FAITH IN THE FACE OF PERPLEXITY

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Faith in the Face of Perplexity

There are many things that we don’t understand. There are even things that our Lord keeps from us. He tells us that he has His secrets (Deut. 29:29). Strangely, He sometimes even withholds words of comfort.

Abraham knew that it wasn’t going to fair well for Sodom. God was going to judge that city and the surrounding ones that had so utterly rebelled against His truth. However, Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family lived in Sodom, so Abraham interceded for Sodom with Yahweh:

• “What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?” (Gen. 18:24)

God agreed that He wouldn’t. However, Abraham wanted to make sure that Yahweh wouldn’t destroy Sodom, and so he tried to reduce the minimum number of righteous down to 10:

• Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"

To Abraham’s great relief, Yahweh consented that if there were 10 righteous in Sodom, He wouldn’t destroy the city. However, Abraham’s hopes were dashed:

• Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. (Gen. 19:27-28)

Sodom and the surrounding towns had been utterly consumed! There weren’t even 10 righteous! However, we have no indication that Abraham ever learned that God had spared Lot and his family. The Bible records no further communication between them. Instead, it seems that after the horrific sight of Sodom’s destruction, Abraham pulled up his stakes and moved out of the area (Gen. 20:1-2) to the land of Gerar, where his faith once again lapsed.

It doesn’t seem that God had given him any indication that his prayer for Lot had been answered, despite Sodom’s destruction.

Why didn’t God ever engineer a joyous reunion between Lot and Abraham? Why hadn’t God informed Abraham of His faithfulness? The secret things belong to God, and therefore, there are many questions we can’t answer.

How then was Abraham able to continue walking in faith in view of a God who seemingly brought such tragedy upon his small and dwindling family? Could he trust such a God for his own life? Evidently, he felt he couldn’t. Despite the fact that God had promised that Sarah would give birth to their promised son next year, Abraham bowed to fear and allowed the King of Gerar to take Sarah for his wife.

However, God was faithful and miraculously restored Sarah to her husband Abraham, and Isaac was born as promised.

It was clear that Abraham wasn’t able to understand all of God’s ways. However, he was learning that God is faithful. Consequently, about 10-15 years later, we find a courageous Abraham. He now believed in his God to the extent that he was even willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s bequest.

It is the faithfulness of God that enables us to live with perplexity. However, there is another important piece in the puzzle of living by faith in the midst of great loss and perplexity.

Job had lost everything – family, friends, financial resources, and even his physical well-being. Understandably, he charged God with injustice and unfaithfulness. However, God finally challenged Job’s indictments:

• Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. (Job 38:1-3)

Job couldn’t answer even one of God’s many questions. Job learned a humiliating lesson. He now understood that his understanding was very limited, so limited that, he had no basis to bring charges against God. Job, therefore, repented profusely:

• "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more." (Job 40:4-5)

• "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:2-6)

We too speak of things we don’t understand. We fail to see the entire picture. Our problem is that we think we have a wisdom when we really don’t.

Ironically, it is this blind self-confidence that causes us harm. Because we are convinced that we do understand, when we really don’t, we too bring indictments against God, cause ourselves unnecessary grief, and even shipwreck our faith.

There is much that I cannot understand. My dear and faithful friend, hearing voices and suffering from paranoia, recently took his life. I cried out to God, “How could You have allowed such a thing to happen. You could have healed him!” Lacking the bigger picture, I brought my own indictments against God.

Jesus had received word from Mary that her brother Lazarus was dying and that He should come. However, Jesus purposely delayed two days, allowing Lazarus to die. He could have merely spoken a word and Lazarus would have been healed, but He didn’t.

·        So then he told them [His disciples] plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (John 11:14-15)

However, Mary was perplexed that Jesus had delayed and charged, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). However, this death had a happy ending. Lazarus was raised up and many believed and faith restored.

However, many of us are still waiting for our Lazarus to be raised, and we see no indication that this will happen. We have signed our indictments, filed our charges, and they remain unanswered. Consequently, we are tortured by doubts, regrets, anxiety, and bitterness. We do not see any possible resurrection; none is in sight. Trust is our only light, but it seems to have died along with Lazarus.

