HOPE LIVES IN HARMONY

Posted on January 3, 2022 by randscallawayffm

A great choir director has sharp, keen ears to hear when one person is out of tune and needs help to hear the harmony.  The Great Director will move the out-of-tune person to a place where they can learn to hear with one who has achieved the skill to sing in harmony. After a time of learning, maturing through listening, the once out-of-tune, out of sync and rhythm member comes back into harmony with the rest of the choir.  “Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! 

The Great Director smiles as believing members of His choir are filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, brimming over with His Hope, as they sing together in harmony in the rhythm of His Grace!

Dear Friends, as we read Paul’s words to the church at Rome, we are encouraged with his words that ring true today as we dive deeper in our own understanding.  Paul reminds us of God’s original intent for His created choir.  Godly harmony is where life and hope come together.  God loves ALL, is in ALL and above ALL.  God is our Great Director.  God loves all of us, insiders and outsiders, so much that He sent His Son to save us.  Jesus, is the root of Jesse, through the line of David, who saved us from our sins.  Jesus is our Hope for today, in the coming year, and forever!

“There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!”

“Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!”

Lord, this is my prayer for all of us…

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“All God’s creatures got a place in the choir…”  (Song from my past…)

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 15:1-13, The Message

1-2 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

TAKE NOTE—Be like Jesus

Followers of Jesus follow what Jesus said and did, as directed by His Father, the Great Director.  We also must follow the lead of the Director.

Jesus said,

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”  Matthew 11:28-30, The Message

Yes and Amen! 

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RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND EACH OTHER

Posted on January 1, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Disunity has always been a major problem with God’s people. Even the Old Testament records the civil wars and family fights among the people of Israel, and almost every local church mentioned in the New Testament had divisions to contend with. The Corinthians were divided over human leaders, and some of the members were even suing each other (1 Cor. 1:10–13; 6:1–8). The Galatian saints were “biting and devouring” one another (Gal. 5:15), and the saints in Ephesus and Colosse had to be reminded of the importance of Christian unity (Eph. 4:1–3; Col. 2:1–2). In the church at Philippi, two women were at odds with each other and, as a result, were splitting the church (Phil. 4:1–3). No wonder the psalmist wrote, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133:1).

Pleasant and joyful, relaxing and stimulating indeed, when we come together because of our relationship in Christ!  How wonderful to worship and praise Him minus thoughts about our petty differences among our sisters and brothers!  Often, my dad would say when faced with differing opinions of others; “relationship trumps differences, don’t lose the relationship”.  It begins with Jesus.  Our relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship we will ever have.  Seek and develop this relationship daily.  The deeper we love and commune with God through Jesus, the stronger our relationship grows with Him. Over time, because of this developing relationship with our Master, we discover our relationships with each other grow stronger, deeper, unassuming and sweeter each day.

The closer we get to Jesus, the closer we become with each other in relationship.

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 14, The Message

Cultivating Good Relationships

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

2-4 For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

5 Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

6-9 What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

10-12 So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:

“As I live and breathe,” God says,
    “every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
    that I and only I am God.”

So mind your own business. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

13-14 Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!

17-18 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

19-21 So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

22-23 Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.

WHAT WE LEARN FROM PAUL…

  • We are saved by Jesus.  We are answerable to God.
  • Keep a holy day.  Be grateful to God.  Live in gratitude and praise to God.
  • Only Jesus is the perfect judge.  “Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God.”  He is God and we are not.
  • All attention and focus must be on our own intimate, growing relationship with God.
  • Christ died for all.  Let God show what is right for us.  Don’t confuse each other with personal opinion.
  • Our task is to single-mindedly serve Christ!
  • Agree to get along with each other.  When God’s kids get along, we must make him smile.  Parents, how do you feel when your kids work and play together in loving ways?  Same with God. 
  • Our primary calling—share the story of Christ.  May all our thoughts, energy and compassion for others, because of our love for Jesus, drive our behaviors!  “You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent.”
  • First, love and cultivate a relationship with God.  Then develop God-honoring relationships with each other.  God loves that.  Love God.  Love Others.  Jesus told us these two commandments (not suggestions) are the most important.  I believe Him, don’t you?

