Devotional Song: Go to this link - Please take the time to meditate on this powerful song and video, sung by The Maranatha Singers, singing Jesus, You Are My Life, … challenging Christians to run to and stay with our Savior all the days of our lives … all the moments of our lives.
=============
Highlight Passage: Luke 2: 43-44a … [Will we ever let our Lord slip from our attention?] … [NLT]
43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. …
============
Highlight Passage: Psalms, Chapter 2, Verses 41-52 … GO TO THIS LINK … [NLT] ============
Reference Passage #1: Deuteronomy 31: 6 … [He’s never going to forget us; but will we forget Him?] … [NLT] …
6 “… So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Reference Passage #2: Revelation 3: 20 … [Oh how our Lord wants to be a part of every moment of our lives.] … [NLT] …
20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. … “
My Journal for Today: As a parent and a grandparent, I’ve always found the story related in Luke 2: 41-52 to be rather incredulous. The human parents of the One-and-Only God of the Universe, … their boy, The Messiah, … and they let Him slip from their attention as they traveled back home, leaving the Boy, Jesus, back in the Temple hob-knobbing with the Jewish leaders [see attached photo]. But before I point a finger of blame at Mary and Joseph, I have to realize that it’s very easy for any of us to do the very same thing in our relationship with our Lord.
Common, admit it!! … Don’t all of us, Who declare Jesus as our Lord, let the tyranny of the urgent or the hubbub of the world take our attention away from what the Maranatha Singers sing about in the song to which I’ve linked you above. They sing, Jesus, You Are My Life; but is He? Aren’t there moments – if not longer periods – when we let our God become absent in our lives as we get wrapped up in the things of this world or the selfish desires of our flesh.
Jesus, as He expressed to the church in Laodicea [see Rev. 3: 20 above], wants to be in fellowship with us 24/7; but He has given us the choice to open the door unto that fellowship … OR NOT. And I’m afraid, like Mary and Joseph, in the Luke 2 account, we can – and all too often probably do – let the things of this world get into the way of our fellowship with Jesus.
And so, … like me, this morning, … I’ll let you deal with this little devotional wake up call. But I have to say here that my being in this place, rather compulsively journaling, day-after-day-after-day each morning, is the result of an obsession of mine. And I’ve even given it a fake Greek name – “ALOGOSPHOBIA.” You see, I have developed “a fear of being without God’s word.”
I just don’t want to start any day without locating my Savior’s knock and then letting my Jesus into my day (i.e., opening the door to His knocking) by being in His very word TO ME – The Bible. I just don’t want to let my Jesus out of my attention … not for a day … not even for a moment if I can help it. Oh, … there are times, like with Mary and Joseph, where I let my attention wander and Jesus gets out of my sight; but coming here each morning to be with Him, at least I’ll start each day by locating Him in His word and spending the first-fruits of my time with my Lord.
Now, it’s on with my day; and yes, …
My Prayer for Today … Yes, at least right now, here this morning, ”Jesus, You are my life!” … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment