Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Open up your eyes

Thursday, January 3, 2008

1 John 3:1-3
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

John 1:32-34
John testified, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'

"Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."

When Jesus rubbed mud on the blind man's eyes, the man blind from birth could see. He saw Jesus.

John the Baptist lived alone in the desert, fasting and praying all the time, anointed by God from birth to be the messenger preceding Jesus. Jesus was in the crowd of listeners before the day of his baptism - just a relative, just another listener. But then one day John's eyes were opened to the Spirit, and he saw that "Jesus is the Son of God."

When he is old John the Apostle writes to his friends, "We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Here's mud-in-your-eye, John. Whatever it takes to see him as he is, I want it.

John's instruction is simple: if you have this hope, make yourself pure. Maybe live alone in the desert, fast and pray all the time? Or maybe not. I don't live alone. Margaret and I are surrounded first of all by each other, then by our family and our neighbors and a community of people who need each other more than we usually realize.

One thing "pure" means is living simply enough to make myself available to others. God will use me to bless others over and over and over and over and over, if I'm not unavailable because I'm drunk or satiated or sleeping all day or shopping all day or feeling sorry for myself all day.

Saying "yes" to God gets easier the more often I do it. The converse is even more true; "no" becomes a way of life that is incredibly easy to rationalize. Cutting away possessions and entertainments makes the "yes" come easier for me. I can focus more on waiting for Jesus to put mud on my eyes, and pray, and tell me to open up and see.

See what love you have bestowed on us, that we may be called your children. And so we are. Oh, sweet Jesus.

Devotions Archive

Open up your eyes

Thursday, January 3, 2008