Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor^[g] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,^{[h] 45} that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren^[i] only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors^[j] do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (ESV)

When “Love” Feels Like a Four-Letter Word

Her name was Lisa.

I HATED that girl…with a passion. But she hated me first.

Even though I was only seven years old, I will never forget how much she ruined my fun when she showed up. I detested the sound of her voice.

But there was this one time we both temporarily lost our minds, and we decided to try to be friends. It lasted a couple of days, but we couldn’t hold the hatred back. It ended with her spewing ugly words my way, and me smacking her across the face. (And running away…)

There was NO way I was going to show her love; it wasn’t a thought in my mind. She was just too mean.

Lisa was my enemy.

If you have ever been suffocated by the emotion of hate, then you know “loving enemies” is easier said than done. Love goes against all that is naturally in us, and we are incapable of doing it.

And that is exactly what Christ came to prove. That we CAN’T fulfill the law. At least not without His presence in our lives….

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As seen on the Ask God Today Ministries “Way In” Challenge!

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Photo Credit: Creation Swap, Love, Reinhard Komanapalli

Happy DIFFERENT Year!

The Possibility of an INSTANT “Fresh Start!”

James 13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (ESV)

Clean Sheet New Year’s Syndrome

New Year’s excitement is a little comical to me, but I get it.

We are just like that kindergartener with the “Clean Sheet Syndrome.” He messes up his paper and then asks the teacher for a new one. He’s so excited about the “fresh start” the clean sheet offers. And we get excited too-except we love the fresh start a whole New Year offers.

It’s almost like we need an annual excuse to declare a fresh start. (As if Mondays aren’t enough…) But if we’re honest, the opportunity the New Year offers really happens every day…every moment, even.

Because “New Year’s” day? It’s just a “Different” day, though not much different from any other new day.

Sure, the calendar says it’s a “New Year”. BUT. We have to look no further than the renewal we have in Christ to begin again afresh.

And if we are alive one more second it is reason enough to begin anew celebrating the Creator who makes it all possible.

I Could Be “Vaporized” Today

It’s funny to me how people look ahead to this New Year as if we will actually be here for the whole thing!

As we are mapping out all of the dreams we plan to accomplish for the year, we need to realize that we might not make it through today-or even beyond this moment.

And don’t get me wrong-looking ahead is good as long as it is balanced with the words of James-“If the Lord wills we will do this or that.” And if we are doing “this or that” according to the Lord’s will, we can’t go wrong! (Read this-fo’ REAL! 2 Cor 5:17-20)

Let’s face facts-our lives “are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” That is a sobering thought. If we live like we might be “vaporized” today-like today is our last day on earth- I guarantee that will change the way we do things!

If that isn’t a renewed focus, I don’t know what is!

That Moment We Forget about the Wonder of Christ

We fall face-first into the mundane so easily.

We forget the awe and wonder-the sheer AMAZINGNESS-that our bodies are living, breathing, and thinking creations made FOR God. And just like that! (Insert finger snapping sound ->here<-) we need something to jolt us back into a vigor for life that we already possess if we are in Christ.

Though the New Year is the grand pappy of all fresh starts to renew that vigor, honestly, that is a looong time to wait to re-charge if we fail in the first week, or even the first DAY!!

But what if we decided to look at each moment of our lives as an opportunity to honor God? What if we intended to devote everything we do as an act of worship to HIM?

Our focus could be INSTANTLY renewed. And truth be told, our focus is in CONSTANT need of tweaking!! (Read this, too! 2 Cor. 5:15)

So when things get fuzzy and murky this year (TODAY), and we are tempted to ask God for a proverbial “clean sheet,” let’s reset our thinking to believe that we don’t have to wait until Monday or the New Year to make a change. We can renew our focus and have a fresh start any time we need it…every minute of every day.

And we don’t need to flip a page in a new calendar for that rekindling! We simply need to flip through a few pages of the word of truth for INSTANT renewal!

Happy DIFFERENT Year to you!!

Photo Credit: Creation Swap, Kelly Sikkema, Messed Up

The Gift With The Power to Shut Christmas DOWN!

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I was on Facebook and then I saw it.  My face burned hot with indignation after I read this comment:

“These kids might not have a Christmas if they don’t get presents.”

