Sincerely Seeking

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 NLT

I remember the task of picking up sticks and rocks from our back yard at one of the houses that I grew up in. I guess that the idea was that by regularly picking up the sticks and pulling rocks out of the soil, that eventually we might end up turning the bare ground under the trees into something more hospitable for grass to grow. And there was a big difference between going out there and making a half effort (just picking up the larger fallen limbs and loose rocks) versus sincerely seeking out the rocks that needed to be pulled from the soil and getting up all the small twigs. This verse about faith, about pleasing God, and about reward reminds me of the important difference between seeking and sincerely seeking.

There have been Sunday morning church gatherings where I showed up,  I smiled,  I sang,  I even thought and considered the “good advice” and “motivational message”, and I even enjoyed the experience — but because I let it be about me, it was only surface level,  it was only going through the motions, it was “what we do on Sundays”. And this can be true for Sunday church services,  daily devotionals, blessing our food, pretty much anything that just becomes empty tradition, religious practice, and habit. Amos chapters 5 and 6 should be a sobering reminder to us who have fallen into that trap. We should all be encouraged to read convicting passages such as those two chapters often enough for their weight to shake the ground of our complacency and remind us of our need to sincerely seek the Lord.

The question, beloved, is not whether we are seeking Him — because you are reading what could be considered a “religious text” right now. And if neither the author nor the reader of this are sincerely seeking God, then it is just religious activity with no real faith — and it is impossible for such things to please God. If that were the case,  we should stop immediately and do no more harm with our hypocrisy. But I do have faith that He is at work, and I am confessing and repenting from those times I have not been sincere. And regardless of my own weaknesses and shortcomings and repeated failures, I am seeking Him sincerely because I cannot do this alone — He is my strength. Even if it feels slow and repetitive, even if I become distracted and find that I have slipped into surface level auto-pilot for a while — He turns even that into a reminder that I need to draw close again, sincerely. And I pray the same for you, beloved.

We are His beloved. He is our reward. People seek the reward that they truly want most. Will He be our truest desire today? Do we truly believe He is our greatest reward?

One of the greatest things that I can do for my wife is to desire her above all other women. One of the worst things that I can do is to desire someone else above her. My actions,  my words,  my thoughts with respect to my wife will be a reflection of what I believe about her in my heart.

And the same is true of God. Our faith, our belief about who He is — as either a burdensome religious obligation to be met — or as a treasured companion to seek sincerely and walk with daily — this is our opportunity to please God. And what a reward it is!

Is my heart on fire with a sincere desire for the Lord?

Lord, I have been guilty. I have forgotten at times my greatest reward. I have forgotten at times my first love. But I have seen that your love for me is what keeps me seeking you sincerely, and that seeking you sincerely is a wonderful reward in and of itself. Thank you for revealing yourself to me in this way. Thank you for your many mercies, and your undeserved grace and favor towards me. Thank you for reminding me that I am your beloved, and that you are mine. I’m eager to spend another day together, and eternity too. Amen.

The Same Reasoning

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 John 4:15 ESV

Someone might read this one verse out of context (as I expect that I have in the past) as a checklist of “Have I confessed that Jesus is the Son of God?” and try to use that as a singular proof or guarantee of someone’s “Christianity”.

Doesn’t it matter whether someone understands this as:

• If someone speaks aloud the right words “Jesus is the Son of God” one time, they can count on that for salvation.
• If someone speaks it aloud one time in a heartfelt plea “Jesus is the Son of God”, they can count on that for salvation.
• If someone for one moment in time mentally believes the logic and speaks “Jesus is the Son of God” aloud, they can count on that for salvation.
• If someone agrees with the logic and professes and teaches and lives sharing the message “Jesus is the Son of God” publicly for a period of time, they can count on that for salvation.
• If someone agrees with the logic and professes and teaches and lives out the evidence that “Jesus is the Son of God” both publicly in their words and actions, and privately in their innermost beliefs and thoughts, this is the clear evidence of God at work in them.

So let’s look into what it is actually saying in the word translated here in the ESV as “confess”, in KJV as “shall confess”, and in NLT as “declare”.

I’m going to ask you to bear with me through a quick dive into the Greek for this particular word, because I found it helpful to me in better understanding this verse in context and in meaning. This shows the original Greek along with an English KJV translation, and I’ve highlighted the key weird that we are taking about.

When we look into ὁμολογήσῃ, as English speaking folks, it helps to use our own alphabet transliteration of homologeo so that it isn’t quite as foreign to us as it is with the original Greek alphabet.

We can see that the word ὁμολογήσῃ is a combination of two Greek root words — ὁμοῦ and λόγος. Again, to make it easier for us in English, the word homologeo is a combination of homou and logos.

Regardless of whether we write this word in Greek or transliterate it to English, the math is the same ὁμολογήσῃ = ὁμοῦ + λόγος and homologeo = homou + logos

The first root word ὁμοῦ/homou is pretty straightforward. It means “the same“, or “together” or “agreed“. So we don’t have to dig very far to understand that concept. But the word λόγος/logos runs a bit deeper, so let’s dig in a bit with it. You’ll find this word in your Strong’s Concordance as G3056, used 330 times in the New Testament, and used to describe:

• Spoken words/utterances
• Continuous discourse, doctrine, or teaching
• Reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating
• The essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world’s life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man’s salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds.

So, when considering homologeo = homou + logos, we can see that it matters a bit whether homologeo means:

• Same spoken words once
• Same public teaching/discourse (ongoing)
• Same mental reasoning once
• Same spirit of Christ consistently producing evidence in actions, thoughts and speech (ongoing)

Clearly the message isn’t “don’t confess”, or “don’t profess”, or “don’t preach”, or “don’t believe”, or “don’t use reason” — but it does matter the source of that speech and reasoning.

