Dawn 2 Dusk A Window Clear Enough to See GodThere is a longing stitched into every human soul to really know God, not just know about Him. We chase experiences, success, even religion itself, hoping for a glimpse of what is truly real. Into that ache, Jesus speaks a startling promise: the ones who get to see God are not the clever, the powerful, or the impressive, but those whose hearts are clean before Him, whose inner lives match their outward profession. The Vision You Were Made For Jesus connects purity of heart with the ultimate reward: Himself. He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). To “see God” is far more than having a religious feeling; it is to behold His beauty, to know His character, to live with a growing awareness of His nearness. This is the hunger of Moses when he cried, “Show me Your glory,” and it is the ache under every lesser desire we chase. Our hearts were designed to be satisfied only when they are looking straight at God. We get foretastes of this vision even now. As we walk by faith, the Spirit opens our eyes to see God’s hand in His Word, in answered prayer, in His providence. One day, in the new creation, that vision will be face to face, no veil, no sin, no distraction. The promise of seeing God is meant to pull us forward, to make us ask: if the pure in heart see Him more clearly, what am I allowing to cloud my view? Purity That Starts Where No One Sees “Pure in heart” does not mean “never sins” or “naturally good.” It means a heart that has been cleansed and set apart for God, unmixed in its loyalties. Scripture pictures this as having “clean hands and a pure heart,” not lifting the soul to idols. It is about what we want most, what we love when no one is watching. God cares about the hidden motives, the quiet resentments, the secret compromises, because from the heart flow all the issues of life. The hope is that God Himself does the deepest heart-work. He promises to take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh, to put His Spirit within and cause us to walk in His ways. That’s what happens when we turn from sin and trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross. The blood of Jesus cleanses us, not only from the guilt of specific sins, but from the defilement that kept us far from God. Purity of heart is not a self-improvement project; it is a miracle of grace that we then learn to live out. Practices That Polish the Window of Your Heart Though only God can create a pure heart, we are called to cooperate with His work. Confession keeps the window clean—bringing sin into the light quickly instead of hiding it. Filling our minds with Scripture renews our desires, pushing out the world’s lies. Drawing near to God in prayer, worship, and obedience tunes our hearts to Him, so that competing loves lose their grip. As we deliberately flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, our loves become more aligned with His. This is a daily, practical choice. When you are tempted to nurse bitterness, to indulge in secret lust, to chase the approval of people, remember what is at stake: your clarity of vision. Ask, “Is this choice polishing the window of my heart, or smearing it?” Today, you can respond to the Spirit’s prompting—repenting where He convicts, obeying where He leads—and in doing so, you will find that your sight of God grows sharper, your joy deeper, your heart more undivided. Lord Jesus, thank You for the promise that the pure in heart will see God. By Your Spirit, cleanse my heart and make it undivided, and today move me to reject every competing love so I can seek and see You more clearly. Morning with A.W. Tozer Are We?The truth is, dedication of the life to any thing or anyone short of God Himself, is a prostitution of noble powers and must bring a harvest of grief and disappointment at last. Only God is worthy of the soul He has made in His own image. To devote our lives to any cause, however worthy, is to sell ourselves short. Not money, position, fame, can justly claim our devotion. Art, literature, music also fall short. And, if God is forgotten, even the loftiest and most unselfish task is unworthy of the souls full surrender. Complete dedication unto death in the cause of freedom, for instance, is a touching thing and has given to history many of her greatest heroes, but only the God of freedom should have our last full measure of devotion. These are strenuous times and men are being recruited everywhere to devote themselves to one or another master. Let us be careful. No one has any true right to claim my life except the One who gave His own life for my redemption. If He gets my full dedication then I may engage in any good and worthy cause under His Spirit's guidance. But anything short of complete devotion to Christ is inadequate and must end in futility and loss. Music For the Soul The Beggar’s PetitionAnd when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out and say: Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. - Mark 10:47 Jesus was now on His last journey to Jerusalem. That night He would sleep at Bethany: Calvary was but a week off. He had paused to save Zacchaeus, and now He has resumed His march to His Cross. Popular enthusiasm is surging round Him, and for the first time He does not try to repress it. A shouting multitude are escorting Him out of the city. They have just passed the gates, and are in the act of turning towards the mountain gorge through which ran the Jerusalem road. A long file of beggars is sitting, as beggars do still in Eastern cities, outside the gate; well accustomed to lift their monotonous wail at the sound of passing footsteps. Bartimaeus is amongst them. He asks, according to Luke, what is the cause of the bustle, and is told that "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." The name wakes strange hopes in him, which can only be accounted for by his knowledge of Christ’s miracles done elsewhere. It is a witness to their notoriety that they had filtered down to the talk of beggars at city gates. And so, true to his trade, he cries, "Jesus, . . . have mercy upon me! " In the cry there throbs the sense of need, deep and urgent; in it there is also the realization of the possibility that the widely flowing blessings of which