The amount of loss, both in life and property, which is seen in California due to what may become the costliest wildfires in US history is hard to grasp.  At the time of this Meadow Minute, authorities had confirmed twenty-four dead with more expected and many unaccounted for now that Rescue and Recovery can get into the area.  It has been estimated that the cost to those directly affected will be over $150 billion.  So many are hurting.  So many are in danger.  Devastating.

Nothing in this mortal life, including life itself, is safe from being taken away.  No matter where we live or how we have planned or prepared.  No matter how wealthy or how self-important we might think ourselves.  No matter our age or our health or education or status.  Should the Lord tarry, every one of us will face the same certainty.  Death.  And then, where we stand with Jesus is all that will matter.  And until we face Him, we will be counted with those left behind to grieve.  Many people will never deal with their grief at all, choosing instead to carry the pain of loss around with them indefinitely as their last memory of a cherished relationship.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  There is hope to be found for those left behind.  Not hope in “moving on” from the loved one but hope in “moving forward” with the memories and joy granted by God who made that individual special and a part of our life.

One source of such hope is available in GriefShare, a Christ-centered, 13-week support group of people who are grieving the death of someone close.  And while every one of us grieves differently—even within the same family—everyone sitting together in a GriefShare session “gets it.”  Whether your loss is recent or from years ago, GriefShare can aid you in confronting the lingering, debilitating aspects of grieving.  First Baptist Church in Meadow is committed to being a part of that healing process for those in our area ready to make the “Journey from Mourning to Joy.”  The next cycle of GriefShare offered in Meadow will begin on Tuesday, January 28th, at 6:00 p.m.  You can find our group on-line to pre-register at GriefShare.org.  During our time together each week, there are three ways you will benefit most.  First, there is a video for us to view.  Ministry and Health Professionals, as well as people like you and me who have experienced the death of a loved one, offer exceptional information and practical tools that will apply to your specific situation.  Secondly, you will be provided with a workbook to use on your own between sessions that will give insight and direction for moving forward.  The book’s cost is $20.00, but scholarships have been provided by the church to purchase books if necessary.  Please don’t let that cost keep you from looking into GriefShare.  And finally, we spend time each week in group discussion.  Some find comfort in sharing their personal situation and experience.  Others go through the entire 13-week process without saying a word.  (We all grieve differently.)  What matters is consistency, and we encourage you to commit to at least three sessions in deciding if GriefShare is right for you.  Several in our church are praying even now for those affected by the death of a friend or family member that may be searching for answers to dealing with grief.

Each cycle of GriefShare, I am brought back to the same verse of Scripture that meant so much to me in the loss of my parents and others.  I Thessalonians 4:13 reminds us that while we as Christians do grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope.  May God grant His presence and comfort to all affected by the current raging fires on the west coast, and may He also comfort you should you be dealing with the death of someone important in your life.

Grace,

Tom

Those who know me best know of my deep love for the great hymns.  On occasion in 2025, I plan to share some of my very favorites of the music that shaped my life through years of worship.  As we have just begun an extended look at the Gospel of Matthew, who taught of Jesus as the Messiah, I immediately knew where I wanted to start.

In just a few days, our country will inaugurate a new president, and with a peaceful transfer of power, a new administration will begin to govern the United States.  Presidents, kings, and other ruling officials should be honored and prayed for.  Both apostles, Paul and Peter, lived under oppressive Roman emperors, yet wrote of the Christian’s responsibility to be good citizens.  But we must never forget that the King of kings and Lord of lords deserves our ultimate honor and our complete allegiance.

The hymn below appeared anonymously in a hymn book published in 1757.  Often, it is attributed to Charles Wesley, but with its glorious subject of God as King of all, it was likely published anonymously on purpose.  I can hear the organ my mother played in the church where I grew to cherish this grand and lofty hymn.  See if you can read these lyrics without including the tune from your memory.

Come, Thou Almighty King,

Help us Thy name to sing,

Help us to praise.

Father!  All glorious,

O’er all victorious,

Come, and reign over us,

Ancient of Days.

Come, Thou Incarnate Word,

Gird on Thy mighty sword,

Our prayer attend!

