A Life Worthy

…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

This love that surpasses knowledge…a love that is more than my brain can contain…frankly, that he loves me at all is mind-blowing.

To be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…to be so full of God that there’s no room for anything else.  You know what that makes me think of?  It makes me think of the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart is wooing Donna Reed.  He talks about lassoing the moon, and bringing it down for her. She could then swallow the moon, and the moonbeams would shoot out from her fingertips and the ends of her hair.  That’s what this verse makes me think of.  Paul wants us to be so full of God’s love that it pours out of us—shoots out of us in all directions.

Beloved, if we could just grasp the giganticatiousness of God’s love, we would be filled to capacity with his…well, with him.

Chew on that as you move through your Friday.  Pray that God would help you to know his love, that you might be filled to the brim, and pour out into the lives all around you.

God runs a full-service station.  Fill ‘er up, Beloved.

For he (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4).

You are the chosen one.

Well, maybe not the chosen one, but certainly a chosen one.

Before he made the world, God was thinking about you.  He knew who you would be, how you would be, what you would look like when you danced.  

He knew what would make you weep, and what would make you giggle, and what would make you hide behind the couch because you can’t bear to watch the screen.

He saw your “We are the Champions” moments.

He saw your many sins, your epic, endless failures.

And he loved you.

And he chose you.

Consider this: God is not bound by time, right?  Past, present, future—it’s all kind of now to him.  So, when he looks at you he sees you not only as you are, but as you will be.

Holy.

Blameless.

Now, if only you could learn to see yourself as he sees you.

Do me a favor, Beloved—try.

Happy Wednesday.

Time for a little hopscotch through Ephesians…

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:2).

Grace comes first.

Have you ever considered the causative relationship between the words grace and peace? The second depends upon the first.  It is only through God’s grace that we can have peace.

Think about it—apart from God’s grace, why should you have peace?  You are a hopeless, pathetic lump, destined for destruction—me too, for that matter.

Ahh, but you are not apart from God’s grace.  

Hear that–you are not apart from God’s grace.

If you belong to Him, you have his grace, sufficient to all your needs.  Your pathetic lumpiness has been forgiven, atoned for.

Embrace his grace, Beloved of the Father.  

Know his peace.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

…praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals (Psalm 150:5).

I’ve never found the clash of symbols to be particularly worshipful, but what do I know?

OK, oddest worship memory…

Many moons ago, I was part of a church that was rather…demonstrative in its worship.  It was commonplace to see people raising hands, dancing, calling out in various versions of prayer languages.  No snake handling, but up to that pretty much anything went.  I was a little, shall we say, conservative in my personal worship style, but I appreciated the freedom of my brothers and sisters and had no problems with their praise.

Until Flag Lady showed up.

You heard me.  

Flag

Lady

She had these pennants…shiny gold pennants.  They may have been silk, but I don’t know for sure.

I just know that they hurt.

You see, each of her two pennants was about three feet long and was attached to a twelve-inch stick.  Each tapered to a point, as pennants are wont to do.  She would dance up and down the aisle of the church, spinning and twirling and leaping and smacking folks in the head with these flags.

You think I’m joking

but I have scars.

Have you ever seen an expert lion tamer in action?  Maybe an old Indiana Jones film?

Well then.

Beloved, praise him loud and long and with everything you’ve got.

Just, you know, try not to leave a welt.

Happy Thursday, Beloved