Grace Church

Scripture
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. (Luke 17:1)

Observation
We live in an environment where we are constantly tempted and invited to sin. There is a multitude of things that are constantly inviting us to participate in ways we shouldn't. Here, Jesus says that the one who invites other to sin, through action or inaction will be held responsible for the sin that person commits. This is a sobering thought. I can be held accountable for both what I do and for what I cause others to do.

Application
This is why Paul warned Timothy to watch his life and his doctrine well. People are watching me. If I profess to be a follower of Christ, there is the expectation that my actions will represent his. Any time my actions or attitude invites a response in others that causes them to sin, that sin is held to my account. If people take my actions to be permission in an area God is telling them to be restrained, that too will be held to my account. That is why Paul cautions me to keep the "weaker brother" in mind when it comes to the expression of my liberties. My actions have a ripple effect in others that I may not see or be aware of. My relationships, words and actions must edify others.

Prayer
Lord, help me to exercise restraint at all times. I never want to be the one through whom sin comes. I want my life to reflect you and others to see you in me. I invite your conviction and correction whenever my actions are on the brink of causing another to sin. Please help me to guard my heart and my actions.

Scripture
The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (Genesis 39:23)

Observation
Time and time again God met Joseph in adversity and gave him favor when his enemies were trying to destroy him. When his brothers tried to kill him, he was sold into slavery. When he came to the house of his new master, he was put in charge of his entire household. When he was imprisoned after being falsely accused, he was put in  charge of the entire prison. The seasons of trial were not because God was not with him. Instead, God  met him in those moments and used his enemies accusations to position him to rule all of Egypt. God can give me success where ever I am because he is with me.

Application
I look for Jesus to keep me from challenge. Sometimes those challenges are on the path to greater things.  Joseph would never have come to Potiphar's house if his brothers had not turned on him. He would not have met the cupbearer in prison if he had not been falsely accused. He would not have had an opportunity to appear before Pharaoh and rule the nation if he had not first been a slave. We fixate too closely on stages in the journey while God has the destination in mind. Challenge need not be a sign of our failure or God's absence. Many times it is a stage of our development and a path of preparation we must walk to finally arrive at our ultimate destination. God knows what he is doing.

Prayer
Lord, thank you for the confidence that comes from knowing you always lead me. There are seasons of challenge and seasons of pain. There are seasons when I question your plan and I walk to depart from the path. There are, however, no seasons when you are not present and when you are not actively engaged on my behalf. I trust you to lead me where I need  to go. Whatever the circumstances may be saying, I trust in your leading and in your goodness.

Scripture
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. (Luke 10:39)

Observation
When Jesus came to the home of Mary and Martha, one sister decided to work while the other decided to listen. Mary, who worked, resented her sister's lack of effort as she sat at the feet of Jesus. When she asked Jesus to reprimand Martha, he told her that Martha had chosen well and would not be criticized for it. Jesus was more interested in investing in the relationship with Martha than with the work Mary was doing.

Application
We often feel that the more we accomplish "for Jesus" the more he is going to be pleased with us. If we work hard, he will see what we are doing and reward us accordingly. This story would belie that position. Jesus is much more aware, and appreciative of, the posture that Mary had taken. He desires relationship that can only be built as we share time together. There are moments when we need to work, but there are also those moments when we simply need to sit at his feet and listen. Working should come from relationship, not from a desire to be accepted. Grace says we are accepted as we are, not on the basis of what we do. I would do well to remember that.

Prayer
Lord, help me to remember how valuable those quiet moments are and to  not so clutter my life that I miss them. I am so grateful that you love me enough to want to spend time with me. I want to carve out moments in my day when I can just sit with you and learn from you. Help me to cultivate that discipline and that awareness.

Scripture
"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." (Luke 6:38)

Observation
This verse is part of Jesus' instruction to offer forgiveness and mercy to those who have wounded or offended us. Often taught as a verse on stewardship, it has merit there, but the intent was to explain to his hearers how we, ourselves, are to become recipients of God's mercy. In short, we get what we give. If we extend grace, we will live in grace. If we withhold mercy, mercy will be meeted out to us as sparingly as we are giving it out.

