Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

What is your spiritual vision?  20-20?  20-400? Blind?  

Frequently Jesus called out, “if you have eyes to see, then see.”  God did give us eyes of faith by which to see Christ’s presence, promise, and power.  The quality of our faith-eyes is nourished by a pure heart. So Jesus said, in the sixth Beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

Purify your heart and the wonders of God come into view.  You can then see God “up close and personal.”

Nathanael recognized Jesus as the Messiah.  His heart was not filled with worldliness but with God’s world. By the desires of our heart focusing on the one desire to see God, then everything else we need to see will be seen through God’s eyes.  When we look at life with spiritual vision then: money, jobs, talents, possessions, beauty, power, sex, the lonely, the thirsty, the naked - are seen for what they are and are not.

From the gospel of John’s opening we learn that Nathanael: 1.) studied the Scriptures, 2.) was a person of prayer, 2.) a man who had overcome prejudice, and 4.) one who had deep spiritual character.  He enacted the meaning of his name, the “gift of God.”  As we look at Christ as Nathanael did, our hearts are purified by:

▪ Pathways - The Beatitudes are the disciple’s continuous pathway along which God shapes our character and sets our destiny.

▪ Places – The Beatitudes place us in God’s grace-filled presence which purifies our hearts through humility, mourning, meekness, hungering, thirsting, and mercy.

▪ Positions – Purity of heart unclutters our lives and positions us to see God more clearly.

Is there anything in life you want to see more than God?  If yes, then you won’t see God.  If no, then God will reveal Himself to you.  As Soren Kierkegaard wrote, “The purity of heart comes by willing this one thing.”

In God’s view,

Pastor Les Hollon

“People see God every day, they just don’t recognize Him.”
-Pearl Bailey

“It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. There are rewards that do not sully motives.”

-C.S. Lewis

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about faith, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

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Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

True love releases God’s presence, promise, and power.  This energy flows as we live the Great Commandment.  Jesus showed us how: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with your entire mind and with all your strength.”  From this love we are empowered “to love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:25-37, Mark 12:28-34, Matt. 22:34-40, John 13:34-35).

True love involves the intellect, which is what shapes ideas that in turn form our thoughts.  By mindful love we submit our thought patterns to God, and from this love we unlearn harmful ideas that have shaped sinful thoughts.  An example is the scribe unlearning that “neighbor” only meant good Hebrews and learning that the down-trodden and Samaritans were also neighbors.

True love involves the feeling-self, which is what shapes our values, which in turn forms our emotions.  By feeling-love we yield our value patterns to God and from this love we retrain the pathways by which our emotions travel.  As we love God, we love who and what God has made, and from this love response we desire to love others as God has loved us - with compassion.

True love involves the body, which enfleshes our intellect, feelings and spirit.  Until death our body is inseparably related to our own identity; consequently in John’s account of the Great Commandment, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet.  By this love act He claimed the role of servant.  By physically enacting our love for others as Christ has loved us, we can see God’s presence in others (Matthew 25:31-46).

True love unfolds as we allow our soul, the image of God within us, to lead our mind, our heart, and our body.  Our soul is the spiritual ligament which connects our entire being into God’s all encompassing love, and enables us to love ourselves as we love others.

Seeing what love can do,

Pastor Les Hollon

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
-C.S. Lewis

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about God’s love, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

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Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

One man searching for life’s importance asked Jesus which Law was to be the sustaining guide for his existence.  The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord; love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.” (Mark 12:29-31).

Concisely Jesus explained that a full & balanced love - for God, for people, and for oneself - is the basis of thought-action for everyone who would follow Him.

At times we can find ourselves accepting a godly truth as a knowledge claim without allowing it to affect our lives.  The inquisitive man had progressed beyond the knowledge claim but still wondered if he should allow it to change his life.  Jesus expressed to him that a knowledge claim without a life response is meaningless.

What was true then is true today.  We hunger to be loved and to love.  Our enacting love with each other, our families, and our neighborhood helps the world to see the truth of God’s love, one person at a time.

You will notice in this love story (Mark 12:28-34) that the seeker connected with Jesus in four ways.  

He heard.  He listened with his soul which filled his mind, heart, body, and spirit with Jesus’ voice & message.  Are you hearing Jesus?  

He noticed.  Jesus was not playing games with the game players.  He was truth in motion.  Are you noticing Jesus?  

He asked.  Hungering for life’s importance, he courageously stood in the midst of a mixed-up crowd and asked for Jesus’ help.  To him, Jesus revealed the meaning of love.  What are you asking Jesus?  

He agreed.  As a scribe, the man knew the Law.  In Jesus he saw the Law’s meaning.  Before a treacherous crowd, he publicly agreed with Jesus.  His admission brought him to the edge of God’s Kingdom.

Come into God’s Kingdom of Love,

Pastor Les Hollon

“A man can’t be always defending the truth; there must be a time for him to feed on it.”
-C.S. Lewis

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about living life, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe

One of my greatest pleasures has always been to sit high in the trees and watch the world.  Even in my adulthood I’ve managed this.  I’ve long since left the climbs and shimmies behind, but now I have a porch that serves the same purpose.  Even in the coldest times of the year I’m out on the 3^rd floor porch as much as possible. 

My porch and I live deep in a high density, very urban neighborhood that has activity at every hour:  pedestrians, neighbors, music floating from here and there and there … even wildlife.  I’ve had close encounters and long-term relationships with the likes of possums, raccoons, birds and squirrels on my porch.

Although I’ve lived in the city for many years, a good portion of my childhood was spent in the woods and creeks of Kentucky.  I took a pretty rough and tumble approach to getting to know the land and its creatures …

I could run across wet stones without losing my footing … 

I could climb up the side of a cliff instead of hiking the path … 

I could dangle upside down from a tree branch like a trapeze artist … Read More »

Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

Living requires courage.

Courage for you to be the person whom God is creating you to be.  Courage to do that which God is calling you to do.  Along the way of courage, fear always shows up.

God speaks directly to our fears.  David wrote in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for the Lord is with me; thy rod and thy staff they do comfort me.”  In the shadow lands - not able to see clearly, overcast by death - temptation lurks to give way to evil.  But David, reassured by God, said fear would not control him.

Putting one foot in front of the other is the key to getting through the valley of the shadow.  Trusting God with each moment of every day means that the Shepherd, not evil, will see us through.

Fear paralyzes us in the grip of the shadow.  Faith frees us to walk with enough light to see & feel safe in God’s rod & staff.

Left to ourselves there is a lot to fear.  We live in a world where there is no perfect safety net that catches us from everything.  Our society is characterized as the information age, in which the knowledge base that we have now may only be 3 percent of what we will have in 2020.  The average American changes his/her address every seven years, and with most people changing jobs seven times before retirement, there are future challenges people may fear.  

Even so … we may have a confidence, in the midst of momentary fear, that as we follow the Shepherd our fear turns into faith, and our faith into faithfulness.

Pastor Les Hollon

“We don’t want to feel helpless, so we use fear, anger, addiction … to block out our helpless feelings.  The fact is that if we cannot openly face our feeling of helplessness, we cannot receive help.  It is important that we accept our helplessness, taking it to God and allowing Him to be strong where we are weak.  When we let Him be God, we receive continuous healing …”
-David F. Allen

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about turning fear to courage through faith, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

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