Our Best Option? Adoption!

Romans 8:23

   "We ourselves groan inwardly as we wait patiently for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies." 

Thoughts from Charles Spurgeon --

  "Even in this world, saints are God's children, but the only way people will discover this is by certain moral characteristics.

The adoption is not displayed; the children are not yet openly declared. Among Romans a private adoption might be kept secret for a time, but later there would be a public adoption, when the child was brought before the authorities, its old clothes removed, and the father would give new clothing suitable for its new status in life.

We are not yet clothed in the apparel of heaven's royal family; we are still wearing in the flesh and blood just what we wear as children of Adam.

Can't you imagine that a child taken from the lowest ranks in society and adopted by a Roman senator, would say to himself, 'I long for the day when I shall be publicly adopted, Then I shall discard these poor clothes and dress in clothes that depict my senatorial rank.'  Glad for what he has already received, but he still yearns for the fulness of what has been promised him.

So it is with us today; we are waiting until we can put on our fine clothes and are declared as the children of God for all to see. We are young nobles who have not yet worn our crowns. We are young brides, and the marriage day has not arrived."

Our Golden Journey

 

There is an ancient Japanese art of pottery repair called "kintsugi."

Sometimes the word is translated "golden journey."

The goal is not to repair the shattered pottery by hiding the cracks, but by highlighting them!

The artist uses a special lacquer to mend or seal the fractures and then he covers them with a fine gold or silver powder. The result is a unique and beautiful masterpiece, with gold and silver designs winding their way across the pottery. Each is truly unique - one of a kind!

The repaired piece announces to its admirers the story of its past -- with every crack and fracture, once hopelessly broken, now gloriously redeemed by the artist-potter!

We should let God do that to us. Don't hide your past faults and failures -- let the world see how He is changing you. Remind them that you are not what you used to be...and are not what you will be...but you are His  Child...loved by Him! He loves us as we are, but He doesn't want us to remain the way we are...He has a higher goal for us. He wants us to be like Jesus!

Years ago we had a phrase we used often: Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet. We even had t-shirts imprinted PBPWMGINFWMY to remind ourselves of our godly make-over.

That was a good way to look at our mistakes. I think I need to find one - or make one to wear now! 

PS Remember this song?

     Something beautiful, something good

     All my confusion He understood

     All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife

     But He made something beautiful of my life.

Thank you, Dear Jesus!

Broken and Unfit for Service?

 

Feel broken? Feel you are unfit for service for Jesus?

Max Lucado reminds us:

   "God does great things through brokenness. Broken eggs give life. Broken skies give rain. Broken soil gives crops. Broken crayons still color. Broken alabaster jars give fragrance. The broken body of Christ on the cross is the light of the world.

Which is precisely the point. God does great things through the greatly broken. It's not the strength of the vessel that matters. It's the strength of the One who can use it.

You are not the sum of your sins. You are the sum of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. You are as righteous as Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:15 -- 'For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.')

You 'give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way to salvation -- an aroma redolent with life' (2 Corinthians 2:15).

Remember, God uses broken people to build His Kingdom! It's not the condition or strength of the vessel that matters -- it's the strength and power of the One who is using it!

(The Bible gives so many examples: David, an adulterer and murderer; Jacob, a liar and deceiver; Paul, a persecutor of the early Christians...and you can put your on this list, too! Not what I was, but who I am now and what I will be!)

The Perfect Picture of Grace

 His Word Reminds Us --

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on them who fear Him, for He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust."

   -- Psalm 103:8-14

   Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin!

Once Forever!

 "By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."  Hebrews 10:14

What could be more amazing! God, because of the sacrifice of His perfect Son, declares us perfect forever.

The human priests had to stand in the temple and offer sacrifices regularly, even daily, to atone for their own sins and the sins of the people. But Christ's sacrifice was one time only and gave forever forgiveness!

Our debt -- PAID IN FULL!!!

At the cross, Jesus took all our sins, our filthy rags, and clothed Himself in them, but gave us His righteousness to wear!

He exchanged His perfection for our hideous evil. When God looks at us now, He sees us clothed in Jesus' own perfection. Literally, He sees no sin, only His Son's goodness. We have already been declared perfect in His sight.

As He looks at us and sees the righteousness of His Son, we will never be more perfect than we are now -- in position. 

