Archive: 2024

This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of the Series Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are (CLICK HERE)

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Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Are you one that likes a good mystery novel?  Or a movie that keeps you in suspense?  It has been a long time since I read a mystery book, but I remember in grade school reading almost every Encyclopedia Brown and Hardy Boys books I could get my hands on.  Both were intriguing as suspicious activity and events led to gathering clues to try and solve the mystery.  It was always fun to try to guess the outcome of the mystery or to try and solve it before the book ended, or to see if you were right by the end of the book.

If the author would leave the mystery unsolved, it would be a very unsatisfying read or movie.  We find satisfaction in having the mystery revealed and solved.

The Apostle Paul shares that one of the blessings of being chosen by God is he makes known to us the mystery of his will.  

Have you ever wondered why parts of Christianity and the Bible’s teaching confuse people?  Perhaps this gives an answer.  To some extent it is a mystery.  You are not going to solve the mystery on your own, you need God to reveal it to you.

Here’s a couple examples.

Mystery 1: I am a spiritual being and desire a connection with the divine.  Who is that divine?  People can seek God in nature and know him in part.  People can try to logically explain God until things become illogical.  People can try to scientifically reason God or reason against God because not all of God is observable.  People can just give up on the pursuit of knowing the true God and “solve” the mystery for themselves and create God as they want him to be.  But until we are connected to Christ through the Word of Truth does the mystery of God and his will begin to unfold.  When the Spirit of God works understanding in our hearts, only then do we begin to see God as he really is and be content with the things we don’t fully understand.  The wisdom of God sounds like foolishness, but it all makes sense when God reveals himself to his chosen ones.

Mystery 2: When I do wrong things, I feel guilty and want to “get right with God.”  The mystery seems easily solvable by putting together a string of good effort and good works and meeting a self-imposed standard that we feel is better than most, or at least good enough to get God’s attention.  We can try to solve this mystery by comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we are good with God because we are better than most.  The problem with these proposed answers to this mystery, is it leaves a gap that leaves the mystery unsolved.  There will always be the question, “Did I really do enough.”  This mystery is solved when God reveals to us his incredible love that sent Jesus to solve the problem of sin.  Look above at the verse again.  “In him (Christ), we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace which he lavished on us.”  Finally the mystery becomes all too clear.  It is solved in the grace of God, not the works of man.

The wonderful thing is that God chose you to reveal these amazing truths to.  He wants you to know his will.  It’s like he leans in from heaven through the pages of Scripture and whispers in your ear, “Hey I have a secret for you…I want you to understand both the mystery of my will and the profound eternal impact it has on you.”

This revelation to us is also a manifest gift of grace, just like being chosen is.

 

Apply: What impact does knowing the mystery of God’s will have for you in your life today?  That is, what importance do you find in knowing the true God and knowing his plan to save you through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the gift of grace that revealed to us the mystery of your person and your will so we could have certainty and not confusion in our relationship with you.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of the Series Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are (CLICK HERE)

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Ephesians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. 

God chose us.

We have all experienced being chosen.  When you are selected for the kickball team or the promotion at work there is a sense of joy and satisfaction.  However, most of the “choosing” we have experienced is probably based on some performance factor determined by the one choosing.  If you are chosen for the sports team, it’s probably because you have skills in that sport.  If you are chosen for a job, it is probably because your experience and skill set are a good match for the new position.

So it would be easy to transfer this human experience of being chosen to God’s decision to choose us.  In fact, many have tried to understand God’s choosing based on his foreknowledge of what he knew would happen…i.e. He chose us because he knew we would believe or he chose us because he knew we would have strong works of faith.

This then makes the teaching of election or predestination a teaching of personal effort that warrants the choosing of God and the mercy of God.

This is a deviant lie of Satan and satisfies the sinful pride of our hearts that wants to claim in some way the mercy of God is based on our merit.

The fact that God would choose us is one of the strongest testimonies to his grace the Bible proclaims.  It leads us to marvel that we were in the mind of God before the creation of the world and he orchestrated an amazing plan in time to communicate to our hearts the message of the Gospel and work faith in our heart to believe it.  This fact of being chosen by God is simply a strong testimony to the love of God that would want us to be part of his family…apart from and in spite of our sinful performance we exhibit each and every day.

How could he do this?

Because his choosing of us was done “in him” not “in us.”  He chose us IN HIM….to be holy and blameless.  Who is the “him”?  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of all.  God in eternity had planned the saving work of Jesus and orchestrated the connection of that work to our hearts.  Only because Jesus lived, died and rose again could God’s choosing be possible.  Only through Jesus does any sinner, including you and me, have any ability to carry the status of “holy and blameless” in the sight of God.

