| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Lifelong learning” Our Bible verse for today: “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost! Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods. Pay attention and come to me; listen, so that you will live.” Isaiah 55:1-3 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Do you want what they have?” Do you know Christians who seem to have a deeper and more intimate relationship with God than you do? I’m referring to Christians who radiate peace and confidence and strong faith. Men and women who are calm, content, joyful, and who serve the Lord well. Maybe you have read about such people. I have on my bookshelf a set of thirty-two biographies of famous missionaries. I’ve read them all and have found that people like that have a deep and vital relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and it is observable. I’m grateful for examples like that. They inspire and motivate me. How does someone develop that kind of relationship with the Lord? I believe Isaiah 55:1-3 gives us a clue. Through Isaiah the Lord used images such as water, milk, food, and money to create a spiritual metaphor. Food and drink are things our body needs, and we need money to purchase them. Well, just as our body needs to be properly nourished so does our soul. But when it comes to obtaining that spiritual nourishment, we don’t have to purchase it. God gives it to us freely. All we have to do is come to Him and receive it. In this passage there are four key words: come, listen, buy, and eat. Remember, this is a spiritual metaphor. Come to the Lord; listen to Him; buy (the currency exchanged is love and trust, not money), and eat (consume). This is how we receive the spiritual nourishment we need moment-by-moment and day-by-day. And if we do this routinely, as a matter of discipline and habit, we are engaged in lifelong learning and spiritual growth. Those Christians mentioned earlier – the ones who seem to have a depth to their relationship with God that is beyond what is common – this is how they became that way. They come to the Lord and spend lots of time with Him; they listen to Him in all the different ways we learned about last month in our segment on “Hearing God;” they bring Him their love and trust, thereby being receptive to receiving what He has for them; and then they eat, they consume and internalize what God has given them. If we want that kind of relationship with God – if we want to be like those Christians who have learned to live at a deeper spiritual level, we will have to commit ourselves to that kind of discipleship. If we want what they have, we will have to do what they do. The reason God gives us examples like that is to motivate and inspire us to live in like manner. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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