Tag Archives: Grace

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 9

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“Don’t let the wise brag of their wisdom.
   Don’t let heroes brag of their exploits.
Don’t let the rich brag of their riches.
   If you brag, brag of this and this only:
That you understand and know me.” Jeremiah 9:23 (MSG)

This last week a machine randomly pulled some numbered balls out of a machine and two people immediately became $190 million dollars richer. These two people were no better than anyone else. They did nothing to earn their reward but take a chance.

It’s easy for me to see life as really a big lottery. I was blessed to be born to a loving family in a nice middle-class neighborhood in the middle western part of the richest country in the world. I did nothing to earn this heritage. I was blessed to hear the Message of Jesus told to me as a young person. With the simple act of faith, believing Jesus is who he said he was, and did what he said he did, I am a recipient of God’s unmerited favor; I am given the riches of His his love, forgiveness and blessing. I did nothing to earn this. I am no better than anyone else. I simply believed.

If there is anything I have to brag about it is this:
God has done great things and has been gracious to me.

God, help me today to keep my head on straight about that and act accordingly. Please and thank you.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Amos 1

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God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem! The thunderclap voice withers the pastures tended by shepherds, shrivels Mount Carmel’s proud peak. Amos 1:1-2 (MSG)

There is a certain balancing act required in being a good father. A soft-sided love lived out in active affection, grace, and lovingkindness is certainly necessary. But, a hard-sided love modeled by firm justice and, at times, righteous anger is equally needed. One side without the other leads to all sorts of negative consequences for everyone.

It is sometimes difficult to wrap our arms around the God of judgement characterized by the prophets like Amos. Amos reveals the hard-sided love of the Heavenly Father. As I read today’s chapter, I could almost hear dad yelling “ENOUGH!” as every child within earshot is suddenly aware that they are in big trouble.

A loving father loves his children enough to protect them at need from their own foolishness and, when appropriate, to hand out just consequences to teach his children the error of their ways. As an earthly father, I’m flawed in finding the perfect balance, but God is a perfect example to continually seek to follow.

Today, I’m thankful for an earthly father who loved me well with both the soft and hard sides of love. I’m thankful for a God who is a model to follow. I pray I can continue to find and refine the appropriate balance with my children.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Romans 6

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So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. Romans 6:15 (MSG)

While I was in college, my roommate and I were asked to read a couple of patriotic pieces at a Veteran’s Day event. We arrived that morning at the VFW Hall. There was still plenty of time before the bus was to take us to the event and we were invited to sit down and enjoy the company of the many old soldiers who packed the hall.

I’ll never forget that morning as I listened to these grandfathers share their experiences of war. I will always remember the look in their eyes as they spoke of their brothers-in-arms who never made it back. Etched in my memory forever are the tears of one elderly soldier who sat on the bus and silently wept as his mind relived some distant memory.

That morning, this snot-nosed college boy put faces to my freedom. As I sat in the VFW hall and on that bus with those men and heard their stories, it finally clicked in a way it never had before. My freedom wasn’t free. It was bought with lives of men and women who sacrificed their lives so that I could enjoy mine in freedom and peace.

I find it an apt parallel to the Kingdom of God.  We are no longer shackled to our sinful appetites. We are graciously forgiven of the sin that had us on death row, and have been freed from our imprisonment. But our freedom wasn’t free. It cost God the life of His Son, Jesus, who gave Himself up for execution on our behalf.

Every time I use my freedom as a license to act disgracefully, I dishonor the One who died for that freedom.

Lord, have mercy on me.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Romans 4

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If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it. Romans 4:14-15 (MSG)

There is a locked safe in the closet of my home office. Inside that safe is a marriage license which is stamped, notarized and filed with the county. My wife and I are legally married. Not once, however, have I had to pull out that contract and remind myself or my wife of this fact.

Before there was a contract there was a promise and a relationship. I love my wife, and she loves me. We are bound together by promise and trust, and this is reflected in thought, word, and deed each day as we live in relationship with one another. And believe me, with both of us working in our home office, we spend more time together than most married couples I know.

No wonder God uses marriage as a word picture of our relationship with Christ over and over again. I am drawn to Jesus by His promise, and by trust in what He has done for me (laying down his life). To think that my good works or legal obligation to perform religious duties are required to consummate the relationship, only perverts the beautiful picture of a gracious covenant relationship.

Today, I’m thankful for a relationship with Jesus that has nothing to do with me earning religious merit badges.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Chronicles 33

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He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. 2 Chronicles 33:16 (MSG)

We all make poor choices. By ignorance, foolishness, rebellion, or deception, every one of us has wandered off on ill-fated paths and found our lives in dark places. Yet, as Corrie Ten Boom reminds us, “there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

Mannaseh was in a deep pit. His life was as far from God’s path as you could possibly imagine. His hard heart and life choices had not just ignored God, but willingly dishonored Him for many years.

But then, Mannaseh restored the altar.

