From Servant To Friend
By Gerald Sumeracki
"Here I go again!" My morning yawn and labored stretching brought the realization that my near sixty two year old frame had a few more aches and pains than perhaps it should have. "God, why won't you answer my prayer for improved health so I can serve you better?"
No answer as usual but in my heart I knew the reason for my condition, it was a lifetime of wrong decisions and selfish living. I quietly slipped out of bed and into my work clothes to begin my day. My wife continued her gentle snoring as I quietly closed the bedroom door. "First things first," I thought as I went to the garage to get a bottle of muriatic acid that was needed for stabilizing the pool water, "that last water reading I took yesterday indicated I needed over a quart!"
After taking care of my pool's needs I went into the family room to begin my Bible reading. Like every other day, this day's reading was preceded with a prayer. "Lord, you know I want to be a better servant. You know what sins I have committed and what needs press me on every side. You know the heart I have for loved ones and friends who are hurting. Please, in this reading, give me guidance...Amen."
I turned the One Year Bible I was reading to the appropriate date, it was April the sixth. My heart was open to what the Lord had for me. Suddenly my eyes began to tear as I read. The Lord impressed upon me that a truth would come to me in this reading, a truth to bring me much closer to God. He also impressed upon me that He'd appreciate being my "First," instead of my pool!
The readings began with the entire 29th chapter of Deuteronomy as well as the 30th chapter, verses 1 through 20. Through those words of scripture came the beginning of what would be a lesson for life. The scripture detailed the admonitions Moses spoke to the Hebrews. In His words to them lay God's message for me.
As the recounting of God's provisions for the Hebrews unfolded, I was impressed with what God had done for his chosen. It was not just the deliverance out of the bondage of Egypt that God accomplished through Moses, it was the sustaining hand of God that blew my socks off!
Subsequent to their desert experiences, God told the people through Moses, "During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God." In a nutshell those words brought me the realization that God's provisions are complete, totally available and all inclusive to all who follow his dictates. He truly provided for all those he brought out of bondage and will do the same today for those who would follow his way out of bondage.
I had personally fallen into a common trap that many Christians fall into. A mind set if you will, a feeling that once becoming a Christian I had total freedom, even the freedom to follow selfish pursuits. In reading further into scriptures for April the sixth, I was lead to re-evaluate that "mind set." I read the following: "When a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, �I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.'"
I discovered I was engaged in wrong thinking! In continuing my reading I saw that destruction came to those who fell away from the Law and God's fellowship. While the Hebrews followed God's laws and ordinances, while they were obedient and trusting before their Lord, they were fed, sweet waters were provided, their enemies were vanquished, their clothes and sandals did not wear out and they had joy in the presence of God their Provider. While they were obedient, God gave them all they needed and blessed them with safety. God's people seemed to have a problem with obedience however and new "human" rules took control that brought them destruction. Those rules persists to this day, "What's in it for me," and "Rules were made to be broken!"
We have that same structured legal system today as far as rules are concerned. As long as we don't speed, we won't get a speeding ticket. As long as we don't kill we won't be placed in prison or be sentenced to death. As long as we follow man's rules of law, rules that have their genesis in God's revealed commandments, we stay out of trouble. Seems simple when you think about it but in my warped sense of thinking I assumed that God's rules passed away with the advent of the New Covenant...another erroneous deduction.
I knew I'd been saved through the redemption provided by Jesus and I knew the Law was no longer my master but in reflecting I realized that Jesus himself had said, "I have not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it." I knew salvation but I began to realize why I did not know abundance, health and joy. Although I had the keys to heaven's door through Jesus, I had not entered into God's fellowship of abundance that only came through willful submission to his will, an ancient lesson rebelled against from the very beginning.
God told the Hebrews that when they went their own ways there would be consequences that were distasteful. They were warned not to seek the comfort of other gods, to take on the customs of their neighbors, to be of the world. They often disobeyed however, as scripture reveals, and the price they paid was always tragic.
Near the end of the reading in Deuteronomy's selection, God tells his people, "For the Lord is your life..." Without God the Hebrews had no true life and without the Lord today the same malady befalls mankind. I began to understand the full impact of the truths the Lord was bringing me.
Jesus, The Incarnation of God, brought man the salvation promised from the very beginning of time. The directions handed down through the ages were provided by God to show man just how pure He expected us to be in order to maintain our fellowship with Him. Jesus brought completion to that Law and distilled all of God's requirements into two directives. He simply asked us to love God will all our might and our neighbors as ourselves. One big difference exists between the Law's requirement and the requirements brought through Jesus. Through the acceptance of Jesus, the righteousness of God is imputed to the believer, whereas under the Law of Moses the righteous works of human effort never achieve such perfection.
