Monday Devotional: February 13, 2023

Bible Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-21 (NRSVUE)

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰ First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹ because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

We had been eyewitnesses… We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven.” What about you? What have you witnessed? What have you heard? We need not limit God’s revelation to mountaintop experiences and scriptures about miraculous events. God’s light shines in the everyday.

Most of the time we go through life on cruise control without really paying attention to what we see and hear. We filter our experiences through our habits and preconceptions. We miss most of what we could perceive in our world — especially the miraculous of it. We see what we expect to see. Believing is seeing. We see what we want to see, or what we think we ought to see instead of what is before us.

When we do look at the world around us, we usually see just the surface — not the glory of God shining there. That is until we open the eyes of our hearts.

Notice what you see today. Listen to what you hear. God is in the everyday elements of our lives. Even the majestic glory of the crucified and risen Christ is present in ordinary moments. Look for it there. Pay attention to Christ’s everydayness, as to a lamp shining in a dark place. God’s revelation comes through “men and women moved by the Holy Spirit. Reflect on what you experience through the light of the Spirit instead of mere conventional wisdom.

What do you see? What do you hear? How have you witnessed the glory of Christ shining in your life? Perhaps in the beauty of an innocent child; in the courage of someone who takes a risk for the sake of love; in a moment of forgiveness, healing, and grace; or even a simple patch of sunlight.

Let the Spirit speak to you through your senses. Pay attention to the light. God’s glory may not be dramatic, but it will still be the Beloved.

Prayer

God, open my eyes to your light today, so that in what I see and hear I may know the glory of Christ. Amen.

By Steve Garnaas-Holmes, The Upper Room Disciplines 2020, page 73.