Love: More or Less

 The cashier looks at us and says the words everyone hopes to hear standing in the checkout line. "I'll take the next in line over here" as she opens a new lane.

A man and his wife cut in front of our family at the grocery store. I'm holding my six month old son, he's crying, having exhausted all patience for this place. My oldest son is bouncing from rack to rack begging for candy. My wife has had a LONG week. Sick kids, crazy work stress, the pressures of ministry. How do we react?

Love. But it doesn't feel very lovely. In fact I have a rare talent for opening my mouth at all of the wrong times. And this is one of those times when I absolutely want to. But I don't. Truthfully it won't hurt us to wait a couple of more minutes—and I don't know what is going on with this young couple that they feel the need to rush in front of a dozen or so other people. 

Now, don't confuse love in this situation with quiet, or passiveness. In fact, never confuse love with quiet or passiveness. Sometimes loving someone means making A LOT of noise and getting right in their face to tell them the hard thing they need to hear. 

I work with people. Most of us do. I see people, talk to people, and help people daily. If I don't love them how can I fulfill what I believe to be my life's purpose? Really that's what this idea boils down to for me. 

Every day, in every situation, we have a choice to make regarding each person we interact with. We can choose to love them more, or love them less. 

Loving them more could mean extending grace, holding back judgement, and offering goodwill, but it could also mean correction or confrontation. We have to decide that. You know, like that famous Disney cricket from the 20th century said, "Let your conscience be your guide."

What does it mean to love people less? Well, don't we see the fruits of this on a regular basis? War and violence, disrespect and discord. 

In the absence of love there will be the presence of something. Some emotion. Some thoughts or feelings. I choose to fill my heart and thoughts with love toward others. I don't always get it right. But I'm aiming to love more, not less.

What about you? It's not a one time sweeping decision. It's an every day—every interaction—kind of decision. Choose. Because you can. Choose to love more, not less.

Thanks for reading,

Nate

Parent Stuff: The Weight of Grace

 In 2011 I had the incredible opportunity to travel to the Arkansas State Capitol at the invitation of then Lieutenant Governor Mark Darr. My responsibility that day was to open the afternoon session of the 88th Assembly of the Arkansas State Senate in prayer. I had thought long and hard about the words I would pray over those important lawmakers. Here is an excerpt from the prayer I prayed that day.

"God, my fervent hope today is that you would help them to continue to hear—not just the voice of their constituents, but your voice as well. God grant them the wisdom to make sound decisions and the discernment to understand the far-reaching implications of those decisions."

I don't remember what was on the docket for the day. But I know that each man and woman in that chamber was responsible for representing a body of people they had chosen to serve. Their actions—no matter how small, or even seemingly insignificant, carried weight. What they discussed, conclusions reached, votes cast. It all mattered. It all made a difference. The molding of the law was akin to working the clay of civilized society.

What about you? In your world you may be the lawmaker. You may be making the rules of the house. You might be passing down mandates and dictating decisions that shape the days, months, or years to come. If you're a parent or guardian of a child you better believe this is true.

Your every decision, reaction, omission, and word have weight. The things you do will echo in the future of your child. The things you don't do will echo just as loudly! The point I'm trying to make is that you have a responsibility. It is holy. It is God-given. It is authority. It is blessed. It is vital.

The implications of your every action are so important. I wish I could say I always get it right. I love my boys so much. But not an hour ago I was sending my three-year-old off to bed with a much harsher tone than was probably necessary. 

Parents, do you feel the weight of the life you hold in your hands? I hope so. Does it keep you up at night sometimes? I hope so. I think it should.

Now. Stop holding your breath. Unclench a little bit. Relax. Breathe deep. After all, you're not perfect. Yes, your every action and inaction as a parent matters. But you're never going to get it all right. But guess what? It's alright. After all, who better to guide you through your imperfectness as a parent than the perfect parent?

