Here are some reflections:

Psalm 32:1-2

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

In verse 1, notice this isn’t a prescriptive statement (“things should be such”), but rather a descriptive statement (“this is how it is”). The reality is that anyone whose transgression has been forgiven, if they understand it, they can’t help but be blessed (literal translation could also be “happy”).

It’s good for me to read things like this regularly to remind myself that I have no excuse not to be happy. Regardless of my specific circumstances, if I have been forgiven my God, I ought to be happy. What else is so significant to detract from that? And, by the way, I’m not talking about joy, which some people say is an attitude you choose, I’m talking about pure, unadulterated happiness—like where you get giddy and goofy. We ought to be happy!

See, if we’ve been forgiven by God, we can face eternity with confidence because we know that it’s going to be good (we’ll be in heaven with God). If our eternity is secure, what temporary, earthly circumstance should bring us down? None should.

The second thought I had about this passage, is how in verse 2 it says, blessed are they “in whose spirit there is no deceit.” I was thinking about what this means. I think it refers to how we can now be totally honest with God. We don’t have to hide our sin, our crooked motivations, our wishy-washy hearts, etc from him. He already knows and he’s already forgiven us! What a beautiful reality! We don’t have to have any ingenuineness or any fakeness in our relationship with God. We can give him the real us and he wants the real us.

This is so different from our other relationships. I can’t even be totally real with my closest friends, at times. To know I can be totally real with God is a freeing truth and I love it.

The rest of the chapter is really good, too, but I’ll just share one more section. As I was reading, I was recognizing that this is God speaking to me. I’ve changed some wording to make it more personal in the end. I’ve noted it so you can tell where. I think this is beautiful when I recognize it is coming from my loving Father:

Psalm 32:8-11

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in [Me].
11 Be glad [Me], and rejoice, O righteous [my son],
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

God loves us so much. He wants the best for us. He is the best for us, his children! The more we yield to him, follow him, love him, rejoice in him, rest in him, and find our value and identity in him—well, the happier and more fulfilled we become. We were designed for him.

If you know Christ today, you are blessed! Experience it!

John 15:1-5

¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ²Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

A few brief reflections:

• vv. 1-2: God is the vinedresser, not us. In a garden (or vinyard) the plant’s job is to just grow; the gardener is responsible to feed, water, and ensure the plants get light and nutrients. Plants have some ability to seek their own needs (put a plant by a window and watch it grow toward the light…), but ultimately they are at the mercy of the gardener. So it is with us. We have some ability to seek out good light, food, etc.—and we should be doing it—but ultimately God’s the one who will cause us to grow. We will grow most quickly if we just yield to Him, trust Him, and love Him. He is the True Gardener.
• vv. 4-5: This is sort of the same idea as before, but with a slight twist. If we want to accomplish anything as Christians, that too comes by God and yielding to Him. We don’t get saved by God’s grace and mercy then by our own strength and fortitude serve Him. No, we get saved by grace and by grace we live for God. To experience this we abide in God. To abide all we must do is believe God is near, trust Him, obey Him, think about Him, dwell on His word, and do our best to love Him. It seems (to me at times) to be sort of esoteric to abide, but it’s not really—you just do your best to be near God in your heart, mind, and actions.

That’s all for today.

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I am struggling to really hand my burdens over to the Lord. I have heavy things on my heart, but I am striving to trust that God is able to help people understand and see the love He has for them even when I am unable to communicate it. These verses comfort me that God is totally able to accomplish what He needs to because He is the True Gardener.

Walk in blessing and love today!

Psalm 91:14-16

¹⁴Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
   I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble;
   I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.

All I have to say is I am really amazed that this is what God says to us. He is persistently waiting for us to turn to Him, call on Him, and trust in His provision. He doesn’t put weighty requirements on us, but rather just desires to be our God, to love us, and provide for our needs.

I’m thankful for this today.

Luke 11:13

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God is so good! If we who are sinner can be good to each other, how much more good is a perfect God? Infinitely…

Psalm 19:7-11

⁷The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
⁸the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
⁹the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

God in His love for us, told us straight out in plain language what we have to do to have the best life that is possible. His commands to us are not burdensome, but rather they protect us and guide us to good.

As a Christian, I am well aware that “Jesus died for my sins.” We hear or say that very frequently. I know that Ephesians 2:8 says we’ve been saved by Grace not by our own works. Despite of these things, I know I often find myself striving to achieve some level of righteousness on my own, messing up and failing, then trying to figure out how I can make myself better so that I won’t feel so miserable. When I hear sermons or read the Bible, a lot of the time in my mind I’m constructing a new to do list—appending the laundry list of things in my head that I have to work harder at achieving.

In Galatians 5 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” but the life I live a lot of the time feels more like slavery than freedom. Honestly, I frequently find myself just not wanting to try any more. There are verses like Psalm 63:3 that says God’s love is better than life and Philippians 4:4 that says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” I hear those verses and I think better than life? I can’t see it. Rejoice? Why? I begin wondering if I’m missing something. If God’s so good, why do I feel like this? It doesn’t seem right.

Well, in talking with a friend over the weekend, I’ve been reminded of a really important truth: Jesus died for our sin! Yeah, nothing new, but really think about it. He died for all of them for all time. We are no longer obligated to try harder—we are already right with God. Now, it sounds blasphemous, but the reality is we don’t any longer even have a responsibility to try to be righteous. Jesus has already made us righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God has made us to be his righteousness by having Jesus Christ die for us.

