Category: Verse of the Day

“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.”

In a world obsessed with self even more than in any other time in history, today’s verse is a reminder for us to pause just long enough to assess where our attentions are — and if they are indeed more on self than on God — to refocus our view and our energies so that we get the equation right.  This is a “living and breathing God” that resides within us.  Let’s take a moment to consider that, and to seek out God’s direction and guidance in all our endeavors.  There is no use in testing our own “moral muscle”; instead, let us practice leaning on our heavenly father who cares for us, has a plan for us, and is ever present with you.  Believer, let us not ignore this truth!

 

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

Hiding what we are not proud of is an instinctive human quality.  But when you are a believer of the one who has said, “I am the Light of the world,” and when you believe that same light now dwells within you, should you not be mindful of this great life-altering truth and try everyday to illuminate your immediate world with the light that dwells within you?  Should you not feel privileged to do that?  Not to mention a great sense of gratification in the knowledge that you are a vessel to hold this light and are now a source of the light yourself?

 

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”

This idea of petitioning God in a bold way has been a recurring one of late for me, and I find it very coincidental to have found this verse today in support of the same concept.  “Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought” is James’ advice to his readers.  This faith thing truly needs to be put into practice, you see.  Don’t ask half-heartedly, but with a confidence that comes from having considered what must truly be God’s will for you, and asking accordingly.  For in doing so, you are displaying the kind of faith that many before you and me have exemplified and have been the richer for.

“Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.”

In the event that you think you might be the one and only exception subjected to “hard times”, Peter is here to tell you that it ain’t so!  That’s just how it is, but don’t give up, instead, “keep a firm grip on the faith.”  God has not forgotten you, and he has “great plans for us in Christ”, so hold fast, and believe that you are not alone — God is in this with you!

 

“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Is that a high bar, or what?!  And since the word ‘love’ is thrown about so commonly and carelessly every which way we look, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to take a moment to think about the quality of love that Paul describes as in this famous passage, paraphrased in this modern translation.  I trust it will give pause for thought and allow us to practice love in this way.

 

“My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?”

Following on the heels of yesterday’s advice, Paul is continuing to dish it out to the early Christians.  Advice that is as good today as it was then:  allow the Holy Spirit to dwell within you so as to affect a transformation within your life — slowly but surely.  Don’t be quick to subject yourself to a “law-dominated existence”, one that is perhaps not truly sincere and one steeped in selfishness.  Instead, if you are a believer, allow God’s presence in the form of the Holy Spirit to guide you, check you, direct you, support you, lead you, and be your constant companion?

 

“Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.”

Do you think it’s cool to do all of the above?  Seriously?  Because if you do, you are fooling yourself.  Not only is it uncool, it is a waste of your energies.  If you are God’s child, and believe that the Holy Spirit dwells within your body — your physical body — then you are a new creature, and there is no room for any of these wasteful behaviors.  This is what the believer knows to be true — that a lifestyle such as the one described above (promiscuity, gossip, covetousness, etc.) is not one that “fits our style.”  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that any of that is any good; it isn’t!  It’s vile and wasteful, and a waste of breath and time and life.  Turn away, gentle reader, toward the use of “thanksgiving” as the medium of communication with one and all.  Have a grateful heart for all that you have and all that you are, and aim to live each moment in the knowledge of that grace.

 

“This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.“

I think it takes some time for a new believer to remember these truths; to remember that the personal acceptance of Jesus as the son of God and the savior of the world dwells within you, and the Holy Spirit also resides within you. How this all happens is a mystery but to those who believe it is a reassuring, comforting, and empowering thought.