Ask God to help. Go ahead. Ask him right now, I'll wait.

Now, doesn't that feel a little bit better. Ok,maybe it doesn't yet. But long before you became responsible for guiding this little human being through the obstacle course of life God set your memories into motion. The first steps, the first fight, the crying, joy, gladness, serenity, and taxing anxiety of parenthood...God has already experienced all of it, for everyone, ever. Whoa!

He's right there in the middle of your mess waiting for you to ask him to make it better. I love my boys "to the moon and back again" as one of our favorite bedtime stories goes, but I'm so far short of the perfect parent.

Thank God I've got God. He's in the mix. He's helping in the moments when I want to duct tape my son to his bed and scream at the wall. He's there rejoicing when I get it right! He's there when my heart hurts over a poor decision I have made. After all, there's grace for that.

Yes, there are far reaching implications for your every action but God's actions can reach farther than yours. There is a weight to grace.

Not Even A Little Bit

 How much does God want to see you suffer? Not even a little bit.

He is for, beside, around, inside you. A lot. It's his peace that carries you past the point of understanding the incomprehensible. His joy that flexes in the face of the frailty of our fear.

How much does God want to see you fail? Not even a little bit.

His Word is the way that lights up our every possible step. It shines into our every season. His Spirit is the still the small voice that pierces uncertainty and calms the raging of tumultuous emotion. 

How much does God want to see you quit? Not even a little bit.

His hope is our help. His Son is our sure thing. His favor our final word. His Church is our cheerleader. His mission is our motivation.

God wants every bit of who you are to love and lean into him. How much is he willing to leave to you for yourself? Not even a little bit.

Living Water

  Man, there are few things more difficult than being thirsty for a prolonged period of time. Probably many of us have never really had to face true thirst. Especially dangerous life threatening thirst.  When I think I'm thirsty my first craving is for a Dr. Pepper or good old southern sweet tea. When I was a kid working in the hay field or watermelon patch with my dad there was nothing more satisfying than a tall cold glass of water.

Have you ever found yourself thirsty inside? That's thirst on an entirely different level. It's life threatening all the same. At the core of our soul. 

Maybe you didn't articulate it that way—but the acknowledgement for something more was present like an inexplicable craving or yearning. 

Do you believe in Jesus? He told us he was that kind of satisfaction. 

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’" ‭‭(John‬ ‭7:37-38‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

He made it really simple too. If you're thirsty go to him. How? Believe.

He is living water. (Check out the fourth chapter in John's Gospel for some more on that). 

He also said, that when we believe in him that same kind of living giving spirit would flow through us. We're not just receptacles. We're channels. 

Jesus himself saves, quenches, and supplies us with life inside—and desires that we might share it with all. 

That should impact is in the day to day stuff. Make us love bigger and better. Help us to speak with a kindness that is uplifting, work hard, and give selflessly. Basically, we should be refreshing to anyone and everyone we're around. 

How's that working out for you?

Thanks for reading! We're always interested in hearing from you in the comments. ~ Nate

Loving People On a Not-So-Lonely Mountain

 I hear crickets. Dogs call to each other across the ridges. A turkey gobbles off in the distance. The huge leaves of the banana tree my hammock is perched in on the side of this mountain rustle with the never ending breeze. After a scorching week in the sun the coolness of the continuous flow of wind borders on miraculous. It has been a week of weeks. Our team has been outstanding. They work and play with an energetic tenacity on par with their vivacious faith. Grace drips from these people like the sweat they have shed for seven days.

We have been to school after school playing with kids, performing skits, praying, speaking, loving. We have visited small churches, in the remote places of the Guatemalan Mountains where our people have preached the love of Jesus. We have given away food. We have built a wall. We have built a road. We've been busy. It's been good.

Busy and good are not always words I like to put together—but accomplishing the work, sharing the good news, and serving my friend Greg's ministry are both. Because busy can be good when it is purpose driven.

