The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(Thanks to Fred and Frances for inspiration on this one)
"The Heart of All"
What if we lost everything, but God remained? And we knew it?
"He is thy life" (Deuteronomy 30:20).
First, we would feel the loss of things, and even more, of people. The heart would grieve, the mind would experience perplexity, and tears might well fall from our eyes. God made us to experience and enjoy His blessings - "He giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (I Timothy 6:17). Thus, the pleasures of things and people would be missed. Rightly so, even as the Apostle Paul testified, "I have suffered the loss of all things" (Philippians 3:8; emphasis added).
What if, however, the true blessedness of every blessing is actually the Blesser Himself? What if the Giver comes with His gifts, and deep in our heart, is Himself the joyful essence of every joyful experience? He is. "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). The presence of God's heart accompanies the provisions of His hand. The "I AM" comes with His "I give" (John 8:58; 10:28). Thus, we could lose all things, but in terms of the most essential reality, we would lose nothing if God remained. As He told Abraham, "I am thy exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1).
I received a beautiful expression of this truth today from my dear friend Fred Carlson, which correlates with my dear wife Frances's life motto. Fred wrote…
"Why do we take nothing with us from this life to the next? Because God himself is, and forever will be, enough, and more than enough, for us!"
Or, as Frances says…
"Having Him, we have all."
Our Heavenly Father obviously loves to grace us with the enjoyment of His marvelous capacity to bestow "every good gift and every perfect gift" (James 1:17). He made our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our noses to smell, our hands to touch, our tongues to taste, our minds to ponder, our emotions to feel, and our hearts to know the goodness of "all things to enjoy." This life confirms, and the world to come promises glories of experience, sensation, and gladness in the reception of God's gifts beyond anything we have known heretofore. At the heart of all, however, abides the Heart of all, that is, the Source and Essence of every goodness, blessedness, grace, and glory. We can presently know such truth and reality in a limited way by the acknowledgement of faith in God as the very Life of our lives. We also look forward to the forever that promises far more experiential awareness that the Giver comes with His gifts, and is, in fact, the true joy of every enjoyment. "Having Him, we indeed have all," and He "is, and forever will be enough, and more than enough for us."
"Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy."
(Psalm 43:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."
(II Corinthians 3:5)
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