Thoughts from a Shepherd-Heart

One of my friends wrote these thoughts several years ago. It seems to me to be a beautiful portrait of a shepherd's heart, and I found that it well expressed my heart for the people God has given me to care for.

"Every now and then, when I reach out to one of my people, I get a surprised response, as though that one believed he or she had been forgotten. 

Such would not be possible, for my heart lives among my people. In the empty spaces of my life, my mind flies to one...or another...or another. And the full spaces of my life are ever filled by them. 

I revel in their triumphs. 

I ache for their setbacks. 

I strategize for their benefit. 

In the early morning, in the dead of night, and continuously in between, my energies, my resources, my talents, my thoughts, my plans, my dreams, and all my love is toward them."  - K. C. Giroux

Saying "Yes" to God

The following quotation is directed specifically to missionary work, but I would argue that the reality expressed actually applies to the Christian life/following God as a whole. Plainly stated, Christians are those who say "yes" to God.

"I believe the one thing that keeps young people from the mission field today is this reality of sacrifice. It seems harder and harder for young men and women to commit to being missionaries now unless they grow up in a family or a church where they are taught the importance of missions from an early age. Perhaps there needs to be more emphasis on the concept of sacrifice, not to scare people away, but to instill in our youth the importance of doing without the comforts of America in order to minister to those in need of Christ. A successful missionary need not live in the most uncomfortable of situations. What is most important is that the missionary makes the decision, before ever reaching the field, that he or she will never say no to God, no matter what He asks."
 - One Candle to Burn, Kay Washer, pg. 151

Everyday Beauties

Snapshot: The sun climbs steadily; its rays filter through the trees to reach the grassy field. The fingers of light touch unassuming dewdrops, who glow with a shy, pleased radiance. Oversized blackbirds strut through the scene drinking dew and daring bugs and worms to surface, while smaller songbird-spectators chirp encouragement from the sidelines. It's  a new morning in New Washington Heights. 

Drink Deeply

The most jubilant exultations in and exaltations of the mercies of God flow from extended contemplation of His majestic, inexorable holiness. I am convinced that is it impossible to rightly value God's grace, forgiveness, love, generosity, etc. without first seeing and fearing His wrath, jealousy, zeal, truth, judgment, etc.

Who delights in mercy when there was nothing to fear? Does gratitude spring from a smug heart? Can forgiveness and acceptance seem so sweet to one unaware of and complacent in his own idolatry and adultery toward the Most High God? No, it is the gaze of the soul on the holiness and burning right-ness of God that causes the heart to melt in wonder that we are not consumed. This is why we embrace with reverence and awe the Consuming Fire who is also compassionate Savior, faithful Spirit, and Father of mercies.

The soul with little exposure the blazing fire of holiness will only casually sip the waters of compassion, but the soul that knows the scorching, burning heat of righteousness will drink deep draughts of grace. The justice, wrath, and purity of God lead the Spirit-illumined soul to bathe in the mercies of God.

(originally posted 7/9/2012)

What do you treasure?

"Whatever we treasure in our hearts sets the cadence in our lives." - Drew Conley

A Prayer for Faith

Holy One, the Holy One from everlasting, our sovereign Lord, our living God, our God who is alive—real—existing, our God who rewards those who seek Him, our Father who has loved us and chosen us and called us: we are among those who want to draw near to You. We want to please You by exercising true faith in believing that You are who You say You are and that You do what You say You do.

We are among those who desire to please You only because You loved us more than we hated You. You wanted us more than we wished to get away from You. You overpowered us and brought us to Yourself. Thank You! Thank You! You brought us to Yourself. And along with us, You have brought an innumerable host of others who are also “bought with the precious blood of Christ.” You have called out a people—a people for Your own possession. We are Your people—Your church. You decided to get Yourself glory by creation and redemption. Thank You. Thank You for redeeming us. We praise You for such infinite generosity on Your part. You are the infinite God. We have no category for You. You break all of our boxes and all our preconceptions and all our expectations. We cannot fathom You. You exceed everything we could ask or think. In the extremity of our limitations (we are limited in every single capacity—without exception!), it is easy and natural for us to be frustrated with Your freedom and with our inability to comprehend You or predict Your doings. We don’t like being outclassed, and we do not really understand worship. And so we resent You, or we try to recast You into a form that we can process—something that fits in a box and resembles our native concepts of reality. But this never works for You. You shatter every human notion. You snap the chains with which we arrogantly and foolishly seek to bind You. You crush the boxes we designed for You. You will not give Your glory to another! You will not be worshipped like a mere idol is worshipped. You will be exalted and enthroned. You will take Your place as the Sovereign of the universe. You will exercise all Your freedom and capacity. You will do whatever You please. You will manifest every diversity that You choose. No one will stay Your hand. No one can rebuke You for what You do. No one can take You on and win. You have the absolute right to act according to Your own counsel and to pursue Your own glory and good pleasure. Good God, breath-taking, brilliant God, we praise You!

