Gifts

Gifts

Gifts (Photo credit: Guudmorning!)

Why do we give gifts?  For birthdays?  Just because?  Anniversaries?  Christmas?

I recently really struggled with what to give my awesome husband for his birthday.  This is a really big deal for me because gifting is my primary love language.  I really wanted to give him a new truck or motorcycle but I don’t have the money for that.  I did tell him that’s what I wanted to give him just to make him smile…He was delighted with a motorcycle print shirt, a soft eagle print sport shirt, and a hand tooled leather belt (He had worn out his favorite one.)

John 3:16-17  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.  God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.

I have received many incredible gifts over the years.  Special things designed just for me.  Yet, none so special as the gift of eternal life.  A gift that will be mine simply because I believe without question that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God.  I believe that He personally saved me and would have even if I were the only person on earth.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the incredible, undeserved gift of my Lord, Jesus Christ.  Keep me always aware of Your presence.  Grant me the peace that comes with knowing who You are and Whose I am.   Make it so!

Freedom

Many hymns are embedded with powerful truths.  One that comes to mind is a phrase in America the Beautiful that says: Oh, beautiful, for pilgrims feet, whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness.  Katherine Lee Bates who wrote these words near the turn of the 20th century (112 +/- years ago) was not only referring to settling the wilderness of this country but the wilderness of so many hearts and lives.

I can’t help but think of the many missionaries around the world whose feet are stressing (or hardening) the path (thoroughfare)  to true freedom.  Their passion is so strong they are willing to give up their entire selves to insure the freedom of just one other person.

Psalm 33:12 says: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  Imagine the power that the United States would be blessed with if we were to get rid of the other gods worshipped in this country and make Him the One and Only leader of our lives.  As another phrase of this well-known song says:  May all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine.  Oh, Lord, make it so.

Ah, Lord, God, grant us the ability to believe so passionately that we too will make our lives more about others.  Thank you for the social and political freedoms we have in America.  Help us not to take this for granted.  What a mighty God we serve.  

Home Again

Ruth 1:20-21I find it interesting when times or things get tough we want to blame it on anything or anyone around us.  This very human characteristic serves the purpose of trying to make sense of the situation by transferring the issue to another person or thing.  Naomi was so very human.  As she tried to sort out her grief she placed the blame on God by pointing her finger and saying ‘He did it’.  The NIV in verse 21b says this very thing…‘He afflicted me and He brought misfortune on me’. Then she does the very thing she needs to do.  She goes to the comfort of home.
Going home is used many times in God’s Word.  The Israelites wondered in the desert for years before returning to the home God had given them…the release of the Hebrew exiles from Babylon to return home…the prodigal…the hope of heaven…Any time a traumatic event happens to us we go through several stages.  Numbness, grief or sadness, blaming, sanctuary, and rebuilding.  In my recent time of healing, as Ray recovered from a Traumatic Brain Injury, and I tried to make sense of it, returning home each night to known comfort was necessary.  As we continue through the rebuilding we continue returning to home as our sanctuary.  Just like Naomi I returned home, whether it was my physical abode or those comforting arms of God, over and over again.  Above all I have learned, once again, to “Be still and know God”.  He alone has comforted, guided, provided, and healed.  He is my Jehovah Jirah, my Provider.
Jehovah Jirah, you have given me so much, you are there when I need anything.  All praise, honor, and glory is Your due.  You have created this beautiful summer morning just for me.  I can only say thank You!  What a Mighty God we serve.

Forgiving Others

Asking For Forgiveness
Do we have the right to be unforgiving?  Can we pick and choose who to forgive based on their perceived or actual offense?  The obvious answer for the believer is no, yet isn’t that what we do? Jesus had an answer for these questions.  He placed it at the end of what we call The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.  He very clearly says you will be forgiven by the Father if you forgive those who sin against you.  He adds you will not be forgiven by the Father if you refuse to forgive others.  So in the very words of Jesus we have no choice if we want to be forgiven by the Father.  (Well actually, we have a choice but if we want the ultimate reward of forgiveness…)

In the story of Ruth we discover that when she returned from Moab she was once again received as a member of the community.  Isn’t that interesting since God had  commanded the Israelites to have nothing to do with the Moabites (Deut. 23:3-6).  There is certainly a hidden story of forgiveness here.  Ruth and Naomi could have been rejected, ostracized, and asked to leave the community, but that didn’t happen.  Instead, a leading member of the community (Bethlehem) married Ruth (the Moabitess) and from that union came Salmon who fathered Jesse who fathered David…Even though God had clearly defined the rules for inhabiting with or aiding the Moabites He chose an obvious rule breaker (Boaz) to continue the family line toward Jesus.   He already knew Jesus’ purpose (to seek and save the lost) and planted both the lost and the Redeemed (His chosen people, Israel)  in it.

God’s Glory

 2 Cor. 3:16    I have always been under the assumption that I would see God’s Glory in heaven when I would “see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).  We see Him before that if we take the time to look.  When we come to know Jesus He lifts the veil over God’s Glory and allows us to see it…In the one who has lost a loved one  and is able to “show” God through the pain…In the one who has survived a life threatening illness and is able to tell others that God kept the fear away and allowed her to rejoice in His Power and Provision…In the parent whose child has made poor choices and as in Luke 15:11-31 waits with open arms to welcome them home…The Glory of our Lord is all around us. We need only look and listen to the stories of the People.