My camera lens simply cannot capture what my eyes see. I don’t often see a sunrise. I’m more of a sunset sort of gal, but with four grandchildren under three at the beach with me this week after Christmas, I’ve enjoyed my fair share of both. This morning as the sky lighted over the ocean, the cloud bank looked like mountains lining the horizon. I tried from several different angles to capture the scene but nothing even came close. The changing skies truly do reflect their Creator gloriously and the sweet singer of Israel, David, paints a more beautiful picture than any lens ever captured.
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.”
Psalms 19:1-6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.19.1-6.NLT
The shepherd king must have spent many lonely hours on hillsides contemplating how to paint the heavens with words. Doubtless Spirit inspired, his words come to life, causing us to not only see what he saw but to feel the bated breath with which he experienced the moment. The Bible represents all the best literature of the world but it is so much more. The canon of Holy Scriptures is God inspired or God breathed. The very breath of God that animated the first man at creation and continues to sustain life in us also gives life to God’s Word.
“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit.
For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.
And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-12, 16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.2.9-16.NLT
If you have chosen to follow my blog posting then you have been reading the Bible. My goal has always been to make God’s Word the centerpiece of my writing. If my personal reflections or anecdotes have caused you to be interested in or better understand what you’re reading, then I thank God for allowing me to be like Philip in his encounter with the Ethiopian recorded in Acts 8:26-40.
“Philip started with this passage and shared with him the wonderful message of Jesus.”
Acts 8:35 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/act.8.35.TPT
As I’ve said from the very beginning, my words are temporary but God’s Word is eternal. My challenge to you is the same as ever. Read the Bible in 2025. Make it a regular practice, a commitment that you take as seriously as your career or your marriage. Don’t allow yourself excuses. I pray that God’s Word will become so much a part of your life that the mind of Christ becomes your default.
“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”
Philippians 1:9-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/php.1.11.NLT
John referred to Jesus as the Word who became flesh, and he also recorded the high priestly prayer of Jesus for His followers found in John 17. Jesus repeatedly told his disciples that there was much He wanted to tell them but that when the Father sent the Spirit, much would become clear. Jesus began His prayer with the obvious prerequisite.
“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
John 17:3 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.17.3.NLT
“I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have.
This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”
2 Peter 1:1-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.1.2-4.NLT
It’s all there. Judgement meted out, escape from sin and death, new life in Christ, unmerited grace and favor, and everything you need for living a godly life in a crooked and perverse generation waiting to be discovered. Taking God at His Word is all that is required. Here’s some food for thought on the eve of this new year.
“But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.”
2 Peter 3:13-15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.3.13-15.NLT
““Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.
If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
And you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-4, 6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.1-6.NLT
“It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.
Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.
Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.
They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.
For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.
We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.
For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.
And we who are living will also be transformed.
For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
But thank God!
He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50-57 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.15.42-57.NLT
Welcome Christ, the living Word of God. Know Him intimately by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit and the abundant life for which you were created can be yours. Invite Him to have His way. He will have the final say, but when you willingly put your life into the hands of the Potter who is also the Good Shepherd, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, you will experience His peace that is beyond our ability to comprehend everywhere He is Lord.
“Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!
How the mountains would quake in your presence!
As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble.
Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations.
And oh, how the mountains quaked!
For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!”
Isaiah 64:1-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.64.1-4.NLT
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever!
Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT
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