TAKING INVENTORY

“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”  (Colossians 3:1-4 NRSV)

As we stand here at the beginning of a New Year it is a good time to reflect on the year that is ending and look forward into the year that is soon to begin. It is also a good time for God’s people to take inventory of their walk with the Lord. We should take a very close look at where we are in our relationship with Him. We need to examine ourselves and see where we have been, where we are and where the Lord wants us to be. This passage gives us the opportunity and the challenge to do just that.

-- Yohan Perera in a sermon entitled “New Year Sermon: An Old Challenge for a New Year"


#4746

UTILIZING THE GIFT

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”  (Ephesians 2:8 NRSV)

A young couple decided that the wedding gift they received from the groom’s great- grandmother should become a priceless heirloom, so they kept it folded in its original package and stored it in a drawer. On the 25^th anniversary of their marriage, the bride decided to set a beautiful table for dinner using that heirloom, a special lace tablecloth. To her dismay, it fell apart as she took it out of the package. During the years of neglect it had rotted, been partly eaten by moths, and become useless and ruined.

In a similar manner, unless we exercise our gift of faith and are constant in worship and constant in contact with God’s Word, our faith will become dull, static, and stale.

-- adapted from Howard Kramin in “Hebrews: The Fulfillment of Faith”


#4745

THE WISE MEN BROUGHT GIFTS

“When [the wise men] saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  (Matthew 2:10-11 NKJV)

Out of their travel bags they pulled treasures that they had brought. The Scriptures had predicted that kings from very far away would bring gifts. Baby Jesus must have been fascinated by the sparkling treasures and reached out to touch them eagerly. Little did He know that they symbolized and foretold that He would be a king, a priest… and a sacrifice.

-- Source Unknown

#4744

THE WISE MEN WORSHIPED HIM

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’… And behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  (Excerpts from Matthew 2 NKJV)

In the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords we can do nothing less than stand in awe and praise at His majesty and bow before Him in worship.  The glory of the Lord cannot be compared.  It cannot be fathomed.  It is higher, more awesome, more wonderful, more majestic than anything we can comprehend with our finite mind and limited senses.  The glory of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.

-- From “God Will Make a Way… Stories of Hope”


#4743

ROOM FOR CHRIST

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing.”

One response was given by the innkeeper when Mary and Joseph wanted to find a room where the Child could be born. The innkeeper was not hostile; he was not opposed to them, but his inn was crowded; his hands were full; his mind was preoccupied. This is the answer that millions are giving today. Like a Bethlehem innkeeper, they cannot find room for Christ. All the accommodations in their hearts are already taken up by other crowding interests. Their response is not atheism. It is not defiance. It is preoccupation and the feeling of being able to get on reasonably well without [Christ in their lives].

-- Billy Graham

#4742

JOY TO THE WORLD

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing.”

Nobody would have expected the great King of all to arrive like that. All the royalty in Grimm’s Fairy Tales arrive in carriages drawn by a team of white horses. Can you believe that your Lord and Master arrived on earth through the birth process? And had nothing to wear but strips of cloth? And was laid in a manger (i.e., an animal’s feed trough)?

Does the humility of the divine entrance disappoint you? discourage you? offend you? Were you expecting trumpets? armies? silks, ermine, golden mace, jewel-studded crowns? If you were near that cattle pen that night, would you have bowed down in worship?

Yes, we would! If God helped frantic parents and shocked shepherds and wealthy Magi from the East to see their Messiah in the Baby, he would have found a way to turn on the lights in our brains as well. People of earth, receive your King! Each Christmas is practice for the moment of Christ’s second coming, when “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:10-11)

Prepare a place for Christ in your heart. Sing! Let everyone in your world know that you are happy that Jesus came all that way to claim you.

-- Adapted from “An Advent Playlist: Hymn-Based Devotions”

#4741

THE CRY OF ADVENT

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned… For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:2 & 6 NIV)

Christmas is the time of year when everything is amplified -- the joys and sorrows, the celebration and grief, the gift of community and the pain of isolation. That’s why it is so important to be mindful of Advent. It is a time for keeping watch in the darkness, for naming the anguish of waiting, and for pressing forward with hope, even when everything seems bleak and desolate.

