Philippians 3:12-16

Philippians 3:12-16
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Ever spend time wondering how your life would have been different if you'd made a different decision five years ago?  Or wonder what might have happened if you'd done that thing back when you had that opportunity?  Financial websites are great at that -- isn't it great to hear how you should have invested $1,000 in Domino's Pizza in 2010 so that it would have gone up 3600% over 8 years?  What are you supposed to do with that information except regret that you didn't invest? 
  This is a famous verse, but there's a part that is skipped over -- the part where we forget what lies behind.  In verse 13, Paul talks about straining forward, but he can only do that if he's able to forget his history.  Think about what Paul's life would have been like if he had chosen to spend his time lamenting his days as a Pharisee rather than focusing on what Christ had in front of him.  Opportunity was ahead of him, sins were behind him, and he focused his vision on what matters.
  If you're like me, there are moments every day when you turn your mind to the past, to choices made or decisions not made.  You can lose moments in wonder, but more importantly, you lose momentum.  Christ has forgiven your sins -- you have been set free from what lies behind.  So forget about it, focus on the future with gratitude. 
  I don't know what your future looks like.  I know what our long-term future is like.  I'd encourage you to reach out to someone you know and tell them that you're hopeful about their future.  Despair can be sneaky -- people can get caught up in what didn't happen, what might have been, and they can lurk in that darkness.  So reach out, share some light, share some hope.  Remind someone of the light that shines in the darkness, and of the hope that calls us all to strain forward.

Philippians 3:7-11

Philippians 3:7-11 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Every night, there's pressure to come up with something to cook for dinner.  Hungry kids want to be fed.
  Every day, there's pressure to perform at my job, to keep up to the standard, to push forward for the client.
  Every morning, I'm pressured to exercise, to find some new level, to reach a new height and keep myself in shape.
  Every day, you're feeling the pressure, too.  Every day, someone or something is pushing you, pressuring you. 
  How much of a relief is it when someone else steps in and relieves that burden?  When they drop dinner at the door.  When they help you on a project.  When they exercise with you to motivate you.  When they ease the burden -- it's a huge sigh of relief.

  Here we are, brothers and sisters, standing at the edge of a chasm, feeling the pressure to find a way across.  We want to find a way across the abyss created by sin and death, the canyon that separates us from God, and there is immense pressure to figure it out...
  Until God steps into the gap and sends Jesus Christ to die on a cross, so that we might be brought across the gap, ferried on the back of his atoning sacrifice, back into right relationship with God.  You have been saved by grace through faith.
  What a relief.  What joyous salvation.
 
  Lately, I've been praying from Psalm 51 a lot.  Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation.  There's so much pressure to get everything right, and it presses down on us until we can barely lift our heads, and faith often falls to the end of the line, as it can seem less pressing than everything else.
  Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation.  May the sweet gift of faith restore us, animate us, and bring us to a place of such joy that each breath is lived in gratitude to God!

Philippians 3:1-6

Philippians 3:1-6 
English Standard Version (ESV)

 Going through business school, I spent A LOT of time working on my resume.  It has to capture who I am, while also communicating why I should be hired on the basis of who I am.  I'm trying to put my best foot forward, projecting the right image, and I'd tailor it to the job opportunity, ensuring that I reflected the right qualities, depending on the opening.  There's an art to it.
  Paul could put together a pretty impressive resume.  He had plenty of qualifications, and he could go toe to toe with anyone when it came to his Jewish heritage.  He had lived it, worked hard to earn it, and knew he could use his background as a trump card.
  But when he committed himself to Christ, he realized that none of it mattered.  What he had done didn't matter.  What truly mattered is what Christ had done for him.  The worldly gains he had made, the prestige -- that didn't elevate him in the eyes of God, and it wouldn't earn him eternity.  Only Christ could give that to him.
  It's true for you -- your resume will never get you into heaven.  What's also true is that your past won't prevent you from getting into heaven.  The black marks on your resume, the parts of it you'd rather not see -- those won't separate you from the love of God.  Christ has achieved something for you, and given it to you as a gift, and you are worthy because Christ makes us worthy by his atoning sacrifice.  So do not cower in fear, and do not boast with pride -- accept with gratitude, and let go of yourself.  When we lose ourselves in the love of Christ, we discover what it means to love others and invite them into an astonishing place of grace.

