Romans 8 is one of the towering chapters in the Bible.  It stands as a mountain peak of rich and important biblical truth.  We could camp out on top of this peak for a long time to take in the long view of God and His work of grace in Christ to change and transform us for His glory.  But just before we get into Romans 8, there is a rich passage at the end of Romans 7.  Paul wrote, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:24-25).  As we read these two verses, most of us rather easily find ourselves identifying with Paul in several ways.
            First, we do see ourselves as “wretches.”  We see ourselves as hopelessly lost and sinful apart from Christ.  This word “wretched” that Paul used comes from the Greek word “talaipōros” which means miserable, afflicted and conflicted with sin.  It has been said that sin is the one doctrine in Christianity that is most empirically and observably verifiable.  All we have to do is look around us to see evidence of sin and to look closely at ourselves to see our sinfulness.  We are indeed wretches in need of rescue—you and me.  Some compare this word “wretched” to a wrecked ship that is no longer seaworthy or able to sail safely to transport cargo or passengers.  A ship that cannot sail has little, if any, usefulness. Likewise, we are broken, battered and beaten by sin.  We are “wretched” people.  Our sins have left us deplorable and disgraceful in God’s sight—worthy of being cast aside.
            Second, Paul asked the question “who will rescue us” from sin and the effects of sin?  Who will come to our aid?  Who can change our present state and bring us hope for the future?  Left alone in our sins, we are in an appalling state.  Romans 6:23 reminds us of our state, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  We are powerless to save ourselves.  Our arms are much too small to lift ourselves from the muck and mire of a life of sin and rebellion.  But simply asking the question that Paul asked means we recognize that we cannot stay where we are.  We cannot make our home in sin.  There has to be a better way and a better place for us.  We must be set free from this self-created captivity and self-imposed prison that we have created by our choices and actions.    
            Third, Paul gave thanks that Jesus, the sinless Son of God, came to deliver us.  He came to rescue us.  Like a lifeguard who bravely fights through the wind and waves to save a sinking swimmer, Jesus entered into a world filled with sin and sinners to live the life we could never live and to take the death we should deservedly take.  Apart from the saving power of Christ, we are “slaves to sin.”  We would like to obey God’s law perfectly but we all too often find ourselves living as slaves to sin instead.  Yet, Jesus came to change that.  He came to give us a new birth and a new life.  He came to change our lives today and our eternity in the time to come.  As Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).  We can be grateful that when sin left us “wretched” and wicked Christ came to set us free.  The gospel has the last and final word for us today. 
            Today’s verses, Romans 7:24-25, clearly remind us of the gospel of Jesus Christ—a gospel we are to cherish and remember forever.  It is this gospel that saves us, transforms us and sets us free.  We are not to lose sight of this good news or trade it for something lesser and watered down.  As Paul reminds us in Galatians 1:8-9, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one, we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Have a wonderful Monday!  Give thanks today for all that Christ has done for you!
 

             In the Bible, our faith is often compared to walking.  Indeed, we can easily find the word “walk” describing our relationship with Jesus.  Walking well can mean that we are growing as disciples of Jesus—reading Scripture, praying, serving well and putting aside the old things and the sinful things.  Isaiah 57:2 says, “Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”  The word “walk” in Isaiah suggests a faithful, consistent journey through life as a follower of Jesus.  To walk well would mean there is a lifestyle of integrity, honesty and humility as we walk before the Lord and seek to serve Him well in the circumstances that we encounter.  We walk uprightly because God is the author of life.  Doing life His way is the right way.  As our Creator, God knows best for how we are to walk and live.  Walking uprightly and with integrity does not save us from our sins—such a notion is little more than “works-righteousness” or the idea that there is something we can do to make ourselves holy before the Lord.  Rather, because the Lord has saved us by His cross, we seek to live uprightly as thankful people for all that the Lord Jesus has done for us. 
            Walking uprightly brings a great blessing to us.  According to Isaiah, we “enter into peace.”  We will experience peace as we walk in God’s ways.  Peace does not mean we will never face adversity, trials or temptation from the enemy.  But it does mean we can remain faithful in our walk and not be pulled aside by every shiny or noisy thing that we encounter. We are anchored in the Lord and secure in him.  Like Jesus’ story about the two builders in Matthew 7:24-27, our foundation is upon the rock and not the sand.  Our lives have a foundation that holds us in place.  That foundation is Jesus—known and nurtured through Scripture, prayer, worship and our surrender to Him.  Psalm 15:2-3, 5 says, “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others...whoever does these things will never be shaken.”  We experience God’s peace in our conduct, our words and in our relationships with others.  Our hearts can be at rest and not anxious or fretful.
            There is a second blessing that we experience when we walk uprightly.  We find rest as we enter death.  Living uprightly means we can approach death confidently in Christ. We have no unfinished business or outstanding debts.  We have lived our lives each day like we were dying and could find ourselves in the holy presence of the Lord at any moment.  There is a gentle and seamless transition from the earthly to the eternal, from this world to the next.  We leave no holy or righteous words unspoken or deeds undone.  We know we can die in peace when we have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ that shows us the power of the cross to save us from our sins and rebellion against God.  Death is not a curse that we fear but rather a road that takes us from this fallen world into the place that the Lord has prepared for us and all of His people—a place where peace and blamelessness are the norms. (see John 14:2-3).
            God has supplied us with many promises to help us walk uprightly and to live in peace.  All of His promises are answered affirmatively in Christ Jesus.  We can give thanks that this simple verse in Isaiah 57 grants us three blessings for today.  One, with His help, we can walk and live uprightly and blamelessly throughout the days we enjoy.  Two, we can live at peace with God.  Our sins have been cancelled and forgiven and we have been made right with Him by the cross.  And three, there is an everlasting rest and life that awaits those who belong to Christ.  The grave does not hold the last word or final claim upon us. Those who know and walk with Christ belong to Him and will one day be with Him.  Have a great Thursday!
 

           One important tenet of the Christian faith is this: God is our creator.  We believe that God made the heavens and the earth.  God made everything.  When it comes to seeing God as our Creator, we usually turn the Bible to Genesis and read the opening couple of chapters.  But the truth of God being our Creator is taught more broadly in Scripture than just being confined to the first two chapters of Genesis.  The law, prophets, wisdom books, gospel and letters all confirm the same reality—God is the maker of all things.  In Jeremiah 10, we can read about God’s creative power.  The prophet wrote, “But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding” (10:12).  Jeremiah used three key words, verbs, to indicate the actions that God took in creation.  He wrote that God “made,” “founded” and “stretched.” 
            The word “made” means to establish.  God has created all that we see, know and enjoy.  The earth is not here by accident or some random chance.  God willed and spoke the creation into existence.  He provided the foundations for the creation to rest upon. When God speaks, the power of His Word causes things to happen.  The word “founded” means that God made the earth take shape and form.  Literally, He made the creation to stand up and be seen.  You may remember that Jesus commanded a sick man at the Pool of Bethesda to get up or to stand up (see John 5).  We see the power of Jesus’ spoken Word.  The Son of God spoke and reality changed for one man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years.  He would stand—something that moments earlier would have been impossible for him to do.  The word “stretched” means to spread out or to extend.  It can mean to incline or extend out—much like you might lean out to pick up something just beyond your reach or stretch to reach something on a store shelf.  God has extended out the limits of the creation.  The whole universe—beyond our ability to measure or calculate—has expanded at God’s direction and command.  The boundaries of the universe are far beyond anything we could reach.
            How is God able to do these things?  How does God act in ways beyond the human ability to understand?  Jeremiah 10:6 gives us the answer.  The prophet wrote, “No one is like you, Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.”  God created simply because He willed to do so.  He acted because it was His prerogative to do so.  Our response is to marvel at His greatness and power.  Our response is to exalt His greatness. We do this on Sundays as we gather with other believers to worship the Lord and give Him His due honor and praise.  We exalt Him when we are overwhelmed by some beauty that we find in creation.  We exalt Him when we bow before Him to acknowledge that His ways and thoughts are far, far greater than ours.
            Maybe even more amazing than the material creation is God’s creation of human life.  Jeremiah wrote, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5).  God knew Jeremiah before He was formed and before He was born.  But knew you before you were formed and born too.  He knew the number of your days and the breaths that you would take.  He knew you would sin and need the saving cross and blood of His Son.  He knew you would need to be ransomed from sin and saved from His wrath.  God knew.  Yet, God still made you.  He created you and gave you the breath of life—the breath He gave to Adam.  If you are even tempted to diminish or devalue human life, remember soberly that God is the Author of human life.  Apart from Him, there is no life.  God is our maker.  Pride and sin often rob us from the joy and confidence that we find in knowing and remembering that God is our maker.  Remind yourself today that God made you.  You are not an accident, a cosmic mix-up or an afterthought.  You are made and loved by the same Lord who placed the stars in the sky. Have a great Monday!
 

