PHILLIPIANS—PURE JOY!

Posted on February 25, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Let me introduce you to Joy—

This letter from Paul to the churches in Philippi is the most positive letter to believers one could write.  He reminds us of the internal joy that is always present, always flowing from the depths of our redeemed souls.  This is joy goes beyond our thinking.  This joy is much higher, wider, deeper, than temporary happiness over a new toy or celebration.  It is joy “unspeakable and full of glory”.  It is joy that we drink in when circumstances parch our throats and go beyond our thinking, confusing our lives temporarily.  It is joy put there by Jesus.  It is a joy that never ends and is always present—like our Lord.  We conclude that Jesus is Joy.  He is the joy we seek and is readily available no matter what we are presently going through.  Joy is a promise to believers that cannot be broken.

In other words, I can be sad, but still have joy.  I can be mourning loss and still have joy.  I can be troubled and confused but still have joy.  I can be heartbroken but still have joy.  Joy is deep.  Joy is the presence of Jesus in my heart, mind and soul.  Joy holds me together when I feel like falling apart.

With this train of thought and understanding, let us read and meditate on Paul’s most joy-filled letter.  You will soon understand that this joy becomes contagious as we read.  Before we a dozen lines, we begin to feel the joy ourselves—the dance of words and the exclamations of delight have a way of getting inside us. 

We will also see Paul as a mentor to his apprentices who carry on the work while he sits in a jail cell!  Imagine it, Paul writing of joy while sitting in jail!  We cherish his leadership abilities and his joy in leading!  In fact, none of the qualities of the Christian life can be learned from a book.  Something more like apprenticeship is required, being around someone who out of years of devoted discipline shows us, by his or her entire behavior, what it is.  Moments of verbal instruction will certainly occur, but mostly an apprentice acquires skill by daily and intimate association with a “master’, picking up subtle but absolutely essential things, such as timing, rhythm and “touch”.

When we read what Paul wrote to the Christians believers in the city of Philippi, we find ourselves in the company of just such a master.  Paul doesn’t tell us that we can be happy, or how to be happy.  He simply and unmistakably is full of joy—pure joy.  None of his circumstances contribute to his joy.  He wrote from a jail cell, his work was under attack by competitors, and after twenty years or so of hard traveling in the service of Jesus, he was tired and would have welcomed some relief.

But circumstances are incidental compared to the life of Jesus, the Messiah that Paul experiences from the inside.  For it is a life that not only happened at a certain point in history, but continues to happen, spilling out into the life of those who accept and receive Him as Lord as well as Savior. 

Jesus Christ is, among all else, the revelation that God cannot be contained or hoarded.  It is this “spilling out” quality of Christ’s life that accounts for the happiness of believers, for joy is life in excess, the overflow of what cannot be contained within any one person.  Joy is Jesus!  Jesus’ joy is eternal.

We will take this reading, one sip at a time to savor the taste of the overflowing well of Jesus who is our Joy.

Philippians 1:1-11, The Message

1-2 Paul and Timothy, both of us committed servants of Christ Jesus, write this letter to all the followers of Jesus in Philippi, pastors and ministers included. We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

A Love That Will Grow

3-6 Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

7-8 It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!

9-11 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

SEE WHAT WE MEAN ABOUT JOY? 

Jesus is joy. 

Jesus is the One and Only we live for. 

Jesus is our One and Only Savior. 

Joy comes in following Jesus as Lord of our lives—not in part but the whole.

Lord,

Thank you for joy that wells up from the depths of souls who love you and follow you as Lord.  I love you, Lord, with all that is within me.  In this imperfect world we will not always be happy, but we can always be joyful, for you are the wellspring of our joy!  You are Joy, our pure, never-ending, everlasting joy.  Thank you for reminding us of what was always there.  Help us to tap into this joy and drink daily.  May this joy show and glow on our faces so that others will ask and want a drink, too!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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THIS IS WAR—FOR OUR SOULS

Posted on February 24, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Uppermost in our minds, is impending war by the powerful over the less powerful all because of wanting more power.  The outcomes of these actions will affect everyone in the world eventually. Simply put, the reason for war is, “I want more so I will take want you have to satisfy my needs for more.”   Mm, what does God say?

