TerryLema

Don’t you just love it when you are reading in Scripture and suddenly a phrase or thought captivates your attention.  Happens to me all the time.  I’ll try to read further, but I just keep coming back to that one phrase that seems to resonate with my spirit at that moment. Today it was the phrase in Philippians, “able to discern what is best.”

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”  [Phil 1:9-10 NIV]

I also like the way the NKJV says it, “that you may approve the things that are excellent.”

Every day we make choices.  Some of them are simple choices, such as eggs or cereal for breakfast, which brand of something to buy, what color shirt to wear. Some of them are more serious or complicated, put the money in savings or take that vacation, continue to date this person, opt for treatment or let the disease run its course.

Paul’s prayer for his beloved Philippians is that they might have the ability to look at all the choices and pick the most excellent one. And I would think to Paul the most excellent choice is the choice that has eternal factors, the choice that leads toward God and not away from Him.

How will this affect my relationship with my beloved Savior? What are the eternal consequences? Knowing that it would take more and more knowledge and spiritual insight, Paul prayed for them.  That is my prayer for you and for me today.

Father, may our love grow in knowledge of You. May we have deep insight through Your Spirit so that we might always choose what is best eternally. Amen.

In Luke 16, we come to a parable about serving two masters. At the end of that parable, Jesus says, “‘No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.’  The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’” [Luke 16:13-15 NIV]

As I read that verse, I was confronted immediately with the question, “So what IS highly valued among men?”

Jesus made it clear that what this world highly values is detestable in God’s sight. Since that is true, we need to answer that question. What does this world value?  I can start off with a host of things, wealth, success, power, talent, intellect, social status. You can probably name a host of other things.

I am not sure I read anywhere in Scripture that these are bad things in themselves. After all, many of God’s people had wealth (Abraham), success (Deborah/Barak), power (Solomon), talent (David), intellect (Paul), social status (Esther).

I think, however, that when we start serving those things rather than allowing those things to serve us, we enter into idolatry. And you cannot serve both God and an idol no matter what that idol is.

Whatever we highly value more than God Himself is going to get us in trouble. Idolatry is detestable to God in any form.

Father, may I always place You above everything else in my life. May I never bow my knee to an idol, no matter what form that idol may take. Search my heart, find any wicked thing in me, and remove it far from me. Amen.

In Luke 15, we find Jesus taking on the establishment, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

“Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’“ [vs1-2 NIV]

Jesus, “friend of sinners.” I have often heard that title applied to our Lord. I have often rejoiced in that declaration of Jesus’ love for me—a sinner. Other times I have had someone paraphrase that verse in wrong ways. To them it meant that Jesus accommodates their sin, and that Christians should also.

Yes, Jesus is a friend to sinners. Yes, Jesus loves sinners, but that doesn’t mean that Jesus loves sin, nor that He will accommodate it in anyone. In fact, He suffered and died on a Roman cross because of our sin.

We need to understand what it means when we say that Jesus “welcomes sinners and fellowships with them.” He gave three parables as He explained His love for sinners to these Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  Luke 15, beginning in verse 3, speaks of a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son.  (Read Luke 15 today).

As you read you will notice a commonality through each parable. Something is lost. There is also the common theme of finding what is lost. And there is rejoicing over sinners who repent of their sins. “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [Luke 15:10 NIV]

It is not about abiding in our sin and being friends with Jesus.  It’s about abandoning our sin and becoming His disciple.

Rom 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  [NIV]

The word used for condemnation is only used in the New Testament in this verse and in Romans 5:16, 18. It is a legal term, speaking of the verdict and sentence issued by a judge in a court of law. Under the law we are all guilty – that’s the verdict.  Because the verdict is guilty, the sentence has been pronounced – death.  That’s condemnation.

For those who are in Christ Jesus, however, there is NO condemnation.  None. When a believer sins (and believe me we still do that), we don’t go back to court to stand before a judge, we go to a Father who loves, convicts, disciplines, and forgives His children–all because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

Understanding the difference between conviction versus condemnation is one of the hardest things to get deep down into our hearts.  So often we hear the enemy of our souls shouting to us, “if you really were a good Christian, you would not have done that,” or things along that same line.  That’s condemnation’s theme song.

As children of our Eternal Father, we hear conviction. “Child, I love you, I know you do not want to displease me.  Come to me, let us work together, I will forgive and lead you in paths of righteousness.”  That’s conviction’s theme song.

Remember:  Condemnation always leads us away from God. Conviction always leads us toward Him.

Isa 41:13:  For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. 

God takes hold of our right hand. God speaks His assurance into our lives – “do not fear, I will help you.” Not, I might help you, or I can help you, or I could help you. His word to us is I will help you.

