Okay, so I've not been very far away for the last 4 days. I've been working in the yard, doing odd jobs around the house, reading from a stack of books that I've been waiting to get to, but now we are leaving. We are getting to the part of the vacation that we have been looking forward to. We are going camping!
Okay, maybe it's not the "real" vacation portion, but it is exciting to get away with family and friends. It may be a bit hot, but hey, what can you expect in Indiana. It could snow, blow up a thunderstorm, or feel like the tropics at any given moment. I've lived here my whole life so it's expected. Regardless the weather (which is supposed to be beautiful but hot), we are expecting to doing most of the same we have been without the work. Reading, relaxing, playing, vacating, re-creating.
We all must do that at times. I seldom do, but recognize its benefit. To be at recreation is to re-create the spirit. That's what Jesus did with his Disciples so often. Their re-creation happened on a mountain top, on walking journeys through foreign countries, to modern cities, to view the culture, experience the people, to understand the culture. Their re-creation was about prayer, but equally so about fellowship, meals, fun. I doubt they had frisbees in Jesus' time, but if they did I can just see them playing catch, breaking into a game of Ultimate and simply enjoying their time together. They re-created often.
So, I'm off to re-create, relax and enjoy the very presence of God.
Peace ><>
pc
ps: The devotionals at the 40 Days blog site are posted through Monday. This will be my last post until Tuesday morning (there is no internet service at the campground! Praise God!).
Friday, May 26, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Do It Yourself Devotional, Part II
Yes, you did so well the last time, here is another opportunity. The topic today is sin, temptation, and how to overcome it. Here is a passage from the book of Romans, chapter 5. Let's see how God is speaking through you today...
"Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
"All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. "(Romans 5:15-21, The Message).
For me, I'm grabbing this life-giving gift with both hands and not ever letting go, because I can't do it on my own.
Peace ><>
pc
"Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
"All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. "(Romans 5:15-21, The Message).
For me, I'm grabbing this life-giving gift with both hands and not ever letting go, because I can't do it on my own.
Peace ><>
pc
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Old Way has to Go!
"And I insist - and God backs me up on this - that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything - and I do mean everything - connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Gid rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way fo life - a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from teh inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you." (Ephesians 4:20-24, The Message)
While there is something God is doing in us, we have the choice to let it happen, or refuse to be changed. It won't happen in spite of us, but only with our help. We have to do the hard stuff too, like setting our personal wants and desires aside for the sake of Christ's in our lives, whatever that means.
God is wanting to do something in us and is waiting for our approval. That's right, our approval.
So we need to let God work, and do what's necessary to show it in our lives.
Peace ><>
pc
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything - and I do mean everything - connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Gid rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way fo life - a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from teh inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you." (Ephesians 4:20-24, The Message)
While there is something God is doing in us, we have the choice to let it happen, or refuse to be changed. It won't happen in spite of us, but only with our help. We have to do the hard stuff too, like setting our personal wants and desires aside for the sake of Christ's in our lives, whatever that means.
God is wanting to do something in us and is waiting for our approval. That's right, our approval.
So we need to let God work, and do what's necessary to show it in our lives.
Peace ><>
pc
Sunday, May 21, 2006
"Write Your Own Blog" Day
It's my first day of vacation and I don't have a lot of time. So today I'm asking all of you to help me in creating a post for today with your responses to this passage from Romans 8.
"God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:28-38 , The Message)
We were created to become like Christ and God has gifted us with all of the same tools Jesus had. We have the present God, the Holy Spirit, working on us because of God's love for us and because of our love for God. There's even one thing that we have the Jesus didn't...
...we have Jesus on our side, working on our behalf, whispering in our ear, touching our very soul with his, praying to the Father for us.
That makes us pretty special, huh? Well, what does that mean to you?
I can't wait to hear your responses.
Peace ><>
pc
"God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:28-38 , The Message)
We were created to become like Christ and God has gifted us with all of the same tools Jesus had. We have the present God, the Holy Spirit, working on us because of God's love for us and because of our love for God. There's even one thing that we have the Jesus didn't...
...we have Jesus on our side, working on our behalf, whispering in our ear, touching our very soul with his, praying to the Father for us.
That makes us pretty special, huh? Well, what does that mean to you?
I can't wait to hear your responses.
Peace ><>
pc
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