Philippians 2:19-30

Philippians 2:19-30 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  If you have a scarcity mentality, you hoard your resources.  Convinced that there won't be enough, you keep everything close to the vest, afraid that you will end up lonely and surrounded by nothing.
  If, however, you have a theology of abundance, you share wildly and freely, convinced that there is plenty and that you need not fear giving something away, because there is more.
  Here is Paul, sending Timothy, sending Epaphorditus, sending his closest friends to these churches in the hopes of forming and strengthening community.  Paul doesn't prevent them from going because he's afraid they'll wander off and not come back -- Paul sends them because he believes that the church is entrusted with such riches of personalities that any potential to share gifts can strengthen then entire church, to the benefit of all.
  How do you treat your resources?  Do you share them widely?  Do you willingly connect friends with other friends, looking for ways that gifts might be shared and people might encourage one another?  Or do you hold back, trying to keep yourself at the center, afraid that people might go on and forget you?
  We're a part of a wondrous community of faith, filled with people of every different shape and color and gift.  Let us celebrate and look for ways to connect one another, strengthening the bonds that tie us to one another.

Philippians 2:12-18

Philippians 2:12-18 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  It's easy to read verse 12 and think that Paul is telling you to figure out your own salvation, as though it's a homework problem that you turn in to the teacher at the end of your life and hope you get a passing grade.  It's critical as Christians that we have a proper understanding of this verse.
  When we're told to work out our salvation, think of it this way -- we've been given a gift (our salvation), but we don't quite know how best to use it.  Our responsibility, then, is to work out how best to use it.  It's a tremendous gift, the most important thing we will ever receive, and a powerful gift, so we should use it carefully.  We're not to be careless with it, because if we're irresponsible, we could hurt others.  So let us approach it with fear and trembling, recognizing that God has given us something we did not earn, something so powerful that it will allow us to defeat death!  The knowledge of such a gift, and the self-awareness that we absolutely do not deserve it, should lead us to gratitude and joy, so that we don't have grumbling or disputing.
  Let us be glad and rejoice.  I challenge you to reach out to one person today and bring some joy into their life.  Send them a handwritten note, or order them flowers, or sit with them when they are sick, or tell them you love them.  Find some way to spread joy to at least one person -- the joy that comes with experiencing the selfless love of another.

Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11 
English Standard Version (ESV) 

  It's so easy to forget that little phrase from verse 6:  though he was in the form of God.  We forget what Jesus was before he came to earth in human form.  Jesus was God, dwelling in the throne room, surrounded by the saints and angels in the fullness of the glory of God.  Jesus voluntarily chose to leave that behind and walk in the dusty roads of the Middle East, walking and talking with the poorest and most vulnerable people in society, in the desperate hope that they might turn from ignorance and sin to worship God Almighty, hoping that they, too, might join the throneroom of God. 
  God left this behind for Peter and for Paul and for you and for me.  Jesus chose to come to earth and suffer at the hands of humans, enduring a humiliating death so that your sins might be forgiven and you might be set free.  God loves you enough to leave the best behind to seek you out -- you are the lost sheep, and God is the shepherd who endures the rain and the wind to seek you out so that you might be saved.

Philippians 2:1-4

Philippians 2:1-4
English Standard Version (ESV)

  What would complete your joy?  As a somewhat-tortured Cincinnati sports fan, I'd like to think that a Reds' World Series victory would make my joy complete.  But the next season, how would I feel if they started losing again?  I'd certainly be happy when they won, but that would likely fade in time.  Lots of things bring us happiness, some of it more lasting than others, but a complete joy, that's harder to imagine.
  Here, Paul's joy is complete by having the community of believers around him focused on selfless love, rooted in the joy of Christ.  Joy isn't a limited resource -- our joy doesn't shrink when others get more of it.  Instead, joy grows, multiplied by every additional person that comes to find joy in selfless love.  When we think of others, we grow in faith, and find joy in watching others find their fulfillment, their peace in Christ.  May we have this same mind and faith!

