John Fischer The Catch

I opened my back door yesterday on a visitation of sorts. A very bright light was illuminating the ficus tree in our back yard throwing shafts of light through its branches. It was an arresting apparition in the predawn darkness that recalled the burning bush Moses encountered when God called him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt, and many other biblical angelic visits that were always accompanied by a bright light. I would have fallen to my knees had I not known it was my neighbor’s spotlight that he leaves on often when he is gone. What made me start, however, was the fog of an early morning marine layer that was turning the light into rays radiating from its source.

My neighbor’s light is so bright that it illuminates objects through the windows in our back rooms and makes you feel a little like you are being filmed as you are getting ready for bed. I’ve contemplated asking him to put a softer light there, but Marti likes the way it lights up the tree at night, making its delicate leaves appear almost translucent — kind of like free backyard lighting. So what’s annoying to me is a source of pleasure for my wife. What a difference a perspective makes.

This morning, however, it is causing me to reflect on those times in history that the ordinarily invisible God has broken in on our human existence and manifested Himself in some way. Except for the times angelic beings took on human form, these visits were always characterized by a bright and at times blinding light (i.e., Paul on the road to Damascus).

Do you ever wish God would break in on your existence in a visible way? How much easier it might be to believe, and yet, think of how much trust God is placing in us to believe when we don’t see. After allowing Thomas to allay his doubts by seeing the wounds in His hands and side, Jesus placed a blessing on all those who would end up believing without seeing. That would be you and me.

God is entrusting us with a secret. He is asking us to place our faith in what we can’t see and then confirming that in our hearts by giving us the very faith we need to believe it. It’s a little hard to explain to someone who doesn’t know this yet, but God gives us something more solid than the bright light of a visitation: He gives us the faith to believe.

The Bible calls faith “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Substance … evidence … those are solid words you can build something on, even better than a bright light that is there for only a moment. Faith is with us all the time.

Thank the Lord today for the faith to believe Him. It’s there in your heart. Believe it. Build on it.

There is a place where the power of God works most effectively in our lives, and it’s not in the report. It’s not in the story with a happy ending. It’s in the story with no ending at all because it isn’t over yet.

We’re all used to hearing the testimony with the victory at the end. That’s an easy story to tell because it reflects well on us. If there was a mistake or a failure or a personal struggle involved, it is in the past. We learned from it and moved on, and now we’re the better for it. What if there is no victory yet, but we still have to keep on living? Can you tell that story too? I believe we must, or we give no opportunity for the power of God to show up in our lives.

God’s power requires us to be human. It’s the earthen vessel with the treasure inside (2 Corinthians 4:7). It’s the light inside the cracked pot. It’s the life of Christ revealed in our mortal bodies (2 Corinthians 4:11) It’s God’s power made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Admittedly that’s a harder story to tell because it requires our vulnerability.

As a speaker, I usually tell stories on myself that have endings. This is necessary because the ending is usually the point I am trying to make. But as a friend, a mentor, or one who comes alongside, I need to tell stories without endings — the things happening right now that I have no control over. It’s only then that the real power of God can show up in my life. I’m not in charge of that; He is. We can write (or rewrite) the stories that have endings. We can tell them any way we want to (and usually they get better with the telling). But the stories we are currently living leave us stranded in the middle and it’s from that place that real faith and trust become tangible.

It’s Moses standing before the people he was leading without a glowing face from being with God or a veil to hide the fact that the glow was fading (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). (Something he never did.) It’s just plain no-glow Moses waiting for the next thing God is going to do. The power of God requires this from us — this kind of vulnerability and this kind of trust.

It’s the lesson before it’s learned, the question before it’s answered, the problem before it’s solved, the ordeal before it’s over. It’s everything that happens in our lives before the fat lady sings.

The story has to be live.

Who is willing to live like this? Who is willing to sign up for this kind of discipleship? Who wants to lead this way (and follow)? I don’t think any of us really do, but that doesn’t matter. God wants to show Himself in our lives, but He can’t when we’re in control of everything.

If you’ve ever wondered how far God would go to show His love, look in the mirror and wonder no more. We need not look any further than ourselves to find the most shocking and amazing displays of God’s grace. If we think otherwise, it is only because we have not seen ourselves as we truly are.

It has been said and sung many times: “There but for the grace of God go I.” At first this sounds grateful, but such sentiment masks a dangerous pride. It is not unlike the parable Jesus told of a religious leader who prayed, “I thank you, God that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there” (Luke 18:11 NLT)! It is a view that focuses on someone else’s misfortune. Someone else is worse than I am. Much better to be thinking and praying, “Here, because of the grace of God, and for no other reason, am I.” I am the only person I truly know about when it comes to sin. I am the authority on the subject.

The proud Pharisee hasn’t a clue about the sinner — who he is or what he has done. He has no point of reference to judge the man’s life but from his own inflated view of himself. If he had even the slightest clue about his own sin, he would realize he doesn’t have a leg to stand on in the presence of a holy God. The only prayer any of us can pray on the subject of sin is the same one the sinner is praying: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This is the only prayer that sends heaven scurrying.

It is best to steer completely clear of the comparison game. Any attempt to better oneself at the mercy of someone else will always bring a twisted view of both ourselves and others.

The immensity of God’s mercy is not displayed in what He did for the world, or for someone else. It is not displayed in someone else’s story about how low they were before Christ picked them up (of course, never as low as we would ever go — heaven forbid)! Nor is it discovered through some theological understanding or study of the many nuances of His grace. No, the immensity of God’s mercy is revealed finally — and only — in the incredible realization that, lo and behold, it found out the worst of the lot. God’s mercy looked down from heaven and found out me!

Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Genesis 1:28

This is where God asks us to take care of the world He gave us. This is no small potatoes. That means that we each have a mandate from God to look after that portion of God’s creation that we touch.

Today we live in a vast complex technologically specialized world where our dominion has been broken down to the minutest parts. Your dominion or my dominion may seem of little consequence compared to the fish of the seas, the birds of the air and every living creature moving on the ground that Adam and Eve ruled over, but it is no less significant. Whatever you are responsible for in the world is to be considered your mandate from God, and vitally important to His eternal kingdom

We are here to have our eyes opened to the every day majesty of our existence. God’s will can be found in everything we do. Doing His will on earth as it is in heaven is not just a wishful part of a prayer He taught us, it is what we accomplish every day that gives our lives meaning. Doing the smallest thing as unto Him makes it a big thing in His eternal kingdom.

This is why our lives are important and why everyone counts, even those who think they don’t. One of those who has struggled with realizing this has written the following to the Catch, and I offer it to you as thanks especially to so many of you who have contributed in these last few days so that the Catch might go on uninterrupted: “I am one of those isolated people that has been reached through the Catch. I enjoy what I read and it brings me hope that there is a possibility of a better tomorrow – something never there before. I wish that I could give you something every month for the many broken, down and out people out there just like me. I want to thank those who have been able to support [the Daily Catch] because they helped you reach me through Christ. They helped me stay alive through a difficult time. Their gift matters more than they might realize. I say thanks to all of them.”

Think of it. We have a unique opportunity here. We have a safe place to connect which provides a moment of quiet reflection amidst the clutter of our daily lives – a place where meaning can be imparted and the value of every individual can be grasped without having to be anything but who we are.

Open your eyes, not only to the needs, but also to the provision to meet those needs in Christ.

This is life; this is what it’s supposed to be.
This is God loving you and me.
– From the song “Dance” by John Fischer