End of the line

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. (Romans 7)

Have you ever tried defeating something on your own? A weight issue, substance abuse, porn, etc., only to fail. You want to stop but you don't. Twelve steppers call it hitting bottom and that is exactly what Paul sounds like here. End of the line, hanging by a thread. What is the answer when I have tried everything I can think of and yet I fail?

Jesus Christ. Call on His name. Surrender to His ways. Fall on the stone that is the corner stone of life.

Freedom

You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. (Romans 6 TMSG)

We have freedom in Christ, but that freedom is not absolute. There is no such thing as absolute freedom. But in Christ, we have the freedom to choose.

I believe that is what Paul is refering to here by so-called freedom. The idea that we can do anything without consequence.

It is a simple and complex issue. On a simpler level (which is were I live) it is a control issue. Who do you want to have control, God or sin? You are free to choose. Choose sin, and you have chosen a cold and heartless master, one that will ultimatley destroy you. Choose God, and you have chosen a master of grace and redemption. Neither choice is without its struggles. But I do believe that the more you surrender the less you struggle.

Run away

Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time --- remember, you've been rasied from the dead --- into God's way of doing things. (Romans 6 TMSG)

Have you ever tried to help a child who was detremined that didn't need help? "I can do it myself!" I think that is one of the biggest mistakes we make as Christians, thinking that we can handle it ourselves.

Sometimes an old temptation rears its ugly head. Just a little indulgence won't hurt, after all, I've come so far...

That is exactly what Satan wants you to think. There are at least 2 lies there. One is that YOU'VE come so far. You didn't do anything, Christ did it for you. And another is that it won't hurt. You may overcome it, but in that moment you have damaged your relationship with the one you depend on to sustain you.

Better choice? Run from it. Throw yourself WHOLEHEARTEDLY into God's way of doing things.

Bully!

All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's then end of it. (Romans 5 TMSG)

So in a way, sin is just a bully. For the Christian, sin is all bark and no bite. It can threaten, but because of the love and grace of God, that is all it can really do. We are the victors through Christ.

This is not a license to sin. It is the assurance of grace. I believe there is a big difference.

Love

But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in the sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (Romans 5 TMSG)

LOVE does not seek its own good, but the good of others. God is LOVE.

It sounds so simple...

This is why the fulfullment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. (Romans 4 TMSG)

• It is the fulfillment of God's promise. It is not something that God owes us. He is the creator and as such owes us nothing. The only reason we have any hope is because the creator has made and revealed his promise to us.
• Because it is His promise, it depends on Him to fulfill it (not me).
• If I want to partake in this promise, I must follow His plan, embrace what He does. To think at any point that I can add to it or do it my own way is crazy.

I am saved because of God's promise to mankind. I trust that He is faithful. Now all I have to do is continue to follow, embracing what He is teaching and where He is leading. It sounds simple...

Perspective

God does not respond to what we do, we respond to what God does. (Romans 3 TMSG)

It's not about me. While it is true that God loves me, I am not the center of his universe. He is the center of mine.

I know that this can be taken the wrong way. Some could say, "Then why pray?" That's not what this is about. I believe God does hear our prayers and will respond to them. It just isn't always the way we want. But that is when this verse comes into play. How are we going to respond to God's answer?

I don't always give my children what they want. Does that mean that I don't love them? I am not the center of God's universe.

So, when we are put in a trial, how do we respond? Do we look inward, full of self pity? Or do we look upward?

Paul was an upward looker. Three times he prayed that God would take an affliction from him. His realization became, God's grace was sufficient. He wanted something, God did not give it. He realized he had what really mattered.

I want to be an upward looker.

Hide and Seek

Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgemental criticism of others is a well known way of escaping detection of your own crimes and misdemeanors. (Romans 2 TMSG)

Hard words to hear, but that's how the truth is sometimes.

In the Mirror

You're looking at this backwards. The issue is Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. (Acts 21 TMSG)

I have some friends who are going through a tough time right now. What do you say to someone whose adopted child is diagnosed with a disease that includes permanent brain damage? A disease likely caused by fetal alcohol syndrome. Their child has been on meds to help him function and those meds have been effective, but now they are causing him to have severe itching. Weaning him from the meds is not easy, and neither is dealing with the resulting behavior issues. Their anger and frustration is understandable, this is not what they signed up for!

