Grace for the Race

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)

Adam and Eve hid behind fig leaves rather than face God for healing. You and I have a lot in common with our first parents. We try to hide behind statements like, “That’s just the way I am” or “I’ve always been this way.” That has to stop! What we were yesterday matters not to God, because He has given us His Spirit to make us into something we had never been.

Excuses are like camouflage; we try to hide behind them when we would rather not do the hard work of getting in step with the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. It is much easier to settle into our old self and live in the flesh rather than discipline ourselves to live in His Spirit. But this greatly dishonors our Lord, who paid the ultimate price to redeem us from our slavery to self and bring us into relationship with Him. He died so that we might live — not to live any way we like, but to live like Him.

Think about it this way: When we say to someone, “I’m just not a loving, patient, or kind person,” we are denying the work of the Holy Spirit within us. We are that kind of person because we are indwelt by the power of the Spirit, whose fruit includes love, patience, and kindness (Galatians 5:22). We just need to begin acting out practically what we already are positionally: a child of the Most-High God.

Have you been hiding behind any camouflage lately? Get rid of those flimsy fig leaves and draw near to the One who has promised to make all things new . . . including you!

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

Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. (Jeremiah 27:17)

We must not limit God in His dealings with us. His ultimate goal is for Christlikeness to be formed within us, and He will accomplish this goal in His way, in His timing, and by any means necessary.

God used the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar and the godless people of Babylon as instruments of judgment in the lives of His people in order to accomplish His ultimate purpose of weaning their hearts away from the things of this world. The message is clear for us today: We must accept God’s ways in our lives, even when we cannot comprehend them. Every circumstance in your life is filled with God’s chosen instruments of sanctification, regardless of their relationship to Him, for all things serve Him (Psalm 119:91).

We should not think that God will only use godly people to form Christ in us. God will use any means necessary to grow and mature us in the faith. It might be a skeptical supervisor, a Christless coworker, a non-Christian neighbor, or an atheistic acquaintance. God will use both the pastor and the pagan, the godly and the ungodly, the agreeable and the aggravating in accomplishing His perfect purpose in this world, and that includes His purpose for each of His children too.

What “King Nebuchadnezzar” has God brought into your life to use as a tool to chisel Christlike character into your heart? Never forget that the ungodly and the unspiritual are under God’s complete control at all times. Thank God today! And be on the lookout for those unexpected instruments He is using in your life to make you more like Jesus . . . by any means necessary!

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

I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their inheritance. (Ezekiel 44:28)

Today’s divine declaration is frequently repeated throughout the Law of Moses, whenever God gave instructions for His priests, the Levites, who were to be totally supported by the tithes given to God and by their portion of the offerings that were brought to Him. God ordained that His priests would not share in the possessions that the other eleven tribes of Israel received, for He alone would be their prized possession and their inconceivable inheritance. He would provide for the Levites’ every need as they served wholly unto God. You might say that the Levites were “holy,” in the sense that they were set apart for God. Their brethren received land; the priests received the Lord.

There is great comfort in this word for us today because we, the people of God, are a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). The priesthood of all believers is a foundational concept of Christianity; the Roman Catholic Church had drifted from this teaching, but it was reclaimed during the great Protestant Reformation of the 16^th Century. Having been chosen and set apart by God, we, just like the Old Testament priests, are called to offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Our privileged status makes us heirs to the kingdom of God — to wit, God Himself is our inheritance!

Take careful note of this truth: Unlike an earthly inheritance, which is passed down after a person dies, we have access to our inconceivable inheritance right now — not only daily, but moment by moment. Regardless of what you may possess in the here and now, you cannot take any of it with you when you go. But in God’s economy, your true inheritance, who is your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is not only available to you, He is with you always (Matthew 28:20). So we cry with the psalmist, “Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing” (Psalm 16:5 NLT).

Have you been living in the light of this truth? The answer to this question will be provided by the beating of your heart. What does your heart beat most strongly for right now? Does your heart beat for the stuff of this life? Or does it beat for your Savior, who has given you life?