I stopped in my tracks at that one. I really did. The kids “Might not have a Christmas??”  “If they don’t get presents??”  REALLY??

Please don’t think I am trying to be insensitive. I’m not. I do understand the sentiment behind the comment. But in this annual cultural war over the criteria for what it means to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, those words struck a nerve with me.

As I peeled back the layers of that statement, I concluded that a person who truly understands Christmas wouldn’t be comfortable saying such a thing.

And then in a moment, my initial feeling of indignation quickly melted into pity and compassion for this person. The thoughts that formed these words are a dip stick of what is inside her heart. And that is heartbreaking.

The Disappearing Christmas

She concluded Christmas will not exist if gifts do not exist.  But quite honestly, she is completely correct to a point. Ultimately, there really is one gift that could shut down Christmas quicker than a wink should it turn up missing.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God freely presents Christ and His atoning work to us as a gift. And Christmas is a remembrance of the momentous birth that set a chain of events into motion leading all the way to Cross. (Romans 5:10) Apart from the power of Christ’s cleansing sacrifice on our lives, we stand as enemies of God facing His wrath. That is seriously bad news.

But here’s the Good News-if we trust in all Christ accomplished on our behalf, then God declares us NOT GUILTY! And instead of being enemies of God, we are grafted into His family as sons and daughters!

HOLD. THE. PHONE.

Did you catch that??

THAT is an AWESOME gift.  Unspeakable, even…and guess what? You can’t buy it, and then wrap up real pretty-like to place under the tree!

Conclusion??

If we base whether or not Christmas comes by the existence of physical gifts under the tree, then we actually negate the GREATEST GIFT OF ALL!

And that means if Christ is all we have, NOTHING will be under the tree Christmas morning. But it is enough. I know one thing-If you take Christ from me, I really will have NOTHING no matter how many presents you try to give me!

WE Might Not Have a Christmas If…

So, rewind…let’s look at that statement again.

“These kids might not have a Christmas if…”

Think it over.  How would you finish that statement? Here’s how I finish this statement for myself as I think of my own family-

These kids might not have a Christmas if:

*I don’t teach them that God is Creator of all things and He made them for HIS glory;

*I don’t show them that Jesus is more valuable than anything on this earth, and then endeavor to live it out (though imperfectly) because it is a reality in my heart;

*I don’t tell them the Christmas story in some part everyday/often so they understand CHRIST is really important;

*I don’t let them know that our merciful and gracious God shared THE greatest gift that could ever be given!

These kids will not have a Christmas if I don’t teach them that the GOSPEL is the TRUE reason for Christmas!

So Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Now (and all the year though!)

Even if we have just one gift, twenty gifts or no gifts under the tree, we should always celebrate this: Christ is living and dying proof that God is in the business of loving His people and changing our hearts!!

That is EXCITING and MIRACULOUS!!

This Christmas, REJOICE that God sent a baby born in a manger to be the Savior who died on a tree as an atoning sacrifice for all nations!

You will NEVER find that under a tree no matter how hard you look!

So, get outta here and have a GREAT BIG MERRY Christmas!

Photo Credit: Creation Swap, Lights on Cross, Matt Grueber

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This is a story from Thanksgiving that was posted on Ask God Today!

I hope it will be an encouragement to you!

A Blessing to SoMEone!

Proverbs 11:25: Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. (ESV)

I never expected to be so blessed. I just wanted to be a blessing.

I got a call from my husband a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. While he was studying and preparing for his sermon, his heart became heavy with grief at the thought of people with nowhere to go for the holiday. We knew the Spirit of God was calling him to plan a Thanksgiving dinner as an outreach in our community. So we did it.

Thanksgiving Day arrived and so did the people. There was a TON of food, but only a handful of people. But that was just how it was meant to be. Because if we had as many attend as we expected, or even hoped for, I never would have met Laton and Louise—the “L and L crew” as they called themselves. And I never would have been so blessed and “enriched” by talking with this sweet couple who loved the Lord.

After everyone was served, I sat down with my girls at a table next to Laton and Louise. We struck up a conversation.