Paul is in jail because of preaching nonstop about Jesus’ saving grace for all.  Romans still have their self-produced power over the weak.  Religious leaders, who left God long ago, also lord it over those who are weaker while trying to maintain a relationship with the Roman forces.  They want nothing to do with Jesus.  Paul closes his letter reminding believers that the real battle to be fought is not against flesh and blood, but against evil.  Evil, the one who lost the war with God and His Son, Jesus previously, has less power but wields what power he holds in this world against us in daily battles and skirmishes for our souls.  The real battle is for our souls no matter what else is going on in this world.  Focus on this truth.  The war has already be won!!  WE are the victors with Jesus!

I heard this morning about a missionary in the Ukraine who sent this prayer request to people who support her.  She is now making her way to Poland for safety while Russian forces attack the country full of people she has grown to loves dearly.  She writes;

“This is what the Christians in Ukraine have asked us to pray … We ask you to pray that the Lord renews our minds in Jesus Christ:

1. That we, citizens of different countries and representatives of various races and ethnicities, could manifest unity of God’s people in love;

2. That being transformed in our minds, we could comprehend God’s will, good, acceptable, and perfect;

3. That in these complex circumstances, God’s people were steadfast in unity, standing firm shoulder to shoulder, foremost, for the faith of the Gospel (Phil. 1:27)”

THIS is the best offense against all battles on earth until we see Jesus, our Victor.  This is what Paul, powered by the Holy Spirit, is teaching believing Christians of his day.  Today, nothing has changed.  Our victor is Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord, who defeated the real enemy once and for all.  Worship him alone. “Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ.”

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 6, The Message

1-3 Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.”

4 Fathers, don’t frustrate your children with no-win scenarios. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.

5-8 Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.

9 Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them.

A Fight to the Finish

10-12 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

13-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

19-20 And don’t forget to pray for me. Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out.

21-22 Tychicus, my good friend here, will tell you what I’m doing and how things are going with me. He is certainly a dependable servant of the Master! I’ve sent him not only to tell you about us but to cheer you on in your faith.

23-24 Good-bye, friends. Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ.

Lord,

We join your missionary’s prayer with ours.  ALL power belongs to you.  You are the Victor over all.  When we truly grasp with understand where real power lies, we become victors with you forever.  Guide and lead our thoughts.  Keep us focused on Your Word.  Help us the hear your voice above all others.  Help us to love like you love us.  And yes, “Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words”.  Help us to apply them daily.

In Jesus Name, For Your glory, Amen.

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WAKE UP—LOVE LIKE JESUS!

Posted on February 23, 2022 by randscallawayffm

The most important relationship we will ever have in life is the relationship we have with Jesus.  All other relationships benefit and are built in holy ways from this intimate, growing, relentless, committed, no turning back relationship with Jesus.  Jesus will never leave us.  Jesus loves us so much He laid down his own life for ours.  Jesus showed the full extent of what love looks like as He walked the earth.  Jesus showed us that serving is the action of His love. 

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:45

What kind of love is this?  Jesus’ example of bending low, taking on a servant’s work, to wash even the enemy’s feet still amazing me and assures me at the same time.  Because of Jesus we are awakened to a love we have never had before—a selfless love—a love that goes beyond what the world can deliver, a love that washes dirty feet. 

“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.  It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”

“No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”

Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”

Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”

Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”  John 13:1-15, NLT

Paul is asking us to wake up to the depths of this relentless love of Christ and love like Jesus.  Paul tells us exact ways to leave hate on the sidelines.  Wake up, stop the hate that comes from evil and produces gossip, lust, put downs, with other sarcastic and toxic behaviors and pick up love.  Know a love that serves, a love that expects nothing in return, a love that grows deeper and stronger each day, giving peace and joy to the one who loves—like Jesus.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” –Jesus  John 13:34-35, NKJV

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 5, The Message

Wake Up from Your Sleep

1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

3-4 Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.

5 You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them—the usual variations on idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.

6-7 Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that.

8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.

11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

Relationships

21 Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.

22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.

25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.

29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.

