Truth | His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

Real World Reality

April 30, 2017 Leave a comment

Most of us realize the food ads we see in magazines and on television are photographed by highly skilled photographers; even the food itself has been artfully produced and posed to make it mouth-watering appealing. But one photographer decided to professionally photograph the real thing, say a taco just purchased from Taco Bell alongside an appealing ad for the same product. The results are humorous, though not too surprising.

In God’s Word, He has presented us a “photograph” of the best, His Son. Placed alongside Him, we fare badly, never able to fully measure up to His beauty, to His holiness, to His lovingkindness. Just like fast food from the real world isn’t exactly like fast food from the advertising world, we live in the real world and have the scars to prove it. However, one day, an expert photographer will appear and airbrush away all our flaws. Then we will look our best, able to live in the best world, able to live with The Best.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

Categories: Christian Living, Creator, Devotionals, Reality, Sin Tags: Appearance, Faith, Reality, Truth

Life Out of Focus?

October 17, 2016 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: Bible, Call To God, Christian Living, Devotionals, Glorifying God, God's Love, God's Word, Truth Tags: Bible, Cameras, Focus, Love, Praise, Truth

Three Useless Things We Do–And A Fourth!

September 30, 2015 Leave a comment

The other day I was standing beside an elevator, having just pushed the Arrow Down button to call the elevator up to the second floor, when an elderly gentleman walked over and pushed the same button again. Then, he turned to me and said, “I know that was useless. The elevator won’t get here any sooner just because two people push it.”

At the grocery store, a little later that day, I tried to sign my name on a credit card scanner. After several attempts to make a semi-legible mark, the clerk waved her hand at me and said, “Oh, honey, forget it. Your signature won’t mean anything on there. That thing is useless.”

My day of useless things ended when I got home and tried to balance my checkbook. No, it wasn’t balancing the checkbook that proved useless. What was useless was pushing the “C” repeatedly on the calculator, clearing out the old amount before adding a new one. Like the gentleman at the elevator, I suddenly realized pressing the “C” a second time was an exercise in futility. The screen always went blank the first time I pushed it.

There’s a fourth useless thing we may be guilty of as well. It’s forgetting to worship our Creator. God reminds us of this in Isaiah 45:7 when He says, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Failure to acknowledge the God of the Universe, He who created light and darkness, who directs every aspect of our lives, is useless. In the same chapter in Isaiah, God says,” By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return:‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” (Isaiah 45:23).