A Life Worthy

Tag: a life worthy

  • One-a-Day Friday 3/21/14

    …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 us at all is mind-blowing—wouldn’t you agree?

    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.

    He seems to say that, 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.

  • One-a-Day Thursday 3/20/14

    And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ… (Ephesians 3:17b-18).

    If you only knew.

    We can’t understand God’s love.  It is totally beyond our brains.  We can use metaphors—parent and child, husband and wife—but ultimately, they fall short.  Can you imagine a trillion of something?  I’ll give you a hand.  One trillion seconds equates to about 31,000 years.  Which you also can’t imagine, since you’ve been around less than a hundred years.

    Most of you.

    The problem is, we’re so stinking finite.  How do we grasp the idea of an infinite God, and his infinite love?

    It’s a good problem.

    I think that, the more we can understand of the sheer magnitude of God’s love for us, the more our problems will shrink in comparison.

    Is God’s love big enough to cover…?

    Does God love me even though I…?

    Can God’s love handle all the…?

    If you only knew, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday 3/19/14

    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 had you in mind.  He knew who you would be, how you would be, 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—try, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday 3/18/14

    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

    Think you aren’t strong enough?

    Think you aren’t smart enough?

    Think you aren’t rich enough?

    Think you aren’t…enough?

    You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.  Not some…not even most.

    Every.

    All.

    I can’t even imagine what all that means, but I’ll bet it means this much: everything you need to live the life God has called you to, He has already given you.

    So what are you waiting for, Beloved?

  • One-a-Day Monday 3/17/14

    Beloved, if you knew the week I just had and the one I’m about to have, you would understand why I’m “revisiting” these One-a-Days from last year.  Strangely, God’s Word has not gotten any less powerful or any less timely.  As to my commentary, well, that remains to be seen.

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

    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.  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 today.

  • The Accidental Witness

    Grocery bag“You know, a couple of weeks ago I really hated your guts!”

    Lovely.

    Several questions hit my mind all at once.

    “Why did this person hate my guts a couple of weeks ago?”

    “Why does this person no longer hate my guts?”

    “Why does this person feel the need to tell me this in line at the supermarket?” (more…)

  • One-a-Day Friday, 3/14/14

    number 1…neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

    Of course there’s nothing in the physical world that can separate us from God.  Outer space or ocean floor, you can’t get beyond his reach.  You already knew that.

    But what about the emotional world?

    What about when life is fantastic, and I get so caught up in my own amazingosity that I forget God?

    What about when “I make my bed in the depths,” so depressed and beaten down that I can’t muster the strength to lift my head to Heaven?

    Emotions are within his sphere too, Beloved.

    All Creation is under his sway, and he has promised us, right here, that none of it can separate us from the love of Christ.

    There is only one uncreated being in all the cosmos, only one who would be capable of erasing God’s love from your life, and he’s the one making the promise.

    So I think we’re safe.

    You are safe.

    Take that into your weekend, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Thursday, 3/13/14

    number 1…neither the present nor the future… (Romans 8:38c).  

    Neither the present…

    when I’m distracted and frazzled and busy and sad and lonely and frightened and desperate and insecure and so completely overwhelmed that I barely have time to read this silly little devotional

    nor the future…

    when I have no idea what will happen

    …though God does

    or what mistakes I will make

    …though God does

    or what sins I will commit

    …though God does

    or who will hurt me

    …though God does

    and I can only cling to his Word and trust and pray and hope that he really is all he promises to be.

    Yes, that’s about it.

    How about this: I’ll cling and trust and pray and hope for you today, and you do the same for me. Whaddaya say?

    Thanks, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday, 3/12/14

    number 1…neither angels nor demons… (Romans 8:38b)

    I would love to see into the spiritual world.  When I read of Daniel’s visions, or John the Apostle’s, I get hungry, wondering what it will really be like to see into that world.  I know that it’s there, and filled with unimaginable power, but I can only perceive the tiniest fraction of it.

    And yet, interesting as it may be, ultimately the world of angels and demons has little effect on our eternity.  My life—your life—is hidden with Christ in God.  It’s done.

    I don’t really know why or how an angel might want to separate me from God.  That’s beyond the scope of this brain to comprehend.  I can understand why a demon might—and what tactics may be involved.  I’m sure that I have even experienced the attempt, though I may not have realized it at the time.

    Doesn’t matter.

    You may stand at the center of a spiritual melee, but you are secure.

    You may swim in a whirlpool of spiritual attack, but you will not be pulled down.

    God’s got you, and nothing can take you from him.

    It’s Wednesday—go get ‘em, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 3/11/14

    number 1For I am convinced that neither death nor life… (Romans 8:38a)

    If I get squished by a narcoleptic cement truck driver on my way to work, I will still belong to God.  In fact, I will immediately be ushered into his presence, to spend eternity in his glory.  I understand that.

    You know…sorta.

    But the “life” part, that’s something to chew on.  Life can’t separate me from God, either.  Because frankly, that’s the far more likely scenario of the two.  There are so many things out there that are designed to separate us from God’s love.  Everywhere you turn, there is darkness reaching for you.  If it were up to you, your strength, you would be swept away.

    But, of course, it’s not.

    God is strong enough to hold you, even when sin and fear and insecurity and doubt and laziness and despair try to tear you out of his grasp.

    I wouldn’t suggest that you go out of your way to test that promise, but you can trust it.

    You can trust him.