Time Alone With God | His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

Blurry Around The Edges?

October 31, 2021 Leave a comment

One of the great things about most cameras today is the automatic focusing feature. I’m old enough to remember using a camera that required fiddling with a bunch of dials before snapping the picture. Most of the time, those waiting to be photographed weren’t very patient about this process, and, oftentimes, after all that effort, the photo turned out to be out of focus after all.

As children of God, it would be nice to have this automatic focusing mechanism built into our daily lives, so that the moment our lives became blurry around the edges—from taking part in all the world has to offer, from neglecting Bible study, from participating in non-glorifying activities—then our focus would automatically be returned to our Father and to living out Christ in us, “the hope of Glory” (Colossians 1:27).

However, none of us have an automatic focusing mechanism. What we have is something even better—the Word of God. While having a device to automatically redirect one’s focus towards God sounds good, in reality, such a device would ultimately lead to taking God for granted, and it would not adhere to the command to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

God’s Word directs us to focus on Him in numerous passages of Scripture throughout the Old and New Testament. One of my favorites is 2 Thessalonians 3:5: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Have you lost your focus? Direct your heart today to the love of God. “The love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

Direct your heart to the steadfastness of Christ. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Spending time with the Lord in daily Bible study brings clarity to our lives and sharpens an otherwise blurry picture.

Categories: Devotionals Tags: God's Word Daily, Lost Focus Christ, Steadfastness, Time Alone With God

I’m Doing Something Different This Year

January 8, 2015 2 comments

I never make New Year’s resolutions. It’s not that I think there’s something wrong with doing so. I’ve just developed an aversion to the concept, probably because New Year’s resolutions get a lot of bad press.

From comedians to newspaper articles, everywhere you turn, people make fun of New Year’s resolutions. The jokes usually refer to breaking them within a day or even an hour and often involve some form of deprecating humor.

However–and you knew there was going to be a “however” in this piece–I do like the idea of trying something different because a new year has begun.

Here’s what I’m going to be doing differently this year:

Change the way I do my morning Quiet Time: I’ve had a Bible study, prayer and meditation time every morning for the past forty years. I embraced this practice after reading a little booklet entitled Your Time Alone With God. At the end of the book, there was a signature line asking for a commitment to start a morning devotional time. I put my name on that line. Then, underneath my signature, I saw these words, “You’ve now made a commitment to meet the Lord every morning. He’s going to be there. Don’t stand him up.”

I didn’t.

Through these many years, I’ve often followed daily Bible reading plans–reading through the Bible in a year–but, at other times, I’ve concentrated on one book of the Bible for a whole year. Although I’ve often used devotional books, these books have always included daily passages of Scripture. Reading His Word every morning has transformed my life, and I’ve never regretted signing my name on the bottom line.

This year, I’m changing things up a bit because I received a brand new Bible. My old Bible was falling apart, and, for too many years, I put off getting a new one because I’d filled up the margins of the old one with sermon outlines, notes, and tears. I didn’t want to let that go. Now, it’s time to start over.

This year, I’m reading through my new Bible without being able to read my old notes in the margins. I’m writing down new thoughts, shedding new tears, and meditating on newly discovered glories.

As I finished reading through my old Bible last year, knowing I was going to be “breaking in” a new Bible this year, these words from Revelation 21:5 spoke to me: “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new ” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Even if you have to make a New Year’s resolution to accomplish it, make it a daily practice to read His Word in 2015. You’re sure to find His Words are “faithful and true.”