Epiphanies are Fun!!

You know that moment when you really get something - that moment of clarity on something that is really deep.. really important? Wow!! It's like being on a mountain, a cool, crisp breeze blowing in your face... and a Truth hits you like a phone call that says you just won the lottery! We all have Epiphanies once in a while, and we all yearn for them, whether we know it or not. And then, there is theEvery Day.

The Every Day is the entering into the sameness of yesterday. We can trudge along through it and lose our sense of awe and amazement, mostly because we do not see anything to be in awe of or be amazed at. Oh, an Epiphany.. my kingdom for an epiphany!!

Hey, I am not knocking those moments of wonder. I am just saying sometimes we are so busy trying to understand the deep, that we forget the obvious. In less poetic terms: we skip the basics.

Anyone following Jesus Christ, or trying to follow Jesus Christ (much better said) prays. We pray for ourselves, we pray for others. We pray for wisdom and understanding. We pray for direction... "God, should I turn left, or right?" "Father, should I go to school or ministry?" This is good and right. But sometimes we are so busy seeking direction for the future we fail to hear the present call of a follower of Christ - "Be holy, as I am holy." "Do not be angry." "Do not be drunk with wine." "Be gentle and humble." Need I continue????

Here is the Epiphany of the day: Don't forget the basics. The basic call of holiness is what gets us before the Throne of God in the first place. If we ignore the basic commands of God, why should He help us with the deeper things? Do we honestly thing God ignores our "little sins"? Brothers and sisters, I must declare without any reservation: We are called to be holy. Holy means to be set apart for "special" purposes. In the context of faith, set apart to do God's will. That isn't just the big, wonderful things that get written about in a book. It means the mundane, the ordinary, the Every Day. Like the guy who finds the wallet filled with cash and returns it to its owner. The woman who sees the cashier forgot to charge for something and goes back and pays for it. The drivers who do NOT wave the one-fingered salute to someone who cut them off. (Yes, I just said that...)

I am convicted about the Every Day. I love the Epiphany, that's for sure... I am just like you. And I struggle today, and will likely struggle tomorrow. But I have a God who owns the Every Day as much as He owns the Epiphany. His grace and mercy pour over me and wash me clean. His Spirit fills me and gives me eyes to see not only my own sin, but the needs of others, and the will of God.

God is good. All the time. His plan and purposes are good. Seek Hard.