Showing posts with label Glorious Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glorious Grace. Show all posts

Our Hope Is Anchored in God's Steadfast Love

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Wednesday, December 09, 2015 9:57 AM

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By the end of this week the turkey will be a history, the family gathered around telling funny stories from years passed will be a pleasant memory, Christmas music will be cranked up 24/7, the Christmas tree will be half decorated, and shopping will just have begun! Oh the joys this week signals. It is perhaps my favorite time of year because of all that it reminds me of: Jesus, family and hope.
The world we live in is pretty messed up, but it is not without its redeeming qualities. The world God created is a wonderful place to live, and everyday we look around we can find cause for rejoicing and even some hope. However, if all we ever do is look to the surrounding culture to give us hope then we would ultimately without hope. The hope that is offered “out there” is temporary at best and deceiving at worst. But if we allow this season of the year to remind us of the hope God offers then everything can change around us.
“O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption” (Psalm 130:7).
This instruction to Israel to place their hope in God is not a misplaced hope and is a promise that still holds true today. Turning to the Lord replaces hopelessness with hope because in the Lord we find steadfast love and redemption. The hope that comes from God is redemption and redemption radically changes everything.
So let the mistletoe, tinsel, music of the season, trips to the mall, the smell of cookies baking, and Christmas parties remind you of the hope God has given to us through Jesus Christ. Hope is what we all look for and hope is found in Jesus.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Do Past Failures Define You?

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Monday, November 16, 2015 10:43 AM

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Barb and I never wanted our kids’ past failures to define them. We wanted them to recognize their problems, confess their sin, change their direction or behavior, and wake up to a brand new tomorrow without something hanging over their heads. That’s why we didn’t do a lot of grounding or long-term punishment that went on for days, weeks or months. If my parents took the grounding approach to my sinful behavior then I would still be in my room not eating dessert – and they sold our house two years ago!
God is a perfect Father and knows exactly what we need to grow us spiritually. The Bible promises that He will discipline His unruly child.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:5-6).
Discipline is a sign of relationship. God will only discipline His own children with a trajectory toward conformity to the holy character of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. He has a prefect goal with His perfect discipline.
But what about when we suffer and didn’t do anything wrong? For example, what about Job? Even Job eventually realized that God’s “secret” workings were not arbitrary and capricious. In the middle of trying to figure out what in the world was going on in his life Job declared,
“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10).
That is pain with a purpose. God is in control of the good and the bad in our lives. It is our responsibility to submit to His good plan and rest assured that His moment-by-moment grace will be sufficient during our weakness. God doesn’t want our past failures to define us. He desires us to repentant of sin and move into a brand new tomorrow experiencing His mercy. He is a perfect Father and knows exactly how to get us to this point. So, what’s holding you back from obedience to the heavenly Father?
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Advent Conspiracy - Receive

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Monday, November 24, 2014 12:02 AM

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I want to talk about one more thing that will change Christmas. Can you think of somebody who is joy impaired? If we could fully embrace joy it would change our Christmas. Joy is a vital part of the Christmas story.
“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10)
How do you get joy? You just can’t tell people to be joyful; it’s like trying to push spaghetti up a hill. The issue is not that we need joy; the issue is how do we get joy.
The word “joy” comes from the Greek word that comes from another Greek word that means “to be really, really, really glad.” And this word comes from another word that means “gift.” You see, gladness and gift flow together. You can’t have one without the other. But in order to be glad for a gift we have to receive that gift.
“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’” (Luke 2:10-12)
That is good news for everyone, but you must be willing to receive this gift.
As I’ve gotten older little seems to surprise me, and that’s tragic. Nothing really holds the wonder and awe for me the way it should. Is that true of you?
The joy of Christmas is the wonder and awe of the gifts. Kids are amazing; they are in awe and wonder of everything. I am afraid that the more a child hangs out with adults the more they lose their wonder and awe.
Step back from Christmas and look at all the gifts in your life…
·      Look at your family…they are a gift!
·      Look at your life…it is a gift!
·      Look at your friends…they are a gift!
·      Look at your church…we are a gift to each other!
This Christmas let’s turn down our cynicism and embrace wonder and awe. Stand in awe and wonder at all the gifts around you. To experience joy you need to go back to awe and wonder.
I want you to receive like a kid. I want you to be really, really, really excited.
God chose to enter our story and rewrite it. He chose to become man and give us grace. If you don’t receive grace you can’t experience grace. Christmas is about receiving grace.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)
Grace is a gift we can’t earn, didn’t deserve, but we must receive it like a child with wonder and awe and shock. We can’t experience it unless we receive it. Grace is a gift we must receive in order to have joy.
This Christmas have a little awe…have a little wonder…have a little shock!
Grace & Peace,
Scott

God Changes Us from Glory to Glory

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Monday, October 13, 2014 4:54 PM

