He has graced us!

TODAY

If God says something is acceptable don’t say it isn’t!—According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted [Lit: ‘graced us’] in the beloved.

–And the angel came to Mary and said, “Greetings, O favored [Lit: ‘graced’] one, the Lord is with you!”

–And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be?….

–And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… For nothing will be impossible with God.”

–And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.—In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.—Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you… We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do.    And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.  God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to __________[do it well]… Never be lazy in your work but serve the LORD enthusiastically — Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?  Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?—For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. —For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.—But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,  equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Acts 10:15 NLT; Eph 1:4-6 KJV; Lk.1:28 ESV; Lk. 1:35, 37-38 ESV; Acts 10:43 ESV; Eph 1:7-14 ESV; Rom 14:17-18ESV; Rom 12:1-2 NASB;  Rom.12:3-6,11 NLT; Rom 9:20-21 NASB; Eph 2:10 NLT; I Cor. 6:20 NASB; Is. 64:8 NASB; Heb 13:20-21 ESV

The words jumped off the page at me rendered differently than I was used to.  If God says something is acceptable don’t say it isn’t! Who am I to contradict what God has said, or even to doubt it?  Whether it is my own bumbling efforts to work out this great salvation in which I stand, or my estimation of how my brother in Christ is working it out, who am I to declare unacceptable what God has chosen for His glory?

In making us ‘accepted in the Beloved’ we are not so very unlike Mary.  In both instances the same expression is used:  God has ‘graced’ us. We are pursued with grace, compassed with favor, honored with blessings.  “O graced one, the Lord is with you”, could well be said of you or I if we are in Christ. What is to be our response?  What was Mary’s?  She clarified her calling–‘how will this be?’.  She was quite aware she didn’t have it in her to become the mother of the Saviour of the world, God incarnate!  But God’s response to her is not unlike His provision for us–the Holy Spirit would empower the calling, making the impossible so very possible! What was left for Mary to say but: Amen. Here I am. 

And so it remains for us to live out our days with confidence in God’s calling and provision. What He has designed us for and called us to He will grace us to fulfill for his great glory!

–LS

 

 

Can You Believe It?!

TODAY

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”— Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ …And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.— Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down…And because of what He has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous,  for He will bear all their sins.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.— You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends.  He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.  But you  must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly.  Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.— For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified… “I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” …Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, …and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.— For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”— To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ… according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith– to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Jn.3:6-9 ESV; Heb 10:7,10 ESV; Is.53:4,11 NLT; Jn.1:12-13 ESV; Col 1:21-23 NLT; Ps. 95:7-8 ESV; Heb.10:14, 16-24 ESV; Rom 1:16-17 ESV; Col 1:27 ESV; Rom 16:25,27 ESV

I bumble through life feeling not quite sufficient, not quite pleasing, frankly, not very useful for the Kingdom.  I ‘know’ the facts of the Gospel, that all who believe are forgiven and declared righteous by faith–accepted in the Beloved and fitted with all that is needed to fulfill God’s calling, but I tend to hang back feeling ‘less than’.  Too often mine is a somewhat dysfunctional faith.  It doesn’t quite percolate out so others can ‘smell the coffee’.  And yet, all is done.  So I find myself frequently back circling these Gospel themes like a moth fluttering around a lightbulb. As a child of God in Christ I am holy and being made holy.  I’ve been made right with God and am being made to resemble His Son.  There is truth here that I need to live and breathe, daily! It is very good news.  May God soften our hearts to hear and believe and keep on believing through all our days. 

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

–LS

(I Th.5:24)

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord, forever

TODAY

I am a debtor — Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.— The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men… or even like this tax collector. I… ‘ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. — For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.— Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus —This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. —Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.— So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’— It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning…

Rom.1:14; Lk. 13:4-5 ESV; Lk. 18:11-14 ESV; Mt. 9:13 NLT; Rev. 3:17 ESV; Acts 3:19-20 ESV; Is. 30:15 NIV; Mt.5:3; I Tim.1:15 NIV; Lk. 17:10 ESV; Lam. 3:22-23 ESV

When tragedy strikes close by but leaves me intact, it is easy to suppose that I have been spared by virtue of some superior worthiness in myself.  My initial shock and sympathy can become a mere facade hiding my silent judgments: ‘he had it coming… I’m sure glad I…’ [fill in whatever habits you are proud of or vices you piously shun]. But Jesus makes it clear that we are all debtors to mercy.  Humility is the virtue that most becomes our state.  Do we ever pay down this debt? Do we ever outgrow our need for repentance and mercy?  Not if we are growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The more we see Him as He is, the more we will know ourselves to be unworthy of His mercies. Yet they remain, morning by morning, a fitting lifesong!

