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The Power and Mean to Accomplish Great Things
Discussion/Devitional Thought of the Day:
I used to have big dreams of doing great things. When I was my sons age,I dreamt of being a president like Abraham Lincoln, just a few years later – a priest whose sermons would change the world, like some of those I read about in school. Time and distance changes some of those dreams, and some of us have left dreams behind. I do not think today I could be a politician, never mind a president – the public is far too mean – and doesn’t respect the office, or the burden it carries – and being a priest – well,…..
But does that mean we have to give up trying to accomplish great things?
Or do we realize how great the normal things God calls us to do are? Like loving our neighbor, like helping those who find themselves without the ability, even for the moment – to help themselves. It is my opinion, that visiting someone who is a shut in, or sitting by a stranger at church is worth more than 10,000 facebook forwards, or eating at a restaurant whose owners are undersiege.
Even greater, forgiving that adversary, working to reconcile a couple of friends, telling someone of God’s grace. These are the great things… things that take sacrifice, things that may actually cost us. And that gets to the point of this entry, the thing I would have us discuss- how do we accomplish the greatest things in life?
One author put it this way:
” The means? They’re the same as those of Peter and Paul, of Dominic and Francis, of Ignatius and Xavier: the cross and the Gospel. Do they seem little to you, perhaps?” Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1151-1152). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Cross and the Gospel – the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross – that is where our sins our forgiven. The cross which we are linked to in our baptism – where we were united to Christ’s suffering and death, that we would be untied to His resurrected life. And of course in the Feast where we know that sacrifice In this cross – where God comes to us and transforms us – they are the means by which God enables us to do the great things He has planned for us to do.
And the Gospel is that same “means”. The incredible news of God’s love, of His mercy, of His grace. The news that He has come – and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, even as we will one day share in it.
Comprehending that through the cross, through the gospel, Jesus comes to us, bonds us to Himself and changes us – it is in this that we find our strenghth, our life, our hope…. and the power and means to accomplish the greatest things, the very things God has planned from long ago to do… because He has sent you to do them.
One last thought from St. Josemarie, a prayer:
“Lord, we are glad to find ourselves in your wounded palm. Grasp us tight, squeeze us hard, make us love all our earthly wretchedness, purify us, set us on fire, make us feel drenched in your Blood – and then cast us far, far away, hungry for the harvest, to sow the seed more fruitfully each day, for the Love of You. Amen! ( Escriva – The forge)
Vacation – rest and revitalization…honestly?
Devotional thought of the day:
It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up.
While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chaDevotional thought of the day: It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up. While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chasing a five year old will bring that mattress to call to us very welcoming at the end of each day! A
And this is supposed to be rest and rejuvination? Hmmmm…
As we let people know we were actually going on vacation, many said to leave everything behind, just go and have fun… (as if life at Concordia isn’t fun, or at least thrilling in that rollercoaster, stomach twisting kind of adventure way!)
At first I acknowledged their wisdom, but realized that part of me wouldn’t leave Cerritos. I thought it would be my mind, that it would keep trying to work through everything. I was wrong, something is still there, but it isn’t my mind, it’s my heart.
In four years at Concordia (this week is the anniversary – so about time for a vacation?) I have watched people’s faith really blossom. When I got there, they had a unique tradition – every Bible Study starts and ends with the teacher stating, “The Lord is with you!”… This tradition I have come to love, and it really has become that which shapes our ministry here. ANd as I look and pray through our families, it only is made clearer that we truly need that knowledge, that blessing, the assurance than comes with His presence.
And they have gotten it – it is evident as they respond to that blessing, with words I love to here – for they are heart felt – they want me to know God is with me, just as much as they are learning to count on it.
St Paul once wrote a prayer for a church that he loved, and missed, and said,
3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15 this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16 I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— 17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18 you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19 Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. 20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3:14-20 (MSG)
If I could describe the people of my church, it is often that they are like kids at Christmas, just opening their eyes to the magnificence of God’s love for them…. they are starting to see this – and oh is it a joy to see it, as they witness another person to whom God’s promises are poured out in baptism, or as they see their burdens and anxieties lifted off them as we hear God’s forgiveness delivered, and as we pray…and as we feast together – in our potlucks for sure, but in the more precious meal of Christ’s Body and Blood..
