King of Glory

Who is this King of glory? The Lord Almighty.He is the King of Glory Psalm 24:10 NLT

Waiting has never been one of those things I do well. From the time I was old enough to realize that there were Christmas gifts hidden under my parent's bed I became a world class snooper. As a teenager my behavior bordered on the criminal as I would actually un-wrap gifts, try them on for size, and then re-wrap the gift. My mother was on to my scandalous ways and devised ways to try and get me to wait until Christmas morning for my gifts, but alas to no avail. One year however I saw I was getting a yellow sweater and was completely thrilled because I was always told that since my complexion was pale and hair color was blond I couldn't wear yellow, and naturally it is my favorite color. Unfortunately, I had been less than savvy that year in disguising my knowledge of what was going to be under the tree that Christmas which cured me from my snooping ways forever. My mother, having realized that I had seen the sweater walked into my room wearing the yellow sweater that was intended for me and coyly asked, "How do you like my new sweater?" I nearly swallowed my tongue. What could I possibly say that would not reveal my illicit ways?

I think about how the Christmas season for many of us is a time of waiting and doing. Now I completely understand the doing part of Christmas, decorating, shopping, cooking and baking. All of these things I am well acquainted with, and even though I am less than skilled at waiting, I am an excellent doer, I love to do and even love to tell others how, or what to do.

The thing I realized is, I don't have to be a waiter anymore, at least in respect to the reality of Christmas and that is King Jesus. But how do I translate that into my life when I am so busy doing, that I forget that the thing that is most important has already been done, the wait is over?

My mind is drawn to the wise men of the Christmas story. They had been studying the prophecies for centuries, waiting for the birth of the King of Kings. When this particular generation of Magi had the revelation of the birth of Jesus, they left their lives behind and with great passion went in search.

Unlike the wise men, we do not have to wait. We don't have to leave our lives behind and go out in search of something that might be completely elusive. Jesus is not elusive. He is the one waiting.waiting for us, waiting for our lives to be passionate about Him, and waiting for our hearts to put our doing aside, even for a little while.

In October we had a little bit of snowfall that managed to stay on the ground for a couple of hours. My son came home and told me that he got so excited when he saw that snow, because it reminded him that Christmas is coming. For a brief moment I remembered exactly what he was talking about. That joy that wells up inside of us as we remember that something fantastic is coming. How terrific would it be if we never lost that excitement for Christmas, not because of the possibility of a yellow sweater the morning of December 25, but because our waiting is over, the greatest gift of all, the King of Glory was delivered over 2000 years ago.

Heavenly Father, Thank you that You have revealed Yourself to us as the King of Glory in such a precious, personal way, that we do not have to wait, that You have come near. Help us remember the pure joy that comes from knowing Jesus.

Monica Mueller

With Eyes Wide Open

Do you not yet perceive or understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember Mark 8: 17b-18 NKJV

This morning I went to pour myself a bowl of cereal and found that all of my regular bowls were in the dishwasher. My son would have simply poured the milk in the box and probably tipped it up to eat it, and although I am all about conserving on the amount of dishes needing to be washed, I am a woman and even if I had thought of that I probably wouldn't do it. I searched for another bowl and found a small white one that would have worked, but digging a little further, I found a smaller crystal bowl and poured the cereal in. As so often in my life my attention was drawn to another task leaving the dry cereal unattended for a brief period. When I came back to eat my breakfast I could not find the bowl! The counter was cluttered with some things from the night before, but not nearly as bad as you might think given that I could not see that bowl anywhere! As often happens to me in these situations I immediately think of the most reasonable reason for my problem and I thought "dementia! I am getting dementia." My mind raced, would I need prescription medication or would an herbal supplement work. I began to list all the herbal supplements I knew that were good for memory loss but I couldn't remember any of them! And then I saw the bowl sitting on the stove and I was stymied. I had been focused on seeing the white bowl I had originally thought to use; I never could see the crystal bowl. I could not believe how much time I had spent looking for something that was right in front of my face and wondered what else in my life, having eyes, I was still not seeing.

The Jewish people had been waiting for a Messiah and they believed they knew exactly what the Messiah would look like, exactly how He would act and what He would do for them. They were staring their Redeemer right in the face and they never saw Him. Sometimes I think of those people and wonder "how is it possible that they did not recognize Jesus as their Savior?" In the scripture verse Jesus is admonishing his disciples, the very men who were traveling with Him, seeing his power at work and yet somehow they were still missing the truth of who He was.