Name your longings to God. Offer the cry of your heart, the ways you are waiting for light to dawn in the darkness. Ask God for the courage to wait and hope.

It is the cry of Advent -- the cry for Jesus to come and save and rescue and redeem, the cry for Jesus to come as Light and Life, to come and enter the dark chaos of the world and shine like the dawn upon all who walked in the shadow of fear and despair and death. It is the cry of Advent, the cry for Jesus to come.

-- Adapted from “Shades of Light” by Sharon Garlough Brown


#4740

IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS

In looking for ideas for Christmas gifts I found these suggestions from Oren Arnold: For your enemy, forgiveness. For an opponent, tolerance. For a friend, your heart. For a customer, service. For every child, a good example. For yourself, respect.

That got me thinking about some other gift suggestions as well: For your neighbor, charity. For a coworker or classmate, encouragement. For your pastor, support. For the lonely, companionship. For the grieving, a remembrance. For all everywhere, the love of God in Christ Jesus. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” (John 3:16a)

Maybe this prompts you to think about Christmas gifts in a different way. We’d love to hear from you about your ideas for Christmas giving this year.

-- David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry


#4739

LIGHT BREAKS INTO DARKNESS

“The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.”  (Isaiah 9:2 NIV)

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness.  It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life.  It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual…when our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us… Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, "You are accepted."

-- Paul Tillich in “The Shaking of the Foundations”


#4738

I AM WITH YOU

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)

God is the God of the future, and that is good news to our longing for something better to come. But the truly radical good news resides in the fact that God is not content to rest up until kingdom come. “I am with you” declares, among other things, that matters dear to God’s heart like justice and love, compassion and righteousness, are God’s pressing desires for the current day. God’s presence affirms that we have not been left behind or abandoned to fend for ourselves. Divine presence provides notice of God’s transformation of this world for the good. Jesus’ life and ministry serves as that notice made incarnate for our sake and for the sake of this God-filled world. As individuals and communities who follow Jesus, God invites us to make those our priorities as we trust holy presence to dispel fear and lead us on the way ahead.

-- John Indermark in “Do Not Live Afraid”

#4737

FEAR NOT

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2:8-11 ESV)

With remarkable frequency, the first word God speaks to individuals and groups poised at the edge of momentous decision or holy encounter is this: “Do not be afraid. Do not fear.” What is intended goes beyond an attitude adjustment on our part. What is intended are lives empowered by that decisive word, so that “do not be afraid” finds its fullest expression when we do not live afraid. Faith [in the Savior] does not call us merely to live without fear inside the sanctuary. Discipleship calls us to confront appeals to fear in the world around us and to live our lives and bear our witness [to Christ the Lord] accordingly.

-- John Indermark in “Do Not Live Afraid”


#4736

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

“In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1)

The words “in the beginning” take us to the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The baby Mary held was connected to the dawn of time. He saw the first ray of sunlight and heard the first crash of a wave. The baby was born, but the Word never was.

“All things were made through Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6 NCV) Not by Him, but through Him. Jesus didn’t fashion the world out of raw material He found. He created all things out of nothing.

Jesus: the Genesis Word, “the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) He is the “one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.” (1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT)

And then, what no theologian conceived, what no rabbi dared to dream, God did. “The Word became flesh.” (John 1:14)… The Word of God entered the world with the cry of a baby.

-- Max Lucado in “God’s Story Your Story”


#4735

PREPARING OUR HEARTS

“But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.”  (1 Peter 3:15 NET Bible)

In the same manner that we clean and prepare our homes in anticipation of the arrival of welcomed guests and family members this Christmas season, let us also prepare our hearts in anticipation of the Lord’s coming. Christ, our most honored and eagerly anticipated guest, desires to meet with us in hearts prepared for His arrival. So eager is He to meet with us that He offers to help us with our spiritual housecleaning, working with us; creating a resting place for Himself within our hearts.

-- Katherine Walden


#4734

A SPECIAL PREPARATION

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  (Isaiah 7:14)

It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for Him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation… Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of His time, did Jesus come.

