face lift

You reach a point in middle age and beyond when your physical features start losing the battle with gravity. Everything starts to droop a little and it is understandable to long for youth and the wrinkle-free days. I did a quick online search for "Face lift" and the first site I came to described the problem as "sagging jowls and turkey neck". Who in the world wants to be thought of that way?!! Certainly a Face Lift seems appealing in that light. But we can have spirits that sag as well, whether we are in the middle years and beyond, or whether we are in the smooth and toned skin of youth. But, rather than a face lift we need a face, heart and mind that are lifted up to our Maker. Isn't it good to know that there is a quality of life and of living that transcends the temporary fashion of physical life? Perhaps we need a "Spirit Lift" today by focusing on the promise of life that has been made and kept in the form of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus! We lift our hearts in thanks and praise to Him and He lifts our hopes to the "wrinkle free" and spotless place of Heaven.

-----------------------

1 Samuel 2:⁸ He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord's,
and he has set the world in order.

------------------------------

blessings,

Rob Smith

the open view

Large, open vistas are often beautiful settings for reflection...when you can see lots of sky, and maybe a distant mountain...or bright night star. But when you are running, a large open vista can be difficult! The last several Saturday mornings I have gone for a five mile jog at the Diascund Reservoir in New Kent County. I like to run there because it is relatively flat. The first mile of the job is open, with a broad view of the reservoir and sky above. When I begin I find this openness an encouragement. Then the road disappears into thick woods and some hills increase the challenge a bit. Once I leave the open setting of the reservoir the close proximity of trees helps me focus on the next steps and the short vision of what lies just ahead. This is often a good time to pray and just listen to the Lord. But as I return, out of the woods, to run the final mile in open sky I can see the finish line of the parking lot way ahead. In this case I don't appreciate the broad view because it seems to take forever to actually complete the run. It's almost as if I can see too much for too long. The thought occurred that maybe this is why we don't see all of Heaven now...maybe this is why we don't see all of the Father and the throne and the streets of gold and the crystal sea and all that is in Heaven now. If we could actually see all those beautiful things that lie ahead of us now...I wonder if it would make it that much harder to finish. It would be hard to focus on the "next steps" of this life if I could clearly see Heaven with my eyes now. It is probably better for me to put one foot in front of the other and jog with Lord close at hand in these days!

Blessings,

Rob Smith

this rock cries out

This rock cries out,
"Oh, look please see,
The King rides past,
...made you and me!"
- - - -
This clay will speak,
"Soon I'll return to dirt,
but can't you see?'
this Spirit of Christ,
has brought me life!"
- - - -
How brief our time on fashioned land,
Then on we'll fly to Heaven's band.
- - - -
But we must cry with all our force
Can you not see the one true Lord?
- - - -
This rock, this clay knows little it's true.
But this one thing: to be known of You!
- - - -
(Dedicated to all the other rocks out there who have come to know that You are the Lord of all and You are the Lord of each of our lives!)
- - - -
love and blessings,
Rob Smith

the boundaries of the inheritance

Listening to the book of Joshua, the people of Israel are claiming their inheritance. Each tribe is being assigned specific boundaries in the Promised Land, defined by geographic limits, like rivers, mountains and seas as well as by towns. It occurred to me that as we occupy our Promised Land of abundant life in Christ, He also has assigned territories to each of us. Perhaps you could say they are defined by our spiritual gifts, our geographic, cultural and national location and our collection of associations (friends, family, neighbors). Each of us has a strategic placement and carries strategic potential to life in such a way that the Lord is reflected and the Gospel is carried to the ends of the earth. Of course, our inheritance is ultimately a spiritual one that is marked by a real relationship with the living God and as we move through our days, He may well move us into new places so we can bring Him before new faces!

----------------------------

Joshua 15:1 The allotment for the tribe of Judah, according to its clans, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south.

² Their southern boundary started from the bay at the southern end of the Dead Sea, ³ crossed south of Scorpion Pass, continued on to Zin and went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar and curved around to Karka. ⁴ It then passed along to Azmon and joined the Wadi of Egypt, ending at the Mediterranean Sea. This is their southern boundary.

