Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins… (Galatians 1:3)
He gave himself.
Don’t let that idea get by you too quickly.
Soak in it.
Ponder it.
Meditate on it.
Pray through it.
He could have given anything.
He chose to give everything.
For you
So weep, and rejoice, and stride into your day, oh Beloved of Christ.
Grace and Peace One-a-Day Tuesday 7/26/16
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… (Galatians 1:3)
Without grace, there is no peace.
Seriously…why would there be?
Without grace you are dead in the water…and dead in your sins.
Without grace, you get what you deserve:
pain
emptiness
darkness
loneliness
eternity apart from love.
But…
you are not without grace, are you?
It flows over you, in you, through you.
You don’t deserve it, but that’s kinda the point, is it not?
You have found favor with God.
You are healed
and filled
and whole.
So…walk in grace today, Beloved.
Know his peace.
Happy Tuesday.
Paul, an apostle–sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead–and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia (Galatians 1:1-2).
So, Paul was an apostle
and you’re not.
I get that.
Still, Paul was sent by God to do the work God had set out for him to do. Knowing he was on a mission for Christ gave Paul the strength and confidence to face the darkness and difficulty that came against him,
of which there was much.
You, Beloved, have also been sent by God to do a job. You have a mission. You move into Monday with the authority and the power to accomplish the task he has given you.
Excuse me? You don’t know what he wants of you today? Sure you do.
Do justice in an unjust world.
Love mercy in a pitiless world.
Walk humbly through a prideful world.
Start with those basics, and details will be made plain to you as the day develops.
Now, go make your Daddy proud.
Happy Monday, Beloved.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12:2).
I want a running Director’s Commentary on my life. You know, like when you buy a DVD, you can look in the “bonus features” section and watch the movie with the director talking over the action. He explains the backstory, provides behind-the-scenes tidbits, and gives insight into why certain production decisions were made.
I want the Holy Spirit to provide running commentary for me. As I go through my day he can whisper in my ear—better yet, he can have an angel appear from time to time with a little scroll. You know, something tangible, ‘cause I don’t always trust voices in my head. Anyway, he can point out the Father’s will in every situation, and explain why things happen the way they do. That would be good.
While we’re at it, I want a pony.
OK, this is odd. I was composing the above in my head while driving home from work. As I got to the part about the pony, I glanced to my right and saw…
A pony.
It was just standing there, by the side of the road, munching on some random flora. I have driven this road twice a day every workday for ten years. Never once have I seen a pony. I attach no spiritual significance to this, other than proof that God has a sense of humor.
And yet…
I did not stop and collect the pony, partly because I don’t want a felony on my record, and partly because I really do not want a pony. I was only pretending I wanted a pony.
Which makes me wonder…do I really want the Holy Spirit speaking directly to me, passing me notes, or am I just pretending I do? Do I really want to be responsible for knowing God’s will? Because, frankly, not being sure of his will gives me a certain amount of wiggle room that I often exploit.
This passage suggests to me that, as we allow God to put our minds back in whack through his Word and his Holy Spirit, we actually do get something akin to Director’s Commentary. But as with any gift, we are responsible for how we use it.
What do you say, Beloved? Are you willing to accept the gift God offers? Are you willing to be transformed and renewed, to be able to, “test and approve what God’s will is…”? Because what he gives, you must use.
Unless he gives you a pony. A pony you may leave by the side of the road.
Happy Friday, Beloved.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
Not your heart?
Nope.
Your mind.
Sure, God works in your heart too, but the transformation Paul is talking about here comes through your mind.
What you think about.
How you think about it.
How you make your decisions.
How you look at the world.
In case you hadn’t noticed, we live in a sinful, broken world. Growing up in it, surrounded by the messages that society puts out, well, it warps our minds.
There it is, Beloved. You have a warped mind.
It’s kinda like putting on your friend’s eyeglasses. Everything looks wrong, distorted, and out of whack.
God wants to put you back in whack. He wants to renew your mind.
Some parts of the renewal are immediate, like taking off your friend’s glasses and putting on your own. When you came to Christ, the Holy Spirit came to live within you, and certain things changed immediately. You saw sin as bondage, for example, and wondered how you could ever have thought it was freedom.
Other parts of the transformation take more time. They’re like the caterpillar, quietly waiting in its cocoon, allowing God to work his will in his own way, in his own time. God uses his word, day by day, little by little, to transform the way you think, the way you see the world around you. He is gentle and patient, because your brain is a fragile little thing, and you’re of little use to him in a catatonic state. But if you remain in the Word, he will continue to work in you, until the butterfly is released.