We praise You, and we come to You. We—our body, Hampton Park—needs You. We need You to work in us and grow and us and change us and let us know You. Break our boxes today. Shatter the limits of our finite demands and expectations of You. Forgive us for making an idol—crafting an image of You in our own imagination and calling it “God.” You are not “a tame lion.” You will not be domesticated. You are not safe. But You are good. You are wise. You are trustworthy. Forgive us for thinking that we can figure things out and live, in our own strength and understanding, lives that please You. Do violence to our paltry, shriveled paradigms of thinking and feeling and living. Enlarge our capacity for You and really, for life—for living: both now and Later. O to know You and Live! Open our eyes to see You as You really are. If only You would excavate our hearts! Teach us to know the love of Christ so that we are capacitated for being filled with all the fullness of God. The life of God in the soul of man—of necessity this is a painful, breaking thing. By definition, it is impossible. But the things that are impossible with men are possible with You. You can fashion the human heart into a temple that is fit for even You to live in. You can make the redeemed soul a home for Yourself, and You can live there with joy and power and peace. You can make many hearts come together and grow together and love together. O do this! Do this for our body! Come! Live in us—individually and corporately—even though the housing of the fullness of God tear our souls apart with the fierceness of the love and joy and the radical nature of the change. Scarring joy. Sweet pain. Genuine truth wedded to genuine love. You can make our church reflect this. You can grow us in truth and love and unity and joy. You can bring about true fellowship—with You and with each other. You can do this, so please do. Grow us.

Teach us to live by faith. If we are living by faith, then we will let You be who You are. We will not arrogantly seek to solve all the questions and provide all the answers and dictate to You what Your course of action must be. We will let You reign. We on earth will reflect Heaven as we reverence Your Name, as we pursue Your Kingdom, and as we do Your will. Accomplish this in us. Teach us to live by faith—O that Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith. It is because Christ is living in us and changing us that we are making these requests. It is on the basis of His standing before You, Father, and our standing in Him alone that we are here confidently and willingly spreading out all of our weakness and sin and inability and desire before You and asking for Your grace and power and truth and love to come and accomplish Your work in our body. We know that You give grace to throne-of-grace-comers. So we come. We love You, and we trust You. We believe that everything really is from You and through You and to You. Please be glorified in us now in increasing measure and then perfectly forever. Amen.

(originally posted 10/11/2011)

A New Beginning

This blog began under a different name (That I May Know Him) back when I was in college. (So, if you didn't know me back then AND you want a glimpse into my past life, then feel free to venture bravely into the archives.) 😂  Although I hope that a good many things have grown and changed about me since the beginning of this blog, my heart behind writing and sharing what I write is much the same: I want to know God and make Him known to others. I've now renamed the blog A Surpassing Treasure and look forward to Treasure hunting and Treasure finding with you.

It's my intent to start sharing thoughts here on a semi-regular basis. I might also migrate posts from my other blog (Constant Fellowship) to this site before I close the other one down. I'd love for you to be a regular reader, and, even better, for you to share your thoughts and glimpses of Christ as well.

A Morning's Meditations on Titus 3:3-8

Dear Father, it is fitting for You to be praised. Every one of Your perfections is cause to sing anew of Your unparalleled splendor and greatness. Even when I was foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by my desires, You showed kindness and generosity in inconceivable measure to me and to all my race. You manifested a depth of mercy that cannot be plumbed. Immeasurable grace. You saved us! There was nothing—absolutely nothing—that we could do for ourselves. Some of us had tried to be good enough, but our “goodness”—our self-made “righteousness”—was of the wrong sort altogether, and at the judgment seat our righteousnesses would have been exposed, condemned, and discarded as though vile, polluted rags. Some of us had lived blatantly to ourselves and not even sought a form of righteousness. Some of us were mindful of our misery; some of us embraced rebellion; some of us were indifferent. None of us were able to help ourselves or anyone else. None of us were good. None of us sought You. All of us were hopeless. Hopeless. Hopeless. Blind. Miserable. Destruction bound. All of us were hopeless. Until…You manifested Your goodness. Until You revealed Your kindness and generosity. Until You showed how much You love people. Until You saved. You saved us by Your own mercy. You saved us through the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate us and cleanse us. You saved us. You gave us Your Spirit freely and richly—just like You gave us Your Son freely and richly. You saved us. You justified us by Your grace. You made us heirs. You gave us hope. You gave us the kind of hope that we could never have unless You gave it to us: eternal hope. Because of the truth of all this—as You open our eyes and our heart to know these things and to believe them—we are learning to carefully, diligently devote ourselves to what is good and right in Your eyes. We who believe You now want to please You, because You, being Who You are, saved us, even though we are who we are—or were—until You saved us.