Grateful Obedience

Posted on December 29, 2017 by heartcalm7

IMG_0953Paul rightly puts forth the reason we should feel compelled to live a godly life:  that God saved our lives, in this world and in the next.  This puts on us a pleasant moral obligation to live a life of grateful obedience to Him.

“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”                             Romans 6:11-13 NASB

Gratitude produces in us the impetus to say no to the voice within us to rebel against the God who made us and live according to the inclinations of our own hearts.

“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”            Romans 8:12-13 NASB

Godly, obedient living fulfills His dying purpose for us —

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”   Titus 2:12-14 NASB

Lord, overwhelm me with the joyful obligation that is the normal response to Your undeserved forgiveness and grace in my life.  Motivate me to eagerly live the redeemed life that You have purchased for me with Your own blood.

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Take courage! You are God’s spokesman.

Posted on December 27, 2017 by heartcalm7

” . . and pray on my behalf, that words may be given to me whenever I speak, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,  for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”  Ephesians 6:19-20

Paul was concerned enough about presenting the gospel effectively and clearly that he asked for prayer from his friends in Ephesus.  His desire was that he would be able to declare and make known the mystery of the gospel fearlessly.  He certainly had reason to fear.  He had been beaten many times by hostile crowds when they were offered the miracle of grace.  Sometimes nearly to the point of death.  Jesus said to his followers who would face future persecution that they should not worry about what they will say in response to accusations.  That the Holy Spirit would provide heaven-sent words appropriate for the occasion, when they were needed.

“But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.   For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”                    Matthew 10:19-20

This was also God’s reassurance to Moses, that He, even He, the Lord God Almighty, would be with his mouth and show him what to say.

“Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”                            Exodus 4:12

This was, in essence, my prayer, as I entered the nursing home yesterday.  I did not know how to graciously bring the gospel and my own faith story into our conversation, so I asked Him to show me “on the fly.”  And He did, in a way better than I could have imagined.

As Christ’s ambassador, trust God to speak appropriately through you, giving just the right message needed for the situation into which He sends you.  As you trust in Him for adequacy in your assignment, he will accomplish through you more than you could ever hope for in your own strength.

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Speaking truth and grace

Posted on December 21, 2017 by heartcalm7

 

A friend and I talked on our last visit about how important it is for us to be balanced in our relating to people, showing them both grace and truth, as Jesus did.  (John 1:14)  Applying God’s truth in our lives is crucial to our happiness and health.  We do people no favor to be silent about the universal need to conform our ways to His ways.  But this truth can hurt.  We must also pray for His grace to be ours in presenting the truth to people.  Jesus said:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart;  and you shall find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.     Matthew 11:28-30

 

My prayer is, Lord, let my speech be laced full of Your grace and gentleness, as I speak Your truth to people, in my role as a lay priest in Your kingdom.  Let them see that following You, as demanding as it can be, is joyful and pleasurable, not harsh and painful.

 

From Paul:

. . . in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.  Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.  Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.           Colossians 4:4-6

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Open Our Eyes, “Sunrise-from-on-high”!

Posted on December 19, 2017 by heartcalm7

 

Mary exults in the kindness of God (Luke 1:39-80),  as shown in the announcement of the imminent coming of both Messiah and His forerunner, “for He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave” 48 and that He “has exalted those who were humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things.” 52-53

Likewise, Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, praises God for sending his newborn son John to be the prophet of the Most High, to go before the Lord to prepare His ways;  to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. 76-79

Zacharias goes on to glory in the revelation that God will also send to them the Sunrise from on  high . . to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.  He alludes to Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah (Isaiah 9:2), The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;  those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.  This was also Paul’s given mission from Jesus, I am sending you to them to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.        (Acts 26:18)

O Lord, open my eyes, that I might see Your truth clearly.  Remake me in Your own image.  Live within me and use me to open the eyes of those around me who seek after You. 

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A holy partnership

Posted on December 14, 2017 by heartcalm7

 

Each year at this time, we put up home made Christmas tree ornaments that I made with my boys when they were little.  Like a little  balsa wood loaf of bread, symbolizing Jesus calling Himself The Bread of Life.  A small lighthouse, commemorating His teaching, I am the Light of the world.  And others, now precious to my memory.

