Daily Readings by Wild at Heart

“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me.” (Revelation 22:12 NLT)Reward—it fills the pages of both Testaments. C. S. Lewis writes: “If you consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Your Lord finds your desires not too strong, but too weak.”Unblushing means boldfaced, unashamed. Did you know the promises of reward offered to you in Scripture are bold, unashamed, brazen? Reward is a central theme in the teachings of Jesus, in the Bible as a whole.God seems to be of the opinion that no one should sustain the rigors of the Christian life without very robust and concrete hopes of brazen reward.Consider that pastor who serves a small and petty congregation for forty years. What about the believer who struggled under mental illness, largely alone? What do they have to look forward to? No doubt every noble deed of their hidden faithfulness, every misunderstood action of love will be individually and specifically rewarded.Oh yes, rewards will be given out in the kingdom with great honor and ceremony. And I believe one of our greatest joys will be to witness it happen.———————————I know very few contemporary Christians who have a hope of coming reward. The old saints did, but not our age. Is reward something you allow yourself to hope for? If not ... why not? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

“Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I’m creating.” (Isaiah 65:18 The Message)Certainly storytelling is one of the great pleasures in the kingdom. Would you like to write? Illustrate? Act? Produce? These are not obliterated when you step into the life to come; God renews all things. Dallas Willard assures:We will not sit around looking at one another or at God for eternity but will join in the endlessly ongoing creative work of God. It is for this that we were each individually intended, as both kings and priests (Exodus 19:6; Revelation 5:10). ... A place in God’s creative order has been reserved for each one of us from before the beginnings of cosmic existence. His plan is for us to develop, as apprentices to Jesus, to the point where we can take our place in the ongoing creativity of the universe.Just as Adam and Eve were commissioned to, only this time around on a higher level, with greater powers, creatively engaged in very real and tangible things. You eat in the city; surely the joy of eating doesn’t end with the feast. Who grows the food? Who brings it to market? What chefs prepare it? It’s unlike God to just “zap” these things into existence while you sit around doing nothing. No, friend, he creates you to create — in your full glory.———————————If God allows our gifts to be fully used in his coming kingdom, what gifts would you love to bring to the Story? What would you love to do? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)What will it be like to be crowned with everlasting joy? To be “overtaken” with gladness and joy? There is certainly the joy of relief. People who survive accidents often break out in giddy laughter afterward, relief overtaking the fear of the event. But there is also the joy of anticipation, the joy that comes when you know the road has opened before you and life will now happen the way you’ve always wished it would. Both shall be yours, the relief, followed by the thrill of anticipation—probably in that order.It may be a difficult thing to imagine your soul’s complete restoration. But perhaps you can get there by thinking of the restoration of the ones you love. Think of the joy it will be to see them young and well, alive and free, everything you knew they were! You always knew there was a shining greatness in there, though they never could quite take hold of it for themselves. And you see it. How many times over will we hear at the feast, “Look at you! You’re glorious!”?Oh, to see again the ones we have lost and know they can never be taken from us again. Imagine the tears of joy and the very long embraces!———————————Whom are you looking forward to seeing again? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NLT)According to the Scriptures, the heart can be troubled, wounded, pierced, grieved, even broken. How well you know that. Thankfully, it can also be cheerful, glad, joyful, rejoicing. The heart can be whole or divided — as in “Well, part of me wants to, but the other part of me doesn’t.” It can be wise or foolish. It can be steadfast, true, valiant. (All of these descriptions can be found by perusing the word heart in any concordance.) It can also be frightened, cowardly, wandering, dull, proud, hardened. Wicked and perverse. I think you know that as well.But friend, according to Jesus, your heart can also be pure. The Bible sees the heart as the source of all creativity, courage, and conviction. It is the source of your faith, your hope, and of course, your love. It is the “wellspring of life” within you (Proverbs 4:23), the center of your being, the fount of your life.There is no escaping the centrality of the heart. God knows that; it’s why he made it the central theme of the Bible, just as he placed the physical heart in the center of the human body. The heart is central; to find your life, you must make it central again.———————————Jesus — I keep losing track of my heart every week. Thank you that you keep calling me back. Where am I needing to “come back” today, Lord? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)There’s an expression that is used to describe someone who’s out of sorts, who’s not acting like the person she’s known to be: “She’s just not herself today.” It’s a marvelous, gracious phrase, for in a very real way, no one is quite himself today. There’s more to you than you have seen. I know my wife is more beautiful than she imagines. I’ve seen it slip out, seen moments of her glory. Suddenly, her beauty shines through, as though a veil has been lifted.You have moments like this, glimpses of your true creation. They come unexpectedly and then fade again. Life for the most part keeps your glory hidden, cloaked by sin, or sorrow, or merely weariness. How truly wonderful it will be to see the entirety of this restored to you.When the disciples saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they got a peek at his glory. He was radiant, beautiful, magnificent. He was Jesus, the Jesus they knew and loved—only more so. And you shall be glorious as well. Jesus called himself the Son of Man to state clearly that he is what mankind was meant to be. What you see in Jesus is your personal destiny.———————————Have you dreamed about who you will be when your full restoration is complete? It might do you good to let your heart go there. Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today

The child-heart wants to know, “Will there be animals in heaven?” The calloused heart dismisses this as theologically unworthy. Friend, the whole debate ends when you realize that heaven comes to earth. How could your creative God renew his precious earth and not fill it with a renewed animal kingdom? That would be like a village without people.You know there are horses, for Jesus and his company return on horseback. I wonder what Jesus named his horse. Does he come to his whistle? Does he need a saddle? Oh yes—there are horses in the kingdom.Now, unless you want to dismiss this as completely allegorical, we have wolves, lambs, leopards, lions, and bears in the kingdom as well. The kingdom of God operates in its fullness on earth. And animals are clearly a part of it, praise our loving Father.The animal kingdom will be your joyful partner. They will not be afraid of you, nor you of them. They will long to love and serve.———————————Dream, my friend. What animals would you love to have come to your call, to have a deep and holy friendship with? Will your childhood dog run to meet you? (God makes all things new.) Will you fly on a golden eagle? Ride the waves with a whale? What does it look like to you, to partner with nature as God intended? Want more? Order your copy of Restoration Year today