“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. ” I Peter 2:2-3
I’ve never been truly famished, but I have mothered three infants whose howls said they were sure to starve if not fed immediately. My babies would not be pacified (or allow anyone around them to have peace) until they got what they wanted – MILK! They craved it and cried for it. They desired it and they demanded it. Often.
Why? Because God built into babies a longing for what they need. When God grants His gift of eternal life and we are born again, He places in us the same desire. But a big difference exists between a “human baby” and a “holy baby.” A human baby cannot feed himself and must depend on someone else to bring the bottle. Spiritual children can choose their own diet and decide what to take in and what to pass up. As God’s children, we have a desire for the divine, but so often we temporarily satisfy our hunger pains with the shallow treats of this world.
Don’t settle for the shallow. Desire the deep sweetness of the Lord. The very fact that God saved us gives us a taste of His goodness. “O taste and see that the Lord is good,” David urges us in Psalm 34:8. But don’t stop with just a taste; keep on eating. Take in what He says and take note of what He does. Many of God’s gifts can be supplements to our spiritual nutrition, but there is no substitute for His words and our words – for Scripture and prayer. They must be the milk and the meat of our diet.
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…”
Don’t let your craving for God be occasional but constant. And don’t be pacified until it is.
Want to want God.
He will satisfy your hungry heart. And life will be delicious.
Time For A Little R&R
REFLECT
What do you crave in life? To what lengths have you gone to satisfy those cravings?
RESPOND
Ask God to help you be hungry for Him.
Start taking in His Word.
The more you eat, the more you’ll want!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
1-800-TERMINIX
“Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” I Peter 2:1
Roaches, termites, mice, and lice. None of these creatures make the welcome list for our houses or our heads. They are not graciously endured or casually overlooked. Instead, we take drastic measures to exterminate the ones we have and to repel the ones we don’t!
Peter encourages us to apply the same method of “pest control” to our hearts as we do to our homes – RID YOURSELVES! Concealed in the corners of our character are ungodly actions and attitudes that often scurry across our conversations and contaminate our relationships. Malice. Deceit. Hypocrisy. Envy. Slander. We’ve all been hurt by them, and we’ve all hurt others with them.
As Christ-followers, redeemed by His blood and rescued by His grace, these sins must not be allowed to infest our lives. They should not be tolerated; they should be terminated. We do not need to simply stash them away; we need to throw them away – making sure we eliminate them from our words and our will.
“Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
Don’t be bad. Don’t be sly. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Don’t wish you were something you aren’t. And don’t say things you shouldn’t.
As with household pests, getting rid of the unwanted is often a process requiring repeated deliberate effort. Do not despair. God’s power is the stronger than any sin. He will clean you up and clear you out. He will help you get it right by getting rid of the wrong! Just call Him!
Time For A Little R&R
REFLECT
What bugs you the most about yourself?
What about you bothers other the most?
RESPOND
Ask God to show you where malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are infesting your heart.
Confess your sinful attitudes. Commit to serious action.
Roaches, termites, mice, and lice. None of these creatures make the welcome list for our houses or our heads. They are not graciously endured or casually overlooked. Instead, we take drastic measures to exterminate the ones we have and to repel the ones we don’t!
Peter encourages us to apply the same method of “pest control” to our hearts as we do to our homes – RID YOURSELVES! Concealed in the corners of our character are ungodly actions and attitudes that often scurry across our conversations and contaminate our relationships. Malice. Deceit. Hypocrisy. Envy. Slander. We’ve all been hurt by them, and we’ve all hurt others with them.
As Christ-followers, redeemed by His blood and rescued by His grace, these sins must not be allowed to infest our lives. They should not be tolerated; they should be terminated. We do not need to simply stash them away; we need to throw them away – making sure we eliminate them from our words and our will.
“Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
Don’t be bad. Don’t be sly. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Don’t wish you were something you aren’t. And don’t say things you shouldn’t.
As with household pests, getting rid of the unwanted is often a process requiring repeated deliberate effort. Do not despair. God’s power is the stronger than any sin. He will clean you up and clear you out. He will help you get it right by getting rid of the wrong! Just call Him!
Time For A Little R&R
REFLECT
What bugs you the most about yourself?
What about you bothers other the most?