As I lay in my hammock staring out across the expanse of darkness at the closest ridge I can see the humble twinkle of distant village homes. The places that house the beautiful people of Guatemala.

I can rest full of faith in the one who sent us. I can sleep soundly satisfied in our pursuit of purpose. I never enjoy leaving my family behind—and under different circumstances would probably bring them—but even in my homesickness I can rest in the peace of God.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus declares his followers to be as a shining city on a far dark night. That's our job. To take hope with us. We partner with powerful people of God in needed places. We are Gondor in the midst of Mordor. We are beacons among burdens—and bonfires among chilling darkness.

I have burned in my heart the desire to go to far places and far people because, as A.W. Tozer penned, "if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame."

Walking the Line

My wonderful grandpa's birthday is today. Much of my stubbornness and compassion came from him. I talked to him on the phone earlier and shared with him the name we have chosen for our second son, Jonathan Eli. At Thanksgiving he had announced to the family, pretty much out of the blue, that he had been thinking of that name. Today when I told him that we had in fact chosen that name for our son he said, "I know. I just told my sister Ruby on the phone." He was touched but not surprised.

Apparently he really did know. It was one of those inexplicable knowing by faith kinds of things. A measure of the movement closer to God I have seen in my grandpa's life in very recent years. The power of God's love has been hard at work in the lives of my mom's family. Prayers that were prayed for decades have been coming to pass in the wonderful work of God's mercy and grace. The culmination of a passage from the Psalms that has been really moving to me lately...

I'm finding my way down the road of right living, but how long before you show up? I'm doing the very best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts. Psalm 101:2-3 MSG

My Papa has been an incredible example to me in my life. Not because of his perfection, because I have never been under such a false assumption where he was concerned. In fact, I have long since felt that his many flaws were so well known as I grew up that they always pushed me in an authentic direction. I struggled to actually be authentic much of the time, but the example was there. I never felt that he tried to be someone he wasn't. I never felt that he pretended. He was never fake. He was always himself. And he never apologized for it, perhaps another series of traits I inherited.

Like the classic country ballad his nephew Bob helped to make famous my Papa Wootton has always Walked the Line. Not perfect, but dedicated. Dedicated to his family. Dedicated to the things that matter. When I grow up I hope I can be just like him.

Happy Birthday Papa & Happy Valentine's Day to the rest of you.

Thanks for reading, Nate

The 3rd Lament: God's Great Faithfulness

When I think of Lamentations it's not usually a go-to source for encouraging scripture. But Lamentations 3:19-24 paints an incredible word picture of the beauty of God's love for us. I want to visit this wonderful passage over the next few days in hopes that it will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me.

... there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: GOD ’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. (‭Lamentations‬ ‭3‬:‭19-24‬ MSG Emphasis Added)

How great is the faithfulness of God? Have you ever considered that question? I mean, after all, what is faithfulness? It is the condition of being full of faith. An ongoing permeation of belief in something.

God has great faithfulness. God permeates faith.

After all it is by him that we believe in him. It is by his words that we have faith. It his because of his great limitless love that we are adopted in.

God's faithfulness is not measured by moments, actions, or attempts. It is not defined by works, not even those wondrous things by which we come to him. God's great faithfulness is measured only by him. That is to say, God is inseparable from his great faithfulness.

He will always believe. He will always be the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of the unseen. (See Hebrews 11:1) Or as one translation puts it, he is our confidence.

God's great faithfulness is as reliable as he is. Always. He has great faith. Both in himself, and in his love for you. Yes, God's great faithfulness means something for you. It means God always believes in the you that you could be. Because the blueprint for your potential rests in the grace of God alone.

God's great faithfulness is pointed right at you.

The 3rd Lament: New Every Morning

When I think of Lamentations it's not usually a go-to source for encouraging scripture. But Lamentations 3:19-24 paints an incredible word picture of the beauty of God's love for us. I want to visit this wonderful passage over the next few days in hopes that it will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me.

