“To Redeem the Worst”

Today is Friday, September 22, 2017. Day 21,743. First day of Autumn, 2017! 20 days until our 32nd anniversary!

Tommy Lasorda, who was born on this date in 1927, said, “There are three types of baseball players: Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happens.”
BrainyQuote

Word of the Day

Deciduous ~ “shedding the leaves annually, as certain trees and shrubs.”

My holiday page isn’t working today, so I can’t tell you what kind of special day this is.

I’m taking my car to the dealership for oil maintenance on the way to work, this morning, so I have to move on to the important stuff. Real quickly, I’ll say that the Rangers won, the Angels lost, and the Twins won. So the Rangers didn’t gain any on the Twins, but they are now tied with the Angels, 2.5 games behind the Twins for the wild card, with an elimination number of 8.

I think I feel better this morning, but I feel congestion in my chest. We’ll see what the day holds.

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS
All Scriptures are from the ESV unless otherwise noted

(From The Divine Hours)

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! 
Psalm 105:4
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace.
O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
Psalm 69:5
When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
Psalm 65:3
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Luke 11:33-36
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Psalm 51:1-4

(From Practice Resurrection)

We are still pondering the fact that Paul calls us saints. We aren’t really, you know as well as I do, saints “in any conventional sense. . . . Adultery and addiction, gossip and gluttony, arrogance and propaganda, sexual abuse and self-righteousness are as likely to occur–even flourish–in congregations of Christians as in any school or college, any bank or army, any government or business.” Nevertheless, Paul hesitates not to call us saints.

And you know what? It has always been this way. You can look at the churches to which Paul wrote in the New Testament and find the same kind of troubles that we experience today. “But God, it seems is not squeamish about keeping company with the worst and the vile. He goes to work each day to redeem the worst.”

And I for one, am eternally grateful for that!

Father, I thank you that you work daily to “redeem the worst,” because I certainly am one of those “worst.” Keep working, keep drawing, keep teaching me and all of the rest of the saints and saints-to-be.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Grace and peace, friends.