Lord,

Our primary task is to tell your story, without our opinions.  Our opinions are not necessary and pale in comparison with your Truth.  Give us wisdom in our relationships.  May we grow closer to you so we grow closer to each other in the coming year.  May 2022 be the year of unity—One with You.  One with each other because of being One with You.

I believe.  Help me to behave like I say I believe.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen. 

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LIVING RESPONSIBLY

Posted on December 31, 2021 by randscallawayffm

This is New Year’s Eve 2021.  Commercials are flooding the media with “drink responsibly”, “call a cab”, etc. What does the word “responsibly” really mean?  Some dictionaries say, “answerable or accountable, as for something within one’s power, control, or management”.  Others define this word as it directly relates to our behavior. “When you do something in a careful, trustworthy way, you do it responsibly. If you spend your money responsibly, you’ll probably be able to save some of it.”  Webster sums it up with, “able to be trusted to do what is right or to do the things that are expected or required.”  This is a person who behaves responsibly.  Okay.

Paul takes us farther down the road with what is right in the eyes of God who is responsible for creating us, giving us free will to choose what is right and good but with all the help we need when we ask for it.  God gives us His Word who became flesh and lived on earth and taught us how to live responsibly, serving others from a heart of pure love, being our perfect example to follow.  Jesus then became our perfect sacrifice for our sins paying the full amount of our debt of sins forevermore. God gave us His Holy Spirit as a gift at rebirth (our salvation) to come live in us to guide, correct, encourage, comfort and direct our thoughts that lead to subsequent behaviors. 

Living responsibly is allowing God’s Spirit free reign to guide us to all that is good.  God’s best life begins with us leaning into His holy guidance. 

Many years ago, I would pray a prayer about this time of year to grow in one particular element of God’s character for the coming year.  I thought it to be too hard to grow in all His traits at once time!  I’m not that good, Lord!  So, Lord, work on me, chip away what is not pleasing to you one blow at a time. 

One year, I remember praying to be more gracious, to be a person who could extend grace before judgement.  It is at this time that I begin to journal my prayers.  At the beginning, my written prayers were messy but honest, complaining about those who irritated me, telling God what needs to be done, and asking Him to fix them so I could live at peace.  What happened instead was by writing down the words from my gut to only God, I noticed I said less irresponsible words out loud to others.  God was changing my heart which led to changing my mind.

God isn’t finished with me yet, for I am still journalizing my thoughts in prayer, going first through God’s “carwash”, cleaning up the words I say out loud.  Leaning into God’s filter and clean up is living responsibly.  I cannot do life without God.  I cannot not mature in His character without His Holy Spirit.  I cannot be gracious without His grace growing substantially, taking hold, in me.

Paul’s advice to believers in Jesus is valuable and so appropriate at this time of living under the oppression of the Roman government.  Life isn’t fair, but Paul tells them to live as good citizens, while emphasizing to live responsibly as good citizens. Even under burdensome, unfair oppression, “Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.”

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 13, The Message

To Be a Responsible Citizen

13 1-3 Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.

3-5 Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.

6-7 That’s also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.

* * *

8-10 Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.

11-14 But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

SUMMING IT UP…

Live responsibly where you live, obeying the laws of the land.  “God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.”

Love each other.  “Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along.

Avoid all the “don’ts”.  Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.

Dress yourselves in Christ…live like He taught us to live—responsibly, for and to others with love, mercy and grace.

Lord,

I love you with all my heart, mind and soul.  I need you every hour.  I love getting up each day to speak with you first, hear you, then be guided by you for the rest of the day.  When I mess up, you are quick to realign my thinking and behavior.  I am so grateful for your correction which brings peace, joy, love, mercy and grace to my heart and fills my soul.  Thank you for not giving up on me.  Thank you for your continued “finishing touches” on your salvation work in me.  I can only live responsibly with you helping me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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THIS!

