Give light to the eyes of your hearts.

 

Saturday, December 30, 2023


Psalms 148; 149

Isaiah 63:1-9

Ephesians 1:15-23


Observance: Josephine Butler, social reformer (d. 1905)


Give light to the eyes of your hearts.


God the Father has mighty strength. Raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand is indeed an awesome display of mighty strength. Paul thinks very highly of this strength of God, and we do too, celebrating it every Sunday at the table, and developing our calendar around an annual celebration of Easter.


This climactic display of the mighty strength of our heavenly Father is consistent with the power that awakens our souls to spiritual understanding. We all see the material world. It takes a little insight to see past the material world at the spiritual forces that guide it; for example, that unpleasant inclination towards consumerism that is inflamed at Christmas.


But to see past even that, to gain spiritual understanding of the highest forces in the universe, the forces that originate from heaven, from God’s throne, is not natural. That type of insight cannot be taught or learned. It is a gift from God, a working out of God’s mighty strength, the same that God used when Jesus was raised from the dead.


Once we have been given that gift, we can then cultivate it. But its source is supernatural. Have you ever sat in your pew at church and really looked at the people around you? What is in any Christian that suggests we should be so blessed with such spiritual riches? God has made Jesus the head of the church, and this church is the full expression of Him who fills all creation. The church as the full expression of Jesus Christ, the Lord Almighty? This truly is a mighty display of God’s strength.


This supernatural insight that we have, this love for Jesus and knowledge of what He has done for us, is truly a precious gift. It is not just a fact we hold in our heads; it is the mighty strength of God the Father, the same strength He used when He raised Jesus from the dead and placed Him as Lord of all. May God increase this strength within us daily, expressed in us as light in the eyes of our hearts.

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