Tag: Grace

Posted on

The Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Daily Reading

Hebrews 1-6

Daily Thought

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Hebrews 6:4-6). This passage describes lovers of legalism who nibble at the edges of grace, but the freedom frightens them. The problem with grace is it requires absolutely nothing from us. It offends the pride of the religious who insist on contributing to their own salvation. One sacrifice is not enough for their sin, so they go back to the safety of rules and religion, do’s and don’ts. 

Lovers of religion who delight in legalism harken back to the Law of Moses which taught the Israelites to offer repeated sacrifices for every sin, but Jesus offers one sacrifice, himself, and “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). The writer of Hebrews compares the new to the old, the cross of Christ to the Law of Moses, and it is not even close, “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” (Hebrews 3:3). 

Ask any kid, “What is the best sandwich ever made?” It is Peanut Butter and Jelly, no competition. Unless you met a kid from my youth group, a kid who was served my wife’s Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. I run into these kids, 5, 10, 20 years after graduating. You know what they remember? The Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly. They liked the old PB&J, but they had tasted the new. One kid summed it up: there’s no going back.

There are not enough rules to cover all my sins, but one sacrifice did. It is no longer what we must do to be forgiven, but what Christ has done to save us, once for all forever. This is the grace of God and once you bite deeply into grace, you will never again be satisfied by the Law. There is no going back.

Daily Prayer

God, You are so good. To be welcomed into Your family, to experience Your warmth and love, to understand what life is all about, to really live, what more could I ever want? (The answer is nothing more. You are above and beyond my deepest desires.)

Thank You for the blessings of heaven, of Your Kingdom. There is a better life than the one this world offers. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. I look forward to the day when Your Son reigns over the heavens and the earth in perfect peace and righteousness. There is nothing better, not even close.

Amen

Daily Question

Have you accepted God’s forgiveness if you have not forgiven yourself?

Posted on

Free to Choose

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 5-8

Daily Thought

Once a Muslim, now a Christian, he was attending the men’s breakfast, and we were inviting him to enjoy the bacon. “You know, as a Christian, you are freed from all those food restrictions and you can eat bacon or ham or whatever you like?”

He understood, “Yes, I know. I know I am free to eat, but I am also free not to eat it. I go home to my family in Egypt once a year, and when I come up to my father’s door, the first question he will ask me is, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet?’ If I say to him, ‘Yes, father,’ I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I say, as I have always said, ‘No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips,’ then I have admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ. Therefore I am free to eat, and I am free not to eat. I choose no bacon”

There are some things more important than knowledge. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1Corinthians 8:1). He knows he is free to eat whatever he wants, and what he wants is for his family to know Jesus.

Daily Thought

My God, You saved me. Not because I was good. Not because I was worth saving. You saved me because You loved me. What an amazing love, too, because I did not love You. I was not good, nor was I godly, and yet You went to death for my life. Now, because of Your goodness, I am becoming like You. 

May I love others, as well, sacrificing my wants for their needs. Make my deepest desire be to do what is good for others. May the choices I make help others choose Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some things you are free to do, but you choose not to, for the sake of your witness to others?

Posted on

Throwing Stones

Daily Reading

John 7-8

Daily Thought

A woman committing adultery was caught by the religious leaders and brought before Jesus. How they caught her and where was the man would be interesting questions, but Jesus did not ask. Instead, they challenged Jesus, “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (John 8:5). Would the one who claimed to be the Son of God execute God’s justice? Jesus bent down and began writing in the dirt. Many have guessed at what he wrote, but it does not matter. He simply took his time and unnerved the accusers, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). The Judge rendered his judgment, and one by one, the prosecution walked away. 

Only one person standing there could throw a stone, but he did not. Jesus freed the sinful woman (for she indeed was guilty) from her accusers. Now he would free her from her sin. “Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked. She shook her head no. “Neither do I,” said the one who could have, “now stop sinning” (John 8:10-11). 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). The scribes and Pharisees, accusing the woman, were slaves to sin themselves (none picked up a stone). A religion consumed only with sin seeks only to condemn, an effort, I suppose, to make oneself better by comparison. But the One without sin seeks to set you free, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Daily Prayer

Father of grace and mercy, I have given You every reason to condemn me and cast me away. By Your mercy, you do not give me what I deserve, but You paid the penalty for me. By Your grace, you give me what I do not deserve and call me righteous and holy, a saint.

May I learn from Your grace and mercy and do the same in this world. May I be one who does not condemn, but restores. May I be one who gives grace and shows love to others, no matter what they deserve. May I love my friends and my enemies, my neighbor as myself.

Amen

Daily Question

What have you done that Jesus would condemn?

Posted on

Our Redeeming God

Daily Reading

2Chronicles 2-5

Daily Thought

King David was a man after God’s heart, but that does not mean he was without sin. “I have sinned greatly” (2Samuel 24:10) was David’s confession to God after commanding a census. By God’s will David was chosen king, and by God’s power David attained the throne, but when he counted his people he was counting his soldiers, relying on his own strength to rule his kingdom. Repenting of this sin, David purchased property on Mount Moriah where he built an alter to worship the Lord.

