Thursday Devotional - Proved Correct

Last week we saw Paul’s words of advice ignored. He warned that if they sailed, it would be disastrous, but they decided to sail anyway. They quickly found out he was correct!

Acts 27:14-15, 18-26  ¹⁴ Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along… ¹⁸ We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³ Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. ²⁶ Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

Because Paul’s warning had proved correct, I would guess they were more likely to believe his promise and heed his encouragement from God!

God’s warnings and promises have proved correct time and time again. The more I’m reminded of this, the easier it is for me to heed His warnings, believe his promises and take His encouragement.

Like Paul, just because our Biblical and wise advice has been ignored in the past doesn’t mean we aren’t to prayerfully speak up in the future. Credibility often takes time.

Where might God be leading you and me to humbly speak up again with truths from God’s Word? Maybe it’s with an adult child, a fellow church leader, a friend or a relative. As our credibility builds, let’s pray for God’s words and timing to boldly speak truth for the benefit of others.     

Alice

Understanding The Process

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?  You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.  I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.  Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.  Galatians 4:9-12a

When I was a child in elementary school, I learned how to do algebra quickly.  In fact, I got so good at it that I would do it in my head.  That carried me all the way to freshman year in high school, where I started to struggle.  The thing was I could figure in my head the answer because it became second nature to me.  However, I was not able to understand why that was the correct answer.  I had to learn the process that went with it.  Thus, I was slower than my peers that year.  However, once I understood the process, I was doing college level math by my senior year.  This very much reminded me of my journey with God.  When I was saved, I became His child, but I did not jump from ‘saved’ to Heaven.  I needed to understand why He valued me and to serve Him out of love and not obligation.  We know Heaven is the final destination and ‘answer to our math question,’ but we still must go through the process of learning His purpose for our lives here in this world.

We must focus on process of growing through Christ.  Many accept the gift of grace failing to go further to understand who He is.  They carry on just knowing that He saved them, but focus on doing things as an obligation toward salvation.  In those cases, we fail in our relationship with Christ because we do not deepen it or to Paul’s point, “earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.”  Others focus on feeling emotionally connected with God without building enough substance Biblically.  They experience little change in their life, and thus, they eventually fall toward spiritual stagnation, which eventually diminishes the emotional connection altogether.  However, a true life changing spirit filled journey is not only action-oriented but also creates a transformative change of heart.  Paul was bringing this awareness to the Galatians.  He encouraged them to live a life free from the bondage of obligations and to replace it with one of love for God.  If we love God, we surrender ourselves to Him, but it is not surrendering to bondage.  Instead, it is freedom from the bondage of sin, guilt, disappointment, sorrow, and any other inhibitor of joy you can think of.  We become selfless driven to act on His behalf and love others as He loves us.

To know God is simply not enough.  We must be willing to invest our time and energy into growing that relationship.  Paul’s fear was clear in today’s verses.  We should not settle for a life continuing as is and just accepting grace, and we should not do what God says just because it is written.  Let us live free focusing on learning more about who God is and letting our love for Him drive us toward obedience.  What steps in your journey might you have ‘skipped’ past?  How will you continue to build on your foundation of Christ to forge a deeper relationship with Him?  My prayer is that we embrace our journey of faith looking to understand the process.  Amen.

Do I Make You Proud?

I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.  Romans 15:16-17

About a year ago, I sat down with my mom just to talk about life in general.  I feel incredibly blessed to have her as my mom, and am so thankful for all that she taught me.  I thanked both her and my Dad for loving me, and thanked God for giving me such wonderful parents.  Then, I asked her a question that probably caught her off guard.  My question was quite simply, “Do I make you proud?”  She happily smiled, and said yes understanding where my heart was in asking.  Like most children, I did not make life easy for my mom, and yes, I certainly took more than I gave her.  So the genesis of my question was that I understood both how challenging I was to raise and what she had sacrificed for me.  As such, the question meant did the man I had become measure up to the hope the hard work and sacrifice both her and my father made when God decided to make me their child. Many might say God blessed them with me, but again, I feel like I got the far better end of the deal.

God gave us so much in grace through Jesus Christ, and through this rebirth, our mission is to dedicate our lives in servitude toward Him.  When we were first forgiven of our sins by God, it was liberating.  Yet, we may lose perspective of the weight our forgiveness carried.  The sacrifice by Jesus Christ was immense, and none of us could ever hope to repay the debt.  This was where the Gentiles were when Paul gave them the Good News.  However in Paul’s mind, it was not just about forgiveness. It was about the hope he had in them having been transformed through Christ.  They would not only know who God was but also joyfully serve Him sharing the Good News to others.  This was the hope instilled in Paul when on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to Him.  Thus the gift of grace much like the love and sacrifices our parents offered to us are not to be repaid.  They are to be remembered and honored as we to give to others greater than we were once given.

Our lives are to be loving offerings of gratitude to God for all that He has given us.  Deuteronomy 12:28 says, “Be careful to obey all my commands, so that all will go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and pleasing to the Lord your God.” This is what we aspire to be as God’s children.  Do not take God’s gift of grace for granted.  Instead, make all that you do as ‘an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.’  Do you humbly accept what Jesus Christ’s sacrifice?  Is your life given in servitude for all God has given you?  My prayer is that our lives are reflective such that when we look up to Heaven, God will smile when we ask, “Do I make you proud?”  Amen.