RESPOND
Ask God to show you where malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are infesting your heart.
Confess your sinful attitudes. Commit to serious action.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
All Things New
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” Revelation 21:5
Happy New Year! The confetti has been cleaned up and the ball boxed back up, but the year is still very young. Our calendars are fresh and crisp – not tired and worn like the ones we replaced. Yes, it’s just another day in another month, but the New Year always seems to bring anticipation and excitement. A hope of what might be and an expectation of what will be.
God created the New Year. Way back when the He delivered the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt, God instructed Moses to invent the Jewish calendar and to make their freedom month the first month. He desired that the beginning of each year be a reminder of His rescue and a celebration of His strength. Recalling God’s faithfulness in the past gave them confidence to rely on Him for their future.
We can be sure of the same. Four thousand years have passed since God split the Sea and saved His people. Two thousand years have passed since God sent His Son and saved His people. He has never changed and He never will. And yet, in His constancy, He is constantly changing us – tenderly transforming our hearts to resemble His. He shapes our desires and molds our minds into His image. He sends the newness of each morning to remind us of our fresh start. As the sunrise fills the sky with brightness, His unfailing love warms us with hope and whispers to us grace.
“I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercy is fresh every morning. Great is His faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23
One day God will make a new heaven and new earth, but right now He’s busy making a new you!
Let the triumphs and the tragedies of yesterday rest in His peace.
Rely on His strength for today.
Count on His grace for tomorrow.
May this New Year find you full of fresh faith in your never-old God!
Time for a Little R&R
REFLECT
How was God faithful to you and to His promises in 2008?
RESPOND
Pause and worship. Praise Him for His goodness and thank Him for His love.
Happy New Year! The confetti has been cleaned up and the ball boxed back up, but the year is still very young. Our calendars are fresh and crisp – not tired and worn like the ones we replaced. Yes, it’s just another day in another month, but the New Year always seems to bring anticipation and excitement. A hope of what might be and an expectation of what will be.
God created the New Year. Way back when the He delivered the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt, God instructed Moses to invent the Jewish calendar and to make their freedom month the first month. He desired that the beginning of each year be a reminder of His rescue and a celebration of His strength. Recalling God’s faithfulness in the past gave them confidence to rely on Him for their future.
We can be sure of the same. Four thousand years have passed since God split the Sea and saved His people. Two thousand years have passed since God sent His Son and saved His people. He has never changed and He never will. And yet, in His constancy, He is constantly changing us – tenderly transforming our hearts to resemble His. He shapes our desires and molds our minds into His image. He sends the newness of each morning to remind us of our fresh start. As the sunrise fills the sky with brightness, His unfailing love warms us with hope and whispers to us grace.
“I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercy is fresh every morning. Great is His faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23
One day God will make a new heaven and new earth, but right now He’s busy making a new you!
Let the triumphs and the tragedies of yesterday rest in His peace.
Rely on His strength for today.
Count on His grace for tomorrow.
May this New Year find you full of fresh faith in your never-old God!
Time for a Little R&R
REFLECT
How was God faithful to you and to His promises in 2008?
RESPOND
Pause and worship. Praise Him for His goodness and thank Him for His love.
Good News of Great Joy!
“I bring you good news of great joy. Today in the city of David, a Savior has been born. He is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:7
They could use some good news. Rome occupied their homeland, ruling with a heavy hand and a ruthless heart. Taxes were up. Spirits were down. Times were hard. Ancient prophesies of a Savior seemed only distant dreams. Promises of peace and joy appeared as empty words. Daily the priests offered the required sacrifices. Daily the people offered their desperate prayers. And God had been silent for 400 years.
Then a mother moaned. A baby cried. And the angels sang.
Good news of great joy!
God has come to taste our suffering.
God has come to take our sin.
Light pierced the darkness. Death’s shadow was dispelled. Our only Hope had left His heaven to embrace the earth. “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory.”
Rejoice greatly!
Rejoice gratefully!
God is with us.
Merry Christmas.
They could use some good news. Rome occupied their homeland, ruling with a heavy hand and a ruthless heart. Taxes were up. Spirits were down. Times were hard. Ancient prophesies of a Savior seemed only distant dreams. Promises of peace and joy appeared as empty words. Daily the priests offered the required sacrifices. Daily the people offered their desperate prayers. And God had been silent for 400 years.