Come, and Thy people bless,

And give Thy word success.

Spirit of holiness,

On us descend.

Come, Holy Comforter,

Thy sacred witness bear

In this glad hour!

Thou, who almighty art,

Now rule in ev’ry heart

And ne’er from us depart,

Spirit of pow’r.

To Thee, great One in Three,

Eternal praises be,

Hence evermore.

Thy sov’reign majesty

May we in glory see,

And to eternity

Love and adore.

Psalm 95:1 says, “O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.”

Grace,

Tom

While searching for something light and inspiring to share in this final or first of the year Meadow Minute, I was instead reminded of a disturbing theme found in the New Testament—the danger of misplacing our spiritual priorities, letting idleness and worldliness and selfishness keep us from all that Christ can do in us and through us.  In our busyness, in our packed-full schedules, the faithful can find themselves becoming nothing more than a “Religious Action Figure.”  Acting the part of a follower of Jesus, we really aren’t accomplishing anything.  We look good but do nothing because our faith is not alive, like a child’s new action figure left among the clutter of Christmas morning.

In his second letter, the Apostle Peter called such people “springs without water” (2 Peter 2:17).  The Lord’s half-brother, Jude, had two names for these individuals— “clouds without rain” and “autumn trees without fruit” (Jude 12).  Both are speaking to the failed potential and unkept promise of someone drifting from God’s purposes.  Recall, too, that our Lord Himself cursed the barren fig tree for appearing to be healthy and fruitful but then being found empty and wanting.

Oswald Chambers wrote succinctly, “Woe be to the man who mistakes leaves for fruit!”  In one sense, the leaves of a plant ARE fruit, but they only feed the tree itself.  While on the branch, they absorb the sun for the tree’s benefit, and by falling and replenishing the soil, the leaves feed the roots.  I suppose one could consider leaves as “self-serving fruit.”

So, how about this for inspiration as we “Turn the Page” and move into 2025.  Let’s not leave God on the edge, at the fringe of our lives.  Busy is going to happen.  Busy is a part of our culture and a part of our very DNA.  But in all the busyness, may God grant an authenticity, a genuine-ness to our faith.  May we serve others with sincerity and love.  May we give sacrificially from our plenty to the cause of Christ.  May even the less busy times in our lives not be useless periods of idleness and worldliness, filled only with self-serving fruit, but rather restful times of gratitude and recognition for the blessings granted to us by our Creator.

Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever.  Amen.”

Are you producing only self-serving fruit in an overly busy life?  Even when God in His grace and wisdom grants you times of refreshment and repose—a sabbath—are you misusing His blessings of rest with more and more busyness, more and more self-serving fruit, while making no room for Jesus?  Right now, in this moment, are you comparable to the Bethlehem inn keeper who had no room for the King of kings?  We seem to make room for other things and other people, for self-serving fruit, but not for Jesus.

“Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown, when Thou camest to earth for me; but in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room for Thy holy nativity.  O, come to my heart, Lord Jesus; there is room in my heart for Thee.”

Grace,

Tom

(Originally posted the third week of December 2023)

This last Sunday at FBC Meadow, we celebrated the fourth and final week in the Advent Season, the week of Love, culminating in our Christmas Eve service.

“The Storyteller,” Tom T. Hall, has given us many simple country songs with straightforward messages.  It’s hard not to identify his unique voice.  “The Year that Clayton Delaney Died,” “Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine,” “The Homecoming,” and “Me and Jesus” are just a few that come to mind.  Without googling it, I can only recall the first verse to one of my favorite songs by Tom T. Hall entitled, “I Love”.

“I love little baby ducks, old pickup trucks, slow moving trains, and rain.

I love little country streams, sleep without dreams, Sunday School in May, and hay.

And I love you, too!”

We throw that word love around quite a bit, don’t we.  In the same sentence we might say we love our spouse and our kids and then add we love our favorite sports team or fried catfish or “little baby ducks.”  I’ll go out on a limb and say we don’t mean the same thing in all those examples.

