Tag: Grace

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But He Does Anyway

Daily Reading

Numbers 18-20

Daily Thought

God delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and all they have done is grumble and complain, sin and rebel. Now they are whining again. They are thirsty, there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink” (Numbers 20:2-5).

After all that God has done, more complaining? Moses asks a legitimate question, “Hear now, you rebels: must we bring water for you out of this rock?”  The answer is, No! But he does anyway.

You would think we would learn, but we don’t, and the grumbling and complaining, sinning and rebeling continue. Almost fifteen hundred years later, Jesus is in a garden. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” For fifteen hundred years, the people have continued to grumble and complain, sin and rebel, just like the Israelites in the wilderness. A legitimate question, must Jesus drink the cup that contains the wrath our sins deserve? No. But he does anyway.

I get on my knees after years of grumbling and complaining, sinning and rebelling, and at last I plead, “Jesus, save me.” Must he? No, but he does anyway. “For by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:8).

Once I have received God’s grace, why do I still grumble?

Daily Prayer

Loving God, You show me your love in grace. I do not deserve it, I do not desire it even, and I certainly do not seek it. And then You die for me anyway. You take my sins on Yourself, you pay the price of justification, and You share Your righteousness with me. You adopt me as Your child, and I am co-heir with Christ.

How can I possibly not love You? I love because You first loved me. 

Amen

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Take the Deal

Daily Reading

Leviticus 19-21

Daily Thought

Question: Why don’t Christians today obey all the laws and instructions of the Old Testament?

The short answer is, we did. That needs to be explained, doesn’t it?

Israel is the nation ruled by God, and “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). You shall be different than those other nations around you that are not the nation ruled by God. You shall be a nation set apart to me. Count how many times Leviticus 19 reminds Israel, “I am the LORD your God.” This long list of instructions tell the Israelites how to do “I am the LORD your God.” The chapter closes simply and straightforward: “Do them” (Leviticus 19:37).

Jesus did them.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). He fulfilled all righteousness, then offered the most incredibly, ridiculously wonderful trade of all time: his righteousness for our sin.”For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2Corinthians 5:21).” Take the deal! We obeyed the Law when Jesus obeyed the Law, and we are righteous because he is righteous; his righteousness became ours.

This does not mean that the Law goes away. “You shall be holy, for I am holy” is in the New Testament, too (Matthew 5:48; 1Peter 1:16). Significant is a verse right in the middle of Leviticus 19, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v 18). Jesus, who is holy, says loving your neighbor goes right along with loving God and this sums up everything, that all the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments (Matthew 22:40). Jesus fulfilled all the Law so we can focus fully on its heart, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:40). 

Daily Prayer

God, You so loved the world that You sent Your one and only Son. Anyone believing in Him will receive eternal life. In Your grace, You did not send Your Son to condemn me. In Your holiness, You would have been justified to do so, but Your Son became condemnation so I might receive justification in His Name.

The Name of Jesus is the Name above all names. May I never mix it with any others. May I always hold it high. May I walk in Your ways, increasing Your reputation in this world. May I humble myself and direct all glory to You.

Amen

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Oh Mercy!

Daily Reading

Exodus 25-27

Daily Thought

I. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me. II. You shall not make for yourself an idol. III. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. IV. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. V. Honor your father and your mother. VI. You shall not murder. VII. You shall not commit adultery. VIII. You shall not steal. IX. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. X. You shall not covet.

These are the Ten Commandments of life given to a people in covenant with the holy God. “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7), but there was no way the people could hold up their end. The Law does not make us holy; it exposes our sin. “I’ve lived a good life,” does not stand up before a holy God, and the Law opens our eyes to it.

Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from the mountain, etched by God on two stone tablets, and they were placed in the Ark of the Covenant (think Indiana Jones). The Ark containing the Commandments would, therefore, speak of our hopelessness if God had not covered it with the mercy seat; “You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you” (Exodus 25:21-22). I cannot meet God through the Law, for I cannot keep the Law, so I meet him at his mercy. We meet God not through our goodness, but through his grace. The blood of Jesus Christ paid the penalty of my sin. His death is my mercy, lifting the burden of the Law, and lifting me to my feet to stand in his righteousness before my God. 

The Law of God shows how not very good I am, and the cross of Christ, how very good God is.

Daily Prayer

Holy God, You made this world and You planned from the beginning to display the glory of Your love, Your mercy, and Your grace in it. It is displayed on the cross. Even while we are sinners, You died for us. What an amazing grace, what a wonderful salvation.  

I live in a continuous state of thankfulness. It fills me with joy, knowing I am loved unconditionally by so great a God. How can I not say “Yes” to the life You set before me. I will follow You, walk in Your ways, and display Your love to others.  

Amen

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The Lamb of God

Daily Reading

Exodus 10-12

Daily Thought

The tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, introduces Passover, so named because the angel of death passed over homes protected by the blood of a lamb. If God knew which homes belonged to Egyptians and which were Israelites, why didn’t he simply skip the Israelite homes? Why did God require blood on the doorframe of a house to protect it from death? 

