Law or Love

0 For all who rely on the works of the law(P) are under a curse,(Q) as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Galatians3:10

The law is a never-ending series of commands impossible to keep.

Therefore, trying will keep you forever running in a circle but never finding the end.

I realized today how often I have run on the treadmill of the law, trying to do just one more thing to make Jesus love and accept me.  I was always thinking that if I could just keep the law perfectly for one day, I would finally have scored 100% and would be assured of His favor.  That to me, my friends, is the curse of the law, because I could never achieve that goal, so never experience “life more abundantly.” Freedom from that curse has come gradually for me, in fact, is still becoming more real with each encounter with the Word and love of my Savior.  About the minute I think I am totally free, Jesus shows me another area of bondage, and with my obedience, breaks another chain. How thankful I am that I know I will never be perfect under the law but am perfected by the blood of Jesus Christ!

Thank you, Father, for giving Your Son to free me from the bondage of the sin and the curse of the law. Check me each time I am tempted to earn Your love or approval by law-keeping instead of faith-believing in You. You satisfied the law completely with Your sacrifice on the cross, so I could be free to live under your love and grace.

Jesus, Only Jesus

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So, I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Galatians 2:19-21 The Message

You can’t do enough to earn your salvation. You can’t obey enough rules to gain entrance into heaven. Only one way to please God is to accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and allow Him to live the Message through you.

This passage so beautifully answers the question, “How can I be sure of my salvation and heaven?”  I can’t keep enough rules, impress others with my service, never miss a gathering of believers, hold every office in the church, influence enough others for Christ to earn my salvation or be sure of my acceptance by God!!  When I get to the judgment all I can do is fall on my face before God and cry out how imperfect I am, how much I fall short on all counts but that I love Jesus, accept His sacrifice for my sins, did my best to allow the Holy Spirit to live out Christ-life through me. When I see Jesus, everything in this life will pale and be meaningless, it will be ashes…Jesus, only Jesus will be my cry!

Oh, Jesus, thank You for this message this morning. It is so very timely and beautifully answers the question and fears about judgment. It also showed me how silly I am when I try consciously or unconsciously to impress You or my sisters and brothers in Christ by my good works, or service to the church or knowledge of the scripture, or anything else. There is place for only one cry in my heart and life that has any merit – “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died for my sins and that He lives in me and can enable me to please God by that relationship alone. Out of that belief and love flows all else imperfectly, (in jars of clay) but with a sincere and obedient heart! I love You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!

True or False

this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn’t receive it through the traditions, and I wasn’t taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:12

Paul is reminding the Galatians that the message they first heard from him was true and came directly from God, not some popular philosophy.

The Message probably seemed too good to be true to them as it does to many today. When told that God loves you so much that He died for you, and that He has come to set you free from religious rules, it must seem too good to be true. Sometimes I treat the Gospel truth with that same attitude. Really? Are you sure that’s what He said or meant? But, if God (Jesus) said it, I can believe it and that should settle it for me!

Jesus, help me to live out the little chorus knowing what You say is true and meant to guide me to You and eternal life. Your Word is meant to bring me freedom, not bondage. Help me to guard my mind and spirit in Christ and even when it does sound like “pie in the sky,” to believe You will do all you say you will do in my life, in the world and in others. Help me to trust you for the strength and hope that I need to practice belief in Your Word this day.

Example

6 So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. I Thessalonians 1:6-7

Paul was bragging about the Thessalonians converts who had accepted the Word and stood firm in their faith. The world around them could see the change and news spread of their radiant faith.

Those words, “you have become an example” caught my attention this morning. Their lives were so full of Christ that they became the gospel to their world. They were following the example that Paul, Timothy and Silas had taught them. These were Paul’s children (disciples) in Christ; therefore they exhibited that same joy that Paul had. They accepted the truth from his lips and his example before them.

 This is my desire for my life and my church, that others see Christ through us and will join with us in following Christ. As Blackaby expressed so well this morning,” we are not perfect or flawless,” but like Peter, I pray we are continually running toward Christ. Wherever we see Him at work, we want to run to be there with Him. We want to be an example that others can follow as we follow Christ. Only in Christ can this be accomplished.

Jesus, help me to be a world changer. Help our church to be full of world changers. Oh, Father, we can’t change even one person – ourselves- but you can change us and use us to be an example that others want to follow as we follow YOU! That’s so scary, but I know it’s not about us, but what you are doing in us that attracts others to You!  I yield this day to You for Your purposes for Your glory. Work in my mind today and give me clear thinking. Thank You for loving and continuing to transform me to reflect Your glory!

True Freedom

 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. Galatians 2:4

These false teachers who came against Paul were devout Jews, possibly Pharisees who were jealous of the freedom the Gentiles had in Christ. They were bound in their own spirits and did not want to see others enjoying what they struggled so hard to keep. They only knew an “outward – circumcised righteousness,” while these Gentiles seemed to possess this righteousness at a very deep level without the outward pain.

