All Things Beautiful

"He has made everything beautiful in its time."
Eccl. 3:11

We have had a difficult couple of weeks at our house as one of our boys got life out of sequence and we find ourselves going to be grandparents just 6 months after the wedding.  I have agonized for the sins of this beloved son and his wife, but I also grieve what they have lost - their wedding day joy, their wedding night magic, their relationship with God, and the broken relationship with my husband and I.  But through it all, God keeps reminding me that He will make it beautiful in its time.  This child will be a beautiful gift and when the couple repents and is restored that will be beautiful as well.  We look forward to a deeper relationship with them in the future, and we are hanging on to hope in this time of disappointment and grief.

God makes everything beautiful in its time.  That is according to God's time table - not ours.  Life's hurts happen and we are confused and knocked sideways.  But God promises that "...God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28  Looking back to times in my life that were tough either by life's circumstances or by my own sin, I find that God has truly turned each to good.  No I don't like physical pain, but it has made me who I am and has taught me to rely upon my God day by day.  No, I don't like the pain of broken family relationships, but God has shown Himself to me as Father in a very real way because I had to go to Him and climb into His lap for love and healing and grace and compassion. 

In God's time, all will be made beautiful for those who rely upon Him.  I choose to humble myself today before Him and wait upon Him.  He will make this last event beautiful in His time.  I just need to get out of the way and let Him work.  How about you.  Are you still trying to control the events of your life and others?  Or are you ready to surrender to God all control and allow Him to make all things beautiful?

Growing Up

“For I am confident of this very thing,
 that He who began a good work in you
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6

I always told you that you have three parents and that the ones here on earth are not perfect, but the One in heaven is.  Our job ended when you became adults.  His will not end until you meet Him in heaven!  He is with you always.  He loves you and will not let you go.  He may discipline, but it is born out of love.

“Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord you God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.  Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills,..” Deut. 8:5-7

The old covenant promised land here on earth to the Jewish people.  But God has promised the New Testament believers a forever land of great wealth and beauty – heaven.  We cannot obtain it as long as we are here on earth, but we are just journeying through.  Remember that you are aliens here and that your home is really heaven.  Allow God to do a good work in your life now, respond to His discipline, and learn that you might obtain that greater land.  It is not about doing good to earn heaven.  It is about following Christ and His commandments to become the grown up child of God that He will be able to use in heaven.  He who began a good work in you at salvation, will perfect it until you get to heaven!  That perfecting Is a process.  Don’t buck it; embrace it!

 

You are Light

“…for you were formerly of darkness,
but now you are Light in the Lord;
walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:8-9

Several things really stood out to me in this passage.  First of all, “Light” is capitalized – this signifies a person rather than a thing.  Jesus is Light, and we are the temple of that Light!  We are now the Light of the Lord here on earth.  Are you letting that Light shine through your life? 

The next thing that stood our was the fruit of the Light – goodness, righteousness, and truth.  Only goodness is mentioned in Galatians 5:22 where the fruits of the Spirit are listed.  But the Light (Jesus Christ) is our righteousness and He is truth personified.  It makes sense then that our lives should be lived out with bearing these fruits.  2 Corinthians 13;5 says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!”

Are you living your life in righteousness and truth?  Do you delight in being good? 

Also note that just because we are now Light in the Lord, we still have to choose to walk as children of Light.  It is always a choice.  You can choose to continue after darkness and there will be no righteousness, no truth, no goodness in you, or you can choose to walk in the Light and bear fruit of righteousness. 

It is not an automatic change in our lives.  We must continue to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  We do this by reading His word and fellowshipping with others.  We are to plan our path and let God direct us. (Proverbs 16:9 and3).

 

Lavished with Grace

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will,
 to the praise of the glory of His grace,
 which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
Ephesians 1:5-8a

Because of the kind intention of His will, God adopted you!  Not because of your great talents, your amazing beauty, or your usefulness to Him, but just because He is kind and He chose you!  You are His son or daughter to the praise of the glory of His grace.  In other words, you are His and your adoption shows us the glory of God’s grace.  In that we, and others, should praise God. And He did it freely!  Without payment due!  Nothing is owed!  Not your works, not your being good – nothing!

