Tag: faith

Verses for the Day – Galatians 3:1-5

Carolyn

The verses for the day are from Galatians 3:1-5:

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

Those words ring in my ears again and again as I ponder this passage: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?”

“Bewitched” means to cast a spell, to charm, to fascinate or enchant. If these Galatians — who lived so close to the time of Christ, whose eyes had seen Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified (verse 1) — could be bewitched, don’t you think it’s possible that we who live 2000 years after His death and resurrection are likewise in danger of it?

This is why Paul writes – to give them again the truth of the gospel, and this is why we read the Bible – to be reminded of truth that will keep us from being bewitched, foolish, or led astray. We need our daily bread, our time in the Bible, as much if not more than our literal daily bread of food and drink. We need it to be reminded of truth. It’s so easy for our hearts to be fooled.

What had bewitched them? It sounds like the idea that they could be made righteous through works of the law instead of through faith. This is a timeless issue that can challenge every one of us. The Galatians who had begun by faith in Christ, begun in the Spirit (v.3), were now beginning to turn to works of the law, believing they could be perfected in their flesh. This could again be a reference back to circumcision and looking to a certain work to gain them righteousness.

Paul asks them how they received the Spirit (v.2)? Through works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Works righteousness seems to be the default mode of our lives. Can we do enough? Can we maintain what God has started?

We do obey Him out of love for Him. We are saved by faith and want to live for Christ, our Savior. But these works show our love and devotion to God; they do not make us righteous. We cannot add to the work God has done on the cross. We would be silly to try. We would be bewitched.

Likewise, just as our righteous works cannot add to our salvation, our sin also cannot take away from our salvation! Rejoice in this! We can’t add to it or take away from it! Our pastor pointed something out like this on Sunday during our study of Romans. If you believe your sin is too great, or that it is something that would separate you from Christ, you don’t understand that your good works are not good enough to bring you to Christ. Jesus and His grace do it all! The law shows us this.

Rejoice! Repent! Turn to Him. Seek Him. Obey Him. Not so that your works will save you, but so you can say, “I love You, Jesus, and I thank You for what You have done for me, and I give my life to You!” Let Him bless you as you follow and run hard after Him. Study the Bible, know the truth, that you may live in Him, your crucified and risen Savior and King, each and every day.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for the cross where our sins were covered by the blood of Jesus. Nothing we bring, nothing can we add. We would be foolish to try. You have paid the price and done it all. The law shows us our need for you, it does not save us. Let us not believe that our good works could ever save us or add to our salvation. You provided for our salvation and you provide for our sanctification. We want to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Show us where we might be bewitched, and let us walk in faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – 1 Peter 1:8

Carolyn
I’ve been thinking this week about the seen and the unseen.

It started when I woke up in a great deal of pain, which I knew was from my kidneys. I began to wonder if all the caffeine, sodas, less water, and general disregard for the right diet over the last year or so might be catching up to me. When the pain comes, suddenly it’s easy to wish I had done better in paying attention to what I knew needed care.

But the reality is, I can’t see my kidneys. When they don’t hurt, I feel normal. Sure, I know I have misshapen, diffusely calcified kidneys, but I don’t always act as though I do because I can’t see them! Only when I feel them did I start to believe and act again.

It reminded me of this verse in 1 Peter 1:8:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” (ESV)
 Sometimes our faith can be that way if we aren’t careful. We can’t physically see the unseen world, the battles around us, or our living God! But He is there, and that reality is more real than our own world!

Though we cannot see Him, we love Him. Though we do not now see him, we believe in Him and rejoice with joy! Can we be a people that love and rejoice in Him, even in what we cannot see?

And yet, He has given evidence of Himself as we see creation, as He reveals Himself in our conscience, and He shows Himself all around us working and acting, especially on behalf of those who love Him, believe Him, and draw near to Him.

This also reminds me of Thomas who would not believe unless he himself could see in Jesus’ hands the print of the nails and touch it, and put his hand in His side. The moment Jesus so graciously gave Thomas that opportunity, He replied in belief, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).