Bartimaeus had heard might be concentrated and poured, in their full flood, upon himself. He individualizes himself, his need, Christ’s power and willingness to help him. And, because he has heard of so many who have, in like manner, received His healing touch, he comes with the cry, " Have mercy upon me." All this is upon the low level of physical blessings, need, and desire. But let us lift it higher. It is a mirror in which we may see ourselves, our necessities, and the example of what our desire ought to be. Ah, brother! the deep consciousness of impotence, need, emptiness, blindness, lies at the bottom of all true crying to Jesus Christ. If you have never - knowing yourself to be a sinful man, in peril, present and future, from your sin, and stained and marred by reason of it - gone to Jesus Christ, you never have gone to Him in any deep and adequate sense at all. Only when I know myself to be a sinful man am I driven to cry, "Jesus! have mercy on me." And I ask you not to answer it to me, but to press the question on your own consciences - " Have I any experience of such a sense of need; or am I groping in the darkness and saying, I see; weak as water, and saying I am strong?" "Thou knowest not that thou art poor, and naked, and blind "; and so that Jesus of Nazareth should be passing by has never moved thy tongue to call, " Son of David! have mercy upon me." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Zechariah 6:13 He shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory. Christ himself is the builder of his spiritual temple, and he has built it on the mountains of his unchangeable affection, his omnipotent grace, and his infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon's temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. There are the "Cedars of Lebanon," but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord's house in Paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn thence, and squared. All this is Christ's own work. Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ's own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright. As in the building of Solomon's temple, "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house," because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy--so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here--all that Christ will do beforehand; and when he has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord. "Beneath his eye and care, The edifice shall rise, Majestic, strong, and fair, Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook He with Us; We with HimThere is no doubt about it. The fear of the LORD leads to virtuous habits, and these prevent that waste of life which comes of sin and vice. The holy rest which springs out of faith in the LORD Jesus also greatly helps a man when he is ill. Every physician rejoices to have a patient whose mind is fully at ease. Worry kills, but confidence in God is like healing medicine. We have therefore all the arrangements for long life, and if it be really for our good, we shall see a good old age and come to our graves as shocks of corn in their season. Let us not be overcome with sudden expectation of death the moment we have a finger-ache, but let us rather expect that we may have to work on through a considerable length of days. And what if we should soon be called to the higher sphere? Certainly there would be nothing to deplore in such a summons but everything to rejoice in. Living or dying we are the LORD’s. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we shall be with Jesus. The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer God Is FaithfulTHIS is the believer’s sheet anchor; without this his comforts would droop, and hope would give up the ghost. We are at times shaken to pieces by unbelief, and filled with tormenting doubts. We feel nothing of the presence, power, or comforts of the Holy Ghost; faith, hope, and love seem to be quite extinguished. We have no power, and scarcely any inclination to pray; and we feel only hardness, fretfulness, and misery. We are tempted by Satan, and harassed with tormenting thoughts, so that we feel tired of this miserable life. But God is faithful; He never fails us; but appears again and again, restoring us to peace, joy, and satisfaction; and our most miserable times are often succeeded by peculiar joys. The Scriptures are opened up to our understandings, the promises are applied to our souls, and we are filled with the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Then our souls melt before God in contrition and holy penitence; we feel crumbled into dust before Him, and can only admire and adore the riches of free and sovereign grace. Beloved, in the darkest night, remember, "GOD IS FAITHFUL." He will not His great self deny; A God all truth can never lie: True to His word, God gave His Son To die for crimes which men had done: Blest pledge! He never will revoke A single promise He has spoke. Bible League: Living His Word Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.— Psalm 26:1 ESV Integrity. Job’s wife urged her husband to let go of his integrity to end his pain; but he would not, and the Lord boasts about the strength of Job’s integrity to Satan (Job 2:3). Satan was trying to break Job’s confidence in God by attacking his health and wealth, but he did not succumb. He said in reply to his accusing friends, “Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me” (Job 27:5). What is this “integrity”? The word is used nearly 30 times in the Bible (mostly in the Psalms and Proverbs), and it is always given a good connotation. It means to be consistent and uncompromising, to adhere to a strict moral and ethical code, to be honest and truthful and accurate in one’s actions. A person with integrity acts in accord with what she says she believes; she is not a hypocrite. In Scripture, this character quality is equated with wisdom and contrasted with crookedness: “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3). The concept of integrity is certainly under attack in our modern era. It used to be a laudable character quality, but now it is viewed almost as a handicap to success. How many times do we see politicians promise one thing and then do another? Or