Can You Hear Me Now?

Good Morning Regular Joes and Janes

Can you hear me now?  A famous series of commercials and often heard question among cell phone users is what I am talking about in today’s devotional.  As the sun is just barely lighting up the tops of the snow covered mountains this morning and coloring them orange I would like to talk about the telephone and communication.  You might notice in ‘Today in History’ in the right hand column that in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.  Before that there was only mail, telegraph and traveling to see the other person.  What a change in how we communicate with each other!

The first person on the phone to say, "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW"

Recently my father has been in the hospital and there were questions about whether he would make it.  I have called and talked to him a lot more in the past couple of weeks. The phone calls have not been long, more; “just checking up on you to seek how things are going”   It’s not that I don’t love him but honestly we don’t have a lot to talk about.  He was working when he was 12 years old and didn’t retire until in his 70′s and then only because of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.  When I was growing up he was a traveling salesman, on the road most of the time and tired when he got home.  Over part of my adolescence he owned a company in town but even then was consumed with the responsibilities of running a company.  Most of the time we have lived on opposite sides of the country and when we talked he told me about his work.

In short we never really did much together apart from some time that I worked for him as an employee.  He was a workaholic.  As I have gotten older I understand more the pressures he was under.  Balancing home, family life and work.  In construction myself I have found it necessary to work on the road at times.  I now relate better to many of the issues that he dealt with.  But ultimately his lack of investing time in the family affected his relationship with my mom, now divorced for many years and all of us kids.

How's your communication working?

Your saying so why the big personal story Regular Joe?  What does that have to do with the telephone and the daily devotional?   Well I’m getting to that part.  I just felt with a little back ground you might relate better to the applications from God’s Word today.  My dad never developed a close relationship with most of his family because he was so caught up in the everyday world of work.  Putting so much emphasis on his job, which he did very well left him separated from his family.  When I was younger I wished that I could have a close relationship with my dad and share experiances besides work with him.

Our Heavenly father wishes to have that close fellowship with us.  Under the law in the Old Testament  there was a fellowship offering:

Leviticus 3:6 NIV

‘If he offers an animal from the flock as a fellowship offering to the LORD, he is to offer a male or female without defect.

God wanted to have an animal of the flock that was without blemish, (this looks forward to Christ who died on the cross), to show the Israelite’s desire to give something of value to the relationship with Him.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

4. I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.  5. For in him you have been enriched in every way–in all your speaking and in all your knowledge– 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.  7. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  8. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior then he wishes to enrich us in every way, in all our speaking and knowledge. Our speaking and knowledge is much more important than any job or money that could come from it.  Our speaking and knowledge is how we form relationships with family and friends around us.  God has called us into fellowship with Jesus Christ!

But there can be problems!  That close fellowship doesn’t just happen.  Developing that close fellowship requires input.  Daily talks, (prayer) getting to know who Jesus really is, understanding what pleases Him.  Spending time in prayer and the Bible is how we cultivate that relationship.

If we are not careful we can fall into the trap of day to day life ignoring God and consumed in earthly activities.  Then one day trouble comes our way, (often because we are not following His Word), and we cry out; Lord Help ME!  Does he hear?  Yes, but often we feel like we don’t know what he is doing.  Why is he allowing this in my life?

If we truly have a close fellowship with him we are more likely to see his hand in each event in our lives and understand his purpose for us.  I am not saying we will always understand or agree, but just as in human relationships we communicate better when  we know the other person  well.  In times of trouble you won’t be crying “CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?”

I encourage each of you to continue developing a close fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ through daily prayer and reading his Word!

Regular Joe

Quote for Today:

Aloneness can lead to loneliness. God’s preventative for loneliness is intimacy – meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another. In Christ we have the capacity for the fulfilling sense of belonging which comes from intimate fellowship with God and with other believers.

Author: Neil T. Anderson

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