"How much simpler could the Almighty make it for mankind," I mused? God established the Law through Moses, proved he was who he claimed to be by works and wonders and proved to the world that there was a God in heaven who provided for his own. He also spoke through his prophets, sent to point to the one that would bring victory to those who would accept His Lordship. Through the Law and in fulfillment of its prophetic provisions, Jesus made his appearance to work out that salvation, God's promise given so many years before.
Through Christ we become the beloved of the Father. He looks upon us, though sinners, and see perfection provided by the blood stained Image that reconciled all who would accept eternal life through the Way. What a blessing it is for a soul to know they are a beloved of God!
The Lord gave me a vision during this reading. In that vision I saw a large ancient hourglass, the top portion filled with all of the Laws and Prophetic words of God taking the form of tiny diamonds that glittered and danced in glorious light. At the narrowing of the hourglass, where the glittering diamonds had to pass, I saw Jesus in a garment of white on which was written the phrase "The Way." As the diamonds passed through the narrow funnel formed with his nail scared hands, they fell into the bottom portion of the hour glass as flower petals bearing words such as "Love," Peace," "Brotherhood," "Faithfulness," "Gladness," "Hope," and "Joy."
I remembered the analogy Christ had given for his earthly purpose where he called himself the "Way," as displayed on the garment he wore. He was to be and is the narrow but sure provision of God to all who would seek salvation and true freedom in God's Glory. Yes Jesus, the one to split history, would prove to be the focal point for all who would seek to find the blossomed flowers of God's grace as they sought His favor.
One small verse helped me understand the reluctance of so many to accept God's redemptive gift. "But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear." The gift of Salvation cannot dwell within a heart seeking the world, the two are mutually exclusive! Human knowledge can and does abound, visual wonders and multimedia distractions please the masses but spiritual reality will not be known, seen or heard by those of the world who relish in its pleasures, it will be foolishness to them.
It became clear what truth God was giving me. One who embraces God must cease to embrace the world. One who seeks to please God must cease seeking self pleasure. As the last great prophet of the Old Covenant indicated, God must increase in us as the self decreases. When one comes into total submission, true freedom blossoms as the perfect will of God brings divine life to the believer. One truly becomes a son of God, a brother and friend of Jesus. In that state, the Law lives in the heart and the believer becomes one with God.
It made perfect sense when I applied it to purely human circumstances. I have fathered four children whom I love, I nurtured and prayed for them since their birth. I have seen them in their totally dependant stage where they could not survive without a parent's care, seen them struggle to walk, reach, learn and achieve. I was there, in the forefront or in the background but ever there to love them and experience pride in all their worthy achievements.
A caring father loves his children. What happens to that bond when the child ignores the father, turns from the father's counsel and guidance? What are the consequences of rebellion in a human family when the self interests of the offspring depart from the structure provided in the father's house? Many stories can be told about such situations for all have experienced these pains in life.
Fathers continue to love their children even though their offspring forget their upbringing, forget their roots, rebel against goodness and right living and discard their father's love as would one discarding an old pair of gloves.
We all have a Heavenly Father, we all are God's children. He loves us and like a human father he waits for our acknowledgment of his rightful place in our lives and our return out of rebellion. He knows the pitfalls his children will fall into without his guidance, he knows the hurts and pains they will come up against, he knows the price they will pay in their self seeking. Like a human father, God will be there waiting for the child's realization of error. He awaits our return to His unfailing love. He knows what is best for all of us, his will for us is perfect and in that perfection we would find pure joy if we ever gave Him a chance to prove it to us.
As rebellious children we think we know better than God what will bring us joy. We exercise our free wills outside of God's will and often experience destruction. What a price to pay, how foolish our selfish ways. We have a home full of love, full of joy and peace, full of all goodness, safety and light and we choose to experience pain in the darkness of self. Will we never learn that only through living a Godly life will total fulfillment be achieved?
"So" you may ask, "what did this old man glean through his scripture readings on the sixth day of April?" I learned that my God provides all of us with a way back to him that is certain and simple. I learned that the Law is the heart of God and in striving to live it, we experience a joy beyond words. Jesus brought more than salvation and blessed assurance of heaven, he brought a relationship, a bonding to the Godhead. I learned that acceptance and trust in his redemptive work offers contentment and peace. In living with His love as my source instead of "Me-ism," I learned I could shatter the chains of self interest that had been keeping me in bondage. I learned that when the Law comes to reside in the heart, when obedience and total trust in God becomes a joy and not a fear, union with God becomes a reality.
The Lord had impressed upon me that truth would come to me in this reading. What I learned had indeed brought me closer to the Father. I knew the truth of it as my spirit bathed before the Glory of God and perceived His gentle words, "Well done dear friend."