October 7, 2024

Romans 8.18 (NIV)

For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

We’ll never suffer more than Jesus suffered.*

Paul’s audience knew something about suffering for their faith – probably more than I will ever experience - but I have had some dark places in my life. In those times of suffering, I was very aware of the premise (and the promise) of this verse. Faith in the truth of these words helped to keep me going and to develop a more healthy and Christlike attitude. Now I look back at those days and know that I am living proof of how God works in our lives. If “good” and “bad” were equal units of weight, the good in my life would far outweigh the bad – and that’s nothing compared to the “glory that is to be revealed.” Glory is forever; suffering is temporary.

God doesn’t allow pain in our lives just to teach us about endurance. What we suffer enables us to turn our “infirmities into assets.”* Learn and grow from your experience and use it to bless others. 

Suffering coaxes us to throw away our immature ideas about God.*

October 6, 2024

Romans  6.1, 2 (NIV)

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

His Forgiveness is for the purpose of making us Hate our Sins.*

I once heard an unwed mother say that she planned to have more babies because the more children she had, the more money she got from Welfare. She didn’t understand that the more children she had, the more money she needed. That was not a very solid financial plan.

God’s grace is sort of the same as the foolish mother’s plan. The more we sin, the more grace we receive. But God’s grace isn’t like money in the bank that draws interest. God’s grace is sufficient for all our sins – there is no way to generate more than enough of it and we can’t stockpile it to cover future sins.

 

The wrong attitude toward God’s abundant grace could lead us to become like Paul’s audience who believed that as long as a Christian had faith it made no difference what kind of life he lived.* Being “dead to sin” means that we are “freed both from the guilt and from the power of it.”* As children of the King, how can we even consider returning to our old life of slavery to sin? 

Don’t confuse grace with indifference toward sin.*

October 5, 2024

Romans  4.21 (NIV)

. . . being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

To be "fully persuaded" of the truth of God, is to be fully submissive to it.*

In this verse, Paul is referring to Abraham, so let’s refresh our memories: God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. I’m sure he believed God, but when he and his wife passed from old to ancient and still they were childless, he might have started to think he had misunderstood. At any rate, he did what most of us would do - he took matters into his own hands. Long story short: disastrous results; important lesson learned. 

A few years down the road, when God told Abraham to sacrifice the long-awaited son (“sacrifice” as in “kill”), Abraham’s obedience is clear evidence that his previous experience had taught him that God fulfills his promises, even when it seems impossible. Most of us will not have our faith tested in such a dramatic fashion but our experience can still leave us fully persuaded that God has the power to perform the impossible. We know that nothing is impossible with God.

 

But what about the improbable? Is it easier to believe in the impossible than in the improbable? If you were Abraham, you might believe that it is possible that you might become a father at the ripe old age of 100 but is it probable? Abraham’s faith was not just in God’s ability to do the impossible. His faith was in God’s power to do what he had promised.

 

This premise defines my faith. I believe that God has the power to do anything he chooses. If he promises to do it, he will. He is the God of power and kept promises.

Behind all promises lies the character of the person who makes them.*

October 4, 2024

Romans 1.12 (NIV)

. . . that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

Nothing surpasses the joy of a spiritual friendship . . . little compares with spiritual friends.*

I facilitate a weekly small group Bible study for women. There is something about the dynamics of the group that allows women to feel safe and comfortable – so much so, that many have “spilled their guts” the very first time they joined us. At first, while I was thrilled that we were able to provide such a ministry to hurting women, I held myself aloof because I didn’t feel any need to unload – I preferred to take my burdens to the Lord. Many years before, I had gone through a period of testing in which the Lord taught me that he was all I needed. For whatever reason, he withheld the blessing of friendships from me until in my heart I no longer needed them.

But God is never finished with us! After teaching me that I didn’t “need” other people, God began to reveal to me that others needed for me to need them! Even though some women were willing to share their personal concerns with the group, there were others who weren’t so comfortable until after I became transparent with them. When they saw that their leader wasn’t afraid to share her concerns, they began to feel safe in opening up as well. And now we are mutually encouraged by each other’s faith!

