Thought for the Day: "No one is good except God alone" (Mark 10:18)

One possible explanation to the question: Why did God create man?

If God is complete and perfect, and being sovereign, God knew that we would fail to meet his standards and choose to obey him, then why create a creature doomed to failure?  While this is the way many view this conundrum, consider this:  If the ultimate end of all things is to glorify God, the only true Good and Perfect One, our inability to be perfect and righteous is further proof that He alone is holy.  He is the always-existing, all-creating, all knowing God that magnified His perfect goodness and holiness in creating a creature that would have to be rescued.  There is none like him, and he sent his Son to demonstrate just how different from all else he is.  All humans, from Adam to us, have been given the choice to choose God or anything else.  And guess what?  We all chose anything else.  We all chose wrong.  So it is amazing that he would send a rescuer, His Son, for any human that otherwise has no chance to be in the presence of the Holy God.  We are all separated from Him because of our rejection of him, in our pride, in our selfishness, in our attempted self-dependence.  He alone is good, and all He does is good, and He found it good to redeem his creation of God-rejecters through the sacrifice of his own son Jesus to bring us back to Him.  That is love, and that is good.  All praise to our Holy God.

Thought for the Day: Peace and Purpose

From Twelve Clean Pages by Nika Maples:

"If Jesus is just a man to us, our anguish means nothing. Life is empty. We are empty. Therefore, we must choose to cultivate belief, to bring in a mighty harvest, during our living moments--the fertile season when we seem to need it the least. For in the drought of our dying days, faith will be our food. And we will be full."

This is a wonderful book so far, especially for anyone who has suffered, and I know there are many.  Reading this book (currently on p. 77) has made me think more about happiness v. peace...

Happiness is a

Feeling, transient at best

Joy is more a choice

It can stand a test

But peace is a gift from God

When all is reeling

...Because Jesus isn't just a man...

1 Corinthians 15:19-22, 55-58 "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ..."O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Thought of the Day: Election

Election--what we do to choose who leads us. 

Election--what God does when he chooses us to be led by him.

Thought of the Day: Chaos

"Entropy in an information system is the natural tendency to move from order to disorder. The ultimate result is chaos."

The idea of entropy was first established in the laws of thermodynamics by physicists attempting to describe chaotic things happening in a given system, and how long they could expect this chaos to continue before reaching some kind of equilibrium (not the best definition, I'm sure, but I paraphrase; hopefully no physicist will leave hate comments below).  However, the quote above was taken from a business article (by Mark A. Coudray, found here: http://www.screenweb.com/content/systems-order-entropy-and-chaos-why-its-so-hard-keep-things-running-smoothly#.USti7TK9Kc). It, along with the laws of thermodynamics, talks about how we have to put work into a system to prevent the loss of energy, and prevent the increase of chaos.

Physicists and businessmen, mathematicians and simple observers of nature can discern that disorder and chaos runs rampant through all systems (meteors fragmenting through our atmosphere, cancer, rust, rot, etc.).  And moms--how about laundry and toys constantly ending up in chaos in our closed systems (houses)?  My chaos has yet to reach its equilibrium state, but then again, there's a red-headed two-year-old acting as an entropy object lesson for the time being.  I mean, talk about having to put work into a system to prevent chaos!  

Anyway, thanks to aforementioned physicists and businessmen, mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, and a host of other experts and professionals, most of these things can be explained to some degree, yet they cannot be completely prevented.  Chaos happens.

So what do we do?  Despair?  At first glance, perhaps we should.  Many cancers have been treated, but a complete cure has not been found, and it is certainly a long way from being altogether eradicated.  We could send probes into deep space, but still never be able to prevent a meteor from crashing through our atmosphere when its path intersects ours (although it does provide material for some questionable sci-fi and action movie plots--I'm talking about you, writers of 1998's Armageddon).  Additionally, all these problems of chaos and more can ultimately be explained as effects of sin in the world, or the fall of man, so we are all then culpable for the state in which we find ourselves.  But are we left to perish in this darkness?  (The answer is no, but read on for proof...)

"He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:13-17

Did you catch that?  "By Him all things hold together."  And again, He "sustains all things by His powerful word."  (Hebrews 1:3)

"In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it." John 1:1-5

So all things were created through Jesus, He is our life, and darkness cannot overcome Him.  How's that for overcoming despair in the midst of darkness and chaos?  God not only created all things through Jesus, sustains and holds all things together through Jesus, but in Jesus is also making all things new!  "Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. Then the One seated on the throne said, 'Look! I am making everything new.' He also said, 'Write, because these words are faithful and true.'" (Revelation 21:3-5)  

"In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." (2 Corinthians 5:19)  And when we are reconciled to Him in Christ, He makes us new too: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation...not counting their trespasses against them." (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)  So no longer is the law of chaos, spawned by our sin, our ultimate plight.  “For our sake, [God] made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

So God, through Jesus, created all things; sustains, and holds all things together by the word of His power; and redeems His creation from chaos and His people out of darkness, "so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  We have all had a part in the chaos of the universe, and certainly in our own finite lives, but God sovereignly orders it all, to the glory of His righteousness.  Be reconciled to Him through Jesus today, dear brothers and sisters.  Live in chaos no more.

Thought of the Day: Shifting

"But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:49

There is no shiftier ground upon which to build our lives than that of people's opinion and approval, and yet so many of us (especially me) do it daily.  Rather, our foundation is to be built on Jesus, our "perfect gift from above, coming fown from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." James 1:17

God has no variation or shifting shadow resulting from change.  His approval of us is based only on his approval of his son, Jesus, and He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

God is no regarder of persons (Acts 10:34), so why should I fear what any man can do to me (Psalm 118:1-9)?

Thought of the Day: Unsearchable

As I hold my head with a pounding headache this morning, I begin to laugh.  Not my normal response, mind you, and certainly not when under the weather, but it just occurred to me that all I have at my human disposal for comprehending the one infinite and eternal God is a wrinkled organ housed in a fragile orb that I can hold in the width of my hand.  It's comical, really.

This quickly led me to a brief survey of the use of the word "unsearchable" in the ESV (copied and pasted from biblegateway.com):

Job 26:14:
"Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

And from Job 36:
²² Behold, God is exalted in his power;
    who is a teacher like him?
²³ Who has prescribed for him his way,
    or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’? 
²⁴ “Remember to extol his work,
    of which men have sung.
²⁵ All mankind has looked on it;
    man beholds it from afar.
²⁶ Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
    the number of his years is unsearchable.


Or Psalm 145:1-3:

1 I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

From Isaiah 40:28:
"Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable."

Then there's the end of Romans 11:
³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
³⁵ “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

And finally, for now, the words of Paul in Ephesians 3:
⁸ To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, ¹⁰ so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. ¹¹ This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Did you catch that last one?  The eternal purpose of God was that through Christ Jesus our Lord, the church (that's us who believe in and completely depend on Jesus for access to relationship with God) would make the manifold wisdom of God known to the rulers and authorities in heaven?!  Now that's crazy to me.  And yet, we've come full circle.  What's completely incomprehensible to me is somehow made comprehensible by God through Jesus, and not just to us finite humans, but to the rulers of heaven, too.  Simply amazing.

Praise God for condescending to my level of understanding through the Holy Spirit and the work of Jesus so that I can grasp anything of him at all. Without Jesus being both "The Author and Perfecter of our faith" I would truly have no chance at all of fitting such a great God into my infinitesimally small box of human logic or reasoning. Again, laughable.

Thank you God for loving me in a way that allows me to understand any measure of you. Even that much is cause for me to stand (and simultaneously crumble to the floor) in awe of the glory that is You. Amen.

Thought of the Day: Funeral March

I laughed a little to myself when I heard my four-year-old explain that upon hearing Chopin's funeral march on a cartoon, he erroneously concluded that one character was trying to sing another to sleep. But no sooner had I begun chuckling than I was reminded we are not so different in all of our grown-up-ness. This verse came to mind, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." (Proverbs 14:12)  How often am I misled into thinking something is harmless, to later find out it was leading me down a path of destruction, even to death?  How often have I mistaken a funeral march for a lullaby?

Thank you again, Lord, for teaching me through your word, and through my precious children. Help me hear your truth always, and help me seek out your ways instead of destructively plotting my own. Amen. 

Thought of the Day, from 12/28/12: Clouds

So there aren't many cloudy wintry days here in south Texas, but today, as I was driving home from work, the low grey wintry clouds of a very blustery day parted for a small space to reveal the clear blue vibrant sky ever-present behind them.  What a reminder that however dense our current view, obstructed by oppressive daily struggles, sufferings, strains, and sins, there is an always present, much greater reality beyond it all.  This world is fallen and broken, and will remain so, because of the sin of man, until Christ returns, death dies, and the new Jerusalem descends from heaven.  Can you see the clear blue sky?  The kingdom of heaven is at hand; don't miss the sky for the clouds.

Thought of the Day, from 11/7/12: Authority

What a privilege to be able to vote, but what a privilege that my reality is not changed by its outcome.  Praying for the authorities that God has placed over us, all to the glory of His name. 

Thought of the Day: Safety v. Obedience

"Playing it safe" is just self-centered self-preservation, leading ultimately to self-annihilation.  "Playing it safe" is no safety at all.  Lord keep me from seeking the false security of any "safety" outside of you. Amen.

And a paraphrase from Pastor Jess' sermon yesterday, "Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience."

Another Thought of the Day: Guilt As an Idol

As ridiculous as this thought might initially seem, I think that we can easily make an idol out of our guilt over our sin. 