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As I write this I can look out my office window on this cold and misty day and see the handiwork of God as the leaves begin to turn orange, red and yellow. I’m thankful that God is both great and good. He is great because He is incomparable. I’ve always had a hard time staying inside the lines when I colored a picture as a little boy. I was impatient, wanted to move on to the next crayon, and just couldn’t concentrate on the details of the picture I was coloring. However, God in His majestic beauty colors each leaf on every tree varying shades of beautiful colors. This puts me in awe of who God is. He is beyond imagination in His creativity. He not only has the ability to turn leaves a different color each year, but He is also able to turn a cold and hard heart into a warm and soft one. He creates worshipers out of rebels; He takes what is ugly and makes it beautiful!
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isaiah 40:12 ESV)
God, that’s who!
God is good because He shares with us. We love because He loved us first. We give because He gave. We are merciful because He is merciful. And the list goes on. Because of God’s influence in our hearts through the life-transforming gospel, the world is a better place to live. The world isn’t better because we have intrinsic goodness; the world is better because God re-creates in us goodness. We mirror the image of God best as we are reformed after the likeness of Jesus.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29 ESV)
So, as you take a walk or trip to the mountains and see the beautiful tapestry of colors let it remind you of God’s grace that changes our hearts every day. Let it also remind us that we are to submit under the gracious hand of God who is changing us from glory to glory.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV)
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Jesus Drinks the Cup of God's Fury for Us

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Monday, September 29, 2014 11:53 AM

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Here’s what I didn’t get to Sunday. A little background first…
Habakkuk is basically having a very difficult conversation with God. It begins by Habakkuk complaining to God that His people were not doing right and wondering if God was going to do something about it:
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (Habakkuk 1:2)
God informs Habakkuk that indeed Judah will not get a free pass without His disciplining hand coming down on them:
“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.” (Habakkuk 1:6)
Habakkuk’s like, “Say what? Now wait a minute.” This bothers Habakkuk’s sensitivities of justice. Why would God use a more-wicked nation to discipline a less-wicked nation? That just doesn’t make sense. But God’s ways are inscrutable and He plans, knows, sees and understands events from the perspective of eternity, we don’t.
The centerpiece of Habakkuk is the principle of how people live: “the righteous live by his faith” while the wicked live by greed, covetousness, violence, perversion and idolatry. When righteous people go astray God disciplines, but what about the way of the wicked? Those who refuse to live by trusting in God will face God’s wrath:
“The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!” (Habakkuk 2:16)
But how and why do the righteous escape the cup of God’s wrath? Think about it, we were greedy and covetous and violent and perverse and idolatrous, we deserve God’s wrath, but through grace and the gospel forgiveness is possible and that changes everything.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
The cup of God’s wrath is a very common image in the Bible. It creates a mental image of God’s condemnation on sin and rebellion against His authority. God’s wrath must be poured out on the judgment and condemnation of sin, and this leaves the world in a particularly bad place. But there is good news – it’s call the gospel…
Jesus drinks the cup of God’s wrath for us. God poured out His wrath of judgment for sin on His own son at the cross (cf. Matthew 20:22; 26:42). Jesus knowingly and willingly drank this cup as our substitute. He stepped in to save the day; He drank it down to the very dregs so we wouldn’t have to even have a taste. That’s simply awesome.
But, for those who refuse Jesus the Bible is very clear:
“…If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angles and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10)
Grace & Peace,
Scott

God's Unending Supply of Daily Mercy!

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Wednesday, September 03, 2014 10:11 AM

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Sometimes waking up to another day is difficult. We have problems leftover from the day before (and maybe you don’t even like leftovers in the frig), and we know we will have to face them and deal with them. Add to that we don’t know what a new day is going to bring. What crisis will we have to face personally? What tragedy will we have to help someone we love get through? What unexpected phone call, email, or text will we get that puts another heaping of trouble on our already full plate? Yeah, sometimes we don’t think it’s worth the effort to even get out of bed.
However, I think that is a wrong way for us to be thinking about each new day that God gives us. God will certainly allow us to face each new day like the gloomy Eeyore character in Winnie the Pooh, but the Bible is pretty clear how we should look at each new day:
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:22-24)
Mornings are God’s reminders that we get a new start with a fresh set of invigorating God-sent mercies! I know that I need this reminder every now and then because I get into a habit of being pessimistic about a new day; those are days when I am cynical and looking for the next “bad” thing to happen. But just think what would happen if everyone reading this decided to wake up every morning thanking God for the mercies He guarantees for the day. Take this challenge: write out Lamentations 3:22-24, put it in a place where it will be the first thing you see and therefore think about each morning, do this for 40 days, and then start talking about how God changed your days by thinking of His never-ending supply of mercy for each day.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Being Thankful

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:50 AM

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Entitlements kill gratitude. We think, because we exist other people exist for us (they owe us something). Can you see the tangled knot that type of thinking creates? If everybody fell into this trap then who will be doing anything for anybody...the government? One of the tragic results of an entitlement mentality is a severe lack of thankfulness. I'm afraid that we've become a society of ingrates.