             Jude is the next to last book of the Bible.  It is a single chapter long.  He identified himself in verse one as the brother of James—very likely meaning that he may also have been a brother of the Lord Jesus too.  He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this single-chapter book as a warning against false and immoral teachers and alarming heresies that were a danger and threat to the unity and witness of the early church.  Satan was working hard and working overtime to destroy the Church in its infancy.  Jude was so disturbed that he changed the tone and direction of his letter from what he had originally planned to write. Jude says, “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 3).
            Jude’s letter is an encouragement to us today.  Several important lessons stand out for us to see in verse 3 and really the entirety of the letter.  First, our salvation in and through Jesus alone is precious and priceless.  It is worth contending for.  The enemy would love to convince us that salvation is not necessary—just do the best you can and let your good deeds outweigh your bad.  The enemy often tries to convince us that there are multiple ways to reach heaven and enjoy salvation.  Anything or any pathway will take us to God if we are just sincere and work hard.  But the gospel says otherwise.  It is by grace we are saved through faith, not by works, so that no one can or should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). The gospel that saves us this—Jesus died, Jesus was buried and Jesus rose again according to the Scriptures.  We add nothing.  We bring nothing.  We work for nothing. Jesus plus nothing leads to salvation!  We always want to speak with clarity and conviction when we speak about salvation.
            Second, we stand for and contend for the gospel daily.  It is not a battle once fought and then forgotten.  It is not even an annual struggle.  It is a daily contention for what is right, good and true.  Satan, our ruthless enemy, fights against the hope and power of the gospel relentlessly.  We want to put on the full armor of God each day and walk boldly by faith with Him.  Pray for one person every day to hear and to respond to the gospel message.  Extend one invitation each week to someone to come to our church or to participate in some of the ministries we offer.  Contending for the gospel is not just an Easter and Christmas engagement.  It is daily!
            Third, contending for the gospel keeps us on track.  It gives us a mission to set before us and to fulfill each day.  Near the end of his letter, Jude wrote, “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24).  Christ keeps us from stumbling, flailing or floundering in life. He has set us free so we can serve Him and declare His greatness and glory to the ends of the earth and beyond.  Wake up to live for Him who died for you.  Faithfully declare His greatness by your life and witness.    
            Fourth, remember the gospel is good news!  It is the best news ever!  We are sinners but God loves us so much that He came to the earth to die for us and to win us back from the grave, sin and Satan forever.  When you get weighed down by the news of the world’s struggles, life’s battles or the normal aches and pains of the day, come back to the good news that changes everything.  God forgives and remakes us here and now and one day He’ll call us home to be with Him.  Take time today to memorize the way Jude ends his letter.  He began with a call to arms—to contend for the gospel and not to be led astray by false teachers or teachings.  But he ended in a crescendo of triumph, “to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 25).  Have a great Monday!  God is good and still mighty to save!  

          As you may know, the Bible has much to say about the way we speak.  With our mouths, we can bring glory to God or shame to ourselves.  James wrote in his letter, “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing” (James 3:5-10a).  We often have to return to this warning from James to check our speech and to see how we use the voices that God has given and entrusted to us. 
            Proverbs also has much to say about our speech.  Proverbs is the wisdom book of the Bible.  Reading faithfully through Proverbs is an immersive education in God’s ways and wisdom—an education that can help us navigate our way through life.  For example, Proverbs 14:3 says, “A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them.”  Take a moment to meditate on this simple verse.  Read it a few times silently to yourself.  A few important truths stand out for us to see.  First, Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, gives us a contrast between those who are fools and those who are wise.  A fool has little, if any regard to what he says of the fallout that might ensue.  A fool, generally speaking, is concerned with the moment at hand and saying whatever may be most convenient or expedient in the heat of the moment.  But the wise individual takes time to speak consistently and thoughtfully.  The wise man or woman seeks to bring glory to God and is not motivated by earthly esteem or favor.
            Second, we can lash out in speech or choose our words with wisdom and restraint.  A fool often lashes out with little regard for where the words will land and the damage they may cause to others or the testimony of Christ.  The wise person will speak with restraint and measured consideration—hoping to make situations better rather than worse.  In some cases, there may be no reason to speak at all—and doing so may do little to change hearts and minds.  Proverbs 17:28 reminds us, “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”  Occasionally, even a fool makes a wise choice.  But those who love the Lord realize that keeping silent may be a good course of action to follow in many circumstances. 
            Third, pride can often surface in our speech.  We may speak to make ourselves look better when compared to others.  We may speak to present ourselves in a deceptive way—enhancing our reputation in ways that we know are simply false.  A concocted story often takes much more time and many more words than simply speaking in truthfulness and humility.  President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was only 272 words long and took about two minutes to deliver.  Yet, it stands as one of American history’s greatest speeches. There is power in brevity.  And those who are wise, faithful and humble will see the importance of brevity in how they speak.  Consider today the power of your speech.  You may never speak to masses and great crowds but you can use your words to serve the Lord, to share the gospel, to make amends in a broken relationship and to bring a blessing to a family member or friend.  Have a great Monday!    
 

            Isaiah wrote, “Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death” (57:2).  This simple verse in Isaiah is a great encouragement to us today just as it was to people in Isaiah’s day around 700BC (over 2700 years ago).  It speaks to both life and death—two realities that we all have before us.  We are alive today but one day, unless the Lord comes for us first, we will die and enter into His presence as those before us have already done.  Isaiah encourages us to walk uprightly.  How do we understand this command? 
            To walk uprightly means to live honorably and obediently before the Lord.  The word “uprightly” means without pretense and in keeping with God’s commands. We are not one way when others are watching but something completely different when we are alone and think no one sees us.  Uprightness is a hunger to live and do things God’s ways as opposed to our ways.  The Bible faithfully and consistently connects “walking” with lifestyle choices. For example, “He who walks with integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9). “The one who lives blamelessly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:2).  The sure pathway in life is to walk in keeping with God’s commands and ways.
            “Uprightly” can also mean straightforward, equitable, correct and with integrity.  There is a line between what we believe about God and how we live.  We are not too quick to diminish sin and minimize it.  When we fail to walk uprightly, we want to seek God’s forgiveness and take steps to correct the behavior and not repeat it ever again. Living “uprightly” does not mean we can earn God’s favor or justify ourselves before Him.  But we do live “uprightly” out of gratitude for God’s grace and forgiveness.  Because we are justified and forgiven, we want to live uprightly.  A good measurement for living “uprightly” is your attendance in worship.  We will want to be in the presence of God with other believers.  We will want to bring our worship to Him.  We will have a thirst for His Word and to offer praise to Him.  Scattered, random worship attendance should be a cause for concern.  It is neither healthy nor good.  Dropping out of or away from regular, consistent worship is a sign of some serious spiritual illness in need of God’s healing and forgiveness. Sporadic worship attendance could signify a cancer in your faith.  Research shows that when younger generations see their parents, grandparents and older generations taking worship lightly and carelessly, the younger ones are much more likely to fall out and fall away from worship altogether.  Tragic!
            Those who walk “uprightly” find rest when they die.  Now, the upright man or woman does not enter into God’s presence because they have been good enough to do so.  We go to heaven in and through Jesus and Him alone.  Our faith and trust in Jesus and calling upon His Name for salvation is what guarantees us a place in heaven.  But living uprightly means we have placed our full faith in Christ alone and rest securely in Him—whether we live or die.  John and Betty Stam were Christian missionaries who were executed for their faith in Jesus in China on December 8, 1934.  It was said that at the moment of their deaths, their faces were frozen in expressions of utter peace and contentment.  They seamlessly transitioned from this world, a world of sin and shame, into the presence of Christ, a world of everlasting life and goodness. 
            News of their death and martyrdom for the gospel led over 900 hundred students at Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College to make commitments to go to the mission fields of the world in 1935—willingly accepting the same fate as John and Betty did, if that be God’s will.  When we walk uprightly, we are always ready to meet the Lord.  We are ready to draw our final breath from earth’s air supply and then take the next breath from heaven’s air.  Living “uprightly” means we leave no unfinished business left behind with the Lord or others.  We have resolved to live for and with Him alone.  We live for Christ and we are resolved that if we can better glorify Him in and through our death, we will gladly give our lives for the One who gave His for us.  Have a great Thursday!      

        In the Old Testament, Israel often suffered from a hardened heart—a heart of stone that was set against God and His ways.  Though we read about this spiritual malady in the Old Testament, it is not a condition that was unique only to Israel.  People can often harden their hearts against God today.  It still happens in 2026.  Hebrews 4:7 says, “Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts.”  That warning stands because we can still strike such a posture against God and the work He may seek to do in us.  The heart is often used in the Bible as a symbol of one’s spiritual condition or as indicative of where one stands with respect to God.  According to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”  Today, the heart can be receptive to God or dismissive toward Him.  Is your heart open to what God may wish to teach you or make known to you?  We can often find ourselves open to the blessings that God has for us but not necessarily the corrections, discipline and rebukes that God may bring to us.  God is a gracious and good Father and He often has to discipline us for our good and to correct wayward behavior.
         But God consistently works in our hearts for our good and for His glory.  God works to make us more like Jesus.  That work can be hard.  Often, God has to break us before He can remake and rebuild us.  Isaiah 40 is a passage that we often read around the time of Advent because it seems to speak about the coming of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus.  And indeed, John did his job well to prepare Israel for its Messiah.  John’s role was to call Israel to repentance and to trade their rough, hardened and calloused hearts for the new work of grace that God had in mind for them.  Isaiah says, “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain” (Isaiah 40:3-4).  
         These words from Isaiah show us that God works to tame the wilderness in our hearts and the wild fruit that is growing. He comes to make straight all the ways within us that are crooked and bent.  He comes to straighten out a character that has gone rogue and gone wrong.  He comes to raise up the low places that have harbored sin and rebellion.  He comes to lower or tear down the hills and mountains of pride and self-importance that we have allowed to grow within us.  He comes to humble the proud places that we have raised up in opposition to Him.  He comes to sand away the rough edges of our hearts, minds and character.  He comes to make smooth all the places scarred and marked by sin and rebellion.
         God can change the places we have neglected, overlooked and held on to in stubbornness and sin.  Occasionally, a person is the recipient of a heart transplant.  The old heart has failed because of disease and sickness so a new heart is implanted to sustain the person’s life.  God can perform a spiritual heart transplant and bring life to dead places, hope to hopeless places and a new life to replace an old life that has been crippled by sin and rebellion.  God’s works within us are always for our good.  Those works may not always be easy or what we wish to see.  But He works to make us less like our sinful selves and more like His good, righteous and beloved Son Jesus.  When God is at work to change you and to bring something new and good, do not harden your heart, close your eyes or deafen your ears.  Let Him do His good works—even the hard ones.  Remember the Lord’s great invitation in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”  Open the doors to your heart when God knocks.  Let God bring the change He has chosen for you.  Have a great Monday!

            Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament.  His message and content are certainly “major” but that adjective is applied more to the length of the book that carries his name (as opposed to shorter books like Amos, Obadiah and Nahum that are not nearly as long and, thus, called “minor” prophets).  Isaiah’s prophetic mission was to the nation of Judah—also known as the southern kingdom.  He wrote in Isaiah 30:21, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”  This verse is an encouragement to us in 2026.  The ancient prophet tells us today that God can and does guide His people.  God can and does lead His people. However, it can be easy to misrepresent God’s guidance.  Some people will insist that God has led them to do something as little more than a guise or ruse to do what they already want to do with the hope of getting away with it.  We need to be careful not to make God our justification or reason for doing something that He has not directed us to do.  Such a thing is really taking God’s name in vain as a pretext or defense for our actions.  So, how can we tell when God may be leading us?
            First, we begin with the Bible.  God is never going to lead us in ways that conflict with or contradict His Word.  We cannot call good what God has called bad.  We cannot call right what God has called wrong.  We want to check any guidance we think we may have from God with what God has said in His Word.  A clear conflict with Scripture is a certain indicator that God is neither leading nor guiding in the ways we may think.  We have to be careful not to isolate a single verse or promise that might be directed to a particular person or time and make it universally binding.  For example, we do not perform animal sacrifices for our sins today because Jesus was, and is, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  To perform an animal sacrifice today would be blasphemous.  Like the Bereans in Acts, search the Bible carefully and thoughtfully to see what God has actually said.  Make sure you look at verses in the broader context of God’s Word.
            Second, rely on the accountability and support of mature, spiritually healthy Christians.  Check out what you may think God is guiding you to do with other believers. They can help you pray and talk through a situation. For example, if you are part of a mission team and everyone is working hard to finish a project and you think God has led you to go shopping, you are likely wrong.  Your fellow Christians can help you see the mistake in such thinking and help you to get back on task with the work at hand.  If we think we are led by God to do things that are badly out of step with what He is leading, equipping and preparing others to do, then we need the help of Christian brothers and sisters to get us back on track.
            Third, consider whether good fruit of the Spirit will be produced by what God is leading you to do.  Is the Kingdom advanced in any way?  Will others be drawn closer to Christ by what you do?  Is what you are thinking self-serving or a service to others?  Often, we can help ourselves by listening carefully to what we are actually saying or thinking.  If we hear the pronouns “I” or “me” repeated in our words and thoughts, we may actually be more centered on doing something to make ourselves happy instead of serving the work of God in some way no matter how we may characterize it. 
            And finally, we have to ask if what we think God is leading us to do is in keeping with the mission and character of those around us.  For example, God is not going to turn a Baptist church into a charismatic congregation by sending one person to lead the transformation.  God is the God of order—not chaos.  1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”  If a faithful church, small group or Sunday School class is bearing fruit and being true to God’s Word, there is simply no reason to conclude that God is going to guide someone to throw them into chaos.  That notion flunks the common-sense test, the good theology test and the authority of the Bible test.  If a group of believers is working diligently in a ministry that is bearing fruit and changing lives, God is not going to stop that so one person can lead the group astray to something completely different under the pretext of “God is leading me.” 
            God gives us some wonderful direction to keep us on point and on track so that we clearly have His guidance.  That direction is found in 1 John 4:1 which says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  God plainly says there is a lot of falsehood, deception, error and human-centered thinking and behavior in the world.  He does not want us to fall prey to and party to such things.  Scripture and good Christian brothers and sisters can help us avoid the dangerous pitfalls of making God a signatory to or participant in what we have already decided to do.  God has created us with free will and freedom to follow or reject Him.  But we are not free to do as we wish and conclude that God has sanctioned it, approved it and led us to do it.  That is a sin!  Test the spirits and use the good help God has given to His people!  Have a great Thursday!
 

          The Bible is ultimately about the gospel.  And the gospel can be found plainly throughout the Bible.  The gospel, or good news, is not confined to the New Testament or Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The seeds of the gospel can be found in the law, prophets, history and writings of the Old Testament.  The gospel tells us that God made us in His image and loves us beyond our comprehension or ability to describe.  His love is consistent, constant and unfailing.  We, however, have sinned against Him—denied, defied and disobeyed Him.  Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  Because of our sins, we have fallen far short of His glory.  Our sins carry the stiff price of death—we deserve death and judgment for how we have lived.  I certainly do and so do you and everyone who has ever lived or will live.  But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  He carried our sins to the cross and died for them.  He, in fact, became sin in our place.  His death was the perfect full payment and the final sacrifice for our sins.  In addition, the perfect life that Jesus lived is credited to us by our faith and trust in Him and surrender to Him and Him alone for our forgiveness and salvation.  We are given a new life by His death and resurrection.
            I Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus died, was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.  What Scriptures?  Well, the New Testament did not fully exist at the time that Paul wrote I Corinthians so the Scriptures that he referenced meant the Old Testament. The plan for the cross was clear to see in the Old Testament.  Jesus’ death and resurrection were in keeping with Scripture and the fulfillment of Scripture.  Revelation 13:8 tells us that the Lamb, Jesus, was slain before the foundations of the world.  The Bible is telling us that God’s plan to redeem us through the death of His Son was formed and fixed before the earth was created. God knew we would fall into sin and He made a way to rescue us from that fall and failure.
            Psalm 49:8 shows us the gospel, “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.”  The atonement for sin is made by blood—the perfect and sinless blood of Jesus.  The animal sacrifices of Israel’s ancient days were but a prelude and foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was coming at the cross of Jesus.  God does not overlook our sins or minimize them.  He demands justice for sins—all the sins of the world.  But He exacts that justice through the death of His Son who became our substitute at the cross.  We dare not lose sight of the cross.  Should we ever overlook or minimize the cross, then our preaching has no power.  Paul wrote, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). 
            As Psalm 49:8 acknowledges, we have no capacity to buy back our lives or to ransom our lives from sin’s snare and penalty.  “No payment is ever enough” that we might dream up or attempt to make.  We cannot live righteously enough to offset or balance out our sins.  We cannot offer any sort of payment to God to win His favor or approval.  He needs nothing we could offer as a bribe or settlement.  The Bible says that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Psalm 24:1).  So, we rest confidently and completely in the finished work of Christ at the cross—trusting fully in the sufficiency of His death and resurrection to accomplish our redemption and forgiveness.  We add nothing to the cross and take nothing from it.  The cross alone is the perfect payment and the required ransom.  As Paul so passionately wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  Have a great Monday!    
 