–LS

 

 

 

Delivered from the Tyranny of Darkness

TODAY

HE HAS DELIVERED US FROM THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS…

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil—In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.—The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple—…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God

…AND TRANSFERRED US TO THE KINGDOM OF HIS BELOVED SON

the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.—This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.—for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.—But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble…

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.—Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Col.1:13 ESV; Jn.3:19 ESV; II Cor.4:4 ESV; Ps. 119:130 NKJV; I Pet.1:23 ESV; Col.1:13ESV; I Tim. 6:15-16 ESV; I Jn. 1:5 ESV; Eph 5:8 ESV; I Jn. 1:7 ESV; . Prov. 4:18-19 ESV; Col.1:12 ESV; Jude 1:24-25 ESV

I sat this morning for a little while and meditated on the implications of this phrase in Colossians: He has delivered us from the domain of DARKNESS.  I took it one word at a time.  
HE–God has done this, giving me no reason to gloat over those who yet stumble in darkness as though I had delivered myself from its grip  
HAS–It is done.  We who have been delivered no longer need dwell in darkness. 
DELIVERED–I’ve been rescued, again, not of my own devising!  
US–This is not an exclusive deliverance.  We who’ve been brought into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son share a kinship, a common cause for worship and for humble gratitude.
FROM–Out of one system of rule into another glorious Kingdom; what are the implications of this transfer? 
THE DOMAIN–I was stuck under the tyranny of sin and Satan, but no more!
OF DARKNESS–Darkness is blinding, confusing, a place for evil to proliferate, a place of groping and confusion, of tripping and falling without hope or help. This is no longer descriptive of my life trajectory…

I work in a Thrift store affiliated with one of our local churches.  My job is to sift through the enormous quantity of books that come in for those that are best suited for our shelves… This has launched me on a course of reading/sampling many more authors than I would normally have a taste for.  We receive a significant quantity of books in the Health & Wellness category and correspondingly, in what would be the ‘Spirituality’ shelf, if we had one.  People are searching, wanting to be healthy and whole, looking for meaning, open to whatever guru uses nice words and promises them peace, harmony and freedom from stress and tyrannical habits.  But in all the nice words and assurances (and the bizarre claims!) there is no power to implement the needed changes.  Some writers really do seem to have a vision for what God intended to be man’s experience as portrayed in the Garden of Eden…but they bypass the reality of the Fall and pretend we can get back to the Garden on our own steam…

My reading only confirms in my mind this great salvation in which I stand, this dynamic transfer God has done on my behalf, delivering me from a realm of darkness where stumbling, falling and death are inevitable, and into the bright and holy Kingdom of His Son where I can live as was intended from before time began!  I have been made a child of the Light and as I walk in that light, move towards the One who is Light, and revel in His greatness I am made to shine in a dark world.  Such a mystery.  Such a wonder.  Such a cause for awe!

–LS

 

 

 

Where are you?

TODAY

Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”—For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.—What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? … And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’—All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.  I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices—And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming.  Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him…We must celebrate with a feast!

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness—I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance—Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance—And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Gen 3:9 NLT; Lk.19:10 ESV; Lk.15:4,6 ESV; Is. 53:6 ESV; Is. 65:1-2 ESV; Lk.15:20,23NLT; Ps.95:7-8 ESV; Lk.5:32 ESV; Lk.15:7 ESV; Rom.8:30 NLT

Where was Adam? He was wearing a fig leaf and hiding in the woods from the terrifying prospect of meeting God face to face after having disobeyed His one prohibition.  Everything had been so delightful, so innocent and free up until that point.  And now…what a mess! Shame, guilt, and terror had displaced the bliss of sharing life with the Creator. His presence had morphed from delight to terror. But God came calling, giving Adam opportunity to own his sin, to acknowledge his rebellion, to come clean and face the consequences.  This was no game of hide and seek.  Adam may have lost sight of God, but God hadn’t lost sight of him.

God could have left him in hiding helplessly entangled with the powers of darkness.  He could have let him wander back to the tree of life to eat and live forever lost, damned, shut out from God’s presence for eternity. But God came seeking,  “Adam, where are you?”  Desiring to know and be known, desiring to share Life with His prized creation, desiring to redeem, God came calling.

Where am I?  Where do I run when I have sinned and the guilt and shame of it are more than a fig leaf can cover?  Where am I? When sin has won the day and Satan lurks gloating? When guilt and shame and raw rebellion urge me to run and hide,  to seek relief where it can never satisfy, to make excuses or to hunker down in self-pity…

Where am I?

Thanks be to God for coming to seek and to save, I am in Christ.

I have been adopted by this good Father who knows and loves anyway, who sees all but declares me “holy and blameless and above reproach before him”.

Where am I?  I am right here in His Beloved Son.

Arise, my soul, arise,
shake off your guilty fears:
the bleeding Sacrifice
in my behalf appears:
before the throne my Surety stands,
before the throne my Surety stands,
my name is written on his hands.
My God is reconciled;
his pard’ning voice I hear;
he owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear;
with confidence I now draw nigh,
with confidence I now draw nigh,
and “Father, Abba, Father!” cry.
–Charles Wesley (1742)

–LS