Below are devotional thoughts to encourage and challenge your walk with Christ and “to set your mind on things above.” (Colossians 3:2)

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Do you know someone famous? Could you call them anytime and ask them for something? Last night I was talking with some of our Junior High girls about famous people that we know (and that know us). It was funny how everyone wanted to throw their stories into the conversation about their encounters with fame. I even got caught up into it. For some reason, we all want to identify with or, better, be identified with stardom. This morning I was listening to the audiobook version of “Stuff Christians Like” on my iPod. In Part Ten, the author, Jonathan Acuff described an interaction he had with God when he admitted his desire to be a celebrity Christian, “I want to be famous!” Yet in the same moment that he expressed this inner longing, God revealed the truth, (paraphrased) “You know ME…the Creator of the universe! And I know you…intimately! How much more famous can one get?” Wow! That is really fantastic! All of these well-known even legendary peoples that we clamor to brush up with and the reality is we are known, loved and even pursued by the most incredible BEING that has ever existed! And we can call on Him anytime to ask Him anything…even just to chat.

1 Timothy 1:17
Matthew 18:19
Matthew 7:7-9

Psalm 119:69-70
“The arrogant have forged a lie against me;
With all my heart I will observe Your precepts.

Their heart is covered with fat,
But I delight in Your law.”

Take a look at the phrase (in bold) that the psalmist used to describe the heart of the wicked. It is “covered with fat.” The NIV translates it as “callous and unfeeling.” This is quite interesting! Think about the role of fat on a body. It insulates. It protects. As we were discussing this passage one afternoon, one of my high school seniors mentioned the enormous amount of blubber (whale fat) that protected Moby Dick from Ahab’s harpoons. No matter how hard they tried to penetrate that monstrous body, they could never pierce through the fat to get to his heart. Let’s take this analogy home. How is your heart? Is it sensitive and soft? Is it receptive to the promptings (or piercing) of the Holy Spirit? Or is it covered in fat, insulated from God’s heart and will for your life?
When you think about it, we desire to be intimate with those we love. We want to be unguarded and close. Even in a physical sense, we love the closeness of bodily contact with the opposite gender. Imagine there is this guy/girl that you really like. You want to be close to them, right? Naturally. And when you first hold hands? Lightening bolts! But few would find it as exciting if you when you first held hands, your fingers were screened by thick winter gloves! We want to be close! We want our skin to touch! So it is with God and our hearts. He longs for us to “cut the fat” that insulates us from Him. Peel away the calluses that buffer us from being intimate with His heart. So, how is your heart when it comes to God? Is it sensitive and responsive to His promptings or is it shielded and insulated from His leading?  What is keeping you from Him?

Hebrews 12:1-2

Philippians 3:10

Bono (of U2 fame), as interviewed by Michka Assayas:

Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled… . It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

Assayas: That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that far-fetched?

Bono: No, it’s not far-fetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I am God incarnate.” And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson….. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s far-fetched …

Bono later says it all comes down to how we regard Jesus:

Bono: … [I]f only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. …When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s— and everybody else’s. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut? And there it is, and that’s the question.

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Jesus said, “But who do you say that I am?”  Mark 8:29

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“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”   C.S. Lewis

This word just caught my attention in the text of Psalm 119:45 “I will walk about in FREEDOM, for I have sought out your precepts”. The word “freedom” has a special ring in our country. We enjoy it, appreciate it, celebrate it, take it for granted and, often times, we even abuse it. For those of us in Christ, we also have a wonderful FREEDOM. We enjoy it, celebrate it, take it for granted and, yes, we even abuse it. Consider all of the ways that we are free in Christ and may we feel the freedom to thank Him for it today.

Luke 4:18
Romans 8:21
2 Corinthians 3:17
Galatians 5:1
Galatians 5:13
Ephesians 3:12
1 Peter 2:16