Psalm 37 is noted as a “Psalm of David.”  King David, formerly a shepherd and a musician for his predecessor King Saul, wrote many of the 150 Psalms we have in the Bible.  His words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, show us some good and practical ways to live for the Lord each day.  Take for example Psalm 37:2 which says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Two key words we see are “trust” and “take.”  These words serve as a roadmap for how we can live each day.  First, we learn to trust in the Lord.  To trust in the Lord means to live not by sight but by faith.  We live not based on what we think about something or wish we could do.  Rather, we trust ourselves to God and what He has chosen for us.  To trust God means we entrust everything to Him—things we understand and do not understand, the losses and the gains of life.  To trust God means we also have the joy of casting all of our cares upon Him.  It can be easy to say we trust God but often difficult to live that way and to demonstrate it. 
            One way to increase your trust in God is to commit something to Him today and let go of it.  Just say, “Lord, I give this to you.  I trust you.”  You may not immediately see His response but He will keep the trust you place in Him.  Remember the words of the Bible about trusting God, “because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).  God is able to keep every trust we place in Him.  Take a moment each day to commit something to Him—a battle, a victory, a defeat, a worry or a confusing situation where you lack answers.  We grow in our trust of God by trusting things to Him and then letting go.  Just as an athlete gets better by practicing his or her sport, we trust God better by starting to trust Him. Insisting on having our way is, frankly, a sin.  It is an insistence and even a demand that we know better.  But our ways and thoughts are NOT His ways and thoughts.
            Second, in Psalm 37, we learn to “take delight in the Lord.”  To take delight means we enjoy Him.  God is the fountain of all joy and peace.  The world will not give us joy and peace.  These gifts are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  He produces these gifts within us. We will never find lasting peace and joy in external things or the things we do.  The world cannot give to us what it does not know.  Deep-seated delight in the Lord comes from a dynamic growing relationship with Him fueled by reading His Word, prayer, worship with other believers and participating in a small group of believers like a Sunday School class or a discipleship group where everyone is seeking the Lord together.  Isolation can often rob us of the ability to take our delight in and from the Lord.  We begin to see and think only of ourselves.  That is unhealthy.
            Psalm 37:2 promises that when we take delight in the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart.  Do not read that to mean God will give you anything you want or allow you to do anything you wish.  Such a conclusion is a misreading and a misinterpretation of Scripture.  God does not serve us.  He does not grant a few wishes here and there.  He does not endorse every whim or wish we may entertain.  The idea is our desires are transformed and changed.  We begin to desire what God desires.  We turn from selfishness and disobedience and begin to desire what God wishes to bring into our lives.  We repent from the old ways of living and embrace the new that God has for us.  We have a godly sorrow over our sinfulness, stubbornness and selfishness and begin to delight in what God ordains and brings into our lives. 
            Trusting God and taking delight in Him are like having a new windshield in life.  We can clearly see where we are and where we are going.  Just like an old windshield can have dents, cracks, dirt and wear and tear, we can gather a lot of things that keep us from seeing as clearly and as well as we should.  Learning to trust God and taking delight in Him change our outlook and vision.  We learn not to insist upon our way but to enjoy and embrace the greater way that He has for us.  Grow your delight in the Lord today.  Take a step toward reading His Word more faithfully, praying more earnestly, gathering with brothers and sisters who can help you grow in Christ and hold you accountable for what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  Life is not about you or me.  It is not about getting attention, validation or approval from others by any means we can imagine.  Today, we can easily make our life about gathering online clicks and likes.  If we live for these things, we may discover we are not trusting God and taking delight in Him.  Have a great Thursday!      
 

           The greatness of God is well beyond the human ability to declare, describe or define. He is surpassingly great—infinitely great.  Now words would ever be adequate to describe Him. Indeed, Paul said that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  His power exceeds our highest imaginations. The opening four words of the Bible attest to the greatness of God: “in the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1).  The prophet Isaiah spoke of God’s greatness in a memorable and clever way. He wrote, “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear (Isaiah 59:1).  Isaiah emphasized the power of God’s strength and the depth of His comprehension.  Simply put, God can do all things and understand all things.  He has never learned anything.  Nothing ever scared or surprised God.  Nothing has ever occurred to God.
            His arm “is not too short to save.”  God can redeem those who are lost in sin.  God can rescue those who are drowning in temptation and testing.  God can save people from prisons of their own making.  God can course correct people who have gone off-road into pride and conceit.  We remember that the Lord Jesus calmed storms, healed the sick and gave sight to those who were blind.  His arm was not too short.  God’s power and sovereignty are not limited by anything.  Our expectations of God can often be too small and too inconsequential.  We fight the temptation to reduce God to something closer to what we can understand and maybe even control.  A number of years ago, J.B. Phillips wrote a book by the title Your God Is Too Small. Often today, our vision of God is too frail, too meager and too paltry.  But Scripture corrects those fallacies by pointing us to the Lord God who created everything there is—even placing stars, galaxies and constellations in the sky.  God’s arm is not too short to do anything.  He is able to accomplish anything that He chooses to do.
            God’s ear is not “too dull to hear.”  He hears His people.  He receives our heartfelt praise.  In Genesis, God heard the cries of a struggling mother named Hagar.  He heard the cries of a childless Hannah.  He heard the request of King Solomon who asked for wisdom to lead God’s people.  Jesus heard the cries of a blind man named Bartimaeus above the sounds of a crowd trying to silence him.  He felt the touch of a woman suffering from a bleeding problem.  He hears.  He knows.  Jesus told us in Matthew 6 not to worry—and in moments of worry or anxiousness to consider the birds of the air and the way the Father provides for them.  How much more does He hear and provide for us today! 
            Yet, Isaiah shows us what separates us from the God whose arm is not too short and whose ear is not too dull.  In the next verse, Isaiah 59:2, the prophet wrote, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”  Sin does separate us from Him.  Our defiance and disobedience do divide us from Him.  Isaiah 59:10 shows us the power of sin over us, “Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.”  Our greatest need for the arm of God and the ear of God is for our forgiveness from sin and our salvation to a new life in and with Christ.  We can often grow indifferent toward sin—even calloused and blinded to it.  We can find ourselves excusing it, minimizing it or even trying to explain it away in a convincing fashion.  
            But God calls us to come to Him in humility, contrition and sorrow—recognizing what we have done and how He alone can set us free from this scourge and stain.  There is freedom to be found in dealing honestly and confessionally with God.  Sin cost Jesus His life.  It hangs over us like a cloud that we cannot possibly move.  No need to make light of sin or look for others to blame.  Isaiah offers some hope for those stumbling under the burden of sin, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations” (Isaih 65:2).  God first held out His hands to a wayward Israel.  And now God holds out His hands to wayward men and women in 2026—hands that are not too short to save and ears that are not too dull to hear.  Have a good Monday!    
 

           Psalm 150 is the last chapter of the Bible’s longest book—the book of Psalms.  Fittingly, this last chapter ends with an invitation to “praise the LORD.”  Both the first and last verse of this Psalm bid us to “praise the LORD.”  Thirteen times total, Psalm 150 commands us to praise the LORD.  For the Lord God is great and worthy of praise.  We can praise Him verbally—but more importantly we can praise Him by how we live.  Psalm 150 says, “Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens” (150:1b).  The word “sanctuary” can refer to God’s dwelling place.  We can think of God sitting on the throne of the universe.  We can think of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside all believers.  Ancient Israel would have recognized God’s sanctuary as being, first, in the tabernacle and, second, in the temple in Jerusalem.  The tabernacle and temple symbolized God’s presence with His people—a reality later most fully realized in the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Today, God dwells not in buildings made by human hands but in hearts and lives redeemed, reshaped and remade by the blood of Christ. 
            Psalm 150:2-6 teach us a variety of reasons, ways and methods whereby God can be praised by His people. We praise God for who He is.  God is incomparable and beyond our full comprehension.  God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in creation, His Word and most fully in Jesus His Son.  God has a heart for rescuing and redeeming the lost.  We praise Him for His grace that rescues and redeems us from the penalty of sin and the eternal consequences for our sins.  When we are rescued from sin by the Father in Christ, He then brings us under His marvelous, gracious and everlasting reign.  His “power” and “surpassing greatness” rescue us.  We are not capable of saving ourselves.  But, with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). 
            Psalm 150 notes a series of instruments with which we can praise the Lord.  This diversity of instruments helps us to understand the many ways and reasons we can praise the Lord.  We will never fully exhaust the list of ways and reasons we can praise God.  He is infinite and eternal—we will run out of life before we run out of occasions for praising our Maker and Redeemer.  We cannot keep silent about praising God.  Jesus said that if God’s people are silent then the creation itself will respond with unceasing praise. The Lord said, “When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!  I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’” (Luke 19:37-40). 
            Take time today (and every day) to build moments of praise into your walk with the Lord.  Taking time to praise Him will lead to increased moments of thankfulness for His blessings and gifts.  Psalm 150:6 commands, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).  God’s people, the Church, are the visible and audible expressions of God’s rescuing, redeeming, restoring and revitalizing power.  We are the people whom He is shaping for His glory and to live with Him eternally.  Take one step today to praise God. Make a single commitment to praise God daily and see how your life begins to deepen and be reshaped By His power.  When we praise God daily, we will likely see where we need to take a step of obedience to Him under the Lordship of Jesus.  Where can you begin to live obediently today?  When we belong to God and His family, the Church, we live obediently and put aside our desires and wishes in favor of His plans.  How can you begin to honor Christ as King in your life—an area that has previously been reigned over by sin and selfish desires?  Praise God with raised voices but praise Him also with a surrendered life!  Have a great Thursday!    