Posted on December 30, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Some of us look for a word that will guide our thoughts to what we need to work on most to improve our well-being.  That’s good.  Some of us decide that we need a mentor for the coming year to help us be better in our walk.  That’s good, too.  Others of us are just trying to survive our ordinary, get up and go to work, come home, go to sleep then do it all again the next day lives.  I get that.  But, seriously believing friends, don’t we desire more?  In our heart of hearts, we who believe in God, reconciled to God through His Son who saved us from our sins, want more out of THIS life we live each day?

Paul began Chapter 12 with, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (v1-2).  Paul, like a good teacher who’s been there, done that, he tells exactly how to EMBRACE what God does for us as we transform to be all He has created us to be.  THIS is God’s best in us!  We must joyfully embrace what God is doing in us, day by day, hour by hour in our ordinary lives. 

The embraced character traits God is growing in us is THIS…

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 12:9-21, The Message

(Part two of two)

9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Want a word for 2022?  Choose from this great list that Paul, inspired by God, gave us!

Love

Friendship

Hospitality

Second

Fueled

Aflame

Alert Servant (okay two words but we can’t separate them!)

Remember, God helps us.  His Holy Spirit lives in us to discipline us to growth with encouragement.  Every ordinary day.

And when we think we are ready to quit?  Paul has remedies for our down times…pray all the harder, pray for your enemies and do good to them, laugh, cry, take your enemy to lunch!  What?  Smiling.  I’ve done this.  It did more for me in my letting go of the hurt of my enemy than it did for my enemy…did God know that?  I’m sure He did.

Finally, the phrase of the year for me is THIS: “discover beauty in everyone”.  When we do, we discover the beauty God puts in all of us, even in our enemies.  THIS is where God wants us to be in our “ordinary life—our sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—as we place our lives before God as an offering.

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”  THIS is what I want and how I want to think. 

Placing and embracing—no other way to live life at God’s best!

Lord,

THIS, all of chapter 12, is my prayer,

In Jesus Name, For His Glory, Amen. 

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2022 – Romans 12 – Goals!

Posted on December 29, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Be still and know God (Psalm 46:10) means letting go of our control for His sovereign control.  Why?  Because…

Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

Romans 11:36

I discovered something early on as a new parent, long ago in a galaxy far, far away that holds true in every learning experience. What I discovered would also help me to be a better teacher of first graders, then later with other age groups.  A child will not grasp what you are telling them unless you show them, step by step, how the task is done.  Just watching you isn’t enough.  You must talk about the steps it takes to make a bed, organize toys, fold and put away laundry, or making a sandwich along with the reasons for doing the tasks.  You can tell by the look in their eyes, when they “get it”.

This begins as soon as they can walk.  Toddlers will follow you everywhere anyway so teachable moments are inexhaustible.  Toddlers are more moldable and willing and think what you do is amazing and fun.  Take advantage of that!  Ask them to join you in what you are doing.  Ask questions, “what do you think I will do next?”, “what is the next step?”  Doing life together shows them the value and reason behind the work that makes life better for everyone that lives in the household.  The “watch me, join me, do it while I encourage, now you do it” philosophy of teaching was introduced by Jesus, our Master Teacher.  His disciples carried it on in their writings.

From teaching in public school classrooms, God then called me to go into church ministry.  The “classrooms” expanded to teen, young adults and older adults.  The same principles of helping someone grow and mature in their walk with God apply with added nuances. 

What I have learned and still learning:

  • I do not have all the answers.  No one does.  Only God does.  We will never have all the answers, only God knows all, is in all because He created all.  (See our previous chapter 11 in Romans!)
  • We can only take people where we have walked.  We can only go as far in our teaching about God as far as we have been in our own learning.
  • We cannot tell people to spend time with God each day, if we are not willing to do so.
  • We cannot ask people to do what we are not willing to do.
  • We do need to be authentic, venerable, and trustworthy.  When trust is gone, teaching ceases.
  • When we cease to learn, we cease to be teachers.
  • We must lay our lives before God as an offering to Him each day.  This is where it all begins.