Paul declared, “In [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians 1:11 ESV). Some Christians limit their understanding of this “inheritance” to eternal life in heaven with Jesus and all the saints of God, but there is much more to it than that! Your inheritance includes everyday life on earth and every spiritual blessing imaginable (Ephesians 1:3): You are forgiven . . . you are redeemed . . . you are a new creation . . . you are adopted into God’s family of faith . . . you are given a purpose to live for and the power to live it out. In a word, your inheritance is inconceivable! Let this truth set you free to live the life God has called you to live — today, right now, right where this message finds you.

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

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:15)

God the Father sent God the Son to be King of His people. So what was wrong with the people wanting to assist the Almighty in the process? They knew from the Old Testament prophecies that is was indeed God’s ultimate goal for His Son to be the King who would fulfill God’s covenant with David. So what was wrong with what the people who wanted to make it happen right now and the reasons they had for doing it? Why did Jesus withdraw from them? The answer is that they wanted to make Jesus king by force for their temporal and earthly good, and that stood in direct opposition to the perfect plan and purpose of the Father.

Of course, it was Satan himself standing behind the people. When Satan failed to derail God’s plan with his wilderness temptations of Jesus, he did not abandon his fight against the Son of God. Luke’s gospel tells us that after Satan had been rebuffed by Christ in the wilderness, “he left [Jesus] until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). And so, seeing his opportunity, the devil stirred the hearts and minds of the people to rebel against God’s purpose and plan for Messiah. It was the sly strategy of the serpent to cause the crowd to clamor for the king they wanted, a king who would reestablish the throne of David in Jerusalem and remove the boot of Rome from their necks.

Perhaps, the adversary reasoned, Jesus could be tempted to don His king’s crown without having to endure the cruel cross. Here was an opportunity for instant gratification AND the accomplishment of God’s ultimate goal, as the mass of Jewish humanity was ready to rise up against the hated Roman oppressor and joyfully hand the King of Israel the throne of David. God’s goal for His beloved Son was within reach . . . but not according to God’s perfect plan to accomplish it.

Never forget that Jesus Christ was fully man, which means He had an ego that could have fallen prey to the applause of man and the heady appeal of popularity, just like any of us. Proverbs 27:21 warns us, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” Make no mistake, Satan was dangling a very real temptation for Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), and that He “suffered when he was tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Satan was laying a very real trap for our Savior, one that the enemy knew would disrupt God’s perfect plan if his scheme succeeded. But Jesus always immediately recognized “the snake in the grass,” who would do anything to derail the destiny of the Chosen One. Jesus knew when the accomplishment of God’s goal would not be good . . . that was when it was accomplished by human effort, rather than by submission to the Spirit.

I’d like to make one final point, and I pray that you will let this truth strengthen you to resist the devil whenever he comes calling to entice you to accomplish any good goal God would have for you in a way that is not in line with God’s plan and purpose for achieving it. Go back and reread today’s verse; how did our Lord deal with the temptation that Satan had thrown at Him?

Jesus withdrew again to a mountain by himself!

It was Jesus’ continual communion with His Father that kept Him on track. By praying continually, just as you and I are commanded to do (1 Thessalonians 5:17), Jesus was strengthened to stay the course and follow the will of His Father, even when that will was leading Him to the most awful, agonizing death known to man at that time: a Roman cross. Our Lord’s prayer life was the key that unlocked the door leading to a resolve that refused to even consider trying to accomplish any goal God had for Him in any way apart from the perfect plan of His Father.

How are you doing at that? Have you been seeking to accomplish God’s goals for your life in your way . . . or His way?

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

“Ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:14)

Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of God’s people. Why? Because there is infinite power in the name of Jesus Christ. Not only have we been invited to come boldly to the throne of grace, we have also been assured that anything we ask for in the name of Jesus will be done.

I must make something clear before we go on: To ask in Jesus’ name is to ask for Jesus sake. Our prayers are to be directed at the expansion of Christ’s kingdom, not our own. Make no mistake; when God opened the way for us to come into His presence, every minute of every day, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, He was not giving us a blank check to cash for a life of ease and the advancement of our personal affluence. To ask in Jesus’ name is to ask about the things that matter most to Him.