A greater sin yet was David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah. Again, David repented, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:3-4). There were consequences, but this was true repentance and out of this sin, David married Bathsheba, and later they had a child, naming him Solomon (2Samuel 12:24).

David’s sins came with great cost, but even in the darkest of sin shines the power of God’s redemption–“where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). From the remnants of sin, God produced a man, Solomon, and a mountain, Mount Moriah, and “Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah” (2Chronicles 3:1).

This does not justify sin but displays the power of grace and reminds me to trust God’s salvation. Satan would have me deflated by failure, but I am made large through God’s salvation. I will, therefore, trust Christ’s cross and press on confidently.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.” ~Psalm 51:12-13

Daily Prayer

Holy God, how great a salvation. As your servant King David asked, “O Lord, who am I that You care for me,” I am amazed by Your grace, that You turn your attention toward me. I keep turning my attention away, yet You look upon me and care about me and restore me.

God, may my focus never waver. May I dwell on my sins less and your redemption more. Keep me from being distracted. May I look to You first, may I seek Your kingdom, your goodness, You always.

Amen

Daily Question

What has more power over your life, your own sins or God’s grace?

Posted on

A Clean Heart

Daily Reading

1Kings 15-17

Daily Thought

While Asa reigned forty-one years as king of Judah and did right in the eyes of the Lord, six kings ruled over Israel to the north: Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. The reigns of the kings lasted from 7 days (Zimri) to 24 years (Baasha), but no matter, each life was summed up by a phrase summing up their relation to God. Each of these kings did evil in the eyes of the Lord. (It doesn’t actually say Elah did evil. He was too drunk and too dead within two years to cause too much trouble.)

That each king of Israel did evil was shared by one other trait, they walked in the sinful way of Jeroboam. Jeroboam slipped off the path toward idolatry and each successive king strayed farther, until Omri did more evil than all who were before him (1Kings 16:25), and Ahab did more evil still (v 30). Judah’s king Asa, on the other hand, did as David his father had done. “David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1Kings 15:5).

Except for the matter of Uriah? Are you kidding me?! That’s quite an exception. David had sex with Uriah’s wife, then murdered Uriah–THAT’S NO SMALL SIN! 

God, however, weighs not the act, but the afterward. David ends up right in God’s sight and Jeroboam wrong because when confronted, Jeroboam did not repent and David did–“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (A Psalm of David 51:3-4). As towering as David’s sin, God’s grace soars above, and David is forgiven, renewed, and restored.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation. ~Psalm 51:10, 12

Daily Prayer

My God, blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Thank You, God, for Your grace.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you experienced God’s grace toward you?

Posted on

Forgo the Fools

Daily Reading

1Samuel 25-27

Daily Thought

David showed kindness to the shepherds of Nabal and expected kindness in return. Instead, Nabal “was harsh and badly behaved” (1Samuel 25:3). He was stingy, rude, and insulting to David. Nabal, whose name means fool, was one. David decided a proper response would be to kill Nabal and every last man who belonged to him. 

God’s law of retribution was well known, “If there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:23-25). An eye for an eye is just, it is due punishment, giving an offender what they deserve, but not more. David, angered and offended, wanted much more.  

A man after God’s own heart must understand justice and mercy and David was due a lesson. When Jesus said, “Instead, turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:38-39), it was not because “an eye for an eye” was unjust or cruel. Jesus was teaching mercy, forgiving and forgoing a due punishment. So God sent Nathan’s wife, Abigail, to instruct David, “Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live” (1Samuel 25:28). David got distracted by a personal slight and Abigail refocused him. Sometimes a fool is a danger to be fought, sometimes a distraction to be ignored. Wisdom knows the difference. David relented, at last, and chose to forgo the fools like Nabal, for there are real battles to be fought, the battles of God.

Daily Prayer

Yahweh, “I Am That I Am,” the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End, God Almighty, King of kings and Lord of lords. Your Name declares Your glory. May we declare Your Name. God is good. God is just. God is love.

God, I am known as a Christian, a follower of Jesus. I wear Your Name. Because of this, my actions give Your Name meaning in a world that does not know You. I pray, God, that my actions are true to Your Name, that I fight Your battles, that I love the way You love, that I stand for righteousness and justice, that I show mercy and kindness. 

Amen

Daily Question

How do you determine which battles are worth fighting and which to pass on?

Posted on

Broken Records

Daily Reading

Judges 13-15

Daily Thought

When I was young, I listened to records. A scratch in the surface of a vinyl record would cause a song to repeat at the same spot over and over again. We called it a “broken record.” It would sound something like this, “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord – And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord – And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Judges 13:1, “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” In the Bible, when something is repeated, you are looking at a theme, and the theme of Judges is God is faithful when we are not. Israel would do evil, a foreign nation would enslave Israel, and God would do something special that only he could do to remind Israel that he is their God. Samson was going to be special; it was obvious before he was born. “There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son’” (Judges 13:2-3).