Paul spent eleven chapters telling us WHO we are in Christ.  Now he teaches all of us who believe what we must DO in Jesus Name, for His glory.  We all have a “part to play” in the God’s Kingdom.  Paul now takes us on a journey in the subsequent chapters with step by step, simple, understandable instructions with how to live as believers together in Christ. 

Friends, so we don’t miss the significance of this powerful instruction for living life in the most excellent way, we will take this in two smaller bites.  This is part one of two.  This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  I have used this passage many times in teaching others how to love and treat each other as they serve God.  It begins with laying down my own life before God, waiting for His Word to me, embracing all of God’s best for me.  Because of my imperfections, a work still under construction, I must place my life daily before God as an offering so He can perfect His best in me.

This placing and embracing is key to learning to think and behave more like Jesus.  We yield and God does the work to change us from the inside out.  We cannot do this by ourselves.

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 12, The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Lord,

Living for you is a tall order and too much for us unless your power to working through us to change us daily.  Thank you for your love, mercy, grace, patience and goodness that brings us closer to you each day.  I love you with all my heart, mind and soul.  I worship you for all you are.  I pray for all of you to be in me.  If I had a “word” for 2022, Jesus, it would “embrace”.  I embrace all you have for me and all you want to do in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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JESUS—THE EQUALIZER

Posted on December 28, 2021 by randscallawayffm

The Equalizer is a new TV drama about Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background.  She uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall comes across to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is “The Equalizer” — an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.  She has her own set of problems.  She is not perfect, only driven to help others who are bullied in life. 

As I watch this drama, I think of how Jesus came down from heaven and willingly “moved into our neighborhood” of unfair, unrighteous behavior to set things right with God.  He came to redeem us.  Jesus was perfect, the only real equalizer, who could do what God had planned long before sin took hold of our world.  Jesus did more than equalize the situation, he saved all sinners who would believe in Him.  Life is still unfair but with Jesus we can be made right with God.

When we were young in high school, there was no better feeling when one of the “cool kids” invited you to sit at their lunch table or go in their car to the nearest McDonalds.  You, who sat on the outside watching, was suddenly on the inside hearing the chatter of the cool kids.  You soon discover that they are just like you with the same wonderings about school life, similar problems at home, figuring out what parents want, along with just wanting to have fun with real friends.  And, sometimes they use you to have someone to pick on because they used up everyone else.  Yes, there’s that. 

As we “grew up”, we discovered that this social stratum, with same behaviors is also carried into our church life—if we allow it.  Most people are welcomed with open arms, at first, until we find out if they are “like us” or not.  If guests come back in the coming weeks, then the acceptance phase sets in with information formed through gossip.  Don’t tell me this doesn’t happen in our body of believers; I’ve seen it and experienced it—from the outside.  We are so troublingly human with our judgmental habits that these behaviors can be spotted within ten minutes of arrival as a guest to our churches. 

The “cool kids” stand in a group/clique sizing up who enters.  They laugh and talk loudly, pat each other on the back while hugging those they know and accept.  “Aren’t we a friendly church?” they think they are saying but in reality, this behavior pushes new people away and confirms they do not belong.  Cool kids see new people and smile but immediately turn their attention to those they know and love.  Guests will not be invited or accepted into their homes until they pass the test, whatever that is because it is created by the culture of the cool kids themselves.  Smiles will be automatically given but as a way to size up the new people coming in.  The cool kids put off a pompous air with “we are holier than you are” assumptions that comes from how many more years they have attended coupled with how many volunteer hours have been clocked—as if that led to super salvation and the right to lord over others who have not done the same.  (Sigh.)

Sounds a bit like the Jewish clan Paul is addressing, doesn’t it?  But we do the same in varying degrees without thinking.  We must look inside ourselves.  We must evaluate who we treat as outsiders and how we behave in their presence.  We must consistently evaluate our habits of assumptions and assessments of people who enter the doors of our church seeking help for their lives…just as we did.  Are we truly helping people find and follow Jesus?  Or looking to lord over those who are not like us?

