12.15.08
“SOLIDIFYING LOVE”
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Lamentations 3:19-27 NIV
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
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Psalm 73:21-26 NIV
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
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The experience of suffering has a strange way of confirming the reality of love. Stripped of superficial confidence, those who have endured agony find themselves authentically pondering two questions: 2. does God really love me? 2. can I love and trust Him?
When we look to the Scriptures, and to history; the thoroughgoing answer to these two questions is YES! For both the weeping prophet (Jeremiah) and the Psalmist above, the candid response to the suffering they’ve endured is one of unbridled lament; bitterness and despair. Reeling from the severity of God’s punishment, or temporary injustice seemingly unchecked in the world, they come perilously close to denying their faith and hope.
But faith and hope turn out to be more resilient than bitterness and despair. A sudden recognition overtakes this suffering pair; God’s love really is faithful! Jeremiah professes, “we are not consumed, for His mercies are new every morning.” The Psalmist in the temple suddenly understands, God is faithful, and the wicked will be judged. The ensuring response is a greater depth of love and faith than was ever known. Their choice is now solidified, for they declare that God is their portion; and there is nothing more that they desire outside of Him and His salvation.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you take time to reflect on the loving faithfulness of God? As evidenced in the Scriptures, in history, and in your life?
- Will you declare that no matter where you’ve been, and or what you will encounter today; God has fresh grace, new mercy for you this morning? Will you invite him to presence Himself right next to you; to hold you by your right hand, and to whisper counsel in your ear all the day through.
- Will you tell him you love Him; that the earth has nothing that you desire more than Him? Will you declare that He is your portion, for this day and forever?
12.12.08
“FRUIT OF REPENTANCE”
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Matt 23:23-24 NIV
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
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Micah 6:8 NIV
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
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True repentance is not a matter of picking and choosing what aspects of God’s ways we prefer to obey, and what we’ll choose to ignore. Rather, it is a holistic embrace of God’s heart and character, as evident in His law. And yet it is possible to be an expert in the law, and still be guilty of spectacular hypocrisy.
In Matthew 23, Jesus levies seven woes against the legalistic spiritual leaders of the day, pointing out their utter failure in living out the crux of the law. The teachers of the law and Pharisees took pride in their anal dissemination of what ought to be tithed and how, but somehow turned a blind eye to matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Though impossible to fully legislate (e.g. what law can enforce the love of mercy), a heart which truly seeks God develops these very fruits of repentance. The natural mind cannot figure out exactly how justice and mercy is supposed to work. But those whose hearts are tutored by the Spirit evidence a holistic faithfulness which echoes the interwoven integrity of God’s mercy and justice.
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REFLECTION /RESPONSE
- This morning, will you reflect on and worship the holy beauty of God’s character? He is both completely just, and somehow transcendently merciful. These aren’t mutually exclusive, rather inherent and integral in God.
- Will you imagine yourself at the scene where Jesus castigates the spiritual elite for their deadly legalism? Imagine him declaring that they were supposed to obey the crux of the law (i.e. justice, mercy, & faithfulness), without neglecting the former (e.g. careful scrutiny over their tithing etc.). Then imagine His eyes turning to you. How do you feel prompted to respond?
- Will you humble yourself, and invite God’s Spirit to fill you with His heart for justice and mercy? Is there anything specific God is convicting you about? Will you take practical steps in obedience?
11.25.08
“SAVING GRACE”
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Eph 2:1-9 NIV
2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
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No person whose hearts and lungs have stopped ever resuscitate themselves via auto-CPR. The dead are powerless to redeem themselves. It takes action by someone else who intervenes, and saves. This is the very metaphor which Paul uses in this passage to argue that we were once dead to God; imprisoned by our sinful nature and destined for wrath.
It was God’s great mercy and grace which flipped the script; making us alive and inseparable with Christ. This is at the heart of grace, that we do not deserve it; and we do not achieve it. It is God who chooses us, and plucks us out of the pit of death. We do not get what we deserve, righteous wrath; rather we are given what we do not deserve, i.e. forgiveness and adoption.
Our works apart from God falls so short! Grace that does not include saving grace does not cut it. But God’s saving grace is more than sufficient to turn us right side up, inside out, and full steam ahead!
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REFLECTION/RESPONSE
- If you’ve never had a chance to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, will you reflect on the Bible’s assertion that without His work on the cross, you are left with the consequences of your sin and disobedience. God who is full of mercy sent His Son to die on the cross to take your place. In exchange He would turn to you in forgiveness and love. There is nothing you can do to save yourself, but God can and will if you turn to Him. Will you receive His saving grace?
- If you have a relationship with Christ, will you this morning bring your heart to remember the moment you recognized that you couldn’t save yourself from your sins, but that God would?Whether you remember the moment or not, will you bow your head and heart in thanks again for His unspeakable gift of saving grace?
- So much of our lives in Christ run along the tracks of…not by our works, but by His grace. Our “works” don’t pay for our salvation, rather they are a thanks response to His saving work on the cross. Will you dedicate this day, and all your “work” as a thanks offering to God?