Then a mother moaned. A baby cried. And the angels sang.
Good news of great joy!
God has come to taste our suffering.
God has come to take our sin.
Light pierced the darkness. Death’s shadow was dispelled. Our only Hope had left His heaven to embrace the earth. “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory.”
Rejoice greatly!
Rejoice gratefully!
God is with us.
Merry Christmas.
No Room
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7
Joseph’s ancestors were from Bethlehem, but obviously they didn’t own a timeshare. With the local motel all booked and no immediate family offering a guest room or at least the pull-out-couch in the office, Joseph and Mary found themselves sleeping in a stable.
The events leading to their abnormal accommodations are not chronicled for us to read. We only know they ended up in the barn and that’s where Jesus ended up being born. All because there was “no room for them in the inn.”
How could the innkeeper deny the definitely due Mary? Where were the gentlemen who would give up their comfort for a laboring mother? And if we’re pointing fingers, let’s ask the obvious –- Could not God have reserved them a room?
Of course. But if He had, the shepherds would have been turned away at the door, their search for the Savior ending in dismay and not delight. The inn was not accessible, but the stable door stood wide open.
The shepherds came to worship. Then they went to witness. And God took care of Mary, even providing a manger bed as the Messiah’s bassinet.
“No room.” It’s a Christmas reminder that what we think ought-to-be isn’t always what God knows needs-to-be. And it’s a guarantee that He can use even the most bizarre for His very best.
Maybe being born in a barn isn’t so bad after all.
Time For A Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
How has God used a “no room” situation in your life to help you and others know Him better?
RESPOND
Take a moment and come to worship. As you go through this Christmas season, be a witness to God’s wisdom and His grace. And make sure you leave the door wide open so others can come in.
Joseph’s ancestors were from Bethlehem, but obviously they didn’t own a timeshare. With the local motel all booked and no immediate family offering a guest room or at least the pull-out-couch in the office, Joseph and Mary found themselves sleeping in a stable.
The events leading to their abnormal accommodations are not chronicled for us to read. We only know they ended up in the barn and that’s where Jesus ended up being born. All because there was “no room for them in the inn.”
How could the innkeeper deny the definitely due Mary? Where were the gentlemen who would give up their comfort for a laboring mother? And if we’re pointing fingers, let’s ask the obvious –- Could not God have reserved them a room?
Of course. But if He had, the shepherds would have been turned away at the door, their search for the Savior ending in dismay and not delight. The inn was not accessible, but the stable door stood wide open.
The shepherds came to worship. Then they went to witness. And God took care of Mary, even providing a manger bed as the Messiah’s bassinet.
“No room.” It’s a Christmas reminder that what we think ought-to-be isn’t always what God knows needs-to-be. And it’s a guarantee that He can use even the most bizarre for His very best.
Maybe being born in a barn isn’t so bad after all.
Time For A Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
How has God used a “no room” situation in your life to help you and others know Him better?
RESPOND
Take a moment and come to worship. As you go through this Christmas season, be a witness to God’s wisdom and His grace. And make sure you leave the door wide open so others can come in.
And It Came To Pass
“And it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” Luke 2:1
It didn’t just happen. Or happen to happen. “It came to pass…” because of a Divine decree. A heavenly desire that at that exact time in that exact place, God would step into our world as one of us –- and all of Him. We can’t start to comprehend how it happened, but we should never stop celebrating that it happened.
Big reasons for rejoicing abound, but God is also in the details. Don’t miss Him. Every facet of His coming sparkles with God’s sovereignty. Every ingredient of Advent is a delicious reminder of His dominion. Caesar Augustus may have been king, but God was in charge.
He caused Caesar to call for a census. Rome used it for tax reform. God used it for town relocation. King David had been born Bethlehem, and King Jesus would be too. The prophet Micah proclaimed the promise centuries earlier. “But you, Bethlehem, although you are small among the villages of Judah, out of you will come one who will be ruler over all Israel…”
Only a command from a higher power would motivate a pregnant Mary and a protective Joseph to move the 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. So, at the will of the Highest, “it came to pass…”
“And so it was that while they were there, she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.”