1 John 3:1 says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.”

Those of us who by faith in God’s grace have surrendered our hearts and lives to Jesus are children of God not because of anything we have done.  He loves us so much He sent His son on that first Christmas to be Immanuel, “God with us.”  Of course, Jesus didn’t remain an infant.  He grew to manhood to teach us and redeem us through His death on the cross, rising from the grave and ascending again to the Father to intercede for us.  And one day, we’ll go to Him.  “See how great a love the Father has for us.”

Jesus said it like this.  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

My very dear friend, Robert Henson, died at home here in Meadow last week with his loving family around him.  He was 81.  While his family leans into their grief, I am certain they have been overwhelmed by the number of people who attended his service and the volume of tributes and memories so many have shared about this amazing man.  Here’s my chance to share one more of mine.

It was not that Robert didn’t love, but he didn’t throw those words around.  His daughter Cindy mentioned that during the Memorial Service.  Love was there.  He just didn’t say it out loud much.  His love came much easier in other ways.  When he and I first met, Robert told me never to be offended by the fact that he found it difficult to express himself in that way.  He told me how he had written his love out for his children so they would always have a record of knowing how proud he was of them and how much he loved them.

But in the fleeting moments of final visits, when events of the day and normal discussions are no longer important or relevant, there is most often an honesty and openness unlike at any other time.  I sat in conversations with Robert several times in recent days fully aware that each one could be our last chance to say what we both truly felt.  His voice was soft and low, and his sentences were mostly broken.  But as I rose from beside his bed to leave for what became the last time, he reached out from under the blanket to grasp my hand with unexpected strength.  The words came easily from me as I said, “Robert, I love you.  You know that.”

And I will never listen to the music of Tom T. Hall the same.  Clear as a bell, Robert’s last words to me were, “And I love you, too!”

Grace,

Tom

(Originally posted the second week of December 2023)

This past Sunday at FBC Meadow, we celebrated the third week in the Advent Season.  The week of Joy!

How we all long for abiding joy in our lives.  Yet it’s possible that our feelings and expectations of what we call joy can change in an instant.  We look for situations or things or people that may bring us a fleeting sense of joy—a vacation, a new pet, a visit from a friend or loved one.  If we are honest with ourselves, we would call that feeling “happiness,” not abiding joy, for such a feeling can quickly fade.

Ernest Lawrence Thayer gave perhaps unwittingly a great example of the fickleness of most people’s joy.  In his most noted poem, Thayer tells of the great expectation that was placed upon “the Mudville Nine that day.”  If only the town’s sports hero could get a chance at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, all would be well.  And then, beyond their wildest dreams, the hope of having Casey come to bat started to materialize.  A calmness settled over the fans, and they became more and more confident that all would work out once Casey took a swing.  Finally, their swelling joy could not be held back any longer.

“Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;

It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,

For Casey, might Casey, was advancing to the bat.”

I believe I know some folks who could be from Mudville—individuals who mistakenly define joy in their life as some thrill or expectation attached to a fallible person, place, thing, or moment.  And because of that, such people are often better acquainted with what joy is not.  Events of the day, a single phone call or text message, a recurring thought circling in a cluttered mind can immediately take any pretense of joy from their lives.  Perhaps we’ve all visited Mudville at some point.  Have you ever experienced misguided joy in something or someone who eventually, invariably let you down?

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere; and somewhere hearts are light;

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,

But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.”

Christian joy IS NOT based on or influenced by circumstances of this life.  Christian joy IS based upon Jesus and all He has done to grant us hope and peace in Him.  Jesus will not ever let you down. The follower of Christ with the Holy Spirit in his or her heart can say, “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart?  Down in my heart, down in my heart to stay!”  (Bet you just sang that!)

That first Christmas Night began with no expectations or growing hope.  In fact, the Bible says the land had lived in darkness for 400 years.  There were not thousands of screaming people in attendance at Jesus’ birth.  There were only a few lowly shepherds who were given hope and peace and joy by the words of an angel.

“And the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the City of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:10.

Talk about ABIDING JOY!

Grace,

Tom

(Originally Posted November 2023)

This coming Sunday is the beginning of the Advent Season.  Week One, Hope.