Application
If I want to live in God's grace, not having my sins held against me, I have a responsibility to extend that same grace to others. It is easy to believe I deserve grace when others deserve judgment. I want others to be held accountable for their actions while, at the same time, being excused or forgiven for mine. This is especially true when another's actions have a negative impact on me. I am quickly blinded to my own hypocritical inclinations and need the Holy Spirit to realign my heart and actions with his instruction.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, you know how easily I do this and how desperately I need your help to live this out the way you intend me to. Please correct me in those moments when my heart is beginning to slide in a direction that doesn't serve you or honor other people. Please forgive me for the anger that so easily crowds peace out of my heart when I am wronged. Help me to live like you live and love like you love. I want to be more like you.

 

Daily Reading: Genesis 12-14; Luke 5

Scripture
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)

Observation
God gave Abraham his marching orders before he ever told him where he was marching to. Because of this, Abraham's obedience was completely unconditional. He was submitted to the Lord and trusted him completely for a positive outcome. He had to trust God to leave something he valued behind in the hope that God would provide something better. God had spoken a general promise to Abraham along the lines of: "I have a plan for you and your descendants." Abraham did not require more information before moving forward. This is the hallmark of a life surrendered to Christ. Surrendering what you know and moving forward into what you neither know nor fully understand because you love Jesus and you understand that he loves you too.

Application
There is no room in God's family for conditional obedience. We aren't afforded the luxury of evaluating the moments we want to submit to God's direction and the moments we would rather do it our way. There is always going to be a need to trust and to surrender. I am responsible to move forward where God is leading because he is God, not because I  understand where the journey is going to end. This is often difficult. Sometimes it is more difficult to surrender my reason that it is my will. One seems to be inextricably tied to the other. I want to know, but God wants my heart. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for... It is being assured that God will, in fact, work all things together for my good. It is difficult, but a heart forged in this furnace will be a fruitful one and a life surrendered to this model will be a powerful one.

Prayer
Lord, help me to trust in you with all my heart and to not lean on my own understanding. I know that my understanding is limited and yet, I often want to satisfy it before I move forward. Please forgive me for this hypocritical disconnect. I do trust you and will follow wherever you lead. Holy Spirit, thank you for your role as a divine counselor. Please help me to trust in my ability to hear your voice. Thank you for leading me forward and your promise to provide.

Scripture
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed, (Luke 4:18)

Observation
When Jesus stood up in the synagog to announce his arrival and explain his ministry, he was very specific about the people he intended to minister to; the people he had come to reach. Rather than build his ministry by gathering the influential people in his community he cared for the broken and the disappointed - people who were disenfranchised and disappointed. (the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed) His mission was to meet them in that place and bring them out of it. He brought a message of hope to the hopeless, of strength to the week, of healing to the infirm and of freedom to those who were enslaved.

Application
I don't think that this is the group most of us  look to when we think about gathering a group of people to be a part of our community of faith. We live in a culture that celebrates success and demeans those who struggle. We want desperately to be associated with the popular and the successful elements of our society. It is engrained in us in elementary school and follows us throughout  our lives. Jesus presents a different model for us to follow. Give yourself to the broken. Offer your friendship to the friendless. Love the unlovely. Our faith walk is not meant to be a popularity contest but a life of service and surrender. The healthy among us are not meant to band together for their mutual edification, but to give their lives away to bring others to that same place of health and wholeness. This is the message of the cross, the tomb and the resurrection. Jesus identified with the broken among us. He didn't pity them. He didn't isolate himself from them. He identified with them, and it is my responsibility to do the same.

Prayer
Lord, help me to do this like you did. I am often a willing victim of the culture in which I live. I want to be identified with the successful and the influential. Help me to daily remember your mission and to make it my own. I want to have a heart like yours; one that is filled with compassion and genuinely concerned with the condition of others. I  will resist the temptation to surround myself with those who are healthy and will give myself to those who are ill.

Scripture
Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this  for certain?  For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." (Luke 1:18)

Observation
Zacharias was tending to the  altar of incense in the temple as the people prayed in the courtyard. The altar of incense represented the prayers of the people ascending to heaven. As they prayed for the healing of their nation and the arrival of the Messiah an angel came to Zachariah with the message that the time was at hand, and Zechariah failed to recognize the power of that moment. God was in the process of answering the prayers of his people but this priest was unable to discern what was happening because the arrival was not what he was expecting. He doubted the answer and required a sign.

Application
It is not uncommon for us to fail to recognize what God is doing in the moment. Often, our expectations and pre-conceived ideas of what is going to happen deafen us to God's voice and blind us to what he wants to do. If we're not careful we can miss the answer to our own prayers  because we are looking for the wrong thing. Prayers offered to God must be accompanied by a submitted spirit that will leave the outcome entirely up to him. We trust that he will answer us in the way that is best. He doesn't need our help in planning out the solution. I have to surrender my idea of the best possible outcome and trust that he knows far better than I do what needs to be done.