         Our church memory verse for June has been Psalm 119:73 which says, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.” This verse comes from the longest chapter in the Bible—176 verses in total.  Every one of these verses, with the exception of two, says something about the importance, value and truth of God’s Word.  Before we leave June, it might be helpful to take a closer look at this verse and what it says to us.  There are some rich truths worth mining in this verse.  First, we recognize that we are made by God.  “Your hands have made me.”  We did not make ourselves.  We did not stumble into existence by accident or random chance.  We were made—in God’s image and by His gracious and creative hands.  We can remind ourselves of another verse about our creation by a loving and gracious God.  That verse says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).  We speak about God “making” us not in a prideful way but to call attention to the One whose fingerprints are all over us.  He made us and loves us and calls us to know Him and to rejoice in Him.
            Second, we learn that God creates with design, purpose and precision.  He “made” us and “formed” us.  That word form means that God acted with intelligence, purpose and imagination.  He made us unique—not all eight billion people on the planet are exactly the same and programmed as robots.  Like a master artisan or craftsman, God wove us together and made us in His image.  As the creation story testifies, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  We bear the image of God.  That image is scarred and marked by sin in all of us—you, me and everyone.  Yet, in Christ, that marred and badly fallen image is redeemed and remade in His image as we grow in faith and grace. 
            Third, God has given His Word to us.  His written Word sets out His will and His expected response from us to that will.  God shows us who He is, what He values, what He calls us to be and how He has made it possible for us to come back to Him even when we have wandered and strayed from Him because of our sins.  God’s “commands” are for our good and righteousness.  His “commands” are the boundaries and guardrails that make life better for all who seek to know and live out His Word and ways.  Too many times, you and I have roamed away from the Lord and sought to please ourselves and to pursue things that are neither good nor true.  But the good news is, His Word faithfully beckons us back to Him and shows us how we can be forgiven, redeemed and saved in Jesus alone by the cross alone. 
            Finally, God has promised to grant us understanding so we might comprehend His Word and live it out.  He gave Solomon wisdom to reign over His people.  He gave Paul the words to write much of the New Testament.  He gave the apostles words to preach and the gospel to declare.  God can grant us understanding each day to read and know His Word and to apply it to the circumstances that we encounter.  Faith does come from hearing God’s Word.  But once we have heard the Word, we are to live it out and become doers of the Word.  Before you begin to read a passage, pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, ears, heart and mind.  If you struggle to make sense of a verse, read it several times and ask God to grant you discernment.  You may even need to come back to a verse later in the day or week and see if you have a better understanding after some time has passed.  Often, we can better understand the Bible if we write out a verse that is confusing, convicting or even comforting.  Writing and saying the words of a verse simultaneously can often improve our understanding.
            We can give thanks today that God made us—with loving hands, divine design and in His image.  We can be grateful that God has entrusted us with His Word to help us live in His ways as His people.  We can rejoice that God promises to us the wisdom and understanding we need to know His Word and to put it into faithful practice.  Just before Psalm 119:73, we find the value of God’s Word placed in terms we can easily understand. Psalm 119:72 says, “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”  Have a great Monday!    
 

            Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21 all share something in common.  In each chapter, Jesus addressed the issue of the end times and His coming again.  Serious matters to be sure.  There are a couple of important warnings that Jesus issued that we want to note. First, He warned against being deceived.  The Lord said, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Mark 13:5).  He issued the same warning in Matthew and Luke as well.  If Jesus warned us not to be deceived, there is at least the risk or possibility that some people will be deceived about the end times—almost a certainty.  What kind of deception could Jesus be warning against?
            Some could believe in a false messiah.  Some could fall away from the teachings of the Bible.  Some could come to believe that multiple religions offer multiple pathways to the same place—heaven and everlasting life.  In our world today, deception is often just a few keystrokes away.  The rise of AI can generate authentically looking and sounding images, clips and presentations.  Social media can blast ideas and opinions, masquerading as truth, throughout the world in a matter of seconds.  The rapid rise in communications has also rapidly shortened the time it takes to reach much of the connected world with simultaneous messaging.  I read recently that many people mistakenly think Jesus said or did things that the gospels bear no record of Him ever actually saying or doing. Unfortunately, godly discernment does not travel as quickly as deception when it circles the world.   
            People with only a peripheral knowledge of Scripture and only passively engaged in a healthy and gospel-grounded church are prime targets for deception.  Online videos and “teachers” often gather large audiences and millions of clicks in exchange for biblically suspect messages that bear little resemblance to the Bible itself.  Deception is not a new thing.  We find evidence of people being deceived in New Testament times.  Paul often had to correct misinformation and bad theology that threatened the fellowship of churches.  We need the accountability that we find in the Bible, the fellowship of a healthy church and the company of other believers.  These guardrails help us not to fall prey to deception.
            The second warning Jesus issued concerned His return itself.  Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).  Let that sink into your mind.  Jesus Himself said that only the Father knows the day of His return.  Not the angels.  Not Jesus.  And certainly not the guy online making videos trying to scare everyone who watches.  Do not set dates or times for the Lord’s return.  You will ALWAYS be wrong.  Always!  We cannot claim to know that which the Bible says we do not and will not know.  The end of the world is planned and carried out by the Father at a time of His will and providence.  Not yours or mine.  If you encounter anyone who thinks he or she has figured out the date of the Lord’s return, run away!  You are being deceived and tricked.  And, in many cases, such a charlatan will probably have something to sell to you.   
            Rather than trying to unlock the mystery of the end of time, Jesus warns us to be ready, to keep watch and to live as if we could be face to face with Him at any moment in time.  And we could.  The Lord could come again for His people or we could find ourselves in His presence if we were to die before His coming.  Leave no unsettled accounts or business with the Lord.  Trust Him alone and the power of the cross alone for your salvation.  Love and serve Him.  Use the blessings and gifts He has provided to bless and serve others in His Name.  Love your neighbors around you and be a blessing to them through your life.  There is no need to waste time trying to figure out the end of time.  Jesus could not have made this truth any plainer or clearer—nobody currently knows or will know when He comes again.  He was content to leave that to the Father.  We must do likewise.  Let God be God.  Live each day as if it could be the day that you will meet the Lord—either in the air or in the twinkling of an eye after you have taken your final breath.  Have a great Thursday!

        We believe that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.  This book is one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament.  Reading Ecclesiastes alongside Proverbs will give you a tremendous education in biblical wisdom that you can apply to a host of situations.  King Solomon noted that our highest ambition is “to fear God and keep His commandments” (12:13).  Simply put, the most important thing we can do in life is know the Lord and walk by faith in His ways and with Him.  A good life always begins with God and holds on to God. The king reminded us that we are quickly forgotten and the things we often accumulate and live for are quickly forgotten too.  Nothing that we gather lasts forever.  Ecclesiastes says, “for the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten.  Like the fool, the wise too must die” (2:16).  It can be humbling to confront the truth that one day we will be forgotten.  Such a faith and reality are true for the rich and poor, the great and the least and the powerful and the weak.  It has been said that cemeteries are filled with the graves of those no one visits or even remembers as time quickly passes.
         Often, in Ecclesiastes, we come across the word “meaningless.”  Indeed, Solomon used that word four times in the opening two verses.  He wants us to know that we humans are often quite skilled at pursuing things that are meaningless and that amount to little at the end of life.  Solomon was the wisest and wealthiest king to have ever lived.  But as he reflected on his life, he found much that was meaningless.  He called it a “chasing after the wind” (2:17).  Think about the things that consume your days.  Have you ever felt like you were chasing after the wind?  Just as the wind is elusive so too are many of the things we clamor after and chase with our time.  God calls us to build a life with Him.  He calls us to invest in His Word, to meet with Him in prayer, to worship with other believers and to serve Him generously and faithfully.  These activities produce a life of meaning and purpose. These activities also open our minds and hearts to see good things and pursuits that we might have missed otherwise.
         Ecclesiastes 3 opens with the famous refrain that there is a time for everything.  Time is a creation of God’s.  He has graciously given us time—a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens (3:1).  How do you use your time?  Time can be invested or squandered but once it is gone, then it is gone.  We cannot reclaim it.  Most of us would probably like to leave behind a legacy for those we love—families, friends and fellow believers.  A lasting legacy is usually characterized by a life that was well-lived, grounded in God’s Word and committed to making the gospel known by words and deeds that reflect Jesus.  A lasting legacy does not chase after the wind in pursuit of things that will one day wither away, wind down and withdraw from memory.  Western North Carolina is filled with homes and people who watched a lifetime of pursuits and accomplishments wash away when an historic hurricane made landfall.  May we learn from Solomon to fear the Lord and keep His commands—to make pleasing Him and exalting Him our life’s passion and pursuit.  True wisdom begins with God and always seeks to bring God into any conversation or consideration.  It simply makes sense to begin everything with God because only God was in the beginning.  Have a great Monday!

          Proverbs 22:28 has a simple command that says, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.”  What does this mean?  A little more detail and understanding can be found in Proverbs 23:10 which says, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.”  The message is to live honorably and honestly and not to take advantage of the blessings and belongings of others.  In Bible times, an ancient boundary stone fixed property lines and ownership limits on land.  By subtly moving these boundary stones, one could gain more land (and wealth) at the expense of one’s neighbor.  The subtle and slow movement of stones would dramatically, over time, expand one person’s land while shrinking the land of a neighbor.  So, the mandate was not to move these boundary stones.  It would be like stealing a few dollars a day from a friend for decades.  Slowly, that theft adds up.  In a word—be honest in one’s business dealings.
            Today, land ownership is tracked in different ways by surveys, titles and legal processes.  But there is a lesson that remains for us from this ancient mandate.  We are called to live honorably and honestly in our business and material dealings each day.  For us, that could mean paying taxes that are owed (see Romans 13:7), paying off debts that have been accrued and not misrepresenting something that you are trying to sell. We are to respect and honor contracts and agreements that we have made with others.  We are not to take advantage of weaker or less fortunate people.  God has promised to be their defender against anyone who would seek to take advantage of them.  Widows and orphans held a special place in God’s heart in Bible times (and very much still today).  He was passionate and zealous in their defense.  No one should seek to take advantage of the weak, hurting or struggling just because it might be easy to do so.
            One of Satan’s strategies today is to move the boundary stones of right and wrong, good and bad.  You may recall in the Garden that the serpent began his temptation by asking, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1b).  That single question was an attempt by Satan to move a boundary stone of obedience—to goad Adam and Eve into dismissing the authority of God.  Someone has said that Satan is the original boundary changer.  Still today, Satan appeals to what we want, the things that catch our eye and the natural longings that we want fulfilled.  The Bible warns us, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16).
            We often move the boundary stones today when we attempt to explain away our sins and behavior or to justify actions we know to be wrong.  We move stones when we compare ourselves to others and console ourselves into thinking we are not as bad as “some people.”  We move boundaries when pride and bitterness begin to take over how we think about and see other people.  Envy and jealousy can often move boundary stones as we encroach upon the lives of other people.  We can behave badly when we elevate petty things and preferences to lofty positions where they do not belong.  We can see moving boundary stones as an insistence upon having things our way rather than God’s way.  Jesus said in Luke 6:27-28, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”  We are to be careful not to move the boundary stones of those we might consider enemies or even wicked themselves.  We trust them to God just as we trust ourselves to God.
            This ancient boundary stone principle remains compelling today.  It convicts us in those occasions where we might be tempted to compromise a little here or there or minimize what we are plotting to do.  We can easily move boundaries when we write off our motivations or actions as being trivial or minor things.  God calls us to see and to serve Him in all circumstances of life—not just the things we might think are big and important.  We want to see and to serve God every day and in every way we encounter.  We serve God best when we do life God’s way and live within the boundary stones that He has set in place.  Have a great Thursday!