However, after laying out her charge against Jesus, Mary cried out in faith:

·        But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." (John 11:22).

I trust that my precious friend is with our ever-gracious Savior. Nevertheless, I don’t understand why He allowed this to happen, but I am confident that He has his reasons!

·        Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

STAYING PURE

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Staying pure

"How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you — don't let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

Psalm 119:9-11 NLT

Piling on

In the game of football it's called "piling on": You're already down when suddenly you get pummeled again by your opponent. In real life it's called spiritual warfare, and it's often disguised. You're suffering through a hard time when suddenly the enemy comes at you with what actually looks like relief.

Ah, how vulnerable we are in such moments! After all I've had to endure lately, I think I deserve a little break! How easy it is to rationalize! Would it really be so wrong for me to ________? Why not?

Of course, this is the nature of temptation. On the front end, sin looks "heavenly." On the back side, it is always hellish and makes bad situations worse.

Our only hope is in living out the promise that God's Word can keep us from sin. By filling our hearts and minds with the truth of God's Word, we are able to recognize the enemy's lies. That is how we stay pure in hard, tempting times (see Matthew 4:1-11). It is how we avoid Satan's deceptive attempts to hit us again when we're down.

Praying God's Promise:
God, when I hide your Word in my heart, I can keep from sinning! Grant me the wisdom to seek you and to hide your Word in my heart. I need discernment to apply your truth to everyday situations, especially when I am going through difficult times.

from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 170-71

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

COME TO YOUR SENSES

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Come to your senses

"When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger!"

Luke 15:17 NLT

Resisting forbidden fruit

"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first volume of C. S. Lewis's famous Chronicles of Narnia series, which features four British children during World War II who are magically transported into the world of Narnia. There they are given the heroic task of helping to undo the curse cast by an evil witch, which has kept the land frozen in a perpetual winter.

Soon after arriving in Narnia, Edmund is separated from the other children and encounters the White Witch. She offers him a magical candy that he finds addicting; eating it puts him under her power. With deadly accuracy Lewis paints a picture of the way sin affects us. It doesn't announce itself as sin; it draws us in with something that seems pleasant and comforting but becomes addictive, blinding us to what is good and attracting us to what is evil.

The charms of the magical candy eventually wear off. The turning point comes when Edmund is finally moved to compassion for someone besides himself. The story echoes the parable of the lost son, who succumbs to sin and then comes to his senses, repents, and returns home to his overjoyed father."

adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 625-26

With the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe available, now is a good time to read this classic tale and some of the many helpful books about it, including Walking Through the Wardrobe by Sarah Arthur (Tyndale, 2005)

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHAT'S WRONG WITH A LITTLE PLAGIARISM?

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

What's wrong with a little plagiarism?

"I hate and abhor all falsehood, but I love your law."

Psalm 119:163 NLT

Kidnapping of the Brainchild

"In an essay for Time magazine, Lance Morrow writes about "kidnapping the brainchild":

book critic for a newspaper plagiarized an old essay of mine. Someone sent the thing to me. There on the page, under another man's name, my words had taken up a new life — clause upon clause, whole paragraphs transplanted. My phrases ambled along dressed in the same meanings.…It argued and whistled and waved to friends. It acted very much at home. My sentences had gone over into a parallel universe, which was another writer's work.…The thoughts were mine, all right. But they were tricked up as another man's inner life, a stranger's…

The Commandments warn against stealing, against bearing false witness, against coveting. Plagiarius is kidnapper in Latin. The plagiarist snatches the writer's brainchildren, pieces of his soul…

The only charming plagiarism belongs to the young. Schoolchildren shovel information out of an encyclopedia. Gradually they complicate the burglary, taking two or three reference books instead of one. The mind (still on the wrong side of the law) then deviously begins to intermingle passages, reshuffle sentences, disguise raw chunks from the Britannica, find synonyms, reshape information until it becomes something like the student's own. A writer, as Saul Bellow has said, "is a reader moved to emulation." Knowledge transforms theft. An autonomous mind emerges from the sloughed skin of the plagiarist."

