Tag Archives: Transformation

FREEDOM

Posted on July 2, 2023 | Leave a comment

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The phrase that got my attention this morning is “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” It’s that word “hidden” that made me wonder – is it the old life, the new life, or both that’s hidden…And why?  Most of us would like at least part of our old life to be hidden. That’s where those “earthly things” before “Christ, who is your life” are. Why would that old life with those scars be worth hiding “with Christ in God?” Why not just throw them away?  Wouldn’t that be freedom?

How about that “new life?” We get to live with new realities and new options where our responses are based on transformation, not trapped in old information. Why would we want anything about this new life hidden?  Maybe God really does have a Safety Deposit Box where He keeps all the details of our progress toward freedom! It’s odd, but our scars may be part of the treasure that has been hidden by God “for” our future, not just “from” our past. God has found valuable purpose for our life even with scars.  

God’s Safety Deposit Box is where every proof of our inheritance, our treasure and our healing are hidden and protected from ever being lost. Freedom continues to grow and we continue to receive it’s dividends because God has kept every detail of our journey safe. This morning before July 4, 2023 here is the evidence of real Freedom to celebrate.

“-I have been  crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by [the faith of] the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
-For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
-So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.
-He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it!
-For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”a

a “Galatians 2:20 [“the faith of” from the old KJV],  Romans 8:2, 2 Peter 1:12, Philippians 1:6, Colossians 3:3”

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Posted in 2 Peter, Colossians, Galatians, Light, New Testament, Philippians, Romans, Sunday

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Christmas Joy

Posted on December 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 7: 5 For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, 2018.  I have often used a list of Advent readings and explored this season through the eyes of those Scriptures other people chose.  This year I’ve made the choice to look for Christmas preparation with my own eyes as I continue exercising my mind in II Corinthians and see where my heart takes me.  Today it begins with Paul’s words “we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within.  But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us…”  That reality has made the Bible an enduring treasure that still comforts us in our response to the realities of life and provides transformation along with information.  Experience has shown me every part of the Bible supports the choice God made on our behalf long ago: the birth of Jesus.  Faith in God’s choice changes our choices.  

Advent reminds us transformation came in a “small” package to provide a lifetime of therapeutic doses of comfort [grace] that will fill the gaps left by wrong choices and ultimately overcome the accumulation of fatigue, stress, conflict or fear, so our “joy” will be “greater than ever.”  That’s my choice for this Advent season. 

I hope it will be yours too.  Read whatever Scripture you pick with your eyes, your mind, your heart AND your experience.  Let’s take God at his Word that Christ is his choice made on our behalf for our transformation and choose to find our Christmas joy in His choice

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Posted in Sunday

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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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Posted in Wednesday

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Romans 12:1 & 2 –

Posted on May 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV

Creatively writing about the Word and how it impacts my daily life has become a form of prayer for me. “Creativity” and “God’s mercy” are all I’ve got when I write.  There are no theological credits after my name.  My words feel like a sacrifice of worship.  When I see them in black and white I begin to recognize the challenges of the renewal and transformation of my own mind.  Writing becomes a metaphor for that process: pray, read, write, edit, rewrite, think, pray again and finally post what I’ve written knowing full well the moment I hit “Publish” there will be better words and further editing to come.  

“We let our mind descend into our heart and there stand in the presence of God.” Henri Nouwen in Spiritual Direction

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Posted in Romans, Wednesday

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