Up to the Top

"Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east" (Deuteronomy 3:27).

Taking time with my precious husband to recharge during a stressful season we hiked Mt. Pisgah off the Blue Ridge highway in North Carolina. As we began our ascent 1.5 miles to the summit, I was captivated by the sign posted at the trail head with its biblical references. Rarely does a park make mention of Scripture and name a mountain in the United States after a monumental event in Jewish history. I wondered if other hikers thought of Moses, as I did, along that strenuous trail. I love how God provides reflection opportunities in ordinary activities that bring us closer to Him.

God is always calling us up to Him not that we would ever be equal with Him, but that we would know Him more intimately. It was at the top of Mt. Pisgah God showed Moses the Promised Land before He gave him the Ten Commandments. At the pinnacle on our local Mt. Pisgah the Lord revealed His majesty again. All creation reflects God's glory, but only humans can have a personal relationship with their Maker. How blessed we are!

Where is your Mt. Pisgah that God reveals His glory to you and asks you to obey His commandments? All God's Word in Scripture is Holy and calls us up to the top spiritually where He meets us in our souls. You don't have to do a physical climb to commune with Jesus. Just bow your knee in your heart and walk with Him daily in His Word. He will show you how great His love and mercy is. You will be changed in His presence just as Moses was when you come down from the mountain of God. "Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east" (Deuteronomy 3:27).

Your fellow herald for Jesus,

Mary

Ordinary Beautiful People

“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Ask anyone who the most desirable people are and the top choices will include celebrities in various professions. Being beautiful or “hot” is America’s national obsession. We spend vast resources pickling, pruning and pampering our bodies seeking the applause of admirers. Youth must be preserved at all cost. What a heavy price our souls have paid that far outweighs the damage to our purse.

Instead of believing what God says about beauty, we have embraced Satan’s lie that if we are not rich, thin and gorgeous we’re rejects. Competition is fierce; standards keep rising along with our fear of not measuring up. Drifting away from God’s love, it’s no wonder we feel like castaways stranded on an island of despair.

There’s nothing wrong with being attractive. God is not anti-beauty. While He does not advocate gluttony and abuse of our bodies, our physical appearance does not determine our value to God. Scripture tells us Jesus was average looking. It wasn’t His dazzling wardrobe and handsome face that turned heads when He walked the streets of Jerusalem. It was the brilliance of His soul; the warm inner light of God’s love that penetrated the hearts of broken people.

Unlike the world, Jesus concentrates on internal makeovers. He takes lowly sinners and transforms them into His glorious servants. Mother Teresa exemplified this. In June, 1995 I was overwhelmed by Christ’s love bursting from her as I watched her speak in Newton, MA. She was God’s princess; lovelier than any beauty queen. Her broken English prayer was more eloquent than the finest orator’s speech.

Some of the most attractive people have calloused faces but glowing hearts. God’s finger has erased the guilt lines of their sins. They are not plain or unnoticed in God’s eyes. Are you in search of eternal beauty that improves with age? Christ’s heart-lift outperforms any physician’s face-lift. Our extraordinary God specializes in making ordinary people beautiful. Give your life to Jesus who understands your struggle. You don’t need to strive to win his affection. He desires to lavish you with His love. “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Your fellow sojourner,

Mary