As they live out our mission and motto – that Concordia is the place where people heal in Christ, while helping others heal…
In this, they are being revealed to be the very craftsmanship of God (see Eph 2:10) , or in Latin, the Opus Dei, in Greek – the Poiema – the poem
It is not my mind I left behind, as much as my heart – and the joy of seeing people know God’s love for them.. of realizing that God has called them into a relationship where He is there Father, and them finding rest there…. of them knowing the words, “the Lord is with you” and reminding me in response, that He is also with me….
That’s where I truly and revitalized, and I look forward to being back!
The Breakfast Club Sermon
If a Man’s Home is His castle
God’s People are His Temple!
Eph 2:11-22
† In Jesus Name †
May we realize that God has brought the gospel of peace to those who were far off, and to those who have been near, and in so doing, has made us into the place where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell!
Looking in from the outside
The most powerful memory from my high school back east was of a morning in a hallway, where I first realized how much I lived my life on the edge.
We all arrived early, some on the bus, some dropped off, some just because. There was my best friend John, a gymnast he was heading to the weight rooms. Bill – the star athlete, president of the class, and he was heading to Mrs. Johnson’s Algebra II class. Mike, well, Mike had interactions with various pharmacology, and was heading for an area we called the “hash block.” Another friend was heading to band practice, and another to autoshop – which was his second home. I think that of the 15 kids that hung out for 20 minutes, that of them every major clique in the school had representation. We hung out there…
every morning, for nearly two years…
It was one cold February morning, whenI realized I lived on the edge. As I was watching my friends, talking to some, I came to the conclusion that I lived on the edge.
Not the edge of danger, life filled with danger type edge.
But the edge of all their cliques, not really one of the brains, though we were in the same classes, not one of the jocks, though I ran and played with them, though I was a musician, the band geeks were a marching band – and you can’t carry your baby grand down main street. I knew the druggies and gearheads through my brother. I knew them all, yet, wasn’t part of their groups.
I was on the edge. Maybe some of you know what I mean, or maybe you wanted to be in one group – but found yourself in another – shut out from where you wanted to be – an outsider, and maybe you tried to force your way in. Maybe you still are trying to find that group to which you belong.
Paul’s description – painful but accurate?
In Paul’s epistle this morning, he is writing to those God has gathered together and made one in the city of Ephesus. In verse 11, he brings up the pains of their pasts – he reminds them that they were once on the edge, outside, not part of the group.
He reminds them that they were call names by those who thought they were cool. The phrases Paul writes, one after another, pounded in reminders of the feelings of being excluded, of the pain of realizing that life seemed somehow empty, and there were not part of the group that had it made. Basically, because you weren’t part of the family, because you didn’t know God, you were without hope.
By the way, there is a subtle reminder to humble those who think they are in the right group. Paul says, “who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts” I would realize much later, that those who made a big deal about being in this clique or that one, were the ones most insecure in those connections, who weren’t sure they belonged. Same thing in regards to our faith – those who compare themselves as far better than those outside of the faith, are the ones who need to find confidence in God’s work, rather than their own, to take it from being just an outwardly projected image, to seeing the image of Christ in them.
Returning to those of us former outsiders to whom Paul writes. It still seems strange to me, that there are those of us, who are comfortable in living on the edge. It is as if we desire to be part of the group, yet can’t bring ourselves to risk the rejection, as we may have, once or twice in life.
Will they accept me, both the good and the bad? If this is true with the cliques of our youth, it may be true of our adulthood. I hate to say it – but sometimes those fears have been proven, as people become part of a church, and struggle with the fact that sometimes we are more comfortable with each other, than the stranger who just walked in. How many in this world, are just looking for a group to belong to, a place where they are no longer the outsiders, living on the edge.
We’ve been re-created – a new people.
There are reason behind Paul bringing up these memories. First, we need to remember how incredible our Lord is, and how mind-blowing what He has done for us is.
You see the hard memory of the past is to be compared to where we are now, in the present. I want to re-read these words with you.
13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us.
