Category Archives: Wednesday

Gifting

Posted on December 12, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 8:1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Paul’s words about gifts brought this “gifting” process to mind: * Choosing, * Presenting, * Receiving.  

* Choosing: God chose a part of himself, Jesus Christ, to be his gift to us and for our celebration.  

* Presenting: God chose to present himself to us in a surprise package for an unusual reason.   A baby is a far more intimate gift than the might be expected from the supreme ruler of the universe.  God chose intimacy not intimidation and possibilities not preconceived ideas as his preparation for us to receive.  

* Receiving: God chose and presented his gift. Now all that’s left is opening that surprise package filled with growth, change, nurture, grace and His own will for us to give ourselves back to him. The gift has been successfully delivered.  Open it and follow the example of the church at Macedonia to keep the gift going. “They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.”

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A New Message

Posted on December 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

I Corinthians 7:8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

Paul’s reference to sorrow caused by his letter has been my Advent preparation trigger.  I read his words as if they were God’s words.  Sorrow began in that place of creation where those first two people lost their perfect status as companions of God.  Life would go on…and on…and on…and that lack of perfection would continue to be a source of sorrow, so God wrote a letter to his people on tablets of stone.  That “letter” clearly showed the solution to worldly sorrow but their damaged mindset was still the problem.  They “thought” the answer to their loss of perfection, and the sorrow it caused, was to be more committed to trying harder.  

Fast forward from God’s letter to that “first season” we now call Advent.  God was going to show his creation a new message: Jesus Christ, Son of God born as the antidote to the poison of man’s damaged mindset.  Jesus Christ, Son of God born as the image of restored perfection and new life.  Jesus Christ, Son of God born to overcome the futility of worldly sorrow and reveal the power of Godly sorrow.   “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…” Jesus Christ, Son of God, born to be our Christmas Joy.

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The Relief of Grace

Posted on November 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

Promises from Chapter 6: “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” …I will welcome you and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.” [NIV]

II Corinthians 7:1 Having such great promises as these, dear friends, let us turn away from everything wrong, whether of body or spirit, and purify ourselves, living in the wholesome fear of God, giving ourselves to him alone. [TLB]

There was a day when we understood those promises of God, turned away from our sin and believed his words: “I will welcome you and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”  That first “turning away” brought us the life-changing relief of grace.  It was a spectacular beginning but that’s exactly what it was…the first day of the rest of our life.  

The relief of grace is God’s gift of courage to look at the challenges of the rest of our life and be willing to confess we still need courage  to “turn away from everything wrong, whether of body or spirit, and purify ourselves… giving ourselves to him alone.”

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Weapons of Righteousness

Posted on November 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 6:3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;  6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;   8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  

I read through these verses and was struck by how many word comparisons Paul uses just after he writes about weapons so I made a list – but in columns: a left-hand one and a right-hand one.  Apparently comparisons are catching and maybe that’s exactly what Paul had in mind.  It certainly has made me think.  

The left column is clearly filled with recognizable defensive weapons of righteousness.  What if all those words in that right-hand column might also be weapons of rightousness?  The Holy Spirit revealed our desire for those commendable words in the left-hand column to be a reality our lives at the same time our eyes recognized the words of the right-hand column were a part of that same reality.  Doesn’t that make those dismal words pretty effective weapons of righteousness too?
Glory                                 Dishonor
Good Report.                   Bad Report
Genuine.                           Imposters
Known.                              Unknown
We Live On                       Dying
Not Yet Killed.                  Beaten
Rejoicing.                           Sorrowful
Rich.                                    Poor
Everything                         Nothing
One column wasn’t enough to bring us into the faith of Jesus Christ on that day we came to our senses and returned to His victory and I’m guessing a majority of us would admit our lives still need both columns today.  We couldn’t have understood glory if we hadn’t recognized dishonor or desired a good report if we hadn’t been aware of our bad report “then”.  You can continue on down the list for yourself and just make the change to present tense: we can’t understand glory if we don’t recognize our dishonor, or desire a good report if we can’t confess a bad report.

The words in both those columns have turned out to be very effective weapons ”of endurance, in purity, understanding, patience and kindness “then” and “the power of God [to arm us now] with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left…”

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Obligation and Purpose

Posted on November 14, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Being an ambassador “…as though God were making his appeal through us” become more real to me this week.  I wanted to implore these people I really care about but instead my appeal was full of frustrated emotion and more loaded with the need to persuade than the desire that anyone might be reconciled to God.  It’s so easy to spout off when you get your mouth and emotion involved.  The fact is being an ambassador for Christ has obligations of grace.

