DAILY DEVOTIONAL – March 2, 2020
“The Eternal Frontier”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as we follow You by faith, fill us with courage and excitement as we venture forth to find where You will lead us and the blessings Your will has in store for us. Amen.
Scripture: John 3:6-8
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Devotional – “The Eternal Frontier”
Throughout my years of ministry I have heard on several occasions people object to Christianity because they think it is boring. They assume that because Christ calls us to live a moral and God-pleasing life that somehow that means it is a dull life. When talking with people who have these objections, I have asked the question, “what part of the Bible, or the lives of the disciples, or the lives of the prophets do you find boring?” I have yet to get a reasonable answer to that question.
When you read through the patriarchal narratives of the Old Testament or the lives of the apostles following Jesus or the lives of the disciples as the New Testament church was formed, you find anything but boredom. In fact, I would imagine that the disciples lived each day on the edge of their seat not knowing what their Lord would do next! Manifest lunch out of thin air, walk on water, command the weather, raise the dead?!
In our text today from John 3, Jesus describes the life of those born of the Spirit of God; those who are disciples of Christ. He says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, buckle up!
One of the most iconic television shows of all time is Star Trek. Each episode as you probably well know started with this monologue:
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Capt. James T. Kirk and his crew “boldly” journeyed into space, the “final frontier.” Their mission was not to tame that frontier, but to explore it, experience it, interact with it, learn from it. Much the same can be said of the spiritual, eternal frontier of walking by faith in Christ. Like the wind, it can have moments when it is calm and serene, followed abruptly by moments where it is wild, mysterious, untamed, uncertain and requires an adventurous and bold spirit on the part of all those who dare to journey after Jesus Christ.
I like what Howard Macey says about the life of faith. “The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.” Indeed, just because it is wild, mysterious, untamed and maybe even uncertain at times, does not mean that it should be feared, or worse yet, avoided. Jesus said that we are to be adventurous; that we are to boldly ask, seek and knock; that we are to steer directly into the mysterious spiritual frontier because it is His frontier and He is our captain who has already gone before us conquering sin, death and the devil on the cross.
Oswald Chambers aptly noted:
“Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty … Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God.”
Friends, take it from someone who made the mistake many times of thinking you had to do something immoral or outlandish to find excitement in life; you will find nothing more fulfilling or thrilling then following the Risen Lord Jesus and allowing Him to guide you into all eternity.
Thanks for joining me for another time of devotion in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