That’s an awful lot of simile for a Thursday.
God’s at work in you. Enjoy, Beloved.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
My favorite image of transformation is the butterfly.
I’m sure there are cooler images I could come up with, something involving thunder, and magic, and arcing electricity, and tectonic movement, and chaotic forces battling in the nether realms…
But I like the butterfly.
For one thing, it’s quiet. No trumpets announcing it. No commemorative coins struck in its honor. Mr. Caterpillar simply goes off into a corner, or a bush, or whatever, and lets it happen. So calm. So peaceful. So fundamentally life changing.
For another thing, the butterfly transformation is amazing. Think about it—there are few creatures that God has seen fit to create that are uglier than caterpillars.
Goblin sharks? Yes, um, goblin sharks are uglier than caterpillars, but they do not transform, so they do not really apply here, do they?
Anyway, the transformation from ugly, ground-bound, leaf-eating caterpillar to beautiful, graceful, floating, soaring, nectar-sipping butterfly is nothing short of astounding.
It’s wondrous.
It’s miraculous.
It’s what he wants to do in you, Beloved.
So, you know…let him.
Happy Wednesday.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world… (Romans 12:2a).
I know all about conforming—I teach middle school.
These poor kids. They so very much want to belong that they will wear the silliest clothes, listen to the lousiest music, and eat the nastiest snacks, just to be like everyone else. The irony is, they think they’re the picture of bold individualism, when in fact they are poster children for the Clone Society.
But, you know, they are children.
We are not.
Right?
Everybody wants to belong. It’s natural. It’s normal. It’s healthy. The danger comes from what you want to belong to. And what you’re willing to do to fit in. This sinful, broken world is not worth belonging to. These lost, dying people are not fit for emulating.
Loving, yes.
Conforming to, no.
If we are going to stand for God in this place, if we’re going to reach people for Christ, we have to be willing to stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.
How do you conform to this world, Beloved? In what areas do you go with the flow, try to fit in with the people around you? Paul says, “Do not conform any longer…” That means you have a choice. You have the power to stand for God instead of falling in line. Use it.
Be a sore thumb for Christ today, Beloved.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).
The Jews offered a dead sacrifice. They were, in a sense, fulfilling a contract, paying, “The wages of sin” that Paul talks about in Romans 6:23. But we are not under that contract—that law. We are under the covenant of grace. We receive “The gift of God…eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” that comes in the second half of that verse. So our sacrifice is a living sacrifice. We offer ourselves.
I like to think I could die for Jesus if it came to that—if someone put a gun to my head and told me to deny him, or some such thing. I’d bet that, under the same conditions, you would die for him as well.
But we’re not called to die for him—not in that sense.
We’re called to live for him. And, some days, that can seem so much harder.
One definition of worship is, “To offer God all that we are in response to all that he is.” I like that, because it implies that everything we do can be worship, if we do it for him.
Will you worship him today, Beloved? Will you offer your body—your life—to him, to do with as he pleases? I don’t know what that will entail, but I know that it will bring you closer to your Lord.
And it will bring him the glory he deserves.
Not a bad way to start your week, hmm?
Happy Monday, Beloved.
But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds (Psalm 73:28).
These are complicated days.
This is a complicated life.
Sometimes, you simply have to simplify.
Take your refrigerator, for example. Every so often you have to just go through it and chuck all the stuff that’s expired, or fuzzy, or unidentifiable.
Same goes for your garage
or your closet
or, you know, your heart.
Sometimes, when the world swirls with violence and hate and sin and death and despair, and you feel like Toto halfway to Oz, you gotta cling to simple truth and let the rest blow away.
It is good to be near God.
Simple
Truth
Worth clinging to
Happy Friday, Beloved.
Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you (Psalm 73:27).
Well, that sounds unpleasant.
What about that loving, kind, gracious God we keep talking about? This “destroy” business sounds seriously judgmental.
Um…yep.
Beloved, God is not a player of games. He has declared that there is but one way to be with him forever, and that is through his son, Jesus Christ. Those who choose to follow their own path are, well, choosing their destiny.
The question, of course, is not “Why would God destroy some?”
The question is, “Why would he save any?
Or, more specifically, “Why would he save me?”
Great question, Beloved.
Happy Thursday