How often do I long to see my Savior working in my life and I am so focused on what I think that should look like that I completely miss where He is working. I have heard it said if we want to move into the things of God, look to see where He is working and then move in there. Where are those places the Lord is working? He is working at the point of our need, but if I am too focused on looking for a burning bush or a parted sea I will completely miss it. I don't want to be frustrated by my relationship with Jesus, I don't want to spend time focused on what is not there when He is drawing me into deep places with Him and I cannot see it, because I am looking for an image of Him, and not the reality of Him.

Lord, I pray that you will open my eyes to see those places where you are working, that I would join you in a sacred partnership for your glory. Amen

Monica Mueller

A Heavenly Stimulus Act

"Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart I will be found by you says the LORD." Jeremiah 29:12-14

Normally I can spot junk mail at 200 paces- it goes immediately from mailbox to hand to recycle bin, but today my junk mail radar was down. I opened an envelope that looked quite official, sent to me by the United States Government. The title read "Stimulus Act of 2008". Yes! This is exactly what I have been searching for. The government had recognized my financial need and was at last coming to my rescue. It looked like countless official government documents I have received over the decades which was why it was saved from the recycle bin in the first place. Continuing on, I read the fine print at the bottom of the page. "This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency and this offer is not being made by any government agency". Rats!

I realized, much to my dismay, how quickly that piece of mail had drawn my immediate attention. The mere fact that it had the appearance of being authentic caused me to open the mail, spend time reading its content, and then in the end be disappointed.

I couldn't help but think that God's word, The Bible is the one true, authentic and constant written word in my household. Yet very often I treat it as junk mail, choosing to disregard it for other things that have drawn my attention.

The truth is I am in need of a bailout of some kind or another, but it is probably not going to come as easily to me as simply opening a piece of mail.

In the scripture we are reminded repeatedly that it is our benefit to seek the LORD. Not just some cursory looking, but to seek Him with our whole heart and our whole soul. This is going to require something of me, some actual effort on my part. Seeking is a verb, it is an action and I cannot sit complacently waiting for my heavenly rescue. Spending time in the Word of God, personal prayer time, and worship, these are the activities I need to engage in to be truly seeking God.

I love the ending of our effort to seek the LORD, we will find Him. I cannot imagine any stimulus package that could offer a better payout.

Choose to seek the LORD and choose a blessing.

Father, I thank you that Your word is filled with promises meant specifically for me. That if I seek You will all my heart I will find You! I ask that You be near me this day, Your Spirit reminding me that I have a role in our relationship and I act on that by seeking You with all my soul, heart, and mind. Amen

Monica Mueller

The Genuine Article

And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, he went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it. Mark 11:13-14 (NKJV)

My daughter Dana and I were shopping at a flea market while on a mini vacation in Ohio. We stopped to look at some "designer" handbags, completely convinced that they would be obviously flawed in some way that we would walk away from the vendor without making any purchases. While we both love designer purses, we are not quite as in love with the hefty price tags. As we sifted through what we assumed to be designer "knockoffs", we were shocked. We could not find any evidence that these purses were anything but the genuine article. Finally Dana said to me "if these are not the real thing, they certainly fooled me and will fool anyone else. I cannot find anything fake about them." And although the purses appeared to be authentic I knew in my heart that they just could not be, nevertheless, we bought five handbags that day.

Those bags appeared to be genuine, and I cannot help but think how easy it is for us to do the same thing- appear genuine. We look like we are going about our Father's business: attending church, volunteering for each worthy cause to come down the pike, doing everything that has the appearance of the authenticity of faithful believers.

In the story from the book of Mark, Jesus walked by a fig tree that appeared to be a healthy, fruit bearing tree, yet it bore no fruit and he condemned the tree. This is a very frank commentary on what Jesus thought of something appearing to be what it was not.

Our appearance may seem genuine, but I wonder what deep and honest look in the mirror would reveal. Are we simply appearing to be followers of Christ or are we the genuine article? I think of all the things in my life that have the appearance of legitimacy: a taped and pinned up hemline, eyelashes, subtly highlighted hair. Lacking authenticity in those areas isn't a cause for concern, because the truth is, at the end of the day those things don't have any lasting impact.

My relationship with Christ does have lasting impact, and I do not want to simply appear to be genuine. I do not want to be like the purses Dana and I found at the flea market, able to fool myself or others in regard to my relationship with Jesus Christ. I do not want others to have to examine me as closely as we examined the hand bags looking for tell tale signs of an imitation. It is complete surrender, love and devotion to our Savior that will demonstrate our authenticity. Choose to be genuine and choose a blessing.

Father, I ask your forgiveness for those times when I have given the appearance of following you with genuine devotion and my heart has been far from that. I thank you that your Spirit reminds me and draws me back into authentic relationship with you.

Amen.

Monica Mueller