But what does one sign up for when they take Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Taking Him as Savior is the easy part, everyone wants to be saved. But He must also be Lord. He is in control! So sometimes it is not what Jesus takes me out of that matters, it is what he does as I work through my trials. How is my obedience glorifying Him?

Paul was getting ready to go to Jerusalem. He understood that difficulties awaited him there. He also understood that is where God wanted him to be. So the issue was not avoiding the challenges that lie ahead or Jesus taking him out of those circumstances, the issue was encountering them so that in his obedience Jesus would be glorified. Is there comfort in that? Only with complete faith. Only with total trust. Only when that trust exceeds the love we have even for our selves, those around us, or in this case their own son. That can be tough.

But we do not have to go through these times alone. There is comfort when our only hope is in the arms of God. There is comfort in the family of believers. That does not mean it is easier.

If you read this, pray for my friends and their son. Pray for God to heal him. Pray for God to strengthen them.

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thess 5:18 NIV)

No excuses!

Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus. (Acts 19 TMSG)

I am sure that Paul made it certain to everyone he met WHY he was who he was and HOW he had become that way. Jesus had made a radical impact on his life, and He could not help but share it. Nothing was more important to him than that relationship.

We are not all Pauls, but that is not an excuse for a life that is totally surrendered to Jesus. We are not all called ot preach, but we are all called to live for Him. No more excuses!

Today's Question...

Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? (Acts 19 TMSG)

Good question!

Change is not a four letter word (but maybe it ought to be)

These people are out to destroy the world, and now they've shown up on our doorstep, attacking everything we hold dear! (Acts 17 TMSG)

This was an accusation made against the Christians. See what fear does? And see what living in fear does?

The first fear is the fear of the non-Christians. Change ought to be a four letter word, they way that some people feel about it. The world does not understand Jesus, so it sometimes fears Him and His followers. Yes, the gospel does call for change. But no, it is not a message of destruction. Yes, the gospel does attack everything we hold dear, but only in order to put things in proper perspective!

But I think we as Christians sometimes live by fear too. The fear that we are not doing enough. I think these kinds of fears lead to things like the crusades or abortion clinic bombings.

I recently saw the movie Kung Fu Panda with my kids. There is a scene in the movie were the master is trying to teach the Panda about perspective. He tells him that in troubled waters, you cannot see clearly. You must first wait for the water to get calm, then you can see clearly. I think there is a lot of widsom in that for both the Christian and the world.

He did it (I didn't)

We don't make God, he makes us, and all of this - sky, earth, sea, and everything in them. (Acts 14 TMSG)

I take great comfort in this thought!

I tried, but I couldn't do it.

He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God. (Acts 13 TMSG)

He accomplishes, not me. If I could do it, then the Law of Moses would have been all that we needed. It wasn't. The Law's purpose was to show us that we can't do it, that we need Him.

I'll be honest, I struggle with that sometimes. Someone tells me what a good guy I am, and I want to believe it. But I know. I know that I have shortcomings, that I am not as good as some might see me.

Sure, I am not as bad as others....

Yes I am. In God's eyes, I am a sinner in need of cleansing. No better or no worse than any other. He accomplishes it all. In me. In others.

Trust and Obey

Master, you can't be serious. (Acts 9 TMSG)

Ananias had been told by Jesus to lay his hands on a man named Saul and heal him. Ananias knew of Saul and his reputation for persecuting Christians. So I think his response was a typical, human one: "Master, you can't be serious."

But Jesus was serious.

I am sure that I have had things happen in my life where I have said the same thing. God, You can't be serious. I have to believe that if Ananias would have turned Him down, Jesus would have found someone else. But Ananias would have missed out. I wonder how often I have missed out. It's hard when you can't see the whole picture.

Jesus shared with Ananias the importance of Paul and what his role would be. Unfortunately, we don't always get that kind of input when we are asked to do something by God.

It all comes down to trust. Do I walk by faith or by sight? I just wish sometimes that peeking was an option.