Today was my day to rest with little to no self-imposed expectations of productivity. And so that meant guilt-free daydreaming. The thing that stood out to me most as I sought to rest in Christ was the never-ending allure of beauty. I can across a short song of someone singing acapella and I was immediately enchanted by the smooth melodies emanating from her voice. It was just a 45 second clip, but I probably played that clip about 25 to 30 times without exaggeration. And it occurred to me that her voice was even more beautiful the 30th time than the 1st time. In that moment I realized that true beauty doesn’t get old. It lasts and continues to draw attention and captivate the mind.

I think this is not entirely unlike God. God is the most supremely beautiful being or entity in known existence. Not only is his wisdom endless, but his beauty runs infinitely deep. And so it will not be possible to fully search, know, and appreciate his beauty and thus in God’s wisdom we will spend an eternity growing in our understanding of just how beautiful he is.

Peace,
Caleb

The scriptures say that just as a tree is known by its fruit, so are we. A healthy tree bears good fruit and a diseased tree bears bad fruit. And so the fruit we bear is an indication of the state of our inward being. When I bear bad fruit, there is disease in me. The question then is, how do I rid myself of this disease? What is the cure?

On the one hand the world says that we can cure ourselves. We can heal our bodies of this disease. On the other hand it fools itself into believing that we have no disease at all. We’re all good people just imperfect.

I can’t accept either of those claims. My own thoughts testify that I’m not a good person. So often I agree that a particular thing is good to do and so I intend to do it. However, just as often, I choose to do the lesser thing rather than the thing I intended to do. If I cannot keep my own rules that I agree are good, how in the world can I expect myself to live up to any standard outside of myself? Moreover, not only do I fail to do the very best things, I often do the very worst things and much more often delight in my thoughts of the most heinous of crimes even though conscience restrains these thoughts from physical manifestation.

And so I’m faced with the reality that I need help, but I cannot help myself. This realization drives me to God, to inquire of him what my problem is and what is the solution. God’s word is clear. The problem is me. It’s us; the world; mankind. Jesus taught that every tree that does not bear good fruit is thrown into the fire. God’s word also says that everyone has sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death. I am the diseased tree that bears bad fruit. And Jesus says that this tree should be thrown in the fire.

And yet by God’s grace I bear good fruit too. It seems the mystery is that God’s Spirit is at work in me. The lie is that I need to try harder to do better. But I’m no more capable of that than a diseased tree is capable of hoping for good fruit in the next year. The problem is the fabric of my being. The problem is my flesh that wars against the goodness of God. It would be foolish of me to think that I can solve my problems in the flesh, when the flesh is my very problem! And so a solution or a savior outside of myself is needed to address the problem. Not just the problem of right standing before God, but the problem of continually standing before God to walk in his ways as an ongoing way of life. Even born again believers struggle with this. We are so easily lured into attempting to keep our salvation by our own fleshly works buying into the worldly wisdom assures us that we can transform ourselves by our willpower.

But God has given me eyes to see. He’s given me a vision of a new way. The way of freedom. This is freedom from the shackles of my own selfish desires. This is freedom to obey God willingly and to see his way as the most beautiful path. This is change and transformation that starts on the inside from the outside and begins to manifest itself in our desires, thoughts, words, and actions. God’s Spirit is at work, and if I am to resolve to do anything this year, it is to pray the Lord will fill me with his Spirit to increase my sight and my thirst for him and that by beholding the glory of Jesus I might continually be made into his likeness. And I pray that by faith in his name, his power would heal my diseased flesh, and luscious fruit would pour forth from my being that are pleasing to the Lord and a blessing to others.

Peace and Happy New Year!
Caleb