Devotions

Col 3:4: When Christ, who is your life ….   

There are so many wonderful passages in the Scriptures of who Christ is to us. Travel through the Gospel of John and meet Jesus who is “the Bread of Life,” “the Light of the World,” “the Gate,” “the Good Shepherd,” “the Resurrection and the Life,” and “the Way, the Truth and the Light.”

I cling to those declarations, but the one I need to be reminded of most often flows from Paul’s pen in Colossians. “Christ, who is your life ….”

Christ is our life. It is so very important in this Christian Walk to be surrendered to Christ fully. It is vital that we hold nothing back, retain nothing for ourselves, and leave no area outside the control of the Savior.

The enemy of our soul also knows how vital our surrender is and so seeks to undermine it every step of the way. He chips at it here and there, trying to draw our mind-set off Christ and put it back on ourselves. He does it with circumstances, with temptations, with the allure of the world or riches or pride. Sometimes he just seeks to exhaust us so that we become weak and tired. He introduces apathy, and fatalism.

When those things happen, we must turn back, set our minds on things above, and our surrender to Christ, who is our life. I wish I could say this is a “once and done” but it is not. It requires heeding the Spirit’s warnings when He sees us drifting from our commitment, repenting, and re-affirming our commitment.

“Do we believe God is in control? If He’s not, then who is? In other words, if life events are random and without purpose, then to whom do we turn in trials?” [Charles Stanley]

 “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” [Colossians 1:17 NLT]

“You also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”   [Colossians 2:10 NLT]

I love the book of Colossians, which speaks repeatedly of the supremacy of Christ Jesus. Christ is the head of every power and authority. Whenever I get to thinking that the things I am experiencing are out of my control, I need to rejoice in just that … that they are out of my control! That is a good thing.

I have little power or strength truly in this world in my own self. I can look at some things and say, yes, I have a fairly quick mind, a bit of common sense, and a ready smile.

However, I’m also aging, and my body is slowing down (and getting a bit less responsive to my demands). I can’t juggle as many things as I used to and keep them all straight. Everything I do, I do slower. So, if I am going to look for the power and ability to be victorious in life as it happens, I need to look outside of myself. I need to look at the One who is the Head over every power and authority.

I am so thankful that as children of God, we can turn to Him and know He is indeed in control. While I may not have the full picture of all He is doing, I know that He’s working all things for eternal good. I can rest in that.

One last fuss over that Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbot that mimics God – and all the things that can go wrong with that.

We are not only a people always searching for the “new” – even in our search for God. We are also an impatient people and seeking God is not a 3-second experience.

The average human attention span is approximately 8 1/4 seconds, which is shorter than that of a goldfish, which has an attention span of 9 seconds. We have lost nearly 4 seconds since 2000.

It takes time and effort to seek and find God. Sometimes we must even wrestle with God. I can boldly say that I grew the most during those times in my life when I had to honestly wrestle and struggle with God. There have been times when God was silent, times when His answers were not a quick turnaround.

I have approached God when I was desperate, hungering for meaning, angry, without hope and doubting. I have had times when I felt God abandoned me in my struggles or my sorrow.

And oh, the JOY(!) when God met me in my struggles. How sad that some think that experience can be duplicated by an AI Chatbot.

How utterly devastating that people are seeking the One True God in ways that are diminishing their ability to find Him.

Searching for something new is an epidemic in today’s Christianity. We download the newest devotions, listen to popular podcasts, and look for the hottest Bible Study teacher. We claim we are doing this because it is necessary in our search for God – but often it isn’t as much searching for God as it is searching for something new.

That may be why so many people are converging on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots that mimic conversations with clergy or even God. Press a button on your device and you have an instant 3-second connection to the Lord God Almighty.

There are several things wrong with that – the main one being we aren’t really connected to the All-Knowing Lord God Almighty. And no one knows just who or what is behind AI’s responses.

In addition, that 3-second response gives the impression that God is at our beck and call. It reduces God to a vending machine (put one prayer in, get one blessing out).

If you get into the habit of thinking that God is obligated to flash a response every time you come to Him, you will lose all sense of the magnificent greatness of our Holy Perfect LORD.

Somehow that seems a high price to pay for instant gratification.

I can’t stop thinking about those Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps that that are becoming increasingly popular that mimic conversations with not just clergy, but with God. I can’t stop thinking about how easily they could be made to deceive people.

And I can’t stop thinking how sad it is that people prefer “artificial intelligence responses” rather than hearing from God Almighty.

Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish captives in Babylon contained a promise from God: “’You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you’ declares the Lord.” [Jeremiah 29:13-14 NIV]

That promise holds true for us also. When we seek God with all our heart, we will find Him. It may take a bit longer than the 3-second AI responses, and we may have to work harder than just clicking something on our devices, but the response is that we find the LORD God Almighty, the Eternal, Self-Existent, All-Knowing and All-Powerful Living God.

And at the core is the question, what are we seeking? Are we looking for just answers? Are we seeking only solutions to what plagues us? Or are we seeking to know the LORD – our Savior and King?

I received an email from “NYTimes The Morning” and it stunned me. Here’s a small portion of it.