 It was all accomplished through the Beloved, Jesus, the first born son, the sacrifice. It is through His blood that we are able to be not only adopted, but made righteous and holy.  What’s really cool, is that we did not merely squeak by!  But rather, God accepted us according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.  When I think of something being lavished, I think of butter being very liberally spread upon a piece of bread. (I know that’s weird, but oh well!)  When I lavish butter on bread, I do not scrape some of it off, or check to make sure that it is barely covered. No!  I put as much as possible on it until it stands up in the middle and is spread from edge to edge, then I lavish jelly on top of that!  That is God’s grace to you -  piled high, fully covering, and then some more on top of that!

Praise Him and worship Him.  He is your God and He is good!

Freedom

 I read through Galatians this morning and am again just astounded at God’s grace!  We can do nothing to earn our salvation, lose our salvation, or to further our position with God.  We are already at the top of the pile, His sons and daughters, the apple of his eye, and His delight!  Just because we are His!  He may not always be happy with what we do or the way we behave, but He is always our Daddy!

“…so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Gal. 4:5

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free….” 5:1

Mixed in with all these great verses on our freedom are verses about our behavior: “But I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” 5:16.  These verses are clues to our living a contented life here on earth, growing in our relationship with God, and being prepared for what God has for us in eternity.  They are not about “Do this or else…(death, disowning, etc…)” 

We are free through our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus.  We are adopted into the Kingdom.  Done deal! “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law…so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Gal. 3:1, 3, 13,14.

Upon the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” His sacrificed sealed the bargain.  Our salvation is not Jesus and… (church attendance, perfect behavior, good deeds, being lovely, etc…).  It is just Jesus. Period.

Psalms then reminds us to “Walk at liberty.”  In other words, you are free!  Act like it!  Freedom is joy and love and peace and contentment and wanting to have a friendship with the one that set us free!  Rejoice!  Sing!  Praise!  And walk as if it is true!

 

Forgiveness

I found this verse as I was reading and praying about forgiving someone of a very hurtful debt that accumulated over many years and through many circumstances.  I have chosen to forgive and am laying it at the feet of Jesus, but I also know that it will be a battle for me to love this person with the love of Christ because I want to protect my own heart.  Oh yeah!  It’s not my own heart – I gave it to Jesus.  He can protect it or if it gets stomped on again, he can heal it.  Most of all, I want this person to experience all of God and what joy he has for her.  I don’t want Satan to get her heart or mine because of my unforgiveness.  Now if my emotions will just line up, I will be good to go!  God is able – one step at a time.

I know that this verse is spoken of by Paul, not by Jesus.  But the connection of forgiveness and not allowing Satan to take advantage is poignant.

“To this end I also wrote,

so that I might put you to the test,
whether you are obedient in all things. 
But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also;
for indeed what I have forgiven, If I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11

I do not want bitterness to get the upperhand in my heart.  I know bitter old women, and I don’t want to be one!  So, Satan will not get the glory in this one, I choose to lay it at the cross.  I pray that if you have unforgiveness towards anyone for any reason, that you , too, will trust that person and your heart to Jesus and let Him care for you.

 

Knowing God

“My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
 And discover the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:1-5

That’s a pretty good if-then statement!  If you will listen, receive, treasure God’s commandments, hear wisdom, be pliable to understand, seek wisdom, THEN you will discern the fear of the Lord (the beginning of wisdom) and discover the knowledge of God. 

These are all active verbs.  In other words, we are to be about doing them consistently and constantly – with diligence and purpose.  We do this through reading God’s word and praying for the Holy Spirit to teach us.  It means time with God.  It means trust and reliance and sincere searching.  Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)  Notice that even in this verse, the verbs are active.  You must be about asking, seeking, and knocking.

I was in a Sunday school class with older ladies one day and expected to be sitting among mature Christians who knew their Bibles and had spent much time with God.  I was surprised to realize that I knew a whole lot more Bible than they did, and that most were really babies in their faith walk with Jesus even though most had been Christians for 30 years of more.  I began to pray and ask God “Why?”.  As I listened and asked questions it became very clear to me that these women had not spent time seeking and searching.  Their time had been spent on careers, raising their children, and getting more stuff.  There is nothing wrong with a career or raising of children or having stuff, but if that is what you spend the majority of your time on to the exclusion of being in God’s word and prayer, then you will not grow in grace, mercy, knowledge, wisdom, joy, love, etc…

If – Then.