I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Ephesians 1:11-14

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%201%3A11-14&version=NIV;GNT;NLT

  

I love watching a plan come to fruition. There’s a feeling of accomplishment; of satisfaction; of victory. It’s exciting!

 

What gets you excited? The beginning of football season? Watching your children succeed? Helping someone accomplish their goals? Selling an account to a customer? Leading someone to faith in Christ?

 

What excited Paul was seeing the big picture of God’s plan of evangelism. He presented the Ephesian church with a vision of how God’s plan was being fulfilled through them. In fact, the Bible is a living history of God’s plan. The amazing thing is that He uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect plan.

 

¹¹ All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.   GNT

 

To be honest, I don’t know how this verse works exactly. After all, how can God’s plan include a still born; a school shooting; cancer; an addiction; or other catastrophic circumstances? How can a loving God allow evil, injustice and extreme poverty in His plan? I don’t have the answer.

 

What I can tell you is that God does love you, He has a plan for your life and He is always at work to fulfill that plan. And when He does that, it’s time to get excited.

 

And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.            NLT

 

This is how God grows His Kingdome, one person at a time. His Spirit moves your heart, your mind, your soul. His Spirit brought you into His plan, moves you forward through it and guarantees you the final outcome.

 

Therefore, if He has put something into your heart to do; don’t ignore it. That’s God’s Spirit at work in your life to build His Kingdom; to fulfill His plan. So take the first step. Then you too can say, “I love it when a plan comes together”.

 

 

 

Radically Different

Hebrews 10:19-25

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2010%3A19-25&version=NIV;PHILLIPS

 

When I was in grade school and my teacher said to take out a piece of paper and draw

anything you want – I invariably would draw a mountain scene like the one to the left. For me, the mountains represented something bigger than myself that provided strength, security and safety. It was a safe place for me to live vicariously through my drawing. I found peace, purpose and a place in the world.

 

What I never considered though, were the lives of the people who lived in the valleys, the hollows and the peaks of those mountains. Because they were people, no doubt they all had some struggle or issue. Maybe it was poverty, an addiction, a broken relationship or work. Like me, they needed a safe place. We all do.

 

I like how J.B. Phillips wrote this passage in Hebrews 10.

 

So by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I may now have courage to enter the holy of holies by way of the one who died and is yet alive, who has made for us a holy means of entry by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. Further, since we have a great High Priest set over the household of God, let us draw near…

 

The writer of Hebrews is speaking of the Holy of Holies which is the inner chamber of the Temple where only the High Priest could go on the Day of Atonement. It was where the actual presence of God resided! It was a safe place; not to hide from the world, but to become engaged with the world.

 

…In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable—and let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith…               J.B. Phillips

 

Jesus is our mountain scene; our safe place. From there, we are called to draw nearer to Him, to encourage each other to acts of love and to do all we can to help one another’s faith.

 

What do you need to do to spend time in your safe place; in the very presence of God? Whatever it is, make it a priority today. If you do, your life will be radically different from those who don’t.

 

 

 

A Family Reunion

John 20:19-22

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020%3A19-22&version=NIV;NLT

 



This past weekend, we had a family reunion in Blowing Rock, NC. Our time together was a lot of fun that included going to the Mystery Hill where my grandkids loved seeing a ball roll uphill. They also went panning for gem stones and visited The Blowing Rock.

 

However, some of our most enjoyable times together were spent sitting on the deck of our mountain rental house with Grandfather’s Mountain in the distance. Talking, laughing and crying while we relaxed together on the deck was memorable.

 

The verses in John 20 also tell a story of a reunion. But this reunion, was under far different circumstances than the one my family had in Blowing Rock.

 

The disciples didn’t know what to expect. Jesus had recently been crucified by the Jews, so they were understandably afraid of them. But then, some had claimed to see Jesus. If that was true, why hadn’t he appeared to all of them? Was he angry with them? Was he really even alive? If so, what should they do?