I recognize that same attitude in my life when I see someone experiencing more freedom than I, who seems to be enjoying God’s presence in its simplicity without all the restrictions I have allowed to be placed on me by the church or well-meaning Christians. When I search scripture, I often find I have hung my spiritual hat on the wrong peg, the peg of tradition, or people-pleasing, false interpretations, or a works righteousness. It is sometimes much easier to keep a law, than to step into freedom that sets you apart from those around you.

Lord Jesus, forgive me when I have let another steal my joy, or make me feel guilty for a freedom that is found in your love.  When law and love come into conflict in my life, I have sometimes chosen law which is so much easier to practice than love. Law often exerts power over a person, while love always involves servanthood and choice. Quicken my heart to choose LOVE and freedom that only YOU have the power to work in me.

Shack Dwellers

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2:8

Our Salvation is a gift, freely given based on God’s love, not anything we have done or could do to earn it. Earned love is never a gift. When someone reciprocates love, it is not a gift, it is an exchange of love for love. God’s love for us was all one way from Him to us when we didn’t even care if He existed.

My mind was filled with a picture this morning of a shack and a palace.  While I was dwelling in a broken down, leaky shack, the King of the palace sent His Son out among us shack dwellers and offered us the gift of living in the palace with all the rights and privileges of His heir. It seemed too good to be true for I had done nothing to merit such mercy. In fact, I had been resentful of those who lived in the palace. I had no idea what palace life was really like. All I had ever known was the life of a shack-dweller. My parents and grandparents had been shack-dwellers and never talked about palace life.

When the Son offered us shack-dwellers the gift of living in the palace, I was afraid and uncertain, but curious and hungry for a better life. Some of my friends scoffed and said it was too good to be true and they laughed at my desire. I chose to step out and follow the Son into the palace, anyway, not really knowing what I was getting into.

For years I lived like a shack-dweller visiting the palace, eating the food, trying not to enjoy it as I was certain it would eventually be taken away. The Son kept encouraging me to take advantage of my full rights, but I didn’t truly understand the meaning of the gift. After all I had received gifts only when I deserved them, in repayment for some good deed I had done or on some special day in my life.  This gift came out of nowhere and for no reason other than the King’s desire to give it to me! 

As my years in the palace have progressed, I have come to trust the King’s heart and although I still do not deserve this awesome gift, I now realize how I have hurt the King’s heart by not taking full advantage of all He is offering me. I have watched Him smile, even laugh as others have enjoyed His gift to its fullest, taking advantage of everything aspect of palace life.  I want to make Him laugh too. I want Him to know how much I appreciate His generosity and kindness, even though I still do not fully understand it.

Oh, King, please forgive me for not accepting Your gift in its fullness and help me to take advantage of every privilege of palace life to the extent that I bring intense joy to you and help others who may be, as I once was, living like a visitor rather than a daughter and heir of the kingdom.

Understanding My Blessings

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, Ephesians 1:3

The Holy Spirit began to speak to me. First, I heard that word most precious to my heart, “Father!” My blessed, Holy, loving, affectionate, adoring, most honorable, Father!!  My Heavenly Father had blessed me with every spiritual blessing. How often, since early childhood, have I been taught that God would bless me physically, with good friends, food, housing, all kinds of worldly provision, but not once was it emphasized that my blessings would be internal, spiritual, heavenly blessings. The great relief I felt when I gave my heart to Jesus at age seven was that I would not suffer the horrible pain and punishment of everlasting Hell. Growing up I walked in fear of displeasing God, the Father, and I spent most of my youth riding the altar rails making sure all my wrongs were forgiven. In college I began to feel and see His love was greater than His wrath, but it was hard to accept “unconditional love” from one called “Father.”  My earthly father’s love seemed based on being a good girl and pleasing him. I remember more frowns than smiles, little or no attention at all.

Then I read that I was blessed with every spiritual blessing from my Heavenly Father, the blessings that really mattered in life. These were the blessings of a clean conscience, right thinking, inner strength and motivations that stemmed from loving and being loved. These were the blessings that allowed me to be holy and blameless before Him as I reflected the life of Christ, my brother and model of my Father’s love.  I began to understand the changes in attitude, the stirring of my thoughts, the desires of my heart, my growth in righteousness, and daily moments with my Father. I was being blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. I was being loved in a most tangible way. I had complete access to the Father through Christ. What an exciting realization of truth!! Oh, Father! This is such an exciting reality to discover in a way never seen before. Not that I have not read it dozens of times, not that I haven’t heard it preached or taught, but that it has never connected to my heart like it has today! Help me to see those spiritual blessings like never before and please continue to reveal your unconditional love in new ways to my heart.  This is so much fun. I love You, Father!!

