November 30 – To Know Your Place

November 30 – To Know Your Place

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Imagine my surprise over the last few years when one of the most basic things I absolutely knew was upended.  I grew up knowing there were five senses: touch, sight, taste, scent, and hearing.  That was it. The knowledge was firm and solid.  Then, I began reading about and hearing about other senses.

Our bodies react to things like temperature, time, and pain. But, one that many point to as a sixth sense is our equilibrium and balance.  This system in our inner ear allows us to sense our body’s movement, the direction we go and the rate of speed at which we are moving. The kinesthetic sense that tells us where our body is, so we can touch our own nose with the tip of a finger, even if our eyes are closed, is also part of this.  These two things help us know our place in the universe.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet … (Psalm 8:3-6).

We can sense our place, but sometimes we forget who we are.  We are more than flesh and blood. We are more than our five (or however many) senses. We are more than the things we do and experience.  We are unique as a creation of God.  And it is Him who resides within us that gives us our identity.

“But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding." (Job 32:8)

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:26)

We are made up of particles from the universe around us, as common as dirt, but to the Lord of all Creation, to the ruler of the universe, we are everything!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

“…and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Revelation 1:5)

When you stand up today and retain your balance, when you shut your eyes and touch your nose with the tip of your finger, when you see a sunset or hear a beautiful song, when you taste holiday goodies or smell cookies baking; you have been given an extraordinary gift. You have been given life by the Creator.

“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

Your place … your time in the world is now.  You have been created and are loved by God Almighty.

November 29 – To Touch

November 29 – To Touch

In the New Testament we see Jesus reaching out to touch people time and again in order to heal them.

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” (Matthew 8:2-3)

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. (Matthew 8:15)

Two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”   “Yes, Lord,” they replied.” Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you’; and their sight was restored. (Matthew 8:27-29)

These are just a few of the instances where healing came through Jesus’ touch.  When I did a web search on the power of touch, one of the first references came from WebMD.  A touch, even from a stranger, will help to lower anxiety when faced with stressful news.  It helps babies grow and assists children as they attempt to concentrate in school, it is also known to reduce chronic illness and disease.

Research as well as anecdotal evidence proves that touch has the power to relieve stress and thus to heal, it has the power to create bonds between people, to help them connect in amazing ways; yet we still find it difficult to reach beyond ourselves in order to touch someone.  Children in all sorts of homes, no matter the level of wealth, live without affectionate touch.

My mother was one of those children.  The only person who ever touched her as an infant was a nurse hired to care for her.  It took her a long time as an adult to be comfortable with that type of love.  My father, on the other hand, was very affectionate and spent those years teaching Mom and assuring her that it was OK to be affectionate with her children.  There are pictures of her holding me on her lap, but if you look closely enough, you see that it isn't a snuggle moment, it is a professional attitude adopted for the photographer.

I didn't know that about her, though, because I was my father’s daughter.  I remember my mother as being affectionate, but my sister doesn't  It’s because I was the one who moved in to Mom for the hugs and snuggles.  I was constantly hugging her or holding on to her arm. I would curl up beside her on the sofa or crawl into her lap when she was in the recliner. When she was dying in the hospital, I crawled into the bed beside her so we could just hold on.  She never refused my affection; she just didn't know how to initiate it.

I am still that way. I surprise waitstaff in restaurants when I touch their forearm as I’m telling them how much I appreciate their service.  Their smiles grow enormously because of a connection that was made.  That’s all it takes … a touch.

November 28 – To Taste

November 28 – To Taste

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8)

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3)

How much of life do you experience through your tastebuds?  When you are at the ocean, do you taste the salt in the air? When you wake up in the morning, do you try to clear the fuzziness from your mouth so that you become more alert?

We have more than ten thousand taste buds on both the tongue and roof of our mouth. When saliva breaks down the food we eat, the brain responds to the information, telling us what flavor we are tasting.  Although the sense of taste is one of our weakest senses, we receive a great deal of information as things pass through our lips.  We experience an intense range of tastes, from sour to sweet, salty to bitter.

Think about the metaphors we use for life around us as we experience moments.  Bittersweet is used to describe moments that are both happy and sad, someone who is salty might be a little risqué in their speech and we've all experienced more than our share of sour people.  When something goes badly for us, we might say it leaves a sour taste in our mouth.  When someone does something nice to us, we refer to them as sweet.  A person who spends more time being unhappy is probably a bitter person.

All of these things are part of the experience of being human, so why would we not want to taste and see that the Lord is good?  The Psalmist tells us to experience all that the Lord has to offer us.  Tasting and experiencing are the same thing.  Peter tells his readers that they have already tasted … or experienced the Lord and have found that the relationship with Him is good.  Now that they are certain of that fact, it is time for them to grow past the ease of acting like babies and grow up.

The Lord has created us to be such wonderful beings and given us the ability to experience the world around us in so many different and creative ways.  Tasting the world is yet another way we have to experience the world.  Today, as you taste things, consider just how extraordinary that experience is.