-- Phillips Brooks in “The Consolations of God: Great Sermons of Phillips Brooks”


#4733

GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS

“Don’t be afraid!” [the angel] said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior -- yes, the Messiah, the Lord -- has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”  (Luke 2:10b-11 NLT)

Computers are amazing. I [remember discovering] Google Earth that connects to the Internet and begins with a digital picture of the earth on the screen. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can zoom in on a country. A few more clicks and you can zoom in on a state, on a city, on a neighborhood, on a street, and eventually, even on a house. The entire program was put together using data and pictures collected by satellites that orbit the earth. It is an amazing thing to start with the globe and slowly zoom in on virtually any location around the world.

Reading Christmas Day Scriptures is like Google Earth in reverse. We start a specific focus on an overcrowded inn, one with a small stable in the back where a birth is taking place. We back up a little further, and we discover all this is happening in a town called Bethlehem, not far from the outskirts of Jerusalem. A few more clicks and we realize that we are in Israel during the time of Roman occupation. A few more clicks and we see the entire globe affected by the events in the city of David; but in this case, there are a few more mouse clicks to go. With an additional click, we begin to cross more than geographical boundaries and see the world before Jesus' time, during Jesus' time, and stretching into the world of future generations to come. What took place in Bethlehem that first Christmas has global implications for all people, at all times, in all nations.

-- Kevin Baker in “Hail the Heaven Born”


#4732

A HUMBLE BIRTH

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2:11)

Politicians compete for the highest offices. Business tycoons scramble for a bigger and bigger piece of the pie. Armies march and scientists study and philosophers philosophize and preachers preach and laborers sweat. But in that silent baby, lying in that humble manger, there pulses more potential power and wisdom and grace and aliveness than all the rest of us can imagine.

-- Brian D. McLaren


#4731

GOING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  (Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV)

The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened. We leave the already of His advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back, that we might look forward to His coming. 

-- R. C. Sproul

#4729

SOMETHING ON THE HORIZON

“’The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; He will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD Our Righteous Savior.'”  (Jeremiah 33:14-16 NIV)

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before ... What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

-- Jan L. Richardson

#4728

OH, COME, LET US ADORE HIM

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” says St. John in the prologue to his gospel (1:1). And what a mighty Word He is! Words communicate important information. In person Jesus came to reveal the true God to mankind: a God who is kind, wise, omnipotent, and who loves people.

When Satan outs himself, when he and his demons take possession of a human being, they abuse and destroy. Jesus’ humble presence in His little manger is a foretaste of His humility on the cross, the mighty work through which God’s wrath was diverted from us onto Himself, and through which God’s favor was diverted from Him onto us. By faith we can experience this amazing swap -- you give Christ all your sins and He gives you the Father’s forgiveness.

What can we say in response to this but glory be to God in the highest! What can we do but worship Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

-- Adapted from “An Advent Playlist: Hymn-Based Devotions”


#4727

FAR AS THE CURSE IS FOUND

“No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.”  (The third verse of “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts)

The reversal of the curse is promised in the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of His atoning work. Implicit in this third verse is the promise of the new creation. We live in light of that promise, even as we look back to Bethlehem and as we celebrate Christmas.

But look carefully at the reference to the curse. Christ’s victory over sin is declared to extend “far as the curse is found.”…

He redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us. The sinless Son of God became incarnate as the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. That sinless Son of God became sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became a curse for us, by hanging on a tree, in fulfillment of Scripture…

How far does the gospel reach, and to what lengths must it be taken? Far as the curse is found. Go and preach. Go and tell. Teach the good news that Christ has redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.

-- R. Albert Mohler, Jr.


#4726

THE ART OF THANKSLIVING

"And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."  (Colossians. 2:6-7)

Thanksgiving has always been for me a time to be thankful for all the blessings in my life. But how do we live Thanksgiving? I found the answer to that question in an article written by Wilferd A. Peterson called, “The Art of Thanksgiving”. In this article he talks about acts of thanksliving. To quote from this piece, Mr Peterson writes: "The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving. It is gratitude in action. It is applying Albert Schweitzer's philosophy: 'In gratitude for your own good fortune you must render in return some sacrifice of your life for the other life."

