Devotional Christian » grace

Wholesome and Clean

Patricia Day — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:42:02 +0000

Ezekiel 37:23b – I will wash away their sin and make them clean, and I will protect them from everything that makes them unclean. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (CEV)

There is a major house renovation going on close to where we live. Actually, it has been in progress for weeks and weeks – new roof, insulation, siding, windows, doors, sunroom and storage addition – a complete overhaul! I don’t know, because I have not seen inside, but I have to assume that there is a great deal of updating, repair and cleaning being addressed inside the home too: and I assume this due to the time it is taking to complete the work.

I recall when my husband and I, were looking for a home in this park, that we viewed one particular unit that was in a beautiful location, the price was amazing (it would have left a great deal of ‘spare’ cash for renovations) but the condition inside was nothing short of ‘disgusting’: how anyone could have lived in the home in the condition it was in, was beyond our comprehension.

We had agreed that we were willing to move into a house of our choice and do work while living there, but the filth and the updates needed in that particular house, were way too bad for us to even consider moving in and living there in – there was far too much to do to make it habitable.

When some people are challenged to give their lives to God and invite Jesus into their hearts, they recognize the truth that they have sinned before God. As a result, they want to clean up their lives before they issue an invitation to Jesus. They don’t yet understand that God comes into our lives to clean us up, precisely because we can’t do it for ourselves.

Isaiah 64:6a – But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. (NKJV)

The good news is that God loves us just as we are. So when we become willing to accept God into our lives, thankfully, He does not shun our dirty lives like we rejected that dirty home. He welcomes us and cleanses us. He does not leave us as we are, with our disparaging thoughts, our criticism of others, our idolatry of all things material, and all our major and minor sinful ways. This process is called “sanctification”.

Isaiah 1:16 – Wash yourselves clean! I am disgusted with your filthy deeds. Stop doing wrong. (CEV)

Just as the house we viewed had much to clean up before being habitable, so God needs to clean up our lives, thoughts, and actions, so that we become a true reflection of His Son, Jesus, in our hearts, minds, and spirits.

James 4:8 – Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can’t make up your mind. (CEV)

Prayer: Abba, make us aware of all that is in our lives, our thoughts, and our deeds, that is unworthy of Your presence within us. Wash us clean, and renew our spirits and hearts so that we are wholesome, presentable, and welcoming to all who look at us and the ways that we live. We want to be acceptable to You and winsome to them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

http://pepeprays.wordpress.com

The Scent of Lavender and the Fragrance of Knowledge

Hariette Petersen — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:06:22 +0000

Lavender grows along my patio. Its fragrance wafts the air each time Oklahoma winds comb through its stately stems. The stems I gathered last year and placed in a clay pot to dry, release a sweet aroma when I walk by the simple arrangement, or brush against it when I dust. At the end of a frenzied day, I can break off a few dried buds and crush them between my fingers, then add them to my bath to create a calming scent for a relaxing soak in the tub. I love lavender. Each year, without a bit of coaxing from me, its perennial presence rushes out to greet Spring, then lingers all Summer long.

Christians are like that.

“… thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death,to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficientfor these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV

Did you get that? We are the aroma of Christ to God. Those of us being saved pour forth a fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus everywhere we go. We cannot help ourselves because He lives within us–just as the fragrance of my lavender lives encased within its stems and buds. Through believers, God always leads in triumphal procession. We spread His life when we drive to work, stop for coffee, go to the grocery, tend to our children, do the laundry, prepare dinner, say hello to the mailman, answer a telemarketer’s call, or… forgive an insult. We are always an aroma of Christ to God, no matter how dry or lifeless we may seem to some around us. He smells the freshness of life in the midst of a dying, rebellious world.

And He takes pleasure.

Do you see how important you are to God? Can you fathom the pleasure He receives each moment of the day as Christians all over the world represent His Son and honor His name? How sweet is the fragrance of life! In Him is our sufficiency, mercy and grace. In Him is our faith, our hope, our love. I pray you notice the fragrance of others this week as you pass them on your way. But more than that, I pray others notice the fragrance of Christ in you…and most especially me.

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2011

A Christian’s Best Advertisement

Hariette Petersen — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:18:54 +0000

I knew I was in trouble the moment I walked through the double set of glass doors. I followed several ladies into our church this past Sunday. The entrance is merely a small hallway leading to another longer hall with classrooms. Entrapped in the tiny hallway was a mixture of five women’s perfumes, and a couple of men’s colognes. With the first breath of fragrance, my throat tightened. I walked the twenty feet and ignored the greeter I usually stop and hug who gives me a bulletin each week. By the time I got to my classroom, I literally was choking. I couldn’t talk without constantly clearing my throat. Asthma and allergies. I didn’t have an inhaler. I drank coffee.

