Todays Life

TEXT: Romans 5:1-5 (NKJV)

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The first week of Advent is opened by Hope.  Paul writes to the Church in Rome on the power and certainty of Hope. It is the light by which all other parts of life today and tomorrow are illuminated from thought to possibility to reality. Emily Dickinson said “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.”
Hope is discovered as a fruit of our spirit through perseverance in life that builds our character. If Hope then is a by product of our experience and our character it is a state of mind and spirit not an emotion. It is a promise of God granted to us with the Holy Spirit as a part of Gods power and glory and it is always available to us. While our lives may be impacted daily by circumstances we can always rest in the Love of God in Hope for tomorrow. When the darkness of today seems to overwhelm us Hope is the lamp to a better and brighter tomorrow that God has planned for us.

Isaiah 9:6 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 We are entering now the season of Advent leading us into the celebration of Jesus birth at Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin “adventus” –  the coming or expectation. The season and time of Advent is exactly what it translates to in the 4 weeks prior to Christmas is a time of celebrating the coming and expectation of the world at Jesus birth as well as our current expectations of His return. The season is symbolized by the Advent wreath and five candles that are used each week in observance of a point of significance for the season. The wreath is a symbol of the never ending circle of life and the Character of God in that he has no beginning or end but is the very beginning and end for us.  

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

The green of the wreath speaks of the newness and eternal promise of life through Jesus Christ.

The candles are usually 3 Purple Candles – representing HOPE, PEACE and LOVE, 1 Pink Candle  – representing JOY and the White Candle for Christmas representing Christ. We light a candle each week to highlight the spiritual expectation that it represents.

We will be releasing a post on each Sunday of Advent and a few posts each week on the promise from that week – HOPE, PEACE, JOY, LOVE and CHRIST.

We are in one of the busiest if not the busiest time of the year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are all putting forward a lot of effort to change over house decorations, get Christmas card lists updated to mail cards and searching for just the right gift for the special people in our lives. It is not hard to consume a lot of our time on what is next on our to do list, where we need to be and what we will do with tomorrow. The Bible instructs us to prepare and plan for things in our lives and it also continually reminds us that we must live and act for we are not promised tomorrow. James in his practical letter to the Church reminds us that our lives are short and he continues to say that we should acknowledge God and seek his blessings on today and our future plans and actions.

Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Paul closes his letter to the Church in Philippi with the encouragement to keep their focus on God and His influence in their lives. Paul had addressed many challenges that the people of Philippi had in their day to day struggles and how they could affect the witness of the Church. Paul knew that many things will happen to us in our lives and some of them will be beyond our control but even if we can’t control the circumstances, we can always control our response to them. It has been stated that our lives are 10% of things that happen to us and the remaining 90% is absorbed in how we deal with those circumstances. We also know that time has proven out the thought that whatever we focus on in our lives is what increases. If we focus and give attention to the negative, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy to our reality. If we can follow Paul’s direction and focus on the eternal positive attributes of God and focus our lives on them then God will provide opportunity in every circumstance for us grow in his Love.    

Paul penned these words in his letter to the believers of the Church in Philippi. Like all of us they were susceptible to being distracted by worry about the day to day challenges as well as the disagreements in their lives. Paul’s timeless advice is that God is available in “all situations” and we can come to Him with Thanksgiving and present our needs and requests.  The challenge with worry is that it creates a two-part negative effect for us – 1) Worry is for the most part a poor use of our time because it can take us in many bad directions since the worry is what has our focus. 2) Worry never travels anywhere without its first cousin “Fear” and fear can paralyze us to a state of no energy and action to improve our own lives much less help others in their lives. May Paul’s words encourage us to not to carry worry with us but to use it as a source of energy for us to uplift our needs to God and then go to work with the energy of our blessings to enable us to live and act for God in our daily lives.

