More Than A Sentiment

If you are like most Christians you have a few encouraging verses on the walls of your home, or the desk of your office or maybe even in your car. These verses have spoken to you at some point and you wanted to be reminded daily of their significance. Yet, we so often fail in going from being moved to being changed. The Word of God was never meant to make us feel good but has been given to be part of our transformation. Those verses must go from our walls to become part of who we are.

A few days ago I was writing about Psalm 73, pointing out that the awareness of the presence of the Lord changes everything. Today I want to pick it up again a little later in the psalm. Remember that this psalmist was struggling with why evil is permitted to exist in Yahweh's creation but standing in the presence of the Lord changed his perspective. The psalmist was repenting of his selfish perspective and then penned this:

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:23-24)

To realize that no matter our attitude, the Lord is always with us, is a great place to be in our revelation of Yahweh. We have even the greater revelation that while we were still sinners Jesus died for us. The presence of the Lord has been promised to us in the same way of our salvation. Our foolishness, pride, vain ambitions do not frighten him away. He is at hand so that when we turn to seek his face he is right there. All he desires is to forgive so he can have intimacy with us. He holds our hand. He guides us and he waits to receive us into his glory.

It's as we walk in the reality of his presence, of his desire for intimacy, we too can begin to measure the worth of this relationship:

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (v. 25-26)

It is a great sentiment but if that is all it is to us, something to hang on the wall to inspire us, we are missing the reality of the Lord's presence. Jesus has promised to never leave us, to be with us until the end of the age; not a sentiment but the reality we live every day. When we are open to him, seeking him, desiring him, turning to him, leaning on him, dependent on him, trusting him, we experience the reality of him holding our hand, the truth of him guiding us with his counsel, and we gain the assurance of him receiving us into his glory.

The presence of the Lord is our daily reality. When you live it the Word will come alive to you and your clouded reality in this place will be transformed into the living reality of our loving and awesome Father. More than a sentiment.

Jesus Is With Us, So Live Like It

It is sad that we can live through an entire day with no thought of Jesus. We get busy, rushed, fall behind schedule or perhaps we are simply enjoying ourselves too much. We are distracted. We keep Jesus for emergencies only. Now, be honest with yourself, how often did Jesus come to mind yesterday?

I am not talking about your Bible Reading or devotional time. I mean in your regular routine, in the busyness of your day, how often did thoughts of Jesus interrupt you? How often did you stop just to have a quick chat? How many times were you touched by the sense of his presence? His presence is one of the greatest gifts we have been given and he wants us to experience it throughout our day.

Jesus has promised to always be with us and he is. Even when we forget, he is in us and we are in him, so we are surrounded, but we imagine it more like Jesus sitting in heaven, intervening when need be. We don't realize the awesome intimacy that we are in every moment of our day. We have something that Moses could not even imagine.

Moses experienced standing in the presence of the Lord. He got to see the back of his full glory. He got to experience a good portion of that glory standing in his presence and Moses knew that without this presence the nation would be lost, and with the presence they would be distinguished from all other nations. Moses did not want to go anywhere without the Lord:

“If you aren’t going with us, please don’t make us leave this place. But if you do go with us, everyone will know that you are pleased with your people and with me. That way, we will be different from the rest of the people on earth.” (Exodus 33:15-16)

Moses stood in the presence of the Lord but he was never in the Lord and the Lord was never in him; not like he is with us,

We don't need to pray that prayer of Moses because to do so would make Jesus out to be a liar, but we can pray for greater sensitivity to his presence. Better yet, we can gain a mature and intimate relationship with Jesus so that we are always sensitive to him. We can also practice his presence by purposefully having an ongoing conversation with him throughout our day. His presence is a fact. Our awareness of that fact is what is lacking.

It is crazy that Moses would rather have lived in the desert with the Lord than to go to a land flowing with milk and honey without him, yet we, who are in him, ignore him. So what distinguishes us from the other nations? Maybe some minor and meaningless actions, like going to church. This is not what Moses was referring to when he said they would be different from the rest of the people on earth. The presence of the Lord is also the realization of his love, mercy, grace and power. His presence brings strength, healing, direction, hope, determination and everything else needed in our day. The Lord is on our side and fights for us but he won't fight for a people who ignore him except on Sundays.

The Lord has done all that needs to be done to be with us forever. The ball is in our court now. It is up to us to grow this relationship, to allow him to work through us, to be hyper sensitive to his presence and his will. We were not saved to go it alone. Jesus is with us, so live like it.