25 Days of
“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Philippians 3:10-11 NLT
The ecclesiastical writer grapples with the vanities associated with our temporal life. At the end of this thought journey he offers an abrupt and brief summation:
“That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NLT
Basically, he is saying that the journey, the search for meaning per se, is meaningless. Our meaning is found in our service, our relationship with our Creator, our Father. That is, the ecclesiastical writer is basically saying to forget everything he has said and stick to fearing God, obeying Him, while remembering that our reward is with Him.
In our “25 Days of Illumination” we have been reminded that true enlightenment is found only in Jesus. You see, the Lord took on flesh and dwelt among us. He reclaimed for us the sonship we had squandered. He now shepherds us into the path of righteousness, into the green pastures of His provision, and into the refreshing springs of living water: His Holy Spirit. Our part in the process is to humbly submit to His instruction, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking from that of a mere mortal, to that of a son of God.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NLT
I encourage you to go back over these days we have had together. I can affirm to you with all sincerity of heart that these words contain instruction from the Holy Spirit for us all.
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29 NLT
We are living in perilous times. Yet even within the context of imminent judgment, we can be at peace, having found our hope in the Lord. As we cling to Him, we will find that we are being transformed into His very image. Let’s forsake all vain searches for meaning or quests for knowledge not dispensed from our Lord.
Let us truly seek the enlightenment, the illumination, that comes from Him before darkness falls.
“Gather before judgment begins, before your time to repent is blown away like chaff. Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins. Seek the Lord, all who are humble, and follow his commands. Seek to do what is right and to live humbly. Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you—protect you from his anger on that day of destruction.”
Zephaniah 2:2-3 NLT
Indeed, let us go on to know the Lord!
“till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ,”Ephesians 4:13-15 NKJV
The Mars orbiter, designed to orbit Mars as the first interplanetary weather satellite, was lost in 1999. The $125 million probe is thought to have been destroyed by coming too close to Mars as it came into orbit. An investigation revealed that the failure happened because the Nasa team used metric units while a contractor used imperial.
Germany measures sea level in relation to the North Sea, while Switzerland uses the Mediterranean Sea as the point of reference. This caused a problem in Laufenburg, a town straddling Germany and Switzerland. In 2003, as two halves of a new bridge grew closer to each other, it became evident that, rather than being at the same height "above sea level," one side was 54cm higher than the other. Now, the contractors knew that there was a 27cm difference between the two reference points of sea level, but somehow it was doubled, rather than corrected. The German side had to be lowered before the bridge could be completed.
The point of reference, or the standard of measure, matters.
You need only peruse old yearbooks to see how the measure for beauty or fashion has changed. We all know that the “mullet” should probably be ranked as a crime, yet it was (is?) sported by many. The mullet is but one example of a measure that was later regretted. And please, don’t get me started on the wearing of pants below the buttocks; what ever measure led to that, needs to be put in a vault somewhere for which there is no key.
Before the communication explosion brought the world “closer” together, different countries had very different measures of what was found to be beautiful, desirable, or even decent. Even after the communication revolution there are still differences among cultures, countries, ethnicities, etc. as to what is beautiful, handsome, prosperous, and so forth.
As we have been taking our journey into “25 Days of Illumination,” we have time and again been reminded that what we are seeking is God‘s way of being and doing; we seek to know what He wants us to know so we can be what He wants us to be. Make no mistake, enlightenment or illumination has many meanings, and as such, has many standards.
In our opening scripture we see that our measure for perfection is Jesus Christ. As such, all the wisdom and knowledge we need is found in Him; it is to His full measure we seek to be conformed.
“that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians 2:2-3 NKJV
There is no greater measure than the Son of God and Son of Man: Jesus Christ. As we look to Him, as we yield to His leading by obeying His commands, we will find that He is ushering us into full sonship. And, my dearly beloved, there is nothing greater to be desired.
We light a twenty-fifth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
The measure for enlightenment is Jesus Christ.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23 AMP
We often hear the term, “integrity.” Most of us imagine this to mean that a person’s behavior is consistent with their principles or core values. Additionally, we imagine that those values and principles are “good.” However, given the absolute meaning of the word, you could say a person has integrity if they are adhering to their core principles/values of self aggrandizement, self-enrichment, dominance over others, and so on. So actually, what is lacking in many of the people we look at and see as having no integrity, is core principles and values consistent with God’s righteousness. They are being consistent, it’s just that they are consistently (in every area of their being) bad.
There are many reasons why the religious leaders of the Jews rejected Jesus. One of those reasons was that He made statements such as this:
““But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!””
Matthew 5:20 NLT
Now, what Jesus is saying here is that the righteousness, or so-called righteousness, of the religious leaders was one of appearances. The actual fact was that they gave themselves all kinds of allowances to get around The Law; they spoke a good game, but their heart was not in it.
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:27-28 NLT
Jesus challenged the duplicity of the religious leaders. He knew their hearts and knew that all of the things they were speaking (in terms of The Law), were basically being broken in terms of their thoughts, attitudes and desires.
“You, therefore, will be perfect [growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life], as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48 AMP
Through the cross, the Lord has made it possible for us to have God’s laws written on our heart. That is, by way of the Holy Spirit we can be directly connected to the Lord’s thoughts and motivations.
“But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-12 NLT
In our opening scripture we see Paul expressing his desire that the people at the church in Corinth would be sanctified (set apart from sin and prepared for good works), not only in terms of what they say, do or think, but in all of these areas.
What the Lord truly wants for us is “shalom.” This Hebrew word indicates a state of peace coming from our being made whole: nothing broken or missing. It expresses total tranquility and prosperity of spirit.
As we near the end of our “25 Days of Illumination,” you must understand that true spiritual enlightenment comes when we are open to God’s core values and principles: His righteousness. As we hear and receive what God is saying, as we come to reflect His very nature, then we will truly have shalom.
We light a twenty-fourth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
True enlightenment brings shalom.