Conviction of sin through the Holy Spirit leads us to confession and repentance from sin, leading to forgiveness of sin made possible only through the substitutionary act of Jesus Christ on our behalf, which has its glorious end result in right relationship with God eternally. Every step of this process is a God-given gift. However, when we halt the process anywhere along the way (conviction, confession, repentance, forgiveness from God through Christ, but failing to grow in right relationship with God) our feelings over our sin become of greater prominence in our minds than the God whom we've sinned against. Repentance from sin is a result of, and meant to lead us to, the overwhelming grace of our God. (Romans 2:4)

There is nothing new or unique about any of our sin.  Put it in its place, at the foot of cross, and do not pick it up again. And by the grace of God, we will.  To God alone be the glory.

Thought of the Day: Drawn to Redemption, Led to Repentance

Third verse and chorus of "How He Loves", as performed by David Crowder Band 

"We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way 

"He loves us
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so
How he loves" 

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4

Thought of the Day, from 1/13/13: Idols

There is no benefit in holding tightly to idols that cannot sustain, nor their positions maintain.

Thought of the Day, from 1/14/13: Perfection

It is simply inaccurate to expect perfection from a Christian (on this side of eternity). That is what his Savior is for. Expectations of perfection in anyone besides Jesus Christ will only lead to broken relationships, either between the Christian and his brother, or the Christian and his God.

On the flip side, repentance from sin, and grace in forgiveness can and should be expected. Our relationship with God and with our fellow man are of primary importance (see the "greatest commandments" in Matthew 22:37-40). *Note: "his" is not intended to be an exclusive personal pronoun, but an inclusive one, covering us females, too. We moms can be the worst at this, especially on ourselves. Today, grace.

Another Thought of the Day, from 12/30/12: The Law

Just finished watching Les Mis, and all I have to say is...


With all the Law's demanding, all it can do is point us to our utter dependence on the Gospel. There is no hope for mercy to be found in the requirements of the Law, only in its giver, our Holy God who freely gives both grace and justice in His Son Jesus.

Thought of the Day, from 12/30/12: The Trinity

"For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God." 2:9


We enjoy the Trinity only as those redeemed from under the law...


"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Gal. 4:4-7

Thought of the Day, from 12/1/12: Love for God

"Jesus doesn't need you to be interested to wreck shop on your heart." -Matt Chandler


Praise the Lord that even our desire for God is a gift from him. We cannot earn love for him with our actions, or even manufacture genuine love for him. Help us love you Lord, and when we (I) don't, give us (me) the desire to even want to love you. Amen.

Thought of the Day, from 11/1/12: Parenthood

Lord, I really want to be a more gracious, patient mother. ...it's just that these 3 kids you gave me are so exhausting. :)

...And while I don't say things like this to their faces, I know my kids can tell when I've lost perspective of what's truly important and how much of a blessing they are to me every day. Lord, seriously, let me comprehend the brevity of my time with these precious ones, and make me a good steward of all the moments and gifts you've given us. Let me sow richly and meaningfully into their lives now, and show me what that should look like specifically for our family. We are so blessed by you. Thank you.

Thought of the Day: Joy to the World

More and more often, I am shocked at how mindlessly I sing hymns, carols, and other songs written to glorify the name of our great God.  How many of us remember this third, and oh-so-important, verse of  "Joy to the World" (lyrics below)?  I sure didn't.  This, among many reasons, is why church, and being a member of a body of believers, is so important.  Other Christians (including, but not limited to, our preachers) are often the mouthpiece of God into our lives.

So why is this third verse of this song so important?  Jesus broke the curse!  ...Actually multiple curses: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.'  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'  But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.^'  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:10-14) 

Therefore, the ground no longer bears thorns for us, as it has since the fall of man: "And to Adam he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"  To dust we will return, but in Christ we will live again and forever!  Now that is Christmas!  To God alone be the glory!

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Merry Christmas!

Thought of the Day: Heavy Hearted, But Hopeful

"Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them."  (Deuteronomy 11:16)  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  (Jeremiah 17:16)  Also, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."  Proverbs 14:12 AND Proverbs 16:25, in case I didn't catch it the first time.  "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."  (Proverbs 16:18)  Lord, help!

So what is the remedy provided to the first instruction "take care lest your heart be deceived"?  It is found in the same chapter of Deuteronomy 11, verse 13: "Obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."  And the antidote to pride and haughtiness that leads me to death?  "Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord." (Proverbs 16:20)  Lord, increase my obedience, increase my faith, and increase my love for you.  I am unable, and my mind and heart deceive me to death, literally.  Create in me a new heart, O God, and give me grace and wisdom to understand your Word.  In you alone, Jesus, do I have any hope in this life or the one to come.  Thank you for this promise in the midst of despair: "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."  (Ezekiel 36:26-27 AND Ezekiel 11:19, in case I didn't catch it the first time.)

Why does God do this?  "It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel."  (Ezekiel 36:32)  No, it is not ultimately for us that God heals us or our land.  It is so that "Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord... I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.  ...Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 36:36, 38b)  Again, why has God blessed us or chosen us at all?  "...to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Christ)."  To God alone be the glory.  Therein, and there alone, does (and always should) my hope rest.