... there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: GOD ’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. (‭Lamentations‬ ‭3‬:‭19-24‬ MSG Emphasis Added)

Every morning. That's how often the prophet Jeremiah realized that God's mercy rolls back around. God's willingness to extend his love and kindness is in step with the dawn; and its always dawn somewhere.

Every morning the mercy of God is hand crafted. The creator of the periodic table preempts every element of grace you find yourself needing with the passing of each day. It's custom. For you. For everyone. For every situation.

In the face of such terribly compassionate love and mercy, how can anyone think themselves unworthy of God's affection. Forgiven much. Love much. (See Luke 7:36-50) That is the opportunity. That is the reality.

Custom grace. A love tailored for all humanity. That fits every individual. It's not a bandaid for your burdens. His is a lifeline for your soul. A legendary leg up.

Maybe that's exactly what you are needing right now? Failure has gotten old. The same tired patterns of behavior may have left you feeling a little more than broken. Well, the sun is always sweetest at dawn. Move out from the darkness of our own designs and embrace the caring nature of the Father.

Every day is a new day. A new dawn. A new chance to walk the path God has for you.

The 3rd Lament: Loyal Love

When I think of Lamentations it's not usually a go-to source for encouraging scripture. But Lamentations 3:19-24 paints an incredible word picture of the beauty of God's love for us. I want to visit this wonderful passage over the next few days in hopes that it will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me.

... there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: GOD ’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left. (‭Lamentations‬ ‭3‬:‭19-24‬ MSG Emphasis Added)

Jeremiah went through a pretty horrible time. He is often called The Weeping Prophet. And his writings portray much of the anguish he must have experienced.

Like Jeremiah we ourselves face difficult things from time to time. The thing that gives me incredible hope in the love of God is the great opportunity we have in those hard moments. In difficulty we find a fight or flight scenario. We can run. Forget. Abandon. Or we can step up (or be lifted up) to be seized by the kind of certainty that can only come through a faith that has been tested and tried. Faith isn't easy. I would submit to you that anyone saying total faith in God is easy has probably never had to live where the rubber meets the road.

This kind of fighting faith was Jeremiah's every waking moment. Instead of throwing in the towel he went round for round. He stood toe to toe with all of the craziness happening around him. Stuff like death threats, starvation, imprisonment, and assassins. He never quit. He didn't give up on God. Why? Why did he keep his grip on hope?

Because Jeremiah remembered the inexhaustible love of God.

Jeremiah knew that God's love is loyal. Even when we quit God will never leave us or forsake us. (Read Dueteronomy 31:6)

Jeremiah knew that God's love has an endless source, namely God himself. This Loyal Love is rooted in the very nature of the one who wields it. There is always more for those who go looking to find it.

Jeremiah knew that God's love is merciful. The love of God is full of undeserved grace. That unending, unmerited, supply of affection comes to those who certainly do not deserve it. Yet it comes. God's love is the merciful product of the God of mercy.

Jeremiah knew that God's love couldn't have dried up. It may have felt that way, looked that way, or seemed that way—but the prophet knew. Deep down in the Well of Living Water is an unquenchable source. The love that does not run dry is the love that defies all apparent circumstances.

Jeremiah knew this. I believe it kept him going through the most difficult times. You can be sure that God's loyal and merciful love is in full supply for you. Today. Wherever you are. Whatever you've done. No matter your circumstance. Ask him for some and watch the floodgates open.

Hate the Sinner - Love the Sin

If you are a professing Christian chances are pretty high that you have uttered the phrase "hate the sin, love the sinner" at one point or another. At the least you have probably heard it tossed around here and there.

The sentiment is fairly straightforward. It conveys the idea that you can entirely disagree with, and be at odds with someone's behavior, while still caring deeply about them. The idea itself is fine. We really are at odds with a lot of dangerous behavioral stuff in this life. Hopefully we're more at odds with the junk in our own closet rather than someone else's. The problem with this idea isn't that it's untrue. It's that we don't actually mean it.

