Love and Life on the Big Screen

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

One problem with Bible-polished rule keepers is that from a distance we all tend to look pretty good. Especially compared to those who don’t keep God’s rules. And believing that we are looking good keeps us thinking pretty well about ourselves, which destroys any thought about how stunningly wonderful God’s grace is to us.

When I taught on Sundays at the church where I served as a teaching pastor, my face was broadcast on three big screens at the front of the church—sort of an evangelical jumbo-tron! I have to admit, I’m not crazy about people being able to see my face from that close range, magnified hundreds of times! No matter how hard I have worked to look my best, my increasingly flawed face—wrinkles, spots, and blemishes—is projected larger than life for all to see. And, as unsettling as it is, I have to say to myself, “That’s you, baby—like it or not!”

Seeing ourselves for who we really are and admitting it is the first step in understanding the richness of God’s grace. Grace becomes an amazing gift when we finally see ourselves the way God sees us—up close and personal, magnified hundreds of times, warts and flaws front and center. The apostle Paul wrote, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

No use kidding ourselves. God is well aware of everything in your life and mine—actions, attitudes, thoughts, and responses. Game’s up! I’m a sinner, and so are you. We don’t need a Sunday jumbo-tron to discover that. What is so surprising is that it is our terribly broken condition that prompts God’s grace and love to flow to us. It’s our blemishes, our sin, and our stupid self-centeredness that makes us desperately in need of God’s grace. And thankfully He is willing to give it abundantly!

When I first got married, I tried so hard to make Martie believe I was a great husband. I didn’t want her to know how selfish I could be, and I tried to veil my insecurities so she’d think I was strong and confident. Inevitably, though, the real me showed up. My selfish agenda was out there in plain view for her and everyone else to see. Guess what? She loves me still. Through the years her love has not been dependent on me being husband of the year or father of the decade. I thank God for that. Her love for me is like God’s love for all of us. It was demonstrated in spite of our failures, not withheld because of them. That’s the grace that God chooses to love us with. And that’s the grace that drives me to want to love Him in return.

Feeling broken today? Or unlovely, out of place, behind the times, too little too late? Are you stuck in a stubborn pattern of sin you can’t break? God’s got you on His screen, nothing is hidden from His view, and still in this moment you are the object of His love and grace.

If you find it hard to develop a heart of love for God, it may be that you have spent too much time thinking about how cool you are. We all need a huge reality check! Seeing yourself as you really are and knowing that He loves you still is a great way to stimulate your heart to express your love and gratitude to Him in return.

YOUR JOURNEY…

• What makes it hard for you to see yourself as the sinner you really are—Comparison, rationalization, excuses, pride?
• Write down the sins that constantly pop up in your life. Ask yourself, “Where would I be today if it weren’t for God’s grace in my life?”
• Who needs the touch of God’s grace from you in spite of their sin?
• Does the realization of the unbelievable grace of God in your life make you feel more free to keep sinning or motivate you to clean up your act? Why?
• What difference would it make if you lived as a debtor to His grace rather than in a self-deceived sense of how good you are?
• Take a few moments today to thank God for the love He showed you in Jesus.

daily strength

Visible Reminders
[By Joe Stowell from the pages of Our Daily Bread]

"Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."  Colossians 3:2
What’s the first image you see when you turn on your computer? Maybe it’s a family portrait or a special vacation picture. Or perhaps your favorite pro athlete.

How about an artist’s rendition of Jesus? A man once wrote to me about his lengthy battle with pornography—a disheartening cycle that punctuated seasons of victory with crushing forays back into an online world of empty lust. Finally, he found that putting a visible reminder of Jesus in the corner of his computer screen helped him achieve lasting victory. That constant reminder of the One who set him free caused the offensive Web sites to lose their appeal. The man wasn’t tapping into some gigabyte good-luck charm. He was giving himself a simple reminder of the teaching of Colossians 3 where Paul says, “put to death . . . fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” ( Col 3:5).

