No Help!

Thursday, October 5, 2023

You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.  So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,  “Don’t handle!  Don’t taste!  Don’t touch!”?  Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.  These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.  But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.  

Colossians 2:20-23

Every rule created by humankind has helped and hurt!  This is true in businesses, communities, families, and any other kind of human interaction, particularly in government!  Rules are mostly created to limit bad results.  On the highways, properly signaling you’re about to make a turn is intended to help the other cars refrain from plowing into your car.  If you forget to signal, it creates confusion; worse, if you signal the opposite of what you’re going to do, signaling a right turn, and then you hang a sharp a left…well, the consequences could have mortal impact.  The rule against making noise in the library is meant to make concentrating on reading easier.  However, the rule should be loudly-violated if the library is on fire!  The rule in business of the customer is always right makes for a pleasant shopping experience…except if the customer pulls out a .45 caliber pistol and demands all the money. 

Properly-observed, rules serve a purpose, but only so far.  When they become bludgeons to manipulate others, it’s time to “rule-out” the rules, go back to square-one, and be ruled by a higher purpose.  This is Paul’s meaning about the world’s rules.  When Christ sets a soul free, to be guided by the higher bar of love, legalistic rule-following never measures-up!

Legalism in the Christian often manifests itself as ugly, cold-hearted cruelty.  You can’t touch that…don’t go there…and, for Heaven’s sake do not drink THAT! These probably have their origin in some higher purpose, but eventually must be put aside if they become idols, compelling us to rely on our personal self-denial, discipline, and skills.  When we worship what we do as being acceptable to God, we have lost all sense of what God really asks of us.  And what is that, which he requires?  Check out what Scripture says:

Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”  Joshua 22:5b

This is a Christian’s principle.  Serving God with all your heart and soul is looking beyond rules to the heart of God’s love and mercy.  This was what was wrong with the Pharisees.  In Matthew’s Gospel we find the Pharisees judging Jesus and his disciples for breaking rules; they were walking through a wheat field on a Sabbath day and were hungry.  They broke off some of the stems to nibble, and the Pharisees read them the riot act because they were breaking the Sabbath rules by “harvesting” wheat on the holy day.  Jesus told them:

But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’  Matthew 12:7

Paul educated the church folks at Rome to be this way:

Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.  Romans 12:9

For You Today 

So the principle comes down to this…don’t be a phony, breaking rules that are sensible commands of love that resonate with the heart of God, or by trying to manipulate others with rules that give you an edge.  Instead, let love be your rule…doing the best to others, for God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com                   

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Chains That Cannot Bind

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

During the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God.  So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure-house of his god.  Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.  “Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said.  “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace.  Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.”  The king assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens.  They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service.  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah.  The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar.  Hananiah was called Shadrach.  Mishael was called Meshach.  Azariah was called Abednego.  But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king.  He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.  Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel.  But he responded, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine.  If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded.”  Daniel spoke with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief of staff to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said.  “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food.  Then make your decision in light of what you see.”  The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.  At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.  So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.  God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom.  And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.  

Daniel 1:1-17

The most outstanding teaching from the story of the beginning of Daniel’s (and Israel’s) captivity by the king of Babylon (which is today’s Iraq), is that Daniel’s life, and the lives of his fellow Israelites, was hanging by a thread.  With complete power of life and death in his hand, Nebuchadnezzar could have easily put them to the noose, chopping block, or any of a thousand tortures.  In light of that it is amazing and an overwhelming inspiration for those who would look for a pattern to follow-after in life, that Daniel and friends humbled themselves and placed themselves squarely in God’s hands to determine the outcome, based solely on their obedience to God’s ways, rather than their circumstances, or surrounding culture.

For You Today

The culture in which you live is turning more apathetic towards God with every passing day.  It may be in your lifetime or not, but the challenge is turning-up the heat for those who would follow Christ.  Be careful to pray over the choices you make today.  Ask God to help you act like Daniel, honoring God with every step you take, thought you entertain, and activity in which you participate.  The world will try to put you in chains of their bondage, but God still honors the obedience of any who will bow in Heaven’s direction…the world’s chains cannot bind you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Getting On the Right Side of History

 

Friday, January 21, 2022

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

In writing to the Roman believers, Paul echoed the heartbeat of Moses, the lawgiver whom God used to set Israel free.  Moses was a man who learned the hard way (and maybe that’s why I admire the “M” man so much), how to serve and love God. 

Moses wanted, above all, to be on the right side of history.  He had a sense of justice that got him in trouble with people all the time, but had the stamp of God’s favor on what he did.  Born a nobody to Israelite parents in captivity to Egypt, Moses was in danger of being snuffed-out before his first birthday.  So, his mother set him adrift in a floating basket near the place where the Pharaoh’s daughter bathed.  The plan worked, and Moses Nobody was adopted and raised to be in the Seat of Power Somebody. 

