Do We Need A Different Kind Of Resolution To Measure Up?
Good Morning Friends,
As we contemplate the New Year and perhaps even resolutions for the time to come it should become evident to us all that the only transformative reality in this world comes from a relationship with Christ. All our New Year promises are for naught if they do not have a foundation in the promises of God. God knows we need help here and most assuredly God does love us even before we loved God and others. But regardless of this it seems the world is hell bent on its own destruction substituting its own reality and lies for the Way of Jesus. So, in the year to come we need more than a little change in behavior. We need a major shift in the way we live to survive…to be saved and the only thing I know of that really changes our behavior is God. So, let me clue you in on an important reality in which you must believe. The answer is yes to today’s question. Do We Need A Different Kind Of Resolution To Measure Up?
Scripture: As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.
Colossians 3:12-21 (NRSV)
Message: How one measures up depends on what one believes, conceives and works to achieve. The world wants us to believe that faith is not intelligent…that marriage is not a sacred bond…that the world can satisfy…that authority does not matter. Politician are too often more concerned about image than facts. And what we call church is too often not focused on drawing the people of the world into a relationship with the God of the Bible, provoking unbelieving Jews to jealousy, providing a collective dwelling place for the God of Israel with Christ the cornerstone, making known the wisdom of God and in this way glorify God as our chief purpose. We need to think this through for at the core of the problem is that ignorance of our purpose does not make us happy for very long. And our purpose cannot be ignored if we hope for redemption and revival from the inside out. You see, the world is filled with sinners, both Jews and Gentiles that do not admit they have sinned. Living in this kind of world leaves us broken, empty and hungering for more. Measuring up to the world is pointless. Even wisdom, strength, and wealth do not count for much. Oh, they can feel great for a time, don’t get me wrong for I understand their power, but they are not something to brag about because the feeling does not last. It only demands more. Friends, the only thing worth boasting about is our relationship with God and that means not getting stuck short of God’s promise of love and purpose of unity and peace. And if we have a relationship with God then we will know that God is awesome, powerful and compassionate, empowering each of us to be kind to one another with a unifying purpose that can transform in a big way. But friends, also know that God keeps score and wants justice and righteousness to pervade our lives in His new covenant. Grace is not grace if we continue ignoring the sin or if we ignore who we are. The covenant of love is stricter than the ten commandments. So, don’t stop short of the full and eternal promise of salvation. There are countless stories of fame and fortune that have left people broke because people thought they did not need God’s coverage. So be shaped by a Holy Spirit justice of righteousness and kindness. Know that Jesus is the only one who brings true satisfaction, happiness, hope and contentment. Fill your life with the love of Jesus and you will measure up to the only thing that really matters. To believe, conceive and achieve is only dreamed unless one has been redeemed. The world will not give you anything in return. Only God can pay that price. Here we discover that God’s justifying grace does not just open our eyes to the love and companionship of God, at that first moment of belief, it also extends into every experience of our lives where God pursues this grace in our empty and broken relationships with others. Here we discover that grace is about saying “yes” to God, saying “yes” to relationships aligned with God’s promises and purpose. Here we discover that our conversion continues each time we find new ways of saying “yes” to God…each time we find new ways of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord. Here we discover that there is nothing we can do to earn grace and that sometimes when we work hardest to earn it we miss the mark the more. Somehow faith that responds to God’s offer with trust connects with gratitude and becomes the motivation for the life we are to lead. Here the fruit of our justification grows if we are connected to Christ. Here we continue to grow in grace. Being in Christ, for Christ and with Christ transformed is the only way to measure up.
Pray we are never unkind to anyone on the face of the earth. Pray we know that we are justified by our faith in Jesus a Jew. Pray we have the grace to be more like Jesus a Jew. Pray we realize that the only thing worth boasting about is Jesus a Jew. Pray we are working for things that satisfy the soul belonging to a new creation. Pray we believe in Jesus the Jew. Pray we see God’s glory through the eyes of scripture interwoven in the events of our lives while still realizing it is not about us. Pray we see the logic of faith and how it engages our minds in the pursuit of God, even as God pursues us. Pray God touches our emotions with gratitude and appreciation, love and compassion, joy and relief. Pray our faith extends beyond our emotions to create in us the continuing acceptance of God’s offer of grace until we are changed forever. Pray the drama of our dogma not try to replace us in the storyline of the Hebrews but instead graft us onto the rootstock of a faith that makes us connected to the promises of God. Pray we put on new relationship skills. Pray we resolve to love in a way that glorifies the God of Israel.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 