students of jesus

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

These words come from Isaiah 53:2-3). He’s telling us about Jesus. When Isaiah sings the Suffering Servant songs he paints a picture of someone who has experienced the worst in life: rejection, disappointment, even abuse. This, too, is part of the Bible’s revelation about Jesus.

Jesus’ suffering on the cross is well known, but Isaiah is also pointing to the anguish of heart, the Lord’s heart, the feelings he experienced among his own people. Like John said in the opening of his gospel, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” This, too, is suffering. Soul suffering.

And here is a mystery, one perfect during these 30 Thankful Days: we might have many pictures of Jesus—the majestic Jesus, the suffering Jesus—but rarely would we describe him as “sad.” How is it that the Man of Sorrows, the one acquainted with grief, is the same one who invites us to enter his Master’s joy?

Ask Yourself: Where are my springs of joy and gratitude?

Live Into It: Even through difficult times, we do not see Jesus give in to sadness. Yet we live in a world that avoids sadness the way previous generations avoided disease. If I think happiness is my highest good, I’m in for disappointment. If the love of God is my highest good, I’m in for inexpressible joy.

We should give thanks. It's God's will, and it's really, really good for us:

“The careless soul receives the Father's gifts as if it were a way things had of dropping into his hand yet is he ever complaining, as if someone were accountable for the checks which meet him at every turn. For the good that comes to him, he gives no thanks—who is there to thank? At the disappointments that befall him he grumbles—there must be someone to blame!” ~ George MacDonoald

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” ~ Paul, the Apostle: I Thessalonians 5: 16–18

"Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.”
~ David, King of Israel: 1 Chronicles 29: 10 - 13

Each time I head down the gravel lane to my house I’m filled with thanks. Quite literally—each time. In 1995 we moved to Kentucky after five very frustrating years in a big city, and I never thought we’d own a home again. I was content to live in a rented small-town house that fit our needs.

But my wife had a dream. She had a vision of living in our own home on farmland that had been in the family for generations. It’s not an exaggeration to say that her vision and faith took us from a rented house in town and transported us to a legacy home in the country. Now, daily—for the last 15 years—I thank God for his kindness and my wife’s dreams each time I return home. Reality grew from the dream, and the efforts of the woman who dreamed.

This kind of dreaming, the vision of Godly possibilities and the conviction that God is with you, is the stuff of thanksgiving and praise. And yet it is a dangerous truth: the very source of inspiration can become a source of deep disillusionment if these dreams do not come to pass. Our dreams push us forward by helping us imagine a world that differs from the way things are. Such vision is the gift of God. We should be very careful not to throw away God-given hope. Some people (Abraham, for example) held fast his God-given dreams beyond all reasonable measure, and he is forever known as the father of faith.

We reach an age where our dreams become memories: either memories of what has come to pass or memories of the dreams we never pursued. No one ever dreams of becoming insignificant, but sometimes we stop dreaming. Today’s devotion leads us to this: sometimes we give thanks by refusing to discard our God-given dreams.

Ask Yourself: What has God promised?

Live Into It: Take time—all the time you need—to answer the question above. I think you’ll discover he has spoken more than you remember. It’s Saturday. Slow down. Take a little time with Hebrews 10: 32-39 and 2 Peter 1: 3-4.

“Father, I pray that what you have begun, you will provide in me the grace to continue.”

By the happy accident of genetics and divine sovereignty G.K. Chesterton was born in 1874 and grew into a man of prodigious intellect. He was smarter than smart. He was also playful and curious, a true manchild rolled into the impressive girth of a 300-pound body topped with wild red hair. 

Chesterton was the friend of humankind and indeed all the earth. He was awed by the simple fact of creation. His life was forever changed by making the simple connection between his own thankfulness and the necessity of having Someone to thank. He found his way to the Father’s banqueting table by his intense desire to say thank you to whoever was responsible for the wonder of this world.

He once said, “Here dies another day during which I have had eyes, ears, hands, and the great world around me. And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?” That such a heart would not discover God is unthinkable. His intellect led him to joy, a defiant joy that led him to celebrate the goodness of God wherever he found it—which was everywhere.

Chesterton would’ve been quite at home with our American holiday, Thanksgiving: “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

Ask Yourself: Does creation dazzle me?

Live Into It: Philosopher Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. said of Chesterton’s conversion:  “It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular . . . It's a little like being married in general.” Try this: be specific not only in what you are thankful for but to whom you are thankful as well.

How well I remember filling out the application form as I waited my turn to be born. 

Preferred gender? I checked “Male.”

Preferred era? I wrote, “Twentieth century, second half.”

I filled out the pre-birth form completely. I selected my ethnic preference, the socio-economic status of my parents, and everything that went into making me the person I am. I was thrilled when all my requests came back approved! Moments later I slipped out of heaven into Midwest America, 1955. 

Wait—you didn’t get to choose your gender, race, strength or smarts? Well, me neither, really—I made all that stuff up. Lame, I know. Yet lamer still is the amount of time we spend lamenting our genetics or our heritage. Did any one of us have a say in who we are and how we were made? 

And yet, someone did have a say in such matters. The Creator. The sovereign God selected the circumstances of our conception and birth: time and place, gender and race. It was his call. “For you created my inmost being,” said King David. “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Have you considered how much of your life is the result of God's choice for you--his good and perfect will? Our lives grow from the roots of God’s plan. It’s wonderful news. It caused David to sing in worship, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

David knew it full well; he responded in praise. How about us?

Ask Yourself: Have I ever lamented the time and place of my birth; have I ever said to the Maker, “Why did you make me thus?”

Live Into It: Sometimes, when I look in the mirror, I give myself the warmest smile I can, simply to make up for all those times I've been critical of the man I see. (Although, to be completely honest I should tell you I still wish I was given Einstein’s brain and Brad Pitt’s looks—instead of the other way around.)