God’s priority is our spiritual condition. This devotional looks at how God fights to restore our relationships with Him.
Nuggets
- Our identity has always been tied to God.
- Chaos ensues when we do not choose to follow God’s Will.
- We’ve spent centuries being disobedient, yet God fought for us by designing the Plan of Salvation.
Devotions in Silencing Our Hearts at Christmastime series
When I was doing the Silence of the Soul series, I found this sermon with a neat title. It was Johnson’s The Lost and Sought-For Soul.
Think about it. Since sin entered into mankind, we are polar opposite from God — yet He is actively looking for us.
We just have to silence our hearts and let Him in.
That can be hard to do any time – but especially at Christmastime. Plus, that means we have to make a huge turnaround. Let’s see what we can find to help us do that.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
The foundation of this devotion is built on Johnson’s The Lost and Sought-For Soul.
Resource
God’s Creation
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps. 139: 13-14 ESV)
Our identity has always been tied to God.
God is the One Who created us. He guided our formation within our mother’s womb.
Well, God actually knew about us long before that. Johnson discussed that. He wrote, “In truth, the whole creation existed in His mind in archetype millions of years before it took its present form. ‘In Thy book,’ metaphorically, God is represented as having written a ‘book’; it is the book of an architect, full of plans. There are the plans of worlds and systems that have all been and are no more. The plans of all that now exist, and the plans of all that are yet to appear.”
Resource
God is orderly. He works off plans, so He knows what has come before, what is happening now, and what will come in the future.
Because God made us in His image, we possess many of His attributes — just not on His level. We do, however, possess different levels than worldview people.
Glossary
Because He created us and is in control of everything, we should strive to live the lives God wants for us. Why?
See what verse 14 says? “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” (Ps. 139: 14 ESV).
Fearfully here doesn’t mean terrifyingly made. The fear of the Lord means awe, reverence and love, not terror.
We praise God because we were made to worship Him.
Wandering from God
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14: 12 ESV)
Chaos ensues when we do not choose to follow God’s Will.
Unfortunately, many times we choose not to follow God.
That is what it boils down to — it is a choice. We choose to accept Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer and live like it — or we don’t.
Do or don’t — that is the only two choices. No qualifiers. No time limitations.
Do or don’t.
No, it doesn’t make Him a bad God giving us the choice. Lord put it this way. He wrote, “He is our Maker, He has blessed us with existence, and it will not be His fault if that blessing be turned into a curse.”
Resource
Blessedness means we have been perfected. God put a curse on us as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin, making the terms sin and curse interchangeable.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
Glossary
God is not a dictator, so He allows us free will to choose between the do and don’t. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
We have to study God’s Word and see what He has done for us. Until we know His character, we won’t have the information we need on which to base or decision.
Yes, God allows us to choose, but He holds us accountable when we choose something not in His Will, especially if it is a sin.
So, what does our disobedience to God look like in today’s world? Paul nailed it. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (II Tim. 4: 3-4 ESV).
- We don’t listen to God’s truth.
- We accumulate worldly possessions and put more importance on them than knowing and serving God.
- We compromise with, at best — go all in, at worst — with the worldview.
Fighting for Us
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk. 19: 10 ESV)
We’ve spent centuries being disobedient, yet God fought for us by designing the Plan of Salvation.
God could have left us kicked out of the Garden of Eden. But even before He cursed mankind, He had the Plan of Salvation in place.
Paul told us that. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight …” (Eph. 1: 4 ESV).
Glossary
God chose us in him. That him is Jesus. He sent Jesus to earth to seek and save the lost.
Why? Love.
God loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to stay disconnected to Him. He wants us to be in a committed relationship with Him.
For centuries, God worked before He could put His Plan into motion. Now, He fights for us to accept His gift.
Making the Connections
But what does this have with silencing our hearts?
Go back to Paul’s verse in II Timothy. Satan has flooded this world with chaos. It is very easy to focus on the noise and the worldview.
Instead, we need to focus on God and His truth.
Johnson summed it up perfectly. He wrote, “One is seeking us; One wills that we should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. His kindly light has not yet, and will not, we trust, ever desert us.”
Resource
God seeks us so we can go from disobedience to obedience. He wants us to recognize Him as Sovereign God.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. You have fought for mankind for centuries so that we could have our relationships with You restored. We thank You for not giving up on us and deserting us. Help us to silence our hearts so that we can hear Your still, small voice calling us to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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Thank you for this week’s nuggets!
You’re welcome! Merry Christmas!