GOOD NEWS!  Insiders and outsiders have a super equalizer!  He is Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord, for all.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  God still loves THE WORLD, Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders, and has a plan to bring us all together.  Our champion, Jesus Christ, is coming to clean house!  Jesus Christ is Lord of all.  Are we ready?  Jesus IS coming back, you know…

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 11:25-36, The Message

A Complete Israel 

(Part 3 of 3)

25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
    he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
    removal of their sins.

From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

30-32 There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. But then the Jews slammed the door on him and things opened up for you. Now they are on the outs. But with the door held wide open for you, they have a way back in. In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

33-36 Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.

Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
    that God has to ask his advice?

Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

Lord,

You loved us first.  You created a plan to save ALL of us from the beginning of time itself.  That plan was your Son, sent to save us from our sins.  Once and for all, you did save us.  Who are we to question this marvelous plan?  Who are we, the sinful people we are, to keep anyone away from your plan of salvation?  Who are we to question your extravagant generosity to ALL people? Lord, I don’t want to be a “cool kid” who looks for ways to keep others out.  I want to be like you, dear Jesus, who taught us to love each other, unconditionally, like you love us.  So, make your thoughts be my first thoughts.  Make your desires be my desires.  Realizing the depth of love you have for me causes me to love others even more.  Help me to walk in your ways.  To you be the glory forevermore! 

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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GRAFTED AND GIFTED FROM THE ROOT

Posted on December 27, 2021 by randscallawayffm

There are many reasons that pride, boastfulness, thinking more highly of ourselves when life is going well, are evil activities that get in the way of our growing in God’s ways. The very minute we think we can be good on our own, we are not.  Only God is good.  Only God is to be praised for all the good in us.  God is at the root of our redeemed lives in Christ.  God IS the root of all that is good, thriving, growing and maturing into a beautiful bounty of life-producing fruit in us.

Pride spoils the fruit.  Boasting that we are responsible for the miracle growth of the fruits of God’ Holy Spirit in us is irresponsible and leads to a “pruning”.  We cannot be good on our own.  (We have discussed this before with Paul!)  Only God is good.  Only God creates and reproduces what is good from Him into us.

Let’s step back and review God’s character traits, all that is holy, that He works into us comes from His root of salvation.  Paul lists these traits as the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit because it is HIS powerful Spirit that helps to nurture and mature these fruits in us, changing us from our former sinful selves, saving us to grow into His forever life-giving, grated and gifted for His purpose, holy beings!  The list is found in Galatians 5:22-23…   “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  Tall order, right? —only God in us produces this fruit as gifts to help us grow in His love, mercy and grace.  Allowing His Holy Spirit to do so is an act of worship to God!

Friends, all because of Jesus, we are now attached to the root of all that is good, growing and alive for eternity! Paul explains to his fellow Jews that now everyone can be grated into God’s root who believe and want to grow in Jesus Name, for His glory. 

We learn that God, the Miracle Grower, can and will graft deadwood back into His root of salvation.  The Jews who previously rejected Jesus (pruned as deadwood laying on the ground) but decide to come back and believe will be grafted back into the Life-giving root!  No one but God can do that!  What amazing love and grace!  And what a homecoming indeed, when ALL who believe will come together someday in unity with God and believe that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, Son of God, sitting at the right hand of God.  Jesus, the One and Only who saved us from our sins!

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 11:11-24, The Message

Pruning and Grafting Branches

11-12 The next question is, “Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?” And the answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God’s kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!

13-15 But I don’t want to go on about them. It’s you, the outsiders, that I’m concerned with now. Because my personal assignment is focused on the so-called outsiders, I make as much of this as I can when I’m among my Israelite kin, the so-called insiders, hoping they’ll realize what they’re missing and want to get in on what God is doing. If their falling out initiated this worldwide coming together, their recovery is going to set off something even better: mass homecoming! If the first thing the Jews did, even though it was wrong for them, turned out for your good, just think what’s going to happen when they get it right!

