Casandra Martin

There is the neatest picture tucked away in Deuteronomy 27:1-8. The people of Israel stand on the edge of the Promised Land. After forty years of wandering, the moment is almost here. Very soon they will go in and claim the home that God promised Abraham so long ago.

Moses uses this time, as they stand poised on the brink of receiving the fullness of God’s blessings, to remind them of the importance of living out all of the words of God. He gives them a unique instruction meant to create a visual picture of their hearts.

“And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. And you shall write on them all the words of this law…” –Deuteronomy 27:2-3

Can you see it? Stone after stone set up in the land, each one covered with the Word of God. Each rock stands as a memorial to the place of God in the land and in their lives. As the Israelites enter Canaan, they are to engrave His law on the land just like the Word is to be engraved on their hearts.

What if the bricks of our houses were covered with writing proclaiming the name of the Lord? What if our walls were full of His words? What if everywhere we walked held a reminder of who God is and who He calls us to be? This is exactly what are lives are supposed to be. We are meant to be walking testimonies to His Word. Our lives are designed to display His glory. Our hearts are to be frames for His goodness. His Word should flow out of our mouths, our actions, our attitudes, our motives, our direction, our praise, and our focus.

My Jesus Resolution today is to write. I want to write God’s Word all over my life. I want to fill my heart, saturate my soul, and flood my heart with it. I want to set His Word in a place in my life where others can see it, read it, and be drawn to the cross. Today I am going to find a small stone and write the name of Jesus on it. It will help remind me that I want God’s Word to be so prominent in my life that the first thing someone notices about me is Jesus.

Complicated is overrated. People want to take simple things and make them complex. Sometimes we want to make ourselves look smarter, so we make it complicated to prove to people that we know it all. Other moments find us wanting to hide what we don’t know, so we complicate the simple in order to create a smokescreen. Maybe we are afraid that the simple might somehow make us simplistic, so we run the other direction. Many times we are looking for a loophole or a grey area, so we make it complicated to buy ourselves some wiggle room.

God makes it simple. His directions are clear, His purpose is direct, and His intent is understandable. Here is a sample: Be mine. Love each other. Serve gladly. Be humble. Worship Me only. Tell the truth. Follow Me. Obey. Trust. Listen. Wait. Be still. Shine. Tell others. Pray.

Simple doesn’t mean easy, but it does mean doable. God clears the way, and very simply directs our hearts deeper into His presence. He wants us to understand His will, and be confident about what makes Him smile. We tend to complicate it so that we can measure our performance, mark our worth, or make ourselves look good. Too many times, we just want the grey area that complicated brings to the picture.

My Jesus Resolution today is to keep it simple. I am going to remember that God wants me to follow Him. There are no confusing road signs, double blind curves, or concealed traps on the way into His presence. He doesn’t have a hidden agenda or ulterior motive. He just wants me to love Him. He has made that has simple as He can. Everything He wants me to do, everything He wants me to be, and everywhere He wants me to go can be summed up in three simple words – Look Like Jesus.