I wonder sometimes why people pour on so much perfume and cologne. Do they really think they smell that bad? Some people have a particular fragrance they wear and even in their absence, everyone knows they have been in the room. My department director told me that her husband’s law partner wears so much cologne that when he rides with her husband to lunch, she can smell his cologne on the seatbelt when she buckles up four hours later. Sometimes I think folks are walking advertisements for fragrance factories. Is this necessary? It makes me think of my life. What do I leave behind when I’ve left the room?

“For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are a scent of death leading to death, but to others, a scent of life leading to life.” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

I use to wear tee-shirts emboldened with all kinds of Christian messages and verses on them. I never went anywhere without my cross necklace. I had little fish-stickers on my car, and often carried Christian tracts to leave in the restaurant with my tip to the waitress. However, a few times I found myself being aggravated in line at the supermarket check-out while wearing the shirt advertising the peace of God. I recalled the fish sticker on my bumper when I failed to let another out in traffic, but went on my merry way. I had to keep my tract tucked inside my purse when I’d been rather impatient with a frazzled waitress who kept messing up my order.

I rarely leave a tract behind anymore…unless I’ve engaged the waitress or waiter in conversation about their lives, their needs, and shown compassion about their frazzled day, or inquired about the scowl which I felt revealed a headache or heartache. I’ve sometimes given my cross necklace away when someone compliments it. I no longer risk the fish on the back of my car. I’ve come to realize the best advertisement I have for Christ is who I reveal in my natural conversation and actions. If I impart no patience, no grace, no mercy, what will a tee-shirt explain? If I belittle or annoy another with rude behavior, or me-first aggression in buffet lines, then what will the message really say?

No. The fragrance of Christ is in the manifestation of His Spirit. Otherwise I become as a clanging cymbal, a noisy gong, a litany of worthless rhetoric.

LORD, help me be a better witness to Your love by being a living sacrifice of Your love. Make me aware of times my fragrance is but an odor. My words but empty tombs. My writing but whitewashed hypocrisy. Fill me today with your generous Spirit and keep me ever mindful of the fragrance You impart to me for others who do not know You. selahV

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2011

I OVERHEARD A MOTHER SAY…

Hariette Petersen — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:37:09 +0000

It’s not that I intentionally eavesdropped. The mother sat next to me on a bench in the mall playground. Her toddler was playing with a built-in wall puzzle. My granddaughters were climbing giant blocks, and jumping off the monstrous drum. I was resting from my long walk across the mall…and watching…the kids, the parents, the shoppers.

The “mother” encouraged her son as he walked atop the giant xylophone. “Red, blue, green, yellow…green, blue, red.” Each step he took, she called out the color. You get the picture. A few moments later she watched as he nudged his way between a wall-puzzle and a baby who could barely stand.

“No, no! Watch out for the baby!” she cautioned as she jumped up and went to the other side of the play area. She picked up her two-year-old, carried him back to her seat and softly said, “You must not push. Now you must sit a minute to remember not to push.” She hugged him close. Her gentle voice instructed. “Watch. See? Everyone is playing. They are sharing. You must share, too. If someone is playing with something you want, you do not push. If you are playing with something, and someone does not want to share with you, then you find something else to do.” Slowly she released her grip. “If you learn this lesson, you will avoid a lot of suffering in life.” He squirmed out of her lap. “…a lot of suffering,” she repeated as he scurried off to play again.

I wondered. Was she speaking from experience?

Do we avoid suffering by letting others have their way? by relinquishing that which we are interested in, playing with, or doing? Wise warning that we must not push…nor bully our way into another’s space. And we most definitely should share. But walk away when trouble comes our way? When another treats us less than we are taught to treat them? When they want what we have?

Perhaps that is a lot like turning the other cheek…

Or like going the second mile…or handing over our best cloak when someone asks for it. Or sacrificing ourselves for another–or for a better good–or simply to avoid suffering something far worse in life. I can hear the wisdom. Can you? If not, how’s this?

“Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:30-31

Thank you, LORD, for this little bit of wisdom and picture of grace You reaffirmed in my mind today. Help me, LORD, to let go and not hold back the kindness you show the unlovely and the wicked. Let me live my life, not to escape suffering, but to avoid causing suffering for others.