There is not room in this Meadow Minute to cover all the great lines and scenes crammed into the 1 hour and 34-minute classic film, “A Christmas Story.”  It has become somewhat of a tradition for our family to watch it at least once, while together on Christmas Day.  Depending on the memories you have as a child during the holidays, watching “A Christmas Story” just might become a tradition for your family, too.

Care must be taken here not to spoil it for any of you who have never watched it.  The main character of the film is a 9-year-old boy by the name of Ralphie Parker who has his heart set on one thing for Christmas—a “Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle.”  Ralphie says the line a dozen times or more in the film!  I can relate to Ralphie because I remember attempting a variation of something he does in the story.  Ralphie inserts an ad for the BB gun into the middle of an issue of his mom’s LOOK Magazine so she will “accidentally” find it.  (In my case, it was the hope of a “GI Joe action figure with his own storage footlocker, underwater diving gear with a speargun, and an extra M-1 rifle with an ammo belt thrown in,” but I digress.)

Are you old enough to remember how exciting it was for the Sears Christmas Catalogue to show up in the mail?  Those catalogues were the “bomb-diggity!”  Hope was found on every page of the toy section.  Hope was all over the sporting goods section.  Okay, so there were new clothes and appliances in there, too, but my brothers and I simply flipped through those areas to get to the hope parts.  To get Mom’s attention, I circled what I was hoping for in crayon, and left the catalogue laying around open so she would see it.  Once I saw the catalogue had been moved, I did it again somewhere else.  It must’ve worked.  Joe showed up that year!

In Western culture today, we hope for a lot of things, don’t we?  We hope it rains.  We hope our team wins.  We hope things work out for us at school or at work.  But in Hebrew thought, hope was an established reality and not something that might or might not happen.  We should use that word more as the people of Israel did.

If you are a Christian, your hope is in heaven, and it’s not a wish.  Your hope is eternal life.  Not that it might happen, but as an established reality.  Your hope is in Christ.  Not that His taking your place on the cross might get you forgiven, but as an established reality that you are forgiven.

Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Early Christians openly, publicly confessed what they believed about Jesus.  Not as wishful thinking, but as an established reality.  In this verse from the Book of Hebrews they were told to hold on to what they had previously claimed “without wavering.”  Our hope in Christ truly is an established reality.  God can be trusted to keep His promises because “He who promised is faithful.”

Beyond some new furniture or the latest electronic device, what are you hoping for spiritually this Christmas?  You don’t have to wonder if God keeps His promises.  You can have the hope, the assurance, the established reality that what God promises will come to pass.

Grace,

Tom

(Originally Posted November 2023)

This coming Sunday is the beginning of the Advent Season.  Week One, Hope.

There is not room in this Meadow Minute to cover all the great lines and scenes crammed into the 1 hour and 34-minute classic film, “A Christmas Story.”  It has become somewhat of a tradition for our family to watch it at least once, while together on Christmas Day.  Depending on the memories you have as a child during the holidays, watching “A Christmas Story” just might become a tradition for your family, too.

Care must be taken here not to spoil it for any of you who have never watched it.  The main character of the film is a 9-year-old boy by the name of Ralphie Parker who has his heart set on one thing for Christmas—a “Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle.”  Ralphie says the line a dozen times or more in the film!  I can relate to Ralphie because I remember attempting a variation of something he does in the story.  Ralphie inserts an ad for the BB gun into the middle of an issue of his mom’s LOOK Magazine so she will “accidentally” find it.  (In my case, it was the hope of a “GI Joe action figure with his own storage footlocker, underwater diving gear with a speargun, and an extra M-1 rifle with an ammo belt thrown in,” but I digress.)

Are you old enough to remember how exciting it was for the Sears Christmas Catalogue to show up in the mail?  Those catalogues were the “bomb-diggity!”  Hope was found on every page of the toy section.  Hope was all over the sporting goods section.  Okay, so there were new clothes and appliances in there, too, but my brothers and I simply flipped through those areas to get to the hope parts.  To get Mom’s attention, I circled what I was hoping for in crayon, and left the catalogue laying around open so she would see it.  Once I saw the catalogue had been moved, I did it again somewhere else.  It must’ve worked.  Joe showed up that year!

