeper into the object of your attention. If God is the object right now - you are pondering!

"A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the reward. Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God." (Max Lucado) We may not want to admit it, but God can and does use every 'season' of our lives - good, mediocre, or really bad! Ponder these seasons - what is he doing, how are we responding, what might he be teaching us in that moment? We aren't going to grow in Christ if we ever expect to do it without some element of 'pondering' him.

Everything he does reveals his glory - that should resonate in your soul and deep within your spirit. Nothing escapes his use in your life - nothing. The tiniest of issues can reveal the biggest of victories. The greatest of victories can reveal the most hidden of virtues. We need to consider well what he is doing, for in so doing we open ourselves up to the revelation of something we may not have really known about God or ourselves. Pondering is not wasted time - in fact, it is the most beneficial use of time you may ever experience. Just sayin!

Hey...you there...yeah, you!

Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel answered, “Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen.” (I Samuel 3:10)

Wisdom dictates we listen more than we speak - but I have to honestly tell you I don't always do well with that one requirement. Listening is an art - learned not because we really want to learn it, but because if we don't learn how to listen, we will eventually get life pretty much as we like it, but we might just be the only ones left in the picture once we do! I suspect there is much to this listening "art" which many of us have yet to perfect. In fact, learning this "art" of listening requires we not only learn how to "tune into" the voice we hear, but we learn to "recognize" the voice we are hearing. I think many of us hear those "voices" in our heads - hopefully not too many of them - but we don't always know which one is the one we should be listening to. 

If you have ever seen one of those commercials or cartoons where there is a little guy in white on one shoulder and a little guy in black on the other and someone is trying to figure out if which one to listen to, you probably understand what I mean. We hear "sides" to the stories in our head, and then we must determine which "side" we will respond to - we will be 'obedient' to at least one of those voices. There are probably "shades" of white and grey on both sides - not just the lily white and the deep, dark black. It is the "shades" of white and grey which present us with the most difficult challenge of sorting out the voices inside our head. 

Samuel was a young boy, probably in his early teens, or just about to enter his teens. He has been dedicated to the work of the Lord in the Temple, doing daily tasks within the Temple right alongside the priests. One day, he hears a voice call out to him. Thinking it was the priest, he hustles off to see what Eli wants, but it wasn't Eli. Did you ever stop to consider why even the priest didn't recognize the voice Samuel was actually hearing until the same call occurred the third time? The first two times Eli just sends him away, telling him it was not him who called. The third time, it "dawns on" Eli that this might just be God trying to get through to Samuel - to have a personal conversation with him or give him direction for his life! I wonder how many of us are kind of like Eli - just drifting along, getting all kinds of reminders of God desiring to speak with us, and then one day it finally dawns on us that he has been the one speaking to us all along - we just didn't recognize the voice!

Samuel knew he was hearing something - yet he didn't have clarity about what it was he was hearing. In the Old Testament times, the revelation of God's voice came to very few - those anointed to be his spokesperson were often the ones to receive the revelation. Today the voice of God is really something we can ALL hear - since Jesus opened the way for ALL of us to hear God's voice plainly and on an ongoing basis. The purpose of God's voice is to bring revelation - to disclose or uncover something not previously known. It might come in the form of direction, or perhaps as words of specific encouragement. 

There are times when God speaks directly to us to keep us safe - as when he gives us a quick warning which alerts us to pay attention to the traffic when we are drifting a little into daydreaming. It that split second of moving from daydreaming into attentive awareness, we narrowly avoid the collision which could have cost us dearly. Other times, he speaks to build us up or to encourage us to move ahead despite what we see on the outside. It seems he isn't getting through to his kids at times, but he knows he is touching something deep within us which will carry us through our day if we just listen closely. Just sayin! 

Not gonna miss out!

