Those who are poets or scientists have plenty to say about nature, but only Christians are able to enjoy the beauty in the earth with the highest level of appreciation, because only Christians are able to recognize God the Father’s creative work, and the love shared with us with the gifts in the beauty that we can see in nature. No one can fully appreciate the significance of the mountain and the valley, and of the ocean and the forest, without seeing these things in nature as gifts from God to us.
God speaks to us through Him working in the world around us and through the influence of the Holy Spirit on our hearts. If we look for, and stay open to, seeing God moving, we will be able to see God working in our situations and in our lives. We read in the Psalms, “The unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.” (Psalm 33:5) and “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” (Psalm 107:43).
God speaks to us in His word—in the Bible. It is in the Bible that we see His character clearer. In addition, the Bible is where we see how He deals with humanity, and with the work of saving us from sin. We are able to read the Bible and see an amazing history lesson involving the Kings, prophets, and famous people who lived long ago. They were people who were “as human as we are” (James 5:17). They faced discouragement, temptation, failing and standing back up, and succeeding with God’s help; and with their stories, we can be encouraged that we can do the same. As we read the stories of these famous people and learn their experiences, we see how God was able to bless them in the past, and how God was able to use them to bless others and to have an impact on the world that was much larger than they could have imagined. By reading their stories, we begin to wonder if we could be like them and experience as close of a relationship with God that they did.
Referring to the Old Testament, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me!” (John 5:39). The whole Bible both the Old and the New Testaments refer to Jesus, from the first record of creation — “God created everything through Him [Jesus], and nothing was created except through Him.” (John 1:3) — to the promise at the end “Look, I am coming soon, bringing My reward with Me to repay all people according to their deeds.” (Revelation 22:12). In order to understand Jesus, our Savior, we need to study the Bible.
We should fill our whole hearts with the words of God. God’s word is like living water, and it can satisfy our spiritual thirst. Jesus himself is the bread given from heaven that the Bible talks about. Jesus Himself tells us, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you,” (John 6:53) and He explains what He means a few verses later by saying “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63). What we choose to eat and drink makes up our physical bodies, and what we let into our minds determines our spiritual life and health. When we look at the things that we encounter on a daily basis, are these things that help us spiritually or do they drag us down?
The theme of redemption and deliverance is something that the angels look at in amazement, and it will be at the heart of the music that we sing in heaven. With this in mind, shouldn’t we choose to study about it now? Would it be beneficial to understand the significance of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf? We should answer yes to both questions because it is one way that we can show our love back to Jesus. We should focus our attention and study time on Jesus’ character, and we should think about the reasons that He came to save us from our sins. As we think further into these truths, our faith and love for Jesus will grow stronger, our prayers will be more genuine, logical, and passionate, and faith and love for Jesus will be a stronger central theme. We will become more stable in our faith in Jesus, and we will be more confident in our daily lives, living through His power with all the challenges that come our way.
As we focus and reflect on Jesus life and character, we will begin to desire a transformed, renewed, and improved life because we will want to reflect His character in our lives. Our heart will crave to become more like Jesus because the Holy Spirit will be drawing our hearts to His. The more we focus our thoughts on Christ, the more we will share Him with others and represent His character to the world.
Next week, we will conclude our discussion about how we can grow our relationship with God by learning more about Him through all the blessings He has shared with us.
~Cam
P.S. As always, if I missed something, or if you would like to respond on this topic, join the conversation below!