Here’s an excerpt from an article written by John Piper, a baptist pastor who also is Calvinist (and not always congruent with the Bible’s teaching on predestination, but I thought this was well worded:

2. Therefore, the basis of God choosing you is not in you, but in grace.

Take God’s Old Testament people Israel, for example. Why did God set his favor on Israel above all the peoples of the earth? What was the basis of God’s calling them “my chosen” (Isaiah 45:4)? Here’s Moses’s answer:

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. (Deuteronomy 7:6–8)

This is amazing: “The Lord set his love on you and chose you . . . because the Lord loves you.” He loves you because he loves you! That’s the deepest, and ultimate, basis of God’s choosing Israel.

Paul underlines the wonder. Why was Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, chosen over his twin brother Esau? Paul answers, “Though they were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God’s purpose to choose might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — their mother was told, ‘The older will serve the younger’” (Romans 9:11–12).

And the principle holds today. Paul would say, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5). So it is with every true Christian. Behind our believing — behind our coming to Jesus — is grace alone. There is no ground for our being chosen beneath the all-wise and incomprehensible love of God. Oh, the vastness of the repercussions of this unfathomable truth! 1

Enjoy the status of being chosen…knowing the simple reason you were chosen is because God loves you!

 

Apply: Think of a time you were chosen.  How did you feel?  Was it based on your performance or simply because the person wanted you?  How does it feel to be chosen by God?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for your profound grace and mercy that would choose me to be holy and blameless in your sight through Jesus, my Savior.  AMEN.

 

1. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/ten-reasons-to-revel-in-being-chosen

This week’s devotions are based on Week 1 of the Series Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are (CLICK HERE)

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The question of “who are you” perhaps is one that people of all eras, nationalities and culture have asked at some point in history.  In America, in recent years, the question of identity has become more pronounced as heated discussions can ensue around gender identity, racial identity or political identity.  While individuals have to answer this for themselves, we find ourselves having identity imposed on us as individuals are lumped into groups, or suggestions are given that might lead someone to question their identity.

So where do you find your identity?  What shapes your answer to “Who are you?”  Rightly so, there are many factors that come by nature or nurture that may come into play in answering this question, but in the end who gets the final say in your mind as to who you believe you are?

Will it be someone from your childhood that said you would never amount to anything?

Will it be a teacher who believed you had unlimited potential?

Will it be the media that puts your demographic in a lump sized identity?

Will it be your first boss who fired you for underperforming?

Many voices and situations can cause us to question our identity or make us overconfident in our identity.  

I appreciate art and literature, but there was always something frustrating about studying both. Often the professor would ask, “What do you think the artist was trying to convey?” or “What was the author trying to communicate?”  As we went around the class, there were as many opinions as there were students.  Inside I was thinking, “The only way we are going to know for sure is to ask the artist or read what the artist wrote about his piece of art or what the author intended to communicate.”

While identity can be a fluid thing in our society, why don’t we just ask the one who made us?  Why don’t we ask the Creator of the universe what our identity is to be and the purpose for which he made us?

When I understand it straight from the one who formed me and died on the cross for me, I have a much more stable sense of self and identity than any news pundit, well-meaning parent, or bottom-line driven boss.  I will have a deep sense of who I am which then will communicate what I am to do.  Identity informs our activity.

The book of Ephesians is written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the Apostle Paul.  He was one who was finding his identity in his religious effort and zeal to eliminate followers of Christ until Christ himself changed his heart and perspective and gave him not just a task, but a new identity that was wrapped in the grace of God and the peace he had through Jesus Christ.  It gave him a new perspective on the people to whom he wrote as he saw them as saints and faithful believers in Jesus.  Like Jesus no longer saw him as the identity of sinner, he saw them as Jesus saw him, “a saint.”

As we journey through the book of Ephesians, I pray that we begin to see all that God has done for us to create in us an identity that settles our soul with a peace only Jesus can give and is lavished in the grace that God loves to give.

 Ephesians 1:1      Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, 

To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Apply: When you consider the question, “Who am I?” what answer do you give and what has influenced that answer?

Prayer: Thank you for loving me to call me your child and give me an identity and purpose that is rooted in you! AMEN.

One of the afternoons that we were at the beach, our girls went down to the beach on their own while my wife and I had a little bit of work that needed to be done (I know, you’re not supposed to work on vacation).  When we got down to the beach, our girls met us with a smile on their face and said, “Meet Alfred!”  No this wasn’t some cute guy they met, but it was a small elephant molded from some clay they found on the beach and ornamented it with seashells.  

They explained how they thought the gray chunks they saw on the beach were rocks, but then they realized they were pliable and able to be formed into different shapes.  The next day, my brother-in-law who works in the oil industry suggested they were actually tar balls from an oil spill or oil rigs, but investigating a little further, they do seem to be clay balls that wash on shore from dredging of ship channels in the area.  So while it may have traces of petroleum in it, it would seem harmless clay chunks from the bottom of the Gulf washing on shore.