Lance Morrow, "Kidnapping the Brainchild,", Time, 3 December 1990, 126. Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale) p 133

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

A FRIEND IN NEED

A FRIEND IN NEED

READ:

1 John 3:11-18

My little children, let us not

love in word or in tongue,

but in deed and truth.

-1 John 3:18

Not long ago my wife, Janet and I bought a quantity of beef from a friend who raised cattle on a small farm.  It was less expensive than meat from a grocery store, and we put it in the freezer to use throughout the coming months.

Then a terrible lightning storm cut power throughout our area.  For the first 24 hours we were confident that the freezer would keep the meat frozen.  But when the second day came with still no word of getting our power back, we began to be concerned.

We contacted Ted, a member of our Bible-study group, to see if he had any advice.  He canceled an appointment he had and showed up at our doorstep with a generator to provide power for the freezer.  We were thankful that Ted helped us, and we knew it was because of his love for Christ.

The old saying “a friend in need is a friend indeed” took on a new meaning for us.  John reminds us in 1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”  Sometimes this means inconveniencing ourselves to care for the interest of others or receiving that help when we ourselves are in need.  After all Christ has done for us, it’s a blessing to be His hands and feet in loving one another. –Dennis Fisher

Father, thank You for making me a part of Your

family by giving Your Son Jesus for me.  Help me

to accept the care of others and also to serve them

out of gratitude and out of my love for You.

******************************************

When we love Christ, we love others.

INSIGHT

Christians are hated (v.13) because the world is at war against God (John 15:23-24; Romans 5:10; 8:7).  Jesus explained that this is so because the world hated Him first and because Christians are not of this world (John 15:18-19; 17:14).  This is consistent with similar warnings He gave to His disciples (Matthew 10:22; 24:9).  Those who live godly and holy lives will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).  But we can take comfort in Jesus’ promises of victory (John 16:33) and in the knowledge that those who are mistreated because of Him will be blessed (Matthew 5:11-12).

Have a blessed day and week ahead.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace  

EXPOSING HYPOCRISY

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Exposing hypocrisy

"But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves."

Romans 1:18 NLT

The Lord hates those who don't keep their word, but he delights in those who do.

Proverbs 12:22 NLT

One day, we'll all "face the music"

"The expression "face the music" originated in Japan. One man in the imperial orchestra couldn't play a note, but as a person of great influence and wealth, he demanded to be given a seat; he wanted the emperor to see him "perform." The conductor agreed to let the man sit in the second row. He was handed a flute, and when a concert began, he'd raise his instrument, pucker his lips, and move his fingers. He went through all the motions of playing but never made a sound. His deception continued for two years.

Then a new conductor took over. He told the orchestra that he would audition each player personally. One by one the musicians performed in his presence. At last came this flutist's turn. Frantic with worry, he pretended to be sick — but his lies caught up with him. The doctor who examined him declared him perfectly fine. Finally the pretender had to admit he was fake. He couldn't face the music.

Ready or not, all of us will one day face the music. We will all appear before the Lord, without masks and without deception. Better that we show our true faces to the world now than have someone ask on that day, "Who was that unmasked man?"

from Breakfast with Jesus by Greg Laurie (Tyndale) pp 149-50

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

TIME FOR A CHANGE

TIME FOR A CHANGE

READ:

Genesis 12:1-8

There he built an altar to the

LORD and called on the name

of the LORD.  –Genesis 12:8

Many believers long to spend daily time with God, praying and reading His Word.  Ironically, they are often distracted by a busy schedule.  Frustrations mount as busyness seems to crowd out an opening in their schedule.

Oswald  Chambers has wisely commented on the transforming power of even 5 minutes in the presence of the Lord.  Indeed, even a short time spent in intercession and the Word still has great value:  “It is not the thing on which we spend the most time that molds us, but the thing that exerts the greatest power.  Five minutes with God and His Word is worth more than all the rest of the day.”  Now, it may sound like Chambers has made an overstatement.  Yet powerful results can come from even a short time of prayer, because God is powerful.