Lord,

Thank you for your example shown clearly to us.  Thank you for awakening us to real love thinking and behaving.  Help me to love like you love us.  Help me to lay down all that stops me from loving like you love.  By realizing the depth of love you have for me, I can go deeper still in showing the full extent of my love for others. 

In Jesus Name, Amen

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IT’S TIME TO GROW UP! 

Posted on February 22, 2022 by randscallawayffm

As parents, we want our kids to grow up healthy and strong.  That is our work on earth–to nurture our babies, help them walk and talk as toddlers, teach them how to relate to each other as siblings, how to relate in love back to their parents so they are prepared to relate to others in the world.  We teach each one with the same love but in different ways.  Wait, what? Yes, every child born is unique by God’s design.  If you are parent of more than one child, you see this readily. 

Randy and I were blessed with three children about two years apart.  We foolishly began to think we knew what we were doing as we taught the first child but when we applied the same methods to the second and third we realized that each child had gifts and abilities, moods and attitudes, personalities and ways of thinking that were not like the first child.  Guidance and teaching could not be “one size fits all”.  Each child was had the same amount of love from us, making us “one” as a family but each individual in our family had to grow in their own way.  We all were growing as parents and as children. 

Paul says, so it is with gathered believers called church, also known as the Body of Christ.  Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body, makes us all One in Him.  We all get the same equal love, mercy and grace.  But we are all given unique gifting from him that, if the gifts are used according to His will and plan, make the whole Body, healthy, growing and full of the love of Jesus!  How amazing is our God and His Son to design this way of relating to each other as One?!

This new way of thinking, growing, learning and relating to each other with the love of Christ in us is summed up by Paul in these words;

“He (Jesus) handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.”

This is growing up, as One, in Jesus!  God grows us daily with this special relational design so that we know to how to love, relate, respect, serve, show mercy and grace to each other while being reconciled to Him!  God is amazing!  Holy Relationship is His design to bring out His best in us.  Allow Him to do His work in us.  Grow up! 

RUN on the road God called you to travel!  You won’t regret it!

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 4, The Message

To Be Mature

1-3 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run! —on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

4-6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

7-13 But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,

He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the plunder,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.

Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

14-16 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

The Old Way Has to Go

17-19 And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

20-24 But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

26-27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

28 Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.

29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

THINK ABOUT IT…

Paul, powered by the Holy Spirit, tells us clearly who we are and what to do in Christ along with specifics of how we should think and behave so we can grow to be like our Father, God, shown to us by Jesus.  Our believing grows to match our behavior more and more.  “No more infancies among you”—in other words, grow up, listen to God’s Holy Spirit as He guides you to be all God gifted and designed you to be in the Body of Christ! 

God created us to be uniquely different but with the same deep love displayed by Jesus, our Savior and Lord.  Be reconciled (in restored relationship) to God though Jesus.  Be reconciled to each other because of what Jesus did for us.  This is growing up in Christ.

Lord,

This is my prayer, that we would all be One in you, dear Jesus.  Same God, same love, same Spirit, same Jesus.  May we use what you have given to us to help each other, to help others find and follow you, while growing in your character.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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THE SECRET IS OUT!

Posted on February 21, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Ooh, don’t you love to be the first to know something no one else seems to know or have any indication of knowing?  Doesn’t it feel a bit powerful and exciting to know a secret that you know will surprise and benefit someone else?  Remember being all giggly with those who also knew the secret?  You share a bond with those “in the know” and it’s fun!

I remember a particular celebration that was hush hush until a few minutes before my grandmother arrived.  When it was revealed that we were honoring her for turning 80 years old, the smile on her face was like none I had ever seen.  She typically smiled a lot, but this was different.  She was humbled that this party was for her alone.  She kept saying over and over, “this is too much, I’m not that special”.  But to us she was the most important person in the room that evening and we wanted to honor her for who she was.  This is such a lovely memory for me.  This memory of Grandma Kellerby touched my heart so deeply, I can even recall what she was wearing that day!  I’m also recalling all the people in the room who made it all possible.

This event was special and touched my heart as deeply as you can imagine.  But there is a greater secret that is ready to be known that is beyond our wildest imaginations.  This secret is for EVERYONE!  Paul, who in “in the know” is so excited to tell you about this mysterious secret that is not a mystery any longer with a humbled heart and powerful words.  Surprise!  Jesus is for everyone!  The promises of God are realized!

