Before leaving on summer travels, I was pricked in my heart to delve into things that are pleasing to God. How do we know if we are pleasing Him? Scripture is specific about this and I want to explore a few in the weeks ahead.
When was the last time you sent or gave a gift to someone? How did that make you feel? I know I love to get gifts, but really I love to give them more. It is like giving a part of myself to someone without their asking. Scripture tells us that gift giving is pleasing to God! In Philippians 4:18 Paul says, “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” He was expressing thanks for their monetary gifts given to take care of them on the mission field. They were giving from their hearts and Paul realized their sacrifice. Giving to and for others to do God’s work is definitely pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Giving, sharing and doing for others pleases God. Why is that? I would say because it fulfills Jesus’ command in John 13:35-36 “A new commandment I give to you, that you loveoneanother: just as I have loved you, you also are to loveoneanother. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for oneanother.” By loving others we show our love and Jesus’ love towards them. This is definitely pleasing to God.
So take a few minutes today and consider whether or not your actions would be considered pleasing by God. Do you give to ministry both here and abroad so that the gospel can be proclaimed? Are you involved in doing good for others be it your Christian friends, neighbors or those you do not know? Are you actively involved in giving and sharing? How will people know you are a believer if you do not show God to them by your words and deeds?
Food for thought and reflection as we desire to be pleasing to God and our Savior through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let 1 Corinthians 10:31 be your hearts desire, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, doallto the glory of God. Let God shine in your life as you seek to please Him.
One of God’s greatest promises to us is that He loves us. Today being Good Friday, we can remember evidence of His love as He sent Jesus to die in our place due to our sin. He wanted us to be able to commune and live with Him but we needed to have a way to rid ourselves of our sin. Nothing we can do is enough- we can’t be good enough to erase our sin.
Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead,I am loved by God. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was motivated by God’s great love for me and you. John 3:16says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Love was what caused God to come up with a plan to save us as He desires to be in relationship with mankind and wants us to live with Him eternally.
God repeatedly tell us in the Bible that He loves us. Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Paul describes God’s love for us in Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” God saved us because He loved us and through His grace and mercy He sent Jesus.
How do you feel today? Do you feel loved by God or are you letting the cares, worries and circumstances of life block God’s love? As you think about God’s love today, let your mind be transformed by the love of Christ. He died for you and me. Know that He loved us enough to die for us. God loved us enough to send Jesus to bring us into a relationship with Him. Know you are loved by God as the proof is in His sacrifice on the cross.
As you look at the cross today, feel cherished and loved by God,
Today my focus of thankfulness is on Christ’s righteousness. Last Sunday we considered our salvation but today let’s expand this to look at how we now look to God. Because of Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, I am considered righteous before God. When God looks at me, He sees the blood of Christ covering my sins. Praise God! Thank you Jesus.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus, the perfect Son of God died so through faith we could be righteous. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” All the sins of mankind were put upon Christ at the cross, so that we might be freed from the penalty of sin which is death. 2 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” Isaiah 53:5 explains “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds wearehealed.” Our healing is from sin and the penalty of sin which is death. We are reminded of this in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 5:19 tells how we got in this state of sinfulness, though the sins of Adam and Eve and how Christ restored us. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Our restoration is dependent upon our acceptance of Jesus and faith in His work on the cross. 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Take some time today and thank Jesus for his sacrifice on the cross that allows you to be forgiven, cleansed by His blood and made clean before God. Thank you Jesus!
Our scripture for today continues on the theme of Love after lighting the Love Candle yesterday on the Advent Wreath. 1 John 4:9-11 speaks of God’s great love for you and me.
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
The word propitiation is not one we use much. The dictionary defines it as appeasement. That is what Jesus did for us in turning God’s wrath away from us, appeasing God. Jesus covers our sins with His righteousness and enables us to be reconciled to God. God’s love is amazing in that He sacrificed His own son on our behalf. Jesus’ love is amazing as He did as His Father asked and came willingly to sacrifice himself for you and me.
Paul is encouraging us in sight of this great love to pass it forward and treat others with love and care. Just as God loved us we are to love one another. Of course that is easier said than done. Only through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is this possible. He empowers us as we love Him and seek to live for Him.
As we near the end of our Season of Advent, let His light shine in you as you show His love to those around you.
