Live as Heavenly Citizens

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Renounce Everything for Christ

Philippians 3:17-4:1 The Message

17-19 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
20-21 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting for the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.
4 My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don’t waver. Stay on track, steady in God.

For Reflection

Just watch your tongue. Make sure that your actions are consistent with the way of Jesus Christ. Avoid getting hung up in the false promises of Christian pretenders. Test everything by the rule of love before you embrace it.  Selflessness in more difficult than selfishness but far more rewarding.

Pray

Pray so that you will make your path toward grace easier.  Pray and listed the whispered words of encouragement and counsel.

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Boast in Jesus Christ

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Renounce Everything for Christ

Philippians 3:1-6 The Message

To Know Him Personally

3 And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God!
I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.
2-6 Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.

For Reflection

Though I sometimes get in trouble for it and many times I weaken, My two life rules have been, "Make it all fun and if it ain't fun, don't do it." and "Never work with unpleasant people. They suck the energy right out of you. Just give them a lick and a promise and get outta there!" (I am often surprised by how many people become more pleasant.) 

I should have added, "Steer clear of the barking dogs." They make life a misery. On the other hand, there may be a ring of truth in their mischief. While they are disruptive,  perhaps if one listens to what is underpinning their worrisome prattle, one may find a way to love them too.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to perceive others as God sees them.  Pray so that you can escape from life's distractions.

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Pauls Solid Credentials

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Renounce Everything for Christ

2 Corinthians 11:21-33 The Message

Many a Long and Lonely Night

16-21 Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by the desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28-29 And that’s not the half of it. When you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches or when someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
30-33 If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

For Reflection

I have walked in your shoes.  I have worked hard, and been incarcerated, flogged, stoned, and shipwrecked.  I have fended off robbers, and struggled with friends and foes.   I have taken great risk and been betrayed by those I trusted.  All of this I have suffered in my service to the Lord.

So, don't tell me I don't know what you have gone through. When you reach the end of your rope, I feel the desperation.  When one backslides, anger drives me toward justice, forgiveness, and grace.  All of this suffering is a good thing for it motivates me to be more like Christ.  Such pain will result in spiritual growth for you as well. If you stop whining and playing the victim, you will rise out of your troubles and grow into Grace.

Paul's words should resonate in our souls. Your life can become a journey into peace.

Pray

Pray so that you can transcend your human suffering and grow into the divine grace of God.

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Persistent Faith

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Renounce Everything for Christ

Mark 7:24-30 The Message

24-26 From there Jesus set out for the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn’t think he would be found, but he couldn’t escape notice. He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging for help. The woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter.
27 He said, “Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there’s any left over, the dogs get it.”
28 She said, “Of course, Master. But don’t dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?”
29-30 Jesus was impressed. “You’re right! On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone.” She went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good.

For Reflection

This story also appears in Matthew 15:21-31 in much the same version.  We often focus on Christ's silence, refusal or reproach. God often does not answer our petition immediately. The refusal and the rebuke may have been Christ's way of testing the sincerity of the woman's faith.  Her persistence proved the validity of her faith.

But in Matthew, the story is also about the culturally embedded expectations of the Jews and is reflected in the responses of the disciples.  They came complaining to Jesus about the woman's apparent loud and persistent approach.  They wanted Jesus to grant her request and dismiss her.

The disciples only wanted to be rid of her. In some ways, their response to this woman's plea was harsher than Christ's silence. She, after all, was a gentile. Gentiles or Pagans were commonly called dogs by the Jews. Perhaps Christ's demeanor and choice of words were directed at teaching the disciples a lesson by reflecting their perception of who was worthy to receive the favor of Christ.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to respond compassionately and sharing the gift of Grace with all people. 

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Envoys of Ministry in Christ's Mission

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Devote All to Christ

Philippians 2:19-30 The Message

19-24 I plan (according to Jesus’ plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal,and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy’s the real thing. He’s been a devoted son to me as together we’ve delivered the Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off. And then I’m hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
25-27 But for right now, I’m dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend andcompanion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I’m sending him to help you out. He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he’s been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine. He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him—he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
28-30 So you can see why I’m so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you’ll rejoice and how relieved I’ll be. Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give. Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren’t able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.

For Reflection

As Christians grow into Grace, they continue the work that God began through Christ.  To study the word and discuss it in the companionship with other Christians is essential.  No less necessary is reading and examining divergent understandings of the meaning of God and Christ.

Challenging one's own Christian ideas, beliefs, values, and attitudes deepen and enrich your Christian faith. One should embrace differences not fear them. Unity in Christ does not mean uniformity.

Pray

Challenge your Chrisian beliefs and action in prayer. Pray so that you can grow closer to God's will.

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Serve and Work for God's Pleasure

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Devote All to Christ

Philippians 2:12-18 The Message

Rejoicing Together

12-13 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
14-16 Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.
17-18 Even if I am executed here and now, I’ll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ’s altar, a part of your rejoicing. But turnabout’s fair play—you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for me.

For Reflection

As a child of God, you will endure the troubles of life because you are human.  You will experience times of sorrow, anger, resentment, frustration, loneliness, hatefulness, hopelessness, grief, happiness, and joy. God will share in your pleasure and pain. But as a child of God, you will also move through life with confidence in the promise of God that all things work for good.

You see the world differently. You perceive the beauty of your existence, the sustenance in the fellowship of good people. You will find satisfaction in working for justice.  With your actions, you will carry the light of the Holy Spirit and witness to the love of the living God.  You will find rest in the midst of chaos.
This transformation is your salvation.

Pray

Take time each day to pray about all things.so that you will rest in the loving hands of God.

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Learning Obedience through Suffering

Our Love for God

Loving God by Trusting Christ

Devote All to Christ

Hebrews 5:1-10 The Message

5 1-3 Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins should be able to deal gently with their failings, since he knows what it’s like from his own experience. But that also means that he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the peoples’.
4-6 No one elects himself to this honored position. He’s called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you!” In another place God declares, “You’re a priest forever in the royal order of Melchizedek.”
7-10 While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.

For Reflection

None of us are perfect. From time to time, we all suffer the consequence of our human condition and frailties.  It is when we are frustrated the most that we turn to God. We expect God to solve our problems and complain when a divine intervention does not occur.

But all of us are complete in the eyes of God. We have been born with the capacity to endure and conquer life's curve balls. We can choose how we will respond. Shall we lose sight of the dancing ball, swing, and miss? Or do we glue our attention to the direction we want the ball to go when hit?

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to handle the twists of human life.  Pray so that you can anticipate the promise of a loving God that all things will work for good.

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