Who We Are In God

Today is Wednesday, September 20, 2017. Day 21,741. 22 days until our 32nd anniversary!

Upton Sinclair, who was born on this date in 1878 (died 1968), said, “I just put on what the lady says. I’ve been married three times, so I’ve had lots of supervision.”
BrainyQuote

Word of the Day

Holus-bolus ~ “all at once.” “If you shout your questions at me holus-bolus, instead of asking them one at a time, then I won’t be able to hear any of them.”

Today is Pepperoni Pizza Day. I’m a big fan of pepperoni pizza! That makes this a great day!

I believe C is feeling better this morning. She wound up going to the doctor, yesterday, who said she had bronchial asthma, along with a sinus infection. When I was in college, we called this the “Commerce Crud.” Anyway, she got a shot, some pills, and an inhaler. She had the best night’s sleep last night that she has had since last week. The bad news is that I’m beginning to feels some chest congestion, this morning. Sigh. It’s inevitable, you know . . .

The Red Sox beat the Orioles 1-0 last night in eleven innings! Wow. What a pitching duel. It’s games like this that a true baseball fan loves, and non-baseball fans think are boring. The Yanks won again, so no standings change. Sox remain three games up.

But the Twins lost, and the Rangers beat Seattle 3-1. This put the Rangers at 3.5 games out in the wild card race, and also put them in front of the Mariners. The Angels also lost, so they are 1.5 games behind the Twins. As Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” The Rangers have twelve games left, and their elimination number in the wild card race remains nine.

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

(From The Divine Hours)

Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared.
Psalm 76:11
Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! 
Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.
Psalm 119:169-170
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
Psalm 54:6
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Mark 10:29-31
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. 
Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly, 
the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!” 
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
Psalm 118:14-17

(From Practice Resurrection)

Eugene Peterson ended the last segment with a question: “How do we acquire a God-oriented identity?”

The first way, he says, is to look in the mirror and name what we see as “saint.” Then, he says, we redefine the people around us as “saints” (at least those in the community of faith). This is what Paul does. But Paul does not call us saints because “we are so wonderful but because he sees us truly as ever and always in the company of the Holy Trinity.”

In this society, which is becoming ever more “identity-confused,” we tend to claim an identity based on things like social security numbers, “medical records, academic degrees, job history,” and so on. We even get caught in genealogical chases. But we, as Christians, are baptized, we are immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because of that name, we are saints.

We are not saints be virtue of any “spiritual heroics or moral athleticism.” But Paul does call us saints; holy. But “holy” does not refer to us as we are within ourselves. Rather it refers to us as who we are in God. Here’s the thing: “‘Holy’ names not who they are on their own but who God is in and for them, not what they do but what God does in them. . . . The most important thing about any one of us is not what we do but what God does, not what we do for God but what God does for us.”

Remembering this truth could and should make a world of difference in how we practice resurrection!

Father, help me to remember this, that what you have done in and for me is far more important than anything I could ever do for you. My designation as “saint” has nothing to do with my performance and everything to do with who I am in you. Help me to remember that as I go through this day. Help me to remember that as I work to live without anger and to experience joy in my life.
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.

Enjoying God

Today is Tuesday, May 9, 2017.

Quote of the Day

“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” ~ Will Rogers

Word of the Day

Holus-bolus ~ all at once; altogether.

Today is that day when we mourn the loss of one of a pair, so frequently blamed on the dryer, but probably the fault of the washing machine. Yes, today is Lost Sock Memorial Day

Real quick recap/update. Band practice was pretty awesome last night. I’m not sure why, but I had a blast, and I felt like I was playing well.

For Mother’s Day, with the approval of my mother, we will be staying around our home for the day, hopefully visiting with our own kids. Since we will be spending the next weekend with my mother and uncle and cousins, my mother said that we didn’t need to come out to visit her this Sunday. This will work out nicely, especially since I have a band concert late on Saturday evening. We’re playing our Disney show again, outside at a local amphitheater, but it’s not beginning until 8 PM. Ugh. I’d like to have a conversation with whoever thought THAT was a good idea!

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL AND PRAYERS

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psalm 95:1-2
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah. 
Psalm 67:1
To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us.
Psalm 123:1-2
I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
Psalm 7:17
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. (The Divine Hours)

(From Solid Joys)

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Psalm 63:1-3

What does it mean to love God? Certainly, it means to obey his commands; it also includes believing his words (not just believing in him), and thanking him for all of his gifts. But John Piper says that the “the essence of loving God is enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that glorifies his worth most fully.” What is it that Piper is famous for saying? “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

Think of it this way. Would you rather have someone love you out of duty or because they are delighted in your presence? You shouldn’t have to think long. Unless you are a sociopath.

None of us has reached the perfection of this state of satisfaction in God, although I have known one or two people in my lifetime that come close. But I do long for the day when I can truly say that God’s steadfast love is better than life. There are some days that I can proclaim that sincerely. There are other days that I barely think about God. Guess which days are better days!

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

Father, teach me to enjoy you. Teach me to love your “hesed” better than my own life. I long for the day when there will be no more temptation to sin, no more inclination to obey the flesh and disobey your will and your word. Truly, I cannot even imagine being in that state, but I believe that I will be, and that it will be the most marvelous state of being I have ever experienced. I long for that, and because of that, I say, most sincerely,
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.