When we turn our eyes toward Jesus, He becomes a powerful reminder that our old life “died, and [our] life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). Whether it’s a verse taped to the dashboard of your car or a picture on your computer, choose a tangible way to lift your thoughts into the presence of Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.  —Lemmel

The best way to keep sin at a distance is to make sure Jesus stands between you and temptation.

daily strength

O. B. Markers
by C. P. Hia

Read: Jeremiah 5:21-31

I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. —Psalm 119:75

In the game of golf, out-of-bounds or O. B. markers designate when a ball has gone out of play. If a player’s ball goes out-of-bounds, a one-stroke penalty is imposed.

The prophet Jeremiah warned the southern kingdom of Judah about their persistent rejection of God’s boundaries for them. He said that even the sea knows that the sand on the seashore is its O. B. marker, “an everlasting barrier it cannot cross” (Jer. 5:22 NIV). Yet, the Lord’s people had defiant and rebellious hearts (v.23). There was no fear of God, who gave them rain for their crops (v.24). They grew rich on deceit (v.27) and ignored the pleas of the disadvantaged (v.28).

God has given moral boundaries in His Word for us to live within. He gave them not to frustrate us but so that by keeping within them we may enjoy His blessings. David wrote: “I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right” (Ps. 119:75). God told Israel through Moses, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life” (Deut. 30:19).

Don’t test God’s boundaries and invite His correction. Make wise choices to live within His O. B. markers in His Word.

The Lord has given us commands,
And told us to obey;
Our own designs are sure to fail,
If we neglect His way! —Bosch

A small step of obedience is a giant step to blessing.

our daily bread

The Price of the Vision

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord . . . —Isaiah 6:1

Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?

My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.

Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, “In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You.”

Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.

my utmost for his highest

starry night
by roxanne robbins

Psalm 19:1-6 
The heavens proclaim the glory of God (v.1).

When poet, lecturer, and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson was asked what people would do if the stars came out only once every thousand years, he replied, “If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years, how man would marvel and stare.”

Building on Emerson’s response, author Paul Hawkins, in a commencement speech to the Portland University Class of 2009, said, “If the stars only came out once every thousand years, no one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. “Instead,” Hawkins lamented, “the stars come out every night and we watch television.”

Ever since God created the stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16), the brilliant lights haven’t ceased to shine. We, however, too often neglect to “stop and consider” these and other miracles of God’s creation (Job 37:14).

As we grow older, we tend to resemble Mark Twain’s fictional character Tom Sawyer, who remembered stargazing as an important part of his past but not his present. “We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars,” Twain wrote, “and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened.”

King David argued that an upward gaze is important regardless of our years or stage in life. For “the heavens,” David said, “proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world” (Psalm 19:1-4).

Don’t wait 1,000 years to be dazzled by God. Instead, look into tonight’s evening sky and see what He has done!

our daily journey

Occupational Hazard
by Julie Ackerman Link

Read: Philippians 1:12-18

The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. —Philippians 1:12

My occupation is words. Whether I am writing or editing, I am using words to convey ideas so that readers can understand. I can usually see what’s wrong with someone else’s writing (though sometimes not with my own) and figure out how to fix it.

As an editor, I am paid for being critical. My job is to see what’s wrong with the way words are used. This ability becomes a disability when I carry it over into my personal life and always look for what is wrong. Focusing on what’s wrong can cause us to miss everything that’s good.

The apostle Paul had reason to focus on what was wrong in the Philippian church. Certain people were preaching the gospel out of selfish ambition to add to Paul’s suffering (Phil. 1:16). But instead of concentrating on the negative, he chose to look at the positive and rejoice in it: Jesus Christ was being preached (v.18).

God wants us to be discerning—we need to know good from bad—but He doesn’t want us to focus on the bad and become critical or discouraged. Even in circumstances that are less than ideal (Paul was writing from prison), we can find something good because in times of trouble God is still at work.

The eyes of faith when fixed on Christ
Give hope for what’s ahead,
But focus on life’s obstacles
And faith gives way to dread. —D. De Haan

When your outlook is blurred by problems, focus on Christ.

our daily bread

Bull’s-Eye!

"Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth."  Psalm 86:11

If we’re not careful, we may become like the man who prided himself on being an expert archer. The secret to his success was that after he shot his arrow at the side of a barn, he painted a bull’s-eye around the arrow.

It’s easy to live our lives doing what we want and thinking that our ways and instincts are right on target when in reality our “bull’s-eye” shots at life are not on target at all. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Sometimes it may feel right to seek revenge, hoard money, chase pleasure, or yell at people who yell at us. But God’s ways are different from ours. He has painted a bull’s-eye on forgiving those who have hurt us, on giving generously to those in need, on living to please Him rather than ourselves, and on turning the other cheek. We need to pray, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth” (Ps. 86:11). And then we need to aim to follow His ways in all that we do and say.

But we all need help to aim at the right target. Thankfully, the bull’s-eye is already painted in the brushstrokes of God’s truth as revealed in His Word. When we aim our lives at God’s Word, we’ll discover that His ways are right on target—every time!

God’s given us His holy Word
To help and guide our way;
And if we read and follow it,
We will not go astray.  —Sper

God’s ways are our targets for living.

daily strength

A Family Reunion
by David C. McCasland

Read: 1 Thessalonians 2:4-12

We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. —1 Thessalonians 2:7

For the past 29 years, the annual Celebration of Life reunion in our city has brought together members of a unique family. The festive gathering reunites doctors, nurses, and staff from Colorado Springs’ Memorial Hospital for Children with former patients from its neonatal intensive care unit. Some are infants in strollers while others are young teens. Their parents have come with them to say thank you to those who saved their children’s lives and gave them a second chance. Edward Paik’s article in The Gazette quoted Dr. Bob Kiley’s heartfelt response: “Both professionally and personally, for all the staff, this solidifies why we’re in this job.”

I wonder if in heaven there will be many such times when spiritual caregivers and those they helped as “babes in Christ” will reunite to share stories and give praise to God. The New Testament describes how Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy worked among the young believers in Thessalonica with gentleness, “just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7), and with comfort and encouragement, “as a father does his own children” (v.11).

Helping new believers at a critical stage in their faith is a labor of love that will be cause for great rejoicing at the “family” reunion in heaven.

Friends will be there I have loved long ago,
Joy like a river around me will flow;
Yet, just a smile from my Savior, I know,
Will through the ages be glory for me. —Gabriel

One of heaven’s pleasures will be to share our earthly stories.

our daily bread

Getting Even or Getting Better?

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay . . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Romans 12:19-20

I’ll never forget an older woman who came to my office and heatedly dumped on me a long list of objections about her husband. I asked how long she had been married. It had been more than 40 years. I have never in my life, nor would I ever, counsel anyone to break up a home. But as she went on and on about how miserable he was, I finally said, “Why have you lived with him so long if he’s so bad? Did you ever think about just checking out? I’m not advising it, but I’d like to know what you think.” She said, “Oh, no! I’d never walk out of this marriage.”

I thought that was an honorable attitude until she continued. It was evident that she hated him so much that walking out of the marriage would have meant she couldn’t torment him anymore. For her, that was a reason for staying. Why would she want to give up the opportunity to shred her enemy at every turn?

Got any people like that in your life? People you’d like to take every opportunity to even the score with? Take my advice: Forget it! You’ll only lose sleep and waste precious energy if you are living to get even with someone. As someone well said, “Bitterness is the poison you prepare for someone else and end up drinking yourself!” So thankfully, God has a better way. He’ll deal with your enemy if you get out of the way and pour out love instead of venom.

Joseph understood this dynamic when he, as a ruler in Egypt, could have made toast out of his hateful brothers. But instead he said to them, “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19). Joseph was free of the “do evil for evil” syndrome and admitted he had no business getting back at his brothers because God is the one who carries out justice. With Joseph, you can experience emotional liberation from your enemies when you pray, “God, they are in your hands! I give them to you to deal justly with them!” When that is our prayer, we are set free to follow the liberating way of Romans 12:19-21 where Paul writes:

“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

So don’t get in the way. God has not equipped us to personally carry out justice and vengeance on our enemies. That’s why things always get messed up when we try. He is the only one who has that right and the power and wisdom to do it well.