John 17 recorded our Lord’s High Priestly Prayer, which gives us valuable insight as to what matters most to Jesus. He expressed it in His prayer to His Father: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” As a sent people, we are to be living lives of other-orientation. Jesus has commissioned us to live in a way that brings glory to God and good to others . . . all others. We are to meet people in their place of need with the hands and feet of Christ.

To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray for the advancement of the Gospel; when we are praying like this, we can be assured our prayers will be answered with a resounding “Yes!” To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray to fulfill His plans and His purposes in this life. To pray in Jesus’ name is to lay aside our personal goals, agendas, dreams, and desires. It is to abandon self as we advance in the direction of our Savior. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Yet not my will, but thy will be done,” He was providing us with the model for a prayer life that is rooted in Jesus’ name.

Finally, when you are praying in Jesus’ name, you are being reminded to rely on His wisdom, His power, His strength, and His guidance. To pray in Jesus name is to heed the word of warning that James provided to the people of God: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

I hope you will be encouraged today to take some time to pray, to pray in Jesus’ name, knowing that whatever you ask for in His name, He has promised to do for you.

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

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23:4)

Far too many people, including many in the church, mistakenly believe that circumstances make the person . . . in other words, you become what you are because of the circumstances you encounter throughout life. James Allen neatly dismantled this misconception by saying, “Circumstance does not make the man . . . it reveals him.”

Today’s verse of encouragement tells us how independent we are of outward circumstances, thanks to one simple truth: Jesus is with us!

• Jesus was with Moses walking through the Red Sea
• Jesus was with Elijah on Mount Carmel when facing the prophets of Baal
• Jesus was with Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego in the fiery furnace
• Jesus was with Daniel in the lions’ den
• Jesus was with Stephen being stoned
• Jesus was with Paul in prison

AND JESUS IS WITH YOU . . . regardless of where this finds you today.

We can rise above our circumstances when the seas of life are stormy and it looks like our boat is about to capsize, because the One who walked on the waves is with us. We can be at peace when storm winds are blowing in our lives, because the One who said “Peace, be still” and calmed the storm is with us. It may feel as if darkness is enveloping you, but fear not! The Light of the World has promised to guide you and protect you and ultimately bring you safely to the other side.

If you find yourself lying on a bed of sickness today, fear not! Your sickbed becomes a throne of grace because Jesus is with you in your sickness. If you are facing financial difficulties and poverty is banging at your door, fear not! Jesus has promised to give you more in your lack than the rich will ever have in their abundance, for He is with you. Even death itself cannot disrupt the peace of the disciple, because Jesus our Savior became the death of death, and to cross the Jordan with Him is to enter the place marked GLORIOUS GAIN!

Regardless of the circumstances you are facing today, fear not! The power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within has given you the power to make you independent of all circumstances. Darkness becomes light. Loss becomes gain. And death becomes life, because Jesus is with us and He has promised us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25).

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

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

God’s love letter to us, the holy Bible, tells us that we are letters of our Lord Jesus Christ, letters that are not written by human hands but by the Holy Spirit. So the question we all must answer is this: What does my letter say to those who are reading it? It has been rightly observed that the life of the Christian believer will be the only Bible many people ever read. People are reading you to learn about Jesus Christ.

How does it make you feel to know you are one of the Lord’s living epistles? Do you feel great about that? Or . . . maybe not so great? Maybe you feel a little guilty?

As disciples of Jesus, we must remember that as soon as the unbelieving world hears our profession of faith, they begin to watch closely to see if our walk matches our talk. The way we live out our faith paints the clearest picture of the kind of God we love and serve. The way we live out our faith will either draw people toward Jesus or repel them. There is no middle ground.

How attractive have you been making God in your words and your deeds lately?

The key to being the most effective letter of the Lord is to pray at the outset of every day that God will make the truths of the Gospel to be manifest in your life. Jesus is our model, because He was the perfection of the Lord’s Letter in the flesh. He lived out the truths of the Gospel perfectly, yet even in His perfection as the living Word of God, some were attracted and some were repelled. Some received and some rejected; some walked with Him and some walked away.

There’s a lesson for you and me in that truth: Our focus should not be on the reception we receive when others read us; rather, our focus is to be on prayerfully striving to make the message contained within our own living letter consistent with God’s Gospel of love and grace.