“The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.”

From a jail cell, looking up at God and not his surroundings, Paul is proclaiming the secret out loud while someone furiously writes down the words.  God is now for all!  Jesus, His Son, made it possible!  We can all stand on the promises of God of eternal life!  The Secret is out!

Paul is just as humbled by the secret as my Grandma Kellerby was at her celebration!  I love that the Secret drove him to his knees in praise and thanksgiving to God! 

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth.” 

PAUSE, REFLECT AND PRAY…

Does knowing the Secret, God is for everyone who believe in Jesus, His Son, drive us to our knees in grateful praise?

The Secret is out, ready to be told to everyone!  Does knowing this secret drive us to our knees in humbled response, asking for God to equip us to show and tell His Story, in His Name, for His Glory?

Let’s read the rest the message and then answer these questions again…

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 3, The Message

The Secret Plan of God

1-3 This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you’re familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

4-6 As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.

7-8 This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

8-10 And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!

11-13 All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

* * *

14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

DO WE PRAY LIKE PAUL?

Do we pray for others to know the love of Christ?

Do we pray for others to receive Jesus Christ, be firmly planted on His love?

Do we ask God to guide us in a life long pursuit of helping others know and follow Jesus?

Do we—” Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”

“He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

Oh Lord,

I love Paul’s enthusiasm and passion for the lifelong work you gave to him.  You changed his mind, redirected his heart and then equipped him for YOUR work of telling others you secret.  We learn that you do this for all of us who believe.  This secret that Jesus is IN us, YOU in ALL of us who believe, is out of the bag!  May our lives reflect the depth of your love in us.  May our lifelong work be to help others find and follow you.  Yes, the secret is out.  This was your plan from the beginning.  Thank you, Lord! 

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.  Yes!

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WALLS DOWN, BUILDING UP!

Posted on February 19, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives

As young believers, years ago, we sang this Gaither song confidently in faith that God was truly in control and because He is God, we had nothing to fear.  But then life changed suddenly and became more complicated.  The towers, the symbol of “united”, were hit by an unseen enemy that only our government knew about and thought they had in their control.  This heightened everyone’s fear level, bringing new travel restrictions and new security measures that felt like an invasion to our own privacy. 

Walls of mistrust among the populous were built brick by emotional brick.  Who can you really trust?  Bombings on our turf, killing kids and adults with no remorse, happened as it did in others war torn countries.  The more we thought about these violent acts, the more bricks were added to our walls.

Then another enemy hit that equalized the whole world in a sense.  A pandemic of a virus that swept over all of us and brought a new kind of fear to our being. Not only did our walls become higher, we hid behind the walls we created and isolated ourselves from all other humans until help of a vaccine was created.  God’s people cried out for help and He delivered.  Fear was lessened by those being vaccinated against an illness that could claim their own lives and the lives of the ones they loved dearly.  I do not write as a political commentary, only as a believer who asked God for help and received it along with others. 

What do we learn in our walls of fear?  There’s a higher thinking—God’s thinking.  Paul is reminding terrorized believers, jailed and beaten for their faith, trying to be in community with all who believe called “church”, who out of fear have built walls of protection and division, that there is a new way of thinking.  Jesus, the Messiah, Savior has torn down all walls that divide us and is building in us into a temple where God is comfortable in living. 

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, once more because of God’s way of thinking.  Because Jesus died and rose again for me and you, all fear truly is gone.  Because I KNOW, without doubt, who holds the future, good or bad, life is worth the living because of Jesus, who died and rose again, set me free from all sin.  Then there is the bonus called abundant living! Jesus is peace in the middle of world troubles.  Jesus is love that overcomes walls of hate erected to keep us out of where we don’t really want to be anyway.  Jesus is eternal, internal, relentless joy when sorrow threatens to be overwhelming.  Jesus is life forever, no matter what happens here on this imperfect place called earth.  This life is temporary.  Life with Jesus is forever.  Jesus sets things right, reconciled and redeemed us to be worthy enough to enter God’s Holy Presence unashamed.  Let’s live like the redeemed!