After His arrest Thursday night, Jesus endured 4 trials. He went before the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, then Pilate who sent him to Herod, the Jewish head of state, then back to Pilate. The Jews wanted Jesus killed but they did not have the authority to execute Him. They demanded that Pilate, the Roman authority in Palestine, crucify Him. Pilate had Jesus flogged and beaten even though Pilate knew Jesus to be innocent. He had hoped this cruel treatment would pacify the Jews. However, the crowds pressed him and requested the release of the criminal Barabbas instead of Jesus since it was the custom to release one convicted person as a token of goodwill at the Jewish Passover. The crowds demanded that Jesus be crucified and Pilate agreed to appease the angry and vocal Jewish crowds. Jesus was then made to carry His own cross to the place of execution, Golgotha. Along the way Jesus stumbled and Simon of Cyrene was conscripted to carry the cross. Jesus was then nailed to a cross and hung to die. His clothes were stripped from Him and as He hung naked on the cross then soldiers gambled for his clothing underneath the cross.
I can not imagine the pain, anguish, humiliation and shame Jesus endured on my behalf. He took all the sins of the world, yours and mine, upon His pure, sinless and innocent body and the sin took him to a place he had never been before. The sins He took upon himself, our sins, separated him from God, His holy Father. He did this so that His sacrifice could atone for our sins. 1 Peter 2:24explains what Jesus accomplished for you and me.
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. (NLT)
I never realized how sweet Jesus’ final words from the cross were until recently. “‘It is finished.’ With that, he lowered his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30 He declared with His final breath that the work of redemption was complete, and He had accomplished what the Father had sent Him to do. Through His death He took the punishment, death, for the sins of all who would believe for all eternity. Having accomplished His work, He gave up His spirit. His life was not taken from Him, but He gave it up voluntarily at the time of His choosing. Only God can choose the time of His death. When we speak of someone dying, we say the person has life take from them. We don’t get to chose the hour or minute of our last breath, but Jesus chose when and where He was to die for you and me. I am staggered by His love and sacrifice that He would endure such punishment and isolation from God on my behalf. As you ponder the cross today, think of all Jesus gave up and all He did on your behalf.
Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I live redeemed from the penalty of sin, covered by His incredible sacrifice and will be able to stand before God sinless.
Prayer: Father, the enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice and your love in sending Him to die for my sin is incomprehensible. ‘Your ways and not my ways’ Isaiah reminds us in Isaiah 55:8. I am so thankful for your plan of redemption. I stand humbly before you because of Jesus, my Savior, covered by His righteousness. Praising you in Jesus name, Amen.
I was thinking this morning about the designation ‘Black Friday’. It seems that since the 1950’s the day after Thanksgiving has been called ‘Black Friday’. It began as a term to describe the crowds, like the street was black with pedestrians. It then became a day to retailers signifying when they began to turn a profit and moved from the ‘red’ into the ‘black’ as the volume of their sales increased. In the Bible the blackest Friday would be the day of the crucifixion. It was the day when the skies turned black and darkness covered the land. “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:44-46 The blackness of that Friday is a picture of the sin that Jesus bore on the cross for you and me. His death on that darkest day brought the greatest profit for us. John 12:46 puts it in perspective for us as to why that blackest of Friday’s had to happen. “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
Even on that blackest of Fridays, the people were rushing around preparing for their Sabbath. Since they could do no work on the Sabbath, they hurried to get Jesus down from the cross, buried and settled in a borrowed tomb. Mark 15:42-47 describes these events done in haste. After the Sabbath was over, several women came back to the tomb to anoint Jesus with spices as his burial had been done in such a hurry they felt they had not been able to treat his body properly on that Friday. “When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.” Mark 16:1 Their walk to the grave site was done in sadness but their return was joyous as the learned of Jesus’ resurrection and defeat of sin and death. An angel spoke to them when they got there, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” What joyous news they had to share!
That blackest Friday brought death to Jesus and burial brought the greatest profit to you and me. Colossians 1:21-22 explains where we were on the black Friday and where we are now because of it. “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” That was the the biggest gain or profit for mankind ever in history. Christ reconciled us to God so that we can be in communion with Him and have our sin’s forgiven. We are free to live a life in Christ that is pleasing to God and that is free from the penalty of death brought on by sin. That Black Friday was the best one in history for you and me.
As you venture out today to do some shopping, think about that blackest of Friday’s and how much you gained through Christ. Praise Him as you do.
Linda
P.S. I have posted this piece several times on Black Friday. It is a message I need to remind myself of especially before the Christmas Season. It helps to keep my focus on Christ and not on the world. Hope it helps you too.
