My heavenly spice rack

II John 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Once again I see here that there are certain characteristics, certain qualities, certain gifts God has given me because of my relationship with Him.  I do not have to ask God for these things; they are already mine to use.  Grace, mercy, peace, truth and love are in me and only need to be drawn on and put to use.  I picture the m like a row of bottles of spices in my kitchen cabinet, just sitting there waiting for me to open and add to my kitchen project depending only on what I need to use.  I have been given the whole “spice rack” by my Heavenly Father and my Savior.

Essential pruning

John 15:2, 6 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, wile every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. … If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers, such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

As soon as a branch has blossomed/born fruit and it has wither died (like a flower) or been picked, it is not going to reproduce any further unless it is pruned.  It is going to be necessary to cut off the dead flower or the spot where the fruit had been in order to make the branch reproduce again.  In the same way, God has to prune us after we have had a spurt of growth before we can grow again.  We will grow “stale” if we don not remove the residue of our previous growth experience.  That is, we cannot stay right where we are spiritually or we will not be growing.  And the pruning is the sign of growth and fruitfulness … no growth means eventually being cut off completely and tossed away.  We will become totally useless to “God if we do not get pruned as we grow.

God's voice

John 12:28b-30a Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”  The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; … Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”

Jesus had just prayed in public that the Father would glorify His name through Jesus’ obedience to His calling (vv.27-28a) and I can just imagine the thrilled heart of the Father God responding in more than His still small voice to Jesus’ active obedience and submission.  God just could not stay silent as He saw the act of salvation that He had planned from the beginning continuing to move forward.  Although the people around Him heard nothing but a sound of thunder, Jesus heard the message, and gained strength from it.  The crowd was moved by just the might and awesomeness of the sound enough to recognize that something special had just happened.  I want to be able to hear God’s voice to my spirit and recognize it as more than just a sound, and as I grow closer to God, this is exactly what is happening!

He knows my name and uses it!

John 10:3b-4 He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

I see two wonderfully encouraging things in these verses that give me courage for the day ahead, so full of unknowns.  First of all, God knows my name and leads me by name.  My leading from God is personalized for me as an individual.  He knows my name!  Then, because I am known by Him, He leads me.  Secondly, I know Him by His voice.  Because He has called me by name, I recognize His voice and am able to follow Him.  When I am lagging behind, He calls my name so I can catch up.  When I get distracted He calls my name so I can get refocused.  When I become afraid, He calls my name and when I hear His voice I am comforted that He is near-by and is leading me because I am one of His own.

Who gets the praise?

John 8:54 If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.  My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.

Although I must admit I have struggled to truly understand this verse, I do see a basic principle of life here that is good for me to be reminded of regularly.  It is always better for another other than yourself praise you, and Jesus even used this principle on Himself.  If we let God be the One Who brings praise to us through another person, then we can allow ourselves to be praised because then the glory is God’s and not ours alone.  When we can accept praise from others in the spirit of humility, then receiving that praise will be “safe” for us.  To accept praise in any other spirit will destroy its good effects by drawing people’s attention away from God.

Be seated

John 6:11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.

I have never noticed this turn of phrase until today … the bread and fish were distributed to THOSE WHO WERE SEATED.   That caught my eye as I was reading and meditating on this well-known story of the feeding of the five thousand.  The emphasis has always been on the miracle of the multiplication of the food on hand, but today what struck me was that it was given to those who were seated.  Not to those milling around, not to people standing on the fringes of the groups, and certainly not to the skeptics standing apart from the groups.  No, the food was given to those who were ready to receive a part of the food being distributed.  They were seated, waiting for their portion, ready to eat what was handed to them.  It made me realize once again that as I (spiritually) sit quietly, listening for the voice of God, I will hear from Him.  We hear God’s still small voice in our quietness before Him, not in the hustle and bustle of activity, as good as that might be.  For the food that will give us the energy we need to continue, we must take time to sit.

Fair judgment

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world , and people loved the darkness rather than the light …

Why is God’s judgment to punish sin fait?  Isn’t he a just God and not willing for anyone to perish eternally?  The answer is right here in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.  The LIGHT is available for all to use, but if a person loves darkness more than light, and chooses to use his darkness instead of that light, then he faces the consequences.  It is judgment on him but not because he was ignorant.  Rather, the light was available and he just did not take advantage of that light.  For me, this statement in this verse eliminates any concern that there is somehow something unfair about God’s punishment of sin.