“Tens of millions of people are turning to A.I.-powered religious apps that mimic conversations with clergy — or even God. These apps are rocketing to the top of Apple’s App Store. Bible Chat, a Christian app, has more than 30 million downloads. Hallow, a Catholic app, was Apple’s most-downloaded app at one point last year, ahead of Netflix, Instagram and TikTok. The apps are attracting tens of millions of dollars in investments, and people are paying up to $70 a year for subscriptions.” (Lauren Jackson, editor for The Morning and the host of Believing Newsletter, NYTimes)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps that mimic conversations with God. If that isn’t a step (a giant leap?) into the danger zone I don’t know what it would be! I can’t imagine it would be that hard for evil to invade those apps.

Why would we settle for 3-second counterfeit conversations when we are invited to come confidently into the very presence of the Living, Almighty God.

“This High Priest of ours [Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” [Hebrews 4:15-16 NLT]

My heart and mind are still unsettled by this trend. Much to pray about. With the “real” God.

I have had many medical appointments since June when I made the decision to have spinal surgery. There were Peri-Op, Pre-Op and several Post-Op appointments. Then came Physical Therapy on the neck and recently for the dizziness and lack of balance.

Checking my calendar this morning I have 14 more appointments between now and the end of the year. Thankfully, all but one are within the same health system.

That health system knows my name, but I must also prove my identity with my birth date. While my medical records have my name and birth date, I am also known by a six-digit number.

Name, birthdate and number are also how the government, credit agencies, insurance companies and other entities know me. There are probably other people with the same name, maybe one also has the same birthdate, so I guess having a number is a good thing in this life.

But there is One who doesn’t need the birthdate, nor a number, to identify me. “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him [Jesus, the Good Shepherd], and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” [John 10:3 NLT]

Jesus, the Good Shepherd doesn’t just know my name, He knows my heart. I am more than a number to Him. I am His. I am a child of God. Such JOY(!) to wake up this morning and know that the King of Kings and LORD of Lords knows me. Amen

Since my spinal surgery I have been dealing with dizziness and balance issues. It has been getting worse. I was referred to a hearing and balance physical therapist. It appears that the so-called “crystals” in my ears have once again escaped where they are supposed to stay. That causes the world to spin when I turn my head a certain way.

This body that I dwell in has certainly been a bit off kilter lately, giving me all kinds of problems. That is why when I was reading the following verse the other day, I really took note. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” [Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV]

I looked at the verse in the Holman Christian Standard Bible version and I was glad I did!  “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

Do you see what I see?  Look at that phrase … “you are complete in Him,” in the NKJV and then in the HCSB, “you have been filled by Him.”

 Oh beloved, that should make your heart sing! Yes, lots of things in my body have changed, but I am securely filled by Christ Jesus, who is the head over every ruler and authority. JOY!

He was the entire fullness of God’s nature AMONG US when He walked this earth. Now He is the entire fullness of God’s nature IN US while we walk this earth! Hallelujah! Amen!

“For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [Philippians 2:9-11 HCSB]

I am 78 years old, soon to be 79. I have loved God all my life and have tried to serve Him over the past 50+ years. I have also seen a lot of suffering, pain, brokenness, grief, and death. I have seen firsthand the damage done to families by addictions of all kinds, criminal activity, abuse, and violence. I worked Hospice where “I met 125 new people each year, all of whom died.”

Here in my old age, I have now been favored with making it through a virus pandemic, witnessing attacks on churches, anarchy in our streets and history re-written. I have watched the pillars of our nation shaken to the core. If anything, I should be depressed or discouraged about life. It does not seem fair, does it, that I should have to live my final years in this dark atmosphere.

I am, however, not depressed nor discouraged. Life may be unfair, truthfully life is unfair, but my God, my LORD and my Master is always good. He has called me out of my sin-filled life and redeemed me by the power of His death and resurrection. He has removed my guilt and shame. He has given me that wonderful promise that I shall one day see “every knee bow before Him and every tongue confess that He is LORD to the glory of God.”

Yes, I am looking forward to that day and its glory, and it is just because things are dark now and getting darker that the light of His promised glory is getting ever brighter before me. Amen & Amen.

I read a quote from Albert Einstein yesterday. He said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.”  Can I get an Amen!

We need a new way of thinking and a new way of doing or we are going to keep making the same mistakes and finding ourselves in the same situations.

The New Testament is full of new thinking and new ways. It speaks of new wine needing new wineskins, of a new life, and of being a new creation, of putting on a new self. It tells us we have a new and living way open for us. It commands us to have new attitudes and a new mind. And it promises us a new heaven, a new earth, and a new song to sing. What a great Bible Study we could do just on all the new’s!

There was one new that stood out for me. It is found in Rom 7:6: “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.” [NLT]

In Christ Jesus we have died to sin, and to the law. We are no longer bound by what used to control us.  Our old sinful way of doing things is dead. Christ has released us so that now we serve God in the new way of living in the Spirit. It is no longer thou shall not, but instead a new way of thinking, doing, living, that flows from the life of God present within us.

It is no longer an obligation to serve, it is now a wonderful, delightful privilege to serve in the new way and in the power of the Spirit of God.