In Western culture today, we hope for a lot of things, don’t we?  We hope it rains.  We hope our team wins.  We hope things work out for us at school or at work.  But in Hebrew thought, hope was an established reality and not something that might or might not happen.  We should use that word more as the people of Israel did.

If you are a Christian, your hope is in heaven, and it’s not a wish.  Your hope is eternal life.  Not that it might happen, but as an established reality.  Your hope is in Christ.  Not that His taking your place on the cross might get you forgiven, but as an established reality that you are forgiven.

Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Early Christians openly, publicly confessed what they believed about Jesus.  Not as wishful thinking, but as an established reality.  In this verse from the Book of Hebrews they were told to hold on to what they had previously claimed “without wavering.”  Our hope in Christ truly is an established reality.  God can be trusted to keep His promises because “He who promised is faithful.”

Beyond some new furniture or the latest electronic device, what are you hoping for spiritually this Christmas?  You don’t have to wonder if God keeps His promises.  You can have the hope, the assurance, the established reality that what God promises will come to pass.

Grace,

Tom

My family often enjoys giving me the business about my technology acumen.  Old dogs…new tricks…you know the drill.  I admit it—I’m a work in progress—baby steps.  I wear it as a badge of honor that I have not yet taken the plunge into the wonderful world of Apple Watches.  Is nothing sacred?  I was the last one in my family to quit wearing a normal wristwatch, having been taught to carry my phone everywhere, that could take care of the time and much more.  So, using that logic, what’s the point of an Apple Watch?  I still have my phone!  I sense a “disturbance in the force.”  The wheels are turning in the minds of every Apple Watch owner reading this.  Put down your keyboard and step away.  Just breath!  The continuous, creeping scourge of technology and AI and all that involves is not the point of this Meadow Minute.  Time is.

It has been recorded that in 1683, the English patriot, Sir William Russell, went to the scaffold for treason.  Just before he was hanged, Russell took out his pocket watch (remember those?) and handed it to the physician who attended him at his death.  “Would you kindly take my timepiece?” he asked.  “I have no further use for it.  I am now dealing with eternity.”

How can our puny, finite human minds wrap themselves around the concept of the infinite?  “For all eternity” does not only speak of a never-ending forward.  Eternity also speaks of a never-ending backward.  God is eternal.  Not just from here on out, but from here on back.  God simply is.

A.W. Tozer wrote, “Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist, time can have no application to Him.  Because God lives in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future.  God dwells in eternity, but time dwells in God.”

Is there any adult reading this who has never said to an anxious and pleading child, “We’ll see…”  Or, how about, “Maybe…”  Particularly during this time of the year.  As parents and grandparents begin receiving and amending gift lists for the holidays, it often seems we keep secrets better than we keep promises.  The hope is that when the “gift getters” get what they get, all will be forgiven of the “gift givers” who didn’t give all the gifts to the “gift-getters” they were hoping to get from the “gift givers.”  (Say that five times fast!)  We sometimes keep our promises, and we sometimes parse words to give us an out.

But God keeps His promises.  1 John 2:25 says, “And this is the promise He Himself made to us: eternal life.”

An eternity in heaven is not reserved for a select few, but for all those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, allowing the Holy Spirit to indwell their hearts and minds with the truth of God.  God’s love and patience is shown in that He desires “that none should perish but have everlasting life.”  Infinite.  Eternal.  Life.  Sadly, many will choose not to believe the promises of God.  Jesus says in Matthew 25:26, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Either way, eternal.

There is a time set when life here on earth will be over.  There will be no use for any timepiece, and we all like Sir William Russell, will be “dealing with eternity.”  Choose Christ.  Choose eternal life.

Grace,

Tom

Have you ever noticed how interchangeable in meaning the word “church” has become?  We use it to describe addresses and locations of buildings and facilities where the faithful gather every week.  We use it for the unified body of believers who claim the name of Christ around the world.  It is often used by specific denominations when describing and identifying their faith.  Most commonly, I suppose, “the church” refers to the local members of a local congregation.  That’s what I was thinking about when I read something interesting by W.A. Criswell who served as the Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas for five decades.

