Loving God is the highest pleasure a human being can ever know. Please read that again, slowly. Loving God is the highest pleasure a human being can ever know. Now pause a few moments to let the thought saturate your present relationship with God.
I think it was during my seminary training that this truth was planted into my soul and it has never stopped growing and shaping my life. This is what I hear in Jesus’ response to the Pharisee expert in the law who asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the Law. We have memorized Jesus answer – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” – but have we ever asked why? Why would Jesus say the loving God was the greatest thing we could ever do?
It was because He created us especially for this relationship, and He knew that there would never be another person, possession, or activity that would ever come close to giving us the fulfillment and satisfaction that surpasses being in the awesome presence of God.
I would like to share three pictures from my memory file of a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to attend a Mennonite Health Assembly during March 1999. I had shared these three pictures in a devotional I presented in a meeting several days after my return home, and I share them now with you as confirmation of my opening statement.
The first picture is viewed from the fourth-floor meeting room of the Colorado Springs Sheraton Hotel while eating brunch. Looking out through a wall of glass I view the rugged grandeur of the Rocky Mountain range and Pikes Peak piercing the blue sky with its snow-capped brilliance. In worshipful awe, I muse about the God of ancient past, and His creative imagination in shaping the mountains for my present enjoyment and challenge – and with grateful eyes I humbly worshipped the Creator God of yesterday.
The second picture is a wide-angle view as seen from the window of a jet flying several miles above the earth and at a speed of more than five hundred miles per hour. Far below farms, small towns, and cities rapidly slide by in an ever-changing pattern of fields, forests, roads, and rivers. From such heights I can see for miles in every direction.
The changing panoramic views invite me to come and explore their life and beauty. And then a question forms in my mind and searches for an answer – Is this the way God sees the world? Intrigued, I remember that although invisible, each farm, town, and city is alive with human life, — the young and old, the strong and weak, the happy and sad, the healthy and the sick — many, many hundreds of thousands of people invisibly fill the moving landscape below. How can God ever see me and think of me?
Then I remember that God can see and know me because He came down from lofty heights and lived among us humans, experiencing life, pain, and death as we do. And yes, He still comes down to live with us as the indwelling Holy Spirit – and with grateful eyes I joyfully with tears, worshipped the Compassionate God of today.
The third picture is a very close-up view as I sit in a large, cushioned chair on the fifth-floor maternity suite of the Chambersburg Hospital. Carefully cradled in my arms is my newly born granddaughter. Her sweet one and half day-old innocence speaks to me as I gently stroke her face, trying to visualize the future, while a myriad of feelings wash over me. Forming a circle with grandma, mother, and dad, we thankfully pray – and with grateful eyes I confidently worshipped the Sovereign God of tomorrow.
I think it must have been similar experiences by the psalmist David that caused him to write, “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:5-9).
During the past twenty-three years, those three pictures have replayed in my life through many experiences, and they continue to encourage and inspire me toward deepening my love for God and to daily enjoy His awesome, loving presence in His beautiful world and in His gracious provisions to me for life, family, and labor. Thank you, Jesus!
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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – August 10, 2022
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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