For
the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. Psalm 84:11(NLT)
Have you ever felt like things were just a little too
out of control? I’m sure anyone who has
lived with a two year-old in the house can identify with that feeling.
The past several weeks have been particularly that way
for me; no control!
·
Doctors – I love the people
who keep me put together and see to my needs when I’ve got misery…but lately it
seems every time I hiccup they order a heart transplant.
·
Paperwork – the people I’ve met
while applying for a Veteran’s Administration service-connected disability are
qualified and compassionate, but the forms required are measured by the ton.
·
Waiting Rooms – are related to doctor’s
offices and government offices like itch is related to a rash.
·
Fatigue – is related to all
of the aforementioned, and is tied to the radiation treatments I’m
undergoing…every…single...day!
When life’s events get out of control you feel
somewhat helpless/powerless to make choices; you find yourself going with the
flow and just hoping the fallout won’t be your brain falling-out and hitting
the floor. The past couple of months
I’ve had a front row seat to the meaning of the sarcastic saying:
God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things
before I die.
At the rate I’m going I will probably live to the age of 191!
Now, when life gets like all that…when you’re so
overwhelmed by your circumstances, and you feel like you just can’t take
another step, and you find yourself asking God, friends, family, and neighbors
for help over and over again…you have entered the grace & glory zone!
Let me tell you what I mean:
Grace is the stuff God hands out when you’ve nowhere
to turn; when life starts to unravel.
Scripture declares none of us can do anywhere near good enough to merit
God’s favor; we’re all sinners, and that means separation from God. But, in His grace, his lovingkindness, God
sent Jesus to be our salvation. His
blood cleanses us from all sin.
Grace, and…glory!
Glory is what God shares with no one – ever! The exception is His family. God’s plan for all who love Christ, and
accept by faith His grace-filled invitation to be drawn close to the throne as
God’s family will one day share in the glory of our God. The Psalmist said: No good thing will He withhold!
Grace and glory zone!
Here is the only requirement:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your
cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23b(NLT)
There is no such thing as serving two masters. If you will be a follower of Jesus, even you
can’t be the Master in your own life.
The disciples knew what Jesus was saying about crosses. Twenty years before there was a rebellion
against Roman authority in a little town called Sephoris.
A man named Varus, a Galilean farmer, organized the
farmers of the area into a rebellion army.
They attacked and killed all the Roman soldiers of the garrison at
Sephoris.
Rome sent in the armies, and scattered the armies of
Varus, about 10,000 men. Most of them
went back to farming. But the Romans
captured about 2,000 of them.
The historian, Josephus, records that they were going
to teach the rebels of Galilee a lesson not to be rebels. They took them, one by one, along the road
out of Sephoris, and crucified them.
They would put one on a cross, and then walk down the road until almost
out of sight, and then crucify another.
They went in every direction, North, East, South and
West; they went on every road out of Sephoris, all over Galilee, until they had
2,000 rebels on 2,000 crosses.
As you walked the roads of Galilee you were never out
of sight of a crucified rebel. None were
allowed to be taken down; they were to rot there on the crosses. If anyone took one down, another Galilean
citizen would take his place.
Jesus was a pre-teen when this happened. He lived less than a dozen miles from
Sephoris. He knew what he was saying
about taking up a cross.
Jesus is not interested in leaders and kings, or
people of great talent and abilities; He wants disciples who will give up their
lives.
Are you willing?
Are you really willing to step up and
offer your life in exchange for His?
That's what it means to have a God who isn’t small and
in a box; following a God like that is a big decision!
And that decision is what this table is about.
When you realize that life in this world is always
heading in the direction of doctor’s waiting rooms, requirements you can’t
meet, and frustration with being let down, left behind, pushed out, or crushed,
you are in a perfect position to enter the grace & glory zone.
And the key to the door of that zone is to give up
your life, and find His!
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