Now His intent is to lead us into righteous living, so our lives will reflect our royal position.

2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that we "are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord."

Josiah became  King of Judah at age 8 -- officially his position with all that title and honor entailed, but he had to grow into kingship before he could reign. 

That's like us --we have a lot of growing to do! Someday our lives will reflect our position -- what God has chosen us to be.

"He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy"!

....made perfect...being made holy...

The Heidelberg Catechism

Reviewing the old Heidelberg Catechism.  (I know, I'm obsessed with old writing! But this is really special.)

It was written in 1563 - the year before Shakespeare was born.

Catechism means "question and answer teaching." 

The Heidelberg Catechism was used to teach the important beliefs of the church to children and adults. It is still used today, in dozens of languages.

It is divided into 52 lessons - one for each Lord's Day. And each lesson had accompanying Bible verses to be learned.

Here is the first part -

                                 LORD'S DAY #1

Question: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Answer: That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. 

He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Romans 14:7-9

I Peter 1:18-19

1 John 1:7-9, 2:2

John 8:34-36; Hebrews 2:14-15

2 Thessalonians 3:3

1 Peter 1:5

Matthew 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18

Romans 8:15-17, 28

2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:5

Ephesians 1:13-14

Remember Leah?

 

Remember Leah?

The unfavored one? The unchosen one? 

Jacob loved her younger sister, the beautiful Rachel. He chose her and worked for her father, his uncle Laban, 7 years to win her hand in marriage.

Turned out Uncle Laban was just as much a liar and cheater as Jacob himself was.

And Jacob, the champion cheater, found himself cheated when he was tricked into marrying Leah, not Rachel.

Later, he did marry Rachel also and Leah found herself as the unloved and unwanted wife, competing for Jacob's attention with her more beautiful and desired sister.

But God didn't discount Leah. He saw her and understood her pain. He blessed her and she gave birth to sons for Jacob.

One of these sons, her fourth, she named Judah.

Of the twelve sons of Jacob, known later as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Judah was the one from which the Messiah came. (See Genesis 49:10)

So among the descendants of the unloved and unwanted Leah came a shepherd boy from Bethlehem named David and a carpenter's son from Nazareth named Jesus.

Leah, unchosen by Jacob, was chosen by God to be a mother in the bloodline of Jesus Himself, the King of Kings!

So when you feel unloved, unwanted, unneeded, inferior to others, remember Leah!

God loves you also, sees you, values you, and has a unique place, unknown to you now, for you in His eternal plans for His-story!  

 

1 Corinthians 1:27-31

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things...so that no one may boast before Him."

Why now? - Why not now?

 Why now? Having some rough times now?

Sometimes things go nice and smoothly and you soar long with the wind beneath your wings! Then troubles come -- often in multiples! Illnesses,  family conflicts, tragedies, money problems...and you ask "Why me? Why now" and "What am I doing wrong?"

Wrong questions!

When we go through these times, C S Lewis reminds us that God is at work inside us -- forcing us up to a higher level, putting us in situations where we will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, forgiving, obedient, more trusting than we have ever dreamed of being before.

'It seems to us all unnecessary. But that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us!'

We thought He wanted to change some of our habits and make us more pleasant and easier for people to be around.

No! He wants to make us images of His Son! Like a pony who wants to be able to jump a small fence or pull a cart...But God wants him to be a Pegasus -- a flying horse! A winged creature that can fly  over the rainbows and throughout the universe!

God has a bigger plan for us. He wants to make us like Jesus!

Obedience or Disobedience?

 

From Chuck Colson's book, Loving God --

"We must understand that our goal as believers is to seek what we can do to please God, not what He can do for us.

True Christian maturity -- holiness, sanctification -- is God-centered.

So-called 'victorious Christian living' is self-centered.

As Jerry Bridges puts it: 'It's time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are defeated by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated, we are simply disobedient. It might be well if we stopped using the terms victory and defeat to describe our progress in holiness. Rather, we should use the terms obedient and disobedient.'"

How To Fill Your Day With Good

1 Peter 3:8-12, Paraphrase from The Message

"Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.

That goes for all of you - no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm.

Instead - bless. That's your job - to bless. You'll be a blessing as well as get a blessing.

Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here's what you do: say nothing evil or hurtful, snub evil and cultivate good, run after peace with all you're worth.

God looks on all this with approval."

[That's the kind of life I want, so I guess that's the kind of person I want, and need, to be!] 

Created to Frolic?

Killer whales keep ramming and sinking fishing boats and expensive yachts off the coast of Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco. 

Scientists want to know why these orca whales are behaving like this. And why are they attacking all the boat rudders? Is it vibrations? Shapes, Noises, Motion?

A multinational group of orca experts met in February and were sponsored by the governments of Spain and Portugal to investigate and then bring back a report outlining why this is happening.

It's been a great mystery -- until now.

Their report says: 'The killer orca whales are just bored and playful. They are especially intrigued by the rudders and are just playing games!

They appear to consider the boats their toys and are just playing with them!'

That's really what they concluded.

Really interesting!

Even more interesting is that God already explained that to us. We could have saved them lots of time and money.

Psalm 104:25-26 tells us: "How many are Your works, LORD! In wisdom You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number.  There the ships go to and fro with the giant sea monsters You formed to frolic there."

So God intended these spectacular animals to frolic and play!

But we have a different purpose -- Psalm 104:33 -- "I will sing praise to my God all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

The orcas' purpose is to play and frolic -- ours in to praise God.

They fulfill their purpose --

Let's fulfill ours!

How Satan Works!

 Satan's work in the world today and in past history is no laughing matter! But as we see in Revelation, our God has the last word, and Satan is doomed!

But as a wild animal, dying from fatal wounds, uses all his strength to do as much destruction as he can, we see Satan still at work, causing as much damage and taking as many hostages as possible.

But when we see Satan at work in our own lives, we can find humor and ridicule his futile attempts to bring us down.

Imagine him now, the great "accuser of the brethren," before God. Maybe he is calling your name -- 

  "This one you call your child. He is a failure. He is selfish. Goes for days without praying. Often his so-called good works are for show only. Even this morning he chose to ignore his time with you again!"

You hang your head in shame. "Yes, I am guilty," you mumble.

Satan asks, "Okay, your honor, what is your sentence?"

The  Judge answers, "The wages of sin is death. But that death has already occurred. For this, My child, died with Christ. My Son Jesus paid his debt. He is free from all penalties of sin! And that means ALL! Case dismissed!"

We need to get in the habit of laughing at Satan's attempts to trap us. See how  pompous and arrogant he is.

Keep reminding him of what Jesus did...ignore him...and best yet, interrupt him and begin praising God, loudly and joyfully, for rescuing you and saving you from all his attacks!

Turn his attacks into victory cheers - God is on the throne! You are His beloved Child! Forever!

Remember what God said: you are "NOT GUILTY" - and He is the Sovereign Judge - He is the final word!

  

Who is Your Accuser?

 God tells us about him. He is often called "the accuser of the brethren."

We see him beginning his campaign against us in Genesis 3. Then witness him in action in Job. And finally see him destroyed forever in Revelation 20.

In some places he is called "Satan," the "adversary," "the enemy," the "serpent," "deceiver," and "tempter."

John gives us this picture of him in Revelation 12:

   "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, 'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.'"

Think of it...he is working against us 24 hours a day!

But we can, through Christ, defeat him!

He is described as "subtle" and "shrewd." We are told he keeps records of our shortcomings and anything he can use against us in order to dishonor and discredit us before God.

Remember the song we used to sing? -- "Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world!"

I remember my friend who told me that whenever Satan knocks at her door to tempt her, she turns her eyes on Jesus and says, "Jesus, could you get the door?"

Sounds like a good plan to  me!

He can't take away our salvation -- that is secured forever by Jesus Himself -- but he can tarnish our testimony, destroy our joy, and try to make us feel shame, guilt and condemnation...IF WE LET HIM!

How to be Salt and Light

 Jesus tells us to be 'salt' and 'light' in this dark world that has lost its thirst for God.

The more evil this world becomes, the more righteous and holy we should become. (Yes, sometimes it's hard to keep up!)

Paul tells his friends at Philippi that they should "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (2:12).

"Work out" is a Greek term used in farming. It describes how a successful farmer works his soil to produce the best crop possible. He plows it, removes the rocks and weeds, provides nutrients and irrigation -- everything he can do to produce a bountiful, healthy harvest!