Because He lives…I’m free to love God back with all my heart, mind and soul.  I’m free from the bondage of sin that distracts me and pulls me into places that harm me.  I’m free to hear the voice of God and obey His best for me!  I’m free from hate, divisions, jealousy, envy, comparisons and competitions. 

My wall came tumbling down when Jesus entered my heart. I’m now a temple, built by God, brick by brick, in which God comes to abide.  All because my Savior lives.

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 2, The Message

He Tore Down the Wall

2 1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

11-13 But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

14-15 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

16-18 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

19-22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

Lord and Savior,

Thank you for tearing down my walls of fear, division, confusion along with other feelings and emotions that distracted me from all you are.  You are the opposite of all this world offers.  You are love, mercy and grace.  You build us up on your foundation, dear Jesus, that sets us right and keeps us aligned with Your temple building in us.  Lord, I’m yours to build.  I’m not completed yet, still under construction, but I know you, so I am willing.  I want You to be at home in the temple of your abiding love in me.  Thank you, Lord for this lesson reminder that all have sinned but all are saved from sin who believe and follow you with all our hearts, minds and souls, undivided in our commitment to you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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BEING BEFORE DOING

Posted on February 18, 2022 by randscallawayffm

I don’t know about you, but when I read Paul’s passionate letters to reconciled believers, the Body of Christ, my heart is stirred to the point of beating a bit faster, my emotions come to surface with tears of joyful thanksgiving for the gift of Life given to us by God through His Son, Jesus!  Our Messiah came to save us, once and for all, from the punishment for our own sins.  How great is our God!  How great is the love of God?

For God so loved He sent His Son to save us.  His Son was Jesus, stood in our place, took our beatings, sarcastic harassments, slaps across his face until he was no longer recognizable, then nailed to a cross.  Jesus did it willingly all because of the great love He had for us.  We were on God’s mind before the world was created.  We were on Jesus’ mind as He walked the earth, showing us the full extent of real love and compassion.  We were on His mind while he hung on the cross.  We were the ones who held him there, gasping for air, when He had the power to call in armies of angels to rescue Him.  But He didn’t.  He chose to rescue us instead.  How great is our God?

Paul begins by telling the Body of Christ, called church, WHO we are in Christ individually.  Paul’s letters generally begin telling us who we in relationship to God because of our Messiah, Jesus, His Son.  Then Paul will lead us from who God is to who we are in Him to “here’s what you need to do.”  This is masterful teaching that merits our keen listening with understanding.  This teaching leads us to BE then DO.   

Even Jesus would leave people to get alone with God, The Father.  Jesus would be with God in communion.  He also praised God and then asked God for His will to be done.  He asked for His Father’s instructions on what to say and do.  Then Jesus did exactly what God said to do.  Everything done—led by God, His Father.

To be Christ-like, we must first BE with God, In Jesus Name, who brings everything together for the good of those who love and trust Him before DOING anything in His Name.

Paul teaches us a wonderful prayer to pray as we seek to BE before we DO:

“…ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!”

Wow!  What a powerful prayer!  How great is our God? 

Praying in Jesus Name, for His glory, Amen!  I believe!  I trust you, dear Jesus!

EPHESIANS—RECONCILED TO BE

Ephesians 1, The Message

 1-2 I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

The God of Glory

3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This down payment from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Lord,

Thank you for holy presence in our lives.  Thank you for teaching us to pray. Thank you for showing us your example of seeking God’s will and then doing it!  YOU are in charge.  YOU are above all, in all, with the final word on everything.  Thank you for being with me this morning.  Help me to do what you have invited me to do in your Kingdom work which is my Life in you.  I love you, Lord, with all my heart, mind and soul.  There is no one like you!

In Jesus Name, For His Glory, Amen

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BELIEF AND BEHAVIOR—WHAT IS BROKEN IS SET RIGHT!

Posted on February 17, 2022 by randscallawayffm

What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives.  The moment the organic unity of belief and behavior is damaged in any way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity for which we were created.”  Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Ephesians, The Message

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians joins together what has been torn apart in our sin-wrecked world. He begins with an exuberant exploration of what Christians believe about God, and then, like a surgeon skillfully setting a compound fracture, “sets” this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones—belief and behavior—knit together and heal.