Philippians 1:27-30

Philippians 1:27-30 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The church is an amazing organization.  We have Christ as our head and we are dispersed throughout the world as individuals, each of us representing the church.  There are people in the world who form their entire impression of Christianity based on their interactions with individual Christians.  It's not always fair, but it's true, and so I don't think it's unfair to say that we carry an obligation to the outside world to live in such a way that communicates the church is a place of grace and truth and love.  We don't have to roll over for everyone, but we can communicate the truth in a way that creates room for every single person on the planet to come to Christ as a sinful person in need of grace, ourselves included.
  Living focused on Christ may involve some suffering.  Christ is clear that God prunes the branches out of love so that we might grow.  In our baptisms, we are joined in Christ's death just as we are joined in Christ's resurrection, so let us remind one another to be hopeful in the midst of suffering.  The darkness shall not overcome the light!

Philippians 1:18-26

Philippians 1:18-26 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  What's your scoreboard?
  If you're into March Madness, all that matters is who is winning at the final buzzer.  Even if your favorite team plays terribly, you'll be happy as long as they're ahead when the horn sounds.
  If you're financially motivated, you'll be happy if you have enough money.  Maybe you've set a retirement goal or some other savings target, or maybe you just want to make more than 95% of the population.  Whatever your goal, you'll be happy if, and only if, you hit that number.
  If you're Paul, you want to be with God.  That is what motivates Paul.  Paul will shape his life around communion with God, and anything that brings Paul closer to that is great.  Paul understands that only by passing through the veil of death will we truly be united with God, and so Paul welcomes death.
  But Paul also wants as many people as possible to experience the love and grace of God, and so Paul is willing to set aside his own personal goal and serve the people around him in the hopes of teaching them about the love and grace of God.  Paul wants everyone else to share his goal, and so he patiently teaches and loves them.
  Spend a few minutes thinking about your scoreboard.  How do you measure yourself?  What brings you joy in the depth of your heart?  What makes you afraid?  What will cause you to declare your life a win, at the end of it all?

Philippians 1:12-18

Philippians 1:12-18
English Standard Version (ESV)

  It's a little hard to imagine how this conversation would have gone over the phone.
  "Hey, it's Paul, and I just wanted to give an update..."
  "Great, Paul.  So glad to hear from you.  How are things?"
  "Never better.  Really glad with the most recent developments."
  "Yeah -- what's going on?"
  "Well, I'm in prison, and it's just the best thing."
  "Huh.  Prison, you said?  Doesn't sound good.  Not good at all."
 
  When I worked at the church, we'd always get flyers in the mail from accounting firms who wanted to work on our financials to help us avoid getting in financial trouble.  On the front, they'd always warn, "Don't start your prison ministry" and have a picture of a minister in jail.  It was funny.
  When it come to actually going into jail, most of us don't see that as good.  It's really hard to see the positives, but Paul is so Gospel-focused that he sees God at work in this.  He sees his imprisonment as an opportunity for the Gospel to be proclaimed, and he's not worried about his reputation at all -- this is all for the good of the Gospel, and so he's thrilled.
  Leading us to the question -- what are the things going on in your life that are opportunities for the Gospel?  I know that I have things in my life that I view negatively that could be seen as opportunities.  What's critical is changing our mindset -- so that we're not self-focused, but rather God-focused, and so a prayer for today is for God to give us the vision to see the world the way that God sees it.  In doing so, people and circumstances that are viewed negatively might change in our minds.  When I have a tough day/week/month at work, I need the courage to pray for God to help me look for opportunities to positively approach work as a place to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. 
  What are the areas in your life?

Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 3:23-29 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I know, I know -- we just finished Galatians.  Well... tough. 

  I was thinking the other day about how our greatest cities take place at intersections.  Usually they're the intersection of a river with the sea, or perhaps a river and a major crossroads.  They formed this way due to trade -- people brought their goods to these intersections where they could trade their goods for others, and the gathering and trading of goods led to services developing, and soon there were cities growing up based on this trade.
  Well, trade is an intersection of different kinds of people with different gifts -- that's what makes trade successful.  It requires a blending of different types of people in order to be successful.  People from the outlying areas collide with people in the city, where there are often people from different parts of the country and the world, and they all intersect to trade, depending on one another for a successful economy.  Throughout this trade, different ideologies collide, and we learn from one another, being stretched by differing views of how the world works, learning and questioning and yet depending on the trade to continue to bring people from different walks of life into the city.  As an economy, as a country, we are the strongest when a diverse group of people intersect and figure out how to live together, and our strongest cities thrive.
  In the current economy, I believe we've stopped intersecting as much.  Our worlds have become smaller, more custom to our own wants and needs.  We can filter our media to only take in what we want, and we don't interact as well with one another.  We've entrusted so much of our trading to corporations, and what we've lost is the richness that diversity promotes.  When faceless others do our trading, we never interact with people who are different than we are, and the danger is that more and more of us end up isolated, either alone or only with people who think like we do. 

  The church should be a great place where we intersect our lives with one another.  As Paul states, there is no status in the church -- we are all equal before Christ.  The richest man in the world can say to the poorest in the church, "I'm just like you.  I was condemned to die as an unworthy man, and I was only saved due to the grace of Christ.  I know what it means to be lost, and together, Christ has found us."  Where else can people of disparate wealth and worldly status gather on an equal playing field?  The church should offer that.  At our best, we see people intersecting with people wildly different, and doing so with gratitude that God is at work in so many different lives  At our best, we celebrate the diversity, because we are reminding that God's selfless love touches every life, no matter what.

  But our churches are often segregated, too.  Not just by race, but often by economic class or along political fault lines.  It's sad, but some people aren't made to feel welcome, depending on the church.  Most churches are guilty of this in some small way.  And when our churches aren't diverse, we don't intersect, and when we don't have those collisions, we miss out on hearing about so many wondrous ways that God is at work in the lives of others.  We don't learn as much about God, and our theology isn't as rich, as deep, as it could be. 

  So here's something to think about over the weekend, if you're still reading.  Over the rest of Lent, how can you intentionally expose yourself to an individual, a line of thinking, a group of people, who are different than you?  How can you be stretched and enriched by learning about, by experiencing, what God is doing in the life or lives of another?  How can you collide with others, stretching the limits of our common lives, and learn about the wild and free grace of God, that will not be confined to what we can contemplate?

Philippians 1:8-11

Philippians 1:8-11 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I've spent a lot of time studying for tests.  I've pulled a few all-nighters, and certainly seen 3 and 4 a.m. plenty of times, all in hopes of cramming enough knowledge in that I will be able to pass the test.  In business school, I'd stay up late studying a business' website so that I would be prepared for an interview, often learning all sorts of things that I never had the chance to demonstrate in the interview.  Sometimes the studying pays off, sometimes not.
  When Paul wishes for the Philippians to be pure and blameless on the day of salvation, he isn't hoping they learn enough or yearn enough or somehow find a way to be good enough.  He's hoping that they fill themselves with the love of Christ and receive what is freely given, that they might be covered in the grace and love of God, the mercy that washes us clean.  We'll never earn a spot in heaven, no matter how hard we try, but we can receive what God freely gives us, and be filled with righteousness that only comes from God.  You are saved by grace, through faith, and only by the power of God will you be forever transformed.