So, what does this really mean? Well, it means one thing primarily in my thinking. If Jesus has died to make me right with God, I no longer have to worry about being right with God. My concern now is simply to enjoy my right standing with God. He made me and loves me and I want to discover the good life he has for me.

What does it not mean? It doesn’t mean that we just forget trying to live righteously. We still ought to live righteously, but not because we have to, but because when we do we will experience God’s goodness to the fullest degree.

In light of this, I am going to begin taking a new direction on this web log. Instead of writing about ways to try harder, I will now simply reflect on God’s goodness. I will attempt to praise God here by talking about all the ways I can see and discover God’s blessing in my life.

If this strikes a chord with you, try this today: take 3 minutes and for those three minutes, just try to be thankful for stuff. Don’t be fake or over spiritualize it. Thank God for the things you are really thankful for. If you’re thankful for good coffee, tell God. If you’re thankful for a fun experience you’ve had or are looking forward to, thank Him for it. If you’re thankful for your good looks, thank him for it. Whatever He’s given you, give God glory by just recognizing it as coming from Him and enjoy it!

God’s good today.

“⁵ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
⁶ The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷ Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.”

Let me just say that I love this passage. For me, so much of the time, I find myself really fighting to find joy in the Lord and rest in Him. It is always because I forget who God is, I forget who I am, and I forget, therefore, what my fitting response to these truths should be. This verse concisely points me toward the truth regarding those three areas.

1.) About God: Verse 5 reminds me that God is gracious: He shows me favor when I don’t deserve it; that God is righteous: He’s not going to harm me or try to abuse me somehow; and that God is merciful: He spares me the punishment that I deserve for falling short of his standard (Romans 3:22-24).

2.) About me: Verse 6 reminds me that God has preserved me and that he saved me. I know that I am not right on my own apart from Jesus Christ. This reminder is helpful for when I’m feeling proud or when I think I have it together. God saved me and I am therefore indebted to him–but it’s debt of gratitude. I can’t every begin, even, to pay it back.

3.) Response: The last verse is so beautiful to me because it shows us the fitting response to these truths. By nature I am a person who worries, so that makes this is even more helpful for me. This verse clearly reminds us to stop and rest in the Lord because he has shown us so much favor that we don’t have anything left to be concerned with. He has dealt very bountifully with me! The salvation of my soul, of course, being the most generous gift He could have ever given, but that’s really only the beginning of the blessings He’s shown.

Love the Lord today!

In context:

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

The context is that we absolutely always will reap what we sow! If we live sinful lives, we’ll reap the consequences of it. If we live righteous lives to please our God who’s saved us, we’ll reap life from it. This can be hard to hear if we’ve been living wrongly, but if we’ve been living righteously it’s hugely encouraging. We WILL REAP good things from the righteousness we’ve lived out. Because of this, we don’t have to get discouraged as we serve the Lord because we can be confident that we’ll be rewarded appropriately for our labors.

Praise the Lord today and serve him knowing that it will be worth it. I love you, even it I may not know you!

Peace to you.

I read this passage this morning and I was really taken by it. I remember learning John 11:35 as a child and really enjoying how it was the shortest verse in the Bible or something like that. Because of my familiarity with the verse, I haven’t always given it a lot of thought.

Today, though, when I read it things were different. In context, a friend of Jesus’ died, Lazarus. His sisters, before his death, asked Jesus to come heal him. Jesus didn’t come immediately and he died. When Jesus does come, Martha (one of the sisters) comes to Jesus expresses her sorrow that her brother died and that Jesus wasn’t there.

Jesus tells her, though, that her brother will “rise again”. This is all before he arrives at the grave. So, going into this situation, Jesus, Martha, and Mary know that Lazarus is going to come back to life.

And herein lies what really hit me, Jesus, despite his knowledge of what will happen, still weeps with the people who are mourning Lazarus’ death. To me this just seems like such a huge expression of love and compassion. Even though Jesus knows that, in some ways, what they are going through is temporary and maybe not really significant (in light of his knowledge), he still loves them enough to meet them where they are at—in sorrow. Verse 36 indicates that Jesus’ love was very apparent.

After reading this verse this morning I am just really humbled and excited that I serve such a gracious and loving God. He has raised us all up to life, if we’ll accept His gift, then beyond that he loves us enough to simply meet us where we are at. Whether we’re in joy or sorrow, he is there right along with us; even though he knows enough (he knows all things work together for his good! Rom 8:28) to never necessarily need to feel with us, he does because he loves us.

I love Jesus!

This is really quite remarkable. I think, for some of us, we are so used to light/dark, life/death analogies that we don’t, maybe, stop to think about the significance of what is true.

The reality is that human beings, contrary to popular belief, are not basically good. We are inherently self-seeking and prone to evil. All you have to do to see proof of this, is go to some news website and start reading. Recently, some guy kept his daughter locked up in his basement for years, raping her, and killing at least one of the children he fathered. A group of people in Texas, claiming to be religious, practiced all sorts of wicked atrocities against women and girls. There are regularly, these days, suicide bombings, murders, and rapes. And, these things are only the things that have been reported to the public. Countless more thing happen and are never found out or never get reported on.

We live in a very broken world. Things are not going well and people are not doing okay. In light of this, the passage above as abounding value: Jesus has rescued us and has freed us to live, not in darkness like the world, but in light which leads to life! Praise Him!