Grace for the Race

Since the beginning of time, mankind has been wrapped up in a hope that disappoints.  Do you know what it is?  It is hope in finding fulfillment, meaning, and significance apart from God.  It started with Adam and Eve when they decided they wanted to live autonomous lives, apart from the grace, goodness, and glory of God.  And men and women have been doing the same thing ever since.  When your hope is in anything smaller than God is will always disappoint.  Self-sufficiency makes a poor savior.  So what is the hope that does not disappoint?  The Apostle Paul tells us.

 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

(Romans 5:1-5)

Make no mistake; if what you have been hoping in is disappointing you, it is the wrong hope.  Nothing in this world can do for you what only Jesus can do.  If your hope is in your career, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your education, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your network, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your next business deal, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your gifting, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in the applause of man, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your marriage, you have the wrong hope.  If your hope is in your children, you have the wrong hope.  Hope that created things will do for you what only the Creator can provide is utterly hopeless!

Paul made it crystal clear that when we hope in God we are never disappointed.  You see, when you place your hope in something you are connecting your identity to it.  What you place your hope in provides you with your meaning, significance, purpose, and ultimate identity in life.  Your hope is your savior, regardless of what you are hoping in.  That is why hope in anything smaller than God will always disappoint you.  Only God is big enough to satisfy your deepest needs, meet you in the middle of your darkest night, and deliver you from a meaningless existence from the cradle to the grave. 

To hope is to be human.  We all need hope and we all place our hope in something.  Therefore, we all need to make sure we are hoping in the right thing!

So what have you been hoping in lately?  Has your hope been unable to deliver?  Has your hope been unable to meet you in your place of deepest need? 

Scripture tells us that when our hope is in God, something counterintuitive happens.  Our hope does not disappoint us, even in the middle of a season of suffering.  Most people think hope is connected to painless providences.  Not Paul.  He knew firsthand that his hope would not disappoint, even in the middle of suffering.  Why?  Because His Savior was his hope and his Savior was in the middle of his suffering.  Paul did not need blue skies and sunshiny days to have hope, because his hope was in the only One who is worth hoping in: Jesus Christ.   

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What “prize” have you been looking for lately?  How are you spending your discretionary time and money?  It has been rightly observed that our checkbooks and our free time reveals a great deal about what we value most in life. 

From the pen of the apostle Paul we are given the formula for keeping our eyes on the only prize that matters in life. 

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:13-15)

Let’s briefly unpack the Bible’s formula for keeping our eyes fixed on the prize that should be the object of our greatest affection.

1. Forgetting what lies behind . . .

On the surface this seems to contradict what God says in other portions of Scripture when He says, “Remember . . . !”  So what is going on here?  Paul is not telling us to forget the past.  He is telling us not to live in the past.  We are to treat the past like a school and take the lessons God would have us learn into our promised future.

 I am not minimizing a painful past.  At some level, this is the reality for everyone simply because we are broken people living in a broken world with other broken people.  Yet God calls us to move beyond our past, regardless of the pain, and enter into our promised future by living fully in the present.  You will remember that Paul’s painful past was marked by his participation in intense persecution of the church; had Paul focused on his past, he would have become a prisoner to it, rather than the man God called to pen most of the New Testament. 

2. Straining forward . . . press on toward the goal . . .

Forward motion in life is difficult.  God made that clear to Adam and Eve after they sinned in the Garden of Eden.  Life would be difficult, filled with thorns, thistles, trials, and tribulations. 

 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.  Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  (Genesis 3:16-19)

3. The prize . . .

Paul says in spite of our straining, there is a promised prize that is to be our motivation for moving forward and it is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  In other words, Paul is pressing on into the truth of John 10:10—the abundant life in Jesus Christ.  God had already saved Paul and called him to be His own.  Now Paul desires, more than anything else, the deepest experience of his salvation and union with Christ.  So his life is marked by fixing his eyes on the prize . . . Jesus Christ.