Philippians 1:1-7

Philippians 1:1-7 
English Standard Version (ESV) 

  If you're a basketball fan, you've likely seen how the Los Angeles Lakers have floundered over the past month, despite employing one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Lebron James.  They have a number of great players, but they simply haven't come together, for any number of reasons.  They haven't clicked as a team.
  When Paul speaks of the Philippians, I love how he describes them as partners in the Gospel.  They are in this together, committed to one another, walking the road of discipleship with one another.  Paul and the Philippians are not in separate classes, but they're equals, sharing in each other's ministry.  These ministries are very different, but they are still partners.
  In much of the modern church, the thinking exists that pastors, especially with the rise of celebrity pastors, are the professional Christians, while everyone else shows up to observe worship.  The church always has to be careful that the worship service doesn't become a production that congregants observe, but rather a service that invites participation, and we all partner together in our worship of God, led by individuals who are gifted in particular ways, but they're always inviting everyone in to taste and see that the Lord is good.  Church isn't something we watch -- it's something we join together in doing. 
  As partners, we are invested in one another.  We are committed to the pastor and our friends and the stranger three rows back who looks very different.  God has begun a good work in all of us, and it is God that will bring that work to completion, but we join with one another in encouraging ourselves and others to search for what and how God is at work.  We hold each other in our hearts, and we partner together to worship and serve the living God.

Psalm 139:13-24

Psalm 139:13-24 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  An assembly line can be a wonderful thing -- it churns out great quantities of a similar product, each matching the one before, each featureless to the individuals working on the line.  On an assembly line, the focus is on doing your own part of the process with excellence, but the details of the overall product can be lost.
  You were not made on an assembly line.  You are not part of a faceless crowd.   God knit you together, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  God's works are good, and you are one of God's works.  Guess what that makes you -- that's right.  You are good.  You have been intricately woven together, and you are good. 
  As creations of the living God, we praise God.  I wish that I could cry out like the Psalmist in verses 23 and 24.  I wish that my heart and my thoughts were without blame, but they are not.  I am imperfect and flawed, broken in many ways.  But I, just as you, have been handcrafted by the living God, and I will not give up, because God does not give up on God's beloved creations.  Cling to the truth that you are made by God, and join with God in passionately pursuing the things that matter to God -- selfless love, reconciliation, peace and mercy.  Resist and fight against the forces that divide us, and find your brothers and sisters, no matter how different they are, and affirm them as the handcrafted creations they are.  Remind them of the intent of their Creator, and work out how Christ is at work in our midst.

Psalm 139:1-12

Psalm 139:1-12
English Standard Version (ESV)
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster.
A Psalm of David.

  The Psalmist is clearly making a powerful statement here about how intimately and completely God knows us.  There's two critical points related to this that make this such an incredible fact.
  First, God is for us.  This is clear throughout the Scripture, but becomes blindingly clear during the ministry of Jesus Christ -- Christ has come to save us.  Christ portrays himself as the shepherd, coming to save the lost sheep.  The mission of God, evident throughout Scripture, is to gather people to himself, to redeem those who are ensnared in death, to set the oppressed free.  God is for us, and sends Jesus Christ so that we might be freed and be caught up in hope.  The mission of God isn't to create a test that only the top students can pass -- it's to do everything possible to welcome as many people into the Kingdom of God.  Christ is for us, in that he dies on the cross so that you might have life.
  Secondly, God is all-powerful.  God has the ability to defeat the power of sin and death and free us.  God can liberate us - there are no limits on what God can do.
  So dwell on this -- God knows you, and God is for you, and God is able to save.  So while there is nowhere in the universe that you can go to escape from God, when God is with you, God is working to transform you into the image of God, as you were created to be.  God is at work to free you from the things that ensnare you.  God loves you and wants the best for you and will ultimately and eternally bring you into a place where you can live in the full glory you were created for.
  For each of us, there will be moments when we feel like pulling the darkness over us as a cover, and we'll want to dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.  That's a real part of the human experience, even for the Psalmist, for the most faithful disciples, there are chapters of life like this.  In those moments, when despair is the only language we can speak, never forget that God is there, that God is present.  God understands pain and despair -- this is the God who endured the cross, who absorbed all of human pain and shame and sin and was abandoned on the hill at Calvary.  God is there with us in the most painful moments, and God is at work, redeeming them and calling us forward into life.  The light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not win, however dark it may seem.