they condemn the action of an opponent while the same scandal can be found in their own house. How about climate activists who fly around in private jets that spew more toxins than the gas-powered cars they condemn? As followers of the God of truth, we also must walk in truth, upholding and demonstrating integrity. Scripture promises reward for those who keep their integrity – Proverbs 20:7, 28:18. And Paul commands Titus to show integrity as a part of being a good example to the new converts in Crete (Titus 2:7). It is easy to point out the lack of integrity in unbelievers, but we really need to turn the microscope on our own hearts. If we are to be salt and light for this world, we need to preserve integrity and show the unbelieving world how invaluable it is. So, can you boast about your integrity as David did in Psalm 26? David was not sinless, but he claims he never wavered from trusting the Lord. Do your actions say, “I trust the Lord without wavering”? Do you pay your taxes in full? Your tithe? Have you compromised your stance on God’s moral code because someone you love has chosen to live a sinful lifestyle? These little compromises chip away at our integrity. Let us examine ourselves and pray that we would not be conformed to this world, but that we would be transformed with renewed minds to be like Christ, steadfast in all things. By Grace Barnes, Bible League International volunteer, Michigan USA Daily Light on the Daily Path Colossians 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.Romans 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 2 Corinthians 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. John 17:21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. John 14:19 "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.' New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”Insight Some people in the crowd were looking for evidence to use against Jesus; others truly wanted to learn and grow. Jesus' words were for the honest seekers. Challenge We hear with our ears, but there is a deeper kind of listening with the mind and heart that is necessary in order to gain spiritual understanding from Jesus' words. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Two Great CommandmentsThis scribe admired the way Jesus had answered the questions that were put to Him by His enemies. Jesus always answered well. He never got confused in His replies, as often human teachers do. He never erred in His answers to men’s questions, for He knew all truth. We know only fragments of the great body of truth, and therefore frequently find ourselves entangled when we attempt to explain difficult matters or to answer questions that are put to us. But Jesus knew truth in all its relations, and those who sought to catch Him in His words could never lead Him into any inconsistency of statement. The practical lessons from this are important. One is that Christianity has nothing to fear from enemies who try to make its teachings appear self-contradictory. Amid all the assaults of skepticism, Christianity stands ever unharmed and secure. Their hammers are shattered and worn out but the anvil of truth is unbroken. The other lesson is that we may take to Christ all our own questions, our fears, our doubts, our ignorance, our perplexity, and He will always have for us a wise and satisfactory answer. It is the fashion in these days, in some quarters, to decry creeds. ”Little matter what we believe ,” says one, “if only we live right.” But if we do not believe right we will not be likely to live right. The duty of loving God is based upon the truth that there is only one God to be loved. If there were more gods than one, there would be little use in teaching us to love God with all our heart. “Which God?” we might ask. So the doctrine of one God is a most practical one. There is only one God, and this one God is our Lord. What a comfort it is for us to know that the God in whom we trust is the great God of the universe! He is our God. The little word “our” links Him to us and us to Him in closest relations. If He is our God we are under obligations to obey Him, to do His will. We belong to Him. Then, if He is our God, He belongs to us, and we have a claim on Him. “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance” (Psalm 16:5). Every child of a good father knows with what pride he points to his parent and says, “That is my father!” Still greater comfort to a believer is that he is able to point to God and say, “He is my God!” All He is, is ours His love, His grace, His goodness, His truth, His mercy. If God is our God we should love Him. He is the God to whom we owe everything, from whom we came, to whom we go with our needs, who cares for us, watches over us, provides for us, and keeps us. He is our Father with all a father’s love! We ought to love God for Himself, for what He is in His character merciful, gracious, holy, loving, good. We ought to love Him, too, for what He has done for us. Surely the commandment is reasonable . Notice that it is LOVE which God asks. Obedience is not enough. One might obey every divine command, and not have love for Him whom he obeys. Homage is not enough. We might pay homage to God, and yet have no affection for Him. God must have our love. Nor will a little love do. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart .” Our love for God must be greater than our love for father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, child, or friend. It must fill not our heart only but our soul, our mind, and our strength. That is, it must draw all the powers of our life with it. It must lead us to obedience, to service, to complete consecration. If we love God supremely, He must be the Master of our life. We must be ever ready for whatever duty or service He asks of us. Some people’s religion seems compulsory ; they do right because they must not because they want to do so. All their work has the character of unwilling service. God says, “I want you to love Me!” And if we truly love Him, we will fly at His bidding to duty or to sacrifice with eager alacrity. “But how can I learn to love God?” asks someone. “I want to love Him but I cannot compel myself to do it. I love my father, my mother, my sister; but I cannot see God, and