Thursday, May 18, 2017

"The Eternal Voyage"

"The Eternal Voyage"   
   
   
    There are no dumb questions.  If we need to know something, it's silly to not ask someone else who may possess knowledge unknown to ourselves.  This is especially true in our relationship with God.

   "Call unto Me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3).

   There are, however, questions that make no sense, based on logic and reason.  One such inquiry involves our Lord's affection and commitment to the human race, namely, how much does God love us?  The Bible reveals that this seemingly most important of all questions cannot possibly be answered.

   "I have loved thee with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3).
   "The love of Christ… passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).

   "How much?" dissolves in the prophet and the apostle's declarations of measureless Divine love.  Eternal and infinite comprise the transcendent realities of God's devotion to our hearts and well being.  We can increasingly know our Lord's love, and we should.  However, we will reach no shore that completes the journey of our voyage on the ocean of His goodness.  It matters now how far we've come.  The glory beckons us to sail further and rejoice in the wonder that God's heart is set upon us.  Thus, we do not seek to know the quantity of His love, but rather acknowledge that regardless of how far we have journeyed in knowing the love of Christ, the shoreless ocean offers further exploration of His sublime heart.

   This truth bears great practical significance for us.  Nothing will more motivate us to continue in our walk with God than the fact of His everlasting and knowledge-transcending love.  "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).  Our devotion to God is always the response to His devotion to us.  "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).  Thus, this day offers the possibility of greater knowledge of God's love, and greater love formed in us for Him and also for people.  An open Bible, a prayerful heart, fellowship with other believers, and an expectation that our Lord purposes to strengthen our awareness all serve to open our eyes to greater visions of Divine goodness.  Again, it matters not how far we've come.  The journey's just begun.  We will always feel this to be true, even in eternity as we better understand that while the question "How much?" is not a dumb inquiry, it is illogical and unanswerable.  Indeed, "much" has no place in this glory of the "measureless".

   Let us speak the truth in our hearts: "No matter how well I may or may not know the love of God, I must journey further, know more, understand better, and respond in greater reception, assimilation, and application."  This awareness and attitude prepares us in this day and forevermore for the eternal voyage upon the most beautiful of oceans.  No final destination awaits us, but rather a timeless and boundless journey into our Lord's indescribably beautiful heart.

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment."
(Philippians 1:9)

Weekly Memory Verse
   But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
(II Timothy 2:23)
   

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