Love's creature

 

They went after false idols and became false. (2 Kings 17:15b)

Morning comes and with it a question. Who am I? What is my ultimate concern, the deepest, highest commitment of my life?

We answer that question with our lives, one day at a time. Each new day is an opportunity to become who we are—or to betray our very selves and the God whose Spirit lives in the deep, inner room of our hearts.

Passions for success, personal acceptance and conformity to whatever is trending in society, all these are subtle seductions—noise drowning out the inner voice of God’s love and justice calling us to faithful living.

If you just go with the flow, you soon become false, losing your soul to trivial pursuits and fleeting fashions that are unworthy of you. But the Spirit of God within your Spirit never ceases to call you home to yourself, for you are so much more.

You are Love’s creature, an image of the God who is Love, intended for heart-to-heart intimacy with the Love who fashioned the stars … and you.

Pr. David L. Miller

For sure

... they are beloved ... for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:28b-29)

“What do ya’ know for sure?” I still hear the uplift in my father’s voice as he greeted farmers entering Apple River Feed and Seed, our family business.

The most common reply was, “Not much, Lavern; how about you?” With that and a chuckle, business commenced. And why not? Everyone who heard Dad’s voice knew that dusty office was a safe, welcoming space. Not so with much of life.

Threats are real, the future impenetrable, and we cannot fathom the mysteries of what God is working in our world … or in us … at any given moment.

But this you can know ... for sure. God is faithful. Always. God’s loving promises are irrevocable, unbreakable and absolutely certain. Count on it.

With an everlasting love, God claims and calls you beloved. Grace and forgiveness are yours. You are held in a mercy that refuses to turn away. Nothing you do, no trouble that comes will invalidate God’s promise to love, forgive and seek you.

This is the one true thing.

Pr. David L. Miller

The One who hears

Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. (Psalm 54:2)

The Holy One hears even when words fail us as so often they do. We sit to speak to God, hoping to express the depth of what is in us. But strands of hope and longing, anxiety and confusion tangle into an inseparable knot impossible to unwind.

We fall silent, restless and without hope of naming what we need, lacking words that speak the ache of our longing.

But do not fear or fall into despair. You are loved beyond all human measure by the One whose compassionate nearness is greater than your heart, more abundant than your need and who smiles at your confusion.

Offer the quagmire of your heart with a single word, “Help.’ Then rest and breathe in the Love who is always with you and always for you.

God’s unfailing love, this alone, unties the kinks in our hearts, breathing peace in our souls. It is then that we find the words we most want and need to speak, “Thank you, dearest God, for hearing my heart and sharing your own."  

Pr. David L. Miller