Saturday, October 5, 2013
Cloudy Days, Clear Days
This morning I woke up to a very cloudy, gray day. It rained overnight, and is expected to rain more later today. Days like this seem to cause the colors to be more subdued as if someone had sprayed everything with something to dull the view. As I observed this in my back yard, it reminded me that at times I look at my life that way. It also made me think about clear days, and how we move from cloudy to clear.
Sometimes what we see depends on what we look for or from where we look. I am not talking about physical locations. I am talking about the heart. Jesus (Yeshua) spoke about this at various times, like Matthew 6:21-23,
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
It seems that what we value draws our heart to it. Since we are all human and may value the wrong things, what does it take to value the right things? And how do we change? Jeremiah said the heart was deceitfully wicked. But God knows our heart. In fact, He gave us access to a renewed heart through the new covenant when He wrote the law on our heart (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:16).
Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
This is the game changer, I believe. The law brings us to the Messiah according to Galatians 3:24-25,
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Some say that the law is no more. But then does that make God a lier about the new covenant? Maybe, the law is an external thing that by attempting to keep it points us to Jesus (Yeshua), but at that moment that we confess our sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior, that faith transforms our hearts and God writes the law on it. It still is point to the Messiah, but it is no longer outside trying to show us the way. We can now pray and have God lead our hearts in the right way.
If we make God’s stuff more important than our stuff, we get access to Him leading us from cloudy to clear, through grace by faith.
Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You. Thank You for this day, and every day, and we ask You help us to remember the important things in life. We do not want to ever forget what You have done for us, or Your promises. On this Sabbath day, please help the cloudy become clear. Help us to help those around us. In Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) name. Amen.