Grace

Our debt to Christ


Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent his life to express it. The greatest inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that same sense of indebtedness to Christ regarding every unsaved soul? As a saint, my life’s spiritual honor and duty is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to these lost souls. Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. Am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His redemption into evident reality in the lives of others? I will only be able to do this as the Spirit of God works into me this sense of indebtedness. Oswald Chambers

It strikes me that one of the best ways we can do this is simply by being a friend. Looking into someone’s eyes instead of through them. Letting people know in small ways that they matter, that they count. We aren’t all called to be preachers or teachers, but we can all evangelize by living our lives with a simple beauty that shines the light of Christ. In doing so we let our immense gratitude for Him spill out into the world to others. Then be prepared when they ask you the reason for this joy and hope within you…..”But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15

You never know who is watching. The highest compliment I can ever receive is when someone says, “I know you were a believer,” without me ever saying a word.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. 1 Thessalonians 4:11,12

Simplifying


I was thinking today how complicated everything seems, even the church. Every day I see terms associated with the modern church that leave me confused, and I am one of the ones in the church! I can’t imagine how those outside the church feel. No wonder they are confused and disillusioned. I just heard a new term today, the Organic Church. I have no idea what it means, then there are these terms associated with the church today:
Emergent Church
Post-Modern Church
Mega-Church
Conservative and Post-conservative
Liberal and Post Liberal
Reformed
Charismatic and Neocharismatic
Calvinism
Arminianism
Those are just a sprinkling of terms I found and those are general terms that don’t even include the different denominations themselves. No wonder people are confused about Christianity. Sometimes I think it would be a whole lot easier if all churches had one name….”The Way” with a simple fish on the front.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:31
The important thing to remember is that behind all the differences of denomination and styles of worship, we are all one church.

Lord, I pray that we can be one unified church so that You might be glorified on this earth. May we continue to be a light in a dark world that needs You. I pray that we can use love as a filter through all of our differences. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit who makes this possible. Amen.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Celebrating the church today and all the important ways we are the same…..believing that He is risen, and that we will rise too, that we have forgiveness through His work on the cross, that we must trust Him daily, confess our sins, know that we are unworthy but He is worthy, lifting our hands, bowing our heads, praising His name in the sanctuary, that we remember what He did through communion, enter into new life through baptism, death swallowed up in victory
holy experience

A living prayer

Photo from Google images

Our confidence lies in the fact that God hears the whispers we pray when there is no time for anything else. Whispers in the dark when all is silent and the heart slows down in the calm of lights out.

We throw arrows up and He catches them and puts them safely in His quiver….He knows when there is no practical time to pray but yet our heart is praying without ceasing and our soul is on its knees.

Prayer is the soul catching its breath

Somehow we rise up with wings as eagles and soar with the Spirit…somehow we get everything done, our bodies going through the motions and His Spirit carrying us through. We become a living prayer.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” Romans 8:26

Convicted


Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7,8

I was convicted this morning as I drove to work. I said things about two people last night in conversation that I never should have said. Comments flung out as added commentaries to the story that was being told. Words that didn’t portray them in the best light. It’s not that I said anything untrue, or horribly bad. It just that what I said wasn’t neccessary, or edifying.

I once shed tears with both of these people. I still pray for them regularly. But at the moment I said those words, I let God down.

I let myself down…
I let those present down….
And I let the ones I talked about down…..

Forgive me Lord. For not loving with my words.

Forgive me for letting my tongue fly carelessly. Help me to see that harmless little comments aren’t ever harmless, not if it puts others down. Help me to lift You up in my conversations by using words that build up.

Thank you for this reminder. The two people I talked about have many good and wonderful characteristics and it would have been just as easy to say something kind. Next time help me to remember this and do just that. In Your precious name, Amen.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:29,30

One Thing…..


This was on the Daily Devotional yesterday and I had to share it. In very few words he puts everything in perspective. Nothing to add here…..
Making the Right Choice
By Max Lucado

“Everyone must die once and be judged.” Hebrews 9:27

Eternity is to be taken seriously. A judgement is coming.

Our task on earth is singular—to choose our eternal home. You can afford many wrong choices in life. You can choose the wrong career and survive, the wrong city and survive, the wrong house and survive. You can even choose the wrong mate and survive. But there is one choice that must be made correctly and that is your eternal destiny.

Praying the Scripture

Papyrus scroll of Isiah 33,1-24
“But in coming to the Lord by means of “praying the Scripture,” you do not read quickly; you read very slowly. You do not move from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read. You may then want to take that portion of Scripture that has touched you and turn it into prayer.” Madame Guyon (1648-1717) From, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ

I am a fast reader, and in a way that’s good because I know I have to forcibly slow myself down in order to get what God wants me to get from reading His Word. It helps greatly to start with prayer, prayer for God to open my heart and mind to what I may have missed before. Ever missed something totally in a verse that you know you have read many times before? It happened to me this morning.

It was in the portion of Scripture where Mary pours the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and then Judas complains that it was a waste of money and they should have sold it and given the money to the poor. Yeah, right. He was skimming from the till, that’s why he was concerned! But as I read the whole Chapter, I thought how the whole scene was so surreal. Here was Jesus at the home of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead not too long before.