Paul closes out this section of Scripture by identifying those who live this kind of life; he calls them mature.  Those who are mature do not prize possessions.  Those who are mature do not prize prosperity.  Those who are mature do not prize prestige.  Those who are mature do not prize pleasure.  Those who are mature prize only one thing: the Prince of Peace.  They organize their lives around the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus rules their hearts and ultimately shapes their lives; they rise early in the morning thinking about Jesus.  They go throughout their day thinking about Jesus.  They retire in the evening thinking about Jesus.  Like Paul, they believe that to live is Christ!  

Is this the confession of your life?  What has God been revealing to you lately?  Are you one of those who Paul identifies as mature?  Fix your eyes on the only prize that matters—in both life and death—and you will be. 

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What “impossible” thing are you facing today?  What Red Sea are you standing before, with no way out, as the enemy is closing in on you from behind?  What water needs to be turned into wine?  What dead thing in your life needs to be resurrected?  Today’s message, “The Steel Did Swim,” will prove profitable for your comfort and for your courage as you face whatever challenge is before you.  My prayer is that you would read this message with a spirit of great anticipation about what God will do both in and through you.  

2 Kings 6:1-7 recounts a remarkable story of the omnipotence of the Almighty and demonstrates that nothing is impossible with God for those who believe.

The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

Can you imagine a more hopeless situation regarding the recovery of the axe head?  And to make matters worse, it was a borrowed axe that would now be forever lost.  To be sure, by man’s power, the axe head that fell into the water would have remained submerged and lost.  But with God, the steel did swim!  What sunken “steel” is in your life right now that needs to swim to the surface by the grace and power of the Almighty? 

• Shipwrecked by your singleness
• Pressured by your peers
• Anxiety over your academics
• Adversity in your athletics
• Mystified by your marriage
• Forsaken by your friends
• Perplexed about your parenting
• Worn out by your work
• Confused about your calling
• Snared by your sin
• Discouraged about your direction
• Struggling with your service
• Let down with your life

Notice in this passage three important truths that form the key to unlock the door of possibility when you are facing any problem in this life. 

1. The man who lost the axe head cried out and shared his challenge.

2.  When the Lord intervened, Scripture says the man “reached out his hand.”

3. Finally we read, the man “took it.” 

What obstacle do you need to turn into an opportunity to magnify the name of your God?  What problem has God sent your way to stretch your faith?  What boat is He calling you to step out of and come to Him?  Sure, the wind is howling and the waves are crashing, but Jesus is right there with you in the middle of your storm. 

God will always place the grapes of goodness within your reach . . . but not in your mouth.  You must reach out your hand and take them, by the grace of God.  God has promised to do His part.  Are we willing to do ours?

Remember, God has given us everything we need to live the life he is calling us to live—with freedom, faithfulness, and fruitfulness to Jesus.  Call on Him, regardless of the challenge you are facing.  Approach the throne of grace with confidence and plead the blood of the Lamb.  The same God who made the steel swim for Elisha is standing at the ready to make steel swim for you.  He will never disregard your predicament and He will never dishonor your plea. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I cannot think of a better way to kick off the season of THANKSGIVING than with a message of giving thanks from the Word of God.

Take a moment to contemplate and answer the following three questions:

1. Would you describe yourself as a person who spends more time in a posture of THANKSGIVING or a posture of COMPLAINING?
2. How would those closest to you answer this question about you?
3. If the answer to question #2 does not start with the letter “T” then what changes do you need to make in your life right now so that you may be known by better fruit?

Regardless of your answers, I think we all would agree that we could use a little more of the fruit of THANKSGIVING in our lives and a lot less of the fruit of COMPLAINING!  Regardless of how well life is working for us right now we have a tendency to look at what is not working well.  This has been the story of God’s people from the beginning.  After having been set free from over 400 years of bondage in Egypt, the Israelites were marked more by the fruit of COMPLAINING than THANKSGIVING.  You would have thought after having witnessed the hand of God deliver the ten supernatural plagues on Egypt and after marching right on through the Red Sea without ever getting wet, that THANKSGIVING would have risen up to heaven like smoke billowing up from a furnace.  However, it was not.  Instead of giving thanks they whined, grumbled, and complained every step of the way. In the following verse, the psalmist gives us the cure for COMPLAINING and the key to living a life of continual THANKSGIVING.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