You’ve been united with Christ! You aren’t going to get anymore “in” than that. The one whom all exists for and you are close, He has brought you near to the Father – close and loved. Hear some more
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20
You belong! Not just as the newbee, the one on probation – you are members of the family! You have been brought with Christ – and God is the One who called you and I into this incredible relationship, – one more – verse 21!
22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
In comparing where we were – on the edge, on the outside looking in, without hope, to being an integral part of the people of God, a active and needed part of the body, we have been given hope, as the prophet Jeremiah tells a broken people who found themselves outside and on the edge. He said,
“This is God’s word on the subject…., “29:11 I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “
Jeremiah 29:10- 11 (MSG)
And in Christ, that hope is not some far off and barely possible thing, but as the word used to mean – that which we have 100% confidence in, it is our expectation, because God has given us His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of this.
Look whose here…
I said that there were a number of reasons Paul would bring up our painful pasts, the feelings of not even having been abandoned, the feelings of not belonging in the first place.
It is to keep us humble, to help us from becoming, now that we are the people of God, like those who were proud of a circumcision that was only physical, that wasn’t the cutting away of the crap around our hearts, the sin and effcts of sin that can change us, and make us cold.
A number of times Paul helps us with this as well, as he explains that God is pulling all people into Christ, and therefore into His presence. Hear His words
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.
15b He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Together, we are the people of Christ – He has brought us all into Him, and joined us to Himself, that He can bring us into the presence of the Father. The second reason to cause us to remember we were outside, is to explain how much we have all become one.
The sermon has a long title. If a Man’s Home is His castle God’s People are His Temple! God’s home isn’t created out of wood and stone, His temple isn’t one built of human hands. It is a house, a lineage, a people, that He Himself as called together, united, together, joined together,
Made one.
20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
One of the things I realized as I grew older, was that as one who lived on the edge, I was part of those groups – all of them. They weren’t so different than I am, and that each of us, is being called to be part of a bigger group, a real family, where burdens are shared together as we give them to God. For what defines us, what makes us who we are, is not our personas that we show to the public, not our gifts and abilities and differences and things we have in common, It is Christ, who has made us His.
We see a glimpse of it here, at this altar, as we will feast together, with our Lord, with our Savior, the One who made us His people, the one who calls us together in a life that knows peace.
AMEN?
The Cry of our Brokenness: Pt 2
Devotional/Discussoin thought of the day:
“”Domine – ‘Lord’ Si vis potes me mundare – ‘If you will, you can make me clean!’
What a beautiful prayer for you to say often with the faith of the poor leper, when there happens to you what God and you and I know may happen. You waon’t wait long to hear the Master’s reply: “Volo Mundare’- ‘I will! Be made clean'” (escriva)
As I have been writing on brokenness this week, (and having to deal with it in my life, and in others, I came to this quote in my devotions this morning. As a pastor who knows the blessing of the sacrament of Confession and Absolution, it is in those italicized words that I see what needs to be heard. and heard loudly. When dealing with sin, there are three options.
The first is to claim it isn’t sin, that God didn’t really mean to label that as sin, and therefore it isn’t. Such is a lie, and will require many more lies and the hardening of conscience against that particular sin and many like it. It will eventually spiral out of control – and we will find ourselves at rock bottom. (Even there we may point to others and say they are worse off!) In the end, we have to remember that what we’ve done is sin…and that can be more painful, and harder to deal with. ( I would highly suggest that this is one of the benefits of knowing a good pastor or priest – who can help bring the comfort of Christ’s love as you peel back the levels)
The second is to simply ignore that it is sin, to revel in its pleasure, and to find the emptiness that occurs when the pleasure fades. This results in escalation, and broadening of the sin, looking to something that satisfies even more. Suffice it to say, this is the addictive bond that many sins have – as they are poor imitations of a blessing that is fulfilling and right, and God ordained.
The third is the most simple – and the best way, the God ordained way, to deal with those times that St Josemarie described as this, “when there happens to you what God and you and I know may happen.” St John in his first epistle talks of this:
1:7 But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. 8 If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. 9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.1 John 1:7-9 (CEV)
He can always be trusted to forgive us… always…ALWAYS…
My friends, we don’t have to play the games, we don’t have to deny our doubts our fears, we don’t have to hide behind words that betray us, clinging stubbornly to positions we KNOW are wrong. We don’t have to play the game that “everything is all right”, when our relationship are broken, when our lives don’t seem to be filled, when we are waiting – even fearful that everything is about to come crashing down.
