A gift

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This verse is so simple, yet so powerful.  It really breaks down to two simple things:

1)      If you sin, you are going to die.

2)      God has offered us a gift of eternal life.

We all know that every single one of us has sinned.  Therefore, we know that we will all die.  It’s that simple, we are guaranteed to die.

As we travel through the Lenten season, we draw closer to the gift that God has offered us.  Some will choose to accept it, while others will not.  This second part of the gift being offered, is not a guarantee of the future the same as the first gift.  This part, requires each of us to actually accept the gift.  To believe in the gift.  To want the gift. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you want the gift?  Do you believe in the gift?  Then by all means, accept the gift!  And just like a child when they get a new gift, be excited about it and share the gift with others!

Thursday Devotional - Certainty

Very few things are certain in this life. As much as I would like to assure James and Sarah that we will always be a family, I can’t guarantee that.

The other day James said he thought he was going to live with his former foster mom forever, but he is living with us. Then, he said he wondered when he was going to go live somewhere else, but he lives with us. He seemed to be verbally processing things and answering his own questions. At the end of his discussion, I told him we planned to be a family and stay together for the foreseeable future. I wanted to reassure him without promising anything I couldn’t guarantee. I CAN guarantee that God will take care of him!

As Jesus reassured His disciples right before His departure, He guaranteed certain promises. As we read last week, one was the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through Him the disciples could experience joy in all situations. Here, Jesus promised that no one can take that joy away!

John 16:20-22         ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

What trouble or uncertainty are you facing? Do you believe Jesus can turn your grief into joy? As Kent talked about yesterday, through the Holy Spirit we have access to everlasting joy that no one can take away! Are you and I living in that reality? God’s promises are the only things that are certain.

Alice

Joy Everlasting

I go east, but he is not there.
    I go west, but I cannot find him.
I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.
    I look to the south, but he is concealed.

“But he knows where I am going.
    And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.
For I have stayed on God’s paths;
    I have followed his ways and not turned aside.
I have not departed from his commands,
    but have treasured his words more than daily food.
But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind?
    Whatever he wants to do, he does.  Job 23:8-13

Finding joy.  Sometimes, I worry about my wife.  I will see her, and realize something is not quite right.  Maybe it is something that is bothering her from work, or perhaps there was something I said that has her distant from me.  It is those times where I am most distraught.  However as I give her a hug and we assure each other of our love, I remember what makes our relationship more special than anything else.  We have joy everlasting.  We have been through trials, and even in the midst of the darkest times, we somehow always make it back to that loving embrace that reassures us.  It keeps us moving forward, and makes an overwhelming statement that nothing that God has put together can separate us.

As Christians, we are given an unshakeable feeling of joy.  In reading the story of Job, I am struck with how huge his trials were.  To lose so much had to be overwhelming, and his friends were not always the most supportive in his time of need.  Yet he continued to honor God not because he was happy.  He did so because God was not to be questioned.  Job knew he had followed a righteous path in spite of such grief.  There is very little that is happy about Job’s story, but he had joy knowing that should he follow the path God had laid out for him, God would find him ‘pure as gold.’  He had unshakeable joy in spite of all that he was enduring, and in the end, God rewarded him abundantly.  In this story, we find that while we may not be as blameless as Job and our life may not be what we would have it to be, we have joy through Jesus Christ, who calls us blameless before God.  Like Job, we are to follow the path trusting God and not questioning His judgment.  Instead, we are to seek understanding for as a fellow devotee reminded me this week, we are to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 NLT)

Joy in knowing who God is and what He has done for us is where we should be in our journey of faith.  A relative reminded me of the words of Paul, where he says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 KJV)  Happiness can be fleeting, but joy is enduring.  If we love Jesus as He loves us, we are instilled with His Spirit and with it the strength to endure whatever trials we encounter.  Furthermore through Christ, we are made pure as gold.  So whether you are dealing with trials or in a time of peace, be assured that God is with you every step of the way.  How can you find joy in your times of uncertainty?  Who can you share the joy of God through Jesus Christ with today?  My prayer is that we remind ourselves that no matter what may be happening in our lives, we have joy everlasting.  Amen.

Tues Devo: The choice

Acts 9:19-22 “Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.” (NASB)

Hello,

Certainly the conversion story of Paul is fairly well known. As I was reading this weekend through parts of Acts, something struck me about the early days of Paul (Saul still) from his conversion to following Jesus. Immediately there were naysayers and people who wanted to stop him (if you keep reading, you encounter a plot to kill him). But instead of seeing the opposition and giving up – Paul chooses to double down and focused on his growth. He didn’t run and hide, or try to go to a place where he wasn’t known. He stuck with the truth of which he was convicted. He didn’t let the doubt and fear of others outweigh the strength of the truth.

I challenge all of us to keep burying ourselves in the truth of the Word of God- for that is where we will find the strength we need.

Will Hill