In the fall of 1621 the early settlers celebrated their bountiful harvest with their native neighbors. They gave thanks to God for his provisions of rain after a long drought to enable a sustainable harvest. In 1789 George Washington made a Thanksgiving proclamation to Congress to honor God’s blessings on this country and its people. President Abraham Lincoln declared it a Federal Holiday in the middle of the Civil War in 1863 setting the day aside for “Thanksgiving and Praise to our Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”  

It is comforting today to reflect on our country’s history and note, from the settlers and founders, through the establishment of our government that a recognition of God’s provision for his people was clear. May it be clear to us and may we each give Him the Thanksgiving today for His mercy and love and the promise of His love that it is with us forever.

Psalm 118 was penned by David in thanking God for His blessings in David’s daily life and the future blessings of life in Jesus Christ. In the preceding verses leading into 24 David states that  “ the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. Living in the future of these writings it is clearer for us to see the fulfilment of that statement in Jesus life, ministry, rejection, crucifixion and resurrection. His resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and puts us in perspective that each day is a blessing from God. David is also inviting his friends and others to join his rejoicing and thankfulness to God for His blessings in their lives. Some days in our lives are better than others yet to rejoice and be glad is a matter of choice for us. How we see each day can be far more valuable to us than the circumstances that affect us in a day. We have the choice to acknowledge God as our creator and cornerstone and also to share that with others along our way in each day.   

PSALM 100   A psalm of thanksgiving.

¹ Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
²     Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 100 is a short and powerful reminder for us that God created this earth and all that is in it including us. In a culture and time where we are driven by the day to day circumstances that we live in to be self-sufficient. That environment can make us very creative and adaptable, but it can move us away from a proper perspective that we are God’s creation. The psalmist reminds us that as His sheep we have an opportunity every day to enter God’s Love and Protection and give Him thanks for all He has blessed us with in our lives. It also confirms that not only is God good for us, He loves us forever and that Love is available for our children and their children over time from generation to generation. This is the great promise of God’s love from our creation through each day and into the future of our lives and our families forever.   

Colossians 3:23  (NLT)

23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

A few weeks ago I had a post entitled “ There are no small things in God’s world.”  The above thought along with Paul’s reminder to the Church in Colossae help to bring us into a mindset of humility in serving God. The purpose and tasks God has placed in our lives will allow some to do what appear to be GREAT things while others are called to do SMALL things. Our human nature often takes over in our hearts as we start a work or activity and we ALL want to be noticed and feel important. If we work at it Dr. King and Paul encourage us that we can begin ALL things in our lives with a servants heart of faithfulness to our task.  Philippians 4:13  (NLT)  13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

We don’t live our lives to be seen but for others to see God thru our lives. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NLT)  7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. We are rewarded and blessed by in our faithfulness to our task not in our human viewpoint of the size or impact of the task. For some reason when I think of all the tasks and seeds that are planted and watered I among them always think of Billy Graham. Well, I think of him as a by product of faithfulness, humility and commitment to God’s calling that was fulfilled in his mother Morrow Graham. Billy got all the GREAT things in our viewpoint and he earned them but the SMALL things in his life that his mother did in a GREAT way were blessed by God in a way only He can provide.

May our Faith keep us close to God and our humility lead us to Always work in all things with a Faith that God will use them in a GREAT way !

John 8:32 (NLT)

32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Christians live under a simple Truth through a confession of Faith – Jesus was born of a Virgin, lived and taught, died by crucifixion and was raised from the dead by Gods power on the third day. That is the Truth that we base our lives on and by living in a country that clearly in our Declaration of Independence defines our nation as a nation of Faith. The truth we find as citizens is that someone who was called by God to serve our country and protect our choices in the freedom that provides our Liberty as a nation. We need to recognize that all freedoms come at a cost – Freedom from sin comes only thru Jesus Christ, Peter confirms it in Acts 4  ^12 “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Freedom for our country that protects our Liberty and way of life that is outlined in our Declaration of Independence and confirmed by our Constitution is under the care and protection of our government and military. May God Bless the United States of America.