We must not take people for granted! Easily said (or typed) but hard to practice. Do we know how much we need one another? This is a two-edged sword for a Christ-follower because we do live to serve one another, but we don't live just to have others serve us.

Hundreds of kindnesses are shown to us everyday and if we don't stop and say a simple, "Thank you" I believe a little part of the pipeline of God's grace gets plugged. Let me try to explain...

The Bible teaches about two general categories of grace operating in the world: uncommon grace and common grace. Uncommon grace is the grace of salvation. It's God's amazing grace that does something to change a person's life forever. This type of grace is secured by God's love through the cross. The gospel is what rescues us from the clutches of Satan; it delivers us front he punishment that our sin deserves. Uncommon grace is uncommon in part because not everyone experiences this grace.

The other type of grace is common grace; it is what touches the entire world every day. This is why it rains on the sinner's crops as well as the saint's. This is why the sun rises every morning and sets every night on the whole world. This grace God shares with the entire world in thousands of ways every day.

Because believers have been dramatically changed by uncommon grace we become conduits of God's common grace. Everybody in the world can show kindness (and by and large they do), but I believe it is those who've been uncommonly grace-touched who have a greater responsibility to be more grace oriented than the rest. No Christian can make it rain, but we can express kindness to those around us. We have an obligation to let God's grace flow through us to others. We can pause and say "Thank you"; we can help a young mother with three preschoolers in tow load her groceries into her minivan; we can take one afternoon a week to visit a shut in.

This is just a reminder to us all to make sure we spill out God's grace to the world. Let's not use being tired or busy as an excuse to miss grace pouring opportunities.

Grace & Peace,
Scott

Getting Caught Up in the Story of Christmas!

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Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:17 AM

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I have a sneaking suspicion that we all love a happy ending. Most, if not all, the stories of Christmas have the ending we expect. Hallmark seems to have the corner on this market; they know how to spin a Christmas story in such a way to make us glad the lights are turned off so the rest of the family can't see the tears in our eyes...it touches us in all the right places. Hallmark has eight new Christmas movies for 2010:

  • The Night Before, The Night Before Christmas
  • The Town Christmas Forgot
  • Call Me Mrs. Miracle
  • November Christmas
  • Farewell, Mr. Kringle
  • An Old-Fashioned Christmas
  • The Santa Incident
  • Three Wise Women
The other night we watched November Christmas, and let me say you ought to watch it!

The story line of Christ's birth recorded in God's Word has all the elements to bring tears to our eyes. The problem is that we have become so familiar with it that it no longer touches us. It is the birth of the King of kings that leads to the tragedy of the cross that leads to the triumphant and glorious resurrection that eventually leads to His return to set things right in the world. Ultimately the true Christmas story has a happy ending for believers and we should celebrate this, especially this time of year.

To sincerely celebrate the birth of Jesus we must get caught up in the story; we must lose ourselves in the plot of God as He unfolds it through Scripture and in our lives. Take Jesus' birth personally because that is the way it is intended. Jesus came personally to put on display the glories of His Father. Part of this display is believers. We read in Ephesians 1:4-6,

In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.

The purpose of our adoption into God's family is to "the praise of his glorious grace." This is, at least in part, the happy ending for which we are looking. It is the ending that should bring tears to our eyes because the Hero (Jesus) has triumphed over what was killing us (sin and Satan). Here is the reason we can joyfully sing His praises this Christmas.

Grace & Peace,
Scott

Get Caught Up in the Story Line of the Bible

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Thursday, June 24, 2010 5:46 PM

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We need to get caught up in the story line of the Bible! Too often the programs and the parties of the church trump the truth. We become more concerned about the machinery than biblical history. Churches have a tendency to follow the next fad of popular Christianity that is driven by budgets, buildings and numbers. What has happened is that we measure the success of the church by a standard of programming instead of disciple making (cf. the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8).

The story line of the Bible is the theme we discover as we read the Scriptures. At times it is a tragic story of disobedience. This is the human element of doubt, distrust and denial. We find this when the characters of the Bible manipulated the plan of God for their own ends. Examples of this are Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden; Moses striking the rock instead of speaking to the rock because of anger; Daniel's adultery, attempted trickery, and eventual murder of Uriah; Judas' betrayal; the Pharisees' plot to kill Jesus; Thomas doubting the resurrection; etc. This part of the story line (failure) teaches us the frailty and need of humanity. The powerful lesson of failure is: We cannot do this without God's grace.

At other times the story line of the Bible is a beautiful story of obedience. It is about God's grace enabling men and women to accomplish great things. Examples of this are Abraham and Isaac; Joseph in Egypt; Ruth's faithfulness; the disciples following Jesus; Stephen being killed for his faith; and the stories go on. The powerful lesson of obedience is: God uses common people to accomplish His will.

All of this is ultimately for the purpose of the glory of God. God's plan is the He would receive all the honor for stepping into a seemingly impossible situation. This is the story line of the Bible...let's get caught up in it!

Grace & Peace,
Scott

The Tsunami of God's Grace

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Monday, January 25, 2010 11:09 AM

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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
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