It is never too late to restore the altar of our lives, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. There is no path on life’s journey that is so far from God, that God’s love, grace and forgiveness does not stretch even further.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Chronicles 16

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At that, Asa lost his temper. Angry, he put Hanani in the stocks. At the same time Asa started abusing some of the people. 2 Chronicles 16:10 (MSG)

“Shoot the messenger.” – Shakespeare, Henry IV

In my daily vocation I have the opportunity to stand in the shoes of the herald, and sometimes those of the prophet. I walk into a boardroom, or perhaps a small conference room, and share what customers think of my client and their service. The news isn’t always pretty and clients haven’t always responded gracefully.

There is a long, historic tradition of responding to truth (often, the truth is ill news) by shooting the messenger. Shakespeare may have been the first to say it in such a way that it stuck in our collective psyche, but the actualy act of shooting the messenger goes as far back as human history. We see it in today’s chapter.

Asa blew it. Hanani confronts him with the plain truth of the matter, and reveals the tragic flaw in Asa’s actions. King Asa responds, not in repentance, but by lashing out in anger. He has poor Hanani, the prophet, thrown into the stocks and takes his anger out on every one around him.

Having been the bearer of bad news, I hope that I am a better hearer of truth when confronted with bad news regarding my own words or actions. I hope that I can listen with humility, and accept truth graciously.

Hearing the truth is often difficult. Responding appropriately is harder still.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 29

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Where's Waldo. The Master said: "These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren't in it. Because they act like they're worshiping me but don't mean it…. Isaiah 29:13 (MSG)

Sometimes, I step back and try to see a bigger picture. I look at my life and everyone in it like a Where's Waldo book in which everyone I know is walking around on one big opened, panoramic page. I look and see believers who say all the right things and are sure to be seen in the right evangelical circles and settings, but then I listen as they make contemptuous observations about others and pass judgment as if their butts were big enough to occupy the Judgement Seat of Christ. I see the blissfully ignorant. I see hard-hearted standing in their own form of judgmental obstinance. I see the runaway. I see the rebellious. I see the broken, and I see genuine hearted searching.

Looking at the broad mental picture of these different individuals and groups, I remind myself that it was the religious establishment - the good, and upright followers of God that received the lion's share of Jesus' angry rebuke. While it was the sinful, the broken, and the hard hearted who received a generous portion of Jesus' time, attention, love and grace.

Where am I in this big picture? If you look for me, where will you find Tom? Am I with the judgmental religious establishment? Am I found in the picture where I'm most comfortable? Am I found where Jesus would be (and is)?

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 12

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Drawing deep. "Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation." Isaiah 12:3a (MSG)

No matter the depth of sin to which you've fallen, the well of salvation is deeper still.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 34

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Everyone needs a mulligan. Moses was there with God forty days and forty nights. He didn't eat any food; he didn't drink any water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words. Exodus 34:28 (MSG)

In the world of my childhood, on the playground, there was no better picture of grace than the "do over." You line up your shot beneath the basketball hoop and give it your best heave. The ball misses the hoop entirely and you shout "DO OVER!" Things did not turn out as you planned, so you get another shot. When we grow up and play golf, this is called a "Mulligan."

Casual readers of God's message, or watchers of the movie the Ten Commandments, will easily remember Moses going up the mountain and coming back with the tablets to find the people worshiping the golden calf. What we don't often remember is that Moses and the people got a "do over." Moses ascended the mountain again, and stayed up there for 40 days and nights again, and returned down the mountain again.

The return trip, however, was different. This time, the people waited and anticipated Moses' return. There was no falling into doubt and idolatry. Instead of descending in anger and shock, Moses descended aglow with God's glory. Same story, different outcome.

There are many times in life when we need a spiritual "Mulligan." We start a leg of the journey with the best of intentions and end up, as Bob Dylan sang, "on a bad motorcycle with the Devil in the seat, going 90 miles-an-hour down a dead end street."

God specializes in second chances. We all need a "do over" from time to time. Take a mulligan today. Tee it up again. Get a fresh start.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 130

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A long list on the balance sheet. If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped. Psalm 130:3-4 (MSG)

Part of my job is analyzing phone calls that people take as part of their Customer Service job, and then coaching them on how they can improve (a la "your call may be monitored to ensure quality service"). When I go into the coaching sessions, I never cease to be amazed at how hard people are on themselves. It's rare that I have to convince somebody they can do a better job. Most often, people criticize their own performance far more mercilessly than I ever would. Most of us are hurtfully self-critical.

I've discovered the same thing to be true when talking to people about their faith journey. Many of us, deep down, are so convinced that the balance sheet of wrong doings to good deeds is so heavily weighted towards the wrong doings that we're convinced God wants nothing to do with us. "You don't know what I've done," is a phrase I've heard a time or two. I've uttered it a few times myself.

On one hand, our natural inclination is correct. If God judged us based on our balance sheet, not one of us would stand a chance. However, when God's message tells us about Jesus dying for our sins, it simply means that He paid the price for our wrong doings. If you will believe Him, God makes a habit of tearing out the negative side of our balance sheet and tossing it in the incinerator.

I'm sure he's surprised when we keep bringing up the subject.

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