The Land Of And
by Anne Cetas

Read: Revelation 22:1-5

We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. —2 Peter 3:13

In a TV commercial I saw recently, the kids argued in the back seat of the car about where to stop for dinner. One wanted pizza; another chicken. Mom, in the front passenger seat, said, “No, we’ll stop for a hamburger.”

Dad quickly solved the family disagreement with this idea: “We’ll stop at the buffet restaurant, and you can each have what you want and all you want.” The commercial closes with the words, “Take care of family squabbles about what’s for dinner. Go to _____ Buffet, the ‘Land of And.’”

When I saw that commercial, I thought of another “Land of And”: heaven. It is a place that will have all we need. Foremost, we will be in the very presence of Almighty God. In describing heaven, the apostle John said, “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it” (Rev. 22:3). Our thirsty souls will be completely satisfied from the “pure river of water of life” that proceeds from His throne (22:1), for He says to His people, “I will give . . . freely to him who thirsts” (21:6). Another “and” in this land will be the tree of life for “the healing of the nations” (22:2). What we won’t find in this Land of And are the curse (22:3), death, sorrow, and tears (21:4).

We’ll be completely satisfied in that Land of And. Are you ready to go?

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain. —Watts

Earth—the land of trials; heaven—the land of joys.

our daily bread

Am I Looking To God?

Look to Me, and be saved . . . —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me . . . .”

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me . . . .” Salvation is yours the moment you look.

my utmost for his highest

just a shade
by Tom Felten

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1 Peter 1:3-9 You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him (1 Peter 1:8).

In the movie Inception, technology allows people to tap into others’ minds by dream invasion. Dom Cobb, the flawed hero in the flick, lost his wife Mal when she committed suicide due to the delusional effects of memory inception within a dream state. Mal, however, keeps vividly appearing to Dom when he’s in a dream state. Finally seeing the need to let this pseudo Mal go, Dom says to her, “I can’t imagine you with all your complexity, all your perfection, all your imperfection. . . . You’re just a shade of my real wife. . . . I’m sorry, you are just not good enough.”

At times, the Jesus we have in our minds is just a shade of His true reality. Instead of experiencing the power of His presence within us (1 Peter 1:5; Colossians 1:27), we grasp for Him merely when we’re in a state of fear or need. Instead of living with “great expectation” (1 Peter 1:3) of being with Him forever, we experience a dull and persistent dread as we encounter the imperfections of life.

Peter provides some words to snap us out of our dreamlike state and to help us embrace the reality of life in Jesus: “[We] love Him even though [we] have never seen Him. Though [we] do not see Him now, [we] trust Him” (1 Peter 1:8). Through our “faith” (1 Peter 1:5), we experience a moment-by-moment “joy” (1 Peter 1:8) that comes from knowing Jesus and walking with Him. When we face trials (1 Peter 1:6), we’re not alone. Jesus allows us to be tested by the fire of difficulties so that our faith in Him will be purified and perfected (1 Peter 1:7). And one day, our “reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of [our] souls” (1 Peter 1:9).

Don’t simply exist in a shade of Jesus. By faith, experience His true reality today.

our daily journey

questions
tim gustafson

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Matthew 21:23-46

When Jesus returned to the temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to Him and demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things?” (Matthew 21:23).

A recent televised interview captured my attention. The author of a controversial book kept responding to questions by saying, “That’s a great question.” And then he would orbit that “great question” without ever landing on an answer.

Jesus surely frustrated the “interviewers” who came to see Him in Matthew 21. “By what authority are you doing all these things?” they demanded to know (Matthew 21:23). The Lord promised to answer them if they would first answer His question: “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” (Matthew 21:24).

Jesus wasn’t hiding behind a muddy stream of words. He wanted to show the religious leaders how spiritually lost they were. So He told them stories and asked more questions to help them see their condition (Matthew 21:28-44). But they chose to hate Jesus all the more. Later that same week they would crucify Him.

The Bible shows us a remarkable contrast between the questions Jesus asked and those that His enemy posed. In Genesis 3, the serpent subtly planted a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind: “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). The question was not designed to bring clarity but to cloud the issue. Adam and Eve’s response to it introduced the curse of death into our now-broken world.

The fact that we live in a dying world poses a question for all of us: How will we be reconciled to God? Are we with the “tax collectors and prostitutes” who repented? (Matthew 21:32). Or are we with the religious leaders who refused to believe Jesus and had Him crucified? Our answer makes all the difference in the world.

our daily journey

What My Obedience to God Costs Other People

As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon . . . , and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus —Luke 23:26

If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.

When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).

A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.

my utmost for his highest

Collision Course
by Dennis Fisher

Read: 2 Samuel 12:1-15

Be sure your sin will find you out. —Numbers 32:23

My wife and I were driving on an expressway when we saw a driver turn left into a median turnaround that was intended for emergency vehicles only. He was planning to make a U-turn and head back the other way.

Looking to his right, the driver waited for an opening in oncoming traffic, so he failed to notice that a police car was backing up toward him on his left. Finally seeing an opening in traffic, the U-turn driver pulled out and rammed into the back of the police car.