----------------------

blessings,

Rob Smith

The Promised Land

We are beginning a study in the book of Joshua, the Old Testament account of the Hebrew people crossing the Jordan and claiming the Promised Land. I have listened to the first dozen or so chapters as I have exercised the past few days. I have been struck with the amount of fighting and destroying that the Hebrew people have been doing even after entering the Promised Land. If the Promised Land is a picture of the 'abundant life' we have in Christ I considered what the fighting could picture in our experience as believers in Christ. Perhaps we must be honest to acknowledge that there are problems, sins, weaknesses of the worldly nature that Jesus, our modern day Joshua, must deliver us from as we claim the land of His promise. Just as the Lord wouldn't tolerate any foreign culture or foreign idols, so He wants to cleanse us of the distractions and deceptions that keep us from Him alone. Joshua may also picture how, in the fulness of time, Jesus will vanquish every foe that has corrupted the Creation. But, for now, I see a reminder that we are called to battle (in the strength and with the courage of God) to defeat every force that would pull us from complete obedience and complete peace in the One who made us and now has delivered us.

---------------------------

Joshua 1:⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

-----------------------------

blessings,

Rob Smith

experiencing God

How do we experience things? That is, how do we process the experiences we have? Most experiences have to do with our body in some way, whether we are riding a roller coaster, a horse, or a wave at the ocean. But how do we process even those experiences? Ultimately, it seems to me, all experiences are processed internally through our minds. Certainly this is true of more academic experiences, like reading and studying. If you were to observe a student reading you would be hard pressed to observe the breakthrough of understanding as it occurs in that process. Ultimately, all experiences are processed and assessed through our inner person. The same is true of our experience with God. It is essentially an internal experience, or an internal process of grasping the reality of God and placing trust in Him. We give a lot of headlines to the things that happen in the outer world of our experience: the storms, the fires, the wars, the crimes that take place. We cherish the relationships we have with family and friends and the memories of things we have done together. But ultimately all experiences find their place as they are processed within the framework of our inner person. So, in your inner person, what has been your experience with God? As you consider the inner questions of life that you cannot answer and the inner hungers for love, fulfillment and truth, what has provided the peace and resolution to those answers? Or have your answers really only been more questions?

---------------------------

Ephesians 3:¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

-----------------------------

blessings,

Rob Smith

growing old

Proverbs 20:²⁹ The glory of the young is their strength;
the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

---------------------------

There is a self that lives inside the house of the body. That self wants to think it never changes...never grows old...will always be around. But there is a body wrapped around that self that is definitely growing older. Aging happens in a gradual way and we are surprised at its effects. Our vision, our hearing, our digistive systems, our joints...all tell us that just as we moved through youth and strength, so we are now moving into a slower paced chapter, with bends and twists that are not always pleasant. But, this morning it occurred to me that there is great purpose in a declining physical body. It encourages us to trust more completely in our Maker. When we were young and strong we forgot Him at times because we didn't think we needed Him, in our strength. Now that we are past the peak of that vitality it is clear that this physical body will eventually be cast off. We are getting weaker in a physical sense but we have the potential to grow ever stronger in a spiritual sense. We have become convinced that this earthly life is not where our ultimate will be found. And, knowing that, makes all the difference as we bow before God and seek to let Him rule through us and truly be our strength. We are growing old...but we are growing stronger even as we are growing weaker.

-----------------------

blessings,

Rob Smith

who are the poor?

Psalm 72:¹² He will rescue the poor when they cry to him;
he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them.
¹³ He feels pity for the weak and the needy,
and he will rescue them.
¹⁴ He will redeem them from oppression and violence,
for their lives are precious to him.

 

So who are the poor?  The Bible speaks about them a great deal.  I have been listening to Psalms in the morning and they are frequently mentioned there.  More importantly, we see God's attitude toward them.  Psalm 72 tells us that He will rescue them as they cry out in their poverty.  Then there are "the oppressed" who aren't able to defend themselves from harm.  Then there are the weak and needy.  God's heart melts for these vulnerable ones.  They are people who have a "low relative value" to other people but a "high absolute value" to the God who made them.  When you get right down to it each one of us is desperately poor, with a poverty of spirit that cannot be satisfied apart from a restored relationship with God.  If we don't have compassion for those who are poor and oppressed in a natural sense, we haven't learned all we need to know about the value and worth each one has...because that worth is not established by people...it is built in by God.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith