Grace for the Race

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. (1 Chronicles 16:11)

Think of all the things you may be seeking throughout this new year. Is the face of your Lord on your list? The Hebrew word translated “face” in today’s verse can also be rendered “presence.” To seek the Lord’s face is to seek His presence.

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute! I believe that I am always in the presence of Jesus! He promised never to leave me.” That is certainly true. But isn’t it also true that there are times when you do not sense His presence in your life? If you are anything like me, the answer, sadly, is “Yes. I definitely experience those moments when I don’t feel like Jesus is anywhere close to me.”

There are times when we get so preoccupied with life that we may forget or even forsake our Lord. There are times when we trust ourselves rather than trust our Savior; at those times we find Him “unmanifested” in our lives. It is easy to shroud His face behind the curtain of our carnal desires and the shawl of our sinful pursuits. That is why God tells us not only to seek His presence, but to seek Him always. Just as we are to pray without ceasing, we are to seek the presence of our God continually.

So how do we do it? How do we seek God’s face always? The Old and the New Testaments provide us with the same answer:

Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. (1 Chronicles 22:19 ESV)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Seeking God’s face does not happen by accident. It will only happen when we are intentional about fixing our focus on Him. To be sure, this too is a gift of God’s grace. I think of Paul’s prayer: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV). The desire and the discipline to seek the Lord are gifts of grace, but we must appropriate this grace as we go through life.

There are many ways to do that; as I often say here, reading the Word and prayer are at the top of the list. Remember, the degree of the presence of God you experience in your life will always be in direct proportion to the amount of time you spend with Him in His Word and in prayer. The promise for this is clear, “If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

So seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually! He has assured us that He will draw near to those who draw near to Him.

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

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:18-19)

As you launch out into yet another new year, remember these words that God gave us through the prophet Isaiah: “I am doing a new thing!” And that “new thing” begins with you.

God is in the business of creating new things, which means He wants us to move through the year ahead with a forward focus filled with hope and expectation. But we simply cannot do that if we are dwelling on the past — “the former things.” As I said last week, we are to learn from the past, not live in the past. We are to treat the past like a school, taking the lessons we have learned there and pressing on into our promised future. We simply must refuse to let our past possess us or persuade us, or it will paralyze us.

So let me ask you this question: How are you doing at forgetting the former things and not dwelling on your past? God has a formula for doing new things. He will not put new wine into old wineskins (Matthew 9:17), and He will not begin a new thing in your life until he does away with the old “stuff” that is holding you down.

So the next question to consider is this: What “old thing” is standing in the way of you becoming all that God is calling you to be?” Could it be . . .

• Your old way of living?
• Your old way of thinking?
• Your old way of doing?
• Your old way of desiring?

The most important new thing that God is doing in your life is conforming you to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ . . . and He will do that by any means necessary. Christian, embrace this glorious new thing He is doing in your life with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, regardless of the cost or circumstance. You can be sure that this new thing He is doing in you is the greatest good you will ever receive.

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

Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

On Wednesday, we took a moment to “look back” and consider all the wonders God has done throughout 2021. Today we will “look ahead” as we prepare to launch out into 2022.

“Happy New Year!” is a greeting you frequently hear at this time of year. That well-wishing will be particularly prevalent tomorrow, on New Year’s Day. Yet if “wishes” were all we had as believers to launch out into the year ahead, it would be a scant portion indeed. Christians have much more than a “hopeful greeting” given to us by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Today’s verse gives us the promise that God gave to Joshua – and to you and me as well: I will be with you wherever you go.

You may remember that Joshua was preparing to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land after Moses had completed his ministry of service to God. Joshua knew quite well the challenges he would face in leading God’s people. He had learned from Moses just how difficult the task would be. But he also knew that, just like Moses, he would not be alone in the work God had called him to perform. And the same is true for you and me as we begin our “forward march” into this new year.

To be sure, the new year brings with it questions and concerns . . . doubts and fears . . . obstacles and opportunities. Will the doctor give us a negative report on our health? Will we encounter professional challenges? Will our marriage of many years march on for many more? Will we suffer the loss of a loved one? Will the cost of living continue to rise? Will a deadly new variant of COVID sweep the country? The list of uncertainties is almost endless. Yet we can hold on to something infinitely greater than the mere hope for a “Happy New Year!” Why? Because God has promised that He will be with us wherever we go, and He has further promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

I want you to remember something in that promise. This “going with God” is not a going by chance. It is not a random roll of the dice. God is guiding, governing, and directing your every step. He is in sovereign control of everything; nothing is left to chance (Romans 11:36). So do not be discouraged! God’s promise is delivered to us to help us set aside every doubt, every fear, and to lean into God’s perfect plan and purpose for our lives.

One final point: Approximately 3,400 years after God told Joshua that He would be with him wherever he went, Jesus reaffirmed that promise before He ascended back to heaven: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Let me encourage you to look ahead into the year 2022 with confidence and boldness, knowing that Jesus goes before you as He goes with you, making your way straight, regardless of how many twists and turns you may encounter throughout this new year.

Now that is a great reason to greet people with a bright smile and exclaim, “Happy New Year!”

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

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced. (Psalm 105:4-5)

Today and Friday we will close out yet another year of seeking “Grace for the Race.” Today I want to encourage you to take a look back over the past year . . . to remember and reflect on the many and multiplied wonders that God has done in your life. On Friday we will look forward to the starting line of another year, and, if God is so pleased to grant it to us, to live 2022 out with both the freedom and faithfulness that is available to us in Jesus Christ.

Someone wisely observed that “It is difficult to climb to the summit of the mountain when you are always looking over your shoulder.” That’s certainly true, but taking a look back is wonderfully beneficial for the Christian believer to remember all that God has done: His care, His provision, His protection, and His many gracious answers to our prayers. To be sure, that look back must be brief if we are to begin making forward progress throughout 2022. But make no mistake, it is the best way to close out another year of blessings that our loving Lord has bestowed on us. 

It’s important to point out that taking a look back is not the same thing as walking backward. We cannot go back, nor should we want to. God is moving us forward into His perfect plan and purpose for our lives, inasmuch as we will live it out imperfectly. I’ve said here several times that we must always treat the past as a school; we are to learn the lessons from our past but not live in our past. I meet far too many people — believers and unbelievers alike — who live in the past, which inevitably prohibits any measurable forward progress. But this is not for you!

Take some time today to reflect on the past year and make sure your look back encompasses both your successes and your storms. There is much to glean from both life experiences, because God has delivered both to us in order to conform us into the image and likeness of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Let your looking back bring to mind God’s . . .

• Faithfulness and Friendship
• Discipline and Devotion
• Mercy and Ministry
• Love and Leading

I pray that your look back over 2021 will encourage you and strengthen you to embark on another year with Jesus sitting upon the throne of your life, guiding you through every twist and turn, and growing you through all the ups and downs . . . every step of the way.

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

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

We all know about the importance of taking good care of our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, utilizing a workout plan that includes consistent exercise, sound nutrition, and adequate rest. Today I want to encourage you to engage in another kind of “workout,” one that builds your temple from the inside out.

First, let me make something perfectly clear; the apostle Paul was not suggesting that we need to “work out” a salvation that we might lose if we do not engage in the “right” kind of works and produce the right kind of results. That would cause us to live in a condition of continual fear, which would violate not only the good news of the Gospel, but all of sacred Scripture, which assures us that God has not given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).

No, the “fear” that Paul was speaking about in Philippians 2:12 is best understood as reverence, awe, and respect for our Redeemer. I like the rendering that the English Bible translator J. B. Phillips gave to the verse: “Work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility.”

So what does it look like for the Christian to “work out” his or her salvation? It starts with a desire to live obediently before the face of God. The primary witness of our “work out” is to be found in our practice of obedience to the Lord. Please note that I did not say “our perfection of obedience,” because none of us will come close to perfection until we cross the Jordan and are received into glory. Until that time, we will live lives marked by both obedience and disobedience, because the old, sinful nature is in a constant struggle with the new, sinless nature (Galatians 5:17). 

The secondary witness of our “work out” is found in the environment we are working out in. An attitude of reverence and respect for the Almighty is the environment we must work out in, remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, we are to take the call of Christ to live as obedient disciples seriously. Even though we know we will work out our salvation imperfectly on this side of the grave, nonetheless, we are to desire to be obedient in all things. True disciples want to live in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to God. True disciples seek to use all of their time, talent, and treasure for the advancement of the kingdom of God. True disciples look to glorify God in all things.