The study of Biology uses a term Homologous which is from the same two root words — and it means “having similar or corresponding features” and “structures with similar anatomical features but not necessarily with the same function”.

We can see homologous bone structure in different animals:

And whether you view homologous structures as evidence of intelligent design or of evolution is not the reason that I brought this up. It is to show how it seems that translating or understanding homologeo as “speak the words” in this passage falls pretty short of the mark.

This verse isn’t for me an “if you check this box of X, you are guaranteed Y” promise so that someone who has no speech that agrees with God’s speech, who has no reasoning that abides with God’s reasoning, who has no fruit that is the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit might say assuredly “But I’m saved because once upon a time, I said those words, or calculated in my mind it was true, or believed and preached it for a while — even though I don’t anymore. “

I do not share such things to shipwreck your faith — unless it needs to be dashed upon the rocks while there is still time for it to be rebuilt strong and firm, truly upon the foundation of Christ alone.

This section in 1 John 4 is about Loving One Another, and how better to love each other than to declare to you that it is true, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is resurrected, and that we who believe truly are the bearers of His Holy Spirit — traveling through this world as His ambassadors to proclaim such amazing things through the love we share for each other.

God bless you, friend. Believe, confess, and proclaim this Good News today — not as a checklist/requirement to “get there” but purely as a public testimony to what He has done and is doing in us. Amen.

Quiet and Expectant

And after the earthquake there was a fire,

but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire

there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

1 Kings 19:12 NLT

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
    Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Psalms 5:3

These two verses were brought to my consideration by a Jesus Calling devotion:

“WAIT QUIETLY IN MY PRESENCE while my thoughts form silently in the depths of your being. Do not try to rush this process, because hurry keeps your heart earthbound…”

Jesus Calling, Sept 21 Devotion by Sarah Young

The two things that jump out to me from each verse are “gentle whisper“:

there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

1 Kings 19:12d

and “wait expectantly“:

Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Psalms 5:3b

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In the 1 Kings verse, we see that the LORD wasn’t in the fire, but he revealed Himself by a “gentle whisper”. The King James version calls it “a still small voice” and the Hebrew includes words for “whisper, calm”, “thin, small, fine”, and “voice”. I wonder how easy it would have been to miss that quiet whisper because of the show of the fire? I wonder how many times we might miss what God is telling us quietly and gently because we’re expecting (and hopefully not demanding as well) something big, visible, and show stopping? And imagine the sweetness of an all powerful God — whose angels repeatedly have to tell people “Don’t be afraid” when they are encountered — who quiets Himself to speak to His beloved children. He doesn’t boom like a heavy handed father and send us scouring for cover. No, He speaks to us quietly and gently like a Good Father. And it seems to me that in those times where we are ignoring his quiet whisper that would guide us best, He is willing to let us learn the hard way that it would have been better to consult with Him and listen to Him first.

This, for me, emphasizes the importance of my being still, being quiet, and listening intently to the LORD. As my day can become busy with the demands of family, friends, life, career, ministry — I must not let what is “good” keep me from what is truly BEST. Even though I try to be mindful of the LORD, considering Biblical advice as I go through my day, having short and impromptu discussions with the LORD as I encounter things throughout my day, remembering and considering scripture and passages in their beauty — there is something different about intentional, dedicated, undistracted time seeking God in prayer. Not just a bunch of talking to Him (or “at Him” might be more accurate to describe some of my surface level prayers at times) — but I find that a deeper, listening for Him is so important for renewal and strength.

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In the Psalms verse, it points out a part in “waiting expectantly” that is many times overlooked in the rush of sitting down to hot plates at the table and bringing our prayerful requests for “Lord bless this food” even as our mouths are watering for the blessing already provided by the LORD. And even in many of our prayers, can’t the be like some distant, self-absorbed child that is calling back home because of the trouble they have gotten themselves into “Hey dad, I really need some money for rent. Please send it quick. *click*” with us speaking our demands and hanging up the phone rudely without even pretending to genuinely care about the person on the other end of the line.

And I’m not saying that we should “pretend” at loving God either. He knows how we really feel towards Him even more than we do ourselves. We should realize how blessed we truly are that Almighty God loves us and is there for us — not just to provide for our health, wealth, and prosperity like a genie in a bottle — but to be in it with us. How satisfied would I be with my daughter if she asked for a puppy months before her birthday and never spoke to me again until that day came? Even if I gave her the puppy and she said she loved me on that one day while the gift of the puppy was new — wouldn’t I know that soon enough I would be tossed aside until she needed something else? I’m so grateful that my daughter isn’t really like that. She shows me each day how she loves me with hugs, smiles, laughs, time together, conversation, etc. And doesn’t my heavenly Father deserve a better recognition and genuine interaction from me than I do from my daughter?

It is quite convicting to me that the KJV and the Hebrew for the Psalms verse describes this as to “look up”, to “keep watch closely”, and to “observe” — all of which are active descriptions, not passive:

So actively and quietly, we should keep watch, and we should listen.

How have I fallen short in this in days gone by?

What truth can I learn from that about my heart towards God?

Am I remembering how much He has done for me?

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LORD, I don’t want this to be a call for us to be more rigid about scheduling time to “have to” spend with you in order to feel better about “giving you what you deserve”. That is not the heart from which true worship springs forth like a fresh fountain of living waters — nor will it produce genuine evidence of that abiding Holy Spirit fire stirred up by the quiet whisper of your counsel. Build upon this foundation of Christ alone, our cornerstone, and may it be your master craftmanship guiding every step of the way. Do not let us suffer shame by building quickly and demanding like Martha that others should be helping with the heavy weight. No, have us childlike in our faith like Mary, sitting at your feet, listening expectantly, grateful for time with our Heavenly Daddy. Amen.