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2011

Confidence & A Little Swagger

Matthew Fry — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:00:32 +0000

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” -Hebrews 4:16

I played baseball in high school and our team was pretty good. My freshman year we had a group of seniors that were not only talented, but great leaders. One teammate in particular, Steve, took the time to invest in me. He helped me in the pre-season workouts and helping me to get into shape and he gave me advice during the season.

The best advice I remember getting from him was about having confidence at the plate. Steve was an All-State athlete who went on to play college baseball and when he went to the plate he displayed confidence. He taught me that when I stepped up to the plate that 95% of the at-bat was decided by who had more confidence. I watched him approach the plate during his final season and took notes. Every time he stepped into the batters box it was as if he knew before a pitch was even thrown that he was going to get a hit. A couple of years later I found myself batting over .400 for the season and that I had developed a swagger as I approached the plate. Every time I approached the plate I had confidence that I was going to get a hit or at least get on base.

Hebrews 4:16 calls us to have a swagger as we approach the throne. A swagger that we’re loved by the only person that matters. A swagger that we don’t doubt this love or ask for a sign that it is real. A swagger that others can see and desire to have. We approach this throne asking for grace and mercy and can believe that we will be shown it because God is consistent. We develop a swagger and confidence when consistency is modeled before us. Do you approach God with a swagger or a limp?

Parenting by Example

Dee Dee Wike — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:43:09 +0000

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:8-13, NIV)

“Do as I say, not as I do.” It is a saying as old as time, isn’t it? It many homes it is the mantra of modern-day parenting. We want our children, especially our teenagers, to grow up doing all the right things we have taught them instead of all the wrong things we did when we were their age. But all too often we set them up for failure by our own example. Then, when they miss the mark that we have set for them, we deal with them harshly forgetting that we were once wayward, too.

For the past couple of years I have struggled as the parent of a young man who is desperately trying to find his way and achieve the independence that will be rightfully his as an adult. At times God’s grace has been present in my parenting, but more often my own strong personality has overshadowed any glimmer of God’s love and mercy. I have dealt more harshly with my son than he deserved, or at least than I had a right to. My own sinful words and actions have caused hurt when grace was needed to heal and to help him through the troubling maze of adolescence.

We want our children to be a godly example for others by making honorable choices consistent with God’s Word, but how can they when we as parents do not model godly behavior or follow the example of our heavenly Father? God’s Word teaches us about the kind of grace we should extend to everyone, especially those closest to us. Yet we allow our children to bring out the worst in us instead of God’s grace in us.

We need only to look in God’s Word for examples of His grace and mercy. If we will extend the same kind of forgiveness and grace to our children that God extends to His own, then we might actually be effective parents who see their children grow up with a heart for God and His ways.

(For more information on raising children in an increasingly challenging culture, read Grace-Based Parenting and Why Christian Kids Rebel by Dr. Tim Kimmel)

$0 check and a no balance medical bill

Matthew Fry — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:23:10 +0000

“5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” – 1 Timothy 2:5-6

A few months back my wife and I went into a restaurant and sat down behind one of the pastors at the church we work for. My wife and I went on with our meal and when we finished our meal we waited for the waitress to bring us our bill, but when when she finally cleared our table she had stated that our bill had been taken care of by another customer. We then realized that the pastor had picked up our tab without us even knowing.

Just this evening when my wife and I got home from church I saw we had a bill in the mail from the hospital. My wife had to spend a few hours having her heart monitored and we hadn’t received a bill although it had been a couple of months. When I saw the bill sitting in our mailbox I instantly felt my heart rate speed up and I grew nervous. The thought ran through my head that we are a few days away from writing a large check to the IRS and that we couldn’t afford another large bill. I immediately tore it open so I could see what the damage was and this is what I saw….

These are just two instances where a debt we owed was covered. Whenever I experience grace at any level in my life, it makes me think about how amazing God’s grace for us truly is. His grace is amazing because we have done and can’t do anything to deserve it. It is a gift that is free for the taking. It is an unconditional gift.

So many times I get caught up, without even realizing it, in the idea that I am trying to earn God’s approval. I beat myself up mentally and then I am reminded that His love is deeper than I can imagine. That Romans 8:38-39 which reads, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” is more real than I can comprehend. That while I continually ask forgiveness for things in the past…God has long forgotten them.

Wherever you find yourself…know that the God we serve and the God that sent His Son to die for us offers a love that is unconditional. That even before we acknowledge Him as Lord that He offered us a prevenient grace that demonstrated how deep His love is for us. So accept this grace and know you are loved.