And so it came to pass.
Time for a Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
Reflect on the events of your life during the past month.
Where do you see God in the details?
RESPOND
This Christmas, praise God for His power and for His presence in your life.
He’s still causing things to come to pass.
It didn’t just happen. Or happen to happen. “It came to pass…” because of a Divine decree. A heavenly desire that at that exact time in that exact place, God would step into our world as one of us –- and all of Him. We can’t start to comprehend how it happened, but we should never stop celebrating that it happened.
Big reasons for rejoicing abound, but God is also in the details. Don’t miss Him. Every facet of His coming sparkles with God’s sovereignty. Every ingredient of Advent is a delicious reminder of His dominion. Caesar Augustus may have been king, but God was in charge.
He caused Caesar to call for a census. Rome used it for tax reform. God used it for town relocation. King David had been born Bethlehem, and King Jesus would be too. The prophet Micah proclaimed the promise centuries earlier. “But you, Bethlehem, although you are small among the villages of Judah, out of you will come one who will be ruler over all Israel…”
Only a command from a higher power would motivate a pregnant Mary and a protective Joseph to move the 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. So, at the will of the Highest, “it came to pass…”
“And so it was that while they were there, she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.”
And so it came to pass.
Time for a Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
Reflect on the events of your life during the past month.
Where do you see God in the details?
RESPOND
This Christmas, praise God for His power and for His presence in your life.
He’s still causing things to come to pass.
Come Near
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” Luke 2:8
The shepherds on my coffee table nativity seem to have it all together. They appear well-rested, well-fed, and well-dressed. They fit easily into the company of the majestic magi and the angelically-approved holy family.
Not so in real life. Shepherds lived down at the bottom of the social ladder and plenty kept them from moving up. Shepherds looked unkept, acted uncouth, and smelled unclean. They weren’t allowed to worship in church or witness in court. They were plain, practical, and poor.
But on that first Christmas night, while others were nestled, all snug in their beds, the shepherds were busy keeping watch over their flocks, making sure no hungry lion or famished bear dropped by for a midnight snack. Suddenly God’s glory lit the dark sky and an angel proclaimed, “Joy To The World! The Lord Is Come! Today! He’s just been born. You will find him all wrapped up, lying in a manger." In the first-ever holiday rush, those fearful-turned-faithful shepherds left their sheep and their security to seek and find joy in the presence of the Savior.
When God came here, whom did He call to come near? The shepherds. The very ones kept far from God’s Presence at the temple came face to face with God’s Present in the manger. The outcasts were invited, and the ones considered not good enough, couldn’t get there fast enough.
They came with haste.
We shouldn’t be far behind them.
Time For A Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
What about who you are or what you’ve done makes you feel like you should stay far away?
RESPOND
Realize that no one is worthy to come near. Rejoice that Jesus came to invite you. Run to Him fast.
The shepherds on my coffee table nativity seem to have it all together. They appear well-rested, well-fed, and well-dressed. They fit easily into the company of the majestic magi and the angelically-approved holy family.
Not so in real life. Shepherds lived down at the bottom of the social ladder and plenty kept them from moving up. Shepherds looked unkept, acted uncouth, and smelled unclean. They weren’t allowed to worship in church or witness in court. They were plain, practical, and poor.
But on that first Christmas night, while others were nestled, all snug in their beds, the shepherds were busy keeping watch over their flocks, making sure no hungry lion or famished bear dropped by for a midnight snack. Suddenly God’s glory lit the dark sky and an angel proclaimed, “Joy To The World! The Lord Is Come! Today! He’s just been born. You will find him all wrapped up, lying in a manger." In the first-ever holiday rush, those fearful-turned-faithful shepherds left their sheep and their security to seek and find joy in the presence of the Savior.
When God came here, whom did He call to come near? The shepherds. The very ones kept far from God’s Presence at the temple came face to face with God’s Present in the manger. The outcasts were invited, and the ones considered not good enough, couldn’t get there fast enough.
They came with haste.
We shouldn’t be far behind them.
Time For A Little R&R
RECOGNIZE
What about who you are or what you’ve done makes you feel like you should stay far away?
RESPOND
Realize that no one is worthy to come near. Rejoice that Jesus came to invite you. Run to Him fast.
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