What has the witness of your “work out” been saying to those around you? In what areas are you working well? In what areas do you need to put in a little extra effort? Remember, the grace that saved you is the same grace that is sanctifying you . . . and it is all of grace. Yet God has called each one of us to work out the salvation He has given us with the proper sense of awe and responsibility. May this be the confession of our lives.

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

“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” (A Charlie Brown Christmas)

As a little boy growing up, A Charlie Brown Christmas was my favorite Christmas special. It still is to this day, now that I am a husband and father of four. When I was a boy, Mom and I would search the TV Guide to see when the special was on so that we wouldn’t miss it. Today, we just pop in the DVD and watch it whenever we want, which we do frequently during the Christmas Season.

Long before I was a Christian, my heart was always touched when Linus responded to Charlie Brown’s plaintive plea, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Linus’s answer was taken straight from the pages of sacred Scripture:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8-14 KJV)

And with that being said, Linus picked up his blanket and shuffled off the stage. Why? Because he had said it all! That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown: the birth of the Christ Child — the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus is the Reason for the Season. He is the greatest Christmas present the world has ever received, a gift so glorious that the angels in heaven burst forth into joyous song.

May we rejoice in having received this indescribable gift, by grace through faith, and may we respond by sharing God’s great gift of love with others . . . because, after all, that’s what Christmas is all about.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. From the Boland family to yours: May your day be filled with the transforming power of the glorious good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

What begins with waiting, advances through preparation, resulting in the experience of great joy, is rooted in the love of God in Christ Jesus. God is love. God created love. And God loves us!

How much does God love us? So much so that He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin so that we can be with Him forever – “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Notice that the Scriptures emphasize that Christ died for us “while we were still sinners.” God did not wait for us to get right with Him. He did not wait for us to clean up our lives. He did not wait for us to “get our act together.” He demonstrated His love for us while we were still sinners. Christian, if that doesn’t light the fire of your faith as you approach Christmas day . . . your wood is wet!

So what are we to do with the knowledge of this amazing love of God, a love so high and long and wide and deep (Ephesians 3:18), while we are waiting and preparing for Christmas to arrive? It’s simple . . . yet profound. We are to rest in God’s love and respond to it. First, to rest in His love is to rest assured that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:23). When Jesus said “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20), He meant what He said! Nothing – not storms, not Satan, not even our own sin – can come between us and the love that our God has for us in Christ Jesus.

Second, to respond to God’s love is to share it with others. We love others because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). God loved us when we were incapable of loving Him – while we were still sinners – and when we were separated from Him and alienated from Him. Because God has poured out His love on us, we can go forth and share that love with others. This is what is called the Great Commandment: loving God and loving others.

During this Advent Season, I hope you’ll take some time to share the love of God with those around you. Invite a neighbor to your Christmas Eve service. Bake some cookies for someone. Write a note of encouragement to someone. Visit someone you have not seen in a long while. Remember, love is the primary way we are to be recognized by others: Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The question that needs to be answered by all of us this Christmas Advent Season is this: Does everyone know that we are disciples of Jesus by our love? May this be the confession of our lives.

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

The angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

What begins with waiting and advances through preparation ultimately results in the experience of great joy.

From a biblical perspective, joy at the deepest level is something altogether different from happiness. Happiness is based on circumstances and what is going on around us, but true joy is rooted in Jesus Christ and what is going on within us. While we wait and prepare for Christmas, we must remember that joy is an inside job, and it is always a choice for the Christian. We can choose to live in joy . . . or in something less.

What was the “great joy” that the angel promised to the shepherds? It was the coming of Jesus. Jesus is our joy. And since we know that He has promised never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), we can be assured that joy is to be a continual experience. Joy sees problems as possibilities. Joy sees obstacles as opportunities. Joy sees life from God’s perspective, not our own, and when it does, we can echo David and exult, “I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4 ESV).