He seems great and awesome when I think about Him. He does not appeal to my heart as my mother does. I feel awe toward Him but not affection . It is important to know how we can learn to love God. The incarnation was God coming down near to us, that we might love Him. The glory of Sinai did not make its appeal to men’s hearts. But when Jesus went among the people, touching them with His compassion, being their friend, comforting their sorrows it was not hard for them to love Him. We must get to know God if we would learn to love Him. We should read about Him in the Bible until we know His character, His feelings toward us, what He has done for us, especially in redeeming us. Another way to learn to love God is to begin to trust Him. “How shall I learn to love God?” asked one. “Trust Him,” was the answer. “I thought I must love Him before I could trust Him.” “No begin to trust Him and you will soon learn to love Him.” No other duty comes before this duty of love to God. “This is the first commandment.” Until we begin to love God, no other obedience is pleasing to Him. We may do a great many things we ought to do and yet if we do not love Him all of our doings amounts to nothing. A child may obey all a father’s bidding but if there is no love in his heart, what does the father care for the obedience? A man may be very good so far as his acts are concerned but if he does not love God, all his good acts count for nothing. When Jesus tested the young ruler’s love by asking him to give up all he had for His sake, the young man went away sad. He had kept all the commandments from his youth but he did not love God; at least he loved his possessions more, and gave God up while he clung to his property. Love to our fellow men is a very important duty but it avails nothing unless love to God is behind it and in it. Two comes after one. The second commandment can come only after the first. A good many people boast of their love for men, their humanitarianism. They take the Good Samaritan as their model. They are humane, charitable, and philanthropic. But this is the whole of their religion. They do no love God, nor worship Him, nor recognize Him in any way. They put the second commandment high up but they have no first. They do not know God, do not recognize Him, and do not love Him. The things they do are very beautiful, and if they first loved God and lived all their life inspired by love for Him, their charities and humanities would be pleasing to Him, and not the smallest of them would go unrewarded. But since they do not love God there can be nothing pleasing to Him, in their love for their neighbors. The second comes after the first. After we have begun to obey the first commandment, the second presents itself and must also be obeyed. He who loves God will also love his neighbor. The two loves are linked together, and are inseparable. John says distinctly that he who claims to love God while he hates his brother is a liar (1 John 4:20). The love of God that does not overflow in love for our brother is not true Christian love. Jesus was pleased with the scribe’s insight. He said to him, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” If he would only do the truth he knew he would enter into the kingdom; he was yet outside, although so near. There are a great many people who are almost but not quite, Christians. There are those who know the way of salvation but do not with their hearts accept Christ. There are those whose character is good and beautiful. They do many of Christ’s sayings. They try to keep the second commandment, and seek to be gentle, kind, loving in temper, disposition, and act. They lack only one thing but that one thing is vital. They are not far from the kingdom of God. Then there are those who are under conviction of sin and have a deep sense of spiritual need. They become honest inquirers, like the scribe, asking what they must do. They hear the answer of Christ and still stand hesitating, indecisive, on the point of submitting yet not yielding to Him. They are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet they are not in it. At the door, with the hand on the latch is still outside, and outside is lost! There are thousands now in eternal perdition who have been almost Christians, and yet have perished forever! Jesus then turned to the people and said some plain things to them about the scribes. “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely!” The scribes were the official interpreters of the Scriptures. It was their duty to make plain to the people, the Word and will of God. But Jesus said they were not trustworthy leaders. They professed to be guides to the people but they were not safe guides. They were fond of wearing the garb and having the honor of saintly men. They like to have people greet them as holy men ; they took the chief seats in the synagogue and at feasts; but in their private lives they were bad men. Instead of being the defenders of widows, they used on themselves, the widow’s money which was entrusted to them. Then, to balance their embezzlement; they would make longer prayers than ever in the streets. They were the most despicable hypocrites ! The beautiful story of one of these widows and her suffering, shows who were the really godly people in those days not the scribes and Pharisees, who put on the saintly airs which covered lives of shameful baseness, hardness, and evil but the poor, who were despised and robbed. This poor widow had higher honor before God than any of the rulers. Her gifts, though too small to be counted, weighed far more in God’s sight than all the great shining coins they cast into the treasury. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEsther 4, 5, 6 Esther 4 -- Mordecai Informs Esther of Haman's Plot NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Esther 5 -- Esther Prepares a Banquet; Haman's Rage NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Esther 6 -- The King Honors Mordecai, Haman Compelled to do so NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 5:17-42 Acts 5 -- Deaths of Ananias and Sapphira; Apostles Imprisoned, Released by an Angel; Gamaliel Speaks NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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