Later, true-to-form, Moses got in trouble trying to break-up a fight and bring justice, but he was banished from his “somebody” position to life on the back-side of the dessert.  He spent the next 40 years being a “nobody”. 

But God was preparing Moses to serve; history would see the man born to be a nobody in obscurity, raised to kingly aspirations of the great somebody kind, exiled to less-than-obscurity, tending sheep, like an insignificant nobody, who finally became the kind of somebody who was willing to be a nobody, and could truly be called the friend of God.  It all came about because of what Paul would later describe as a surrender to God’s will.  Moses turned his back on the world’s ways, and accepted whatever God would require of him, life, limb, or reputation…and use every ounce of whatever strength God placed in his hands to serve the will of his Master.

Coming back to Egypt was what Moses saw as the test, but the real test was months before, in private, when the nobody from the Midian Dessert, who was a former somebody of Pharaoh’s household, took off his shoes in front of a bush that burned without burning-up, and surrendered to the will of the God who was so big He wasn’t named by anyone.  He just told Moses, I AM.

Getting on the right side of history has never meant winding up with the most toys, biggest bank account, or having people think your short existence on this planet was great.  It has everything to do with Who will be ruling long after this world’s leaders, cultures, current affairs, and movements are long-forgotten. 

For You Today

Moses was driven to find God’s will for his life, and the man born a nobody, became history’s somebody, because he was willing to give every bit of who he was in his human body to open his life to God’s plan. 

If that sounds like a plan to get on the right side of history to you, but it doesn’t describe where you are, or have been yet, remember, the bush never burned-up.  He still speaks, and He still loves, and you are still wanted.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

The Coming Judgment

 

Friday, March 5, 2021

"The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?  Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble?  Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.  So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.  The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgment comes forth perverted.... Habakkuk 1:1-4
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.  Then the Lord answered me and said:  Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.  For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie.  If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.  Look at the proud!  Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith."  Habakkuk 2:1-4

Habakkuk’s 6^th Century (BC) world was about to come crashing down around him.  It was a prosperous time, and yet disaster was brewing on the horizon.  God was about to empower the people whose ancestors were “God-haters” – Nimrod, Baal-worshiping pagans, idolaters.  These were the worst sinners on record, and God was going to give Jerusalem into their hands, lock, stock, and barrel. 

God was about to use the worst of humanity to punish his own beloved and peculiar nation, Israel, the descendants of Abraham. 

That seems a strange way to treat people you say you love!

And…America is on the same course if we continue to put aside our faith and dependency on God.  That seems a stranger way to treat our own future.

Our world is a lot like Habakkuk’s Israel.  There is violence, wrong-doing, strife, and a sense that justice and judgment are perverted. 

Places like Darfur, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan conjure up immediate dark images of suffering against the backdrop of a world consuming itself in selfishness.  Who wouldn’t want to question God about the fairness of conditions like these?

·       For one, people who are selfishly responsible for the conditions

·       For another, people who have given-up on trusting God

·       For a third, people who’ve decided that cancel culture is the way to end everything that is a perceived injustice.  It’s imagining evil will fade into the darkness if we just get people to stop saying bad stuff.

Habakkuk hadn’t given-up on God.  Like Job, Habakkuk was concerned and anxious that God would act to change things, not just for Habakkuk, personally, but for his nation, Israel.  Habakkuk also didn’t consider, for one minute, turning anywhere else but to God for his answers.  That’s the meaning of “the righteous live by their faith”.  True faith in God understands we are totally dependent on him – and we put him first!

And what was God’s answer?  “Read my lips” – no – READ MY LIPS!   God said, you can write this down, Habakkuk…and use big block letters so even a messenger on the fly passing by can pick it up clearly…set it in stone, Habakkuk…let everyone know these three things:

·       The Kingdom will come

·       The arrogant proud won’t be happy when it happens

·       Those who are on my side will live dependent on me; they won’t look for help in anything or anybody else.

For You Today

What’s stranger about us today is that we don’t seem concerned enough about what’s coming to turn back to God. 

May He forgive us, and help us!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

His Word Over the World

 

Thursday, March 4, 2021

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. 
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  
The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. 
The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.  They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.  They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.  They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?  Cleanse me from these hidden faults.  Keep your servant from deliberate sins!  Don’t let them control me.  Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.  Psalm 19:7-14

Like layers of blessing, the instructions, decrees, commandments, commands, and law of the Lord, bring reviving of the soul, wisdom, joy, and insight in daily living that is lasting, sweet, and a great reward for accepting them in word and deed, in heart and hand. 

God’s Word is the key to a life of blessing.  By contrast, disregarding God’s Word is a foolproof method for destroying a life.  Solomon, son of King David, author of this Psalm, spent a lifetime checking out this formula.  He tried virtually everything that promised happiness, fulfillment, and joy, apart from what God had decreed in His Word, and found every bit of it “vanity” or emptiness.

Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.  Ecclesiastes 1:8

Oddly, and sadly, despite a mountain of experience to the contrary, the world’s culture manages to convince itself that mankind knows better than God.  The result is chasing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.  In typical human arrogance we imagine there is some new way that will be better than obeying God’s ways.

It would be impossible in the space of this five-minute devotional to recount even a sampling of our incredible miscalculations in trying to make God and His Word obsolete, obscure, and unprofitable, but here are two front-burner examples:

Sexuality

God’s Word, decrees, laws, and just plain common, mathematical, logical, way is heterosexuality, within the relationship of marital fidelity.  When a Biblical approach to life[1], family, and sexuality are upheld, life is more on the joyful side than painful.  Read that:  less drama, more fulfillment.   

In contrast, the world’s way is anything goes, with sexual promiscuity and libido   (sexual desire) as the only judge of what is good or healthy.  To cut to the chase in the “results” department…the end of such is pretty much just plain heartbreak.

Politics

Of late, but not new, humans experiment with how to socially engineer community to create the next great world order.  In America that experiment occurs every 2 to 4 years; we call it democratic elections.  We choose who will govern us.  Truth be told we vacillate, wildly-so, between extremes.  In 2016 we elected Donald Trump; in 2020 it was Joe Biden.  Extremes between the left and right, both with enough personal baggage and agenda to keep the pundits happy and employed until the next go-round.

Cutting to the blunt and sane decree, command of God, our political flags ought to be run up this pole:

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:  to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

For You Today

This culture’s ways, or God’s ways…you just can’t have both.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] A “Biblical approach” is not the media and atheistic caricatured version; it is marriage and family life which mutually undergirds the principles of love, with accountability to God.

The Danger of Swimming Upstream

 

Monday, January 18, 2021

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.  How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness?  How can light live with darkness?  What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?  How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?  And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God.  As God said:  “I will live in them and walk among them.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.  Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.  And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.  2 Corinthians 6:14-18

If there is any species on earth that could tell you about how tough it is to swim upstream, against the current, just ask some salmon; they’re born, live for two or three years at home in their river, then go on a two, to three-year journey in the oceans.  If they make it that far they develop the urge to go back home.  The complete round-trip may be 6,000 miles, capped off by an upstream final push against strong rushing waters to do one of two things, spawn and die, or get eaten by a bear.  Life can be tough! 

Salmon live and reproduce on the strength of sheer numbers.  Those that do make it past the bears spawn so many offspring the expectation of their continuation as a species is understandable.  At times I wonder if the continuation of the church (as we know it) is as certain as salmon.  Unlike the resolve of salmon, willing to swim upstream, against the current, and in the face of waiting bears, the church seems to have little of that fortitude to press-on to glory, even if it means getting eaten in the process.  The common denominator in the church these days is of self-preservation and fitting-in with the world’s ways – not “otherliness” which is a rarely used word, meaning “holy” or “separate”.  That’s a God-word, hagios in Greek, the condition of being “other” or set-aside from the norm…for God’s purposes, which is far different from being worldly or common.

Almost a decade ago I wrote in a Rocky Road Devotion about being separate, hagios, or holy…the state of swimming upstream, against the tide of popular culture:

Being separate isn’t about being self-sufficient, go-it-alone, John Wayne tough; anything but!  Separation is more about living a life consistent with Christian values, so you don’t have to “go it alone”.  Life lived in-Christ is a life that often turns its back on the most popular thoughts and activities this world offers.[1]

The call of Jesus for His bride, the church, to be hagios, holy, or separated from worldliness, is not a call to judge others, but to get our own house in order.  It is to follow the inner call/guidance of God’s Spirit, much the way salmon follow that inner-directive to swim towards home. 

Our call, as disciples of Jesus Christ, is upward, holy, hagios…to be separately-guided by God’s Word and Spirit.  To do otherwise would be like light and darkness settling down together to coexist. 

For You Today

Seasons change, conditions, presidents, economy, entertainment…all of it comes and goes.  The call of Christ remains…follow me!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on this text see Separate and Emptying the Church      

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[1] From an older Rocky Road post “Separate”

 

Something to Weep About

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You may never have entertained this thought or been troubled about it…or, perhaps, you’re like me and have often wondered about Israel in God’s plans.  The 12 Tribes are, after all, God’s special and treasured possession.  They serve a central role in Sovereign Yahweh’s hands to bring His message of hope, and His message of judgment to the world.  However (and this is my troubling thought), as followers of Jesus Christ, embracing the cross, with an uncompromising belief that there is only one way to approach God[1], and that through placing your faith in Jesus, how does that square with God’s embracing Israel, which denies the deity of the Son?

