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- Written by: Don Goulding
The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22, 23)
In Andhra Pradesh, I worked with an East Indian who was a triple rarity—a woman evangelist with blue eyes. Persecution winnows Indian Christians down to very few evangelists, and women evangelists are even more scarce. Besides their beauty, this saint’s eyes spoke of passion for Jesus and hurt for the lost.
Eyes are God’s crowning addition to physical man. Pleasure and pain, innocence and corruption, kindness and abuse, they all flood through our eyes. But if I indiscriminately take in every visual input, I pollute my soul.
Our fallen world cannot grasp how sacred the human race is meant to be. We aren’t created so the perversion of mutilation or sexual degradation can flood through our eyes. True, we can’t ignore the horror around us, but we must use care that the filth doesn’t stick to the walls of the temple that is us. We are cathedrals of the Spirit of God, not haunts for the demons of Satan.
Sometimes Jesus says, “Have pity for those you see trapped in sin.” Other times he warns, “Shut your eyes to this shame,” or, “Note the glory revealed here.” His Spirit must govern what comes into the temple, and what stays out.
Our eyes are stained glass windows to the sanctuary of our soul. If the light they let in is pure, then, like my blue eyed Indian sister, the light they illuminate in the dark world will be beautiful as well.
Prayer: Lord, guide my sight by your Spirit.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice and be glad. (1 Peter 4:12, 13)
We were newly married, and evening shadows met across the slopes where Dani and I backpacked in the San Gorgonio Wilderness of California. We arrived at the backcountry camp, tired, but spirited by the pine scented air. A quick dinner over a Primus stove left just enough time to string a rope through our plastic tube tent before the rain fell.
The next morning our gear was wet, but then the sun made a few surprise appearances. Mist rode through the fir trees like a child sledding into the rounded valley. I could scarcely hike a hundred feet before stopping, over and over, to photograph rainbows set against hunter-green forests.
It didn’t matter to us that we had slept on the ground, eaten dehydrated soup, and steamed through damp clothes the next day, the backpacking trip exceeded our expectations.
Expectations define satisfaction. If a hotel tried to offer the conditions we enjoyed while backpacking, I’d be irate and demand my money back.
I need to adjust my ambitions to the reality of my current situation. I’m a spiritual soldier in a war zone, behind enemy lines, with a mission to infiltrate and liberate. Now is not the time to seek a soft living. Today I’ll encounter the groans of nature, attacks from demons, and friends broken in grief. It won't be easy going.
The glorious appearing of Christ will come soon. So I need to adjust my expectations, and lay hold of spoils before I’m withdrawn home. Because how I spend my remaining hours of deployment is critical.
Prayer: Mighty Warrior Jesus, let me expect nothing but a glorious fight today.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized- not one promise is unfulfilled! (Joshua 23:14)
I live in the town of Maybe, in the state of Perhaps, and the country of Could Be. We humans are a flaky lot. Even when we have the resources to fulfill a commitment, we often back out if it suits our agenda.
Because I’ve come to expect unreliability, I assume God must be noncommittal too. I find myself looking for the exclusions, or metaphorical meanings to his promises. Jesus coming on the clouds, streets of gold, trees that heal some, fires that burn others—really? I try to believe, but my old nature rolls his eyes.
While I played Frisbee with our missionary family, the disk disappeared over the edge of a cliff and was lost among bushes by the Danube River. My nephew climbed down, followed the last known trajectory, and miraculously found the toy in the thicket, right where he predicted.
If we follow the trajectory of God’s promises that were fulfilled in the past, we find where his future answers will come to rest.
God promised Abraham he would make him into a great nation and bless all people through him. Fulfillment came through the Jewish nation, and the person of Jesus Christ. That promise was over fulfilled.
God promised a Messiah would be pierced for our sins. Roman crucifixion made his prophesy a reality in horrific detail. Again, over fulfilled in an unexpected manner.
Jesus promised a helper, someone to comfort and guide. Fifty days after his resurrection, tongues of fire distributed the Holy Spirit, who is with us today. This promise was understated, compared to the answer that unfolded through history.
By following the path of the previously completed covenants, we can predict where the blessings that are still up in the air will land. The trajectory of God’s faithfulness points to a future of surprising, radical fulfillment of promises. Heaven, hell, living with God, everything hinted in the Bible, will be over fulfilled.
Prayer: LORD my God, my heart rests in the future you spoke into existence.