Daily Thoughts about God

by Roderick Marshall
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â€œ..standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. …And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”Â
Luke 7:38-50 (ESV)

I was in a queue at a set of traffic lights in town. We were stationary, so I looked expectantly towards the red lights in front of me, when a movement in the car in front of me caught my eye. It turned out to be a woman who had leant across to get up close and personal with her passenger: intimate. I thought; it must be love. You get exhibitions of young parting lovers making public declarations of affection. I can remember being like that once.

Anyway, the lights being still on red, and me being inquisitive, I watched this tableau played out before me. Only I realized the person on whom the woman was soÂ intent, was not her partner, no, it was her toddler son!

Presumably he was in a booster seat which raised his head up to adult levels. She was inspecting his face, then cleaning it and fussing him, prior to being dropped off at the nursery around the corner.

Well I was not wrong, I thought, it was love! Then the following words drifted into my consciousness: coming-towards-as-if-to-kiss.

Yes, I had been ambushed by God again. Proskyneo, the N.T. Greek word for worship means just that. Yes, I am no Greek lexicon, I had to look it up to find it again. It is not an amorous encounter, but rather one of trust, love, deference, respect and intimacy; like Mary Magdaleneâ€™s uninhibited entreaty.

As a Creator, God longs to be close with His children, just as this mother was to her son. The question is will we allow Him to get up close and personal? Close enough so He can clean us up, make us presentable, encourage us, and then send us out!

OK, are we ready to being open to Him in reverence today, even up close?

PRAYER: LORD, You are awesome and terrible, holy and majestic, yet You are also jealous of our worship, obedience and love. So we, with bended knee and humble hearts, say Our LORD come! Visit us once more today, in Jesus name, amen.

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“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
Matthew 6:21

“Set your hearts on things above” Colossians 3:2

Jan and I sat in the cafe musing about what our dream homes would look like and where they would be. We were currently living in a country not of our birth, in houses certainly more than adequate but not truly of our own choosing. We led busy lives and on this particular day were probably more than little weary.

Jana whose not adept at or fond of cooking described her future kitchen: “About the size of a closet with only an efficient microwave and very small refrigerator.” We agreed that our preferred site would be on the eastern United States sea-coast in a weather beaten cottage with a white fence around the yard.

Many years have gone by. Jan lives in a quaint, small home but it is on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area. My life is lived in a condominium in a suburban setting thousands of miles from the sea.

Have our dreams gone unfulfilled? Were our musings wasted time? Both Jan and I have moved into lives that have many challenges but are overall satisfying. (She still doesn’t cook much but owns a full-sized kitchen!) Our longings for the sea are partially indulged by an occasional holiday visit.

It is not wrong to keep a notebook of fabric swatches for the furniture of our dreams. House plans, garden layouts, paint chips of favorite colors are good memory joggers. But when dreams of the future supplant following hard after God’s plans for today, we can easily be diverted from His best for us.

Father, it is so easy to lose my focus on your grand plans. Keep me ever vigilant to hear your heart, then my own desires will fit perfectly into your own.

by Marilyn Ehle