Once our attention is called to it, we notice these fractures all over the place.  There is hardly a bone in our bodies that has escaped injury, hardly a relationship in city or job, school or church, family or country, that isn’t out of joint or limping in pain.  There is much work to be done.

And so, Paul goes to work.  He ranges widely, from heaven to earth and back again, showing how Jesus, the Messiah, is eternally and tirelessly bringing everything and everyone together.  He also shows us that in addition to having this work done in and for us, we are participants in this most urgent work.  Now that we know what is going on, that the energy of reconciliation is the dynamo at the heart of the universe, it is imperative that we join in vigorously and perseveringly, convinced that every detail in our lives contribute (or not) to what Paul describes as God’s plan worked out by Christ, ‘a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in Him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.’

As I sit here and write to you this morning, I have a “leg up” on understanding about what is broken must be fixed so our walk is set right.  Because walking was hurting my back, I voluntarily had surgery on my right foot because of its growth deformity.  I will have to have surgery on the left foot with the same problem as soon as healing is complete on the right foot.  The surgeon had to break a bone, shave off what shouldn’t be there, and then reset it with screws and a plate to hold it in its correct place.  When all this is done, my walk will be significantly improved which affects every other part of my body.  My spine will thank me for “setting things right”. 

Friends, think about it. We are a people of brokenness who gather each week in need of a Savior.  We are in need of His Holy Spirit to set our brokenness right with God using the skillful surgical hands of Jesus who knew exactly what was needed and still knows!  This is called reconciliation.  When we allow Jesus’ reconciliation, this setting things right with God, to happen in our lives, our walk (and our talk) will be different.  Our walk will match our belief.  Our walk will be beautiful, strong, uninhibited, healthy, with power to run!

Broken bones set right in healthy ways is what God wants for all of us.  He loves seeing our healed hearts full of joy, our renewed minds filled with exuberance for life, our hands and feet serving with excitement, our souls exploring the depths of His love with amazement, living free from sin’s hold on us.

In fact, God searches for those who finally behave in obedience because of their complete faith in Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9) He loves to see our hearts fully devoted to Him. He loves to see us live in gratitude to His Son who made it all possible. Jesus, Master Surgeon, Savior and Lord, set all things right between God and us who believe and love Him with all our hearts, minds and souls.

This is what Paul teaches to the churches of Ephesus.  Hang on, we’re going to learn a lot!

EPHESIANS—RECONICLED TO BE

Ephesians 1:1-6, The Message

1-2 I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

The God of Glory

3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.

Lord, God of Heaven,

Make us whole and holy today.  May we see your glory at work and immediately bow down in humbled thanksgiving.  Thank you for reconciling us, dear Jesus, to our Father God, our Creator who had us in Him mind from the beginning of time.  This thought is way above all world thinking.  Set my walk and talk right in all ways.  I trust in you, dear Jesus.  Show me the ways I should go and I will walk in them.

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe.

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PERSONALLY YOURS

Posted on February 16, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Jesus is personally ours.  A relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship we will ever have on earth for this relationship is forever!  No one can take this personal relationship from us.  Believe me, evil tries!  The gift of Jesus’ forgiveness is nonrefundable, nonexchangeable, a forever gift prompted by God’s love.  When we say yes to this personal, intimate growing relationship with God through Jesus Christ, His Son, we enter a life of peace right in the middle of this world’s troubles, comfort in pain, wisdom in confusion with a secure plan of escape from all that is evil. 

Redeemed people have a relationship with God that is so personal, pure and holy! But, as the redeemed do we truly live like the redeemed people we are?  Paul tells the Galatians (and us) how to do exactly that!  Remember what Jesus did, Paul writes.   Jesus redeemed us from ourselves, our selfish thinking and selfish living.  He set us free from all that evil tried to do to us to keep us bound up in sin along with all the effects of sin which leads only to death.  He heals our wounds from this battle.  He set us free from comparing ourselves to others so we would stop competing with others in the world’s standards of “good”.  Only God is good.  And it’s personal.