16-18 Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there’s bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree’s branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to gloat over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren’t feeding the root; the root is feeding you.

19-20 It’s certainly possible to say, “Other branches were pruned so that I could be grafted in!” Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you’re on the tree is because your graft “took” when you believed, and because you’re connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don’t get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green.

21-22 If God didn’t think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He wouldn’t give it a second thought. Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God—ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don’t presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, it’s game over.

23-24 And don’t get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on the ground. If they don’t persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. God can do that. He can perform miracle grafts. Why, if he could graft you—branches cut from a tree out in the wild—into an orchard tree, he certainly isn’t going to have any trouble grafting branches back into the tree they grew from in the first place. Just be glad you’re in the tree, and hope for the best for the others.

WHAT DO WE LEARN?

Don’t become deadwood—stay attached to The Root of our salvation and life forever!

Lord,

You speak to our hearts each morning with thoughts that help us to grow more deeply in love with you, depending on you for all that is good. Thank you for your patience as you watch us grow, helping us all along the way with your miracle growth of your holy fruit bearing in us.  It’s all about you.  It always has been.  Continue to weed out the evil and grow me to be all you created me to be.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen. 

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GOD DOESN’T GIVE UP ON US!

Posted on December 25, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Paul devoted all of Romans 11 to presenting proof that God is not through with Israel. We must not apply this chapter to the church today, because Paul is discussing a literal future for a literal nation. He called five witnesses to prove there was a future in God’s plan for the Jews.

Paul Himself (11:1) “Has God cast away his people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite!” If God has thrown away His people, then how can the conversion of the apostle Paul be explained? The fact that his conversion is presented three times in the book of Acts is significant (Acts 9, 22, 26). Certainly Dr. Luke did not write these chapters and repeat the story just to exalt Paul. No, they were written to show Paul’s conversion as an illustration of the future conversion of the nation of Israel.

Paul called himself “he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” (1 Cor. 15:8). In 1 Timothy 1:16 he stated that God saved him “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

Paul used himself as the first witness. The fact that he was saved does not prove that there is a future for Israel. Rather, what is important is the way he was saved.  God has not given up on Israel.

Israel is God’s elect nation; He foreknew them, or chose them, and they are His. The fact that most of the nation has rejected Christ is no proof that God has finished with His people. In his day, Elijah thought that the nation had totally departed from God (see 1 Kings 19). But Elijah discovered that there was yet a remnant of true believers. He thought he was the only faithful Jew left and discovered that there were seven thousand more.

Note that this remnant is saved by grace and not by works (Rom. 11:5–6). Note also the parallel in Romans 9:30–33. It is impossible to mix grace and works, for the one cancels the other. Israel’s main concern had always been in trying to please God with good works (Rom. 9:30—10:4). The nation refused to submit to Christ’s righteousness, just as religious, self-righteous people refuse to submit today.

Lose self.  Gain all the benefits of being saved by grace, not works, or we are back to self again.  Only by grace are we saved from our sins through repentance to Jesus Christ our Savior.  The question becomes, Is He our Lord?

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 11:1-2, The Message

The Loyal Minority

1-2 Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he’ll have nothing more to do with them? Hardly. Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin. You can’t get much more Semitic than that! So we’re not talking about repudiation. God has been too long involved with Israel, has too much invested, to simply wash his hands of them.

2-6 Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer?

God, they murdered your prophets,
They trashed your altars;
I’m the only one left and now they’re after me!

And do you remember God’s answer?

I still have seven thousand who haven’t quit,
Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish.

It’s the same today. There’s a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They’re holding on, not because of what they think they’re going to get out of it, but because they’re convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.

7-10 And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn’t succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this:

Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways,
    God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears,
Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors,
    and they’re there to this day.

David was upset about the same thing:

I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals,
    break a leg walking their self-serving ways.
I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors,
    get ulcers from playing at god.

Pruning and Grafting Branches

11-12 The next question is, “Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?”

