Family Friday  12/6/24

Posted on by December 6, 2024
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A life worthy

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…(Ephesians 2:19)

You belong. 

No longer alone

No longer an outsider

You are family.

Now, listen, families aren’t always perfect.

They squabble.

They battle.

They include OCD firstborns

and spoiled babies

and angst-ridden middle kids.

Then there’s the occasional psycho cousin that you try to avoid.

You know, unless that’s you.

But here’s the deal: whether you grew up in Mayberry or in Dysfunction Junction, you now belong to a family that is eternal. 

We have a perfect Father, a righteous big brother, and forever to get it right.

I can’t wait to see the whole family photo.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

Peace One-a-Day Thursday  12/5/24

Posted on by December 5, 2024
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A life worthy

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near  (Ephesians 2:17).

Pace Domnului

When I was in Romania many many many years ago, this was a common greeting between the brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s pronounced pah-chay-domn-loo-eee.

Sort of

I remember the children getting the giggles every time I tried to communicate in their tongue. I can only assume it was because my pronunciation was so perfect it delighted their very souls.

In any case, Pace Domnlui translates roughly to “Peace of God.” Embedded in the greeting was the understanding that peace comes only from Christ, that he alone can bring peace to our crazy lives, our frantic schedules, our troubled and fearful and utterly stressed-out minds.

Pace Domnlui, Beloved of Christ.

Oh, and Happy Thursday

Unity One-a-Day Wednesday  12/4/24

Posted on by December 4, 2024
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A life worthy

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility (Ephesians 2:15-16).

Those who were bound by legality

and 

those who were lost to licentiousness

brought together

at the cross

and made new,

bought and 

paid for and

finally 

forever 

free. 

Thank you, Jesus

and

Happy Wednesday, Beloved

Abolish One-a-Day Tuesday  12/3/24

Posted on by December 3, 2024
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A life worthy

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations (Ephesians 2:15).

Now wait a minute, Paul.

Jesus himself said, Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

So…

Beloved, you know I’m not a Bible scholar, but this is how it seems to me:

The Law is good. God created it, and if Man could live by the Law, it would indeed save him.

But

man couldn’t…not even for a little bit. So the Law became a wall dividing men from God, and dividing Jews from everyone else.

When Jesus came and lived the Law to perfection, he became the only one ever to earn Heaven on his own merit. When he died on the cross, paying a price he didn’t have to pay, he completed the process of atonement that no one else could complete.

Hence, It is finished.

So it seems to me that when Paul talks of abolishing the Law, he is speaking of those effects of the Law that separate us, the “commandments and regulations” that kept people divided into camps.

Jesus died and rose to knock down walls.

So, let them fall.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Let the Wall Fall Monday  12/2/24

Posted on by December 2, 2024
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A life worthy

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…(Ephesians 2:14)

Jew and Gentile

Insider and Outsider

Us and Them

Paul is specifically talking about the separation between Israel and the Gentiles here, showing that Christ’s sacrifice has given everyone equal access to God’s kingdom. But it applies across the board, does it not? Race, gender, age, politics, socioeconomic status–none of the things that divide us matters if we belong to Jesus.

And none of the things that unite us matters if we don’t.

Do you belong to Jesus? Then you are my brother or sister. The differences between us may be real, but they are insignificant in the light of his love for us.

If we can just carry that attitude into our world today, what can we accomplish?

Let’s find out.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

Thankful One-a-Day Friday  11/29/24

Posted on by November 29, 2024
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A life worthy

I thank God every time I remember you (Philippians 1:3).

As I think over all the ways God has blessed me and has filled my life with his love and his grace, my heart comes to you.  You, who enter my digital den and read my ramblings.  For some of you it’s a One-a-Day; for others it’s a Once-in-a-While.  Still, you come, and you read, and you allow me to share the bits and bobs that rattle around inside me.  Look, your time is important.  You could go anywhere in cyberspace and read any of thousands of devotions written by people wiser and better trained than I.  But you spend a few moments here, with me.  You do me a great honor.

So, as you give thanks today, please know that there is someone clacking away at his Chromebook who is very thankful for…you.

Happy Thanksgiving, Beloved.

Thanks One-a-Day Thursday  11/28/24

Posted on by November 28, 2024
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A life worthy

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (1 Chronicles 16: 34).