It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for your talents and abilities by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good. It is thanking God for all that men and women have done for you by doing things for others. It is thanking God for opportunities by accepting them as a challenge to achievement. It is thanking God for happiness by striving to make others happy. It is thanking God for beauty by helping to make the world more beautiful. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration to others. It is thanking God for health and strength by the care and reverence you show your body. It is thanking God for the creative ideas that enrich life by adding your own creative contributions to human progress. It is thanking God for each new day by living it to the fullest. It is thanking God by giving hands, arms, legs, and voice to your thankful spirit. It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving, acts of thanksliving.

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful to God for all we have, but thanksliving is a way of life that if implemented could improve the quality of life not only for you and me, but for others. Do you live in a thanks giving way?

-- Adapted from an article entitled “Thanksgiving or Thanksliving” by Catherine Pulsifer


#4725

OUR SUFFICIENCY IS IN CHRIST

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”  (2 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV)

“Thank You, Lord. You are my sufficiency this moment, this hour, this day. I‘m counting on Your life in me -- Your love and patience, Your gentleness and guidance and power -- to meet my needs and overflow to others.”

When we praise with thanksgiving, we deepen our experience of Christ in us as our Source. He constantly fills us and replenishes our resources as we give ourselves in loving service to other people.

C. S. Lewis wrote that a car [built with an internal combustion engine] is made to run on gas, and it won’t run properly on anything else. Likewise, God made us to run on Himself. He is the fuel our spirits were designed to feed on. So it’s no use trying to find inner release and power and fulfillment apart from God. There is no such thing. And God has given us His life and power through our inner union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we turn our attention to Christ, focusing on Him and His sufficiency, how can we help but praise and thank Him for He is our life?

-- Ruth Myers in “31 Days of Praise”


#4724

PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”  (Psalm 100:1-5 NIV)

The blessings of God are new every morning, but do not take them for granted. Always be careful to give God praise and thanksgiving for the work that He has done in your life and in our world. And when you do, be specific. Remember what God has done and thank Him.

-- Author Unknown


#4723

TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”  (1 Corinthians 2:13 NIV)

Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers, creator and host of television's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," once gave an address describing the time he was a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and attended a different church each Sunday in order to hear a variety of preachers.

One Sunday he was treated to "the most poorly crafted sermon I had ever heard." But when he turned to the friend who had accompanied him, he found her in tears.

"It was exactly what I needed to hear," she told Rogers.

"That's when I realized," he told the audience, "that the space between someone doing the best he or she can and someone in need is holy ground. The Holy Spirit had transformed that feeble sermon for her -- and as it turned out, for me too."

-- Victor Parachin in “Christian Reader”, Sept/Oct 1999


#4722

THE SACRIFICES OF THANKSGIVING

“Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.”  (Psalm 107:21-22)

It has been said that talk is cheap. We thank the Lord and we say “Lord, we're so thankful, we're so grateful for all that you've done for us.” Well, do you know what we need to do? We need to turn Thanksgiving into Thanks-living. That is, to offer to God the sacrifices of thanksgiving.

Now, if we're thankful it really ought to show in our lives. And by the way, I don't believe that there's any other sin quite like the sin of ingratitude… The poet Milton, the blind poet, said that a person with an ungrateful spirit only has one vice, he said because all of the rest of his vices are virtues compared to ingratitude. Every other sin is a virtue compared to the sin of ingratitude.

How terrible not to be grateful to God, and yet in America all around we can find those who are grumbly hateful rather than humbly grateful. Well, how can we translate our Thanksgiving today into Thanks-living? We're to offer to God what the Bible calls the "sacrifices of thanksgiving."

-- Adrian Rogers in “Love Worth Finding”

#4721

HOLDING ON TO HOPE

“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 RSV)

Hope is a necessity for real living, but especially in a wounded [or broken] moment. As Christians, we can have the hope and expectation that life will be good again. It may not be the same, but it can be good again. Hope is belief in possibility. It is not unrealistic optimism that everything will work out and things will be like they were before. It is confidence and faith that however things turnout, God will be with us, will see us through, and will bring healing.

Hope comes out of resurrection faith, the faith that no matter how bad things get, God is in the midst working with us for good. That’s what Paul was saying in Romans: “In everything God works for good…”

Hold on to your hope!