I’ve included a picture of Alfred.  He made it home ok.  The moisture from the clay has mostly left and the firmness of his form has set in.

Admittedly, not every beach has clay balls on them, but a popular activity of going to the beach is taking the wet sand and molding it into a castle, a creature, or just a giant crater.  There is something about the pliability of clay or sand and the creativity of one’s mind that make for a good mix.

The Bible uses clay and the potter as an example of our relationship with God.  If you are like me, I thought first of the verse in Isaiah 64 “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” 

This is Alfred being content to be Alfred because that is what the “potters” made of the clay. But it’s interesting in looking quickly at the Bible passages that speak of the potter/clay relationship that we (the clay) don’t always want to be content with what God (the potter) has made of us.

Our sinful nature wants to rebel against what God is doing in our lives to mold us into his likeness.  We like to tell the potter what he should do for us and with us.  We like to get angry against the potter when we feel like he hasn’t made us the way we think we should have been made.  In fact, we would rather be the potter and make God the clay.  We would like to mold God into the God we want him to be and tell him what to do.  This is how the Lord answers this in Isaiah 45:

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? 10  Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ 11 “This is what the Lord says—    the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?

While our sinful nature rebels against the work of the Potter, the Spirit working inside of us leads us to marvel that the Lord made us just the way he wanted with our faith, gifts and talents.  He took a lump of clay and gave it purpose and definition along with his love and grace.

So this may be a silly question, but would you rather be a lump of clay lying meaningless on the seashore or an Alfred carefully crafted, taken home, and treasured by the ones who made it?

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be God’s “Alfred” than just a lump of clay.

Apply: In what ways do you wish you could be the potter and make God the clay?  After you repent, what blessing is it to know God is the potter and you are the clay that he has lovingly formed to be you?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for wanting to be the potter and command you what to do with me.  Rather I thank you for molding me with your tender love and skillful hands to be me with a purpose to live with you and for you.  AMEN.

 

NOTE TO READERS:

This devotion sets up well the next two months of devotions based on a new Sermon Series beginning this Sunday, June 30 on the book of Ephesians entitled, “Becoming Who You Are in Christ!”  The book of Ephesians beautifully outlines our new identity we find in Christ and the new purpose we have to live for Christ…I look forward to the journey through it together!

One of my hobbies is metal detecting.  As a young person growing up in California, I remember visiting the beach in Santa Cruz and watching individuals pull out dimes and quarters from the sand with their metal detectors.  What a cool thing to find buried treasures!  The interaction intrigued me so much that one year in grade school (6th or 7th grade?) I bought a metal detector and developed my science project around how the detector worked.  It was a fun presentation to see how the detector would respond to different metals. 

For years, I would use that detector when I had opportunity and eventually found enough coins to cover the cost of it.  Along the way I had a couple simple silver rings, silver coins and a few wheat pennies.  I actually just sold that detector last year – it still worked.

I sold it because my family got me a new detector for my birthday, which is much better in technology and easier to use.

So of course I took it to the beach this weekend!  Since the ladies of my family like to sleep in on vacation, I got a couple of hours each of two mornings to see what treasures I could find on the beach. Coins added up to just over $3.00.  Bottle caps and junk probably weighing over three pounds. 🙂  While I’m getting better at determining what is a “good target” and what is not worth digging, the irony is that gold rings can sometimes ring up similar to aluminum bottle caps or pull tabs…so in search of the elusive gold ring, I clean up the beach.

As I’m swinging my detector, of course there are others that are intrigued and ask things like, “Have you found my diamond ring yet?”  Or, “What treasures have you found?”  Others just looked from a distance.  (It was fun last winter when we were in Galveston to find a one ounce silver bar…in case you were wondering what my best find has been recently.)

Searching for lost treasure is fun.  The hunt is intriguing.  You never know when the detector will go off and find something of value. 

It reminds me of a story Jesus told of a lost coin and one who hunted for it.

Luke 15:8-10 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

Some may say about metal detecting, “Why bother?”  Some may see it as more work than it’s worth.  But when you find something of great value, people are intrigued and excited.

Jesus compares this to the work of his kingdom.  There are so many people in the world who don’t know Jesus.  They are hidden behind their work, their activities, their hard facade, or their financial value.  It is not always easy to bring the Gospel to them. It is not always rewarding when the sharing of Jesus is met with resistance.  But when the Gospel changes a heart and an individual turns from a life of sin to follow Jesus…it’s like finding the lost coin that has utmost value!

Maybe metal detecting isn’t your idea of fun, but I pray that the idea of finding lost souls and sharing Jesus with them is an activity we are always willing to engage in!

 

Apply: Is there someone in your sphere of influence that doesn’t know Jesus?  Pray boldly for God to set up an opportunity to talk about Jesus with them.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for engaging in a deliberate search to find me.  I rejoice that I am part of your kingdom and humbled that you use me to find other lost souls.  AMEN.