“²⁸And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” – Matthew 7:28-29 (ESV)

What does it look and feel like when someone speaks from authority? They know. They have a deep understanding. There is a confidence. They won’t lean on someone else’s words.

The scribes of the day were those that relayed information from one place to another. They had some knowledge of what they were speaking, only that knowledge was limited to what they were told or knew from someone else.

Even today, pastors speak from what they have learned from others. They study to know and can quote those others with confidence. But do they really speak from authority? I will say when we, as a family have been in a position to find a new church, it takes a while. We start with those places that are popular and where everyone goes to listen to the charismatic, to the crowd draw. We end up at the church where the pastor is humbled by God’s authority and gives glory to Him. We seek to get our learning from God and not the man in the pulpit.

Jesus knew. He did not quote others, unless He was demonstrating the accuracy of the prophetic words. He did not lean on the teaching of others, He spoke the truth and from the first person, because he was there.

Jesus spoke as one who had authority, because he was the authority. He was a part of the original prophetic statements he quoted to demonstrate their accuracy. He did not lean on the teachings of others, He was the one they taught about.

When we seek to know, where is it that we go for that knowledge? Are we going to those with second, third, or down the line information? Are we going to the authority, Jesus?

We hold ourselves in pretty high regard, and we should. We should have respect for ourselves and look to be better each and every day.

“¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.” – Job 40:10 (ESV)

When I first read this verse this morning, my chest started to puff out a bit. I thought wow, God really does want me to be a bit greater in the world and take treat myself to some great things. Then I read the rest of the passage and the commentary to go with it.

“¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.” – Job 40:11 (ESV)

The very next verse goes against all that we have been taught.

“Abase: humiliate; humble” – The New Webster’s Dictionary

When has God ever told us to humiliate or humble anyone other than ourselves? Only in this place as He is proving a point and challenging Job to be better.

When you look at verse 9 it all seemed to come together for me.

“⁹Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” – Job 40:9 (ESV)

We have to be careful as we read God’s Word. Individual passages and verses may only give part of the story when read on their own and may make sense in the moment, but as you can see, when you study those verses, and gain more context, and include the verses before and after, you are able to more clearly understand and apply the Word of God.

Majesty is for God, not for me. Greatness is for God, not for me. I rely on Him for all of me.

When you are reading God’s Word, are you applying all of it, or just the parts that “speak” to you? Are you applying God’s Word for His greatness or your own? Is majesty for God or are you looking to get yours?

Imagine this picture. Standing on the back porch of the country home. Looking out over the meadow of green grass. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a bright light appears over the horizon beaming warmth and brightening the beginning of the day. You shield your eyes for the light is getting brighter and brighter as the minutes unfold.

The picture I have in my mind’s eye is of the sun kick starting the day.

“²²Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.” – Job 37:22 (ESV)

How much majesty have I missed as my focus has been off just a bit? Each day, God comes to me at the morning and reveals himself, “clothed with awesome majesty”. Have I been missing it as I shield my eyes?

The sun coming up at the beginning of the day might be a great reminder of the glory and majesty that emanate from God. He is so bright that the earth we inhabit is lighted completely by his presence. Shouldn’t we open our eyes to see His glory and majesty?

When you look at your day, are you able to see the glory and majesty of God? Are you shielding your eyes from His glory and majesty? Are you aware of the “awesome majesty” of God and embrace it?

“²⁵For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. ²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. ²⁷Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.” – 1 Chronicles 16:25-27 (ESV)

It is hard for me to praise others for the work they have done or the actions they take for one reason specifically; “Where is the praise for the work I do or actions I take?” I find myself going through the day continuing to do what is asked of me and impacting others in a positive way, only to realize that there was little to know recognition of the work performed.

I know it sounds selfish to want recognition and I suppose that maybe I am. I will clarify a bit though. I do not look for awards, rewards, or trophies. The recognition I seek is to be shown that I matter and am appreciated.

God provides the recognition I seek, and oddly enough it is through our praise of Him and others. Our focus should be on God and doing His work. And, when we are in line with that, our joy comes. Notice as I combine verses 25 and 27 from above: “For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised…strength and joy are in his place.” See that? When we are spending our time praising God and doing His work we find strength and joy.

Now, how do I get strength and joy in my everyday life? Well, by praising God. And, by praising others. When I am in a state of praise, how can bitterness creep in? If I am focused on doing the work of God and praising Him, how can selfishness and concern for the recognition I receive get under my skin? I have to remember that “Praise benefits us because it takes our minds off our problems and needs and focuses on God’s power, mercy, majesty, and love. (NIV Commentary v25)”

When you look at the day, where is your focus? Are you looking to praise others and God, or looking for praise from others and God? Are you allowing your praise of God to benefit you?

“²⁶There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.” – Deuteronomy 33:26 (ESV)

Here is a visual that I have not necessarily had of my God.