Psalm 107:8

When we focus more on God than we do ourselves, we find that we live in a posture of THANKSGIVING rather than COMPLAINING.  Take a moment to think about all that God has done for you.  And I am not even talking about the “BIG” things such as redemption, justification, adoption, eternal life, and the like.  Think about the eyes that are reading this blog right now.  God gave you your sight.  Think about the mind that is processing this blog right now.  God gave you your mental capacity.  Think about the breath you just took or the beating of your heart.  God gave you the gift of life.  What do you have that you have not been given?  Consider, in a sense, that the more you have the more you are in debt to the One who has given it to you.  The only thing you have that God did not give to you is your sin.  You own all of that!!!

So, as we begin our season of thanksgiving together, let us resolve to be someone who is known by others for a heart of THANKSGIVING rather than a head of COMPLAINING.  To be sure, this blog post may not find you in a season of great prosperity.  Perhaps sickness and disease are testing the outer edges of your health plan.  Maybe this time of year brings back memories of some great loss in your life.  This is the result of living in a fallen and broken world with other fallen and broken people.  Yet, in all of it you have a God whose love sought you, caught you, and bought you with the precious blood of the Lamb.

Write down today’s verse and put it up somewhere.  Put it up on your refrigerator.  Put in up on your bathroom mirror.  Attach it to the sun visor in your car.  Or even better, take some time to memorize it and meditate on it when you lie down, when you get up, and when you walk throughout your day (Deut. 6:7).  The more you focus on the steadfast love of God and the wondrous works He has done for you, the more your life will be defined by the fruit of THANKSGIVING rather than COMPLAINING.  I promise you this…a little effort now in keeping this verse before you will return multiple rewards not only during this season of thanksgiving, but throughout the rest of your journey toward the Celestial City.

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!

Oscar Wilde once said, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame!”

The Guinness Book of World Records recently awarded Blaming the title of the world’s “Oldest Game.”  The Blame Game began in the Garden of Eden, played by the first two sinners.  The original blame was actually worth double points, because Adam blamed both Eve and God for his act of cosmic rebellion!  Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit from the forbidden tree, followed by a more subtle blaming of God for giving him Eve in the first place.  And we have been blaming ever since.

This game has become so popular that back in 1999 MTV aired a 30-minute game show entitled “The Blame Game.”  In a fictional courtroom setting, two “ex’s” were pitted against each other to ultimately decide who was to blame for the breakdown and breakup of their relationship.  The saddest aspect of the world’s oldest game is everybody plays and nobody wins. 

We cast blame for countless reasons.  We fear taking responsibility when something goes wrong, so we blame . . . just like Adam did in the Garden.  We seek the applause of man, so we blame others for our shortcomings, seeking to cast a better light on ourselves.  We blame parents for the way they raised us.  We blame coaches for the way they coached us.  We blame teachers for the way they taught us.  We blame the environment in which we were raised.  We blame the economy.  We blame the government.  Because we are sinners by both nature and by habit, blame is a part of everyday life.  Blame is simply part of our DNA. 

So . . . have you been playing the blame game lately?  Have you been blaming others?  Perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of blame?  To be sure, blame marks every one of our horizontal relationships with other people.  And at times it marks our vertical relationship with God as we, like Adam, blame God for our lot in life.  At the deepest level, participation in the blame game is nothing more than a sinful attempt to rewrite a portion of our story so we can make ourselves look better to others and feel better about ourselves.   

And there is absolutely no need for it! All those who are in Christ stand before God blameless, because Jesus took their blame.  This is the great exchange; sinners stand sinless before a holy God because the One who knew no sin became sin for us. 

Jude, the brother of James and the half brother of Jesus, gave us a compelling reason for refusing to participate in any aspect of the blame game:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Notice the word blameless and how it is applied to the believer.  The believer is blameless today in the sight of God because of what Jesus did on the cross—paying the penalty for every sin, past, present, and still to come.  The believer is clothed in the righteousness of Christ and stands blameless before God, in spite of living a life that is worthy of unending blame.  Jesus has made us blameless before God, setting us in the seat of holy honor, without spot or stain.  Meditate on the word blameless for a moment, and you will see just how remarkable it is when it is applied to you! 