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”


#4720

AN ATTEMPT AT QUARRELING

“Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognized as children of God.”  (Matthew 5:9)

There is a quaint story from the desert tradition about two monks who lived in the same cell. Their life was very peaceful, but one day, to be like other people, they decided to have a quarrel. What to quarrel about was the question.

One monk said, “I will take this brick, place it between us, and we can quarrel over who owns the brick.” The other monk agreed. It sounded like a good plan. So they sat on the ground facing each other, the brick in the middle.

The first monk said, “This is my brick.” The second monk replied, “No, I believe the brick belongs to me.” Whereupon the first monk retorted briskly, “It is not yours. It is mine!” The second monk replied, “Very well, if it is really yours, take it.”

This ended their attempt at quarreling. The moral of this story is that persons who have forsaken all to follow Christ are not grasping or quarrelsome.

This incident provides us with insight which many Christians in the first four centuries of the church believed crucial for a correct understanding of the Gospel.

-- Jerry Mercy in “Cry Joy!”


#4719

CHOOSING TO TRUST

“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’ and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.”  (Psalm 13:2-5 NIV)

Every time a believer struggles with sorrow or loneliness or ill health or pain and chooses to trust and serve God anyhow, a bell rings out across heaven and the angels give a great shout. Why? Because one more pilgrim has shown again that he or she understands that Jesus is worth it all. God is faithful.

-- Philip Yancey in “Disappointment with God”


#4718

GRACE IN ACTION

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:43-45a NIV)

In “The Grace of Giving,” Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington.

In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, and evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor.

One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled 70 miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.

"No, Peter," General Washington said, "I cannot grant you the life of your friend."

"My friend," exclaimed the old preacher, "he's the bitterest enemy I have."

"What?" exclaimed Washington. "You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a completely different light. I'll grant your pardon."

And that's exactly what Washington did. Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata -- no longer an enemy, but a friend.

-- Craig Brian Larson, “Leadership Journal”


#4717

INVITING OTHERS TO RECEIVE GOD’S GRACE

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9 NRSV)

We lament that many of our churches are no longer growing. Part of it is demographics, since many of our churches are located in rural areas where populations are in decline. Part of it is a lack of vitality in our music, preaching, and small groups. But I’m convinced that a big part of it is that we’ve lost our passion to do whatever it takes to reach those who don’t yet know Christ. That passion drove [John] Wesley and our forbearers to preach on the hilltops, at market crosses, in the cemeteries, and wherever they could get a hearing, in order to share the good news of God’s grace and love for all people.

Wesley preached in city squares, on hills beside coal mines, in jails and fields. He sought out those who were nonreligious and nominally religious, and he invited them to receive God’s grace and salvation through Jesus Christ, free to all.

-- Adam Hamilton in “Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It”


#4716

YOU GROW AS YOU SERVE

The determination to minister in love to anyone who enters our workday world produces an unexpected by-product. Throughout the New Testament, we find a principle of gain and loss, of life and death. “In seeking the glory of God and the good for our fellow-creatures,” as Jonathon Edwards put it, “you take the surest way to have God seek your interests, and promote your welfare.”

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

The caring soul can’t lose. Make your priority other people’s and you’ll add a foot to your spiritual stature. Learn to feel the throb of another’s heart and your own will beat stronger. Lose your life in the lives of the needy for Jesus’ sake and you’ll find it. Leave your self-interests and personal preoccupations behind and see what wonderful things God has in store for you.

-- Steve & Lois Rabey, General Editors, in “Side by Side: Disciple-Making for a New Century”


#4715

PERSEVERING IN DISCIPLESHIP

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised."  (Hebrews 10:36)

Perseverance does not mean “perfect.” It means that we keep going. We do not quit when we find that we are not yet mature and that there is a long journey still before us.

For perseverance is not resignation, putting up with things the way they are, staying in the same old rut year after year after year, or being a doormat for people to wipe their feet on. Endurance is not a desperate hanging on but a traveling from strength to strength. There is nothing fatigued or humdrum in Isaiah, nothing-flatfooted in Jesus, nothing jejune in Paul. Perseverance is triumphant and alive.

