1 Timothy 1:12-17
English Standard Version (ESV)
When an NFL team drafts a player, they want to pick the best of the best of the best, so that the player will bring their talent to upgrade a weakness in the current team so that the team will be better. Scouts spend weeks watching film of players, breaking down every attribute to determine the factors that will be the most reliable indicators of success at the next level. It is a high pressure opportunity.
When God was picking an evangelist for the growing church, God picked a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent. God picked the individual that was busy hurling insults and violence at the church. It seemed like God picked the worst candidate possible.
In doing so, God demonstrated God's power, God's mercy, and God's grace. This wasn't about the talent that Paul brought to the table. This was about the majesty that God brings to the table, and through the workings of the Holy Spirit, God transformed Saul into Paul and a broken and proud man into a powerful evangelist for the church, and all the glory was directed towards God.
God saves sinners, not by their own merit, but rather by grace and love. You have been selected and redeemed -- not because you deserve it, but because God chooses to shower grace upon you. Revel in it, give thanks for it, and live as though you are completely freed and completely loved. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1-2
English Standard Version (ESV)
The problem with living sacrifices, someone once said, is that they keep crawling off the altar.
It's hard and yet easy to imagine one's life as a living sacrifice. In some ways, it's our breathing in and breathing out. We are always seeking to renew our minds, to grow in knowledge and wisdom about how we live as Christians in today's world. We're seeking knowledge, to better inform our spiritual lives.
In other ways, it's so hard to know what it means to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God. How do we resist conforming to the world? By what basis do we know what is good and acceptable and perfect? Scripture guides us and the Spirit leads us, but we often end up in ambiguous places with uncertainty about what is right and wrong.
Being a Christian isn't easy. It means that we dwell in a land of uncertainty, never 100% positive where God is calling us, but always completely sure that God is calling us, that God is at work, that Jesus Christ is Lord and will be ultimately victorious over sin and death. And because God is all of those things, then God is interested in our daily lives, and God is calling us to live in such a way that not only glorifies God but also draws us closer. We all do this a little differently, and we have wonderful freedom in Christ to serve in the places we are, just as we are, uniquely and wonderfully different. My call is different than yours, and we each are part of the body of Christ.
So let us give thanks for diversity in the church, and may we endeavor to listen a little more closely to how God is at work and calling us forward.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The problem with living sacrifices, someone once said, is that they keep crawling off the altar.
It's hard and yet easy to imagine one's life as a living sacrifice. In some ways, it's our breathing in and breathing out. We are always seeking to renew our minds, to grow in knowledge and wisdom about how we live as Christians in today's world. We're seeking knowledge, to better inform our spiritual lives.
In other ways, it's so hard to know what it means to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God. How do we resist conforming to the world? By what basis do we know what is good and acceptable and perfect? Scripture guides us and the Spirit leads us, but we often end up in ambiguous places with uncertainty about what is right and wrong.
Being a Christian isn't easy. It means that we dwell in a land of uncertainty, never 100% positive where God is calling us, but always completely sure that God is calling us, that God is at work, that Jesus Christ is Lord and will be ultimately victorious over sin and death. And because God is all of those things, then God is interested in our daily lives, and God is calling us to live in such a way that not only glorifies God but also draws us closer. We all do this a little differently, and we have wonderful freedom in Christ to serve in the places we are, just as we are, uniquely and wonderfully different. My call is different than yours, and we each are part of the body of Christ.
So let us give thanks for diversity in the church, and may we endeavor to listen a little more closely to how God is at work and calling us forward.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
2 Corinthians 1:19-22
2 Corinthians 1:19-22
English Standard Version (ESV)
This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture. God has made countless promises throughout Scripture, and in Jesus, they all find their Yes. Everything God has been doing points to the selfless love and sacrifice of Jesus, and Jesus' love for us points back to God. All those questions we have about whether or not God cares for us and looks out for us, they all find their Yes in the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep. All of our doubts and our fears and our steady anxieties, they find peace in the One who walks with us every day of our lives. Jesus is the Yes, the affirmation of God's great love.
Do you remember how in Romans it says that nothing in all of creation will separate you from the love of God? Jesus is the affirmation of that promise. God will never leave you nor forsake you? Look to Jesus -- he is the Yes to that promise. God is preparing a place for you? Jesus is the Yes, his resurrection the affirmation of God's great power.
All of it -- in Jesus, we have the Yes!
English Standard Version (ESV)
This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture. God has made countless promises throughout Scripture, and in Jesus, they all find their Yes. Everything God has been doing points to the selfless love and sacrifice of Jesus, and Jesus' love for us points back to God. All those questions we have about whether or not God cares for us and looks out for us, they all find their Yes in the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep. All of our doubts and our fears and our steady anxieties, they find peace in the One who walks with us every day of our lives. Jesus is the Yes, the affirmation of God's great love.
Do you remember how in Romans it says that nothing in all of creation will separate you from the love of God? Jesus is the affirmation of that promise. God will never leave you nor forsake you? Look to Jesus -- he is the Yes to that promise. God is preparing a place for you? Jesus is the Yes, his resurrection the affirmation of God's great power.
All of it -- in Jesus, we have the Yes!
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Galatians 2:15-16
Galatians 2:15-16
English Standard Version (ESV)
Whenever I work on my resume, I try to put the most meaningful things I have done on there, highlighting my personal involvement in these actions. I want the reader to come away with the impression of a hard-working employee who is committed to the task at hand. I want them to think that I'm someone I can trust to do the right thing.
When it comes to faith, it's not about what we've done or what stands out on our resume. It's all about faith in Christ Jesus -- no matter how perfect our live may have been up to this point, it's not good enough to get us into heaven. Only the love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ can do that. So we come before Christ with humility, trusting him to lead us closer to God than we could ever have made it based on our own works.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Whenever I work on my resume, I try to put the most meaningful things I have done on there, highlighting my personal involvement in these actions. I want the reader to come away with the impression of a hard-working employee who is committed to the task at hand. I want them to think that I'm someone I can trust to do the right thing.
When it comes to faith, it's not about what we've done or what stands out on our resume. It's all about faith in Christ Jesus -- no matter how perfect our live may have been up to this point, it's not good enough to get us into heaven. Only the love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ can do that. So we come before Christ with humility, trusting him to lead us closer to God than we could ever have made it based on our own works.
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