PRAYER: Lord, please give us hearts and minds to believe You, the unseen but living, true God. Please increase our faith. Let us watch for You and see You, eyes on You, because just as You gave to Thomas, You are willing to reveal Yourself to us, too. May we see You and Your glory at work around us and rejoice with inexpressible joy, with a faith and love for You, even though we as yet cannot see fully. We love you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Matthew 14:29-31

Carolyn
Our family went to see the movie Son of God last night. Today’s verses are selected as I considered my favorite scene from the movie: Jesus walking on the water and Peter coming out to Him.The verses then that I picked today are from Matthew 14:29-31:

“He [Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (ESV)

I loved this picture because I think so often when Jesus calls us to Himself or to something He has for us, we can be like Peter and jump out of the boat enthusiastically to follow Jesus. But when adversity comes (like the storm and waves), if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and believe what we know to be true about Him, we will fall.

We see this all throughout the Bible. John the Baptist, born to make the way for Jesus, baptized Him and was obediently and joyfully fulfilling the call on his life, but when he was arrested (adversity came), he asks of Jesus, “Are you the One?” (Matthew 11:3)  Suddenly, things don’t seem as clear.

We saw it in the movie. People would follow Jesus, but when other people would question whether He was really the Messiah, it was easy to doubt and wonder: “Wait, is he really the Messiah?” We saw Thomas doubt and Peter deny Jesus.

Perhaps the same people who said on Palm Sunday, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” would later cry out, “Crucify Him!”

We are human, and we can be fickle and easily swayed by the difficult circumstances or opinions around us.

In our own day, I see people (or sometimes myself) who enthusiastically follow a call Jesus gives them, and then when that call turns out to be really hard and costly (which we should expect), they (or I) wonder, “Wait, were we really supposed to do that?”

But let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and ask Him to increase our faith. Then when the waves come and we feel tossed about, we actually will stand firm in Christ who will steady and uphold us and prove Himself faithful, that He is indeed the One!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, please increase our faith. Make us ones who believe You and who don’t doubt, even when life’s storms come and our circumstances are hard. Help us to fix our eyes on You and not the things around us. And may we find You faithful, as you fully are. We love You, Lord Jesus, and thank and praise You that you would die a cruel death so that we might live. Let us then live for You, in full faith, believing You are the One and looking to you each day. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Lessons Learned

Carolyn

The mom at our school that I had written about in a couple of my earlier posts went home to be with the Lord yesterday. What a joyous, yet sad, day. There is such a dichotomy at work in death, it’s hard to comprehend. The certain hope of heaven for those who believe in Jesus and the joy of seeing Him face to face, yet the grief in the here and now for those left behind, especially young children. We weren’t meant to die. And for those in Christ, we never will. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. We will see her again. But the pain in the here and now for those who remain is harsh.

I was thinking about the lessons I’ve learned from watching this woman of God for the last year. I met her exactly one year ago today, April 24, when she came to look at the school. I didn’t know that one year later, I’d be watching her children playing at a park after school, experiencing their first day without their mother. My heart breaks.

The first lesson I learned is to treasure the time with my family and invest in my children. From the day her children were born, she read to them from the Bible. That was convicting to me when I learned that. I haven’t done that. She had likely read 4000 hours from the Bible to her oldest child! Amazing! That will not return void!

She was a woman who feared the Lord, and His promises are mercy to her children’s children. I love it that we can watch with expectation to see what God has for these precious children, even with her cruel absence in their lives. I trust we will see them like a tree, firmly planted, yielding fruit in season, with roots going down deep, becoming oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. He can bestow a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

When I find myself distracted with my work, thinking of myself instead of my children during my time with them each day, I have been thinking of her and making a choice to live differently as a mom because of her.

A second lesson I saw in her was an extraordinary faith. I’ve written about that in earlier posts, but she truly was an uncommon woman of extraordinary faith, a faith her husband credits our extraordinary God with. She lived her life in light of His truth. She never complained or doubted. She believed. Like the song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” She never turned back, even when life became very difficult. She pointed people to Christ and proved His worth, that He was more than enough for her. He met her in those deepest places and she did not falter or fail in her faith. I want that kind of faith, given as a gift of His Spirit.

When I think of her, I think of Psalm 40:1-3: I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.”

I believe many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord because of her example. She was glad to be wherever God wanted her to be, believing His ways and His plan to be best. That’s a third lesson I’d like to learn, to not complain, but to trust His plan. She was not offended with God and His plan, but reflected Him to a watching world.

She now sees Jesus face to face and is receiving the goal of her faith. I praise Jesus tonight for dying for our sins on the cross, so that by faith in Him, we might never die, but live.

These are the verses her family has shared and that we as a school prayed for her:

I Peter 1:3-9

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”