Sometimes our days are filled with busy demands that crowd out time spent in listening to and responding to God.  But no matter where we are, any time taken to build our own spiritual “altar” to the Lord as Abram did (Genesis 12:8) opens the door to His transforming power.  If you are having trouble establishing a time with God, you could start with just 5 minutes and see where it leads.  Our God longs to meet with us and show His power in our lives. –Dennis Fisher

Lord, it’s amazing to me that you, almighty God,

would want to spend time with me!  Thank You.

I stumble with my words at times but am in awe of

You.  Thank You that You want to hear from me.

Talk with God-HE wants to hear your heart.

INSIGHT

Genesis 12 tells of Abram’s call to follow God to a land his descendants would inherit.  The main purpose of the call is seen in verse 3:  “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  The fulfillment of this blessing would come through Jesus, who would provide redemption for all who believe.

Have a blessed day and weekend.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

DISEMBODIED "TRUTH": SELF-FORGIVENESS

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Disembodied “Truth”: Self-Forgiveness

I ask people, “How do you handle your guilt?” One friend – an atheist – confessed:

• I have rejected the idea of freewill. This has done wonders for my guilt feelings!

However, this comes at the price of denying what is patently obvious – that we make freewill choices all the time, and society holds us morally responsible for them. A young, New Age woman responded:

• I’ve learned to forgive myself. That works for me. Evidently, it doesn’t work for you. Religion is your answer, and that’s okay!

Both of these answers represent disembodied solutions, alienated from both evidence and broader worldview considerations. In contrast, the Houston Baptist professor Micah Mattix attempts to embody truth into the context of our lives:

• Does anyone who has taken a humanities course at a secular college or university in the past 10 years doubt that instead of teaching us who we are, many humanities courses teach that identity is constructed; that instead of teaching the classical and cardinal virtues, they recommend the self-serving virtues of moral relativism and egalitarianism; and that instead of helping students to become better husbands, wives, and citizens, the real focus is on making them more autonomous.

Moral relativism is the idea that in the absence of moral absolutes, we are not morally responsible to anyone. By granting us moral autonomy, moral relativism has alienated us from family, friends and even society. Instead, we have gloriously become “captains of our own ship” and have nothing to show for it but shipwrecked marriages and communities.

Self-forgiveness is a child of moral relativism. When we deny objective, higher moral truth – the law that transcends our own thoughts – forgiveness becomes relegated to emotional self-management. There is no consideration of whether or not I’ve committed a moral wrong that needs to be addressed. Instead, it’s all about managing my guilty feelings.

Let’s do a thought experiment. A wife discovers that her husband has been cheating on her. However, when confronted, he responds by merely saying, “Well, I’ve forgiven myself, and now I feel okay about it!”

This response represents a denial of any real guilt or of any need to address a real and destructive moral transgression. It disembodies the denier, not only from his marriage, but also from the truth that he has committed an objective moral wrong.

Such an understanding of guilt can justify anything. Hitler also could practice self-forgiveness, and why not, if there isn’t any higher moral order.

Interestingly, this way of looking at things doesn’t even work, at least, not for long. This is the strategy promoted by secular psychotherapists. It comes in many forms and always represents a form of self-stimulation or masturbation. We are told to:

• “Love yourself…Believe in yourself… Trust yourself…Imagine yourself as a infant and surround yourself with hugs…Give yourself what your parents failed to give you…Forgive yourself…”

Although these admonitions do address real needs, they ultimately fail to scratch the itch – the need to feel okay about ourselves. They are short-sighted and disembodied from the rest of our lives and moral truth.

Instead, we are so constructed that there is no substitute for the genuine forgiveness that comes from another human being. This of course is the real thing and not the masturbatory process of self-forgiveness.

When our eye observes a car heading towards us, what we experience is not merely a bio-chemical reaction we call “vision.” It’s that and more! What we see also represents an external reality. Therefore, we must deal appropriately with this reality or the reality will deal painfully with us!