Generally whatever particular sin issue is driving the conversation usually dominates said conversation. This leaves little room for lovingly engaging people who might be neck deep in the issue at hand. God is amazingly loving, and forgiving, but how can you demonstrate that to someone if you are too busy telling them how much God hates what they're doing. It's like trying to give someone a brand new car by running them over with it. Or giving someone dying of thirst a drink by tossing them in a lake.

Christian, you are the face of God to this world. You are Jesus with skin on. Often people will respond to God in accordance to how you respond to them. Not always, but many times.

Also, you need God too. We all do. "Hate the sin, love the sinner" is a fine description of how God feels about the situation, but it's a pretty crappy summation of Christian human reaction to sin.

God does hate sin. He hates all sin. He is completely good like that. God does love sinners. He loves all sinners. ALL OF US. He is completely good like that. But I have yet to meet the Christian who hates all sin equally and loves all sinners equally, and that certainly includes myself.

No, we pick sins that are obvious and we hammer them, leaving those trapped in that sin beaten and broken like some old rusty nail. Never mind that Jesus allowed himself to be beaten, battered, and nailed for them. All the while we ignore our pet sins and keep them in our most secret places. Even the villainous religious leaders from John chapter 8 had the good sense not to throw stones because of their failures. Would we? I have met a lot of people who went looking for God at some point in their life and wound up battered and bruised by the stones thrown their way.

I've spent over a decade reaching out to college students. I've had hundreds of conversations with non Christians. It is amazing how many people are turned away from Christianity, not by Jesus, but by the people who represent him. In their eyes we hate the sinner, but we love to talk about their sin.

December 6 - Gaze Into Heaven

Read: Acts 7:51-60

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55, 56 ESV)

Stephen preached the truth of Christ in Jerusalem and was shaking up the status quo. Grace and power followed his message. Lives were being changed. The religious elite were not happy—Jesus was gone but his followers continued to proclaim his life and message. They drug Stephen to court, trumped up false charges, and asked him to defend himself.

Instead of defending himself Stephen preached his final sermon. It was an exegetical masterpiece as he wound his way through the Torah, Prophets, and Psalms to declare Jesus as the promised Messiah. He delivered solid truth, unflinchingly, to a mob eager for blood. And it was more than they could handle.

As he drew near to the end of his message he looked up, perhaps for a measure of reassurance and comfort. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon him and he had a supernatural vision of God and Christ there with him. The declaration of Jesus' position was more than the ruling authorities could handle.

Not only was Stephen obviously not going to be shut up, but here he was publicly declaring Jesus alive and well. He was stating outright their powerlessness. They were enraged. They attacked and killed him, stoning him to death.

The truth so offended these leaders that they were willing to forsake everything they pretended to serve in order to justify themselves. The truth of Jesus forces a reckoning. Some will accept it, many will reject it. Stephen gazed into Heaven and saw with supernatural eyes the wonders of God. I pray that the truth of Christ would prompt us all to do a little Heaven-gazing.

December 5 - Full of Grace & Power

Read: Acts 6:8-15

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. (Acts 6:8 ESV)

Jesus' followers are supposed to be like Stephen. We are supposed to be people who are full of grace and power. People who do great wonders and signs.

Stephen was so impactful as he ministered in the name of Jesus that it bewildered the extremely religious Jewish leadership. So much so that, just as they had done to Jesus, they decided to have Stephen killed. They concocted a phony trial with false witnesses, and they besmeared his reputation through villainous slander.

Stephen remained full of grace throughout. And it was only by the power of God that he withstood their torments. In fact, the whole ordeal only served to better illuminate the power of God at work in Stephen's life.