Admittedly, when I wonder about this, I always feel a little like Peter after the resurrection when Jesus tells Peter about how the future will not be kind to him, and the impetuous disciple questions Jesus about John’s future.

Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?  As for you, follow me.” John 21:22

The rebuke…it’s none ‘o your business, son…is stark, and meant to be.  Peter’s question borders on challenging God’s plans, which is to challenge God’s sovereignty.  Peter was headstrong, which is the beginning of the downward spiral leading to separation between human and God.  Peter had to learn that responding with your emotions before putting your brain to work never really ends well.

The Apostle Paul’s brain always seemed to be on the job.  For me, Paul’s answer, concerning Israel’s place in prophecy and God’s eternal plans, are enough to put my questioning to rest. 

And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.  For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”  Romans 9:27-28

Revelation[2] pictures 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel as being redeemed in the end.  That 144,000 is less than 2% of the 8.3 million population of Israel today, and 1 out of 100 if you consider an estimated 14-15 million Jews globally.

For me, this fits together with the point held by many Bible scholars, that, at the end, these are those who once rejected Christ, but now accept Him as Lord, Messiah, the anointed One of the lineage of David.  In their hearts they crown him King of Kings.

For You Today

Jesus told Peter not to worry about what plans God has for other believers, it was Peter’s job to follow Jesus, not approve of Jesus’ leadership.  This is especially important for us with plagues, natural disasters (can we say earthquake, North Carolina?), or any of the wars, famine, and other pandemics.  These are but the beginning of Christ’s new day.  Hear it from Jesus’ own testimony:

So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”  Luke 21:28

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this text see:  Burning the Bridge of Integrity 

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[1] Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

[2] See Revelation 7:4 & 14:1-3

 

The Double-Edged Sword of Adoption

 

Friday, May 29, 2020

Romans 8:14-17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.  Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.  Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  And since we are his children, we are his heirs.  In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.  But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

I learned many years ago that, when it comes to parenting, there is nothing stronger than adoption.  A natural birth carries with it parental rights and responsibilities, for both the parent and (eventually) the child.  This is also true in adoption.  However, as we have seen the move to allow children the right to emancipate from parents, and the rights of parents to disown children, there is a marked and different finality to adoption that makes it nearly impossible for adoptive parents to disassociate themselves from the child they received. 

This concept is immeasurably magnified in the spiritual realm.  When God adopts you as His own, it is enternal and unbreakable.  And it is on a much deeper level than legality.  God’s own Spirit takes up residence within his adopted family to knit together the divine and human.  God’s word declares this to be true, and reminds us it takes a sharp sword to slice that thinly, the distance between what separates us from God as simply His created beings, loaded with free will…dangerously so…and the life that has been surrendered to the adoptive process, as accepted in the beloved family of Jesus Christ.  Yet, that is exactly what God’s Word promises:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 ^(KJV)

And, as we are on the matter of God’s adoptive ways, and the issue of God as parent of us all creative-wise, and God as parent adoption-wise, shall we not also consider the twoedged sword of privilege and responsibility sharpness-wise?

The privileges are well-known, God’s promises for today, and eternal life to boot.  But the responsibilities are just as well known, and just on the other side of the sharp blade.  To be a child, accepted, never disowned, and beloved, is a rare gift, and to be greatly treasured.  To honor that gift is the other side of the sharp sword, namely, responsibility.  For those who take lightly that for which God has shed His own blood, is to tread in dangerous paths.  Yet, today we see so much of that. 

      ·       Commitment has become as vile a word as change

      ·       Discipleship sinks into channel surfing on a Sunday to satisfy itchy ears

      ·       Tithe is a word relegated to all other antiquated, outdated ideas

      ·       …and the list continues, ad nauseum.

And so, a word to those who have truly been adopted.  Accept the Father like He accepted you.  And the best way to demonstrate that is with a life that is lived in honor of the name you claim.

Let’s Pray Together

Lord, we can think of nothing more offensive to the gift you have given of your holy child, Jesus’ death and resurrection, than for those of us who claim to be His followers to live like the world teaches.  Help us keep pushing on to perfecting our living in love, and so honor You in all we do.

For You Today

Here’s a new tattoo for those hands – Will what I do with these honor God?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on Romans 8:14 see A Little More Light and for “Adoption” as a theme see Nearly Abandoned