Jan 6

Jan 6 A New Year, New Rhythms, and the Gift of Revelation

Christmastime anticipates the incarnation when the Creator becomes the created, God in flesh and bones. You may recall that this miracle took place that we might know him, the only true God, the living Word of God, the Savior of the world.

As I have written before, the Bible tells the true story of the whole world from Creation to New Creation and contains factual, historical events and genealogies, stories of rebellion against God, of great peril and faltering faith, hate, love, and war and, finally and gloriously, redemption in and through Jesus.

Jesus is the centerpiece of the story the very clue to everything that is.

In the weeks to come, my posts will center on Jesus and the significance of the Scripture in our pursuit of God. I will draw on various personal experiences that have helped me to find and get to know God within the pages of this grand narrative. My hope is to encourage you along the way and to inspire you to take the next step in your relationship with God. Remarkably, the Triune God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of all things makes himself known to people like us!

I begin with an abrupt ending and an unexpected beginning.

Endings and Beginnings

In early June, just before my twentieth birthday, I was happily, blissfully engaged. I had finally found my knight in shining armor and I banked on living happily ever after. Then, just ten days before the wedding, he called the whole thing off. I was devastated.

Wedding gifts arrived in the mail almost every day while my mom and I returned the wedding dress, the shoes and cancelled the photographer, flowers, the pastor, and the church. I had to call and inform family, friends, and guests. I struggled to know what to do next. I lived at home (because like I said, I was supposed to be getting married) and our neighbor, Lynn, invited me over for coffee. She listened with compassion as I told her my sad tale and eventually said, “Cas, the only place you’ll find the love you’re looking for is in a relationship with Jesus.” She opened her Bible and showed me John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

I knew very little about God. I had no idea that he knew that I existed let alone actually loved me. But later that same day, I knelt before this God I did not know and expressed a tiny bit of faith. I confessed my need for help and was relieved to find forgiveness.

Lost and Found

The chaos of my circumstances only got worse, but somehow I knew God was with me. Soon I moved or maybe escaped from my family and friends in Utah and fled back to my childhood roots in Colorado. Just before I left, Lynn urged me to pray. She said that I could ask God to help me find a job, a place to live, even friends.

Until then, I literally had no idea whatsoever that God cared about such menial details.

So, I prayed for a place to live and low and behold, I found an available apartment managed by a guy with a Bible on his desk and a wooden carving of a fish with the name “Jesus” etched on the side in Greek. How I knew this detail remains a mystery to me still today, but in that moment I knew. God had answered my prayer.

My chaotic circumstances, mostly due to my poor choices, only worsened. I worked during the day and partied at night as I grieved my shattered dreams. All the while, the Spirit of God reminded me that I was not alone. My neighbor Jeff, who was also a follower of Jesus, looked out for me like a brother and his friends badgered me to stop smoking and to read the Bible. They would leave little pamphlets at my door titled Seven Minutes with God. I hated and loved their irritating persistence. I wished they would leave me alone, but their presence reminded me that I was not alone.

Three months into my unsuccessful escape from reality I crashed emotionally. My secretarial job bored me to tears, my personal life had tanked, and I felt backed into a corner with nowhere to turn.

One particularly desperate evening after work while waiting in a grocery store line, I spotted a book on a nearby rack, The Jesus Person Promise Pocketbook. Somehow in that moment I knew I was a Jesus Person. As I thumbed through the contents, I found Bible references to everything I longed for--Mercy, Love, Comfort, Forgiveness, Strength, Hope, Kindness, Patience.

Around this same time movie theaters were featuring a movie called Jesus. Since I was a Jesus person now, I decided to take in a Saturday matinee. I was mesmerized. In the span of a few hours, I watched the story of this Jesus I barely knew as his life, brutal death on a cross, resurrection, and ascension unfolded before my very eyes.

I was discovering, in these moments that remain etched in my mind still today, that the Bible contains God’s revelation and that Jesus is at the very center of the story—the true story of the whole world.

There and then I started trying to spend seven minutes with God.

New Rhythms: Start with Seven Minutes

My life of faith sputtered to a start and included a lot more ups and downs. But I share these experiences for three reasons. First, to remind you that God loves you—yes you. If you have not yet, memorize this verse that summarizes the true story of the whole world in twenty-three words.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Second, to assure you that God is with you and is moving in and through your circumstances to draw you to himself. God’s Spirit is the One who reveals God’s truth to us and gifts us with understanding. Take a few minutes today and reflect on the undeniable ways that God is pursuing or drawing you to himself. Share with one person one tangible way God has shown up in your life.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44).

Thank God for being there for you or, if you are not sure that he is, ask him to open your eyes to see.

Third, as I reflect back on those difficult days, I am reminded that the Bible is God’s gift to us. His Word is alive in our lives and whether we are just getting to know God or longing to know God better, the Bible is the place to turn because it contains the vibrant, true, and living story.

The true story of the whole world encompasses and explains our lives.

Maybe this is the year that you start or start again spending Seven Minutes With God.

Begin with the Gospel of John. Read (or listen to) the first chapter that introduces us to the Word of God made flesh—Jesus—the One who explains God (John 1:1–4, 14, 18).

If you have time to spare, read it again and ask for God’s help with whatever is going on in your life today.