It's a long, hard road that leads to becoming our true selves. There are so many things to distract us along the way, things that draw us towards self-absorption and destructive behavior.
The next few moments of reflection offer the opportunity to focus again, to see more clearly who God is and who we truly are meant to be.
SATURDAY, March 15 Clean Slate!Psalm 32:1-2, 5 MSG
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be -
You get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.
Count yourself lucky - God holds nothing against you
And you're holding nothing back from him.....
I let it all out;
I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failure to God."
Suddenly the pressure was gone -
My guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
Lent. The season of opportunity, not dirge and gloom! The time to take a deep breath of confession - and exhale the failures, disappointments, shortcomings and fears and inhale a clean fresh breath of the Spirit-God. God has the Grace-eraser to wipe our slate clean IF we bring the slate to God!
At the sake of being redundant, I am going to re-post a poem I wrote last year on this passage from Psalms:
Lucky I am! My heart feels free!
Happy I am! God's forgiven me!
Blessed I am for a lightened load,
Debts forgiven, no longer owed.
God does not tally up our sin,
If we practice not to hold within;
And pass it on to all around,
So forgiveness-love the world abound.
Lucky I am! My slate's wiped clean
The past now lit with God-like sheen!
Rejoice with joy, kick up my heels!
Resurrection power, grace reveals. FRIDAY, March 14 Pi Day
But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.
I'm not sure if my thoughts really center on the Romans passage, but more on the Pi Day card I received from my sister. It spoke of having 'infinite fun' today. Infinite. That describes God's grace. But like pi, grace that comes in an ever-changing sequences of opportunities and ways in which grace is granted. One number Pi, infinite numbers; one God, infinite possibilities, an infinite amount of grace.
Happy Birthday, Mac! May you sense an infinite amount of God's grace in your life!
THURSDAY, March 13 Freedom from Apples
God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”
What is it that makes us passionately desire the one thing we have been told "don't touch"? Adam and Eve found the forbidden tree tempting, and we seem to always want what is off-limits today. Perhaps in modern times it is more of a glass half empty rather than half full. We aim our focus on what we don't or can't have rather than the abundance of God's grace and freedom that we do have!
And really, with the wealth of choice, relationship, and beauty God has given us, do we really want to 'play God' and have it all? I don't! God has given us the choice to appreciate all his gifts, to revel in them, to celebrate them. He has set us free from the apples of temptation and the responsibility of being God. Celebrate! Look for the positive choices, the opportunities to use our gifts, the relationships we can create, all because of God's grace.
WEDNESDAY, March 12 Angels!!
The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.
The battle is won.
Rounds of scripture,
Innings of hunger, heights, and 'have-it-all'.
Final Score?
God-Jesus 3, Devil 0.
Jesus won hunger versus stones,
Jesus was victor over tall buildings;
Jesus stood firm in a contest of materialism and power.
Jesus won the game.
And we can too.
The after-game celebration?
ANGELS!
Angels with food!
Angels to satisfy and comfort!
Angels to reassure
That the victory is worth the battle.
That God is with us.
We play the game every day,
Our opponents are tough,
But we can be the victor also.
God is always playing with us.
And Angels will be there to celebrate our victory.
TUESDAY, March 11 Quick Fix
Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. 9 “All this I will give you,” the Devil said, “if you kneel down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus answered, “Go away, Satan! The scripture says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!’”
Our society tempts us, 'Just do this or that' and you will have it all. Listen to me and I'll give you the quick fix to success, power, and fulfillment. Empty lies. It just doesn't work that way! God doesn't promise us quick fixes, a guarantee of a problem-free life or lack of struggle. God promises to be with us, to lead us and guide us. Christ has set the path for us to follow. We can't be defined by our temptations, but rather by our relationship with the God who leads us through them.
MONDAY, March 10 Temptation of Hesitation
For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”
Perhaps one of our biggest temptations in society today is to think that we must be a superhero, able to leap from tall buildings, able to conquer all the sins of the world, able to achieve perfection - all in a single bound! Western society especially has added that extra boost to everything, the desire for bigger, better, flashier. And for what? The end result may just be a society who thinks they can't make a difference because they don't have the 'power'.
We have the power of one - individual power granted to us from God. I read this morning a story about a man in NJ who is making a difference one bottle of hot sauce at a time. All profits are split between microloans in Ethiopia and a local food pantry. His church and community have rallied around the business. One man, changed communities.
When we can resist the temptation to take the easy way out, the temptation of hesitation and doubt, then we can truly glorify God by our actions. We have the power, but it comes from God and God alone.
Matthew 4:1-4 GNT
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. After spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry. Then the Devil came to him and said, “If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn into bread.”
But Jesus answered, “The scripture says, ‘Human beings cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that God speaks.’”
 |
May I spend some time in the coming days being strengthened, fortified, and freed for the new life, the transformation and metamorphosis of Easter.
BENEDICTION BLESSING.....(d365.org - Grier Booker Richards)
Go now with faith into your struggle.
Avoid distractions of the spectacular;
See beyond the illusions,
And recognize you have what you need
To move beyond guilt to freedom.
See beyond the illusions,
And recognize you have what you need
To move beyond guilt to freedom.
You have been claimed by grace
And are called to celebrate the life of joy..
(I have been using Scribbles from the Gospel of Luke to illustrate this section, but the scripture passages are almost identical in the two Gospel books!)
And are called to celebrate the life of joy..
(I have been using Scribbles from the Gospel of Luke to illustrate this section, but the scripture passages are almost identical in the two Gospel books!)
No comments:
Post a Comment