1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

1 Thessalonians 1 

English Standard Version 

  One of the things I love about the church community is that there is almost always someone else that is constantly mentioning you in prayers.  To be in community means  to pray for one another, remembering one another before God.  What a gift that can be from one to another!

  Here, the Thessalonians probably don't realize what an inspiration their faith is -- they're busy serving God, serving one another, focused on what is in front of them.  Maybe they didn't set out to become an example, but they have, and word of their faith is traveling around, as others are inspired by them, learning more about Jesus.

  We often don't realize the wake we leave behind us as we navigate through the world.  We impact others, often through simple acts of love and devotion that we don't give another thought.  Maybe take some time today and reach out to say thank you to those who inspire you, to those who are examples to you, and let them know that you are remembering them in prayer, that we may encourage one another, spurring each other on to love and good works!

Psalm 24

Psalm 24 

English Standard Version 

  A few quick points here.  To begin with, we belong to God.  God made us, and we are God's.  What's amazing is that the Psalmist notes that only those with clean hands and pure hearts can ascend the hill of the Lord.  I could not stand in that group on my own, no matter how vigorously I wash my hands, but God has made a way for us to have clean hands and pure hearts, through the sacrifice of Christ.  You receive blessing and righteousness from God as a free gift, unearned.

  So let us lift up the gates of our hearts, to fling wide the doors we so instinctively shut, that God may come in and dwell with us!

Psalm 4

Psalm 4

English Standard Version 

Answer Me When I Call 

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. 

A Psalm of David. 

  If you're anything like me, emotions range in the course of a day or a week.  We go from elated to concerned to peaceful to stressed and back again.  At times you're resting peacefully & content, at other times your mind is racing with the things you need to do.  It can feel like we're a craft on a sea, tossed by the waves.  

  The Psalms range as well.  They're beautiful in how they reflect real life, and through it all we see God's consistent involvement, never straying far from us.  Here, the Psalmist notes that true joy, lasting joy, comes from God alone -- everything else will fade.  We realize this at times, in our wisdom, when we see how the rich and famous have struggles as well -- money doesn't solve problems.  We like to fool ourselves and think that it will, and it does solve some problems, but to lie down at night and sleep in peace?  Money cannot buy that.  Rich foods and fine wine cannot provide that.  God can provide that, for true safety comes from God.  There is nothing that can tear us from the arms of God, and that truth can give us the peace we need to lie down and find true rest.

Ruth 4:7-17

Ruth 4:7-17 

English Standard Version 

  There was a time when Ruth's life didn't look very promising -- she was a widow who left everything she knew to follow her mother-in-law to a strange land with a strange new God.  There, she found herself gleaning in the fields, wondering what would become of her... 

  And now Ruth is David's great-grandmother, if I'm doing the math right.  A foreigner, in a foreign land, who is in the lineage of the greatest king of Israel.  Not what she would have expected, but God could see farther than she could.

  The same is true for each of us.  God can see farther than we can.  There are times when our life doesn't look very promising, when we are filled with despair and disappointment.  There are times when we feel like there is no hope.  The joy of Easter, the Good News of the Gospel, is that even when we stare into the maw of death, when we feel defeated, there is yet life in God, there is yet joy in God, there is hope for tomorrow and hope for eternity.  You are loved, and nothing can take that from you, and because of the love with which you are loved, you are assured of eternal life in the arms of God.