Behold the Beauty of the Lord

THIS WEEK has been a happy one. Hgih school is winding down, I got my cap and gown, and I am getting ready for my mission trip to Peru. There was a spagetti dinner with my mission team on Friday, where we all said a few words about why we want to go, and we sang a worship song in Spanish. I've been learning some basic Spanish words with a Rosetta Stone program, and it's coming along well.

I haven't been going to school every day anymore, since seniors don't have much else left to do, but I'm glad I went on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning my friend Arun told me something that has changed and helped my thinking. He said he heard in a prayer conference of a woman who had a certain vision. She saw Jesus being seriously wounded, and it made her very sad.

Arun told me that the woman said her vision meant they should pray for the church. I immediately understood what that meant, because if there is something wrong with the church, then it is like a wound to Jesus Himself.

1 Corinthians 12: 26-27 "[26] And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. [27] Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually."

That thought didn't leave me. The thought of Jesus being hurt because His people didn't honor Him, because some part of the body of Christ was disobedient in some way, is saddening to me. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but it's not hard to guess. Maybe it's some people who try to predict the end of the world, or others who reject a relationship with God and try to earn heaven themselves. Maybe it's a lot of us, when we forget that Jesus is not our buddy or our employee, but we're really His servants, His friends. Jesus has come to give us life, and life to the fullest, but life is not about us. It's about glorifying Him.

The more I thought about this, I realized that it's very important. We should pray that there will be no selfishness and corruption in the church as a whole, but we should also pray for the members of the body of Christ, ourselves, our friends, individuals. Thinking about Jesus being grieved about something causes me to hope and pray that I will never cause Him any grief.

Jesus is our Savior. He personally bore all the nasty, destructive sin of humanity simply because God loves us so much! He deserves all of our devotion and love. It makes me sad to think that I, and all of us, have at times failed to give Him that devotion and have caused Him pain. But it's wonderful to know that it doesn't have to stay that way, and that we are a source of unmeasurable joy and celebration to Him every time we display righteousness in our lives. And He shows us personally how to do that.

Last week Pastor Russ referenced Psalm 27, which I came across again during my Bible Study. It's a very encouraging Psalm, all about the strength and faithfulness of the Lord toward those who trust in Him. He always gives us the ability through Him to do His will. The Pastor referenced verse 4, which I particularly like.

Psalm 27:4 "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."

Life is distracting. It's very easy on a busy day to forget to make time to simply stop and "behold the beauty of the Lord." It happens to me. I might hear early in the day that I should go read the Bible and write in my journal, and instead I just sit and leave it for later. Then I find myself much busier later than I was before, and on that day I haven't had time to read God's word until 10:00 or 11:00 at night.

I think there's something wrong with that. Not that doing a Bible study at night is wrong, but putting it off. The earlier in the day it is done, I find, the better its effect on my life and the clearer I can think.

And it isn't just Bible study. Any way that we can find to just dwell on God, remember Him, and pray is a good way to spend our time. God wants us to talk to Him and listen, to sing to Him, talk about Him, sit and rest and think about Him. When we take time to devote ourselves to God, He makes all the other things in our lives much more full and worthwhile. Doing this also helps us to do all we do as an act of devotion for the glory of God.

I am praying that the one desire that overwhelms all of my desires will be to glorify God, to obey Him. I hope that we will all want that more than we want anything else. After all, nothing in our lives can matter more than God, and nobody can be better deserving of our attention and love. He wants to hear our voices calling Him. He loves to hear His childre ntell Him we love Him. Take time this week each day, the earlier the better, to just sit and "behold the beauty of the Lord."