As the Song #4 continuous in Isaiah 53:4-8 we hear and see more about Messiah and His suffering. We see the cost of His sacrifice for us.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Verse 4 points out that the pain and suffering Christ endured was ours to bear but He willingly suffered for us. Verse 5 goes on to explain that it was our sins that brought on His punishment. It was our sins that caused Him to be crushed in spirit as he died and caused him to feel forsaken by God. Sin separates us from God and Jesus died so we could be healed. He suffered that separation so we could be healed and brought into relationship with the Father. He was not left separated for He conquered death and rose from the dead. By His wounds were are healed. Here are some New Testament passages that speak to these verses in Isaiah. Romans 4:25 “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” 1 Peter 2:24-25 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.
Verse 7 speaks to the fact that Jesus did not defend his innocence when put on trial. Luke 23:9 “He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.” John 19:9 “and he (Pilate) went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” Verse 8 reminds us that Jesus was judged unjustly and then led off to His death. Here is the passage from John recounting the scenes leading up to the crucifixion. John 19:1-16 “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.”
Jesus suffered so for our sins. Through His death and resurrection we can be brought into a redeeming relationship with God. He paid the ultimate price. John 15:13 “Greaterlove has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Thank you Jesus.
I love this Valentine and keep sending it each year as the message is timeless and the graphics so true.
The cynic might say Valentine’s Day is the day for florists, candy and card makers to earn a great deal of money. I walked into a local supermarket yesterday, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of flowers, cards and candy that were on display. On the love side, Valentine’s Day is a day when we can express our love for one another freely and not be thought of as sentimental or mushy. How about God? How does God express His love for us? Here is a familiar verse that gets right to the heart of God.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For He did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
How much more love could God show towards us than sacrificing His only Son on our behalf? He loved us that much. He sent Him so that through faith in Jesus we could be saved and not condemned. Only sinless Jesus could erase our sin and present us whole and perfectly clean before our Holy God.
When you say ‘thank you’ today for a Valentine gift you receive, a card, note, flowers or someone simply saying ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’, think about thanking God too. Thank Him for sending Jesus. Thank Him for making a way for your salvation and eternal life with Him. That is the best Valentine I can think of that is filled with all of God’s love for now throughout eternity.
Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor – December 7, 1941. It began 81 years ago at 7:55 am. If you have visited the Memorial over the sunken Arizona where the sailors are still entombed, you are sobered by their sacrifice. War is a terrible thing yet through it men rise to honor and sacrifice for their fellow men. Over 2,400 were killed and 1,000 wounded that day. The most causalities occurred on the USS Arizona as it was hit 4 times by Japanese bombers. A piece of trivia- 37 confirmed pairs or trios of brothers were assigned to the Arizona and this battle cost 62 of these 77 men their lives and 23 sets of brothers died. I can’t imagine the grief those families suffered all in one day. President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it as “a date that will live in infamy.” Just like September 11, 2001 will live on in our minds so should December 7th.
Say a prayer of gratitude today for the sacrifices of the men who died this day so long ago and for the men and women who continue to sacrifice their lives, time, talents and family time for our freedom.
Today is Veteran’s Day in America. It is a day to remember those who have died fighting for freedom for our country and for those that are living and serve or have served in the military. It is a day of remembrance and thanksgiving for the end of a brutal war, WWI. The armistice was signed ending the war on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour in 1918. It was originally called Armistice Day but the name was changed by Congress in 1954 to Veteran’s Day.
This year I have been doing some reading of books written by a former Navy Seal, Jack Carr. He writes a great thriller as he uses his experiences in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the Seal teams to enhance his writing. Even though the technology of war has changed dramatically since the war for Independence in 1776, the Civil War and even WWI and WWII, the hurt and brutality of war has not changed. The sacrifices made both physically and mentally by our service men and women is worthy of honor. We have begun to realize in more recent years the tremendous and lasting effects war has upon soldiers as conditions like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) are studied more thoroughly. Our medical technology has allowed many with former life threatening wounds to survive. Learning to survive with amputated limbs is a constant and lasting struggle. Many are victorious over these conditions brought on by war but many are not. Suicide among veterans is very high. We can never thank our soldiers enough for putting themselves in harms way on our behalf.
Why remember? Throughout scripture we are told to remember the things God has done so we don’t forget His goodness. That way we can be more diligent about our faith and the way we live, and we can have a greater appreciation and love for God and His faithfulness towards us. The same could apply to remembering our brave veterans. Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” We owe our Veterans, both the living and the dead, a debt of gratitude and thanks for their sacrifices on our behalf. They do not even know me and are willing to put their lives at risk for me so my freedoms can be preserved. I am humbled by their service and dedication.
Who do you know that you can thank and honor today? Maybe a friend, a neighbor or relative has served in the military. Take time to send them an email, a note, a card of thanks or give them a call. Let them know how grateful you are for the time they sacrificed defending your freedom.
Fearless Living 