gladitudes

Read this verse this AM and wanted to share. Here’s the ultimate source of worth and value for any human being.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

When you look at someone, do you see a human being who is made in the image of God or something less valuable? I’m challenged with this thought. May we Christians be people who see all people as being of great value and may we treat them accordingly.

My buddy @jeffjanssen posted this today. I really love it. Think about the heart of this guy. Do we trust God like he did?

2 Kings 18:5-8

[Hezekiah] trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

Today’s verse is: 1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

This verse is twisted and misunderstood a lot, so sometimes it’s easy to downplay what is is saying. But, I read it last night then again this morning and it’s really been encouraging to me.

In context, Paul is writing to the Corinthians telling them to flee from sexual immorality because their body is now a holy temple of God because God–through his Holy Spirit–lives in them. When they would, then, act in immorality, they would greatly grieve the heart of God who is in them witnessing their sin. I don’t fully understand how it works, but that’s the gist.

At any rate, that’s all good and right and true, but the thing that really hit me when I read this is just how present God is in our lives.  When I’m hurting, alone, frustrated, having a bad day, …whatever it is… God is still there with me. He now lives in me. Thinking about this, I was just really struck with what that means for how I face the world: should I ever feel weak? Should I ever feel unable to obey God? Of course not if God’s Spirit lives in me!

I think there’s a lot of skill we all need to develop in terms of how to live this out, but the thought is really inspiring and makes me want to learn how to trust God more to strengthen and empower me for His good.

Verse of the Day:

Psalm 89:14-18 ESV

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
¹⁵Blessed are the people who know the festal shout*,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
¹⁶who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
¹⁷For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
¹⁸For our shield belongs to the LORD,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

(*Note: “Festal shout” basically means joyful sound.)

Here are my thoughts that have been encouraging today:

1. Verse 14 says that the foundations of God’s throne are righteousness and justice. That is so comforting to me. There is so much in the world that is corrupt, broken, dishonest, and that really concerns and even scares me. I can trust that in God there is no corruption, but only righteousness and justice. Furthermore, the next part of that verse says that steadfast love and faithfulness go before Him. God’s love will always be steadfast toward me and He will always be faithful. This, too, gives me so much comfort when it seems the things to worry about are mounting up. I don’t have to fear that God will let me down. He won’t.

2. Verses 15 and 16 say that people who walk in the light of the face of the Lord and people who exult in His name all day are blessed. This is the part of this verse that really impacted me this morning. I was struck with how often I totally fail to recognize that I get to know the Almighty God! He, who created the heavens and the Earth, who spoke all things into being, has chosen to allow me (a totally unremarkable, ordinary guy) to know Him! That’s amazing! I don’t deserve it at all, but I have access to the Most High God!

If I only thought about that more and let it affect how I see my circumstances, my life, and even myself, how much would my attitude in life change?! I think I want to make this a new goal of mine, to just recognize a.) what an honor it is that I can know God and b.) how mighty He is always. It’s crazy to me in a good way.

The other verses are really good, too, but I’ll let you think about them on your own.

That’s all for today. Surely, if we know the Lord, we are truly blessed. Think about that today.

Andrew

I read this verse this morning and was really blessed by it. Check it out.

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!