What are you thankful for today?

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in

him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 NIV

Lord, thank you that we have hope.

Lord, Live Through Me Today

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Romans 14:7-8 NIV

Lord, use me today however you want. Open my eyes to see each moment of grace you want to come through me to others. Love through me today. 

What to Wear

When I worked in restaurants I wore whatever the uniform they gave us to wear.  As a teacher I have a bit more freedom to choose what I want to wear, so I have to think about it. Mondays we are supposed to wear college shirts. I do try to look professional. 

Spiritually speaking we need to put on the armor of light and clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Earlier in the chapter Paul taught about loving your neighbor as yourself. Today, how can we love our neighbors?

Possible Peace

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 

Romans 12:18 NIV

A few years ago I worked with a guy who was challenging, to say the least, to work with. He was an argument waiting to happen. He was a teacher on the same grade level as I was so, we were often in meetings together. That guy could go from "How are you?" to "I can't believe you guys are not teaching (fill in the blank)!" in about ten seconds. Then he'd start yelling and getting red in the face, blaming everyone else for anything and everything. (No one wondered why he was divorced.) Most of the time I could kind of direct the conversation away from volatility. But, not always. 

I tried to talk to him. We tried to talk to him. The administrators tried to talk to him. He just could not grasp that the issue was the way he spoke with other people. During one grade level meeting he started self-righteously declaring that no-one else took their job seriously, cared, or had a clue. Each teacher tried to calm him down but, he was just getting hotter and hotter. Finally, I just had to say, "Do we need to call the police again?" (The police were once called to the school because he was verbally accosting one of the other teachers and refused to stop.) He, looked at me in shock, and stopped. 

A few verses later Paul says, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (verse 21). By faith (that God will work things out) do what is right, do what is loving. If peace is possible, God will work it out. 

A Prayer for Good Feet

And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is

written:“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Romans 10:15 NIV

Lord, wherever you send me today, whoever you put in front of me today, use me to bring the good news. Open a door, open a heart, open my mouth at the appointed time for someone to hear of your great love in Jesus Christ the risen Savior. Praise be to you in us today!

Not a Warm Fuzzy Post

A little while ago I saw this article on line about a guy who thought he was pretty tough, apparently, so he called out a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter online, repeatedly. After a while the fighter offered to meet the guy and fight. They met and off course the MMA fighter easily beat the living snot out of the online big mouth. I have no idea why this normal guy thought he could take on a real MMA fighter, but, arrogance can get you into a lot of trouble. 

I think many people today want to set themselves up as equal with God and sort of call him out on the basis of how they see reality. Atheists love to set up their version of what they think the Bible teaches or how they choose to view reality as the obvious way to see things. I find the fact that atheists want to blame the God they don't believe in and choose not to obey, for all the results of those choices. 

God is Sovereign and he does what he wants. He is also just and merciful.  Romans 9 reminds us that God has his plan and he will do what is right because he is Sovereign Lord. I don't fully understand God's will or his ways, but, I do understand that he is Sovereign Lord over everything and I am not. He does what he wants, not what I want. He is not a cosmic Santa Claus giving me everything I want just because I say a magic prayer. He has given all people a choice to believe in him and recognize him as Sovereign Lord. Some think they will stand before him and list their grievances and all that they perceive as unjust and God will be unable to answer. Remember the online bigmouth. 

This is not a warm fuzzy post. This is a check. Check myself. Check yourself. God sent his One and Only Son to die on our place, for our sins. Then, with his power, raised Christ from the dead. No other so-called god, messiah, savior or religious leader has an empty tomb. To be blunt: if you can't die and raise yourself from the grave, your not God Almighty, Sovereign Lord. 

The Battle Was Won on the Cross

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:24-25 NIV

Tomorrow we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every day a battle is waged within us. But every battle has been won on the cross. Today we remember that Christ paid the price so that we might live by faith in him. 

I think we all feel the battle that Paul shares with us in Romans chapter 7. We wish that we could claim the victory and never have to fight the battle again, but, that is just not the way it is. We are called to fight the good fight and remember, every day, that Jesus rescues us from this body of death. Everyday we are reminded of his grace and his mercy, his forgiveness and faithfulness. 

Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Grace: Access Granted

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 

Romans 5:1-2 NIV

Grace is never an access denied message. The grace of God we have access to is because we are justified through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that gives us hope. The grace of God does not wipe us clean and then give us a chance to try to be good enough again. We stand, we live in the grace of God. It's a life of grace. Grace to us, grace through us. 

So, we don't need to spend out time and effort on trying to be good enough or "spiritual" enough. We just need to live by faith in the grace of God. Think about how you treat others. Treating them through grace means remembering that Jesus died for them and acting accordingly. If they know Christ they are in and under his grace. If they don't know Christ they need his grace and you are the instrument that will bring them grace. 

Lord, thank you for the granting us access to your grace and that we can stand in it. Use us as instruments of you grace. May be boast in this hope we have. Praise be to you in us today!