treasure, tuesday

Tuesday, July 21

Opening Prayer: Late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!  And behold, you were within me and I was outside, and there I sought for you, and in my deformity I rushed headlong into the well-formed things that you have made.  You were with me, and I was not with you. ~St. Augustine

Scripture: Matthew 13:52

Journal: What is God doing within you these days?  What is in your storehouse right now?  What treasures has God placed there in order for you to pass them along to others?

Reflection:

 

     A significant part of this life of faith, it seems, is being good stewards of those things God is doing (and has done) within us.   Matthew, in fact, refers to them as treasures, new and old, stored up in the storehouse (of our souls).  They are not the result of our own wisdom or insight or giftedness or favor, but things God, for some unknown reason, has chosen in his kindness to give to us.  They are his gracious gifts that are intended to do something beautiful deep within us, but also to be brought out of the storehouse at the appropriate time and shared with whoever God brings across our paths.  Therefore, we should always be aware of, and paying careful attention to, the things God is doing within us, because they are the very things he desires to use to show others the beauty of his Kingdom.

Prayers

Closing Prayer: O God, Lord of all, you place your treasures within us and call us to be good stewards of their infinite beauty.  Give us the grace and the wisdom to know how to care for this treasure, and where, when, and how to pass it along.  Amen.

treasure, monday

Monday, July 20

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are indeed the treasure hidden in a field.  Help me to seek and search and dig and hunt until I finally find you today.  And when I do, capture my heart and soul completely with your beauty and majesty in a way that totally reorders my priorities, as well as my life.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 13:44

Journal: Do you really believe that the Kingdom of God is like treasure?  Like treasure hidden?  What will you do to seek and search for that treasure today?  What treasure does God have for you?  How is he your treasure today?

Reflection:

 

     The kingdom of heaven is like treasure.  What an incredible statement!  Of all the pictures that come to mind when I hear about the kingdom of heaven, the picture of a priceless, matchless treasure is not typically one of them.  Why is that?  What do I really think the kingdom of heaven is like?  And how does what I think the kingdom of heaven is really like shape my life and my belief? 

     I have a suspicion that if I really believed the kingdom of heaven was like treasure, I would live my life much differently.  At least that’s what history would lead me to believe.  Just take a look at those who found it: the guy in the field, Zacchaeus, James and John, and Peter and Andrew, Paul, just to name a few.  It seems that something deeply significant happens within a person when they really discover the beauty and the majesty—the breathtaking quality—of this treasure. 
     What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase the kingdom of heaven?  And what comes to your mind when you think of treasure?  What do you treasure?  What is your treasure?  It seems like a pretty significant question.  In fact, both Matthew and Luke go as far as to tell us (like we saw yesterday) that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.  So I guess it is something we should spend some time considering.
     I've been thinking a lot about treasure these days, particularly as it relates to the kingdom of heaven.  Mostly because of this parable.  And the more I think about it, the more it seems like once I am truly convinced that life with God (the kingdom of heaven) is like treasure—the most valuable, beautiful, captivating treasure I could ever hope to discover in my wildest dreams—it completely changes everything.  My heart is totally and completely captured by its (His) beauty; and I will do anything, and give up anything and everything, to possess it.  That's the way it was for the man in the story at least.  And that's the way it could be for us too.  At least that seems to be one of the main things Jesus is trying to communicate by telling the story in the first place; that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure.
     But it's not just like treasure, it's like treasure hidden.  Now there's an interesting twist.  Why in the world would God want this treasure to be hidden?  But we all know from experience that it indeed is.  We all know thousands of people personally who have never found it.  In fact, they don't even know (or care) that it's buried and waiting to be found.  The only answer I can come up with is that there must be something in the seeking.  And not only in the seeking for the very first time, but in the seeking each and every day after that as well.  That means that the why of the hiddenness may not be quite as important as the fact that it is, indeed, hidden.  For if it is, indeed, hidden then that must be the very nature of this treasure—always hidden, waiting to be found.  And if that is the very nature of this treasure, then I need to constantly be on the lookout for it.  If there is buried treasure waiting to be found, I need to constantly be seeking, and searching, and digging to unearth it, each minute of each and every day.  Whether it be in a conversation, or a situation, or a circumstance, or a hardship, or a wound, or even in Scripture—or in my time with Him each day—I must constantly be digging in search of the treasure hidden in the field.  It is there, just waiting to be found.  And when I begin to approach life in this way it will radically change everything.  I will be completely sold out (like the man in the parable), giving up anything and everything, in order to take possession of this immeasurably valuable treasure, constantly making it my very own.