Psalm 21:1-7

Psalm 21:1-7 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  When I am king, I think I'll be tempted to forget where I came from.  I'll probably just sit around and think about what a great person I am.  I'll be like King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, who walks out one day, on his balcony and says, "Look at this, Babylon the great! And I built it all by myself, a royal palace adequate to display my honor and glory!”  At this point in the story, God judges the King and finds him wanting, and things don't go well for him after that.  For the next 7 years, he wanders around and eats grass like an ox, before he finally wises up and realizes that God is the true King and Author.
  The wise king, like the wise person, directs all glory to God, no matter how well things are going in life.  When we're on the top of the mountain, the temptation is to think about what a great job we've done climbing the mountain.  The wise one recognizes that not only did God make the mountain, but also that God enabled us to climb, giving us tremendous blessings that allowed us to take the journey step by step.  God's glory is at work in the world around us, and no matter where we are in life, having the discipline to remember that it is God and God alone that blesses us and deserves the praise will serve us well.  It keeps us humble and it keeps us grateful, and keeps our soul oriented towards our truest love, the one who wants the best for us, that knows us intimately and eternally, that knit us together and redeems us for eternity.

Psalm 22:1-8

Psalm 22:1-8 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We love the uplifting parts of the Bible, where we celebrate the grace and power and healing of God.  When we are joyful, there are ample songs that we can sing and rejoice in God's provision and God's glory.  When life is sunshine and roses, we celebrate the glories of creation and look forward with hope.
  However, life isn't always sunshine and roses, and one of the things I love about the Bible is that there is room for those experiences as well.  These are the words Jesus quoted from the cross.  When life is going against you and the walls are closing in, there is a Bible verse for that, and it's real, raw with human emotion and pain and fear.  The Bible doesn't shy away from every part of the human experience -- it embraces it, acknowledges it, and teaches us how to trust God through the experience.
  Watch what happens here -- the Psalmist is wondering where God is, but verses 3-5 demonstrate the trust in the ability of God to save.  The Psalmist wonders where God is, but does so in the midst of trusting God in the bigger picture.  Even in the dark of night, the Psalmist knows that God alone brings light, and even though we can't always understand how this comes together in the end, the implicit trust in the ability and power of God to save is remarkable.
  So I don't know what the darkest channels of your life look like.  They may be bleak and appear without hope.  But God is able, and God is at work, and even in the midst of the pain and struggle, we can trust that the redeeming and delivering God is at work.

Isaiah 58:6-12

Isaiah 58:6-12 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We've left behind the revelry of Mardi Gras and entered into a solemn journey, one that leads through a land of preparation and into the necessity of the cross.  Only once we have sojourned there can we ascend to the heights of resurrection, where we discover that things have once more been set right.
  The question for us, as individuals and as a church, is how that journey to the cross will look.  Each of us will make that journey, and there are no shortcuts to resurrection.  But just because we are journeying towards death doesn't mean we can't walk with hope, because we know how the story ends -- we know about the life that awaits on the other side, the rising sun that is eternally parked just beyond the bleak and sorrowful night. 
  Thus, as an intertwined people of hope, we are called by the Almighty God to pour ourselves out for the hungry, to satisfy the desires of the afflicted, to be a people determined to journey together, invested in the next steps of our brothers and sisters.  When we collectively strain forward, yearning for the resurrection light to enfold us as a community, we discover what it means to be the church, a community of faith encouraging one another to lay hold to the claim that each of us are made in the image of God and claimed in the waters of baptism.  The drumbeat of hope connects us, binding us together as we march the road of discipleship together, heads held high as we encourage one another and hands reaching low to ensure none are trampled by our walk to the cross.  We lift up, we stoop to serve, and we look to the margins to seek to be radically inclusive as Jesus was,  inviting all to come and be healed and look forward with hope.
  So this is our Lenten journey to the cross.  Come and find your place, and may the power and hope of Christ infuse your every day this Lent to challenge you to encourage the people around you and include those who may feel left behind and forgotten.

