Thursday, October 31, 2019

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.


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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

A FULL AND ENGAGING LIFE

Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”  (John 10:10 NLT)

In the story of "Braveheart," Scottish national hero William Wallace declares, “Every man dies; not every man really lives.”

Wallace was well aware of the difference between merely existing -- something he witnessed in too many men who failed to respond to the challenge of a full and engaging life -- and the wonder of actually living to their full potential. Mediocrity is a sad curse that threatens to suck the lifeblood from many people, people who might otherwise pursue lives that actually mean something beyond the day in, day out of survival.

We all know people who constantly regress to the unremarkable. We may sometimes be tempted to follow the path ourselves. It is too easy to fall into patterns of below average, develop a comfortable rhythm there, and consequently live out our lives without ever pushing any kind of envelope at all.

-- Derek Maul in “Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men”


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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

STEWARDSHIP OF TIME

“Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”  (1 Corinthians 4:1-2 NRSV)

Time. None of us has much of it… The tree that shades the sleepy cow in the pasture may have looked down on our grandfather when he was a boy, and it may remain to watch the passing of our children's children. And that we have so small a store of time constitutes a powerful reason for our making the most of what we have. Yet how many hours have we spent doing nothing or doing the wrong thing. Our cynical waste of precious time could be a reason for our not having more of it given to us, who knows? Jesus once said, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost."

Time wasted is lost beyond recall. While we sympathize with the emotional content of the old song, "Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight," it is yet hard to conceive of a more futile appeal. Time does not run backward. The old man does not become young, the young man becomes old. So it has always been and so it will ever be. The bird of time flies past us and is gone; "the leaves of life keep falling one by one, the wine of life keeps oozing drop by drop." We must work while it is called today.

-- A. W. Tozer


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Monday, October 28, 2019

FAITHFUL STEWARDS

“Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”  (1 Corinthians 4:1-2 NRSV)

[Money] is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of His children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!

It is therefore of the highest concern that all who [revere] God know how to employ this valuable talent; that they be instructed how it may answer these glorious ends, and in the highest degree. And, perhaps, all the instructions which are necessary for this may be reduced to three plain rules, by the exact observance whereof we may approve ourselves faithful stewards… Gain all you can... Save all you can… Give all you can.

-- John Wesley in his sermon "Serving God with Mammon"


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Friday, October 25, 2019

THE REMEDY FOR SIN

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  (Romans 8:1 NKJV)

The remedy for our sin, whether scandalous or acceptable, is the gospel in its widest scope. The gospel is actually a message; here I am using the word ‘gospel’ as a shorthand expression for the entire work of Christ in His historic life, death, and resurrection for us, and His present work in us through His Holy Spirit. When I say the gospel in its widest scope, I am referring to the fact that Christ, in His work for us and in us, saves us not only from the penalty of sin but also from its dominion or reigning power in our lives. This two-fold aspect of Christ’s work is beautifully captured in Augustus Toplady’s great hymn “Rock of Ages,” with the words,
            Let the water and the blood,
            From Thy riven side which flowed,
            Be of sin the double cure,
            Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

-- Jerry Bridges in “Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate”


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