Missing the Messiah: A devotional thought from the forklift evangelist

I started a series called Forklift Evangelist. Here is the first of the Christmas series. Let me know what you think.

How is your heart?

Nearly a month has passed since that day. I had not been feeling well. I was constantly fatigued and kept having dizzy spells.

After a lot of prodding from my wife, I finally decided to go to the hospital. The doctor ran all kinds of tests. I had CT scans and ultrasounds, treadmill test, and an echo cardiogram. I wore a heart monitor for nearly a month. No major problems were found, but a lot of monitoring was done.

I began to think about our spiritual life. What if we had the ability to look into our spiritual hearts? What would we see? Would our heart be healthy? Would we see areas of concern that we needed to focus on? Would there be changes we would need to make?

I believe we do have such a spiritual heart monitor. The Bible is a guide, a monitor that can expose our heart’s true spiritual condition. It shows areas where we are in need of change.

How is your heart? Do you see the areas that need work? Do you need to incorporate a healthy diet of study of God’s word? Ask God to show you what changes you need to make.

Siting at the Feet of Grace

Recently I was reading the account of Jesus at the hoe of Mary and Martha in the gospel of Luke (10:38-42). Recall the scene in your mind. Jesus was with his disciples when Martha opened up her home to him. Remember that Mary (Martha’s sister) was sitting at the feet of Jesus, while Martha was busy worrying about the preparations.

Can you imagine? Jesus is in your home! You want everything to be perfect. You begin cleaning and there is nothing out of place. You are slaving all day long over the hot stove baking and cooking and cleaning. You then come to the realization that your sister, Mary, is in the other room just listening and talking with Jesus. You become green with envy! After all, you’re the one that invited him over in the first place. You should be the one listening to his words. But no, you’re stuck in here baking while Mary is the one who is being lazy and making you do all the work. You become furious, and finally you just can’t take it anymore. You come stomping into the room where the others are and you say, “Lord! Don’t you care that Mary has left me to do all the work? Tell her to get in here and help me!”

Then Jesus says these words to her, “Martha, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen what is better.”

The only thing that matters is sitting at the feet of our Lord and learning from him and listening to him. Have you ever been guilty of being too busy to get down at the feet of our gracious Lord and learn from him? I pray that you learn what is most important and sit at his feet and not become so busy with other things that you become blind as to what is really important.

The second chapter of Philippians uses words such as encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness, and compassion. Later on in verse ten, the Bible says “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness, and compassion all come with bowing down at the feet of Christ. Make it your goal to take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him. Bow down and humble yourself and realize what is most important: Jesus! I challenge you to join Mary and sit down at the feet of grace.

The Joy of Trials

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴ Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy…” the phrase seems out of place. The words can hardly be uttered without a sense of doubt or perhaps cynicism. Can you imagine telling Ruth those words after losing her husband? Who would speak such a phrase to Naomi after losing her own husband and both of her sons. The road will now be lonely. Ruth is a foreigner and a widow. Naomi is now a childless widow. “Count it joy.”

Who would dare to speak such a phrase to Job? I imagine the conversation: “Job, I was in the field and all your livestock were killed…count it joy.” Or,what about a servant who comes in and says, “Job, I was with your children and they were feasting when the roof collapsed and they all died… count it pure joy.” Who would dare have the audacity to turn to job in his misery and see the pain he is suffering as he tries to scratch and cut himself to find relief and utter, “count it pure joy?”

Yet James tells us to count it joy when we face trials because they produce perseverance. The trials help us mature. Thinking again about the story of Ruth and Naomi, we can see some blessings that result from the trials they face. Namoi learns of a daughter-in-law who loves her and is fully devoted to her. Ruth receives the blessing of provision as Boaz allows her to work in his field. She receives so much more as she is eventually married to boaz who serves as her kinsman redeemer.

Job faces many trials. He loses everything. Yet, later he is bless by a double portion. He gains more wealth, he enjoys great health, he has more children.

Our own testing is never pleasant at the time. We wish it would just pass. We long for relief from the hurt; a cure for the pain; an umbrella of protection from the storm. However, the reality is that without the trial we would be unable to mature. The perseverance, even when we do not understand what is going on, teaches us about our relationship with God. So we can be thankful for the lesson we learned. We can begin the journey toward counting it pure joy.