Come and learn of the Lord, the One who doesn’t make you wait long to be cleansed, healed, and made whole.
Take it from someone who gets to help in that process, even as I am being healed myself.
We cry “Lord, Have mercy! Lord make us clean!” and we look at the cross, and as our sins is cut away and discarded…we realize that He has!!!
Broken People Healing in Christ..one step
Thought of the day….
Earlier this week, my devotional/discussion thgouth included the mission statement of my church. “where broken people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal”
It had more hits than any other devotional blog I have written, and some pretty nice comments came to me. (By the way – feel free to comment and discuss what I right about here). It made me think about the need to discuss what it means to be broken, and what it means to be healed, and how this happens when we find ourselves gathered with others in God’s presence….
The first step is a challenge in our society is difficult – it is not only admitting we are broken people, but mourning and being mortified that we are. Isaiah demonstrated this sorrow and pain this way…
6:5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT)
Have you ever, when someone asks you “How is it going”, really wanted to be honest. To let them know that your heartbroken, or anxious about finances, or challenged, and cannot find any reason for hope? That you are struggling with depression, or worried about what you might hear at that next doctor’s visit? That you don’t know how to deal with the issues your kids misbehavior, but it scares you none the less? But of course you say, “It’s going fine!”
Or what about us as a people, do we take great pride in our country, and pretend that everything is okay? That families are being ripped apart, that children are growing up without any sense of ethics or morality? Do we grieve about a country that is so calloused by sin that we don’t notice that most television shows include adultery as the norm? Do we realize how many people live in great need? Do we realize we are more concerned about having to pay for abortions, than the fact that 50 million lives have been tossed away?
The first step? It’s not admitting we are broken people living in a broken world.
It is realizing it.
And realizing – that no matter how much we try…. we can’t fix what is wrong…
We can’t do miracles on that magnitude. There is only One who can… the One who created us, and can re-create us. We can trust Him, depend on Him, know that He will fix, heal, repair and make it all new.
For that is why he came…even as He explain in his first sermon – as He quotes Isaiah,
4:18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:18-21 (NKJV)
As your heart cries out, about your own brokenness, or the brokenness of this world, my you realize that for you as well… today this scripture has been fulfilled… as Christ heals your brokenness, and mine, and the worlds….
The Church: Broken People healing while helping others heal
Devotional thought of the day:
It was one of those conversations I will never forget. A dad – obviously by the tatoos and mannerisms and piercings he one who had been challenged with a past. He was sitting on the planter, outside of my church, the night of a preschool graduation. As I walked by in my clerical collar, I greeted him, and asked him if he was shocked about how fast time flies and our kids grow up. His response shocked me,
“Pastor, I know with my tats and my piercings, I am not allowed in the church, but can I watch the graduation from the lobby”
I am still shocked someone would think that about any church, and even more schocked that they would think that about my church. Of course you are welcome in the house of God. Of course you can come – that’s why your child came in the first place. You see, my people aren’t anything like that, they wouldn’t care about the tats, or the piercings, they would be glad the man was there. More importantly God wants him to be welcome, to know the Lord’s presence is with him. I invited him in and told him to sit up front – where he would get a good view of it all. (People tend to stand up a lot to take pictures at such graduations, not thinking that they are blocking someone else’s view. ) But his response… really, is amazing, and it makes me wonder about our churches….the Church. How could they not know?
Luke’s story of Jesus love tells of an incident. One time, in dealing with some people that were a bit too self-righteous, he records “Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 32 I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” Luke 5:31-32 (MSG)
Church isn’t a place for perfect people – they don’t need to be there – they are perfect. It’s a place for broken people, people broken by the sins of this world, and yes, by their own sins as well. Its a place to heal, to have relationships fixed, to be assured of God’s love and His desire to work in our lives, as He speaks life into our tired, weary, and spiritually dead souls. As He makes His desire, His plan perfectly clear.
We belong in His presence, not because we are perfect, but because He desires us to be there, and makes it possible.