As I now look at them, I am reminded of the unequal partnership with which they were made.  My sons worked hard, according to their ability, appropriate for their age, and I completed the job, fixing some unintentional mistakes and adding to the beauty of the finished product.
God does this to our well-intended but immature efforts to obey Him, to become holy, as He is holy.  (1 Peter 1:15-16)  As He commands us to be holy, He asks us to cleanse ourselves for His holy purposes:
 
If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.  Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.    2 Timothy 2:21-22
But this is a task that I perform ineptly.  I need His strong, skilled hands to make my efforts successful.  As the bride of Christ, perhaps this is how we work with Him toward the goals He has for us.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.   It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.     Revelation 19:8
 
Although she dresses for her marriage to the Lamb in clothes composed of the righteous acts she has lived out in her life, these clothes were given to her by Another.
I realize I can never please God in my own strength, never correct my own faults by self-improvement.  So I rest in Him, and He works His will through me.  He does perfectly what I have never been able to successfully do all my life.  He empowers me for holy living, but it is still I who have to execute it, as I rest in Him.
 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;  and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.   Galatians 2:20
Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?   Galatians 3:3
O God, I want to be all that You have intended me to be.  Take my feeble efforts, perfect them,  and make them acceptable in Your sight.
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Reciprocal Giving

Posted on December 6, 2017 by heartcalm7

At this gift-giving time of the year, I think about the real Gift that was given, the Gift about which the whole Christmas holiday revolves.  As I read Isaiah 53, I am reminded of the magnitude of God’s gift to us and how excruciatingly painful that gift was for Jesus to give.  It is overwhelming to me that He would knowingly offer Himself to His lowly, rebellious creatures (whom He lovingly made) to be tortured to death in their place.

The happy result of this Gift was our justification.  “. . being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”  Romans 3:24

This new, unexpected, unearned rightness before God that we receive is a staggering benefit.  It is hard to get our minds around how much this means to us.  To be given something freely that, all our lives, we’ve been unable to obtain, despite our many earnest efforts!  The epiphany of this realization is that it is more appropriate this season that we should give to God the most precious gift we can muster, in humble gratitude for what He has done for us.  To quote Gustav Holst in his last verse of In the Bleak Midwinter,

What can I give Him, poor as I am?                                                                                                 If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;                                                                                   If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;                                                                                  Yet what I can I give Him?    Give Him my heart.

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.            Romans 12:1

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What do you cling to?

Posted on November 26, 2017 by heartcalm7

Do I cling to a life preserver or to the broken pieces of my sinking boat?
Jonah, speaking from experience prayed, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”     Jonah 2:8  NIV   He prayed this from the belly of the great fish God sent to discipline and deliver him.

Standing in contrast with the flimsy, unreliable things of this world, God the Father is a Rock we can confidently cling to in the storms of life.

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.                                  Psalm 63:6-8      NASB

This desperate attitude of dependence and trust is likely what Jesus had in mind when He said,

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.   John 15:4-5

You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.         Deuteronomy 13:4       NASB

Thou dost keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.       Isaiah 26:3   RSV

Lord, help me to let go of the toys that I vainly trust in, turn to You, and cling desperately to You through the storms of life.  You are the Sun of my solar system, around which the concerns of my life fall into their intended order.

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My husband is everything to me!

Posted on November 19, 2017 by heartcalm7

Psalm 45 was taken by the Jewish understanding to be praise to the coming Messiah (as confirmed by Hebrews 1:8).  I like to apply vv. 11-12 to myself, therefore, as a believer,  Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear;  forget your people and your father’s house;  then the King will desire your beauty;  because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.

O, Lord, wean me of any adulation of worldly attractions;  cure me of my pitiful longing for the approval and respect of mere men;  remind me that I can never assure my security by my own efforts.  I can never succeed in establishing my own little kingdom, where I am my own sovereign.  Help me, Lord, to give up these misdirected insecurities and turn to and cling to You only, my Sovereign King.  As You wed me to Yourself,  I renounce all affections for my worldly, defiled past.

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Useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Posted on November 17, 2017 by heartcalm7

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.     Eph. 2:10

Ian Packer makes a good point in the classic Knowing God that the purpose for God’s saving grace is not only for our justification and reconciliation to Him, but to equip us for living the kind of life that God intended us to live, full of good works, useful to Him.  It is our gratitude that motivates us to live like this.

. . . our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.        Titus 2:14

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;  and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.      2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Therefore, if a man’s cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.     2 Timothy 2:21

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What I learn about trust from my dog.

Posted on November 15, 2017 by heartcalm7

Basil

As Basil rests against me while I scratch him, I think of Psalm 131.

“O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;  Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.  Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.  O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever.”    Psalm 131:1-3

This is a memorable word picture of a very suitable posture for us.  Lord, help me to rest in you, to hope in You, as a child leans against his mother, trusting in her fully.  Let me confidently leave to You the ordering of this world.  Let me be content to simply do Your bidding obediently and without hesitation, leaving the results to You.

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