Today when Christians talk about God's power they are often looking for something supernatural or miraculous. I believe those things can and do happen, but perhaps more often the power of God works in His followers to sustain them through difficulty. Grace and power are fully at work when a lost sinner is made to shine like a saved saint.

November 14 - Entombed

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:40-42 ESV)

Jesus’ body was placed in Joseph’s tomb on the day that he died. It was a tomb cut from the rock near where the crucifixion took place. With the Sabbath approaching Joseph used the already prepared tomb in the garden to lay Jesus in.

Jesus is often referred to as the second Adam. The first Adam first sinned in a garden. It seems only fitting that the death to end the threat of sin and death should result in our savior being buried in a garden.

He was buried. He was dead. But he didn't stay dead. He didn't stay buried. He was laid in a borrowed tomb, but he arose the conqueror of death, Hell, and the grave.

October 7 - Hell to the King

John 19:1-5

They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. (John 19:3 ESV)

One of the most demeaning aspects of the horrors visited upon Christ during his final hours before was the relentless mockery and brutality. The actions of ignorant cowards playing with powers beyond their comprehension, common soldiers employed as thugs by the religious elite brutalized Christ again and again. Their sarcastic jeers tearing through his compassionate heart like a scourge would rend his flesh. It was horror added upon horror.

Who would treat a king in such a way? But of course, they didn't really believe him to be a king. He was something they couldn't understand. However, they refused to acknowledge the possibility that he was the Son of God, in much the same way that modern skeptics refuse to acknowledge even the possibility of the supernatural.

The violence committed upon Christ was vulgar, excruciating, and barbaric. It was undeserved hell. Atrocities that would probably make us wretch to see in person. He did not deserve it. Yet he took it. He took it, so that what you and I deserve, actual hell, we do not have to experience.

April 26 - Judges

Read: Matthew 7:1-6

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3 ESV)

It's so easy to see other people's problems. And yet, it can be really hard to have an honest sense of our own shortcomings. Often our own personal hang ups are a blind spot.

This is not a new problem. Jesus' disciples had the same problem. He thought it was a big enough issue that he addressed it in his famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus point was that dealing with our own sin should take priority over confronting other people about theirs.

"Don't judge me" is an all-too-common phrase today. And while it is certainly grounded in a biblical truth it is usually pulled woefully out of context by someone trying to grant themselves free license to sanction whatever sinful deed they desire to commit. This was not the point Jesus was trying to make.

Jesus' point was that each of us should carefully measure our actions. We should take stock of our sin. We should pray that our transgressions would be revealed to us so that there would be no blind spots in our lives. We aren't to seek a life free from judgement, after all God is going to judge us all. Instead, we should realistically submit ourselves to the graceful judgement of Christ now so that we might be spared the justice of Christ later.

Salvation: Christ Alone

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. ~ Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

I didn't do it. You didn't do it. We simply cannot do it. There is no saving ourselves because, in fact, we are exactly who it is we need saving from. There is a fallen nature and we all exhibit it. We do have a very real enemy in the Devil; but I have found that so often his chief means of destruction is to entice us with our own willful self-destruction.

God graciously intervenes in the self-destruction process. The entire Bible is a written record of that continued intervention process. Jesus Christ is the sole means by which God intervenes in our destruction. In an unsurpassable act of grace God became one of us—He became Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. It was, and is, grace that opened the way to reconciliation to God, and salvation from our self-imposed damnation. This happens when we place our faith in God's work on our behalf, not on our work to reach God.

Jesus Christ alone saves us. God's grace made incarnate, is Jesus. Faith alone connects us to Him. Christ alone is the intermediary between our death, hell, sin, the eternal grave, and life everlasting given only by grace from God.

We can't work it off, work up to it, or work it out on our own. We can't run to an alternate path, cash in Karma, call in a divine favor, or ascend to a place of Nirvana. There is a real Heaven, and a real Hell, and the only path to God lies through Jesus Christ.

