Category: One-a-Day

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

Thank you, Veteran.

Thank you for leaving your home behind in order to protect it.

Thank you for setting aside your freedoms to help safeguard mine.

Thank you for fighting for my right to protest, even when my protest saddens or angers or disgusts you.

Thank you for shouldering a rifle, or climbing into a chopper, or racing toward a bomb blast, knowing that this could be the day that you were called to give “the last full measure of devotion.”

You must have been terrified.

You went anyway.

For me.

Thank you.

I pray that on this holiday you will know the love of a grateful nation, and the love of the One who gave his life that you might live…forever.

Happy Veterans Day, Beloved of God

But the fruit of the Spirit is love…  (Galatians 5:22).

On the count of three, I want you to create a mango.

Ready?  One…Two…Three!

TaDaaaa!!

Hey, where’s your mango?

Oh, that’s right.  You can’t make a mango, because a mango isn’t in your nature.  It’s a fruit of the mango tree.

As love is a fruit of the Spirit. 

Beloved, you can do loving things–and you should–out of obedience to God.  But that feeling of unselfish love, of wanting someone else’s good above your own…you can’t manufacture that.  It comes from the Holy Spirit, and it develops and ripens in its own time and on His schedule.  So don’t force it, and don’t kick yourself for not feeling what you think you ought to feel.  Just let the Spirit work in you.  Be obedient to his commands, and the fruit will mature right on schedule.

His schedule.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

But the fruit of the Spirit is…  (Galatians 5:22).

There are places in the Bible where we believers are compared to strong trees or lush vines producing good fruit.

This is not one of those places.

Here, please note, the fruit is produced by the Spirit of God.

So where are we in this analogy?  Well, the Holy Spirit lives in us, and a fruit tree lives in…

dirt.

Yes, Beloved, we are dirt.  I mean, you can go with rich, fertile soil or even jars of clay, but it’s all still dirt.  We don’t produce the fruit or bear the fruit; we simply allow the Spirit to be planted in us.  We endure the rains because they allow the Spirit to sink his roots deep.

I could continue the analogy by talking about how some days fertilizer gets dumped on us, but I don’t want to put that picture in your head.

Oops…too late.

Well, let’s hope today is not a fertilizer day.

Happy Friday, Beloved. 

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God  (Galatians 5:19-21).

Well, now–there’s a happy start to your day.

Look, we’re not going to go into details here.  Some of the items on this list are vague, while others are quite specific.  But let’s take a moment to discuss what this list is not.

One, it’s not a comprehensive check-off list.  Don’t look at this and think, “Whew, I don’t see myself here, so I’m good.”  Because, first of all, look closer–you’re on here.  Besides, Paul’s not listing all sin.  He’s giving examples of the fruit produced by a life lived apart from God.  

Two, it’s not a mark of doom.  When you see yourself on this list–and you will–it doesn’t mean that you are not God’s.  Paul doesn’t say, “Those who commit any of these acts will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”  He says,  “Those who live like this…” It’s a lifestyle.  What you see above are the effects, not the causes, of a life without Christ.  

So, Beloved, when you look at this list and it seems all too familiar, return to the Cross, bathe in his grace, and remember whose you are and how much you are worth to him.

Then live like it.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law (Galatians 5:18).

The Law doesn’t lead you.  It drags you.  You’re chained by the hands to the rear bumper of a Buick.  As the car drives away you walk, then jog, then run, then race, trying desperately to keep from stumbling, because when you stumble you will fall, and then you will be dragged by chains of guilt through streets of shame.

How’s that for pushing a metaphor, huh?

By contrast, the Spirit leads you.  It’s your favorite person in all the world looking over his shoulder with a smile and a wink and saying, “Come with me.  This is gonna be amazing!”

Go with Spirit over Law, Beloved.  

Every time

Especially today

Happy Wednesday

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want (Galatians 5:17).

Guest post today by C.S. Lewis:

Legion

Lord, hear my voice, my present voice I mean,

Not that which may be speaking an hour hence

(For I am Legion) in an opposite sense

And not by show of hands decide between

The multiple factions which my state has seen

Or will see. Condescend to the pretense

That what speaks now is I; in its defense,

Dissolve my parliament and intervene.

Thou wilt not, though we asked it, quite recall

Free will once given. Yet to this moment’s choice

Give unfair weight. Hold me to this. Oh strain

A point—use legal fictions; for if all

My quarreling selves must bear an equal voice

Farewell, thou hast created me in vain.

Yep; that about covers it.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Galatians 5:16).

Remember the story about the Indian boy who dreamt that he had two wolves fighting inside him?  He went to his grandfather, who explained that the wolves represented good and evil.  The kid asked which wolf would win the fight, and the wise grandfather replied, “The one that you feed.”

You don’t remember that story?  Oh, well, it was a story.  Trust me.

Anyway, there’s truth there.  All day long today, you are going to make choices about how to spend your time.  No matter how busy you are with the stuff that has to be done, you will still have a few minutes here and there that are at your discretion.  How will you spend those moments?  

Will you take the chance to connect with God, or with social media?  

Will you soak in a moment of worship, or check out the latest political hate rant?  

You could fire off a quick prayer for those you love (or those you don’t love but are called to love)–or you could engage in that secret sin while the angels weep.

Not to get too heavy, but you know what I’m talking about.

Beloved, living by the Spirit is not performing some huge, momentous act that rocks the cosmos and brings thousands to their knees in solemn prayer.

Although, if you can do that, please do…and tag me in the pictures.

Living by the Spirit is a thousand small choices that define you and your relationship with Jesus.  It’s the endless small sacrifices of time that demonstrate your priorities before God and Man and Self.

Caveat for my daughter and others who are getting twitchy–I’m not saying that you can never relax, or that you have to monitor and judge every moment of every day.  That way lies madness.  I’m just saying that we make choices with our time, and we should choose the things that will bring us closer to God.

So, yes, Beloved, it’s OK to watch the kitten in a teacup video…just maybe not for the 1000th time.

I gotta go now. There’s this set of 800 Star Wars memes on Facebook that I have to get back to.

I’m a mess.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other  (Galatians 5:15).

We are so very good at this, aren’t we?

We know how to attack, to destroy, to scathe our enemy with a word or a post or a meme.  And we laugh and congratulate ourselves because we are so clever.

So very clever.

Why, then, do we hurt so much?

Beloved, what can you do today to bring healing and fellowship and peace?

Do it.

Happy Thursday, Beloved. 

The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself (Galatians 5:14).

There’s that Love thing again.  

Real, honest love is completely unselfish and comes with no strings attached.  It wants what is best for the beloved, regardless of the cost to the one who loves. It “keeps no record of wrongs,” and it does not stop loving just because it has been hurt or disappointed.

That would be the way Jesus loves us.

That would be the love we are called to.

Can you imagine a world in which such love was the norm, rather than the extreme?

Neither can I.

But I wonder if, by the grace of God, we can take a step in that direction, even today.

Just one step.

By his grace; for his glory.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.