June 18

“I can well understand how Paul could say so confidently that he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (Phil. 3:8).  When once the soul has come to this knowledge, all fear and doubt, and even perplexity are at an end, and perfect peace must of necessity reign undisturbed.  No one can possibly have come to know Christ as He really is without entering into absolute rest.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 6/18

I broke from my usual routine of going to the grocery store while my son was at his guitar lesson and went to the craft shop to look for artificial lemons.  What I found instead was a better understanding of what love is.  As I walked through the store I met up with a little girl who had been in my Sunday School class and who I had not seen for three years.   I had grown to love her in the two years she was in my class.  When she recognized me her eyes lit up. Her mother and I chatted a few moments and then I was on my way.  This morning as I thought about this chance encounter I realized God was showing me something about love that I had not understood before.  He used this little 9-year-old girl to show me that the love I saw in her eyes was a reflection of the love I had for her.  Because I had loved her so much she couldn’t help but love me back.  What I then realized was if you do not experience love in your heart you will never feel loved.  This is the love you have for others that God places there when your heart is filled with God Himself.  This is that absolute rest that Hannah speaks of.

“We love, because he first loved  us.” 1 John 4:19

February 11

“Obedience without love is legalism.  Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride.....God looks beyond godly habits, beyond your moral lifestyle, and beyond your church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon your heart.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 2/11

I’ve always put those “gazing balls” you see in many gardens in the same category as pink flamingos:  gauche.  In recent years, however, they’ve become quite popular and therefore totally mainstream. Blackaby’s word picture of God gazing into my heart puts me into His Garden.  I can see myself amongst all the flowers and shrubbery, happily enjoying all the delightful fragrances and beautiful colors and enchanting textures.  I can only imagine what it was like for Adam and Eve in God’s first garden.  Everything was natural and flowed from God’s heart directly to his Creation.  But God knew that in order to purify our hearts He would need to give us the freedom to love Him back. He did not want us to obey him just for the sake of obedience.  He knew the dangers of this and we have proven Him right when we lose sight of His love and attempt to make up for our lack of love with obedience.  We are told time and again that God wants a love relationship with us.  Perhaps I’ll get one of those gazing balls for my garden this Spring and place it amongst my flowers and shrubbery.  It’ll be my reminder that God is constantly gazing into my heart to see if it belongs to Him because He loves me and wants me to love Him back.

“We love, because He first loved us.”  1 John 4:19