Criswell wrote, “Some years ago, a famous radio entertainer delivered his version of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  His presentation was so different that he was deluged with mail after he delivered the address.  You see, the entertainer did some research and found that when Lincoln delivered that address, he put an emphasis upon one word in that dedication.  We always say: ‘The government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people should not perish from the earth.’  Lincoln emphasized not a preposition but the PEOPLE.  He was moved by the PEOPLE.  That is the emphasis that ought to be in our work and in our assignments.  Our work concerns people.  It concerns human souls.”

God’s church is not now, nor has it ever been, about buildings and programs and denominations and property.  It is not representative of a political party or a system of Government.  The church consists of the PEOPLE committed to Christ, with the message shared by the PEOPLE about Christ, of a grace and salvation for the PEOPLE through Christ.

What I am saying is there is an innate importance and commission of lay leaders and other faithful members of the local church stepping up to live daily for Christ.  Yes, there are pastors and worship leaders and youth leaders and others who are called to lead in ministry at the local church.  But that must not be taken as some kind of excuse to avoid giving witness for Jesus.  The call to Christian ministry is not some absolution of the responsibility that everyone who has received the grace and forgiveness of the Lord must fulfill in the purposes of Christ.

The New Testament is consistent in commissioning and encouraging us believers to see the church not as anything other than the hands and feet of Christ.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”  “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  “And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.”  “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”  (Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 10:25; Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9; Colossians 1:18; I Thessalonians 5:11)

What a privilege to be called His!

Grace,

Tom

One of the longest passages of Scripture relating to a single miracle of Jesus is the entire 9th Chapter of the Gospel of John—Healing the Man Born Blind.  I would encourage you to find it and read it again.  So many sermons have come from this one amazing narrative.  However much of the story you remember and/or get to read, don’t miss the last seven verses of the chapter.  After so much happens to the man and to his parents in the story, Jesus seeks him out.  You might recall that up to this point, the blind man had never seen the Lord.  He was blind when Jesus put mud on his eyes before obeying Jesus’ instructions to “Go to Siloam and wash.”  Then, at the end of story, Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man.  The healed man’s blunt and honest question in Vv36 is both timeless and timely for us today.  “Who is He, sir, that I might believe in Him?”

This last Sunday, we began a new message series at FBC that will take us all the way to Christmas.  It is my prayer that this series of messages can at least be a partial answer, opening the eyes of those in our church today—believers and seekers—who might be asking something similar.  “Just exactly who is this One we are called to worship, so that I can believe in Him?”  The series is entitled, “Knowing God.”

In the Church today, in OUR church today, do we have, as A.W. Tozer called it, “Knowledge of the Holy”?  How lofty is our understanding of God?

Jesus said, “Go…make disciples.”  Many Christians do exactly that, taking the Great Commission to heart.  Not only do such faithful followers find opportunity to share a witness of words.  But by their life of joy, and obedience, they show the Christian Walk to be something worth pursuing.  Still other believers don’t always sense the necessity or motivation to introduce family members or friends to God.  Could the hesitancy be in part that people in the pews have lost the concept of the majesty, the wonder, the awesomeness of who God is.  Is our reverence of God pushing us to live for Him?  Or could it be that some people’s idea of coming to Christ, occasionally attending church, getting to heaven, is more about what’s in it for them instead of recognizing and worshipping and proclaiming the Unequalled God who made their salvation possible in the first place?

Try this: Describe God.

Did that question stump you?  Even for a second or two?  Is your image of God Someone you can comfortably keep at a distance until you need Him?  Can you describe the Almighty, even with your most eloquent words?  The Hymnist, Charles W. Fry gave it a shot in 1881.

“I have found a friend in Jesus—He’s everything to me.  He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul; the Lily of the Valley—in Him alone I see all I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.  In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay, He tells me every care on Him to roll; He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star; He’s the greatest of ten thousand to my soul.”  I’ll wager you just sang that in your head!

While we love that great hymn, does that even come close to explaining in your mind who God is?  I hope you can be a part of these next weeks of worship with us at FBC Meadow as we endeavor to recapture all that it means in Knowing God.

Grace,

Tom