Perhaps our moral sense also alerts us to external danger – the danger inherent in doing wrong. And perhaps our wrongdoing not only hurts the other person but also the One who wired us to know when we have done wrong. If this is so, this breach must be addressed. Not doing this would be like driving without paying the slightest attention to what our eyes tell us.

There is a great joy and freedom in knowing that our Savior has forgiven and cleansed us from the guilt of our sin. The alternative is costly self-preoccupation – ceaselessly waving the wand of self-forgiveness that can never drive the guilt away. Instead:

• He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

I have been greatly blessed by His mercy!

WHY DO WE LIE?

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

Why do we lie?

"There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception.

Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God."

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. …

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what happened. Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?"

"Yes," she replied, "that was the price."

And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this — conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too.…"

Acts 5:1-9 NLT

Holding back

"The sin Ananias and Sapphira committed was not stinginess or holding back part of their money; they were free to choose whether or not to sell the land and how much to give. Their sin was lying to God and God's people by saying they gave the whole amount while they were holding some back for themselves, trying to make themselves appear more generous than they really were. This act was judged harshly because dishonesty and covetousness are destructive in a church, preventing the Holy Spirit from working effectively."

from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 949

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT A LITTLE LIE?

Today's promise: Lies will be exposed

What's so bad about a little lie?

"Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed."

Proverbs 11:17 NLT

About this week's promise:

"Lying is deceiving someone. It can be direct — "I didn't touch that cake" (as you swallow the last bite) — or it can be indirect, such as telling only part of the truth when it benefits you to do so. But to fall short of truth, in any way, is to lie.

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). Pilate had the answer to his question standing before him, in person. "I am the way, the truth and the life," Jesus said on another occasion (John 14:6).

Think of it! Jesus not only tells the truth, he is truth. We cannot follow the God of truth while we persistently tell lies — even "small" ones. Determine to tell the truth in all matters of life, big or small.¹

---

Lying is the basic fault line in the foundation of the soul, putting all the superstructure in jeopardy. All the believability a person has, his very integrity, totters on the shifting sand of one lie. Deceit holds hostage all other virtues.

Robertson C. McQuilken²

¹from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 1230

²quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R Kent Hughes (Tyndale) pp 272

For more thoughts on this week's topic, check out these Tyndale resources:

The Good Life by Charles Colson (2005)
Lies That Go Unchallenged in Popular Culture by Charles Colson (2005)

Lies That Go Unchallenged in Media & Government by Charles Colson (2005)

The Way I See It by Tim Baker - for Teens (2005)"

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHY DOES GOD SEEM TO CARE MORE ABOUT WHAT WE BELIEVE THAN WHAT WE DO?

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Why Does God seem to Care more about what we Believe than what we Do?

God is often indicted because He sanctions deathbed conversions. The logic goes like this:

• It is not fair for God to excuse a mass murderer on his deathbed by virtue of a mere confession of sin, while condemning many good people who haven’t repented.

This “logic” suggests that God is unjust in valuing a confession over a life of good deeds. However, there is another way to understand this. Imagine a son who habitually robbed, disgraced, and maligned his parents. He then stole a large sum and left them. What would the parents want most:

• Reparations from the son? (This would not restore the relationship and would minimize the extent of the wrong.)

• The return of the son? (A return would merely invite more problems without a change of heart.)

• To hear reports that the son had done well and had earned a doctorate? (This might merely make it easier for the son to justify his conduct and leave the underlying problems unaddressed.)

Instead, any reconciliation would have to include a sincere and humble confession of sin. Only this would provide a foundation for hope and a real reconciliation. Of course, a sincere confession necessarily includes a determination to change (repentance), and this determination, if real, will produce results.

It is not that God disdains or minimizes a changed life. However, He knows that a changed life must be based on a changed (converted) heart. If not, it will be based on self-righteousness and the arrogance that always follows.

Jesus told a parable – the Parable of the Prodigal Son – showing what happens when our personhood is based on self-righteousness, the performance of good deeds. It produces arrogance and contempt for others (also Luke 18:9-14).

