Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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Fingerprints

In my professional career, I was honored to lead a sizable division in a publicly traded company. We had a highly capable staff, and together with the disciplined execution of our regional office partners, we established a strong pattern of profitable growth. Over time, I found great satisfaction in all the meaningful change we engendered—product evolution, pricing sophistication, and stronger management tools, to name a few. All of these and other changes testified as proof of our presence—fingerprints of impact and success. It was both gratifying and humbling at the same time.

How much greater, then, are the fingerprints God leaves on our lives! Can you see the changes in yourself, the proof of His presence in you? King David did. “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,” he wrote, “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”1 His was a living testimony of God’s transformational love, something God does not just in Biblical giants like David, but to all who are born of the Spirit through faith in Christ. The apostle Paul assured the everyday folks in Philippi, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”2 So then, what good work has God begun in you? Stop and think about it; don’t focus on the setbacks and discouragements along the way—we all have them—but try to recount ways God has changed your life into the image of His Son. Jot down what comes to mind, and think about it as a testimony to His faithfulness.

I’ve been retired for seven years, and I’m quite sure many of the advances we implemented are now obsolete and that other developments are but foundations of subsequent iterations of improvement. But God’s work in our lives is never obsolete; in fact, it points to a day when “we shall be like {Christ], for we shall see him as he is.”3 His fingerprints are on us, for His presence is in us, and His image awaits us. How gratifying! How humbling.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24 ESV

1 Psalm 73:21-24
2 Philippians 1:6 ESV
3 1 John 3:2

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Our Easter Inside

It was true 2000 years ago and it remains true today: Christ is risen. He was risen when He met Mary at the tomb, risen when He appeared to His disciples, and risen when He walked the road to Emmaus. He was risen yesterday, He is risen today, and He will be risen tomorrow. The sun never sets on Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Still, we set aside Easter each year to remember and celebrate this one most unique day in human history, the day death was defeated and eternal life won for all who will receive it by faith. It is a day with its own imagery— white lilies and empty crosses, brass trumpets and empty tombs, and, somehow, marshmallow peeps and chocolate eggs.

Yet Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are not His only, but ours also. The apostle Paul teaches us, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”1 Did you notice the past tense? It is finished for you and for me: we have been raised already and forever. How can this be, since we still live and breathe on this earth? Again, Paul explains, “In Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”2 We are united with Him who will never die. Jesus lives in us through His Spirit; His resurrection glory is our resurrection glory.3

So enjoy the baskets of jelly beans, bunnies, peeps, and eggs; enjoy them in freedom. Far greater still, embrace and celebrate your resurrection unto eternal life, and “since . . .  you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  . . .  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.4 We live in Christ who will never die, and He lives in us forever. This is our Easter inside.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

Father, how powerful You are to conquer death. How wise You are to secure us in Christ. How amazing Your love for us. I entrust my life to Your Son, Jesus Christ, who took my sin upon Himself and in exchange gave me eternal life with Him in You. Thank you for Easter. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Colossians 2:12 NLT
2 Colossians 2:9-10 NLT
3 Colossians 1:27
4 Colossians 3:1-3

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Grace Works

An international student friend was trying to comprehend a relationship with God based on His love and grace instead of earning His approval through good deeds. Peggy asked her, “When you first arrived from your country and we picked you up at the airport, what if we had told you that we did it only because we were being paid to?” “I still would have appreciated the ride,” our friend replied, “but it wouldn’t have been the same.” Truth is, even believers in Christ wrestle with grace and works at times: we know we cannot earn salvation (so as to obligate God to pay us our due), but that we are freed from the penalty of our sins only in entrusting ourselves entirely to Jesus’ willing sacrifice for us. Yet Jesus himself said, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”1 This may sound as though we must earn God’s love, so how do we reconcile grace and works?

We gain life not by trusting in ourselves, but by entrusting ourselves to Jesus. “A person is not justified by the works of the law,” wrote Paul, “but by faith in Jesus Christ.”2 As we believe, “the Spirit gives birth to [our] spirit.”3 Exclaimed Jesus to the crowd, “Whoever believes in me . . . rivers of living water will flow from within them.”4 “By this,” explained John, “he meant the Spirit . . .”5 For God had foretold through the prophet Ezekiel, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”6 Indeed, the Spirit’s presence in our life produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”7 The Spirit will never lead us in the ways of the world, but always in the good and right ways of God. We keep God’s commandments of love not to earn our way into His presence, but because He has graciously established His presence in us.

Which brings us to works. Paul wrote that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,”8 which is to say our birth in Christ is not the end in itself, rather the beginning of a new, purposeful life. For God’s love is proactive love: He has warm, tender feelings of love, certainly, but God’s love acts and speaks. In Him there is no gap between loving feelings and loving deeds; there is no feeling without doing. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds,” argued James.9

What then do we do? Draw close to God, conversing with Him in prayer and receiving from Him through His Word. Listen to the voice of the Spirit, which speaks to our heart. Watch for God working in people around us, and accept His invitation to join Him. Act and speak. For grace works.

Father, thank You for saving me in Your grace. Lead me to the works You have prepared for me, and strengthen me in Your Spirit to do them. Be glorified through this life. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 John 15:10
2 Galatians 2:16
3 John 3:6
4 John 7:38
5 John 7:40
6 Ezekiel 36:27
7 Galatians 5:22-23
8 Ephesians 2:10
9 James 2:18