I lost track of the reality that grace at it’s most basic level is God working to give me time to change.  My motivation was more of the problem than my words were, and I blew it. I disappointed myself, and my two best advocates, Christ and my husband.  It’s been a reminder to me of the obligation of, and my need for, grace AND it’s purpose.  

Forgiveness has bound me to these people and grace in a new way AND loosed me to transformation “so that in him [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God”…together.

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The Next Episode

Posted on November 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

Genesis 4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.  9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 

What began in the garden of all creation became a soap opera story of the loss of promise along with the privilege and perfection of that first couple.  They both had the chance to stand face to face with God and admit what they’d done but Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  What they’d done just couldn’t be undone.  There was blame with lasting consequences and inestimable loss.

That first fruit had taken root and reproduced itself in a  deadly way in their second son.  Cain murdered his brother Abel.  Then he chose to disavow his guilt with the same technique the serpent had used to defy God and deceive his parents…deflection…the fruit of deceit. The simple use of one question to deflect another – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The fruit of deceit would be the identifying mark on Cain for the rest of his life.  That identifying mark has lasted and the soap opera continues.

We are living in the next episode.  Life is our test of how we deal with real lies and real guilt in real lives.  We are the broken descendants of that first family but we do not have to be marked by that rotten fruit.  We can choose to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”  [Philippians 1:11 NIV]

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Compel Us

Posted on October 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 5: 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.

Put to the test…that’s how I feel right now after a week of news about mail bombs, race motivated shootings, upcoming elections and a border “wall” of young military.  This is a test and the answers seem to be multiple choice : nationalist or globalist, right wing or left wing, guns or no guns, justice or evil, hate or love, any means to an end or no end in sight.  This test is not asking the right questions at all and the answers are not really multiple choice.  My prayers are compelled by my fear of flunking the test because the choices offered are so opposite of this Scripture.  Lord, I beg you give us new questions* with choices  based on your absolute truth and real answers compelled by your Word and Christ’s love.

  1. Did God really say . . . ?” Genesis 3:1
  2. Where are you?” Genesis 3:9
  3. Am I my brother’s keeper” Genesis 4:9
  4. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25
  5. Are you still maintaining your integrity?  Job 2:9
  6. How can a young person stay on the path of purity?” Psalm 119:9
  7. Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Matthew 18:21
  8. What shall I do then with Jesus?” Matthew 27:22
  9. Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15
  10. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8:36
  11. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:18
  12. If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31

*Question source: gotquestions

No matter how hard the test is, the real answer to every question has to be “for Christ’s love compels us…Lord help us all. Lord help me!

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New In Quality

Posted on October 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 3:7 The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. 8 Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? 9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! 10 In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. 11 So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! [NLT]

God’s law was chiseled into those tablets of stone.  What could be more permanent than stone?  Those tablets were “new” then but they are lost today.  God had something even more permanent in mind; the same truth reproducible in the hearts of transformed people.  Truth that would be new not only in point of time, but also new in quality…for all time. 

Etched in stone or etched in life is the difference between the law versus the Spirit and the bottom line of the new way.   Now “the Holy Spirit is giving life.”  God’s truth is not new but the “new” quality is truth being chiseled into our hearts.  No wonder it sometimes hurts but it’s truth that will last for all eternity.  We are the tablets the world sees today.

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External, Internal and Eternal Image

Posted on October 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [NIV]

“Known and read by everyone” got me thinking about how much effort we spend on creating an image we think will make us look good. It’s easy to confuse image and vanity because both are so closely tied to external influences.  Attention to our image supports almost any part of the economy I can think of at this moment; housing, auto, clothing, food and certainly personal care. It’s not a bad thing to want to look good but these external things are only a convenient way for us to manipulate reality.

Paul reminds us part of our image is paying attention to our internal, intangible things that are far less easy for us to manipulate by buying the “right” whatever.  They’re written not with ink on a contract or a sales slip “but with the Spirit of the living God.”  Paul confirms that what is written on our heart becomes a visible part of our image that can be “known and read by everyone.”  It takes the our external efforts and God’s internal commitment  to complete the eternal image being written within us: “You are a letter from Christ…known and read by everyone.” 

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Thoughts

Posted on September 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

NASB Romans 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

You’ve probably heard these ideas before: the mind is the battleground of our life of faith; or every sin begins with an idea.  I know you’ve heard of the helmet of salvation.  It’s an interesting thing to ponder.  Only humans, of all creation are made in God’s image and have been given His unique mindset and dominion over all the earth. Dominion includes the extraordinary responsibility to think and evaluate, categorize and store information based on that image and that mindset.  No wonder we need a protective helmet.  “Whatever gets your mind gets you.” [author Rick Warren]. 

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

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