Yes, Jesus’ resurrection power is personally ours!  He now lives in the redeemed encouraging us to live more creative, robust lives of forgiving and giving, sharing and growing, so others will know Him, too!  Let’s do this!  I hear you, Paul!  I hear you, Holy Spirit!  I thank you, dear Jesus, for your gift of redeeming love and forgiveness.  Thank you, dear Father, God of heaven and earth, who wants an intimate, personal relationship with each one of His created.  Even me.  Wow.

Personally yours.  Personally mine.  All because of Jesus.

GALATIANS—FRUIT BEARING

Galatians 6, The Message, (Emphasis mine, take note of all the actions words!)

Nothing but the Cross

1-3 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

6 Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

7-8 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

11-13 Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ’s suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don’t keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!

14-16 For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!

17 Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.

18 May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!

Lord,

You are a personal God who desires an honest relationship with me.  At times this thought is almost too much for me to wrap my head around. But then you bend down to speak to my heart and encourage me to come into your holy Presence and commune with you, and I come.  I listen and let go.  These intimate moments make our relationship even more endearing and real. 

You, indeed, are a real God who reaches down when I am honestly seeking you.  Your realness and your power is overwhelming at times, but always welcome.  Your love for me becomes more than amazing each day in the way you care for us, forgiving our messes and making the bad into good, even something beautiful.  There is no one like you!  There is no relationship on earth like ours.  You and me, all because you first loved us.  There is no reason to give up now.  No reason at all.  This “personally ours” relationship is at the center of all other relationships.  I have learned that lesson well.  Keep me growing…

In Jesus Name, Amen.  I believe.

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CHOSEN

Posted on February 15, 2022 by randscallawayffm

We are chosen by God to live freely in this world.  God chose us to have an intimate, unconditional loving relationship with Him, the Creator of all!  God so loved us that He sent His Son to save us from our bonded, entangled sin, and set us free for life.  Forever!  We cannot do that for ourselves. 

We are chosen to love God back because He first loved us.  We are invited and chosen to abide in God’s love and protection with provisions and salvation for life everlasting with God.  We are chosen to be His people who come for all nations.  We are chosen to be equal in His Kingdom.

God chose to love us.  Because God’s love and character is pure, holy, kind, patient, always wanting the best for us, is always for us and not against us, He gives us the will and power to choose to love Him back—or not.  He allows His people to make a decision to choose all that is Him or to choose what is not Him.  This decision is a matter of life or death for us!  We must daily choose God or not.  Choose wisely.

Like a Father who loves his children in the most excellent way, He wants us to love Him back, not out of sacrifice, duty or obligation, not because he told us to, but because we readily choose to love Him with a desire to be with Him.  Coming to him to fulfil a check list is not love at all. God sees and knows our hearts well.  He created them!  Nothing to hide from God!

Loving God, realizing the full extent of the love of Jesus for us, changes how we love Him back and how we love each other.  The opposite of love is hate and is the character of evil.  So, in this life, there are only two choices.  Love or hate.  Free or bound.  Joy or misery.

Dear Friends, why would be choose anything or anyone less than the love of God?

GALATIANS—FRUIT BEARING

Galatians 5, The Message

The Life of Freedom

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.

4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.

11-12 As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!

13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are contrary to each other, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

* * *

19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

AS THE CHOSEN, WHAT ARE WE CHOOSING?

Friends, what are we choosing?  Our behaviors daily reflect what we truly believe in our hearts.   (See Romans 12:1-2 for help.)

Do I feel chosen?  Am I choosing wisely?  Am I seeking the Spirit’s wisdom and help?

Lord,

Thank you for choosing us to be set free by you.  Thank you for loving us so much you created a plan to save us knowing we could not save ourselves.  Thank you for always wanting the best for us.  Thank you for abiding in us—by our choice.  Thank you for being with us, guiding us in all decision making and problem solving.  Thank you for breaking all chains of the entanglements of the sins of our former life.  Thank you for building your character in us.  We are not there yet, but you do not give up on us!  Thank you for forgiveness, perfect love, less fear, more grace, less judgement, more mercy.  Thank you for setting me free.  I choose You because you chose me.  I love you with all that is in me because of your great love for me that brings life, joy and peace.  Continue to grow your character traits in me so I will bear the fruits of your work!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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