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me.  Let me seek you in my desire, and desire you in my seeking.  Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you. ~St. Anselm

treasure, sunday

Sunday, July 19

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, our eternal treasure, be our one desire, be the first of all our affections, be the center of our lives.  May all we do, think, and say revolve always only around you. Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-21

Journal: What does your life tend to revolve around these days?  What does that tell you about where you heart is?  What does that tell you about what you treasure?

Reflection:

 

     Typically, you can tell what’s most important to a person by the way they spend their time.  Whatever that thing is that gets the majority of our time, energy, and attention has a really good chance of being the thing that we treasure the most.   Oh, we can try to convince ourselves, and our world, otherwise, but when it comes right down to it, we know it’s true. 

     Jesus knew it too.  He realized that the things that our lives tend to revolve around are the things that have our hearts.  And the things that have our hearts are the things, like it or not, that are our treasure.  So we have to pay careful attention to what our lives (and our use of time) are telling us.  What does the way I live my life say about what is really important to me?  Where does most of our time, effort, and energy get invested?  What does that say about what I really treasure?  Who, or what, has my heart right now?  Is that person, or thing, treasure that will last?  What does it look like to treasure Jesus above all else?

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us treasure you above all else.  Amen.

the heart, saturday

Saturday, July 18

Opening Prayer: God unto whom all hearts are open and unto whom every will speaks, and from whom no secret thing is hidden, I pray You to cleanse the intent of my heart with the ineffable gift of Your grace, that I might perfectly love You, and worthily praise You.  Amen. (The Cloud of Unknowing)

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:10-14

Journal: What do the words of Jeremiah do within you today?  What makes you come alive?  What challenges you?  What does it look like to seek the Lord with all your heart?  Where are you in that process? 

Reflection:

 

     Prayer is not real unless it comes from the heart.  “The heart” is a phrase that is strongly emphasized in the Bible.  It is a picture of the heart of human personality, the place where all our attitudes, drive and motivation come from.  The heart is the core of our being.  Prayer starts with the heart, because God longs to relate to us at every level of our being.  This includes our feelings, our mind, our imagination, our love, our memory, our will.  God seeks to know us intimately for all that we are.  This is why prayer focuses on the very core of our being, inside the heart.  John Chrysostom, the great preacher in the fourth-century church, said, “Find the door of your heart, and you will discover that it is the door of the Kingdom of God.” (The Transforming Power of Prayer by James Houston)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Lord, I am yours; I do yield myself up entirely to you, and I believe that you do take me.  I leave myself with you.  Work in me all the good pleasure of your will, and I will only lie still in your hands and trust you.  Amen. (The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith)

the heart, friday

Friday, July 17

Opening Prayer: Deliver us when we draw near to you, O God, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind: grant that with steadfast hearts and kindled affections, we may worship you in Spirit and in Truth.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

Scripture: Proverbs 4:20-27

Journal: What is springing up in your heart these days?  What is giving you life?  How will you keep your heart set on Jesus?

Reflection:

 

     Indeed, if we will listen, a Sacred Romance calls to us through our heart every moment of our lives.  It whispers to us on the wind, invites us through the laughter of good friends, reaches out to us through the touch of someone we love.  We've heard it in our favorite music, sensed it at the birth of our first child, been drawn to it while watching the shimmer of a sunset on the ocean.  The Romance is even present in times of great personal suffering:  the illness of a child, the loss of a marriage, the death of a friend.  Something calls to us through experiences like these and rouses an inconsolable longing deep within our heart, wakening in us a yearning for intimacy, beauty, and adventure.

     This longing is the most powerful part of any human personality.  It fuels our search for meaning, for wholeness, for a sense of being truly alive.  However we may describe this deep desire, it is the most important thing about us, our heart of hearts, the passion of our life.  And the voice that calls to us in this place is none other than the voice of God. (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)

Prayers

Closing Prayers: Drive far from us all wrong desires, O God, and incline our hearts to keep your ways.  Grant that having cheerfully done your will this day we may, when night comes, rejoice and give you thanks.  Through the one who lives a reigns with you and your Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

the heart, thursday

Thursday, July 16

Opening Prayer: O God, we can’t hide from you, for you see right into our hearts.  It is our hearts that you most care about.  It is our hearts that you desire one hundred percent ownership of.  It is our hearts that ultimately make us who we are.  Therefore, O God, capture our hearts once again today and make us completely your own.  Amen.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Journal: What words or images are you most drawn to in this scripture?  Why?  What are you most disturbed by?  Why?  What do you spend more time and energy investing in, the outward appearance or the heart?  What does God see when he looks into your heart today? 

Reflection:

 

     We spend so much time and energy on the “outward things” these days, or at least I know I do.  Oh not just our physical appearance, but our whole persona.  It is how we are judged in this culture.  And, if we’re really honest, it is how we judge as well.  We care a lot about how we look, or should I say how we are perceived.  We strive for success.  We work for achievements.  We list our accomplishments.  We build our reputations.  We make a name for ourselves.  For us, and for our world, image matters.  We define ourselves, oftentimes, by how others see us and by what they say and think about us.  Which makes for a rocky and lonely ride.

     But aren’t you so glad that God is not like that?  Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t look on the outward appearance, but looks on the heart?  It is the exact opposite of what the world does.  Maybe that’s why these verses can be so unsettling.  God is kind of turning our normal ways of being and seeing upside down.  What matters most in his economy is not the outward things, but the inward things.  Because life was meant to flow from the inside out, not from the outside in.  He knows that if he has captured our hearts, our lives and our behavior will take care of itself.  After all, only good water can flow out of a good well, right?

     So maybe instead of spending so much time constructing my outer world, I need to invest much more time and energy on my inner one—nurturing my heart.  Maybe I need come before him much more often in prayer and allow his great affection to so capture me that it affects everything I do, think, and say.  Because maybe God wants my affection far more than he wants my activity.  For he knows if he has my affection, he will have my behavior as well.  In fact, he will have all of me.

     My guess is that’s what he saw in young David as he came in from tending the sheep.  He saw a man after His own heart.  And that’s exactly the kind of king he was looking for.    

Closing Prayer: God of all that is good and just, grant us courage to walk the path of faith with integrity and wisdom to rely on you to guide our feet toward the level ground of vital Christian community.  Test us where we think we are strong, and strengthen us where we know we are wavering.  Above all, create in us pure hearts given fully to love of your truth.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God by Rueben Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John Mogabgab)

the heart, wednesday

Wednesday, July 15

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, may we always know that before anything else you want our love.  You desire us to love you with everything in our being.  You desire us to love you above and beyond anything else in all creation.  And you want that love for you to determine everything else that we do.  Help us to hear (Hear, O Israel) and heed your call today.  Amen.

Scripture: Mark 12:28-34

Journal: What do the words of Jesus do within you this day?  How do they capture you?  How do they inspire you?  How do they disrupt you?  How do they challenge you?  What does it mean to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?  How does that enable you to love your neighbor as yourself?

Reflection:

 

There is a secret place. A radiant sanctuary. As real as your own kitchen. More real than that. Constructed of the purest elements. Overflowing with the ten thousand beautiful things. Worlds within worlds. Forests, rivers. Velvet coverlets thrown over featherbeds, fountains bubbling beneath a canopy of stars. Bountiful forests, universal libraries. A wine cellar offering an intoxication so sweet you will never be sober again. A clarity so complete you will never again forget. This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway… Believe the incredible truth that the Beloved has chosen for his dwelling place the core of your own being because that is the single most beautiful place in all of creation. ~Teresa of Avila

Prayers

Closing Prayer: O God, you love us with a wild, passionate, unfailing love, and you ask that we love you with the same.  Give us the grace and the courage and the strength to do just that.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.