I have moments where I am so acutely aware of what is going on around me, I am pretty sure I don't miss much. Then there are lots of other times when I am not as acutely 'dialed-in', knowing I may miss something, but not really all that concerned about it. How is it we can be so acutely dialed-in at times and then be so 'out there' at others? It has to do with our thoughts, for sure, but it also has a lot to do with our hearts - where our emotions lead us, we often go without hesitation. I think this is why God doesn't just reveal his truths to us once and leave it at that. He knows we may not be as 'dialed-in' as we need to be to actually hear, see, or interpret truth each and every time. We might want to be, but honestly, our emotions just don't always point us in the right direction to see truth when it is revealed, much less use it! It could be the 'little things' in life we miss the most - simply because we 'gloss over' them or don't really pay close attention. We might just need to stop more frequently to just listen and notice, or perhaps tune in a little closer so we actually hear what is being said - but the truth is we don't always realize just how much we miss until it we do just that.

I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me. They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me, and they have now done what you said. They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you, for the message you gave me, I gave them; and they took it, and were convinced that I came from you. They believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world but for those you gave me, for they are yours by right. Everything mine is yours, and yours mine, and my life is on display in them. For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world; they'll continue in the world while I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind. (John 17:6-11)

The first thing coming into the consciousness of my mind this morning was the awesomeness of being "given" to Christ - then us having his life 'conferred as a gift' to us. So many times we think we "came" to Christ - like it was some doing of our own. Yes, we 'take the truth' and allow it to enter into our lives, but had Christ not 'conferred his life' to us, we would have been unable to find our way to Christ! Without his being "given" us as his own, we'd never have "found" him! We belonged to God the Father, given as a gift to his Son, Jesus - an inheritance shared with the heir-apparent of sorts! Have you ever thought of yourself as an "inheritance"? By the very definition, we are more than "junk" cast aside, but a personal possession of the God of the Universe - made to give him glory and honor - given in care as a matter of "birthright" to the Son! It should give us immense joy to know God considers us of the highest worth - for only things of worth or value are given as an inheritance!

Note this - it took a while for those given as an inheritance to actually do as they were told! See it? "They have NOW done what you said..." The very use of the word "now" suggests some point in time of NOT doing what God instructed - not being in the 'now' when it comes to obedience, dedication, and trust. This certainly pictures my life - delayed responses all around! I know I have those moments of absolute surrender - I think there is a Christian worship song which calls those moments "second chances". We serve a God of huge second chances! When we don't get the "now" right, we get a second chance to bring our focus into the 'now' so we don't end up always doing what we are NOT supposed to be doing. Nothing we get from Christ is "stale" knowledge - dry crumbs crumbling to the floor that we have to scour for as dogs on the hunt for a tiny morsel. He gives us what he receives directly from his Father. It is alive, life-giving knowledge. What else could the Creator of all things do but share knowledge capable of producing life for those who will embrace it? We have to embrace it! We settle for something "stale" so many times - crumbs we scour for on our hands and knees - when the freshness of the Creator's touch is right there for the taking! God's greatest joy is in sharing and producing life!

If you didn't realize it, Christ's life is on display in us. This is no after-thought on Christ's part - he is purposeful in his prayer to his Father about each of us. He knows we are the display of his grace - to a world who will have no knowledge of the Creator without the evidence of his Son displayed through us! We are trophies of his grace - displayed for the world to see - not once, but over and over again. Our every action, reaction, and even our lack of action displays the very character of God. Yet, his prayer is for us to be guarded - with a "watch" set over our lives. Not just a "watch" to ensure no one destroys us - but a watchfulness to ensure the display of his grace is not tainted by our tendency to divide over simple truths, wander down wayward paths, and settle for a so-so existence when he has called us into greatness in him. Jesus knew we'd struggle with the simple stuff in life. His prayer is for us to be of one heart and mind - not allowing any division, no matter how small to get an inroad in our lives. We can allow the simple things to divide us, or we can focus on the truths which are foundational and build upon them in unity. I think this is what Jesus had in mind as he prayed for us. The next time you are tempted to "gloss over" or just not "dial-in" - don't! The truths we skip may be the very blessing we need - the thing that will bring balance and restore vitality to our souls! Just sayin!