Friday, July 27, 2007

Teach Me How to Be
Lord, willt thou teach me how to think, how to speak, and how to act? I am but a child: I know not how to go out or come in (I Kings 3:7). I am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech (Moses 6:31). I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge railed me; no man cared for my soul.

Thou, my Father, art my only refuge, my sole reliable support. On thee alone can I depend. Thy love will sustain me, for God is love (I John 4:8), and thou art my Father, my Lord and my God.
As God, thou hast all power, all knowledge and all intelligence. There is nothing in all creation that can overcome my God. In him I rest secure. A Lord provides for those who follow him; my Lord provides my needs bountifully and willingly. A father loves his son as my Heavenly Father loves me. If a son asks bread, a Father gives him not a stone, or if the son asks a fish, the Father gives him not a serpent: a wise loving and gracious Father gives according to my genuine needs.

Why then should I desire to rely on the arm of flesh, which by its very nature shall become corrupted, then wane and waste away? I desire, rather, the stability and endurance of the arm of God. For does he not reassure us that though heaven and earth shall pass away, His word will not pass away?

In the beginning, then, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1: 1). The same was in the beginning, and shall abide forever, worlds without end.

Mortal people will come and go, some hostile, some hateful, some uncaring, uninvolved, or so absorbed in themselves that they become unable to see outward toward their own brothers and sisters, their fellow children of the same Heavenly Father. Others – many others – mean well, but as yet lack strength and endurance enough to sustain anybody but themselves. Thou, my Father, my Lord and my God, with strength and power and love, have always been there for me and will be forever.

Again, my Father, I beseech thee, teach me how to think, teach me how to speak, teach me how to act, teach me how to be. My great desire is to be thy son, serving thee and emulating thee, inseparable from thee forever and ever. I ask Thee humbly to accept me unto thyself and make me thine.

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