He Has An App For That. Part 2

Napoleon

           The story has been told of a mother who sought from Napoleon a pardon of her son. As I read this, I imagined the dialogue like this:

            Emperor: This is your son’s second offense. He obviously intends to break the law. Justice must prevail.He will go to the guillotine tomorrow. 

            Mother: I ask for mercy for my son, Sir,  not justice.

            Emperor: He does not deserve mercy, madam.

            Mother: It would not be mercy if he deserved it, Sir. Mercy is all I ask. (With pleading eyes she looked up at the emperor standing over her as she kneeled below him. )

            Emperor: Well then, I will show mercy.

           

            Napoleon’s mercy reminds me of an app available to us all. Jesus is an approachable high priest that invites us in this way,  “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Romans 4:16) I am inspired by these last verses 14 through 16 because they explain that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” 

            That is what makes Jesus approachable.  He gives us this app because he lived in a human body, mind, and soul, with all their limitations except for sin. He will extend “sympathetic resonance” to us like when two tuning forks of the same pitch are placed near each other. If one is struck and set in vibration, the other will take up the vibrations sympathetically! The first is the generator, the other becomes the resonator. 

            In other words, when our despair, hunger, hurts, guilt, envy, or temptations create discord within us, our approachable high priest resonates with each feeling.  Because we generate the weakness, he can reach out to us in “sympathetic resonance”.  When a cord is struck in the weakness of our human instrument, it resonates in Him. He doesn’t see us as failures, but instead is capable of sympathizing with our weakness.  I want that app!

            I am like the mother pleading for her son’s mercy.  I need mercy. With an approachable God, I get mercy and grace.  

There's An App For That

    There’s An App For That

    Now that January has come into full swing, we have flung out the pretty papers and tinsel, and we are learning all the tricks our new phone, laptop, tablet, or other gift of technology can do.  Is it a tool or toy? Either way, for many of us technology has taken over our lives.

   I love the new technology and marvel every time my granddaughter, Ava Baron, teaches me about a new app.  Both of our sons offer advice and suggestions on how to better use our I-Phones and I-pad. Many of a morning I ask sweet husband to look at me and not his I-pad when we are talking.  Yep, even seniors let the machines creep in and block daily communication. 

   The more often I hear people say, “There’s and app for that,” the more I think perhaps there are other “apps” we should consider.

     For example, there are some scriptural apps that we should recognize and use each day.  In Proverbs there are “apply” apps that could make our lives better. “Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips.” (Pr. 22:17)  So, that is a please the Lord app!  Now, we all need that one! 

     We are fast to suggest browsers, websites, blogs and other sites to our friends. How many wise sayings of God are on our lips and ready to share with others over coffee, dinner, or at the gym?

    Going to the next chapter of Proverbs, we learn another app to use each day. “Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Pr. 23:12) That’s a daily needed app too, right?  Seeking wisdom and trying to implement it in our lives is what January, new beginnings, and starting again is all about.  So, I’m offering up these two scriptural apps and will share more spiritual apps on my next blog.  I hope this brings the right app to your New Year’s intentions.