Perfect Submission, Perfect Delight

Encounter

Each and every day is an opportunity for God's people to witness and live in the loving presence of the triune God, the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer. In his final discourse with his disciples, Jesus goes into great detail about this life with God that is made possible because of Jesus's death and resurrection as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit (John chapter 14-17). We learn from this that God has made clear His desire to live life with us. How does one access this life with God? What must be done to experience this "life to the full" that Jesus talked about in John 10:10? Thankfully the answer is quite simple as it is repeated four times (14:15, 21 23-24 and 15:9-10). We access this full life with God by loving God and obeying His commands.

Take a moment to lift praise and gratitude to God for this great gift of life that He has made available to us. Fanny Jane Crosby's hymn "Blessed Assurance" is a song that captures the simple but profound reality of this loving obedience to God.

"Blessed assurance Jesus is mine

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Heir of salvation purchase of God

Born of His Spirit washed in His blood

This is my story this is my song

Praising my Savior all the day long

This is my story this is my song

Praising my Savior all the day long

Perfect submission perfect delight

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight

Angels descending bring from above

Echoes of mercy whispers of love

Perfect submission all is at rest

I in my Savior am happy and blest

Watching and waiting looking above

Filled with His goodness lost in His love"

Hebrews 4:12 reads, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This verse is preceded by such depth regarding the Word of God and its place in the life of the believer. The Word of God provides rest to those who believe it and obey it, but the difficulty in believing and obeying the Word is in its ability to pierce the heart of those who hear it. God does not shy away from the reality of this.

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is full of real stories of real people who should have believed God but didn’t, stories of people who knew the goodness and faithfulness of God, but instead chose to walk in evil and faithlessness. Yet, from Genesis to Revelation the Bible is also full of real stories of God’s grace, kindness, and salvation for those whose hearts are pierced by the conviction and guilt of their sin. In those painful moments, the choice is clear but difficult - hide from God or bare one’s soul to Him in repentance.

The story of Scripture is to make plain both the human condition as well as the character of the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer God. The human condition remains the same (yet manifests itself differently in each individual context) and the character of God (also unchanging) meets each person uniquely in their life through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit speaks through the words of Scripture to inspire transformation in the hearts and lives of those who hear the Word, believe the Word, and obey the Word.

Reflect

Every time we open the Word of God, God's invitation to new life is present. How do we approach the Word? Do you read it informally, informationally, or formationally? How we view God's word is important. Just as importantly, our humility before the Word and the Spirit who speaks through the Word shapes how we receive what we read.

Spiritual Practice

Performers and athletes are known to visualize their abilities in their profession many days in advance of an event. Frankly, many people visualize their perceptions and intentions for any given day the night before or the morning of. Let's take that practice and apply it to our life of faith. Think of your favorite Bible verse. (Maybe you don't have one or nothing is coming to mind in the moment, feel free to use John 10:10 that we mentioned earlier, this is what it says, "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.") Now, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and visualize how that Scripture might actually change the way you approach life. Write down any meaningful considerations you might want to share with your spouse, children, best friend, triad, small group, etc.

Gather

Spark a conversation with your family around the dinner table, with your small group/triad, or fellow believer in the workplace about the power of the Word of God. Consider sharing about a time when the Word pierced your heart and you responded with humility before God. You may also consider sharing about how you may have responded by running from God. How did things end up? What lessons did you learn from that experience? Close your time by sharing one thing about the Word of God that you are grateful to God for.

This Sunday we will continue this study into everyone's favorite topic of obedience as we see it play out right before our eyes in the 730 Challenge readings for this week.

Submitting delightfully to our God alongside you, Pastor Matt