Messes To Masterpieces

That I may know him … Philippians 3:10

We know that God, being the all-sufficient One who creates all things, will not and cannot do some things. God cannot sin, He cannot lie, He cannot be unjust, He cannot be evil, He cannot violate His word, and the list goes on. But there is one more thing God will not and cannot do that sets itself apart from all others. And it is the most important “one thing” of all.

The question has been asked if God really needs anything. The general consensus is, He does not. There are even Christians who really believe that God lacks nothing. In fact, a well-respected minister was quoted as saying that God lacks nothing and we certainly cannot give Him anything that he already does not have. The rationale for such a response is that God is all-sufficient in His omnipresence, in His omnipotence, and in His omnipresence. He needs nothing outside of himself, especially from us. Is this really true? We are about to find out that this is in fact a misperception concerning God. God does in fact lack something and we are about to see what that one thing is.

That I May Know Him

The Apostle Paul understood his word choice when penning the sentence of what we now know as Philippians 3:10. In the Old Testament, wherever the word to “know” someone is used, it is meant to be intimately involved with that person. Or in a sexual context, to be “at one” with a person. There is more at stake than just feelings when being intimately involved with another person. The Word of God specifically tells us that when two people engage sexually, they at that point become “one flesh” through a spiritual connection:

 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:24 

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 1 Corinthians 6:16  

The Apostle, under the Spirit’s inspiration, communicated his desire to “know” who Jesus really is. It was a desire that went deeper than religion, deeper than a superficial knowledge, and deeper than a casual relationship. The Apostle Paul’s greatest desire was to know this God who showed such abundant mercy on him to forgive him for the way he treated the church, the bride of Christ. In his former life, Paul went on a rampage to inflict harm and pain on those who were future partakers in the marriage supper of the Lamb. And God forgave him for that, and he never forgot it either. The problem is sometimes we forget about the sins, iniquities, the despicable, the horrendous, and the regrettable things of our past that the Lord has forgiven us for.

One Thing God Cannot Do

In all of God’s glory, in His magnificence, His splendor, and in His majesty, God desires one thing. And it is the one thing that He cannot create, fabricate, speak into existence, command His ministering angels to do, or force you to do.

The one thing God truly desires that He cannot and will not make you say is this ……..

“Jesus, you are my heart’s desire”.

He cannot make you say this. It has to originate from you, and you alone. From somewhere deep inside. It does something to God when faced with millions of choices, desires, temptations, decisions, and actions that will turn our hearts away from God and His presence, you make the deliberate choice to turn your back on them and tell God that above everything else, He is your “heart’s desire”. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that you could do or say something that gets God’s full attention? If we might know one thing that can make the heartbeat of the God of All Creation skip a beat? If you can imagine this, would we not all want to do it? I believe we would.

God’s ultimate passion is that you are absolutely passionate about Him!

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31  

It is that simple, but oh so hard to do at times. That is why it is so valuable to Him. Jesus is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, He is touched by our pain, our frustrations, our inner conflicts, our failures, our fears, our doubts, and our shortcomings. Jesus cares about what is going on in our lives. And he can be trusted because he is faithful.

God does in fact need something that He cannot always have. Because it can only be given to Him. And that something is that your heart’s number one desire be Him!

A Dream & A Cross

Please pardon this interruption. The blogger rarely writes in the first person and rarely relates personal experiences. But what follows needs to be said.

About 3 months ago I had a dream on an early Sunday morning. The dream was about an incident I was involved in as a young man. It was as if I was translated back to this exact moment in time many years ago. It was a late Friday night when I encountered someone I should not have been with, and at a place where trouble has taken many down a path of regret. What was unfolding before my eyes would no doubt have affected me for the remainder of my life as it would have left lasting scars.

But what could of and should have happened never did. God showed me in that dream that He saw everything that was taking place. And in His mercy stepped into that moment in time and changed life’s course for a broken and lost backslider, who had he continued venturing down the path he was heading, would have suffered permanent and perhaps tragic consequences. I believe God knows the line, upon being crossed, our conscience will not allow us to ever return. I woke up at 1 a.m. from the dream that morning, immediately crawled out of bed, got on my knees, and cried out to God and thanked Him for his great mercy, forgiveness, and love.

Later that same morning in church the pastor spoke about the love of Calvary at the service’s conclusion. Coincidental? I think not. He spoke about the blood that Jesus shed for our sins, Jesus’ love for us being so immense that he gave his all on the cross. Sometimes these things appear so simple, so elementary, so Christian 101 (if you will), and something we perceive as “small stuff” in the grand scope of life’s “things”. But to a sinner or to someone whose former life was driven by sin, it is so powerful.

It was God’s mercy that saved my soul that night and God’s grace and love that led me to church that morning. At the service’s conclusion, I lifted my hands to Heaven, and while tears streamed down my face I worshipped and thanked Jesus for saving a wretch like me. Because I “knew” and understood what Jesus had done for me. Do you know him and know what he has done for you?

That I may know him.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Isaiah 44:22

Above All Else I Must Be Saved

For above all else, I must be saved.
For above all else, I must be saved.
For whatever You have to do to me,
don’t let me be lost for eternity.
For above all else, I must be saved.
Written by Doug Davis