            Most of us have made what we would consider to be an important decision.  Most of us would admit to making more than one important decision over our years of life.  Buying a home, changing jobs, coming to faith in Jesus and choosing how to treat a disease are major issues.  Proverbs is a book of wisdom—wisdom for many of the big decisions that we face in life.  Proverbs teaches us the importance of acquiring wisdom when we have a big decision to make.  Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”  The Bible encourages us not to go it alone with big decisions. Rather, we are encouraged to seek the input of “many advisers.”  What does that look like? How are we to seek that input from other people, places and sources?
            Well, first, we want to read whatever insight the Bible might have.  If we are struggling with forgiveness or how to be a good parent, we might want to see what the Bible teaches us.  Not every possible decision is specifically addressed in the Bible but God’s Word does give us some broad principles and truths that we can apply to any number of dilemmas or decisions.  Scripture passages about patience, trusting God, grace and humility can speak to a lot of situations.  And certainly, if the Bible does specifically address a decision that you are facing, then take God’s counsel to heart and act upon it. No one ever regrets following the teachings of the Bible about big decisions.
            Second, take time to pray.  Don’t be quick to set a time limit or an alarm on your praying.  Pray carefully and patiently.  Ask God to open your eyes and ears to things that are important about the decision you are facing.  If we pray too quickly, we may mistakenly think that God sees everything the way we do.  Give God some time to work.  He may reveal something to you in His Word or through the advice of a friend.  He may act to close or open doors according to what is best for you.  Remember, God loves you and will always act in ways that are true, good and loving.
            Third, trust others to pray for you.  Lean on a good friend or friends who will pray for you in the decision you are facing.  Have a “go to” friend or friends whom you can text or call in a crunch and know they will be there for you.  Listen to what God might be saying through them to you.  It is a great comfort to know that a brother or sister will pray for you and take you into the presence of God and before His throne.  The prayers of others may help you find some clarity and answers that you would not discover or experience if you prayed alone.  God blesses us quite often through the prayers and actions of others. Remember how many times in the New Testament that Paul requested prayer.  He was by no means bashful in asking others to pray for him.
            Fourth, patiently look to see if God is moving or working in some way.  We learn through the study Experiencing God that He is always at work.  We just have to look and assess where He is and what He is doing.  It could be that God grants you the wisdom to see where His hand and will are stirring and moving.  Ask yourself what you see God doing. Do you have any past experiences where God has made something clear to you?  Can you draw from that past experience?  God is not reckless and aimless.  He works with purpose and precision—consider the intricacies of the creation itself of where God has been at work.
            And fifth, surround yourself with some good “counselors” or “advisors.”  Lean on the expertise of others who may know more than yourself.  Lean on those who have a good sense of discernment.   You probably know those solid, healthy Christian people who are just good to lean on when you find yourselves at a crossroads trying to make a decision or gain some certainty about a difficult matter.  The book of Proverbs does not counsel us to go as lone rangers when we are facing a mountain to climb or a valley to struggle through. But we are told to avail ourselves of the counsel and wisdom of many.
            A good practical approach for gaining God’s wisdom is simply to read the book of Proverbs.  All thirty-one chapters feature a high-level education by immersion into God’s wisdom.  A chapter per day with Proverbs is a good start in gaining God’s take on a host of practical matters—such as parenting, jobs, humility, business dealings and investing. Indeed Proverbs 16:4 gives us this truth we can always hold on to, “The LORD works out everything to its proper end.”  Have a great Monday!

           Proverbs is a book of wisdom—great wisdom that comes from the mind of God.  The Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to write this treasure book of wisdom many years ago.  It remains an incredible education in wisdom still today.  The opening five verses of Proverbs 2 speak to the way we acquire God’s wisdom and the benefits of gaining that wisdom.  We read, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:1-5).  We find in these verses some important truths about God’s wisdom for our lives here and now.
            First, we cannot assume that we automatically possess the wisdom of God.  We are not born with wisdom, insight and discernment from the Lord.  Three times in these five verses Solomon used the word “if.”  “If” is a small word but it implies a certain contingency. God’s wisdom is contingent upon our seeking it, accepting it, calling for it and looking for it. We are to establish some practices for acquiring God’s Wisdom.  The chief practice is spending time in God’s Word and supplementing that time with a good devotional read each day.  A thousand Bibles in your home that are never opened or studied do no good whatsoever for your heart and mind.  We have to take the initiative to open God’s Word. Acquiring God’s wisdom is like the woman in Luke 15 who searched diligently and exhaustively to find her one lost coin.
            Second, seek the wisdom of God as passionately as you might seek the material things of life.  Solomon said we are to seek wisdom as we would search for silver.  Many people seek job promotions, pay increases, bigger homes, recognition or attention.  Take the energy and passion that you would devote to these earthly and temporary things and deploy the same dedication in pursuit of what God has for you.  Seek His wisdom with intensity and commitment.  Do not assume that the treasures you seek are replacements for God’s wisdom or even substitutes that will help to produce a good and upright life. Solomon said to “apply your heart to wisdom.”  He means to be focused and dedicated to what God has for you to know and to import into your life.  Zero in like a radar on these good things that God has for you.
            Third, Solomon wrote that we are to “accept” God’s Words and “store up” His commands.  Those directions are for us.  We are to be more than hearers of the words and wisdom of God.  We are to do these things and put them into practice.  In the New Testament, James wrote, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:22-24).  When we eagerly and joyfully put into practice the truth that God teaches us, we are guaranteed a much better life.  God’s truth has an accumulative impact upon us—the more we store up and live out what we find, the more we become like what God is making us to be. 
            Finally, Proverbs is very clear, more than once, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Simply, we are to realize there is one true God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we are not Him.  We are to embrace His Word and ways quickly and not depart from them.  Proverbs 1:7 opens with these words, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  May we love the wisdom and instruction of the Lord—everlasting words that are always good for us.  May our pursuit of God’s Word be paramount each day.  Have a great Thursday!
 

          Genesis opens with the creation story.  We learn that God was in the beginning and that He made all that has been made.  Genesis 1:3 opens with these words, “And God said.” That is a powerful statement.  The means of creation was God’s spoken word.  That is to say God spoke everything that presently exists into existence.  Once there was nothing. Zero!  Before God spoke there was nothing.  But when God spoke, everything changed and the creation began to take shape and form.  That’s a staggering thought!  For those who might advocate for a “big bang” origin of the universe, these three words, “And God said,” counter that theory.  Creation did not emerge from nothing.  Indeed, God was and is, if you will, “the big bang.”  He, and He alone, is the agent behind creation and the existence of earth, life on earth and all that stars and planets that we can see and even beyond what we can see.  Again, that is a staggering thought.
            When you read Genesis 1, you find the same refrain echoing through this chapter, “And God said.”  God commanded the creation to come into existence.  God did not say “bang” and then allow everything to rush forward like a runaway train.  God created carefully by design, with purpose and for His glory.  We learn that God carefully created human life in His own image.  Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  Long before this earth and life on this earth came into existence, the eternal and infinite God we worship was there.  He was present—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  But God did not remain silent.  He spoke.  He commanded that the creation He designed come into being simply by the declaration of His Word.
            We give thanks today that God continued to speak long past the initial moments of creation where things began to take shape.  Today, we possess God’s Word.  His Word shows us His ways and His standards for how we are to live.  God is the creator: He alone was present in the beginning.  So, this truth teaches us that God decides what is good or bad and right or wrong.  We take our values not from culture, influencers, trends or whatever we may wish was true.  We take our values from God—what He has deemed to be good or bad.  Vance Havner, the late Baptist preacher, once humorously but wisely said that we may have our own ideas how the universe ought to be run.  But the problem is we do not have our own universe to run.  We live in the universe made by the Lord who made us.  God owns the universe—not us.  And His ownership gives Him the fiat right to declare how it should exist.
            When you read the Bible, take some time to consider all the occasions where the Bible says that “God said” or “the LORD said.”  He has not left us adrift and aimless about how to live in this world.  Do we routinely listen to what God has said in His Word or do we try to apply our wisdom to situations that we face?  Does Scripture shape the way we think and live?  Is Scripture simply an afterthought—or something we deploy as a way of backing up what we have already chosen to believe?  Good theology and lasting values always begin with God.  Why?  Because only God was in the beginning.  Just as His spoken Word produced the creation out of nothing, He continues to form, shape and direct His people by His Word today—the Word that we know as Scripture.  As you read the Bible, breathe into your mind and heart what God has said.  God’s written Word remains timeless for us as the lasting authority for all that we believe and cherish.  We hear God in His Word today—clearly, graciously and providentially.  Give thanks today that God has spoken.  And live out of your life what He has said and declared to be right, true and good.  Have a great Monday!