“Laton, L-A-T-O-N, never heard a name like that, have you?” is how he introduced himself. I turned to his wife and asked her name. “Louise,” she said. “Sixty-five years together,” said Laton; “most people today count up all the years they have been married each time and then add all of ‘em together!”

I giggled. And I pondered…

Sixty-five years. What a history. More than that, it was a lifetime of memories, lessons and wisdom. And God put me there in that room in a conversation with them.

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Photo Credit: Creation Swap, Flowers, Marian Trinidad

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Linking up this Tuesday at#TellHisStory over with Jennifer Dukes Lee! 😊 http://jenniferdukeslee.com/the-one-principle-that-can-save-your-thanksgiving-your-life-tellhisstory/

Is There a “Grace Card” Left For The 9 Pakistani School Shooters?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“At a city hospital, staffers laid out a row of children’s bodies as armed guards stood over a pile of small wooden coffins.”

That shooting in Pakistan yesterday?

It makes my guts ache deep inside.

I have three kids, and this tragedy forces me to see my babies’ faces on the bodies that lie as scattered corpses. My heart hurts more deeply than I even have heart to hurt. I believe it is the Spirit of Christ within me stirring me to understand HIS hurt for the blackness in this world.

The fact that a human could spray an arena with thousands of bullets, is indeed mind boggling. But spilling the blood of innocent kids? Oh, that crosses the imaginary line we humans have made that takes a crime from awful to inexcusable.  

Judge Not

If up to us, many would dispense a permanent indictment to these 9 who came and issued a warrant of terror in that school.

“Only a crazy, sick person would do such a thing.”

“What evil people to go after children!”

“Those people should taste their own medicine.”

Comments like these pass judgment on these thieves of life-people want justice for what they did. And if it depended on us, grace would likely be the last thing on our minds…

Yes, it was heartless. It was vile, wicked, reprehensible and horrendous on so many levels.

I think of the person who would slip a cold, minister of darkness between his palms. What manner of a human could touch the trigger releasing messengers of death to pierce the delicate skin of youth and vitality? Who could deliver personalized, fatal shots to the head of another, repeatedly?

What kind of person could be so pompous and vain to ordain an end to lives that he didn’t create? Who could violate the greatest law known to man, established by God Himself?

I could. So could you.

Going the Distance

As soon as we distance ourselves from “criminals” we lose our grip on grace. In an instant, when forgiveness becomes so far removed from our minds, we forget that is the very thing that set us apart to begin with.

Were we there at the school committing that terrible act yesterday? Of course not. But we are human and sinful by nature.

We are capable of the worst possible violations of God’s commands. We have to believe that, or compassion dies right alongside these children and teachers.

Is the road to forgiveness or compassion easy? NO. Not a chance. We have to labor into such rest. And labor HURTS.

I just don’t want to see us become so far removed from the human condition that WE ALL suffer from, and somehow think we are above these 9 men.

We aren’t above any of it.

Think the Unthinkable

Just as unthinkable as the shooting of yesterday was for us, it is equally as unthinkable that wicked people could be washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God.

God is just and apart from Christ the wrath of God abides on us. ALL of us.

BUT. If we are in Christ, we are clothed in His grace. NOTHING we have to offer could attain it. EVER. And if in Christ, God wants us to be instruments and ministers of that grace. Even when it’s hard.

It would be so easy to be a Jonah, here. There are so many reasons that we could exalt in our minds to convince us to withhold compassion. 145 of them, to be exact.

The parents, family and friends of those lost yesterday need the warm blanket of God’s grace to make sense of this terrible mess. They need it to get them through the pain of loss.

And these 9 men? They need it just as much.

Today, think the unthinkable. Put yourself in the room with those 9 men. Imagine that maybe, you were one of them. Because as bad as you think they are, we all stand guilty before a righteous judge with the blood of rebellion against our God dripping from our hands.

Now, praise God for His grace!

God’s grace is sufficient. Even for the worst we can conceive of.

So, pull the “grace card” today. And NEVER forget that there was one left for you.

Photo Credit:  Creation Swap, Mountain Christian, Burning Questions,

Mehsud, Ihsanullah Tipu, and Salman Masood. “Pakistani Taliban Attack on Peshawar School Leaves 145 Dead.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Dec. 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.