Jude gives to us one of the most incredible promises in all of sacred Scripture.  Blame has been nailed to that dirty tree.  Blame for the believer is as far as the east is from the west.  Jesus became our blame, making us blameless before God.  Blame was washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, making every believer blameless.

The next time you have an opportunity to play the blame game, flatly refuse to take it!  Don’t blame others, regardless of what has happened, and don’t let it bother you if others blame you.  Jesus climbed Golgotha’s Hill and ended the blame game for every child born of grace, exchanging our unending blame for His unimaginable blessing. 

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

From the third chapter of Genesis on, the Bible makes it clear that we are BROKEN PEOPLE living in BROKEN PLACES.  Everything is out of whack from the way God intended it to be.  There is sickness, mourning, pain, suffering, and ultimately death.  So what’s the use in going on as BROKEN PEOPLE living in BROKEN PLACES?  Because God is in both BROKEN PEOPLE and BROKEN PLACES.   

BROKEN PLACES 

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  (Romans 8:20-22) 

When Adam and Eve fell, the whole cosmos fell.  The world is now broken, which means we live in BROKEN PLACES, no matter what they may look like with the naked eye.  The world is marked by confusion and chaos, and darkness covers the land.  Yet, instead of starting over with a brand new creation, God is in the process of making all things new.  God is bringing His light into BROKEN PLACES, which means He is using these BROKEN PLACES in the process of cosmic renewal. 

Painful providence is God’s servant.  Sickness is God’s servant.  Mourning is God’s servant.  Pain is God’s servant.  Suffering is God’s servant.  Death is God’s servant.  As Charles Spurgeon once said, “Omnipotence has servants everywhere.”  God is using BROKEN PLACES to mend BROKEN PEOPLE just like you and me.

BROKEN PEOPLE

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

(Isaiah 61:1-3)

Jesus entered into this broken world to bind the brokenhearted and to set the captives free.  Jesus is mending BROKEN PEOPLE and BROKEN PLACES.  He brings hope to the hopeless . . . joy to the joyless . . . grace to the graceless.  Paul recounted that “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). 

What an amazing promise from God to BROKEN PEOPLE living in BROKEN PLACES—that His grace is sufficient.  Regardless of the BROKEN PLACE this finds you in today, and regardless how much longer God has you traveling on your road of brokenness, God has promised to mend BROKEN PEOPLE . . . and that includes you!

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When you hear the word “stewardship,” what comes to mind?  If you are like most Christians, you think of the three T’s—Time, Talent, and Treasure—over which God has called us to exercise good stewardship.  But did you ever think about stewardship as it relates to the storms and struggles of life?  Since God is causing “all things to work together for good to those who love God,” as Romans 8:28 attests, then we have a great responsibility to be good stewards of the storms and struggles of life that He sends our way (Lamentations 3:38).

So how do we do it?  We submit, surrender, and share our struggles and storms with our Savior.  Listen, when you are facing the storms and struggles in this life, you have to take your experience and resulting feelings somewhere!  Some men and women bottle them up inside until the day they explode, leaving a trail of discouraged, damaged, and even destroyed relationships in their wake.  Others snap and snarl at everyone in earshot.  There is a price that must be paid for poor stewardship of the storms and struggles in life, and frequently the price is paid by those around us, the very ones God has given to us to cherish, love, and nurture.

But this is not for you!  There is a better way to exercise good stewardship over our storms and struggles, and the weeping prophet Jeremiah provides us the model:

O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed.  I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.  (Jeremiah 20:7)

Jeremiah knew where to turn in the midst of his storm, and his painful prayer should produce profound comfort for you and me.  Jeremiah was in the midst of a season of struggle; he felt deceived, betrayed, overwhelmed, he had become the object of ridicule by the ungodly, and what did he do?