 One of the things I miss most now that my children are all grown is little hands reaching up for me to hold. I miss that little hand in mine walking through stores or along pathways. I miss those little hands so trusting. Even my grandchildren have grown beyond that hand-holding stage.

There is something exceedingly precious about holding the trusting hand of a child. I wonder if God feels the same way when we lift our hands to Him, when we ask Him to take hold because we are in need of help, or are fearful, or need comforting. I wonder if His heart soars when we place our hand in His and seek His guidance along unknown pathways or ask for His strength when we grow weak and weary.

Jesus said in Mark 10:15 that we must accept the kingdom of God as a little child. I’ve heard many a sermon on what that means, and not all the preachers arrived at the same conclusion.

Perhaps it is this, the simplicity of placing our hand in the mighty hand of God—just as our children placed their little hands in ours.

Father, may I never think I can grow beyond my hand in Your hand. Amen.

I love technology. I hate technology. It all depends on how “technology” is treating me.  Today, I am in “hate technology” mode. THAT’s the way I began yesterday’s devotion. It rings true today also.

My fitness watch battery is dying and after much research, turns out there are no battery replacement options. It has been losing its charge rapidly over the past month, but I was hoping that was just a temporary problem. Nope, it’s a permanent one. It will not hold a charge for more than an hour, even less if I take a walk. I now need to buy a new one. Not a task I am looking forward to with all the research on price, reliability, etc.

Even more frustrating now is my personal “spiritual battery.” I feel depleted. I have been dealing with some physical issues and with a variety of doctor appointments that has shifted my focus in subtle ways. Over the last weeks I have spent most of my time thinking about … well … me. That is never a “spiritually healthy” mode.

My focus needs to be on Christ Jesus my LORD. The LORD reminded me of Hebrews 12 this morning … that wonderful chapter that follows the Heroes of Faith Chapter.  I was reminded that I need to “strip off every weight that slows [me] down, especially the sin that so easily trips [me] up.”

And nothing weighs me down or trips me up faster than focusing on “self.” I must instead “run with endurance the race God has set before [me]”

I can only do that by keeping my “eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects [my] faith.” [Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT]

Thank you, LORD, for that reminder! Amen

I love technology. I hate technology. It all depends on how “technology” is treating me.  Today, I am in “hate technology” mode.

Last week, I realized my phone had an old VM message giving instructions about contacting “The Way” church that were no longer relevant. (Haven’t been relevant for years!) So, I changed my VM message, and in the process somehow messed up a bunch of other things. I spent over an hour with Customer Service getting my VM working correctly.

Fiddling with the phone and VM and customer service also caused it to lose its sync with my car, my watch and my hearing devices, so I had to add those back, something I always have problems with.

As I sat in my car struggling to get my phone to talk with the car, I began to talk to God about my frustration. Then I began to laugh out loud.

I could talk to God and trust that He was with me and heard me and cared for me in my frustration – more than I trusted that my phone would ever sync with my car!

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” [1 Peter 5:7, NLT]

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” [Psalm 145:18]

This verse appeared in my inbox the other morning. “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” [Psalm 90:2 NKJV]

 It was that phrase … “from everlasting to everlasting you are God” that rang with my spirit.

Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses. I looked it up in the New Living Translation (NLT) and it begins: “Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.” [vs1-2]

As much as I love the NLT, I think for this verse, I like the NKVJ better … “from everlasting to everlasting you are God!”

Everlasting to Everlasting reminds me of two things. First, that God has always been. He has no beginning. He had plans for my life before I (or anyone else) was ever created. I have purpose in Him. I am not an accident, nor have I evolved from a non-human source.

Everlasting to Everlasting also reminds me that my God will never cease to exist. He will never be overcome. Nothing will come along to take His place or to change all He has said He will do!

Everlasting to Everlasting is not something our little finite minds can truly understand. It is something we accept, something we place our hope and trust in, a promise that we can immerse ourselves in.

He is God! He has always been God. He will always be God. And because He loves us with everlasting love, we are His children. Nothing else to say except, Amen!

What used to be one of the worst times of day has turned into one of my best.  That hour or so right before bed.

During that hour, Bob wants the television on, and he wants me to sit with him in the living room. Unless there is a special program (rare) or a sporting event (occasionally) that we both want to watch, I surrender the remote to him. That means he finds stations that have ubiquitous Westerns. He will pick one to watch, or he will flip back and forth between two or more. Both the Western and the flipping really annoy me!

I used to try to read but that never overcame the noisy Westerns. Then I discovered I could simply put in my earphones and instead watch and listen to the marvelous videos of Christian music on YouTube.

That is what I was doing the other day when I came upon a song I had not heard in years. “Worthy the Lamb” sung by the Gaither Vocal Band.

I cannot even put into words how deeply my heart was touched.  Here is the link to that video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i0bAr7--kM

And here is the Promise to the Event: “And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’” [Revelation 5:12]