EASTERTIDE: To Believe (d365.org)

INVOCATION...  (d365.org - John Woods)

What does it take to trust? Sometimes it’s experience over time; sometimes it’s a deeply moving event that takes place in a single moment.

To believe in God and in Christ revealed through Jesus, it sometimes takes an act of the will and a commitment to remain true to your faith.

Through it all God remains constant – at your side and within your heart. Trust that to be true in these next few quiet moments.

SUNDAY, May 4  Give Back

Psalm 116:12-14 MSG

What can I give back to God
    for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
    I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
    and I’ll do it together with his people.

Three lines of import for me:  

What can I give back to God?   God has blessed us abundantly.  It is our call to give thanks and praise in an active, overt manner.  Time, talents, and yes, resources.  So often people think just the money factor and neglect the other two more hands-on means of giving back.  

I'll complete what I promised God I'd do.  Have I responded?  Have I given back as I professed?  What more?  New opportunities? 

Do it together with God's people.  We are a community of faith.  We can have a personal relationship with God, but it is meaningless unless we LIVE IT within the community.  Worship and service both - together.  Hmmm....time to get ready for church.   

SATURDAY, May 3 Webs of Love

1 Peter 1:22-23

Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. (v. 22 MSG)

You have been reborn—not from seed that eventually dies but from seed that is eternal—through the word of God that lives and endures forever. (v. 23 VOICE)

     And now we get back to the heart of the matter of belief.  How to SHOW our faith; how to SHARE what we believe.  It's a matter of love.  "As if our life depended on it."  And maybe it does.  Research shows that people who surround themselves with other people in a community of support and love, who laugh often with others, who volunteer and work for others, LIVE LONGER!  But length of life isn't really what we should be concerned about.  It is the quality of life lived in and with God that matters.  

     This is love regardless of whether the person is different, weird, talks too much, or just plain bugs us.  Love goes well beyond 'like'. Love reaches out...love connects.  How strong is my web of love??  

FRIDAY, May 2  Awesome Belief 

1 Peter 1:17-21  MSG

You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.

18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.

     Our God is an awesome God.  So the song goes, but so the truth goes as well.  Always present, always loving with 'tough' love, and accessible to each and every one of us through the sacrifice and life of son Jesus - God incarnate.  Do we acknowledge this 'awesomeness' with our response?  Do words of thanksgiving and praise burst forth from our lips when we witness God-moments.  Do we give God the credit?   Our life should be our response, our life should be our thanksgiving, our life should be our awesome praise!   How well am I doing?  Ask the question.  Then just do it.  (Thank you Nike!)

THURSDAY, May 1   Enough

John 20:30-31 MSG

Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

     We approach the END of John's Gospel.  Basically he writes, 'I could have said more, but this is enough.  This is ALL YOU NEED to believe!'  And having made his point, he tells just one more story.  He writes one more chapter, and ends it with 'I could tell more, but.... this is all you need!'  

     But the point comes through clearly:  Everything Jesus did and said reveals his person as the Son of God.  Everything about his mortal presence on earth clearly displays that this was God personified in a way that we could understand.  Believe and we can have a life with and in God.  

     It sounds so easy.  In reality?  Belief may be easy, but living out that belief can be a real challenge.  

WEDNESDAY, April 30 Close!
John 20:27-29 VOICE

He drew close to Thomas.

Jesus: Reach out and touch Me. See the punctures in My hands; reach out your hand, and put it to My side; leave behind your faithlessness, and believe.

Thomas (filled with emotion): 28 You are the one True God and Lord of my life.

Jesus: 29 Thomas, you have faith because you have seen Me. Blessed are all those who never see Me and yet they still believe.

Jesus wants us to believe.
He wants our faith to be real.
So he shows up....again and again.
He comes to us ordinary people of doubt.
In ordinary and small ways.
Not often miraculous...
Unless we are looking for the tiny miracles of life.
And suddenly realize, 'That's God!'
And then, perhaps,
We will believe without the nail holes.
Look all around!
Jesus is closer than we think.

TUESDAY, April 29  Believe
John 20:24-25 MSG

But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”

But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”

    Faith is believing in what we cannot see.  But unless we really 'make it our own', it is meaningless.  Thomas couldn't see, the words weren't enough.  He needed to experience Jesus.  Aren't most of us the same?  Believing with a half-hearted faith until that moment when we REALLY encounter Jesus face to face?  When we realize that Jesus has dropped into our life and truly made a difference?  

An 'old' scribble, but the right text! 

     Generally the failure to have that encounter is not on the part of God.  It is often our failure to look up and realize that our Lord is right next to us, waiting for us to acknowledge his presence.  If you want to see the nail holes, open your eyes to what is already there.  And believe.  

MONDAY, April 28   PEACE

John 20:20-21  MSG

 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”

     Peace Jesus says.  The disciples are scared and frightened.  They are uncertain of the reports of a risen Lord. They are afraid of the authorities.  Life is confusing and hard.  Yet, Jesus comes among them to assure, comfort, and be a presence of peace.  But he always says, I send you.  We are to take the peace of our risen Lord beyond our own lives, outside the comfort of our own walls, and into a hurting world.  We don't get to keep the peace all to ourselves!  
     A forever love.  Forever peace.  Not a guarantee for smooth sailing, just the assurance that God will be with us through it all.    

BENEDICTION BLESSING....  (d365.org - John Woods)

Be true now in what you hold to be trustworthy;
Be honest now also when you are unsure.

In any and every case, Jesus remains
Close and steadfast with an enduring love,
A love that always shows up.

SUNDAY, April 27   Forever
INVOCATION.... (d365.org - Nick Foster)

Time may seem in short supply for you today. You hardly can take a moment to set aside for quiet and thoughtful meditation.

Take the chance, though, that God who is outside time and space can meet you in eternal ways even now.

Slow the pace of your heart in the hope of a meeting with the eternal.

Psalm 16:9-11 VOICE

This is a good life—my heart is glad, my soul is full of joy,
    and my body is at rest.
    Who could want for more?
 You will not abandon me to experience death and the grave
    or leave me to rot alone.

 Instead, You direct me on the path that leads to a beautiful life.
    As I walk with You, the pleasures are never-ending,
    and I know true joy and contentment.

     "As I walk with you, the pleasures are never-ending".  (VOICE)   "Your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever". (GNT) or The Message: "Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way".  Who COULD want for more?  A life in Christ isn't ALWAYS a picnic, there is much to be endured, but with God holding our hand, walking side by side with us, what more can we ask?  The forever of God's promise carries us through the trials, the hardships, and fills us with eternal HOPE.  

     We cannot fathom infinity.  An infinite universe, infinite time, or infinite love.  But God is forever, an infinite forever.  Perhaps we can begin to fathom a piece of that promise.  

BENEDICTION BLESSINGS....  (d365.org - Nick Foster)

Today holds promise of joy
And timeless moments of wonder.

The day may also contain disappointment
And just-get-through-them hours.

Within each moment,
The God of yesterdays
And tomorrows
Offers pleasures that are timeless,
The promise of forevermore.