WHAT WE LEARN

Romans 11:9–10 are cited from Psalm 69:22–23. This psalm is one of the most important of the messianic psalms and is referred to several times in the New Testament. (Note especially Romans 11:4, 9, 21–22.) Their “table to become a snare” means that their blessings turn into burdens and judgments. This is what happened to Israel: their spiritual blessings should have led them to Christ, but instead they became a snare that kept them from Christ. Their very religious practices and observances became substitutes for the real experience of salvation.

Sad to say, this same mistake is made today when people depend on religious rituals and practices instead of trusting in the Christ who is pictured in these activities.

“Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?” We will discuss the answer to that last question tomorrow!  Consider this to be part one of three that we will walk through with Paul as he speaks to his Jewish counterparts.

Lord,

May the customs, rituals and religious practices of this Christmas season give you all the glory and praise and lead us to a closer walk with you by helping us know you more.  May all we think, say or do draw us closer to the realization of your powerful love, compassionate mercy and victorious grace that is found only in you.  There is no one like you.  Thank you for your longsuffering patience and goodness as we mature in your ways.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen  

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WHAT IS THE VERDICT?

Posted on December 24, 2021 by randscallawayffm

We all belong to a religion!  We can belong to a religion without having any form of relationship with anyone.  Wait, what?  I knew a man who watched the show “Law and Order” religiously!  He never missed an episode, even while on vacation.  This show drove his behavior in the ways he responded to people around him.  He became highly judgmental of everyone who stepped in his path.  He had no compassion for anyone who broke the law he had invented in his own mind from watching his television show.  For example, he drove in traffic while consistently telling others how they should drive with hand signals and words no one else could hear while in his car. He was so principled about all of life that many didn’t understand his comments of correction for them that were rendered unsolicited.  He became “a person of interest” but not in good ways.  Most didn’t want to be around him and would avoid him when possible.  This is religion. 

There are many other types of “religions” that we follow religiously without any thought to relationship or reconciliation with our Creator.

Paul speaks to the Jews, his own tribe and culture, in which he grew up, about religion versus reconciliation and relationship.  Paul found The Way to God through Jesus.  Paul is sent by God to open the eyes of his fellow Jews and remind them that God came for them first but they turned their backs and followed their religion instead.  He tells them the most important relationship they could have had is now offered to everyone.  Why?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16. The prophets told the Jews in their scriptures that the Messiah would come and reconcile God’s people, save them from their sins and his name would be called Jesus.  But they stuck to their religion, their driving force for life on earth, but not life eternal.

Most Jewish leaders preferred religion over a beautiful, intimate, unconditional loving relationship with God, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.  Go figure.

We must ask ourselves and really consider…

What is my preference?  What is my religion that I follow “religiously”?  What do I think about most?  What determination drives my behavior?  These are all important questions for reflection as we celebrate the birth of our newborn King, our Savior, who God sent to set things right between us and our God.  Our answers, along with our behavior will reveal what or who is most important to us.  I pray that the most important relationship is yours and mine from repentant hearts seeking reconciliation with the One and Only who loved us first and loves us most. 

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 10, The Message

Israel Reduced to Religion

1-3 Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what’s best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily admit that the Jews are impressively energetic regarding God—but they are doing everything exactly backward. They don’t seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God’s business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily peddle their knockoffs. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it.

4-10 The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it’s not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story—no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying?

The word that saves is right here,
    as near as the tongue in your mouth,
    as close as the heart in your chest.

It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”

11-13 Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”

14-17 But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims,

A sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people
    telling all the good things of God!

But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.

18-21 But haven’t there been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen and understand what’s going on? Plenty, I’d say.

Preachers’ voices have gone ’round the world,
Their message to earth’s seven seas.

So the big question is, Why didn’t Israel understand that she had no corner on this message? Moses had it right when he predicted,

When you see God reach out to those
    you consider your inferiors—outsiders!—
    you’ll become insanely jealous.
When you see God reach out to people
    you think are religiously stupid,
    you’ll throw temper tantrums.

Isaiah dared to speak out these words of God:

People found and welcomed me
    who never so much as looked for me.
And I found and welcomed people
    who had never even asked about me.