Prayer
Lord, help me not to miss what you are doing because I am consumed by what I want. Help me to surrender my idea of a preferred future for yours. I want to be able to celebrate what you have done and are doing rather than be frustrated because what I am waiting for has failed to appear. I trust you and your leading. I know that your plans for me are better than anything I could ever come up with. Lead me and I will follow.

Scripture
"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)

Observation
Jesus told his disciples to abide, or remain, or rest in him. He tells them that apart from him they can do nothing. A branch bears fruit out of the relationship it has with the body of the plant or tree. There is a deep interconnectedness that allows life-giving nutrients to flow out to the edge of the branch, allowing it to grow. When that connection is severed, the branch withers and dies. People who want to grow or be well fed cannot do so apart from an abiding connection to the life-giver.

Application
My job is to remain connected to the trunk, not to ask the trunk what I should be doing or where I should be going. The trunk provides sustenance and then I am able to grow and develop according to my design. To abide means simply, to remain. My primary responsibility is to  remain in relationship with Jesus. The moment I lose that focus a process of atrophy begins to take place within me as joy, faith, hope and love begin to wither. This is a good goal for me: to abide in Christ that he may bring life to me.

Prayer
Lord, thank you for desiring relationship with me to such an extent that you would command me to abide in you. I understand that you are the Life-giver and that all that I need can be found in you. Forgive me for the moments I go looking for fulfillment in other places. Thank you for your patience with me and your quick work of rejuvenation when I realize the error of my ways. I love you and am committed to you. Help me to be a source of peace and joy to my family, community and church this Christmas.

Daily Reading: 1 Timothy 1-4

Scripture
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost  of all. (1 Timothy 1:15)

Observation
Paul, a man we would consider an example of faithful service and righteous behavior, never lost sight of the fact that he was a sinner whom Christ died to save. Here we find a restatement of the purpose of Christ's coming and a reminder that we are all in need of his grace and mercy. We also see in Paul the radical transformation from persecutor to apostle that took place when Jesus came to him, and can have a confident faith that we will too be transformed if we never lose sight of our need.

Application
Paul never let the time that passed between his salvation and the writing of his letters cloud his memory. He never began to see himself as a good man whom Jesus loved, burt remembered that he was a sinful men whom Jesus saved. This is an important distinction as it highlights the grace and mercy that Jesus shows us rather than our changed behavior. We have a tendency to revise history over time and paint ourselves in a better condition than was actually the case. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's standard. I am as dependent on God's grace for my salvation today as I was then. I am a sinner -  no more deserving of forgiveness than anyone else.  But God in his mercy has seen fit to forgive me. I can't lose sight of that.

Prayer
Lord, I don't deserve your grace at work in my life. It is a gift you have given because you love me, not because I have earned it. Forgive me for the times I take it for granted or act as if  I deserve it. Don't ever let me lose sight of the fact that I am nothing without you.  Help me to walk in the humility Paul shows here and to extend grace to others as you have extended grace to me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for coming to me. Thank you for saving me.

Daily Reading: Philippians 1-4

Scripture
For I am  confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Observation
God finishes what he begins. If salvation and sanctification were processes that had their origin in me, then I would have to work to "complete" them. Since salvation is a gift from God, and something that I could never hope to attain on my own, the one who began the work in me has promised to see it through to completion. He will not only safeguard my soul, but he will continue to work to develop me into a man who lives as he did. He continues to shape my character and govern my responses so that people see his work in me, rather than my own sinful nature. "Until the day of Christ Jesus," means that this process will not be complete until the day I stand before his throne. He will continue to refine, encourage and correct as he shapes me into his image.

Application
I am a work in process. I will always be a work in process. The moment I think that I have arrived I will simply be showing how much work I have left to do. God is not upset that I am still a work in progress. He has promised to continue to work on and in me until the day he returns. I can't rest on who I have become, nor can I become angry with myself that I have not yet achieved some measure of perfection. To so is to live in ignorance of this Scripture.  He began the good work and he will continue to perfect it. My role is to be submitted to his direction and obedient to his correction. The final product is up to Jesus.

Prayer
Lord, thank you for accepting me as I am and for not being willing to leave me that way. I trust you to continue to work in me to shape and refine me. I want to reflect your love and grace to the community in which I live. That means that there are things in me that you need to break off.  Please do whatever work you deem necessary in me so that I can be more like you.