I am still not sure if the man believed me or not. I got the feeling that he had been turned away from other churches, in other times. I look at the planter daily, and often remembered our conversation. It is one of the reasons that Concordia’s mission statement, our motto, is simple…
“Where people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal…”
Lord Jesus, in our brokenness, come into our lives, bring healing, peace, rest, comfort, and open our eyes to those around us who need what You freely have given, for that is the Father’s desire, and why you came. Lord have mercy, and teach us to share that with all those around us. Lord as well, help us to never hide that brokenness, that weakness – from you or from those who need to see You working, bringing healing to us. Seeing that – may they realize it is theirs as well. †
AMEN
Prayer is not a FB update!
Thought of the day:
He has become so small—you see: an infant!—so that you can come close to him with confidence. Escriva, Josemaria
In these days of social media – it seems that we communicate more. I am not so sure of that – we may type more words, we may text and twit, we may read the updates of our friends on facebook, ut do we really communicate? There is far more to communication than words – there is body language, intonation, personality, culture, and… intimacy.
Example – if a person from group A says something to someone in group A, even if it is a very negative term for the group they are a part of, there is no issue. Yet the same exact phrase from someone outside of the group – say from group C – oh my gosh, the world is about to end, for world war three has started.
Social Media gives us the illusion of communication – but without all the things that make it comprise it, the “communication” is far more shallow, far less a dialogue, and far easier to misunderstand. I bring this up. I bring this up because I think we treat prayer like a facebook update at times. We tell God what we need Him to know – here it is – and we bulk send a ton of posts. We treat God as if He is as far as the person we are messaging (well except for those times when you message your spouse sitting 26 inches from you!) and we expect that some time later we will get a “y” or NO or a ROFL from God in return.
Prayer is intimate conversation – the most intimate. We see God’s desire for that in that He didn’t come as a great king – with thousands of guards that prevents us from coming close. He has come close, come near – come as a baby – grew up as we did, lived life with all its heart breaks, joys, sorrows, sacrifices, laughter…….He has come near… that we could be near Him, talk to Him, cry on His shoulder, be caught up in His joy as another child of the Father is revealed. He has sent the Spirit, the Comforter to abide with us, to indwell in us, a promise of our baptism, the guarantee of our inheritance, the guide and power of our lives.
Don’t mistake the tiny infant in the cradle for someone weak, someone fragile.. He was there..for you. To know how close you can come to Him……..to know how intimate our relationship is with Him
To know His mercy, to share in His peace..
So talk to Him.. know Him..adore Him, and fall in love with the God who has come near..
His Plan His Desire His People in Christ
His Plan, His Desire, His People, “in Christ”!
Ephesians 1:3-14
† In Jesus Name †
May our lives bless our Father in Heaven, as it is revealed to us that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! AMEN!
A preposition for you!
I have a life changing preposition for you!
Two little letters that change everything in life, that change our priorities, our plans, our dreams. That gives life and meaning to life, even in these days when our world chases after all the things that are vain, that do not satisfy, that cannot make a difference.
I have a preposition for you my friends.. not a proposition – a preposition.
Remember that list you memorized, about above among around at behind before, remember those things? Well in today’s epistle, one keeps showing up – and it makes all the difference in the world,
For it is combined with a pronoun – that word that takes the place of a name? Two letters for the preposition, and three letters for the pronoun and the world is shaken, and everything made new…so radical a change in life these two simple words, these five letters, that our reaction to them is nothing less than to praise and glorify God, to bless Him, to in awe applaud His work.
The pronoun is Him, the preposition I have for you to consider is…
“In”
And when we realize what it means to be “in Him” we begin to realize how much of our life, our world has changed… even as we wait for the day when we fully understand it.
Chose us in Him
Of the dozen or so times the preposition and pronoun, (or a noun the preposition refers to) appears in this passage, we have to start somewhere to examine this incredible concept. So let’s look at one first, there in the beginning of verse four, when Paul tells us that the Father has “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”
It is in choosing us, that we find every spiritual blessing coming upon us, it is there that that we realize that we aren’t just after thoughts in God’s plan, but indeed the focus of His will, and His desire. From before the foundation of the earth, He has chosen mankind to have a special relationship with Him, and demonstrated that choice by placing us in Christ.