I will say that I do have a pretty big picture of God sitting on His throne in heaven watching and waiting and working with us as we do His will. He is intense and focused. And when we need Him he is right there for us.

But this picture provides a different view. One of heroic connotations. You see, in my house we like our super hero movies. There is those being oppressed by evil and the super hero swoops in to defeat the evil one and save the day. As I read this morning, this is the visual I got of my God and his care for me. Couple the verse above with this verse:

“¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.” – Psalm 18:10 (ESV)

What as visual of God riding through the sky coming to my aid. This adds to the visual of him being there in our time of need. He doesn’t just appear, he rides in in grand majesty and saves the day.

When you look at our God, how are you seeing him? Are you aware of his focus on you? Are you aware of his majestic heroism in the way he cares for you?

“⁷In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.” – Exodus 12:7 (ESV)

Moses is recalling through song the deliverance from the Egyptians. Where there are also declarations of power and strength in the passage, here there is notation of God’s majesty.

Thinking about it, God’s Great Majesty is what delivered the Israelites. He simply provided the escape route through the parted sea. The Israelites trusted and followed His plan. His majesty was on display again when the wall tumbled down at the blowing of trumpets and marching. And again as Jesus healed and cast out demons.

When I look back at my God and carefully inspect, His Great Majesty was displayed when it was needed in more “private” spontaneous settings than in the public open forum as a declaration of greatness.

I have to take a closer look at my life and take note of the “private” spontaneous displays of majesty God has used in my life. I should be grateful for those as opposed to looking for and waiting on the public open forum declarations that are not really in the style of God.

When you really look, are you frustrated that God has not been overtly public in your life? Have you thought of God’s Great Majesty in more private terms? Are you aware of God’s Great Majesty in your life?

We all have gifts that make us great. We are all different and that is great.

“⁶Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” – Romans 12:6-8 (ESV)

I will never forget a conversation/exchange I had with my then 8-9 year old son Bryson. I was commenting that his 3 closest friends all had names that began with the “K” sound and he was the one that was different with the “B” sounding name. His comment to me was “It’s ok to be different, that is what you teach us”. He could not be truer in his statement.

I am encouraged when I read verses like this that exclaim our differences and more importantly how we use them to raise up. We each have gifts that make us great and God will use those gifts to carry out his plan.

Have you looked at how you are different? What gifts are you able to identify? How are you able to use those gifts to glorify God?

The Tree of Life: Are You Ready?

“¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” – Revelation 22:1-2 (ESV)

There is the living water again as Jesus spoke of to the Samaritan woman at the well. And also the forbidden tree of life from the Garden of Eden. Each of these are shown to be available in abundance in The New Jerusalem.

When we drink from the living water, we are accepting of the salvation provided by God. When we fully accept the salvation, we will be able to eat from the tree of life that was forbidden and taken away due to our sin.

Our Father in heaven has once again demonstrated His full love for us. He took away that which we were not ready for, the tree of life, and provided the path to for us to once again have access when we were ready, accepting of salvation.

Now in The New Jerusalem we have the living water everywhere just as the tree of life is everywhere as well. Our reward will be all around us. God is good and worthy to be praised.

Are you searching for eternal life? Would you like to enter The New Jerusalem? Are you ready for the tree of life?

“²⁷But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” – Revelation 21:27 (ESV)

What a statement here in Revelation that “nothing unclean will ever enter”. The New Jerusalem will be always and forever pure and undefiled.

As good intentioned as we are here in the world and in the areas of “utopia”, evil and the unclean will always show up. We may paint a rosy facade, and give the appearance that everything is great, but there will always be infighting and power struggles and greed and depravity and hiding. We are human and will always want more than we have, causing us to follow the temptations of Satan.

The New Jerusalem is different. With all of the gold and gems that are of and in the city, and all of the goodness there, only “glory and the honor of the nations”^a will be within the gates.

And how do we get there to experience this great New Jerusalem, by being written in the Lamb’s book of life. No, we cannot buy our way in, we cannot bribe someone, we cannot just move to the area. We have to have accepted the gift of salvation within our heart of hearts.

Did/do you believe you live a life of utopia? Have you seen the influx of evil and unclean into your life that you believed to be pure? Have you been written in the Lambs book of life so that you can enter The New Jerusalem?

^aRevelation 21:26 (ESV)

“⁷Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” – Revelation 13:7-8 (ESV)

We are all set………to be persecuted. We will be beat down. We will be “conquered”. Satan was given authority to do his bidding.

But……….we were provided the way out. We were given the way to escape: enrollment in the Lambs Book of Life. Written in the Lambs Book of Life gives us protection against worshiping the conqueror and being cast into the lake of fire (ESV Commentary).

When we have eternal life, we may be conquered physically, but spiritually we are safe. We are able to worship and keep our eyes and heart on God regardless of the persecution we are experiencing.

Are you feeling persecuted? Do you feel as though you are being conquered? What is it that gives you the strength to get through it, Eternal Life provided by God?