           We can use the word “build” in a variety of ways.  It can mean construction of a home or business.  Build can refer to developing physical perseverance or endurance through exercise.  We can speak of building our faith as well.  Psalm 127:1a says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”  This verse is often seen as a backdrop for Solomon’s work to build the first temple for the Lord.  And rightly so.  You may recall that David wanted to build the temple but God chose Solomon to build it instead of David.  I have seen this verse quoted a number of times at disaster rebuilding projects and places. This verse is often written on studs, beams and drywall as new homes take shape.  And certainly, we want our homes to be places where the Lord is honored and exalted.  It makes sense to attach God’s Word to our homes as a way of remembering His goodness and many provisions and our weakness apart from Him.
            We can also think of the Lord building a temple of faith within us.  Those who have come to faith and trust in Jesus are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit—not buildings and palaces.  The Bible says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19).  The Holy Spirit is the Lord living in us and with us.  That’s pretty amazing isn’t it? What is the Holy Spirit building in believers where He dwells?  There are at least a few things we can name.
            First, the Holy Spirit is building our faith in Jesus.  He is developing a bedrock, unshakable, everlasting faith in the sufficiency of Jesus and His death and resurrection.  He is at work to help us walk with Christ more faithfully each day and to cast our cares upon Him. He is good and sufficient always and at all times.  The Spirit helps to cast out our doubts and worries as we see the goodness and holiness of God more and more.  The Spirit continues to remind us of the power of the gospel and the sufficiency of the gospel to save and keep us.    
            Second, the Holy Spirit is producing His fruit in us—fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23).  The fruit that He produces in us is to be lived out by us.  This fruit is to season our relationships with others and our service to Him.  These fruits cannot be produced by us—no matter how hard we may try.  There is no vitamin to take or class to take.  Only the Lord can make and produce this fruit—if we try in our strength, we simply labor in vain.
            Third, the Holy Spirit gives us His gifts for serving the Lord and building up the Church of Jesus Christ.  Spiritual gifts are not talents.  They are special gifts or endowments that the Spirit chooses to place within us so we can serve the cause of the gospel with our lives.  Every believer has a gift (or possibly gifts) to use.  The only question is whether we will take time to discover those gifts and then put them into practice.  The Holy Spirit has not left us alone to figure out ways to serve Christ.  He has equipped us with what we need to bless others and to serve Him.  The Lord does not limit His call and ministry to those who have it all together.  He equips and qualifies those whom He chooses to call. 
            Fourth, the Holy Spirit helps us to understand Scripture.  He builds within us a knowledge of God’s Word and a love for that Word.  He helps us to understand the Bible and to live out God’s ways.  The Spirit helps us to pray.  The Bible says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).  When we struggle with even how to pray for something, the Spirit goes to work to translate our groans into petitions to the Father. 
            When we think about the message of Psalm 127:1a, we see the totality of what God has done for us.  He has saved us through His Son’s death and resurrection.  He equips and provides for us each day through the presence of His Holy Spirit.  He never abandons us or forsakes us.  He has written a beautiful story for His people that brings glory to Him as we live by faith and trust in Him.  Consider today what the Lord might wish to build in you. See where the Lord might be stirring a need in you to trust Him and to lean into Him.  Trust the Lord to build an enduring house of faith in your life—a house that lives as a legacy for your family, friends and future generations to see.  Have a great Thursday!

           At creation, God declared everything that He had made to be good. Not okay. Not acceptable. But good. Soon, everything would change. Adam and Eve would be tempted by the serpent and disobey God. Sadly, they trusted their eyes and ears more than they trusted God. Genesis 3:6-7 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” This disobedience by Adam and Eve permanently changed the once good and perfect creation made by God. Sin would quickly take hold and even lead to the great flood as an act of God’s judgment upon the world and its sinfulness. Sin and the scourge of sin remain in our world today.
         Still today, we feel the lingering effects of the fall and the disobedience of Adam and Eve. But God has promised a new day. And we know by faith and the authority of the Bible that a new creation is coming. But for now, we live in a world that is fallen and is fading away. The Bible says, “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31b). That sentence reads as a conclusion. There is not much room for debate or interpretation. We believe God’s Word is true so we also believe this conclusion is true. However, there are some life lessons for us to be found in this verse. These life lessons teach us how to live in a world that is fading while we anticipate a world that is soon coming.
         First, this world belongs to God. He made it. This world is His to do with as He pleases. The great preacher Vance Havner once noted that we might think we have good ideas about how to run the universe. But the problem is we do not have our own universe. We do not have our own world to manage either. God is free to do as He chooses with this world. He will usher in the end of time in a way and time of His choosing. Second, we are not to become too attached to this world or the things of this world. Nothing we possess will last forever (short of God’s Word and the soul He made within us). We are to set our hearts and minds on the things above (Colossians 3:1-2). We are to know the Lord and walk with Him in dependence and obedience each day. Our mission in life is not to accumulate all we can as quickly as we can. Our mission is to live for Him. Each day and breath bring us closer to seeing and knowing Him face to face.
        Third, a new world is coming. This new world will not be marred by sin, sickness, death and a slow, decaying demise. God will make a new world where He will forever dwell with His people. And we will dwell with Him free from the burdens and brokenness of this life. Jesus encouraged His disciples with this good news just hours before going to the cross. Jesus said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:1-3). We live in anticipation of this day and this coming new place. For those who belong to Christ, we have no reason to fear death or the passing away of this world. There is a better one on the way that will last forever.
         Fourth, we trust the details of this new world to the Lord. It will be far, far better than anything we could design or even imagine. The Bible says that no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no human mind has ever conceived of the things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Take your best thoughts and highest hopes and multiply them by a billion and you will still not be able to imagine what God will prepare for the world and life to come. If we are discouraged by many daily events, we need to lift our eyes and hearts to what is coming. Speak of your faith and the new world to come to those you know who need to know the Lord and need a church home. Have a great Thursday!

           Racing is a popular sport.  When we hear the word racing, we think of cars, athletes, horses, cycling, marathons, sprints and sailing boats.  Racing is also an illustration of the Christian life and walk.  Paul wrote about “finishing the race” of faith that had been entrusted to Him or to us.  Hebrews 12:1 says, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).  That one passage in Hebrews has some important lessons for how we live out our faith today. 
            First, the Bible says, “us” as in “let us run.”  The Christian life is designed to be lived out in community with other believers.  We are not really called to live as solo followers of Jesus.  Simply put, we need other believers—brothers and sisters in Christ who can stand with us and beside us in times of celebration and sorrow.  And even stand beside us in those times where we are just pushing through the ordinary challenges of life.  We can pray for each other and even disciple each other.  The Christian life can be challenging to live even with a community of believers standing with us and cheering us on.  It can be doubly hard if we are trying to navigate our way through life alone.
            Second, the Bible uses the word “run.”  We are moving as followers of Jesus.  Indeed, to be a follower of Jesus suggests movement.  We are walking with and behind Him.  We often sing the hymn “Footsteps of Jesus.”  To be a Christian today means we are in consistent movement for the gospel and to serve the Lord wherever He might direct us to go.  We have not been saved by Christ and saved from sin simply to sit down and stay stationary.  We have been saved to serve the Lord.  And if we serve the Lord well, we will be moving.  We will run with great joy and excitement for His glory.    
            Third, we run with perseverance.  Another word for perseverance can be endurance.  To persevere means we do not give up at the first sign of trouble or failure.  We make a commitment to run for the long haul.  The Christian life is more precisely described as a marathon as opposed to a sprint.  We are to run for distance more than speed.  To run with perseverance means we have to develop some thick skin—some armor that protects us from the enemy and His attacks and ways.  The enemy does not play fairly.  Satan is a liar, a thief, a murderer and a destroyer.  We have to know that he will do any number of things to frustrate us in our daily race.  But God has graciously given us the armor of God to wear as we run the race of a follower of Jesus.  The armor is named for us in Ephesians 6:13-18.
            Fourth, we are to run the race marked out for us.  We are not in a competition with other believers or other churches.  God has a distinct and determined race that He wants us to run for His glory.  The expression “stay in your lane” is appropriate in this context.  We do not all run the same race.  For example, a single mom committed to Christ might be running a very different race than an empty-nest couple with no children at home.  A recent retiree might be facing a very different race than a college freshman is called by God to run. God, in His providence and wisdom, has marked out a race for us to run as we glorify Him with the life and breath entrusted to us.  Hebrews 12:2 tells us to set or fix “our eyes on Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith.”  Seeing Jesus each day inspires us to run, with passion and urgency, the race that He has marked out for us. We run with the confidence that one day we will wake up in His arms and spend forever with Him.  Like the first disciples, we drop our nets and follow Him.    
            Hebrews 11 is often called “the hall of faith.”  That title is a play on words with the many halls of fame that we have represented around us for different sports or vocations. Hebrews 11 contains the names of many inspirational biblical figures who all shared at least one important trait—they possessed great faith in God to sustain them and to provide for them in whatever circumstances they found themselves.  By faith, we look to the Lord to provide the grace we need to run any race, to serve any place and to become anything He calls us to be.  Run well today with faith in the author of your race—the very One who has laid out the course and who accompanies you on each step you take.  Have a great Monday!          
   

