Category: Verse of the Day

“Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. And as you do it, you’ll say, “Give thanks to God. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he’s done, spread the news of his great reputation! Sing praise-songs to God. He’s done it all!””

Can you sense the exuberance here?  The sheer overflow of joy and utter delight?  The imagery of pulling up buckets of water — one bucket after the other — from a well that never goes dry is the epitome of abundance, wouldn’t you say?  When you sense the true impact of God’s provision for you, the realization is quite staggering, and you sometimes wish to do just that: give thanks, and proclaim His goodness. 

I recently saw an episode of the popular television show, “Undercover Boss” and it wasn’t so much the amazement of the worker when her boss tells her he’s giving her $20,000, but the question that she asks him that completely blew me away.  She asks, “But why?”  Yes, why, what have I done, how can it be, could it be true, but why?  These are the same questions that each of us might ask of God.  But the answer — unlike the one offered on the show — is not because I am deserving or  have been good, but because of God’s great love for me.  Such unexpected generosity is not easy to comprehend; it is too mysterious for me.  And yet, I am overwhelmed nonetheless, and have only gratitude and praise for so great a gift, and the least I can do is “Shout to the nations, tell them what he’s done!”

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

Petitions and praises.  That’s what comprises prayer.  I hope and trust that you are doing just that. “…letting God know your concerns” is a good thing, but equally important is to offer praise for daily mercies and eternal blessings.  When we do both in equal measure — perhaps even leaning more on praise than on petition — “a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good” is the end-result.

“But you’ll welcome us with open arms when we run for cover to you. Let the party last all night! Stand guard over our celebration. You are famous, God , for welcoming God-seekers, for decking us out in delight.”

What a fun and spirited paraphrasing of David’s cries of praise to God, don’t you think?  And the imagery of running into God’s open arms is such a comforting one.  May it be that like David, we are able to feel just as strongly about our love for God and his love for us!

“Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”

Do you also struggle with “wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important“?  Don’t despair, you are not alone.  Recognizing that one must work on this weakness in oneself is most likely the early steps toward working on becoming less attached to the usual popular things in our culture, and to intentionally seeking the kingdom of God on this earth — by finding ways and means to show God’s love in all you do every day.

“Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I’m fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?”

Sure, we like our nice things, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But let’s not become obsessed with them, shall we? Let’s instead become obsessed with non-material things, perhaps things like relationships with loved ones and those in need of a helping hand.  Also, how about becoming obsessed with our relationship with God, our savior and friend.  After all, who else says, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.”  Only a friend who is closer than a brother.  How about focusing on that?

“If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.“

Here’s hoping you are not trying to earn your way to God.  Do a good job, yes, in all that you do, but don’t think even for a second that all those good works are payment for earning God’s graces.  They are not.  They are a beautiful and satisfactory manifestation of all the God-given gifts that you are endowed with; and how fulfilling it is to see them put to good use!  To get in God’s good books, however, it is not how much we do, or how well we do however much we do, that impresses God.  If anything, acknowledging that you cannot do everything on your own, and need God on your side to help you — or just do it for you! — is actually even more impressive to God.  You are placing your trust in God, and that is what pleases God.

 

“All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.”

A comparison and contrast between the concepts of sin, the law and grace is covered in these verses.  “Aggressive forgiveness” is what is being offered to us.  Would you be interested?

 

“In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.”

This verse couldn’t have been more timely for me. I needed reminding today about the importance of humility and discipline, and in being relentless in my attempts at being more Christ-like. May it be that we can all take a moment to “pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.”