The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(Friends: I wrote this early yesterday morning, and was blessed to ponder the glories to come, and also the present glory of the Lord Jesus Christ we can know in this life. On the way to a service later in the morning, we stopped at a red light. On the car ahead of us, a bumper sticker offered the simple encouragement, "Come and See," the very title I had chosen for this essay. I assign no particularly significance to this, other than the encouragement I felt to do as the bumper sticker and the essay suggest: Come and see.
"Come and See"
Journey as far and as deeply into the heart of God as possible. Make eternity the span of your travels. Open your eyes as wide as possible, determine to intently listen to every sound, and touch the depths of the Lord's being to whatever degree holy sanctity will allow. Then fall to your face in the realization that no possibility exists of ever completing your voyage upon an Ocean of goodness, greatness, and wonder that beckons your heart to venture ever further, onward, and beyond.
"Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19).
"His greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).
"God… doeth wonders without number" (Job 9:2; 10).
Realize also that this day offers the possibility for discovery of our Lord's infinite being, character, nature, and way. Although we presently "see through a glass, darkly, " we can still journey, see, hear, touch, and then fall to our faces in wonder (I Corinthians 13:12). An open Bible, a prayerful heart, fellowship with believers, and the expectation our Heavenly Father will meet us along the pathways of this present life assure us that our eternal expedition into the triunity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has already begun, and is in progress. Believers "have eternal life" in the present because the Lord Jesus defined such glory as knowing Him and the Father (I John 5:13; 17:3). "Come and see" said Philip to Nathaniel of the Savior (John 1:44-51). Nathaniel came and saw, and still ventures on the voyage that began in the day when he discovered that this lifetime offers "wonders without number," foreshadowing indescribably greater glories to come.
The Spirit of God, the Word of God, the church of God, and the creation of God beckon us to "Come and see." Let us come indeed, and having done so, let us retrace our footsteps again and again to the aptly named, "throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). We will do so forever, which includes this day. God awaits us in His Word, His world, His people, and along the pathways of the present that portend of Heavenly pathways to come...
There is no end to the quest we know,
forever beckons on.
We soar in skies so bright and blue,
above all clouds and storm.
Yes, we fly into the heart of God,
as in His Son we trust,
and earth will soon be nothing more
than long forgotten dust.
So spread your wings and catch the wind,
o journeyman of hope,
and race toward horizons blessed
with those who also know
that the quest of hearts is Jesus,
He is our shining sun,
it matters not how far we've come...
the journey's just begun.
"I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:13-14)
Weekly Memory Verse
Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee, which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!
(Psalm 31:19)
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