Here is one of the simplest ways to look at the content of the Lord’s Letter: It should be written in the shape of a cross. The first thing people need to read must be written vertically: How we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The next thing people need to read must be written horizontally: How we love others . . . all others. We don’t just love the lovely and the lovable. We love all others as we recall the love that was poured out upon us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). When people read a message of love in us as we live out the Lord’s letter — love for God and love for people — they are receiving the most important message they will ever read.

Do you recognize what a great privilege it is to be the Lord’s living epistle? Jesus has chosen to write His message of perfect love on imperfect parchment paper, and He has set it before the watching world for everyone to read. Remember, Christian, His mercies are new every morning, so we are given a new opportunity every day to write a new letter of love for the glory of our Lord.

What will the Spirit of the living God write upon you today?

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

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Today is Valentine’s Day. I’m sure every reader has childhood memories of giving and receiving cards and candy. If you’re a parent, you may be knee-deep in that process today with your kids. I have a distinct memory of small, heart-shaped candies that had an assortment of messages on them: “Be Mine,” “I Love You,” “You’re Sweet,” and so on. Those Valentine’s Day memories are not always sweet ones: Sometimes “the one” who one of my children had most hoped would send a “Be Mine” message sent no message at all; there were other times when a sincere message of childhood affection was ignored.

Many readers of this blog probably will probably give a Valentine’s Day gift and/or card to a spouse or sweetheart. Perhaps even that is not so sweet; maybe that love is not being returned . . . or maybe there is no one to give that card and gift to, and you are wishing and praying that God would bring you that special someone. Whether this day is a day of sweetness or sorrow for you, I hope you’ll find tremendous encouragement in the Bible’s message about our Lord’s unimaginable love . . . for you!

When was the last time you gave some serious thought to just how loved you truly are by your Savior? If you spent every waking moment marinating in and meditating on this truth, you would not even begin to plumb the depths of how deeply and divinely loved you are! Here is how Charles Spurgeon described this love in his Morning and Evening devotional:

Where shall language be found which shall describe His matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath.

The apostle Paul tells us in our verse for today that God’s love for us is so vast that it surpasses knowledge. Our finite minds simply cannot understand infinite love; and what we do understand would not fill a teaspoon to overflowing. It is a love that God in Christ had for us in eternity past, before time began (2 Timothy 1:9). When there was only the Triune God, there still was His love for us that surpasses knowledge. Then that love that surpasses knowledge created us in His own image. The heart that beat with that incomprehensible love never skipped a beat when we rejected God’s love, but rather it pursued rebels on the run. Who can understand that kind of love?

The love that surpasses knowledge sought us, caught us, and bought us with His own precious blood as He hung on a cruel cross. What agony Jesus endured to have us as His own! He was denied, betrayed, falsely accused, mocked, beaten, brutally scourged, endured a crown of thorns pressed into His brow, and shuddered as nine-inch nails were driven through His hands and His feet. And as if that wasn’t enough pain to experience in His pursuit of the objects of His affection — you and me — Jesus endured the heart-searing pain of the supernatural separation from His Father, who could not look upon His Son because He had become sin for us. Jesus cried out in His anguish, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 

And if there is a brief flicker of time when we just might begin to sense the depths of the divine love that has been poured out upon us, notice the last portion of today’s verse: “That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” It is impossible to fathom what it means to be filled with the love of God; how then can we possibly fathom what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God?

Beloved, know this: When knowledge is surpassed, it is simply best to receive and rest in its truth. This Valentine’s Day, may that truth fill your heart to overflowing. Christian, you are loved . . . deeply, passionately, and for all eternity. God wrote it in the Bible, His “Be Mine” Valentine’s Day card to you: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

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

It is said of these people, “They kiss calf-idols!” (Hosea 13:2)

Some 700 years before the birth of Christ, the people of God were in ugly, willful rebellion against God. They had left their first love and were chasing after smaller gods that promised life but delivered only death. This is always the case when we chase after anything smaller than Jesus. Oh, it may look like life, and it may even feel like life for a time, but in the end it cannot deliver on its promise and brings with it only despair, destruction, and death.