If God is sending hurting people to you, maybe it’s because you have been where they are – and they need to know how God led you through your struggles. Let your experience be your testimony.

When we combine the counsel of trusted friends with our own reading of Scripture and connection to a church community, we are refusing insular thinking, accepting correction, and opening ourselves to growth.*

October 3, 2024

Acts 20.38 (NIV)

What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again.  Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Christianity is not a religion of stoical apathy, but of sanctified human affections.*

In order to inspire friendship of the depth depicted here, Paul had to have given much of himself to the people he ministered to. How emotionally draining this must have been as he traveled and allowed himself to care about the people. Surely it would have been easier for Paul to build an emotional wall to protect himself from the pain of caring too much. He could have continued to preach and to minister without so much risk to his own feelings. But Paul was just following the example set by our Lord. In Matthew 14.14, we are told that Jesus saw the crowd and “he had compassion on them.” Matthew, as one author writes, “is not saying that Jesus felt casual pity for them. No, the term is far more graphic. . . . Jesus felt their hurt in his gut.”*

If we are going to try to be like Jesus, then we must be less concerned with protecting ourselves from the pain that comes with caring about other people. We can go through the motions of the Christian life and even be effective, but until we love like Jesus loved, we will never have the abundant life he offers.

The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers . . . of love is Hell.*

October 2, 2024

Acts 18.6 (NIV)

But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Until told otherwise, I will serve courageously in the place I am.*

No more Mr. Nice Guy! Paul had devoted himself to “testifying to the Jews” (Acts 18.5) but he’s over it.  In kingdom work, as in poker, you have to “know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away and know when to run.”*

Paul doesn’t just walk away. He demonstrates his attitude by shaking out his clothes in protest. Some gestures are self-explanatory and almost universally understood. We don’t know where they originated but they are eloquent. In the case of this particular gesture, three of the four gospel writers quote Jesus as saying that if you aren’t welcome, shake the dust off your feet and move on. Paul obviously knew Jesus’ words – nor was this the first time he had ever had to resort to this behavior.  (See Acts 13.51.)

Along with this dramatic object lesson, Paul tells them, “Your blood be on your own heads.” This is not a curse but a statement of fact: their fate was in their own hands. (In fact, Paul was probably quoting from Ezekiel 33.4.) Paul didn’t stop caring but their rejection of the gospel was deliberate and he had done all that he could for these people. His ministry was Spirit-led, not emotion-driven.

How much time has been wasted on lost causes? As Christians, we hate to admit that someone is hopeless. And maybe we shouldn’t. But what we ought to consider is that we can’t be all things to all people. When you hit a wall in your witness to a person, perhaps you should move on and let someone else move in. Ask yourself, “Have I done all that I can?” If you have done all that you can do, you are done! Shake the dust off your feet and let God send in the next shift!

We spend so much time considering what we can do, we rarely stop to consider what God can do.*

October 1, 2024

Acts 17.25 (NIV)

“He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.”

Other nations were haunted by the unpredictability of their gods. Who could tell what would anger or please them? But because of the covenant, Israelites knew exactly what God required and where they stood before him. They had a basis for trust and security as a nation.*

Like children leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus, idol-worshippers brought food offerings to their gods. In Isaiah chapter 44 is a humorous look at the absurdity of idolatry. In short, a man plants a tree, watches it grow, cuts it down, burns half of it for his cooking and warmth, and makes an idol out of the other half. “No one stops to think,” Isaiah says (I can just picturing him shaking his head). “Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Paul could be thinking about Isaiah’s words as he continues in this speech to the educated Athenians, “He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else . . . God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.”

Some religions today contain a component of providing for their god’s needs, rather than the other way around. But what could our God need from us? He doesn’t need us to carve him out of wood and cover him with gold. He doesn’t need us to move him from place to place or repair him when he breaks. Our God provides all our needs and all he wants from us is for us to reach out and find him!

He is the Lord of Creation, and not its servant.*