First, let’s notice what he did not do.  Jeremiah did not bottle his feelings up inside, like many of us do, only to blow up and bury all those around him.  He did not snap and snarl at everyone within earshot.  He took his pain to God.  And that, dear reader, is the key to being a good steward of the storms and struggles of life.  They must be taken to the only One who can do something about it . . . the One who has ultimately sent it to you for your good and His glory. 

The same prophet who gave us the great promise from God about a future plan of purpose and prosperity (Jeremiah 29:11) also gave us this picture of crying out to God during a season of intense spiritual struggle.  This should be a source of great encouragement to us; we are not alone, and our struggles are not unique to us.  Everyone struggles, even great prophets! 

The very best stewards of the storms and struggles in this life stand in the shadow of the cross.  Deceived . . . betrayed . . . overwhelmed . . . the object of ridicule?  Lay it all at the foot of the cross.  Jesus is able to do for you what no one else can do; He gives you a place to bring every storm and struggle.   

So what have you been doing in this area?  What would those closest to you say you do with your storms and struggles?  Is there anyone in your life right now to whom you need to confess your poor stewardship and ask for forgiveness?  Remember, Jesus paid the price in full for your faults and failures, and you are still the object of His desire.  There is no need to minimize . . . no need to cover up . . . no need to hide in fear.  The One you call Lord and Savior opens doors no man can shut and shuts doors no man can open.     

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

During our K.I.C.K. (Karate In Christ’s Kingdom) class we ask the students, as they are in a seated stretching position, “How low can you go?”  To which they respond, “Super low sir!”  It’s a great question to sharpen their focus on giving their absolute best during this phase of class.  This is also a great question to encourage us in our walk with Christ; the answer is a source of unimaginable comfort for every Christian, because it testifies to His unconditional care. 

Moses declared, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.  And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy!” (Deuteronomy 33:27.)  Wow!  When the eternal God is your dwelling place, no matter how low you go, His everlasting arms are UNDERNEATH you.

If you have been walking with Christ for any length of time, you can certainly testify to seasons where you were brought very low.  And yet, regardless of how low you went, UNDERNEATH you were His everlasting arms. 

• Sinking in stress . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Submerged in sin . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Drowning in debt . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Descending into discouragement . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Cast down in your career . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Crushed in conflict . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Falling into faithlessness . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms
• Immersed in impurity . . . UNDERNEATH you are His everlasting arms

Beloved, regardless of how far you fall, you cannot fall out of His everlasting arms of loving care and comfort.  Remember this, God’s arm is not short.  He can reach all the way and He can reach everybody.  You are never beyond the reach of His everlasting arms.  “If I make my bed in Sheol,” David exulted, “you are there!” (Psalm 139:8.)

You might be thinking, “Pastor Tommy, you just don’t know what I have done!”  You’re right, I don’t know what you have been doing, but He does.  And in spite of whatever you have done, in spite all you have ever done, He has given you the promise that you will never sink so low in this life that you are no longer resting in the strength of His everlasting arms. 

Who convinced you that you have fallen so far that He cannot reach you?  Don’t believe it!  It smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell, as my friend Steve Brown likes to say.  Once His, always His, regardless of the times when we behave as if we are not His, as if we had never met Him and don’t even know Him.

Satan would like nothing better than to convince you that you have dug yourself so deep into the proverbial pit that you are beyond the reach of your God.  The accuser of the brethren knows he cannot take you out of the hand of your Redeemer, so he will do everything he can to mess with your mind.  Don’t let him do it!  Sin may take you so low that you cannot imagine anyone on the face of this earth as bad as you.  Fear not!  You’re in good company. 

The great apostle Paul said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).  Marinating in the grace of God, Paul was overwhelmed by the realization that God chose to save him, knowing just how bad Paul was.  He was a persecutor of the church.  He was a blasphemer of God.  He was a hater of Christ.  He was the Pharisee who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen.  In spite of the deplorable depth of his sin, the everlasting arms of the King of kings were still UNDERNEATH him.  And it was those arms that lifted Paul out of the pit of persecution into the palace of preaching for the glory of Jesus.  The same everlasting arms that supported Paul are under you today. 

