All Grace!

The longer I have walked with Jesus Christ the more I see that everything has been always and only by His grace. I do not understand everything perfectly yet but I am learning that life with Jesus has nothing to do with 3 steps to success, 4 things to know to become a leader or 5 ways to become prosperous. Life with Jesus has everything and only to do with His grace.  It is only by His loving kindness that I will one day walk from the moments and days of this temporary life into His timeless eternity where always and forever we will praise Him for His amazing grace!

He comes looking for us – Before- we are looking for Him

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As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.   Matthew 9:9

 

 

 

He comes to restore us even when we are hiding in fear

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” John 20:19 

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He still calls us to serve Him even after we have publicly failed

 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.              John 21:17-18

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The Greatest Hope

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34

Every day our news is filled with the latest revelation of some scandal and the almost inevitable end of the career of some famous person. When we are hurt by those we love or begin to think of our own failures we can easily lose all hope.

But think of the last supper when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet while they were arguing about who was the best, Peter was just hours away from publicly denying that he knew Jesus  and Judas was planning to betray Him. Somehow in the middle of that tangled mess, Jesus still looked at His disciples with hope. The hope that Jesus placed in them was not based on the circumstances or the purity of their hearts. His hope for them and for us is based entirely on His choice to love. His love holds the key to His hope. By His love and grace, no matter how low we have fallen, can still make us into the man or woman He created us to be.  God’s hope has less to do with information about our past then with His plans for our future!

In light of God’s hope for us how much hope should we have for the people around us? When we begin to love others as He commands we will suddenly discover, there is still a great hope that we can share with the world today!

Are You Thirsty today?

July 2012 016Not too long go we stayed in a hotel in South Carolina. At home we are quite used to drinking only spring water because the city water has such a heavy taste of Chlorine. That night I  had forgotten to bring in bottled water but I was so thirsty that I decided to settle for water from the sink. How wonderfully surprised I was at the sweet clean water that simply flowed freely from the tap!

In the Bible God promises that if we thirst for Him we will be satisfied. But there are days that I am thirsty only for approval, financial blessings or some “me time”. Those kind of days are far too common. But on rare mornings I wake up to realize that it has been weeks or maybe months since I was really thirsty for Jesus. Those mornings I long to draw close enough to Jesus Christ to drink from the cup of water that He is holding in His hands. It is easy and available both to me and you just like the water in the hotel. We don’t have to hoard it, buy it or wait for it. It is water that is free! It is water that becomes in me a source so great that I am almost forced to share it with others. His water is for anyone but there is just one catch. We must wake up thirsty enough to be willing to come to Him and drink! Are you thirsty for Jesus today?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled  Matthew 5:6 NKJV

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8

Ho everyone who thirsts come to the waters.. Isaiah 55:1

 

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