Monday, September 28, 2015

Psalm 19:14 (NRSV): Daily Offering

Psalm 19:14 (NRSV): Daily Offering


“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”


When we sync what we say with how we feel, the world is right in many ways, and our lives are more truthful. When our thoughts and feelings are rooted in Christ, our actions reflect peace and love for others. In this verse, David prays for the grace that his every word and meditation be pleasing to God.  As we venture into our week, let us ask God to bless every word and thought we offer to the world and that it bring Him glory.

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  

Stan

Sunday, September 20, 2015

John 3:16-17 (GNT): God's Love

John 3:16-17 (GNT): God's Love

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.

These verses are the most well-known words in all of Scripture.  But what is Jesus saying to Nicodemus, a Pharisee too worried about what his peers think?

  1. God loves us unconditionally.  For we are made in His image and likeness, but after the fall in Eden, we need to be redeemed.  Our moment of redemption is at hand in the only Son.
  2. We must truly turn our hearts over to Christ in faith, not a faith of physicality and miracles, but a faith of trust and total surrender to God.
  3. Eternal life is found in Christ, not the world.
  4. Christ did not come into the world to judge us.  Jesus took on human flesh to save us.

Let us commit ourselves, in faith, to the love and mercy Jesus our Redeemer and celebrate the gift of God’s grace that is the genesis of our faith.  As we go into the world this week, let us serve others knowing we bear the love and light of Christ in our hearts.

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  

Stan

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Hebrews 11:1 (GNT): Faith

Hebrews 11:1 (GNT): Faith

“To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.”

This verse and the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews are a powerful reminder of the surety of our hope in Christ, and the certainty of the blessings and graces we sometimes cannot see.  Let us look around our world and in faith count the wonderful blessings that surround us daily, especially our families, the spectacular kids we serve, and the wonderful people with whom we work.  


May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  

Stan

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Isaiah 58:6-7 (NIV): Advocating for the Mistreated

Isaiah 58:6-7 (NIV): Advocating for the Mistreated

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

When reading the above Old Testament passage, we cannot help but recall Christ’s words in Matthew 25: 35-36 (NIV):

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

The prophet Isaiah, in the above passage, communicates God’s expectation of true fasting and genuine sacrifice.  Denying ourselves food and forgoing chocolate or coffee tends to be our vision of sacrifice and happens quite often during Lent, but God through His prophet and Jesus in the Gospel are getting at something much greater: loving our neighbor as ourselves by advocating for the mistreated. We simply cannot sit in “sackcloth and ashes” or starve ourselves and expect miracles to happen.  God uses us in very real, tangible ways to reach out to each other, especially those in need.

Recently, I listened to a TED talk given by former president Jimmy Carter.  President Carter spoke about a topic that stirred my emotions, the mistreatment of women and girls throughout the world. As both a father and husband, my heart grew aflame at his message.  What he says is true not only in countries like Egypt and Africa, but in our own backyards. Women are unequally treated, victimized, and abused, more often in the name of male-dominated misinterpretation of religious texts. President carter states the following:

I can tell you without any equivocation that the number one abuse of human rights on Earth is, strangely, not addressed quite often, is the abuse of women and girls. . . There are a couple of reasons for this ... First of all is the misinterpretation of religious scriptures, holy scriptures, in the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament, Quran ..., and these have been misinterpreted by men who are now in the ascendant positions in the synagogues and the churches and in the mosques. And they interpret these rules to make sure that women are ordinarily relegated to a secondary position compared to men in the eyes of God.

President Carter, as a human rights activist, embodies what God demands through the prophet Isaiah, and what Christ calls for in the Gospel, to love others with a severe and devoted heart, especially those who are marginalized and unjustly treated. Let us follow God’s command and President Carter's example, for this is “the kind of fasting [God has] chosen.”

May you all be blessed and encouraged in the love and peace of Christ.  

Stan