Monthly Archives: April 2017

My dog peed on the carpet!?!?

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My dog, Murray, peed (sp?) on the carpet today. Frustrating. This picture is when he is nice and cute.

Murray

He is still a puppy. But it is still is very frustrating when he relieves himself in the house. For the most part, he goes outside but we still can’t trust him 100%.

Sometimes (maybe more than we would like to think) are like Murray. We pee on the carpet. Figuratively speaking.

Jonah went west instead of east. He got swallowed by a whale.

David was home instead of out fighting. He couldn’t handle the temptation.

Saul (New Testament) killed followers of Christ. He was on a rampage.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3

You see, all of us have a ‘Murray-peed-on-the-carpet’ streak in us.

It is called sin. And sin will kill us.

But God is gracious.

The Word – Gracious

The Worth – As I have learned over the years, the word grace is complex and multi-layered in its meaning. I want to suggest to you that there are three types of grace when speaking of God and spiritual things.

  1. Saving Grace – This is the type of grace that is present for all of the human race. It is the barrier that keeps us from dying in our sin. Read 2 Peter 3:9 and you get the picture of God waiting for us to come back to Him. Surely, because of His holiness, he hates the sin and wants to eradicate it from creation. But, he also loves us so He is long-tempered (extremely patient) and is longing for us to return to Him. However, this saving grace will not be enough for the purification of our sin. It only buys us time.
  2. Sanctifying Grace – At some point, a person can make the choice to live for God. They surrender their life to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells about being a new creation. Ephesians 2:8-9 explain how grace is the saving agent, not our works. This grace will bring the change in our life that only God can work. At this point, construction begins on our heavenly dwelling.
  3. Strengthening Grace – Now that we have a new life, we need power to live that new life. This third type of grace empowers us to be the man or woman God has created us to be. But how can we live up to God’s standards? He sets the bar really high. Read 2 Corinthians 12. Paul was stating that he was weak. And really, all of us could argue that we are weak. We cannot always go forward. We stumble and trip. Sometimes daily. But in our weaknesses, His strength is made perfect. His grace is sufficient.

The Work – Can I challenge you this week with The Work?

Meditate on His grace. Think about how His grace has saved you. Dwell on the times when you felt God’s grace filling your heart and mind. You were invincible. Remember  the times when you messed up. You fell. You were weak. Did God’s grace abandon you? No. And it never will because…

God is gracious.

The “F” Word

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From my last post: “Stay tuned for the letter ‘F’. I am guessing that it will be a word that one usually does not ascribe to God. And, it just might be the best two minutes of your day!” For the whole post…The 5th letter is…

Words like Faithful, Forgiving, and Friendly generally come to mind when thinking about God. Is God all of these things? Certainly, he is also First, Fun, Fair, and Forever. But these are not the words I am writing about today.

Hopefully, you are on the edge of your seat, just waiting for the F word. Perhaps you have already guessed the word in your mind. Maybe you feel indifferent and don’t really care. Whatever you are feeling, I am done stalling.

anticipation

The Word – Finished

The Worth – God has already made provision for sin and provided salvation for any who will believe. This is all due to His great love for us.

The thing that I want to emphasize is the past tense of that statement. God already did the work. It is finished. In fact, Jesus said, “It is Finished!” while hanging on the cross! In an earlier post this year, I explained the concept of being finished or complete with a project or task. Click here to read it.

The following passages will give greater insight; Hebrews 1:1-3, Colossians 2:13-15, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 9:12. And these are only a sampling…

If you take the time to read these verses, you will find a common thread. They all speak of God doing something. As in, he already did it. In the past. Done. Over and complete. I only gave four references but there are many, many more.

Living for God comes down to this truth;

I cannot earn my salvation because of anything I do. I can, however, accept the gift of salvation because of what God has done. 

This is possible because He is finished.

The work of salvation has been completed.

Forgiveness precedes repentance.

The Work – So can I just coast through life knowing that my salvation is complete? If God is finished, what more can I do? Even though we are made complete in Him, we still this flesh with which to contend. It is a process.

Everyday, we can begin again in our journey to know the love of God.

Everyday, we can experience that same love that sent Jesus to the cross.

Everyday, we can go deeper in relationship with our Creator.

Everyday, despite our fears or feelings, our God can reveal His love again.

Everyday, we can know that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

God's love

Ask God to show you His love. See if that changes things. I bet it will.

The 5th letter is…

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March! I missed it! Wow, how did I not post the last month? Not sure exactly…

Regardless, I am moving forward in this series, Alphabet soup.

So far this year, I have posted 4 times (5 including this one). As you may have already noticed, I am following a pattern. There is a word for each post and I started with Absolute. Breathtaking, Committed, and Diligent followed.

All of these words describe God. Today the word will start with ‘E’.

letter e

The Word – Essential

The Worth – Sometimes people use words in the wrong context. I work at an Olive Garden. I hear the phrase, “I am starving” literally everyday! Sometimes from the customers and sometimes my co-workers but usually from both! Do these people know what starving means!?!? Starving does not mean that you are so hungry because you have not eaten since breakfast! These people are not starving so I wish they would just say that they are hungry!

Essential means ‘absolutely necessary.’ Water is absolutely necessary in order to live. It is essential. Food is also essential. These are things that needed in order to live.

God is essential. In John 15, Jesus spoke some words. In this sermon, he did not exaggerate. He did not speak out of context. The words he spoke were accurate. So much so that we need to take heed and listen. Here is verse 5 from that chapter;

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

john 15-5

Jesus said that without God, we can do nothing. Again, no embellishment in these words. The Son of God chose these words specifically and with a purpose. God is essential!

He wanted us to know that God is essential. We would not even be able to breathe unless God gave us the ability to do so. Death would happen. We just cannot do it on our own.

That is the penalty of sin. It is death. Physical and spiritual death.

But he gives more grace.

By the grace of God, he sustains us. He lets us live. He bestows grace so that we can come to Him and surrender our lives and follow Him.

The Work – Too many times, we try to live and succeed on our own power, talent, or perseverance. Stop it! I think that you and I need to try to abide (stay connected through consistent and constant relationship with Jesus). If and when there are mistakes, we can go to God for more grace. He loves us and the Bible tells us that His anger is only for a moment but his love is forever. see Psalm 103 

Stay tuned for the letter ‘F’. I am guessing that it will be a word that one usually does not ascribed to God. And, it just might be the best two minutes of your day!

2 minutes

Thank you and enjoy His grace today!