           We often think of Romans as a book that is heavy on theology and doctrine.  And rightfully so.  It does address important matters like salvation, justification, sin, repentance, the role of Israel (past and future) and the sovereignty of God.  But Romans is also a book that gives us plenty of good practical guidance and direction.  For example, Romans 12:9 says, “hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”  Only nine words long but this command sets the tone for a good life. These nine words deserve our reflection and time.  We are to hate and reject anything that is evil and wicked.  We are to renounce it and discard it from our lives.  Plain enough for all to understand.  Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 that we do not fight against flesh and blood.  Rather, our battle is spiritual in nature against the enemy himself.  We fight the enemy by wearing the armor of God and standing firm in God’s ways, Word and truth.  If we are going to hate evil, we must be fully prepared to do that—using what God has already provided.  
            Jesus reminded us that we cannot serve two masters.  The Lord said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).   We cannot serve God and anything else—whether money, power, fame or evil.  God does not share His glory with anyone.  He does call us to make Him one more thing in our lives. He is our life!  To serve and love God means we make no place for evil and do not even entertain evil in our lives.  We follow the command of Romans 12 and decide to hate evil. We consciously choose to turn away from all evil.
            The other side of the Romans 12:9 command is to cling to what is good.  How do we understand good?  Well, goodness begins with God.  Indeed, Jesus said, “’Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone’” (Mark 10:18).  God is good.  So, we cling to God.  We cling to God in our battles against temptation and sin.  We cling to God when the enemy assaults us or deceives us.  The Bible consistently teaches us that God, and Him alone, is our rock, fortress and refuge.  Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  God always acts in ways that are good and good for us—both now and with eternity in mind. 
            We also understand “good” or “goodness” to be a fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23 for a full accounting of all nine fruits of the Spirit).  When described as a fruit of the Spirit, goodness is something we want our lives to bear and produce.  We are not able to do this by ourselves or in our strength.  But the Holy Spirit can produce goodness in and through lives that are submitted to Him.  He can help us decide what is the good path to follow in any situation.  He can empower us to yield the fruit of goodness when we may be tempted to settle for something far less. 
            To “cling” to what is good means we hang on as tightly as possible.  The image might be hanging on to a limb or rock to protect ourselves from going over a cliff or ledge. The Bible is commanding us to cling to what is good because Satan can so easily deceive us into something that slips and slides into evil.  Remember how Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the middle of a paradise called the Garden of Eden.  Sadly, it can be easy for us to turn our eyes and hearts away from what is good and toward what is evil.        David was deceived by his eyes in his ordeal with Bathsheba.  Lot was deceived by his eyes when he chose to move to the land of Sodom.  When standing face to face with Jesus, the rich young ruler could not get past all that he had and the riches he possessed so he could faithfully follow Jesus.  He saw his wealth more than he saw Jesus and what Jesus offered to him.  We are not to make light of evil or the enemy because he can deceptively turn our attention away from what is good and toward what is evil.  Cling to God.  Cling to His Word. Cling to prayer.  Cling to a few good brothers or sisters who are always in your corner and lifting you up with friendship, prayer and encouragement.  Have a great Thursday!
   

            Psalm 75 is a song.  We usually read it today but it could just as well be sung by Christians and churches everywhere.  Indeed, it was sung by ancient Israel as a worship song to the Lord centuries ago.  This psalm is only ten verses long but there is a curious word that we find in it more than once.  That word is “horns.”  We might think of an animal with horns or a car horn.  Neither one of those interpretations is right in this part of the Bible.  In Psalm 75, “horns” meant strength—specifically human strength.  In verses 4-5 we read, “To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.  Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’”  The message is do not flaunt your strength before the Lord in pride or arrogance.  We are not to make more of ourselves than we should.  We are not to think we are bigger and stronger than we really are.  When compared to the Lord, the One who created all things and parted the Red Sea, we are incredibly weak and frail.  We are to lean into humility and meekness—not pride, arrogance or our own strength.  We are to lean into the strength of the Lord as we seek to serve and honor Him. 
            Unfortunately, sin has been a reality in the world since the days of Adam and Eve and the early pages of the Bible.  We are sinners—you and me—and we need a Savior.  Our sinful state is one reason we are not to lift up our horns against heaven.  We come before the Lord in humility and repentance—seeking to be remade, redeemed and made new.  The Lord gave a final warning in the last verse of Psalm 75, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up” (verse 10).  The strength (horns) and deeds of the righteous will be lifted up and will endure.  This verse seems to be saying that God will multiply the strength of the humble.  He will amplify the strength of those who come to Him in contrition and gentleness. 
            Psalm 75 seems to present us with a choice.  We can be strong in our own eyes or we can be strong in the Lord’s eyes.  We can brag about our power and might or we can lean into God’s ways.  It can be hard to sing praises to God or to give thanks to God if we are consumed with elevating ourselves or pleading our case.  We often miss God if we are focused too narrowly or too tightly upon ourselves.  Only God belongs on the throne of the universe or the throne of your heart or mine. 
            You may remember that Satan’s fall from heaven originated in his pride and his selfish ambition to rise above the throne of God.  The prophet Isaiah recorded Satan’s fall in these words, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’  But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:13-15). 
            God does not delight in the proud or puffed up.  But He does delight in those who exalt Him and make much of His glory and ways.  Rather than showing off our horns, or strength, may we come before the Lord with empty hands and an empty heart to receive from the rich, bottomless well of His strength.  May we see ourselves as sheep in need of the Good Shepherd, as orphans in need of the loving Father and as sinners in need of the Savior. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  May we daily go to the Lord to draw from His strength and boundless might.  May we pray and live by the words of Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  To those who seek Him and His ways, the Lord makes this promise, “May the Lord give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4).  We enjoy this success when we allow our desires and plans to take second place to what the Lord has for us.  May our desires and plans increasingly give way to what He has for us.  Have a great Monday!  
 

           Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.  Almost in the middle of this model prayer, Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).  If you have ever thought about memorizing Scripture, this simple verse is a good place to start. While only seven words long, this verse teaches us some important lessons about the faithfulness of God and our need to lean into His faithfulness every day.  At first glance and reading, we might conclude that this verse is a prayer for food—our daily bread.  We might think it is a prayer whereby we ask God to give us the food we need to do the work of the day and to complete the tasks of the day.  Such an initial conclusion or interpretation is not wrong.  Not at all.  But it might be incomplete.  And it might be at risk of selling this verse a little short or underestimating all that this verse has to say to us.  It may be good to zoom out to take a broader look at the truth that Jesus was trying to teach us in these seven words.
            First, this verse reminds us that God is more than able to meet ALL needs—not just the need for food each day.  Every need can be met by the Lord.  Nothing is too great for Him to do.  This verse teaches us the truth that Peter wrote later in the New Testament.  We are to cast all our cares (hunger and all others) on the Lord because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).  Our God is able.  His grace is sufficient for us.  This verse is the voice of our Creator and Savior speaking to us and calling us to call upon His name for the daily bread and daily blessings that we need.
            Second, this verse teaches us to trust whatever God grants and supplies to us.  We can note that Jesus’ teaching did not give us a specific kind of bread, or a specific quantity of bread or the times when we would like the bread to be delivered.  Jesus did not get bogged down in the details because there was no need to do so.  Too many details lead to the risk of missing what Jesus was trying to teach us.  God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could ever ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20).  God does not have to ration bread or just provide a small bite here and there.  His warehouse of daily blessings is infinitely full—much bigger than all the world’s bakeries and bread houses combined.  Even more than all the Amazons of the world.  The Lord even knows what we need before we ask Him to supply that need (Matthew 6:8). 
            Third, we do not have to sweat the deadlines or trials that we face.  God has what we need when we need it.  He is not too late or too early in sending the daily gifts of bread, grace, strength or forgiveness.  Our view of God is often too small.  Our brains can easily lock into one way of seeing God but it never does justice to His power and might.  God spoke the vast universe into existence.  God has ordered and planned history in a way that brings glory to Him.  Surely our daily needs are not too big for Him to satisfy.
            Fourth, this verse from Jesus teaches us to approach the Lord daily—not on occasion or a whim.  Daily.  We may have to wait on an appointment with a doctor or for
a haircut but we never have to wait in line to talk with God or be received by Him.  We can always go boldly and immediately to His throne of grace (see Hebrews 4:16).  You can also return to the Lord’s throne as many times as you like on any day.  God’s throne is more like a buffet than a drive through.  We can delight in His goodness and grace throughout the day.  Some may never pray or even approach God apart from Sundays.  But God is no less accessible the other six days of the week either.  God taught Israel to seek Him daily through the gift of manna.  Manna was not to be gathered in advance (with the exception of the Sabbath) or stored up for future use.  By inviting people to gather their manna, their daily bread, each day at a time, the Lord was teaching Israel a lesson about His goodness and faithfulness.  Memorize the seven words that make up Matthew 6:11. Let these seven simple words capture your mind and heart to see and know God in greater ways!  Have a great Thursday!