Let this serve as a word of warning this day: Kiss not the calf! Whatever that idol may be, it will not satisfy the longing of your heart. Instead, bow the knee and kiss the King of kings and Lord of lords, for He will always meet you with love and grace in your deepest place of need.

The problem with presenting a message like this in our contemporary church culture is that too many Christians will dismiss it offhand. We hear the word “idol,” and we promptly picture the golden calf the Israelites formed and began to worship when Moses tarried too long on the mountain of God. Oh, we believe the biblical account of the people of Israel bowing down and worshiping a statue, but we assure ourselves that those were a primitive people; we are far too educated and sophisticated to do anything like that.

I’m perfectly willing to grant that most people living in the 21st century are unlikely to worship a statue of a calf, but it is also a fact that men and women will worship idols that are much more “fashionable” . . . things like a job, a relationship, financial success, a hobby, social status, physical beauty, and more. All these forms of worship can be summarized by one word: greed, which the Bible expressly defines as idolatry in Colossians 3:5.

It’s important to point out that most of our present-day idols are not “bad” things. Things like career advancement, physical health, and positive relationships are good things that we should all pursue. The problem arises when these (and countless other good things) become ultimate things in our lives; that is when they become bad things. These idols enslave us and become life-altering, causing us to do things we ought not do; often we hurt ourselves and our loved ones in the process of our idolatrous pursuits.

Let’s be honest; we all kiss calf-idols from time to time. Sometimes they are clearly bad for us — things like greed and immorality. But more often than not, they are good for us — things like maintaining a strong marriage and raising healthy children — and the greater the good, the greater our expectation of having our deepest needs met by it. I’ve said it here before, but this truth cannot be overemphasized: Good things become bad things when they become ultimate things.

Have you kissed the calf lately? Have you sought after anything smaller than God to give to you what only God can give? Remember, we all enter this world with a God-sized void in our hearts, and it is only when we fill that void with God that we will find the happiness and joy and satisfaction we so deeply desire.

Kiss not the calf! Rather, like the prostitute who anointed our Lord with expensive ointment, kiss the feet of Jesus Christ, and your internal void will be filled to overflowing.

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

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . .” (Matthew 6:19)

One of the great blessings of being a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is found in the gift of “divine disencumberment,” where God supernaturally shifts our focus away from earthly treasure to heavenly treasure. The amazing grace that God used to raise us from death to life is the same grace God uses to raise us above seeking after earthly treasure and hoarding them “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”

Is divine disencumberment one of the marks of your life today?

Before we were saved, by grace through faith, we sought after the stuff of this life. In our worldly-mindedness, we looked to satisfy the desires of the flesh through the attainment of any of the 5 Ps – power, position, prestige, prosperity, and pleasure. And make no mistake, the more we were in hot pursuit of any of these things, the more we became encumbered by the flesh and temporal satisfaction. The more we pursue the stuff of this life, the less we pursue our beloved Savior, and the result of this worldly pursuit is to multiply the cares of this life.

The true disciple of Christ says NO to worldliness and YES to the Word. Remember, it is not a matter of eliminating pursuit; it is a matter of pursuing the right things. Our problem is not desire; our problem is that we desire the wrong things. Our hearts should beat after all things above, pursuing the life God has called us to live. Throughout this life, we are being conformed into the image of our Lord Jesus. The more we are conformed into His image, the less we are encumbered with the stuff of this life.

Divine disencumberment is a grace that grows in the heart that beats for nothing smaller than Jesus. The true disciple is one who seeks first the kingdom of heaven, trusting that everything else will follow. God has promised to meet all our needs in the glorious riches of His precious Son, our beloved Savior. We need only keep the main thing the main thing, allowing Jesus His rightful place in our lives: on the throne of our hearts. Divine disencumberment frees us from a life filled with empty pursuits and fills us with the eternal promise that “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22 ESV).

So . . . what treasures have you been storing up for yourself lately? What does the confession of your life say to those who know you best? Remember, we are all hunting some kind of treasure. The key is to hunt after the treasures that are holy, and then divine disencumberment will bless you wherever you go.

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