 

When Jesus did appear, he could have shamed them for rejecting him in his time of greatest need. He could have let them suffer a little longer before appearing to them. He could have chewed them out for sitting around afraid, doing nothing. He could have laid out their strategy for world evangelism. He could have given them a big pep talk. Instead, he did none of these.

 

²¹ Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.           NIV

 

The crucifixion had dealt a great shock to the disciples. They were heading in one direction when the crucifixion stopped them dead in their tracks. Their family reunion was the jump start they needed to get them off the couch and onto the playing field moving in the right direction.

 

John’s words ring out over the millennia to us. Like the disciples, Jesus gives us peace no matter what is happening in our lives; he sends us into the world to share his Good

News; and gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to achieve his mission.

 

We have been sent with peace and power.

 

 

God’s Grace Changes Lives

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians%202%3A13-17&version=NIV;GNT

 

Jesus told a great story about the unforgiving servant. In it, a servant who owed his master 10,000 talents (over $12 billion in today’s money) begged for grace and mercy. The king forgave the whole debt.

 

The same servant then turned around and demanded that a fellow servant pay back what he was owed – almost $12,000 in today’s money. Instead of showing his fellow servant mercy and grace, he had him thrown in prison.

 

The Thessalonian church was being severely persecuted, so they were dealing with serious struggles. Paul encouraged the Thessalonian believers to first stand firm in the face of their circumstances. Then he reminded them to show God’s grace to others in word and deed.

 

¹⁵ So then, our friends, stand firm and hold on to those truths which we taught you, both in our preaching and in our letter. ¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, ¹⁷ encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.             GNT

 

These words apply to us just the same as they did to the Thessalonian believers. Standing firm in the midst of struggles, temptations, and sinful desires is no less difficult today that it was then.

 

Showing God’s grace in our daily life is also hard. Just try to show God’s grace to the guy who cuts you off in traffic; to the neighbor who yells at you because of your dog; to your spouse or children who don’t meet your expectations; to a co-worker who is annoying. But God’s grace changes lives.

 

John Newton was a slave trader who lived most of his early life at sea. Newton had a reputation for profanity, coarseness, and debauchery. During a fierce storm he had a conversion experience that changed his life. He became a minister and years later wrote the song “Amazing Grace”. He was also very influential in the abolition movement in England.

 

Which character do you identify with in Jesus’ story of the unforgiving servant? Do you find yourself more often judging others like the servant, or showing grace like the master? We are called to become more like the master.

 

God’s grace changes lives. Has it changed yours?

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Responders

1 John 4:7-19

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%204%3A7-19&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

In high school, there was this kid named Blake who was a bully; a bad kid. On the other hand, I tried to get along with everyone; a good kid. The good and the bad were about to get ugly.

 

One day after school, Blake and I ended up on the athletic fields behind the school. I wouldn’t fight anyone because I was a chicken, but Blake bullied me into it. By the time I had pinned him to the ground, another student came along and said he’d take over. Blake didn’t have many friends, and I was happy to be done.

 

I don’t remember disliking Blake. For the most part, he was off my radar until this incident. One thing for sure though, I avoided him from that point forward.

 

John wrote his letter to address false teachers of the day. They didn’t believe that Jesus was the incarnate son of God. Instead, they believed that the body was evil, so in their minds, God couldn’t come in human form. As a result, some would treat their bodies harshly while others lived licentiously without moral constraint.

 

⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God,

but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us… ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.            NIV

 

God loved us while we were still a sinner; His enemy really. Blake comes to mind. Maybe if instead of avoiding him I had tried to befriend him, we both would have changed. Or maybe I just would have got my butt kicked.

 

The question for us is, how do we treat those that God has brought into our lives? Do we love them because He loved us? Or do we avoid them because they are annoying? Or mistreat them because they offended us in some way? Or do we manipulate them because we want something?

 

Take some time to think about your relationships and how you treat others: your family, friends, co-workers and even strangers. Are you loving others because He first loved you? Are you one of God’s first responders to share His love?