Praiseworthy

 

Daily devotions keep my ‘all over the place’ mind in focus on God and His glory. Things do happen that take my mind into distressing thoughts. The daily news can do it. So can the trials my friends suffer (until I pray for them) or the unbelief I see all around me. Yesterday was filled with all these distractions. I also pushed the wrong reset button on my phone and stayed up too late trying to restore it. 🙄

This morning God is at work to refocus my heart. I could work on the phone restoration. I will pray for family and unsaved friends even though nothing may change. Yet the Lord can restore that wonderful sense that He is in charge. For me, it isn’t necessarily looking at the future but that is not a bad idea. Life can be crappy, but perfection is promised:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:3-4)

First, God is my “blessed” God. He is worthy of blessing, adoration, praise, or worship, particularly in view of what He grants to His children.

Second, I can call Him “Father.”

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:4–6)

The OT people of God normally did not use that term for God, at least not with the same intimacy. “Abba” is a term like “Daddy” and suggests much more than the OT verses that call Him Father as Creator and Redeemer. Having an intimate relationship with the Lord God is wonderful in the sense of being protected from spiritual enemies, teaching spiritual truth, and being supplied with all I need, yet calling Him “Daddy” is  incredible.

 Another reality concerning Him as Father is His relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship is too often compared to the human father/son relationship but it is far more, and the Jews of Jesus’ day knew it when Jesus said:

I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:30–33)

Those two verses from 1 Peter say much about the identity of Jesus. He is “our Lord Jesus Christ” which  amplifies His redemptive work, speaks of His sovereign rulership, His name as God in human flesh and His position as the Messiah, the anointed King. However, that little pronoun “our” stresses that He is “our Lord Jesus Christ,” a personal Lord and Savior, not some distant, impersonal deity. He created and redeemed me because He loves me and wants to be intimately involved in every aspect of my life.

PRAY: Jesus, what more can I say? I could complain about my lot in life, the mess the world is in, the sad state of many people, and the unbelief all around me. but You are a glorious God that I can worship and serve. Grant me grace and the fullness of Your Spirit to keep You first and foremost in my thoughts, words, and deeds all day, for this is what You deserve.

PONDER: the excellencies of God and think continually of His sovereign power and wisdom. He knows what He is doing and He does all things well . . . for His glory and for the blessing of those He calls His children.