Sunday at lunch we were gathered around the table talking about everything from how our jobs were going to church to Haiti. The conversation when from the Haiti earthquake to one of our favorite subjects:
Life in Alaska. Mom was recounting the great Alaska earthquake of '64 when my brother said something about the largest recorded tsunami in history. He checked his Blackberry and yes, he was right, it was in the 1950's, July 9, 1958 to be exact. It happened in Lituya Bay when an earthquake hit the Fairweather Fault along the Alaska Panhandle. It was reported that 40 million cubic yards of rock dropped 3,000 feet and landed in Gilbert Inlet. The result of the impact was the largest tsunami that created a wave 1720 feet high (47 feet taller than the Empire State Building). It stripped trees and vegetation off the nearby mountains at that height. Nothing could stop the devastation of this tsunami. I use this as a point of stressing the power of God's grace.
When God breaks into a person's life the results are mind-boggling. God's grace to transform a life is one of the undeniable miracles still taking place in the world today. Grace is not merely a "little" thing that God does, no, it is a deluge of His work in our life and nothing can stand in the way of grace when it rains down.
Do you get it? I really want you to get it and explore and appreciate the tsunami of God's powerful grace. Paul labors to get this point across in Ephesians. He calls this grace "glorious" (Ephesians 1:6). In attempting to describe the power of God that has invaded broken lives he writes, "having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might" (Ephesians 1:18-19 ESV, emphasis mine). Paul is praying that we would get a clue about God's powerful, glorious, life-changing, tsunami-like grace.
Pause for a moment and think about this for your life personally. Don't run to the altar of decision, but to the altar of appreciation. Thank God as He reminds you of how this grace invaded and took over your life. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, can evade the effects of God's glorious grace!
Grace & Peace,
Scott
Endurance is a much-desired quality. For instance, we desire possessions to endure and we want relationships to last. And this is what God wants in our relationship with Him. I find that too many "believers" check out on God early. When people don't make it to the end in discipleship it leaves me wondering whether they ever had a genuine relationship with God to begin with. I am not the judge of their eternal state, but with all the teaching in the Bible on perseverance I just can't help but think that God's design is for His children to go all the way to the end without throwing in the towel. Let me explain how I arrive at this...
First, I see in the example of Jesus this quality of endurance. Jesus went all the way to the end. Paul wrote that Jesus was obedient...to death...on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Since this was the way of our Savior then this is the way of discipleship. True followers of Jesus will go all the way to the end no matter what obstacles come their way.
Second, we are encouraged by other followers of Jesus to endure. The writer of Hebrews wrote about a "cloud of witnesses" who made it to the end, and then he appeals to us to "run with endurance the race" (Hebrews 12:1). If they made it through hardship and rejection without throwing in the towel then I am encouraged and reason, "They made it, why not me?"
Finally, and quite frankly, it scares me spitless to think of the prospect of not enduring and forfeiting eternity because I loved my sin more than I loved God! Jesus uses the phrase "the one who conquers" (i.e., "overcomes" or "perseveres") to address each of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. This leads me to believe that those who are not overcomers forfeit what He promises and that prospect is pretty damning if you read their mail.
Be an overcomer. Don't quit following Jesus just because you think something better comes along. Nothing is worth giving up on being a genuine follower of Jesus Christ.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
Don't live with regrets, live doing now what the Lord has called you to do. I have been known as a procrastinator at times, but in my defense I only put off the things I really don't want to do. Is that considered procrastination or hopeful living? By "hopeful living" I mean that if I put something off long enough I am hoping that it will either take care of itself or so much time will elapse that it doesn't matter if I do it or not. For example, mowing the lawn. I like yard work, to a certain degree. But if I procrastinate cutting the grass eventually it won't matter because winter will be here and nobody notices my yard in the winter. Ok, its not "hopeful living," its procrastination. No matter which way you cut it (no pun intended) putting off what God has called you to do is not good practice.
Paul wrote, "making the best use of the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16 ESV).
The world we live in claws for every minute of our day; some of that clawing is for good activities, but some, as Paul warns, are for no good at all. We live in days that are filled with evil and this is the motivation we need to get done what God has called us to do.
Think through this new year keeping in mind that it is a new opportunity God is giving you to do His will. What is He calling you to do? Write that down and being doing it today. Look at your relationships, look at your vocation, look at your whole life and see them as gifts. These are gifts of which you are a steward. Now make the best use of your time and just do it. Don't put off to tomorrow what God is calling you to do today!
Grace & Peace,
Scott
"My world has been turned upside down!" That statement pack a lot of meaning. Something devastating and unexpected happened. Life doesn't make any sense. We are confused and frustrated. And I believe it is at this point we make decisions that will affect the entire course of our lives. This is a crucial point. I am afraid it is also a point at which we make mistakes and choose the wrong path, but it doesn't need to be this way. This is the message of Psalm 125. Let me recap from Sunday...
The last statement of David is what we are looking for when our world get turned upside down: "Peace be upon Israel." The Old Testament idea of "peace" (shalom) is not the absence of conflict, but a sense of well-being; it has the meaning of wholeness, or security. With this end result in mind let's see how we get there.
We are imperfect and our trust wavers like the stock market. We can be moved and we sometimes "turn aside." This is the point David makes at the beginning of verse 5.
Trust is key (v. 1). It is not the circumstance that should dictate our "peace", but in what we trust. If our trust is placed in something that is temporary (something we can lose) then our security will only last as long as that something, or somebody, is in place. Only God is eternal and only He can make us eternally secure. David shares the result of placing our trust in God...we "cannot be moved" (v. 1).
Read this psalm...live it and love it. May the Spirit of God teach us how we can be "fortressed" in God who cannot be moved! If He cannot be moved and our trust is in Him, then we cannot be moved.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
Currently I am preaching a series of messages that cover Psalms 120-134. Popular opinion believes these psalms are a collection of songs that were sung by the Israelites as they travelled to Jerusalem for worship at one of the three annual festivals. This trip presented the Jew with time to reflect on all that God was and did for them; it was a time to rehash the "good things" and rehearse for the great gathering of Jews in the holy city.
These 15 psalms present a view of life that really shouldn't be that foreign to a believer. Too often we fret and fume about life...we don't think God has given us any help along the way. I find believers who say they believe God's Word, but refuse to practice God's Word in every day living.
I find this study a challenge to my own walk with God. I also find these psalms comforting as I face the issues the Jews faced thousands of years ago. I would ask everyone reading this blog to read these 15 psalms everyday for a month. While doing this write down key truths presented in each psalm. And then live by these themes.
Ancora Imparo,
Scott
Sunday at lunch we were gathered around the table talking about everything from how our jobs were going to church to Haiti. The conversation when from the Haiti earthquake to one of our favorite subjects: Life in Alaska. Mom was recounting the great Alaska earthquake of '64 when my brother said something about the largest recorded tsunami in history. He checked his Blackberry and yes, he was right, it was in the 1950's, July 9, 1958 to be exact. It happened in Lituya Bay when an earthquake hit the Fairweather Fault along the Alaska Panhandle. It was reported that 40 million cubic yards of rock dropped 3,000 feet and landed in Gilbert Inlet. The result of the impact was the largest tsunami that created a wave 1720 feet high (47 feet taller than the Empire State Building). It stripped trees and vegetation off the nearby mountains at that height. Nothing could stop the devastation of this tsunami. I use this as a point of stressing the power of God's grace.