We don't work to secure salvation -- that is a gift of God's grace. But we are to live godly lives, producing farm land that provides an abundant harvest for God's kingdom.

Then in verse 13 he says, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do what pleases Him."

That's the secret -- God is already at work inside us -- giving us what we need to produce that wonderful harvest of goodness that changes and nourishes our society. God is quietly working inside making us into His image and we demonstrate that -- work that out -- by choices we make, the lives we live, partnering with God to yield the best results possible!

We pray, "Father, I want to live in Your Word today -- be obedient -- to  produce fruit that glorifies You. When people see me at work in Your garden, I want them to praise You!"

It takes effort to live a godly life. We are responsible to set the alarm clock earlier every day; to put down the phone; to turn off the TV; to focus His Word and listen to His voice. 

That's how we work out what He is working in us!

What's on Your Schedule Today?

We are in the life-saving business. We rescue people and bring them to Jesus. 

What about this woman?

She was 70 years old when she came to Jesus. She lived in a small village in Africa. She was blind and uneducated, but wanted to do something to help other people come to Jesus.

She took her French Bible to her local missionary and asked him to underline John 3:16 in red. He did.

Then she took her Bible and a chair and sat each day in front of a boys' school.

When dismissal time came and the boys began leaving, she called out: "Please come here. Do you read French?"

As they approached she asked them, "Please read to me this passage underlined in red."

Then she would ask if they knew what it meant. She explained the verse and told them about Jesus and what He had done for them.

Due to the boldness and obedience of this aged blind woman at least 24 of those young men became pastors!

What's on your schedule today?

God's Right Man for the Right Job

Wisdom from C S Lewis

   "We have in our day started getting the whole picture up-side down. Starting with the doctrine that every individual is of 'infinite value,' we then picture God as a kind of employment agency whose business it is to find suitable careers for all of us, square holes for square pegs. 

In fact, however, the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ.

There is no question of finding for him a place in the living temple which will do justice to his inherent value. The place was there first. The man was created for it. He will not be truly himself until he is there."

Ephesians 2:10 --"For we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

 

God Bless the USA!

 

How long have we called our country the USA?

Almost from the beginning. Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, completed June 28, 1776, was titled, "A Declaration of the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled..."

So that's 248 years at least!

Freedom still means a lot to us, and we know from history that 'Freedom isn't free!'

But what about our spiritual freedom? Free for us, because of God's grace, costly beyond imagination for the Giver.

A good day to recall these words from Charles Wesley, written about the same time Jefferson wrote our national document of independence and freedom:

     "Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night.

     Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

     I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.

     My chains fell off, my heart was free,

     I rose, went forth and followed Thee!

     I rose, went forth, and followed Thee!"

And, friends, that's real, everlasting freedom! Chains off - free heart -- following Jesus!

No such freedom anywhere else!

Because He Lives!

"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that, in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see Him with my own eyes -- I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27)  

Isn't one of the happiest discoveries in reading God's Word the different ways He is described? Here it is "Redeemer." So special. A "redeemer" is not an accidental or coincidental relationship - a redeemer CHOOSES the one he is going to redeem!

Does this exclude us from the normal, usual earthly trials and afflictions? No -- it surely didn't exclude Job from his suffering. And, like Job, troubles crash in on us, driving us to our Redeemer for help. Sometimes we come humbly, sometimes angrily, scared, crushed in spirit, heartbroken.

But, as believers who trust in His sovereignty and faithfulness, we hold tightly to Him, look up and confidently declare that in the end time our Redeemer will stand victorious on this earth and we will be there to witness it!

In the meantime, for now,  we endure. We experience His comfort and companionship. We anticipate that day when we shall see Jesus, our champion Redeemer, face to face, witness His victory and be received into His Kingdom where everlasting joy awaits us!

Maranatha, Lord Jesus....how our hearts yearn!

Prayer to Start This Day

 

Lord,

  Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

  Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.

  Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

  Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King.

  Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. 

  Take my moments and my days -- let them flow in ceaseless praise.

  Take my will and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine.

  Take my heart - it is Thine own. It shall be Thy royal throne.*

  Amen.

* poem written almost 200 years ago by Frances Havergal --- 

Pray daily that our lives 'flow in ceaseless praise' to our wonderful God and Savior!