And then I read what I had missed all the other times……”Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.” John 12:9,10

I don’t know about you but I can’t imagine what Lazarus was thinking. No doubt he was still in a state of incredulity at being alive again after hopping out of a dark tomb bound hand and foot. Now here he was enjoying fellowship and a good dinner with friends only to have his very life threatened. They wanted to kill what Jesus had brought to life!

I thought of how sometimes I want to bring to life what Jesus wants to kill in my life….worry, fear, stress, anxiety or maybe mistakes that I have made I want to remind Him of.

What in your life are you trying to resurrect today that Jesus has already taken to the Cross? He has already forgotten it!….having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

Some days……

This was my day yesterday….Mary Engelbreit captures it perfectly with this image!

I left a five dollar bill on the lunch counter after dropping the snack I bought…..luckily someone turned it in to the cashier. Then after work I started to water the roses and forgot the hose was running. For an hour. Someone came to the door and said, “Your neighbor must have left the water running because it is flooded all the way to the clubhouse.” I ran out, ready to check the neighbor’s hose and remembered it was mine. I hung around in back pretending to shut off their water, and I noticed the car wasn’t leaving. As I sheepishly came around front she said, “Oh, was it YOURS???” I wanted to tell her to go home and mind her own business, but I smiled and thanked her. It was just that kind of day!

This is what I needed to tell myself this morning on the way to work!

I was grousing about things, little things….which is kind of unusual for me because I usually feel like this, for the most part.

Then I thought about this little boy that is still missing in Oregon, and his poor parents, the Dad is an Intel employee like me…..all of a sudden my little complaints vanished into vapor….I prayed for them the rest of the way to work. I can’t begin to imagine the agony of what they’re going through. Our world is going on, but theirs has stopped.

I was thinking….


I was thinking about how God must be very hurt, very saddened by the things going on in the world right now. The world was perfect the way He created it, perfectly in balance, perfect in order. I was thinking it must be all but impossible for Him to stay His hand, prevent the cruelty He sees, the whole earth seems to be in travail. How can He restrain Himself? The answer He whispered to my heart……Mercy, child. It is by my great mercy only that my Hand is stayed.

Yes, Lord.

He is not immovable, immpervious as a stone. He has already done all that He can to redeem mankind by plunging Himself right onto the center stage of our drama…..right in the middle of all the much and mire. So that we might live….

Now we all wait…..and He waits too. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

He is not willing that any should perish……He is giving us time.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev. 21:4
He is waiting for that day even more than we are….Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Unexpected Grace


Every now and then we hear of an individual who has the opportunity to display a wonderful moment of grace to another individual. It happened on Wednesday night when first base umpire Jim Joyce made an incorrect call that would have meant a “perfect game” for pitcher Armando Galarraga. I had to write about this because in the sea of “graceless” moments we see in our world today via the media, TV and movies, we need to reward those in the limelight who respond with grace.

After the bad call was made, Galarraga looked stunned and the crowd went silent. He quietly went back to work as the crowd started to boo. He later says this about the incident. “I say many times: Nobody’s perfect, everybody makes a mistake. I’m sure he didn’t want to make that call…..he feels really bad. The other umpires shower, eat, He was sitting in the seat and saying, ‘I’m so sorry.'”

Veteran Umpire Jim Joyce said of the hostile crowd, “I don’t blame them a bit or anything that was said,” Joyce said, “I would’ve said it myself if I had been Galaragga…..and he never said a word to me.”

The following day before the game, Galaragga and Joyce met at the pitcher’s mound. Joyce was visibly emotional and couldn’t hold back tears as he greeted Galaragga. It’s too bad the crowd didn’t display the same amount of grace as Galaragga did, for when they announced Jim Joyce’s name some boos were heard.

How many opportunities are there in life for us to be people of grace. How rare it is to find someone who reacts this way, so rare that we sit up and take notice!

Jesus is the ultimate Grace-giver. So many times people were surprised, bowled over by His grace. They expected judgement and harshness, as they got from the other religious leaders of the day. But Jesus gave love and grace instead. He still dealt with the sin, but always he accepted and loved the person.

Lord, help me be more of a grace-giver, an open door lit from within by Your grace. In Your Precious Name, Amen.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–” Ephesians 2:8

Also, we remember Phoenix radio personality Bill Austin today who passed away on June 2nd of cancer. He made us laugh every morning on 99.9 KEZ radio. He is already greatly missed.

Open to wonder….


“We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects we conceive that we become immune to the glory of creation. We barely notice the cloud passing over the moon or the dewdrops clinging to the rose leaves. The ice on the pond comes and goes. the wild blackberries ripen and wither. The blackbird nests outside our bedroom window. We don’t see her. We avoid the cold and the heat. We refrigerate ourselves in the summer and entomb ourselves in plastic in winter. We rake up ever leaf as fast as it falls. We are so accustomed to buying prepackaged meats and fish that we never think and blink about the bounty of God’s creation. We grow complacent and lead practical lives. We miss the experience of awe, reverence, and wonder.” Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel

Lord, may I never lose my sense of wonder in the midst of this fast-paced world of endless information, knowledge gathering, and few real answers. All the answers mean nothing unless they point the way to You. The answer to the question is always, You.

“….always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7