November 27 – To Smell

November 27 – To Smell

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21)

The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. (Leviticus 2:2)

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:3-4)

Our sense of smell tells us a lot about things we’re going to encounter, from food to people to places and things.  I love the smell of lilacs in the spring or lilies on Easter Sunday morning. I used to work across the street from a barbecue restaurant and when they smoked their meat, my mouth began to salivate. The country has its own smells, rarely as attractive as those; from dead skunks to pig manure, you know you’re around farms. But, the scent of freshly mown grass, crops that are in the middle of harvest, and fields of clover all remind you of the beauty of the land.

For the Lord, the offerings of his people brought an aroma to Him that was pleasing. In the Old Testament, those various scents were released when burning on the altar.  It wasn't just the scent itself that was pleasing to the Lord, but the prayers that followed that scent into the throne room.

When Noah and his family opened the ark and released the animals into the world, the first thing they did was to build an altar and burn an offering to the Lord.  That scent was pleasing to Him.  When the children of the Exodus brought their sacrifices to the temple to be burned on the altar, the scent was pleasing because they were in obedience to His Law.

Long after the time of the Temple and burned sacrifice, our prayers are still before the Lord as a pleasing aroma. In Revelation we read that they lift up from the altar with incense as an offering.

The Lord is pleased when we pray and continue to build the relationship with Him that He wants to have with us.  Let our prayers be as an offering whose aroma is pleasing to the Lord.

November 26 – To Hear

November 26 – To Hear

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:11-15)

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say." (John 8:42-43)

I get frustrated when people look like they are listening, but I know their minds are a million miles away. Nothing I am saying to them means a thing because they aren't fully engaged in the conversation.

Any speaker can tell when even a few people aren't paying attention.  The worst thing is, for me, these are the people I begin to focus on, trying to do anything to grab their attention.  I've listened as many speakers and pastors talk about these people in their congregations.  Others might be listening, but their faces turn into bland and dull images.  They don’t actively listen and participate in what the speaker is delivering.

Then, there are those who are the joy of every speaker.  Their faces light up with excitement as they become part of the process.  Their eyes reflect the emotions the speaker is delivering and react to the words.  When they agree or get excited, their body language tells the speaker that they are right there with him or her; when they don’t get it, they let the speaker know there might be need for more explanation.  But, at every moment, these people are not only actively listening, but they are hearing beyond the words, they hear something that is being spoken from one heart to another.

Jesus said that the word of God is like seed.  Some people hear it and then lose it because they have no strong roots. It’s all very exciting and they are right there with the speaker and then, they quit listening and all of a sudden, it’s gone from their lives.  There are those who hear and actively listen and are so excited by what they hear, but the world rips them apart and they can’t rise above the worries.

It isn't always easy to hear the message of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ.  In fact, Jesus says that many will never be able to hear it.  They just won’t listen with open hearts.

But for those who do listen and hear and absorb the message of love, they will not only grow, but will produce fruit that is seen by everyone around them.

Do you listen? Will you hear?

November 25 – To See

November 25 – To See

“But blessed are your eyes, for the see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:17)

 “Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

When Jesus came to earth and walked among us, very few people who met him fully understood who he was.  Can you begin to imagine what it was like for those who recognized the power of God flowing through Him?  Think about His mother and what it must have been like to know how close she was to the Lord.  Then, think about Simeon and Anna who were at the temple when he was presented for circumcision (Luke 2:21-39).  They knew they were looking upon the face of God.

Jesus told Nathanael in John 1:50 that he recognized Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel because Jesus had seen him under the fig tree. Then Jesus told him that he (Nathanael) would see heaven open and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

For a brief moment in time, there were those who actually got to see Jesus in human form and for the most part, they didn't know what a gift they had been given.

Today, we have to rely on faith.  Faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; faith that what scripture tells us to be true about Him is true.  We don’t have the opportunity to walk beside the Jordan River and see Jesus perform miracles and watch as He heals a blind man by making mud and placing it on the man’s eyes.  We aren't able to see Him heal the centurion’s son or change water into wine, feed five thousand people or bring Lazarus from the tomb.

Peter says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8)

It is faith that we rely on even when we can’t see Jesus face to face.  It is faith and believing in him that will fill us with joy.  It is faith that brings salvation and a promise.  We will see Jesus Christ face to face.

November 24 – Taw - Psalm 119:169-176

November 24 – Taw - Psalm 119:169-176

Let my cry come before thee, O LORD; give me understanding according to thy word!
Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy word.
My lips will pour forth praise that thou dost teach me thy statutes.
My tongue will sing of thy word, for all thy commandments are right.
Let thy hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen thy precepts.
I long for thy salvation, O LORD, and thy law is my delight.
Let me live, that I may praise thee, and let thy ordinances help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.

Let me live that I might praise you.

Each breath we draw is a gift
The hues and shades of color explode for our eyes to see
Aromas and tastes fill our senses

Let me live that I might praise you.

Each step we take moves us forward
We feel the warmth of arms which embrace us
We hear music as the earth responds to its Creator

Let me live that I might praise you.

Each beat of our heart renews us
Grass, trees, flowers and plants restore freshness to the world
Sweet water flows from springs to sustain us.

Let me live that I might praise you.

Each hair on our head is numbered.
Birds, animals both wild and tame, are known by their creator
The people we see are loved by the same.

Let me live that I might praise you.

The words on our lips and thoughts in our heart
Are needed to tell the world of its Savior
The Word of God made manifest to us.

Let me live that I might praise you.