-- Eugene H. Peterson in “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction”


#4714

A RESPONSE OF PRAISE

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“From the rising of the sun to its setting

the name of the LORD is to be praised.”  (Psalm 113:3 NRSV)

Praising God has not come naturally to me.  Studying praise in the Scriptures has challenged me to increase my praise life and to be more aware of the Creator and His creation.  I remember a particular time in my life when I was deeply moved to write a psalm of praise to God.  I was on an airplane that had been circling the Denver airport for at least half an hour.  Tired and frustrated, I kept staring at the thick cloud cover responsible for our delay.  As the plane turned, I was startled to see the most beautiful oranges, yellows, and pinks brilliantly scrolled across the sky.  Tears sprang to my eyes as for the first time I witnessed a sunset over the mountains from thirty thousand feet up in the sky.  I was so deeply moved by this bold reminder from God that I wrote the following response of praise:

            Etched into the sunset,

            The signature of God.

            In radiant script

            He signs

            “I am.”

-- Cynthia Heald in “Intimacy with God”

#4713

A COMMUNAL AFFAIR

“God has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”  (Colossians 1:12b-14 NLT)

[The Apostle Paul] does not view salvation as simply a transaction between the individual and God. A person prior to his experience with Christ belongs to a community, however much his actions incline him (or his immediate circle’s) self-interest. And it is a new community that his reconciliation with God in Christ brings him, however much he experiences that event as an individual affair.

So this freedom granted by God not only transfers men and women out of a broken relationship with God, and a defective solidarity with others, into a new community with both, but also inclines them to live the kind of life that will extend and deepen that new community itself.

The gospel is not purely a personal matter. It has a social dimension. It is a communal affair.


-- Robert Banks in “Paul’s Idea of Community”


#4712

DEFINING FAITH

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

To have faith is to have a firm persuasion, a conviction based on hearing. It is used in the New Testament always of faith in God or in Christ, or things spiritual (Vine’s Expository Dictionary). Theologian John Stott defines faith as “a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.”

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians"


#4711

COSTLY LOVE

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,…” (John 3:16a NIV)

Love is costly. To forgive in love costs us our sense of justice. To serve in love costs us time. To share in love costs us money. Every act of love costs us in some way, just as it cost God to love us. But we are to live a life of love just as Christ loves us and gave Himself for us at great cost to Himself.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV)

-- Jerry Bridges


#4710

HEAVENLY MINDED

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4 ESV)

All too often we live shallow, earthbound lives that are preoccupied with the temporal. We're caught up in the trivial pursuit of the here and now. In the midst of our hectic schedules, we give too little thought to eternal things above... We must be more heavenly minded if we are to be any earthly good.

-- Steven J. Lawson in “Heaven Help Us!”


#4709

A PREPARED PLACE

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

These verses have been shared at funerals over and over again. And rightfully so, because they assure us that death is not the end. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and He is coming back to take us to be with Him…

Jesus is busy preparing a place for us in heaven. When we prepare something for someone, it means that we are getting ready for them. For example, if we prepare a meal for our family, we are expecting our family to get together to share the meal…

So, if Jesus is busy preparing a place for us, that means that He is expecting us to be in heaven one day so He can share the glories of heaven with us.

-- Mike DuBose in a sermon entitled “A Prepared Place”


#4708

A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,...”  (Hebrews 12:1 NIV)

Geddes MacGregor in “The Rhythm of God” tells of a priest who, when asked, “How many people were at the early celebration of the Eucharist last Wednesday morning?” replied, “There were three old ladies, the janitor, several thousand archangels, a large number of seraphim, and several million of the triumphant saints of God.” Such a 'cloud of witnesses' answers a deep human urge to be part of something larger, to not stand alone, to give our little lives meaning. One drop of water, left alone, evaporates quickly. But one drop of water in the immense sea endures.

-- Kathy Coffey in “God in the Moment: Making Every Day a Prayer”


#4707

BEYOND ALL THAT WE ASK

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”  (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV)

We are created in the image of an infinite God who longs to give us abundant life even more than we long to receive it; life beyond all that we can ask or think or dream.

-- Thomas R. Albin in “Alive Now”, May/June 2002, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#4706