There, we find out what He has chosen us for, to be His children, adopted because of Jesus Christ, for it is in Christ that we are found to be holy and blameless, set apart for something special, with nothing able to mar or change that choice. To share in the life and love of God, in what sounds amazing – to become part of that relationship that exists between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. To share in such a relationship, as one of my friends has described it in a song – to join in the Trinity’s dance.
This indeed Paul tells us is no accident, it was a choice made from before the foundation of the world. It is the very purpose of His will – or as another translation explains it – it is the plan to achieve God’s greatest desire. Peter phrases it this way,
3:9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
The Lord’s choice, to choose you in Him, in Christ…
Riches of His gift, lavished upon us
The next “in Him” to look at is in verse 7 and 8, as we read,
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
In Christ’s death, we have been paid for, our lives redeemed at the price of His sacrifice on the cross. He did this that because of the great grace, the gift which he lavishes upon us, why?
Paul calls this the making known of the mystery of His will, this incredible grace lavished upon us, as God picks us up in our brokenness, and instead of throwing us away, carefull repairs and heals us, bringing us into Himself, that we might be one with Him. Imagine everything perfect, in His presence, a place where doors don’t creak and neither do our bodies, where our relationships are finally the way they should be, including our relationship with our Father, where we finally let God be God, and we rejoice in knowing we are His chosen people.
This is our lot for all eternity, that which God has planned for us, the life God has given to us, this great mystery of why He would choose us to be His children, that even as He makes this true now, we struggle to realize it, for we struggle to realize we are in Christ, we are in the Beloved son of God, and therefore share in the Father’s love.
How we got there?
We are the children of the king – waiting for that moment when we reach full maturity, when we share in His kingdom. It is true now, and yet like a child waiting to reach the age of inheritance, we struggle with it. Indeed, we need to be reminded of it often, and how and when this incredible thing happened.
Paul explains it in verse 13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
It’s the same story throughout scripture – the way we become His children, according to His plan is when we hear the truth – the truth of His love for us, that is this gospel, this good news.
It is the message of His love that causes us to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to realize that our very lives are in His hands, and that this is a good thing!
That when we were baptized, God marked us, He sealed us as His children, the sign of the cross is what we were marked with, that even as we share in Christ’ death, we too share in His resurrection, for we live in Him.
That has been His plan all along, a plan we have only begun to realize…. For we are still children, waiting for our inheritance to become ours, for us to reach the maturity of Christ, when we visibly know we are in His kingdom.
Until that day, we have a guarantee, a down payment if you will. Something incredibly wonderful, something beyond our comprehension. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what Peter describes as the gift of God’s Spirit, which Paul will also describe as our being the temple – the living place of the Spirit of God, the one called the Comforter, the Lord and Giver of life…
Here, in us, even as we dwell in Him….
A preposition for you my friends, a truth that is so incredible..found as we hear that we are “in”….
In Christ!
So knowing this we can rejoice as Paul does and declare, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… AMEN!
What do you pray…about?
Devotional/discussion thought of the day:
“You wrote to me,”To pray is to talk with God. But about what?” About Him, about yourself. joys and sorrows, success and failures, great ambitions, daily worries – even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions, and love and reparation.
In short, get to know Him, and get to know yourself – ‘to get acquainted” Escriva
Sometime I think we project prayer as some kind of duty, an obligation, a spiritual check in with Dad as we approach curfew. We pray because we are told to, we pray because we are expected to, because we are good people.
If our prayer is only that, then we miss a lot, as we don’t comprehend the heart of the God who reveals Himself as our Father. Who longs to share His life with us, who longs to be with us, Prayer is a conversation with no bounds, and requires no special dignity or formal language. The Lord’s prayer is a basic outline – consider all the things covered by it! Yet as well, there are times where we need solitude and peace, those times too are times of prayer, as are times where we complain and rant and throw a tantrum like Jeremiah, or plead as Paul does for things to get better.
Recently, Andy Griffith died, and most of us recall first the closing to his television show, and he and a very young Ron Howard walk down a dirt road, on the way to go fishing. Such is the nature of the relationship we have with God….as we walk through life together…. know He is there… share the day with Him, rejoice as He pours out His love and mercy and grace… and talk.. and listen,
That is prayer…. try it… often!