Busy day today.

You’ve got a turkey to burn, cranberries to sauce, potatoes to mash, tables to set, dishes to break, shards to sweep up, relatives to endure/enjoy/escape…

Beloved, take a moment, right now, before the craziness descends.  Offer your heart and your mind and your day and your life to Him in thanksgiving.  If you don’t do it now…

Breathe deep, and thank him that he chooses to be good

That he chooses to love you

That he chooses to love you forever, not until he gets bored with you or until you mess up in some way and displease him

Because…no offense…but I’m sure that’s already happened.

He could choose to stop loving you, but he won’t.

It’s in his power, but it’s not in his nature.

His love endures forever.

You are his Beloved.

You are his, Beloved.  

Forever

Happy Thanksgiving

Prepositions Matter  One-a-Day Wednesday  11/27/24

Posted on by November 27, 2024
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A life worthy

…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

“in”

Not “for”

but 

“in.”

Beloved, there are things that occur in our lives that only a deranged person would be happy about.

Hey, I can’t pay my mortgage and I’m about to be homeless. Thanks, God!!

Wow, I just lost seven of my toes in a tragic rollerblading accident. Thanks, God!!

Gee, the dog just vomited up half of Kentucky on the carpet. Thanks, God!!

Feel free to add to the list.

Point is, trying to be thankful for the horrible nastiness of life is something best left to the truly psychotic,

which you are not.

I hope.

But God is not calling you to be thankful for these circumstances.

Only in them

See, being thankful in all circumstances is an acknowledgement that your circumstances do not define you, that they are not the end goal of your existence. No matter what awful, dystopic, dyspeptic, yougottabekiddingme events overtake us, our lives and selves remain rooted with Christ in God.

Uncrushable

Unsinkable

Unshakeable 

Whatever this world rolls your way, you can be thankful that God remains God, and you remain his, and that remains everything.

So, be thankful, Beloved.

Happy Wednesday

He is Good One-a-Day Tuesday 11/26/24

Posted on by November 26, 2024
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A life worthy

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (Psalm 107:1).

God is good.

He doesn’t have to be.

He chooses to be.

God loves us.

He doesn’t have to.

He chooses to.

Look, we can get into a theotechnical debate about whether God is bound by his own nature to be what he is, or whether he possesses self-determinative power

and that would be fun

but until you convince me otherwise, I’m gonna go with the fact that God is…you know…God, and he could have done it any way he wanted to.

There is an image that comes to my mind as I write these words.

It’s Calvin and Hobbes.

Not the theologian and the sociopolitical philosopher, although…

No, I’m talking about the kid and the tiger.

If you aren’t familiar with the famous comic strip by Bill Watterson, I weep for your ignorance and encourage you to avail yourself of the great riches to be found before you continue here. For the enlightened among you, I’m thinking of the strip in which Calvin imagines himself as God, “but Calvin is no kind and loving god…and the puny inhabitants of Earth displease him!”

What follows is destruction on ohsomany levels.

Beloved, we need never ever even for a moment fear that God will decide to stop being good, or stop loving us, or restructure the foundation of the Universe to reflect darkness rather than light.

He has chosen to be good, and it is so.

He chose to be kind and loving and giving and gracious and merciful.

And it is so.

Forever.

Give thanks, Beloved.

Happy Tuesday

What He Has Done   One-a-Day Monday  11/25/24

Posted on by November 25, 2024
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A life worthy

Give thanks with a grateful heart.

Give thanks to the Holy One.

Give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his son.

And now let the weak say, “I am strong…”

Let the poor say, “I am rich,”

Because of what the Lord has done for us.

And now let the sick say, “I am whole,”

Let the bound say, “I am free,”

Because of what the Lord has done for us.

Give Thanks

(Give Thanks, Don Moen, 1986)

Because of what he’s done for us.

For you

Spend some time this morning considering all he has done for you.

I think you’ll find it’s really quite a bit.

You can start with the big ones–the Cross, the Resurrection, Eternal Life.

That’ll keep you chewing for a while.

Then, may I suggest that you scale it down to the little things that have seemed so giant to you over the years…

How has he strengthened you?

How has he provided for you?

How has he healed you?

How has he freed you?

You might want to set aside a goodly chunk of time. You have a lot to think about.

Happy Monday, Beloved