Go back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve chose their own desire rather than God’s, they chose death. Judgment was immediate and they were instantly severed from God. They were, therefore, dead, because God is life. Death through sin has been passed on to each and every one of us. We are all dead, separated from God because of sin. But Grace began immediately, as well. The world makes light of sin and misses God’s grace. God allowed Adam and Eve, though dead, to keep breathing, and he launched his plan of salvation. Every breath is a gift of God. We are amazed by grace only so far as we are appalled by sin.

Fast forward to Exodus 12. The judgment that would be passing through the land was just. Every family deserving of death would be visited by the destroyer, which means, because all sin, every family would be visited, including the Israelites. That Passover night, the destroyer would not discriminate between Egypt and Israel, all would be judged unless death had already been to that household. A substitute sacrifice, a lamb approved by God would pay the price. Blood on the doorframe was a sign that the sins of this household had been covered by the death of a lamb.  

Fast forward to A.D. 30. “The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)

Daily Prayer

Almighty God, Your goodness runs deep, but I choose to wallow in the shallows of my desires. Still, despite my rebellion, Your grace seeks me through the loving sacrifice of Your Son. May your righteousness consume my passions and may my desires become Yours. In response to Your overflowing never-ending love, I live thankfully and joyfully in a life made new again. 

What a wonderful Savior. What amazing grace.

Amen

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Let God Define You

Daily Reading

Genesis 30-31

Daily Thought

Israel, the great nation of God, would come through the line of Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons and a daughter by four women. Two were wives, two weren’t. Why would God use such a convoluted, sin-filled line to bring forth his people?

We are sinners, simple as that. When God uses us to accomplish his plan, sin tags along. We don’t have to search; sin doesn’t hide. Jacob’s wives invited him to sleep with their maidservants, and Jacob said, “Okay.” What a mess! 

We do bad things and bad things happen to us, and God shapes it into his design. “Joseph said to his brothers, ‘You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good’” (Genesis 50:20). God used the actions of the sons of Jacob to refine them so that they would learn love and trust through the consequences of their own hate and betrayal. God is sovereign, but that doesn’t mean he makes everything happen. For instance, God didn’t make the sons of Jacob sin. Sovereignty is much bigger than that. It means that God is in charge of this world, and he takes everything that happens, good and bad, and uses it to carry out his plan. And it will be good for us.  

Often we let the bad things we do define us – “I’m a bad person” – but God can reshape the bad you have done into a work of his glory. God’s goodness is more powerful than your sin. Let God define you.

Daily Prayer

Father God, thank You for Your mercy. Your son made a trade: He took my sin and gave me His righteousness. What amazing grace! You have made me a new person in Jesus Christ. My old self, delighted with sin, is dead. I am born again, born from heaven, a new person who now delights in You.  

God, I hunger and thirst for righteousness. May I be filled and overflowing. May I live a good and godly life that lights the world around me so that people see You and delight in You, as well. 

Amen

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Sodom and Springer

Daily Reading

Genesis 19-21

Daily Thought

Genesis 19–what a chapter! The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are a carnival of perversity, but their time is up. The depraved men of Sodom clamor for sex with two men/angels staying in Lot’s home. Lot offers to them his daughters instead. Are you kidding me! Their sin has eclipsed the threshold of God’s patience. God’s mercy is drained as he destroys the cities, yet God’s grace endures and Lot and his family are rescued before the downpour of fire and brimstone. Still, as the cities smolder in the distance, Lot’s unrepentant daughters get their dad drunk and take turns sleeping with him. Both end up pregnant.

It’s “The Jerry Springer Show,” the original trash TV. Jerry was asked if it was difficult to find his outlandish guests. “Are you kidding?” he laughed. “They are in every neighborhood in America. Yours too.” He’s right, of course. Millions of people watched Jerry’s show. If you watch the show, you are like the show. Look at our entertainment, our websites, our video games, our politics, or look at the daily news headlines. Nothing stays in Vegas. Lot’s wife looked back with a longing desire. She loved the lifestyle, and we do, too. What’s wrong with the world? In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “I am.” We all are.

And still God’s grace endures. Jesus took our sins, like those of Sodom and Springer, and mine, and made them his own. He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). He took what I deserve. That’s mercy. Then he gives me his righteousness. That’s grace. He became like me so that I can become like him. That’s love.   

Daily Prayer

My Lord and Savior God, Your love is overwhelming. You love me and I am not worthy of it. You love me anyway. Thank you for that, and thank you, as well, for hating sin. I need to hate sin more. What it does to me, what it has done to Your creation. I look forward to Your coming Kingdom, when sin is removed, when holiness is the way of the world, when Jesus reigns. Turn my longings toward You, my desires toward Your ways.

Amen