YOUR JOURNEY…

• What are the emotional and spiritual downsides to trying to carry out your own revenge?
• Have you ever known a situation to get better when enemies did their best to keep evening the score?
• Shock an enemy with acts of love. It takes two to fight!

daily strength

Touch a Life
by Anne Cetas

Read: Galatians 6:6-10

Let us not grow weary while doing good. —Galatians 6:9

My friend Dan, who was soon to graduate from high school, was required to make a senior presentation. He had 15 minutes to share how he had made it to the point of graduation and to thank those who had helped him along the way.

I gazed around the room before he started to talk. All kinds of people—young families, teachers, friends, church leaders, and coaches—were in attendance. He began to talk about the ways each person had touched his life. One woman had “been like an aunt and had always been there” for him. A 30-something man “shared Scriptures often and gave counsel.” Another man had “taught him discipline and hard work.” A church friend had “taken him to football practice every day” because his mom couldn’t. A couple had “treated him like he was their own son.” One commonality—they were all just ordinary Christians who had reached out to make a difference in his life.

Paul called it doing “good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). We can help shape another person’s life by showing an interest and taking action. And, as happened with Dan, we can reap a harvest (v.9).

Look around. Is there someone whose life needs your touch?

Lord, grant me a heart of compassion
So burdened for others’ needs
That I will show Your kindness
In attitudes, words, and deeds. —Fitzhugh

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can,
for all the people you can, while you can.

our daily bread

Stay Focused! 
by Rick Warren

“Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end.” Hebrews 12:2 (GNT)

A number of years ago, I made a list of young pastors in America that I thought needed prayer, just like people prayed for me when I was just starting Saddleback Church. Ten years later, as I look back on that list, half of those guys aren’t even in ministry anymore. They flamed out financially, emotionally or morally. They are no longer serving God.

Life is not a 50-yard dash; it is a marathon. I want you to make it to the finish line. The only way to do that is to focus on Jesus, not your circumstances. As Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.” To endure the unendurable you must see the invisible – Jesus.

In dog obedience training, they put a dog at one end of a room and its master at the other end of the room, with a plate of food in the middle. And then the master calls the dog. If the dog eyes the food, he’s a goner; he’ll go straight for it. So they teach the dog to focus his eyes on the master. If the dog keeps his eyes on the master, he won’t be tempted. Instead of heading for the food, he’ll head straight to the master.

You need to keep your eyes on your master or you’ll get distracted. Get your mind off your circumstances and your problems and focus on God’s goodness to you in your past, his closeness to you in your present and his power to help you in your future. Do what Jonah did as he sat in the belly of the great fish: “When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord” (Jonah 2:7 LB).

If you find yourself at a point where you’ve lost hope and you think you’re never going to get a job, or you’re never going to get married, or you’re never going to have a baby, or you’re never going to get over your illness, turn your thoughts to the Lord and focus on him.

Daily Hope

Temptation Is Not a Sin
by Jon Walker

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15–16 (NIV)

Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin.

Jesus was tempted, but he chose not to sin, leaving him qualified to be the sacrifice for our sins.

Matthew reports, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). And Paul says Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).

If Jesus was tempted, yet did not sin, then temptation is not a sin.

Our freedom to decide not to sin was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. The temptation is the intruder who prompts us to call 911; he hasn’t stolen anything yet.

This is an important truth to understand, because if we believe temptation is sin, then we’re likely to assume there’s no use in struggling against the temptation because we think we’ve already sinned in it; we think we've already crossed the line, so we might as well go all the way. This helps us see why it’s so very important to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV).

Our High Priest, Jesus, knew temptation and he is now able to “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).

He also knows no temptation comes to us except what is common to man. “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV).

Daily Hope