It’s not unusual for us to think we can get away with doing something wrong. After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he too was focused on “getting away with it.” But he was on a collision course with Nathan. His adultery, deceit, and murder “displeased the Lord” (2 Sam. 11:27), so when Nathan exposed David’s grievous sin, the king was deeply remorseful. He confessed, repented, and received God’s forgiveness. But the consequences of his sin never departed from his household (12:10).

If you’ve been trying to get away with something, remember that “your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Turn yourself in to God. Don’t hide. Instead, seek His gracious forgiveness.

God knows all you’ve thought or done—
From Him you cannot hide;
Confess to Him and He’ll forgive
Through Christ the crucified. —Hess

We have to face our sins before we can put them behind us.

our daily bread

Facing The Future
by David C. McCasland

Read: James 4:13-17

If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. —James 4:15

While going through some old files, I came across a 1992 special issue of TIME magazine titled “Beyond the Year 2000: What To Expect in the New Millennium.” It was fascinating to read the predictions made 2 decades ago about what the future would hold. Some general observations were on target, but no one foresaw many of the events and innovations that have radically changed our lives. The most telling statement to me was, “The first rule of forecasting should be that the unforeseen keeps making the future unforeseeable.”

James reminds us that any view of the future that omits God is foolish and proud. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. . . . Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).

Many people used to begin their statement of plans with, “Lord willing.” The phrase may have become trite, but the acknowledgment of God’s overruling hand is not.
As we look ahead with God firmly in view, we can face the future with confidence in His loving plan.

God holds the future in His hands
With grace sufficient day by day,
Through good or ill He gently leads,
If we but let Him have His way. —Rohrs

Those who know Christ as Savior can face the future with joy.

our daily bread

barren disobedience
by winn collier

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Genesis 3:1-7
[Eve] took some of the fruit and ate it (Genesis 3:6).

Our 7-year-old son, Seth, has a strong mischievous streak. Recently, well after bedtime, we heard the sounds of suspicious activity upstairs. I called to Seth in a firm tone, asking what he was doing since he was supposed to be in bed. Silence. Seth’s mind was rapidly sifting through any plausible excuse he could offer. Finally, he simply said, “Oh, Dad, just ground me.”

Genesis provides a litany of humanity’s inexplicable, inexcusable disobedience—a history of human folly:

• Disobedience. At the outset, in the most perplexing act, Eve and Adam spurned God, ate forbidden fruit, and lost their place in the Garden (Genesis 3:1-7).

• Disobedience. The first children, our first set of brothers, gave us our first violent act—murder (Genesis 4:1-9).

• Disobedience. Eventually God recognized “that everything [humanity] thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil” (Genesis 6:5).

• Disobedience. Finally, attempting to rival God, humanity built a tower (Babel) to reach the heavens, asserting their will over God’s (Genesis 11:1-4).

Following this bitter list of human rebellion, Genesis 11 closes by recapping the genealogy from Shem to Abram. The lineage ends with these sad words: “Sarai [Abram’s wife] was barren.” And to make certain we get the point, Scripture adds this exclamation point: “Sarai . . . had no children” (Genesis 11:30). Humanity was barren, empty. Humanity had refused God and followed life on its own terms. A world God had intended to flourish was now dry and withering.

The story begged for a rescue, for new life to come again. In time, however, God allowed an old woman—Sarai—to become pregnant; and still later God sent His own Son to infuse new life. Our efforts lead to barrenness, but following God leads to life.

our daily journey

viva la vida
by tim gustafson

Lamentations 1:1-22
Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave (Lamentations 1:1).

With lush orchestral chord progressions and an infectious melody, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida grabbed Song of the Year honors at the 2009 Grammys. That title, which means “long live life,” conveys a bitter irony. The protagonist depicted in the lyrics had held immense power but now was dealing with a reversal of fortunes. “I used to rule the world,” the words state, but now I “sweep the streets I used to own.”

Lamentations is a bitter song about Jerusalem’s reversal of fortunes—“the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave” (Lamentations 1:1). Besieged, then slaughtered by the brutal Babylonian armies, the city’s horrifyingly desperate circumstances had even induced mothers to cannibalize their own children (Lamentations 2:20, 4:10). Jerusalem’s devastation was God’s clear judgment for the sins of the people. To the grief-dimmed eyes of the poet, God’s salvation seemed almost impossibly distant. Almost.

Lamentations concludes with a curious, bittersweet blend of hope and grief, doubt and faith. “Lord, You remain the same forever! . . . Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to You again!” (Lamentations 5:19-21). Yet the book ends with a hauntingly tentative question: “Are You angry with us still?” (Lamentations 5:22).

Thankfully, the dirge of judgment is not the only song in God’s Word. “I will sing a new song to You, O God,” said the psalmist (Psalm 144:9). And the New Testament infuses our new song with this triumphant declaration: “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “The power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2).

The song we sing today is often discordant. In eternity, however, it will be indescribably lush, pure, exhilarating, and joyous. Viva la vida.

our daily journey