There it is, another scratch in the record, a child born out of barrenness, life from death, another theme. It has happened before. Isaac, son of Abraham, was born to Sarah, who “was barren; she had no child” (Genesis 11:30). Later, “Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer” (Genesis 25:21), and Rebekah gave birth to Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s wife, Rachel, “was barren” (Genesis 29:31), “then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and she called his name Joseph” (Genesis 30:22-24). The theme, life from death, continues. Hannah, “though the Lord had closed her womb” (1Samuel 1:5) would give birth to the prophet Samuel, and barren Elizabeth (Luke 1:7) had a son named John, who would be called John the Baptist. 

Then, one very special, not from barrenness, but from innocence. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). God with us. Jesus. Some things bear repeating, again and again. Life from death. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love for us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Not a broken record, this is grace.

Daily Prayer

God Almighty, I can do all things through You. You give me the strength to find peace and contentment in any circumstance. Whether I have plenty or am in need, weak or strong, You are my strength. If You are for me, who can be against me.

God, may I walk in the confidence of Your strength and the humility of mine. I pray that I grow daily in dependence on You, replacing my will with Yours.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you seen God do what only God can do?

Posted on

A Guy Like Me

Daily Reading

Judges 10-12

Daily Thought

The people of Israel are again (still) doing evil in the eyes of the Lord (Judges 10:6), so God lifted his hand of protection and permitted the Philistines to torment them. Israel cried for help, and God responds, “Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you” (Judges 10:14). But the people cried louder and God relented and raised a leader and Judges 11 is beautiful grace.

His name was Jephthah and he was born of a prostitute, but lived with his dad and his dad’s wife and their legitimate sons. Jephthah was a constant reminder his father strayed, so when Jephthah was old enough to leave, he did. He collected worthless fellows as companions and formed a mob, a mob that could fight, and Israel needed fighters. How Jephthah developed a deep faith in God isn’t recorded, but he spoke of his Lord more than anyone else in Judges. He was a mix of street smarts, worldly manners, and impassioned faith. God chose Jephthah to lead Israel.

He made mistakes, one in particular. He vowed to God, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return shall be the Lord’s, I will offer it up for a burnt offering” (Judges 11:30-31). His daughter was first out the door to greet him. His vow was foolish, even wicked, pagan, and ungodly; but that was the way of the world he knew. If you want the help of the gods, make big promises. The Bible records life as it happens, unvarnished. It records that Jephthah “did with her according to his vow that he had made” (Judges 11:39). The Bible is a rough read.

A guest interviewed on “The Tonight Show” said, “I don’t know anybody who could read the Bible and still want to be a religious person. It is a book filled with immorality, wickedness, and then just plain silliness.” Yes, it is. It is raw humanity in need of God’s strength and guidance, which to me makes it eminently readable. Three millennia later, I live in a world that is every bit as immoral, wicked, and silly. I need God, the kind of God who will work with a guy like Jephthah. And a guy like me.

Daily Prayer

My Lord, You show me your love in grace. I do not deserve it, I do not even desire it, 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, teach me Your ways, and give me Your strength.

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

Amen

Daily Question

What skills do you have that God can use?

Posted on

Grace > Tolerance

Daily Reading

Deuteronomy 21-23

Daily Thought

God demands repeatedly of Israel, “So you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19, 21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7). Israel was the one nation in history where God joined together Church and State, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” In that close relationship, when God’s holiness is a daily display, Israel is to bless the world as an example of God’s presence. You cannot have God in your midst and evil, too. Evil must be purged. 

For example, Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.” The Pharisees used this passage when challenging Jesus with a woman caught in adultery, “Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” We like Jesus’s answer, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” God, in the Old Testament, seemed so severe, so stiff. Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:3-11). 

We think Jesus tolerant, and we think we like tolerance, but our definition of tolerance is “live and let live” and it is wrong. Romans 1 describes what happens when God lets people live in their sin. God gave them up (let them live) in their lusts (v 24), their dishonorable passions (v 26), their debased mind (v 28), and the result? “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (vv 29-31). It turns out God uses “live and let live” as a tool of his wrath and judgment. It turns out “live and let live” is really “let die.” It turns out an eternity of that kind of tolerance would be hell.

Rather than our idea of tolerance, I am grateful for God’s, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and as a result, “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11). That’s not tolerance, that’s grace. That’s not “live and let live,” Jesus died for that sin. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.

Daily Prayer

My God, Your reign and Your Kingdom is good. At the Name of Jesus every knee will bow, above the earth, on the earth, under the earth. Every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.

I know I test Your patience a lot, yet Your love never ceases. May my love, my faith, my devotion, my delight in righteousness continue to grow. I desire nothing less, nothing else.

Amen

Daily Question

When you recognize a pattern of sin in someone, how do you deal with it?

Posted on

But He Does Anyway

Daily Reading

Numbers 18-20

Daily Thought

God delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and all they’ve done is grumble and complain, sin and rebel. Now they are whining again. They are thirsty, there is no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. “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 challenges the accusers, “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 rebelling continue. Fifteen hundred years later, Jesus is in a garden. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (Matthew 26:39). 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).

When God has given me his grace, why do I still grumble?

Daily Prayer

Loving God, You show me your love in Your 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 alongside Your Son.

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

Amen

Daily Question

How do you give gratitude a bigger role in your personality?