Nutmeggy Hearts

Brenda Wood — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:40:14 +0000

Acts 11:23- When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts (NIV).

Only God could think up a fruit-producing evergreen-type tree that produces a plum-shaped fruit that forms a type of candy, which harbours a lacy red aril, which covers an egg-shaped seed, which holds a valuable nut that spices up the world!

That valuable nut is known as nutmeg and its aril covering is mace. The broken bits of dried mace are blades. This funny little thing so reminds me of the grace of God.

You must admit that any one of us, making the poor choices that we do, occasionally should be labelled nutty. Our shell is hard to penetrate, especially when we don’t care to be better than we are. Yet all around us, gently cradling us, loving us and waiting for a positive response……..is our Mace, the grace of God, with the blades of his Word ready to speak at just the right moment.

Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (NIV).

Prayer-Lord, please pour a ton of Mace Grace onto our hard, ‘nutmeggy’ hearts. Amen

Brenda J Wood

http://heartfeltdevotionals.wordpress.com

If God Left Us Broken, There Would Be No Hope

Emily Riley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:56:32 +0000

Broken hearts, broken relationships, broken down cars… this world is full of brokenness. We throw away broken toys and computers. My iPod is currently giving me a sad face icon and telling me there’s a fatal hardware issue. I keep hoping one day it will simply fix itself and work again, but every time I try to turn it on, it’s still broken. Left in its current state, I’m confident that it will remain broken forever. I’m confident of this because my iPod is helpless to fix itself.

You and I are the same way. We are helpless to fix our brokenness. And often in our Christian life, God works in many ways that break us. He uses persecution, financial hardship, sickness, loneliness and many other trials to break us of our self-sufficiency, pride, arrogance, unbelief and selfishness. He brings trials into our lives to break us of our self-dependence and to conform us to the likeness of Jesus.

Thankfully, God does not leave us broken. He breaks us of these things to restore us and create us as a vessel He can use for His glory. He disciplines us as a loving Father, who longs to see us grow and change. And He promises that this process of discipline and breaking is for the end result of producing fruit.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:11-13)

God gives promises to the broken:

He promises not to reject their prayer. “The sacrifices of god are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, o God, you not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
He promises to save them. “The LORD is near to the broken hearted; and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18)
He promises joy and gladness as we repent of our sins and look to Him as our hope. “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” (Psalm 51:8)

Prayer: Father, thank you for your love. At times that love can seem harsh and unpleasant to me. But thank you for the promise that when you break me, it is always done from a heart of love and compassion. Thank you for the promise that you are working in me to conform me to your image. Keep me trusting confidently in your care and love, no matter what trial I may face.

[copyrighted, 2009, Emily Schankweiler]

I Once Was a Blasphemer

Emily Riley — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:11:12 +0000

Five years ago, I mocked those who called themselves Christians. I thought they were phonies, simply living their lives in a happy little bubble with no sense of realism. After all, I knew that life was hard… and the joy and peace they manifested was simply unexplainable in my mind.

The only sense of joy I found was in mocking them for their beliefs. I was verbal in these attacks, even telling the pastor of the church I was visiting (which is now the dearest place on the earth to me) that he was a fool for giving his life to serve others and tell them about Jesus. My only goal in even attending this church was to find their faults and prove them wrong. I did everything I could to make these people’s lives hard. I mocked them. I purposefully did hurtful things just to see their responses.

But God showed me something I wasn’t expecting. He showed me love through the very folks I was mocking and persecuting. As these folks showed me undeserved grace, I began to see a picture of what Christ was offering me… undeserved grace to me, the chief of sinners. My arrogant, self-seeking life was radically changed.

Five years ago, I was running towards hell as fast as my sin-ravaged feet could take me. But the love of Christ broke through my stone cold heart. God the judge chose to offer me grace and redemption, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit worked in drawing my heart through faith to accept that amazing gift of love.

I am constantly overwhelmed by the grace of God to me. His patience and mercy is astounding.

Paul talks about this same grace in his first letter to Timothy:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:12-17

I long for every day of my life to be one of bringing glory and honor to my Redeemer. His death provided the way that God the Father can judge me as a faithful servant.

This is the redeeming work of Christ. We who were once blasphemers and insolent opponents of the gospel are now welcomed in as friends, beloved children and heirs with Christ.

Let us join together and thank Jesus today for His sacrifice and the transforming power of the cross. To Him be honor and glory forever!