Daily Huddle - Sat Dec 5, 2020 Beautiful

Love you all, praying for you… 
 
I just love God’s Word!  It’s hope and life, and truth and instruction.  Can you imagine living life with no instruction, just a crap shoot?  So many definitions out there of what is right and what is wrong.  So many differing opinions of success and best practice.  It is such a blessing to have a standard of truth and excellence by which everything else is measured.  Without it, it’s like playing football with no sidelines or endzone.  You’re just chasing kids through the neighborhood, it’s not football anymore, it’s just tag...  God was reminding me recently, It’s interesting what we consider beauty, and what God does.  Most people consider beauty as physical appearance.  A beautiful car – that resto-mod 57 Chevy.  Or a beautiful run, that splits the defenders leaving eleven in your wake as you sprint the entire field and reach the end zone untouched.  That’s a thing of beauty.  Your wife is beautiful.  You married above yourself, admit it, and cherish her accordingly.  You owe God for that one… God said they made Aaron’s garments for beauty – so a beautiful dress or a beautiful suit of clothes.  Beauty means fair or comely – that which pleases the eye.   There is no one and no thing more beautiful than God.  He shines forth alone in beauty and majesty.   He is the perfection of beauty Psalms 50:2.   Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary, his presence (that’s why when you spend time in worship to the LORD – it is a place of beauty, it fills your house or your car, and your heart.   Psalms 27:4 – One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the LORD and to enquire in his temple.  His beauty is not just to look at, it does something…  Psalms 90:17 - And let the beauty of the LORD our God rest upon us, establish the work of our hands, yes, establish the work of our hands.  When the Beauty of the LORD is upon you – it establishes you – sets you in a firm place, immovable.  God does it.  And there is another beauty.  A beauty which comes from every choice of obedience, it’s a moral beauty – that shines like the stars in the sky.  I Chronicles 16:29 – Give unto the LORD the glory due his name, bring an offering, and come before him:  worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.  Holiness – to be set apart – has a beauty of it’s own.  And every time your actions set you apart – every time your choices demonstrate holiness it’s worship unto the LORD.  These don’t have to be big things.  A small child that willingly shares a toy.  There is a beauty that shines forth in that act of honor and obedience to God.  It stands apart.  It’s so unusual, unnatural, which is why it so obviously shining forth.  Last night at the hotel, getting ready for bed, I grabbed a Kleenex from the counter – and within the matter of a second – thoughts flashed through my mind, and had reached their conclusion.  When I reached for that Kleenex, my first thought was to tear it in half.  It’s just become a habit.  I usually use two kleenex’ and I can either use two, or two halves.  It doesn’t really matter, but it’s become a habit – to honor God in using wisely what He has entrusted to us.  Immediately as I reached for it, the thought rushed in, it’s a hotel – just use a whole one.  And as quickly as that thought came, the Holy Spirit was right there to remind me – it’s my Kleenex at the hotel as much as its my Kleenex at your house.  And the issue was over.  In the time it took to reach out and touch the Kleenex, I already had my answer.  Now wait a minute – if you think this is a teaching on using half a Kleenex, you will miss the whole point of what the Holy Spirit wants to reveal.  First I don’t do it because I’m cheap or a miser.  I do it because of my desire to be faithful to use everything that God has entrusted for his glory, and not squander his resources, but use what is needed, for the purpose he chooses, so there is more left for the future, and the purpose He has then.  The Holy Spirit prompted me, not because He couldn’t afford a Kleenex, but because to have integrity, you must be the same through and through, you must do what God tells you to do, when everyone is watching, or when no one is looking, if you’re at your house, or at a hotel – it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes He tells you to use the whole Alabaster Jar…  But its not about one’s own opinion, (you can tell when someone – maybe you – says – “Well there’s nothing wrong with…” that’s indicator #1)  Because there is nothing wrong with xyz, that’s not the point.  What is God telling you to do?  There is a beauty in obeying what you are prompted to do.  That’s not slavery, that’s freedom, and it’s beautiful.  There’s a beauty in doing what is right. It’s a testimony to others, when they see your child willing to share, and it’s a testimony to you – when the Holy Spirit loves you enough and is right there the second you need Him.  To remind you of what is most pleasing to God – in this moment.  What He told you to do…  Don’t worry what he told others – they might use the whole box, that’s not the point.  Walk in the joy of what the Holy Spirit lead you to do.  And your joy will be full.  Have you ever wished you were prettier or more studly?   Every time you respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading, even in the little things – you get more beautiful.  It’s the beauty of Holiness, the beauty of obedience.  It’s a reward in and of itself.  This isn’t bondage.  This is freedom.  Praying that you will get better looking this week. 
 
Love you all,
dad