Galatians 6:11-18

Galatians 6:11-18 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We've arrived at the end of Galatians, and we are back where we started -- Paul is looking to the cross, and to the cross alone. 
  If you're Paul, you've got a fair amount to boast in.  After all, he wrote half the New Testament and started churches all across the known world.  He kept up quite the correspondence with churches around the world, traveling and preaching to friends and enemies.  He was stoned outside of one city, to which he promptly returned.  He preached the Gospel with the Roman emperor and some of the leading minds of the day, and God himself personally called him out of the previous life he was leading. 
  So in what does Paul boast?  The cross.  Nothing but the cross.  At the cross, all are made equal.  At the cross, our weaknesses are revealed, and the cost of sin is fully apparent.  At the cross, we realize that all of our best efforts cannot pay the price for our faults.  Only God can fully pay the price, and God freely pays it, out of love, for each and every one of us.
  Now, if even Paul cannot boast of his efforts, then what chance do any of us have?  No, we come as equals to the cross.  We are the lost who have been found, the damaged who have been re-assembled, the enslaved who have been redeemed.  At the cross, we are made new.
  As you rise to meet this day, remember that each person you encounter stands at the same level as you before the cross.  The world would be a much more agreeable place if we treated one another this way.  When you meet the homeless beggar in the street or the hurried businesswoman rushing to her next appointment, treat them with grace -- they are your equal, be they rich or poor, persecuted or arrogant -- we all stand before the cross, equally guilty and equally beloved.  How I wish we would remember that before we mentally judged people or grouped them into categories or elevated some.  Not even Paul could boast, but instead he knelt before the cross, where he found love and grace.

Galatians 6:1-10

Galatians 6:1-10 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The church would do well to remember the words of Galatians 6:1 -- restore one another in a spirit of gentleness.  I listen to Perry Noble's sermons, and he said the other day that if Jesus Christ didn't come into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17), then we shouldn't feel called to do so, either.  So often, the church has plenty of people willing to jump in and point out the weaknesses of another, when in reality we should be humbly coming alongside one another and offering our shoulders, our strength, to comfort and encourage.  It does not do anyone any good to find a group of people reminding them of their weaknesses, but it's an amazing witness when we hold each other accountable with a spirit of humility.
  Remember, Christ himself came and washed the feet of the disciples.  He didn't boast in his strength, but rather eagerly knelt to serve.  He didn't grow tired of selfless service, but rather continued to seek out opportunities to shower love on friends and strangers, pointing to the selfless love of God with every act. 

Galatians 5:16-26

Galatians 5:16-26 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  My ability to tell trees apart is limited.  I know what an evergreen tree looks like, and I can tell a giant sequoia when I see one.  I know a maple tree, and that's about where my tree knowledge ends.  I know that trees are made of wood and are expensive to have someone cut down. 
  But when I see a tree covered in apples, I know that it's an apple tree.  When I see a tree laden with oranges, I can make a pretty good guess as to what kind of tree it is. 
  In the same way, when I see someone who is patient, kind and faithful, I learn something about what kind of person that is.  When I see someone who acts loving and gently towards others, regardless of race or class or creed, I know something about that person.  It doesn't tell me everything, but it tells me something.
  So when you act, it reveals something about your character.  Are you driven by sensual things, constantly angry or causing strife?  Then you may only be seeking pleasure for yourself.  But if you are consistently patient and faithful, then you clearly are acting out of selfless love, and those are the people I want to tell more about.
  If you want people to hear your story about how you have been saved by grace through faith, seek to practice the fruit of the Spirit, as God will use these traits to create windows through which the Spirit may flow.  In living out the fruit, we point to Christ and the grace with which we are freely loved.  We demonstrate that we do not belong to or seek only ourselves, but we belong to Christ, who loves beyond measure.