Breathlessly Miskeyed
Oh when a thousand tongues
sing praises
to an unbefitting god,
then the world turns
upside down,
somersaults,
flips over,
plunges into depths
under violent waves,
no breath
for shriveled lungs
till blue meets blue
in direful depths,
suspenseful
waiting,
pleading
for a gasp
of air,
for life,
for truth.
© 2012 by D. G. V.
* photo: Swan Underwater by Viktor Lyagushkin @flickr
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” I John 1:5
God has many facets to His character, but the Apostle John’s proposition is that we must start with the holiness of God: “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” In other words, if we are to grasp an understanding of the Creator, we must not start with His power, or His greatness, or even with the fact that God is love, even though all of these traits are stupendous truths in and of themselves.
Why must we start with the holiness of God rather than with the love of God?
It is by considering His holiness that we can understand God’s plan of salvation for mankind, a strategy achieved only through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. If God’s attributes were limited to love, mercy and compassion, then the cross would have been inconsequential because all God had to do was to forgive our sins. But the whole message of Christianity is that the cross is vital and central, and apart from Christ’s sacrifice, our sins could not be forgiven, and the deep chasm would still persist between our sinful human nature and God’s absolute and perfect holiness.
Why was Christ’s death on the cross absolutely essential? Because God is light, He is just and righteous, with such purity that He cannot behold and look upon iniquity. (Habakkuk 1:13). “It is the holiness of God that demands the cross, so without starting with holiness, there is no meaning in the cross.” 1
If we start with the holiness of God, we realize that Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection had to take place. And we recognize that fellowship with God, communion with Light, is only made possible in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has reconciled us to the Father by His great sacrifice on the cross.
1 Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Safe in the World: The Assurance of Our Salvation”, Crossway Books, Illinois, 1988, p. 108
*** References:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Safe in the World: The Assurance of Our Salvation”, Crossway Books, Illinois, 1988, pp. 99-110.
Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, “The Holiness of God”, www.fivesolas.com/watson/wat_holi.htm
*** Photography: The Hand of God by Rich Goldman
“… and I am glorified in them.” John 17:10
As God sent His Son into the world to glorify Him, we who believe in the Son are given the sublime privilege and responsibility to glorify Christ in our lives. How do we accomplish this? Let us consider the progression of ways wherein we glorify our Lord.
First, we do so by believing in Him. The Pharisees did not believe in Christ. They dismissed Him as just a “Carpenter from Nazareth”, the son of Joseph and Mary. And the world to this day does not know Who Christ is and hence they disregard Him. To acknowledge Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God Who came into this world is to give Him glory.
Second, it is to apprehend why He came and what He has done while He lived on earth. It is to be persuaded that the Lord Jesus Christ is God’s only way of salvation, that through Him we are brought back into right standing with God, into joyful fellowship with the Father.
Third, to glorify Christ is to know the meaning of the cross: that by Christ’s death and resurrection, our sins are forgiven and we become children of God. And because of what Christ has done, He is everything to us. We put an end to our self-reliance and realize that what we have become as a result of His sacrifice is entirely by the grace of God.
Fourth, it follows that we glorify Christ by telling other people about Him, pointing them to His Person, proclaiming Him as the Son of God, and His great sacrifice to free us from the bondage of our sins. The world delights in lauding and talking about people: sports heroes, politicians, actors, and other interesting personalities. The Christian is one who delights in talking about Christ and praising Him.
Fifth, we glorify Christ by being living proofs of His life in us. We are to be such men and women that the moment others meet us, they think about Christ. People took note of the apostles when they performed miracles and spoke in a manner inconsistent with the speech of ignorant fishermen: they came to the conclusion that the apostles had been with Jesus. The test of the Christian is that he or she cannot be explained apart from Christ, and by this, Christ is glorified.
Finally, we glorify Christ by being the manifestation of His power, having been separated from the world. It is only by the power of Christ that we can leave the mentality of the world, and we become different. The Christian is a person who strikes others as somebody who is distinct, somebody peculiar, not possessing the self-pride and self-assertion that the world applauds as strength; one who belongs to the lowly and humble Christ. And he is spiritually alive, interested in spiritual things, making the affairs of the soul the top priority in his life and thinking.
As Christians we have been given a new life and a new understanding, a new outlook upon everything that faces us. To the extent that we reflect this to the outside world, we glorify the Lord.
What a privilege and a great responsibility it is to be given this high calling, that Christ should be glorified in our lives.
*** Reference: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Safe in the World: The Assurance of Our Salvation”, Crossway Books, Illinois, 1988, pp. 79-92.
*** Photography by Artemis
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1
There is a strategy, a great principle for facing the battles and conflicts of life in the 27th psalm, condensed by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the following words: “Always start with heaven and with God, and then come down to face the problems on earth, as you find them in the light of what you have already seen through God’s light”.
Never start with man, never begin with an earthly perspective. Many failures are the result of starting at the wrong place to find a solution.
Why do we start with God? The first thing we notice in the first few verses is the psalmist’s overwhelming confidence and assurance, not in himself, but in God. Let us consider the reasons for this unshakable certainty.
The Lord is his light. Light is the opposite of darkness and despair, and in the light, we see things clearly. When we are in the midst of trials, we grope in darkness: we have limited understanding, and we blindly grapple for human solutions. But we can look up to heaven and to God for light and understanding, for the Lord shows us another way, another kind of life, a way out of darkness. For He Himself is the light in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who proclaimed, “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
The light of life. The radiance that illuminates our pathways as we live our lives on earth. What a tremendous promise and assurance!
The Lord is his salvation. When we turn to God, He guarantees our welfare, by showing us the way of escape. Through Christ, God delivers us out of the kingdom of darkness and translates us into the kingdom of light. It is a glorious transformation: despite the presence of sufferings, we are rescued out of the stronghold of tyrannical darkness, in understanding and in spirit, and we are elevated to a position of peace, strength and safety.
The Lord is the strength of his life. In spite of the formidable forces of the enemies of our life and our soul , when we look to God and rely upon Him, we have the confidence of a limitless Power behind us, Whose strength and resources are boundless.
As we look to the Lord before anything else, in whatever circumstance we are in, we ultimately acknowledge Him to be our light, our strength and our salvation. And from this principle flows the wellspring of our confidence and assurance in the face of trials, even at their very worst. Whom then shall we fear, and of whom shall we be afraid?
1 Reference: Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon, “Seek My Face”
lilies, sparrows and grass 
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