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Recognizing Jesus

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Isaiah 1:3 The ox [instinctively] knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib, but Israel does not know or recognize Me [as Lord], My people do not consider or understand.

There’s a true story about a well known Dallas, Texas pastor, W.A. Criswell who pastored the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Because of its proximity to the downtown area Sunday morning winters often brought the challenge of a large homeless population who often sought warmth amongst the affluent worshippers. Ushers were tasked with the unwanted job of thrusting them back out onto the cold, and dirty Dallas sidewalks. But one particularly eventful Sunday morning one of the homeless made their way through the foyer, slipping pass the ushers, making his way to W.A.’s famous pulpit. Catching up to their prey the embarrassed ushers began yanking and pulling his arms which were firmly inserted into the overcoat that wreaked of garbage, urine, and alcohol. Not to be outdone by their substitute preacher they resolved to extricate him from his hallowed perch. To their shock and surprise, this homeless man wriggled out of his overcoat, (leaving it as prize to the ushers), tossed off his hat, revealing to an equally shocked congregation none other than Pastor W.A. Criswell. Needless to say they heard a message that morning that outlived even Pastor Criswell. That Sunday morning W.A. Criswell, lived the message of His Lord echoing Israel of old, who missed the day of their visitation. It’s hard to believe, even astounding, that many of FBC’s attendants failed to recognize their Lord in and through their pastor’s sermon illustration in the flesh. How often have we missed recognizing Jesus for Who He really is?

Recently I was soaking in the Spirit at Jesus’ feet. (Incidentally, He is our Door waiting for us to open the door to His Presence; open the door to spiritual vision, hearing, and feeling). Soaking, involves waiting, and waiting takes time. Time is something we falsely believe belongs to us. Just as sand spills through the hourglass, as surely as it falls from the hands of those who tightly cling to it. As I was soaking the Lord revealed something very profound. He exists outside of time. He is not limited or constrained by its dimensions. This is why He IS! Not I was or will be – He simply is – outside of time. The Great I AM! Science tells us that time is a construct relative to our position in the universe. Since this is true, verified through the Word of God (Let there be..), then we must reach the conclusion that time was created by God for man. Time is His gift to us. If we believe time is a gift then we must also believe it’s not really our time. It’s His time, His gift. This has powerful ramifications for those who know and recognize Jesus as Lord. You see when we “open” the DOOR of Jesus we open the DOOR to Timelessness, and Eternity. When we open the DOOR, we are invited to come before His Feet, to enter into Timelessness. Since that is true it must be equally true that you and I aren’t seen from our past or even our future. You are seen as eternal as He is. In essence you become one with the Eternal One, and everything revolves around, and becomes centered in Him. Paul rightly said in Ephesians 2:6 that we are seated with Him in Heavenly Realms. In other words we are seated in the Eternal Realm and your past, with its sins, failures, mistakes and regrets no longer matter. But this reality is only made available to those who know and recognize Him as Lord. Those who recognize Him as Lord live out the exhortation of Hebrews 4:16 Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. If I were not known to be a pastor surely there would be someone to admonish me for “wasting” my time soaking before the Lord. But if you know Jesus as Lord you know you are a sinner in need of Grace. Grace being the empowerment – the umph, the push, and desire – to become like Jesus in every way. Where do I find this Grace I am desperately in need of? At the feet of Jesus before His Throne. What physical posture would anyone take with a conscious awareness of being before His feet – before His throne? Quite simply you would figure out a way to go as low as you could humanly achieve, and you would not only take the time, you would make time to be where He sees you.

The Starfish

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Proverbs 21:20 There are precious treasures and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a self-confident and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it.

Critics of Jesus’ ministry could have said that He was wasting His time on the likes of one woman caught in adultery, or the Samaritan woman, Blind Bartimaeus, Zachaeus, or the Gadarene Demoniac. In fact, any thoughtful observer of Jesus’ twelve disciples may have been tempted to advise Jesus to invest His time elsewhere. For that matter, any casual reader of the gospels will note that it does appear He wasted His time, and ultimately His life. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied knowing Him, and all but one ran away from Him in His hour of greatest need. These 12 were mentally and spiritually dull falling asleep on Him while He was sweating drops of blood in prayer. Truth be known, critics of you and I could say the same. Just like the aforementioned, not including the countless masses of humanity throughout the ages, we have all begrudgingly yielded our precious time – to God. Some have stated, I’ve got to go to church, pray, read the Bible, spend time listening to this person, etc. The list goes on and on. Yet, we have no problem with being entertained with things that waste our time. Ultimately we are betrayed by the wealth we have surrounded ourselves by neglecting the true heavenly treasures – the people around us.

Thank Jesus, truly, and reverently with a gratitude that comes from the depths of your soul knowing that Jesus never saw you or me as a waste of time. Although many so-called followers of Jesus are very proud of the lack of investments they’ve made in others those whom He has met in the dust of their own disgust know better. The wealthy are often blindly, and ignorantly proud of their spiritual nakedness and poverty. But the truly poor in Spirit are hungry for more of Him, and hungry to see more of Him in others. Ephesians 5:15-17 states: Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people),16 Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.17 Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf’s edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide. The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to die.  As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the ocean.As he came up to the person he said, “You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, “It sure made a difference to that one!”