The prodigal son had lived in a way that disgraced his father (Luke 15). However, when the son repentantly returned, the father received him with joy and celebration. Meanwhile, the older son, convinced of his own righteousness, moral superiority, and lack of need of any mercy, resented his wayward brother and rejected his father’s overtures to join the celebration. He was convinced that he was too deserving to humble himself to rejoice with his repentant brother.

For many, this parable is deeply troubling. We tend to identify with the older son and feel that it was unjust for the father to celebrate the return of the prodigal in such an extravagant way. This is only because we are convinced of our moral superiority and entitlement!

But perhaps we are morally superior and therefore more deserving? However, not according to Jesus! Instead, we live in the deepest denial, always ready to judge others but unwilling to see that we are only superficially different (Mat. 7:1-5). Consequently, salvation is humanly impossible even for the “best” of us (Mat. 19:26). Consistent with this fact, Jesus informed the religious leadership that the mercy of God, through faith in Him, was their only hope (John 8:24; 6:29).

Real change must begin from the inside (Mat. 23:26). We must be born again (John 3:3-5). Anything short of this represents an unwillingness to engage the truth about oneself and an entitlement mentality.

What am I Worth and who Determines it?

Responding to the way our culture exalts its ideal images of the attractive and sexy, one female commentator responded:

• Every woman is beautiful!

Actually, I agree. It’s not so much because every woman is physically beautiful, but rather because each woman is endowed by her Creator with an inalienable inner female beauty that no amount of aging can diminish.

I therefore wondered how this commentator could justify her secular assertion. Did she have physical beauty in mind? If so, I don’t see how she could make such a case. Physical beauty fades! Did she have inner beauty/character in mind? If so, it is patently obvious that some women have a more winsome character than others.

However, the Bible teaches that what we are transcends human appraisal and our comparative assessments. However this worth is an invisible worth that perhaps only God sees. It is only on here that we are freed from the ruthless assessments of society, the clawing opinions of others.

Without this freedom, we remain enslaved, co-dependent, and undermined by the way others treat us and confirm value upon us.

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT LOSING YOUR FAITH?

Today's promise: God has conquered all our enemies

Are you concerned about losing your faith?

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, 'For your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.') No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39 NLT

We are God's People

"We are not babes in the woods — we are God's people and, no matter how it looks now, we are going to inherit this earth and rule it. The devil may be prince of this world, but the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and He will set up His kingdom and His people will be in charge of it."

Vance Havner

Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes (Tyndale House) p 420

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

GOD HAS OTHER PLANS

GOD HAS OTHER PLANS

READ:

1 Peter 1:1-9

A man’s heart plans his

way, but the LORD directs

his steps. -Proverbs 16:9

My friend Linda grew up planning to become a medical missionary.  She loves the Lord and wanted to serve Him as a doctor by taking the gospel to sick people in parts of the world where medical care is hard to find.  But God had other plans.  Linda has indeed become a medical missionary, but not the way she expected.

At age 14, Linda developed a chronic health problem that required her to be hospitalized for major surgery several times a year.  She survived bacterial meningitis that left her in a coma for 2 weeks and blind for 6 months.  She once celebrated two birthdays in a row in the hospital-without going home in between.  She has had several experiences when she was not expected to live.  But yet Linda is the most vibrant, grateful, and cheerful person you will ever meet.  She once told me that her mission field, as she hoped and planned, is the hospital.  But instead of serving God as a doctor, she serves His as a patient.  No matter how sick she is, the light of the Lord radiates from her.

Linda exemplifies the teaching of the apostle Peter.  Despite her trials, she rejoices, and the genuineness of her faith brings “praise, honor, and glory” to Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7). – Julie Ackerman Link

Lord, I’m so thankful that no matter where

We are, we can serve You.  Help me to reflect

Your image in my current situation, even

If it’s not where I hoped I would be.

**************************************

Write your plans in pencil and remember that

God has the eraser.

INSIGHT

In today’s reading, Peter references the doctrine of election.  The recipients of his letter are called “elect,” chosen of God.  They have been given this status by God the Father through His foreknowledge.  God’s sovereign choice and human response work together through the sanctification of the Spirit to result in obedience (v.2).

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace