There Is No Greater Thing

Today is Friday, the twenty-sixth of March, 2021, in the fifth week of Lent.

Peace be with you!

Day 23,024

Nine days until Resurrection Sunday!

C received her second Pfizer vaccine shot, yesterday. Her reaction was a bit stronger than mine, as she has a mild fever, and chills and aches. Forward thinking, she brought her work computer home, and will be staying home today.

S should get her second shot next week, but I’m not sure we have received notification about that, yet.

Yesterday’s work day was as different from the day before as night is from day. It was truly amazing. The “epiphany” that I had in the midst of Wednesday made a world of difference. I’m still just as busy and just as behind, but the attitude was completely different.

And today is Friday! It’s hard to get me down on a Friday. I have no idea what this weekend holds, other than Palm Sunday. I know that we have no plans outside our normal Saturday and Sunday activities.

Baseball season begins soon. I believe Opening Day for MLB is April 1. The Texas Rangers begin the season in Kansas City, so their home opening day (at the new ballpark, which will finally have some fans) will be Monday, April 5.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.
(The Prayer of St. Francis)

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.
(Psalms 66:16-20 NLT)

Today I am grateful:

• that C has gotten her second COVID-19 vaccine shot
• for gentle nudges from You, throughout the day
• that You are my Rock and my Foundation
• that knowing You, Jesus, is the main purpose of my life
• that Your Word casts a beam of light on my path

Scriptures and Prayers from Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

LENT – DAY 33

INVITATION

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
(Psalms 145:17-18 NIV)

I am pausing, this morning, to quietly reflect on the Lord’s goodness in my life.

BIBLE SONG

Of David.

To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
(Psalms 28:1-2 NIV)

Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
(Psalms 28:6-7 NIV)

BIBLE READING

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:4b-14 NIV)

DWELLING: SILENCE AND MEDITATION

As I rest in God’s presence, this morning, I reread these passages, searching for words or phrases that reach out to me or move my spirit.

I acknowledge that God is my Rock. He is my Foundation. All other ground is sinking sand. I frequently cry out to Him for mercy, and He hears my prayers. Praise be to God!

He is my strength and my shield! “My heart trusts in him and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”

The reading from Philippians stresses one thing and that one thing is, as Curly emphasized in City Slickers, the main thing. That main thing is “to know Christ.” Everything that Paul lists off as potential reasons to boast, and his list is long, he considers as garbage. The KJV uses the word “dung.” Everything that I could possibly boast in, compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, is a big old pile of poop.

And Paul?!? The mightiest of all New Testament writers? He does not yet claim to have “taken hold of it.” He continues to press forward, “straining toward what is ahead.”

We focus our attention on so many useless things, and, to be fair, some of those are helpful diversions from the issues we face in this world. I spend more than my fair share of time playing video games. But that is my mode of relaxation; it helps me to get over the stress of the work week.

But there are other things that we obsess over that are not so healthy. We get dragged into political junk, conspiracies over this or that. I’m currently reading a book about the Manson murders back in the late sixties. It’s making my head spin. It would be really easy to get drawn into an obsession over that kind of thing.

But obsessions over anything that is not Christ are unhealthy for us. As Paul proclaims, knowing Jesus is the main thing. There is no greater thing, as a song by Graham Kendrick proclaims.

Father, I praise You for being my Rock and my Foundation. I thank You that You hear my prayers for mercy, and other prayers, as well. I echo the sentiment proclaimed by Paul, and sung by Matthew in the above song. Knowing You, Jesus, is the main thing. There is no great thing! May that be the thrust of my life, the goal of my very existence. I love You, Lord!

Father,
I seek to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified.
When I take the full measure of your love in the cross,
any worth I might think I have pales in contrast to the beauty and wonder of knowing Jesus Christ.
I find comfort in his wounds and life in his death,
which renders me perfect forever.
Amen.
(Belgic Confession 21)

BLESSING

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life.
(1 John 5:11-12 NIV)

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.
(Colossians 2:6 MSG)

With your instruction, I understand life; that’s why I hate false propaganda. By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
(Psalms 119:104-105 MSG)

Father, keep me on Your path, today. Simple and straightforward, teach me to live in what I have learned from You. I have received Jesus Christ, the Master; help me to live in Him and walk in Him. Your Word casts a beam of light on my path, that I may see where I am going. Let me not step out of that beam today! Knowing You . . . there is no greater thing!

Lord, may You give me, today, the ability to deny myself and serve others. I am still praying for more gentleness in everything I think, do, and say. Give me and all of us the commitment to do justice and love mercy. I lift up a special prayer, this morning, for all who are separated or divorced. May You bring comfort to them, peace to their hearts, and, where possible, restoration to broken relationships. All glory to You, Lord!

I pray for peace in our nation, peace in our world. I pray for racial injustice to end, and I pray for the pandemic to be over. Above all else, though, I pray for Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Grace and peace, friends.