Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
There are some things I can’t erase from my memory. Hurtful words and actions against me or those I love are seared into my conscience. I don’t want to remember these things or feel the emotion that goes with remembering. I can’t recall what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can relive the painful interaction with a teacher, coach, boss, or friend that took place decades ago. I have worked to forgive, but I still can’t forget. That’s what makes today’s passage so amazing to me.
What some of the most powerful men in the world are unable to do, God does…every day. Today’s passage, written to believers, reminds us of God’s amazing grace. When we come to him in confession (sorrowful for our sin), he forgives us and wipes away the mess from our hearts. When we acknowledge our sin, he will forgive us every time.
All of us have something in common with Velma Thomas. We were dead. We were dead in our sins. There was no sign of spiritual brain activity. We were helpless, hopeless. But then God came to our spiritual bedside. Here’s how Paul describes it.
Have you ever messed up? I mean really messed up. Fallen hard? Failed? Quit? Turned your back and walked the other way? Hurt someone you love? Would you like a second chance? Check out this story about Peter’s meeting with Jesus after denying the Lord three times.
Paul conceded that a “thorn was given [him] in the flesh.” We don’t know what it was, but he described it as “a messenger of Satan” sent to afflict him. Paul had been given a vision of heaven. He didn’t write a book about it or go on the talk show circuit.
What will it all mean at the end of the day?
Have you ever visited Washington, DC, our nation’s capital? If you have, you would have seen the Washington Monument. You can’t miss the memorial to our country’s first president. When you see this obelisk, you will notice something unusual. About a third of the way up the outside of this structure, you will observe a definite change in the color of the stones used to build it.
William Borden was a young man who had a passion to make an impact for Jesus. When God called him to ministry in China, he never hesitated. Borden was from a wealthy and privileged family and graduated from Yale University and Princeton Seminary. His friends thought he was crazy to waste his life overseas. But Borden heeded the call and headed for China, never looking back.
Just as some players love the game and some love the things that go with the game, so there are people willing to follow Jesus wherever through whatever. And there are those who love the idea of being called followers of Jesus without the commitment. Check out today’s passage.
Contentment. Where does it come from? There is no one better to ask than the apostle Paul. He was familiar with life’s extremes with challenging circumstances.
A massive block of white marble, twenty feet long from an old Roman quarry, was transported by oxen-drawn carts to the Mediterranean Sea, then carried on barges pulled by oxen up the Arno River to Florence, Italy. On the morning of September 13, 1501, Michelangelo began his work. Almost four years later, on June 8, 1504, it was completed. From that solid rock, Michelangelo envisioned and chiseled a masterpiece, the statue of David, that still stands in Florence today.
At one time, I was an enemy of God. My back was turned on him, and I was headed in a different direction. I wanted to be the one in charge of my life and refused to acknowledge God’s authority. I wasn’t an atheist. I believed that God existed, but he was distant, and I was content to keep it that way.