When the Bible speaks of the joy of the Lord, we are to understand it as something much more than a simple feeling. If joy was only a sensation, how in the world would we be able to experience it during those inevitable storms of loss and grief that come our way? It is only when we understand joy as Jesus, and see ourselves as the branch in union with Jesus the vine, that we will be able to experience unspeakable joy. And, as we saw on Wednesday, our preparation will increase our experience of joy through the time we spend in prayer and in His Word.

Here is one more thing to think about: When we consider the character of Christ, we make deposits in our joy bank. Jesus lived a sinless life for us. Jesus died a sacrificial death for us. Jesus rose supernaturally from the grave for us. Jesus is coming back from heaven for us. Jesus has loved us unconditionally and forgiven us completely for all eternity, and the more we consider His character, the more joy we will experience in this life, regardless of the circumstances we are currently facing.

And this brings us to our final Advent message on Monday: Love.

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

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)

Today is the second installment in our series of Advent messages: PREPARING. And it makes sense, does it not? While we are waiting, we should be preparing for what we are waiting for. No one just plants seeds in the garden and sits back to wait for the harvest to come in. They plant, water, nurture, and prepare in every way in order to maximize the harvest that will come in the fall.

So how should we prepare for all we are waiting on from our Lord?

SIMPLIFY

Life is full of distractions and countless voices vying for our attention. Those voices amp up during the Christmas season, with one advertisement after another hawking the latest products to enhance our lives. It’s easy to forget the reason for the season when we are so busy being busy!

So how do we simplify as we are preparing in our waiting for Christmas? We emulate the way of our Lord in two vital areas of our lives.

Prayer

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)

No one lived a busier life than our Lord Jesus Christ, yet He made sure that His life was saturated in communion with His Father in heaven. Jesus continually retreated to pray; we read that there were times when He would spend an entire night in fervent prayer. Notice that Jesus went to prayer early, before the demands of the day encompassed Him, and He went off to a solitary place to minimize distractions. Is this the confession of your life?

WORD

“It is written . . .” “It is also written . . .” “For it is written . . .” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10)

When Jesus was battling against the temptations of the devil during His wilderness experience, He fought back and conquered the tempter with the Old Testament Scriptures, which was all men had at that time. In order for Jesus to continually quote the Scriptures, He had to know the Scriptures, and to know the Scriptures, He had to be meditating on and marinating in them. Is this the confession of your life?

One of the best ways to prepare for Christmas is to simplify our lives, and the very best way to simplify is to go regularly to our Lord in prayer with the Bible in hand. Our God has promised us, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Let us commit to prepare our hearts for Him.

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

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14)

I am planning to use the next four blog posts leading up to Christmas Day to focus on Advent. Many churches use the four weeks leading up to Christmas to focus on the real meaning of the season. The word advent means “coming” – that time of expectant waiting and preparation for the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the babe in a manger . . . and His second coming as the conquering King of kings.

Today we will sharpen our focus on WAITING. I have never been good at waiting. As a child, the hardest thing for me was waiting for Christmas Eve, when each of the Boland children would be allowed to open one of our Christmas presents that lay so tantalizingly under the tree. After we completed that family tradition, I had to endure the long night of tossing and turning, “counting sheep,” and waiting for the sun to come up one that one day I had waited every day of the year to arrive.

Waiting today is just as difficult as it was for me as a child, for a variety of different reasons. Impatience is deeply ingrained in my sin nature. I have to keep reminding myself that waiting is one of God’s great graces in our lives, because waiting is a big part of God’s perfect plan for each one of us to mature us and grow us up in our faith.

What have you been waiting for from God this year? The prophet Isaiah said, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 ESV). Clearly, Isaiah was talking about the Source of our power. When you picture the eagle in flight, you see that he is completely dependent upon the Lord, who has given him wings and the unseen currents of air on which he soars.

To wait upon the Lord is to live a life of dependence and trust in a power infinitely greater than our own. It is to trust God even when we cannot trace Him. It is to know that God’s will often requires waiting. And how are we to wait? We are to wait expectantly, filled with confident hope, knowing that whatever we receive from the hand of our God is always what is best for us, and it always does its best work in our lives when it comes to us in God’s perfect timing.

So as you are waiting for Christmas this year and waiting on your God to answer your prayers, let the unseen currents of life’s pressures, challenges, and difficulties lift you higher and higher, knowing that your strength is being renewed by your Redeemer . . . day by day and moment by moment. 

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