October 15
"But turning from all lesser representations, we behold God in Jesus. Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our God to give. "I do nothing of Myself," said Christ; "the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father." "I seek not Mine own glory," but the glory of Him that sent Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is set forth the great principle which is the law of life for the universe. All things Christ received from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father's life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life."
Desire of Ages, page 21 from the chapter, 'God with us'
Yesterday we noted that we can see a picture of God in the world around us if we choose to look. We , that were advised to look for God in the world around us. Rather than focus on the effects of sin and note the sadness all around the advice, for a more fulfilled life, was to emphasise the loving nature of God. We were not to focus on the thorns, but to admire the roses.
At the end of this month comet ISON C/2012 S1 ISON should be visible as it comes past the sun. The hope is that this will be a remarkable sight. However comets are unpredictable and we may see nothing with the naked eye. There are some spiritual lessons we can learn from comets, which I won’t bore you with as they are just musings. They are personal expressions of faith. They work for me but you can easily say, “so what”.
The reading we have today reminds us that noticing the nature of God from the workings of the world around us is an excellent thing to do. We can learn much about God if we are so minded. However now we need something better. “We behold God in Jesus”.
Somehow or other we should set out to recognise Jesus as the one whose character and life tells us more about God.
We have been encouraged to ask for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives every day. I would like you to read a short passage from the Bible, John 16:5-15. Jesus tells his disciples that He is going away. The disciples knew they needed Jesus because they loved Him. We know we need Him because He reveals what His Father is like. Our passage tells us that the separation is good because in His absence we can have a clearer understanding about God, Jesus and their works with the Holy Spirit as an essential part of our lives.
Today, can you meet, or at least talk with your prayer partner and both invite the Holy Spirit into your lives so that you can get an even clearer picture of the nature of God?
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
