Whether it is a lack of time or a lack of inspiration to write anything serious, I share today a few of the devotional thoughts I’ve pondered throughout the week:

The Majesty of the Mundane

Reflecting on Luke 24: 13 – 35 this week and one particular phrase “We were hoping…”

In this “Road to Emmaus” encounter with Jesus, the two disciples, in trying to explain to Jesus all that has happened in the preceding days (a rather hilarious image, by the way), make the statement in verse 21: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

These disciples were dejected because circumstances didn’t turn out as they had hoped. Imagine that! I think that’s called life. It was in their dejection that they missed the fact that Jesus was right there with them. Jesus was walking with them in their hopelessness. They had been looking for earth-shattering changes in their lives due to Jesus Christ. What they got was Jesus in the midst of their brokenness, and they missed it.

We spend much of our lives looking for earth-shattering, life-changing events and episodes and we end up missing Him walking to Emmaus with us. There is much majesty in the mundane circumstances of our every day lives, but if we spend our time looking for the earth-shattering we will miss His majesty that is with us moment-by-moment, day-by-day. While I was hoping for something grand, I missed him in the moment of the ordinary. Silly me!

The Cost of Sanctification

I’ve been thinking a lot about sanctification (holiness) these days. That’s probably because it escapes me, but that’s for another blog. I was prompted by Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians:

“May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

I’ve asked myself the question, “Am I ready to be sanctified?” Undoubtedly, I’m not, or else I would make Jesus the center of everything. Holiness, I’ve discovered, is not within me. Holiness can only come from outside me and can only come as I surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps I should say it this way: I need to stop pursuing holiness and allow myself to be captured by the holiness that is pursuing me. I have to be totally given over to the Holy Spirit’s power in order for Him to do His work in me. As I’ve said before, surrender is hard work. I love the benefits of salvation. I deplore the costs of sanctification. What a shame. I’m missing the best God has to give me.

Saved and Sanctified

We are saved and sanctified to become spiritually exhausted. Oswald Chambers intimates that we are not spiritually exhausted by sin, but rather by service. We are to be “broken bread and poured-out wine” for other people’s nourishment until they learn to feed on God. That, my friends, can be exhausting! That only means I must find my own supply by feeding on the Lord.

Finding my supply in the Lord means that I must first be “broken bread and poured-out wine” in prayer. To be poured out in service before I am poured out in prayer will lead to burnout and disdain for those whom I serve. Everything in the spiritual life begins with prayer. Prayer is the beginning, the middle and the end of the spiritual life. Until we are prayed up we can’t be caught up to the heights of glory God has planned for us.

Concluding Thoughts

You’ve gotten a glimpse this week into some of my devotional thoughts. I’d love to get a glimpse into yours. I invite you to leave a comment below about what the Lord has been saying to you this week.

Until next time, keep looking up…