We live in a time when that statement is offensive, but that makes it no less true. Christ alone is the path to God. His words are better than mine always, so I'll wrap it up with an excerpt from John's Gospel...

Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)

More in this series.

Grace Alone Faith Alone Christ Alone

Salvation: Faith Alone

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. ~ Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

Faith is a powerful thing. It is a miraculous thing. It is the hopeful belief in something that is beyond us for good or for ill.

Many people in the Bible demonstrated faith. You know people in your own life that no doubt demonstrate faith in something, even if it is something not altogether worthy of being a recipient of their faith. God is always a worthy recipient of our faith.

It is a simple acknowledgement placing your faith in God. It means developing a hopeful belief that He will, can, and has provided an alternative to your sinful nature. It is this faith at work in us that, when combined by the extended grace of God, ushers us into salvation.

Some would teach that you can only be saved by showing some outward sign, perhaps baptism, or the demonstration of some spiritual gift. It is my belief, and the clear point of this passage in Ephesians 2, that the only condition for salvation is faith. Simply put, you must acknowledge and want God alone as the source, recipient, and channel for your belief.

Faith is a many-faceted thing. It creates a mountain of possibilities in our lives, but its principle purpose is straight forward. Faith is the Holy Spirit working in our heart, mind, soul, and strength in a way that empowers us to trust in God beyond our own means. Grace alone from God received by Faith alone. That is salvation at work in us.

More in this series. Grace Alone Christ Alone

Salvation: Grace Alone

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. ~ Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

Grace is a gift of God. It is THE gift. By its very nature you cannot earn, pay, deserve, or trade for it. It is a gift. Grace is a miraculous blessing bestowed upon fallen man by a loving God. It is our undeserved rescue. Grace is God's good and generous gift to me. It is His good and generous gift to you. You can't fit it in a box, wrap it up in pretty paper, and tuck it under a tree to be opened on the day of your choosing.

Because of my sin I deserve death, eternal death, and separation from God. That's what I have earned. Because of grace I am given eternal life and wonderfully adopted into the family of God. Grace is the loving, willful, attribute of God which inexplicably overrides my incessant desire to sit on my life's throne. Grace is the lasting longing extension of God's loving goodwill to humanity. Grace is the invisible element which holds the stars to their course and keeps the laws of physics in check. Grace is the shadow of a whisper of joy at each unrealized potential devastation. It is the heartfelt loving embrace of Abba Father holding us back from the precipice of our own inclination toward destruction.

Grace alone, by grace alone, To reach the Father's heart, May be my prayer, this quiet hour, And find God's favor there.

More in this series. Faith Alone Christ Alone

Youer than You

I am always deeply saddened when I meet a young person that has written off their future because of their past. It is far too common. This quote from Dr. Seuss's "Birthday Book" hits the nail right on the head--pointing to an incredible spiritual truth we all too often overlook.

Our perspectives, understanding, and experiences are shaped by time. We are bound to time. The only day we have today is today. We only have the right now. The yesterdays are no more, and the tomorrows never will be. We are here today. What we experience, what we do, and how we feel, are all products of how we allow moments that are not right now affect us. Yes, you may have done something terrible some long ago yesterday, but that is not who you have to choose to be today. Even better! You can begin right now to set apart each new today, choosing to make it so that every tomorrow becomes a better today.

All of us feel this incredible pressure to be someone special. Too often we want to pour ourselves into the mold we feel destiny has shoved our way. Tragically, many people allow their mistakes to push them in that direction, and in the process become something deeply different than the wonderful masterpiece God had intended for them.

The truth is that God loves us, has provided reconciliation for all of our wrongdoing, and is longing to lovingly bring us back into the fold. When you look in the mirror and see the addict, liar, or any other number of things, God sees you. He sees the youest-you. He made you to be that kind of you, and no one else can do it. He wants you to be you in all of your joyous eccentricity. Be the youest you you can be. Let God shape how that plays out. After all, you were made in His image.