Memories
of my younger school days are not thoughts that I cherish. With a melancholy
personality and a quiet, almost withdrawn manner, I grew up lonely,
unintelligent, unpopular, unattractive and a social misfit.
I
tried to fit in, but I was tall for my age, skinny and awkward, and I had long,
stringy hair. However, in high school, I decided to make friends with people
who shared my principles about life, and my life turned around.
I
had more dates than I could accept, wrote for the school newspaper and worked
on the yearbook staff, went to the Senior Prom at two different schools, and I
accepted a marriage proposal from my twelfth grade sweetheart.
He
went into the Green Beret and served in Viet Nam, and I went to our local
junior college. At the Baptist Student Union on the college campus, I met the
Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. My fiancé and I grew apart and eventually broke
up.
Then,
I met a young man at the BSU; and a year later, we married, started a family,
and initiated a twenty-year union in service to the Lord. Yet, I harbored
disappointment and resulting resentment in my heart, because my soul was still full
of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23: 27).
Paul
struggled with getting free from the flesh too. What he wanted to do, he could
not seem to do. What he did not want to do, he did; and he despaired of being
delivered (Romans 7:14-23). Then he had a revelation from God. “Thanks be to
God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Paul
teaches us that we do not receive the Spirit by keeping the law, but by
believing in Christ. Therefore, we do not deserve God's love because we obey
Him, read the Bible more, pray harder, fast longer, serve in a multitude of
church ministries, and witness to more people (Galatians 3:1-5).
God
loves it when His people come to the realization that we cannot earn our way to
heaven (Ephesians 2:8-10). When we cast our life on Jesus, He graciously
receives us with all of the love and mercy that He demonstrated for us by
suffering His horrifying death on the cross.
Prayer:
Father
God, even though our salvation is secure in Christ, with the down payment of
Your Holy Spirit within us, we still suffer in this life (Romans 7:24;
Ephesians 1:14). Jesus guarantees that we will agonize at times, but He
encourages us to remember that He abides within us, and He already overcame the
world (John 16:33).
Help
us to realize that without You, we can do nothing (John 5:30); but with You,
all things are possible (Philippians 4:13). Set us free from bondage to the
flesh and remind us that sin is not our master. We no longer live under the
requirements of the law, but we enjoy the freedom of Your grace to walk in
righteousness and to pursue holiness. Remind us that we live out our faith by
walking in the guidance of Your Spirit.
Thought
for the Day:
In
Christ, "we live and move and have our being,” because Jesus accomplished
everything we need for justification, sanctification and glorification when He
sacrificed His life for us all; God gave us the free gift of justification and
He gets all of the glory.
-
Acts 17:28; John 19:30; Romans 8:33; Ephesians 1:19-21