Stink No More

19 And his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power(AT) is the same as the mighty strength(AU) 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. Ephesians 1:19

Resurrection power is available to and in us.When I first read this, I pondered the idea of how much power I had in my life and walk with Christ. How often did I heal the sick or perform miracles or win someone to the Lord.  How was I using God’s power in my life to help others, or did I even covet that kind of power.  The more I pondered, prayed, and listened the more I realized the power talked about here was not the power to heal others but the mighty resurrection power of Jesus to raise the dead in me. I was reminded that Jesus was beyond a cardiac arrest, He was dead for 3 days…dead, dead, dead!!!  As Martha put it concerning Lazarus, “by now he stinketh!!  He was beyond resuscitation, but by the mighty power of God given to Christ, He arose and left all the stink behind and provided that same power to work in us.

It’s not what kind of power I have to work signs and wonders in others, but the awesome power of Jesus Christ to raise and redeem the dead areas in my life and heart that stink!  Those thoughts or attitudes of envy, resentment, rejection, inferiority, pride, prejudice, fear, or anything that stinks of “unchristlikeness” in my life.

 Now the emphasis is on RESURRETION POWER!  When sin entered the world, death with all its power and destruction entered and gained power over the perfection God created in us.  Only by the power of the blood of Jesus and His resurrection was the power of sin broken and the beauty of righteousness restored to us.  I am so encouraged to know that Jesus can truly change and redeem that which still is dead in me and stink. Sometimes we get so used to the smell of our sins that we don’t even notice them anymore.  We may be tempted to believe that some issues will only be solved with our physical death, but today I have hope that resurrection power is for here and now and is so mighty and strong it can bring life out of death!!! Thank You Jesus, that You are still working in me and bringing life to those parts of my life that still have the stench of death. You are raising Jesus in me and bringing a sweet fragrance to those areas in my life.  Oh, Jesus, please continue the work of Your mighty resurrection power in my life!

Jesus in Daily Routine

30. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight

.41.And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. Luke 24:30, 41-43

During the Emmaus Road experience, Jesus explains all the prophecies in the OT about himself, but it is not until He eats with them that they recognize Him. Then He appears to the eleven apostles and He shows them His hand and feet and they still do not believe Him, until He asks for food and eats with them. It is then their eyes are opened!

This truth jumped out at me immediately as I read these verses. They did not recognize the miracle of the resurrection until they saw Him in the routine of everyday life! He even shows them His hands and feet with the nail scars and still they don’t get it. Only when He joins them at the table and breaks bread with them do they recognize Him.  I think they were looking for a miracle to explode in front of their eyes and yet He was there all the time. They had lived and eaten with Him for three years and knew His daily habits.. It was not in the miracles that their hearts burned within them but in walking down the road and eating with Him. That’s what it’s all about, seeing Jesus in the daily events of my life, those daily miracles that only He and I see because they are between the two of us. Days when I am watering flowers and my neighbor comes over to talk, He is there.  When I am having lunch with a friend and Jesus reveals truth to us, or when having my hair done and Jesus steps into the conversation. No neon signs or flashing lights, just Jesus and me doing the routine.

Jesus, help me never to miss Your presence in the routine of my daily life because I am looking for big miracles, neon signs or flashing lights as evidence of your presence. May I see You as clearly on Monday morning as I do during Sunday worship. May I revel in Your presence on Tuesday as much as on Saturday morning in Bible study. Help me to recognize You in the natural, ordinary, routine, even the boring duties of life. Help me to see how You are working out Your Word in my life. Remind me of Your promises as they unfold in the routines of my life. Jesus, I want to walk hand in hand with You through each day. I love the way Your presence shines through the ordinary. Thank You for your continual presence in my life.

Who Touched Me?

In the crowd that day there was a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with hemorrhages. She had spent every penny she had on doctors but not one had been able to help her. She slipped in from behind and touched the edge of Jesus’ robe. At that very moment her hemorrhaging stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” Luke 8:43-45

Who touched me? Maybe He was really saying, “Who touched my heart?  Who drew from my well of compassion?” Jesus’ questions are always much deeper than the words spoken. He knew the crowd was jostling around Him. Many were bumping into Him by accident, but only one touched Him on purpose! This was no ordinary pat-on-the-back touch. This was a touch of desperate need! Jesus knew the difference.

How often do we come to Jesus almost by accident or with a passing jostle? Oh, there You are, Jesus. So glad I bumped into You today. I’m going Your way, please don’t mind if I get ahead of You, or lag a little behind. I really do want to see what You’ll do next, but my schedule is full today. Or do we push through the crowd of busy schedules, tough circumstances, physical or emotional pain, confusion or disappointment because we know if we can just touch Him, help and healing will come.  Just touching the hem of His garment with our faith will be enough.

Dear Father, please help us to slow down and realize that just one touch of your garment first thing each day will provide the strength, healing and wisdom we need to navigate the day successfully.