Then he capped it with a damning indictment:

Day after day after day,
    I beckoned Israel with open arms,
And got nothing for my trouble
    but cold shoulders and icy stares.

Lord,

I found you!  Now that we are reconciled, our relationship of love, peace, joy because of your love, mercy and grace unending becomes sweeter each day.  I love you with all that is in me.  You loved me and the rest of the world by dying to save us.  Who can ask for anything more?  YOU are my driving force.  YOU are my religion, reconciliation and relationship all rolled into your forgiveness and abiding love for and with me.  Thank your for holding tight to me and never letting go of our love for each other.  I will follow you.  I worship only you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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ALL ARE CALLED, CHOSEN AND LOVED

Posted on December 23, 2021 by randscallawayffm

Sometimes we “church people” think we are the only ones shaped and molded by the Creator to make salvation happen for others like it happened to us.  When we get so wrapped up in our busyness of life stuff, church programs, and trying to please family and friends; we get into trouble, forgetting that we are ALL called to play a part in God’s work. The trouble is multiplied when we then boast of our deeds and forget to give the one who gave us life.  We forget where all the glory is due—God is the One and Only who receives glory, praise and honor. 

We also walk farther and farther away from knowing God and hearing His voice call to us.  We come out from under his wings of protection as the busyness of the world seeps into our being.  The Holy Spirit sounds the alarm.  Blessed are those who hear the alarm and come running back to the One who loves us most.

We learned from Romans 8:28 that God will never stops loving us.  Because He loves us beyond our thinking, as the gentleman and lover of our souls, He waits for us to come to Him, abide in Him and focus on all His goodness. God is a jealous God who wants all our attention and focus on Him, not because of the power He can have over us, but because of the Love He has for us.  God is a Giver and wants to pour out His blessing over us with His best.  This is HIS work that He planned for each of us before creation.

Read as Paul skillfully takes us on a thinking journey what life on God’s terms means for each of our lives.

ROMANS—OUR CARE AND CALLING

Romans 9, The Message

“I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” Romans 8:28, The Message

God Is Calling His People

9 1-5 At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites . . . If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!

6-9 Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise. Remember how it was put: “Your family will be defined by Isaac”? That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise. Remember that promise, “When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son”?

10-13 And that’s not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, and her babies were still innocent in the womb—incapable of good or bad—she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. God told Rebecca, “The firstborn of your twins will take second place.” Later that was turned into a stark epigram: “I loved Jacob; I hated Esau.”

14-18 Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for better or worse.

19 Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”

20-33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well:

I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
    I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”
    they’re calling you “God’s living children.”

Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:

If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
    and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names;
    salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.
    Arithmetic is not his focus.

Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:

If our powerful God
    had not provided us a legacy of living children,
We would have ended up like ghost towns,
    like Sodom and Gomorrah.

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
    a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
    you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

(Emphasis mine)

WHAT DO WE LEARN?

God never fails us.  God is for us.  God is the molder and shaper of His created.  God is unchanging love, compassionate mercy and unending grace.  “Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy.”

Those who seek God will find Him.

God doesn’t count us, He calls by name.  We can be blessedly assured of His love for us…I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.  In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”  they’re calling you “God’s living children.”

As God’s children, believers in Jesus for our salvation, our work is “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) As we do this, God continually molds and shapes us to be more and more like Him, (Imago Dei), with His character traits maturing in us.  Sometimes it will be painful as His hands press into our clay-formed souls, molding in what is best for us and pinching away what is not.  But to be made fully in His image, it takes work that only God can do.  And it is good.  All good comes from God.

The Question we must ask and pray over…

“Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right?”

Lord, God,

Do want you must do to make me all you created me to be.  But be gentle.  I love you with all my heart, mind and soul.  Continue to transform my thinking and behaviors to match what you want, not want the world wants from me.  Help me to love like you love me.  Help me to know your ways and then walk in those ways with You.  May I reflect only You.  I know you are not finished with me yet.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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