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Ever wonder why you are not completely content?  Notice that I did not ask, “Are you completely content?”  Broken people, living in a broken world with other broken people, coming out of broken pasts and moving into broken futures, inevitably struggle with contentment. 

• We struggle with contentment in our singleness . . . so we marry and find that we still struggle with contentment.
• We struggle with contentment in our current job . . . so we change jobs and find that we still struggle with contentment.
• We struggle with contentment at our current address . . . so we change neighborhoods and find that we still struggle with contentment. 
• We struggle with contentment with our church . . . so we change churches and find that we still struggle with contentment. 

So what is the key to contentment?  It is found in focusing your attention on your Savior rather than your stuff.  You can change the stuff of life and keep on changing the stuff of life and never find contentment.  Why?  Because contentment is never going to be found in the stuff of life!  The stuff of life was never designed to do for us what only our Savior can do for us, and that is both to give us and fill us with contentment.

Hebrews 13:5 instructs us, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”  To be sure, God gives us good gifts in this life.  He gives us family, friends, jobs, homes, and opportunities to put our talents and abilities into service.  The problem is not the things of this world.  The problem is in trying to get the things of this world to do what only Jesus can do for us! 

You see, the stuff of life comes and goes, but our Savior is always with us.  Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, even when we give Him every reason to do so.  In seasons of great success, as well as times of great sin, Jesus is with us every step of the way.  Jesus is with you in your lonely place and gives you comfort.  Jesus is with you in your empty place and fills you up.  Jesus is with you in your pain and gives you His peace.

The problem with discontent is never going to be solved by acquiring the stuff we do not have.  We are restless and discontented when we fail to find God to be all-sufficient for every season of life.  It is a fact that He is sufficient for our every need, and only when we realize, embrace, and live in this truth that we will experience true and lasting contentment—regardless of the circumstances we face in life.

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

 What do you need to be delivered from today?

• Critical spirit
• Impatience
• Angry outbursts
• Impure thoughts
• Addictive behavior 

Here is a passage about Peter that can give you the most incredible hope for divine deliverance, even in the face of utter hopelessness. 

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.  He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.  This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.  And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.  So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.  Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.  (Acts 12:1-6)

Notice with me the hopelessness of Peter’s situation.  Herod delivered him over to four squads of soldiers, working 6-hour shifts over a 24-hour day.  That means there were always four soldiers guarding one Peter at any given time throughout the day and night.  We find Peter sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and more sentries posted outside the door.

Two soldiers, two chains, two or more sentries . . . but not too much for God.  All of this was written to make it abundantly clear to us just how desperate Peter’s situation was.  What happened next is recorded for our instruction and comfort when we too, face trials that appear to be insurmountable. Peter was only one man, yes; but he was God’s man.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.”  And the chains fell off his hands.  And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.”  And he did so.  And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”  And he went out and followed him.  And he went out and followed him.  He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.  When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.  It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. (Acts 12:7-10)

In one of the most hopeless situations recorded in all of sacred Scripture, Hope shows up.  God sent an angel, who led Peter out of his prison, not on wings like eagles, but walking, with calm confidence, on sandaled feet.  As they stood before the iron gate leading into the city, it opened of its own accord.  What an incredible divine deliverance!

Oh, make sure you don’t miss this!  The angel had to wake Peter by striking him on his side.  I don’t know about you, but if I was facing such a hopeless situation, I cannot imagine myself in a state of deep sleep.  Remember, Peter knew what had happened to James, the brother of John, who was killed with the sword; Peter surely expected that the same fate awaited him in the morning.  And yet we find Peter in a sound sleep.  To be sure, this is the peace that passes all understanding! 

Peter—the same Peter who had once been driven into ignominious retreat by a servant girl—now trusted so completely in his Lord that he was able to remain calm in the eye of the storm.  He knew that divine deliverance was ultimately on the way, whether it was his departure from prison or his passing from this life into the next.  So gospel-saturated was Peter that he was ready, willing, and able to receive whatever divine deliverance God sent his way.

Can the same be said about you?  Are you trusting in Jesus to deliver you from whatever you are facing today—in His time and in His way?  Divine deliverance is our ultimate destiny. 

This is the gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!