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What’s Your Choice?

March 21, 2013 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

English: Atlas statue at Rockefeller Center in New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In New York City on 5^th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan there are two statues across the street from each other. On one side of the street is Rockefeller Center. Out front of the building known today as 30 Rock, is the famous statue of Atlas holding up the world. With every muscle of his perfectly formed body taught with strain, he holds the world on his shoulders. You can see the burden of all the world’s weight coming down upon him in his furrowed brow.

Across the street is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Behind the high alter is a shrine of the boy Jesus. There is a statue of Jesus, perhaps eight or nine, holding the world with no effort in the palm of his hand.

Comparing the two statues: how stressed Atlas looks with the world’s weight and how peaceful is the face of our Lord.

What a powerful illustration of the choice we all have to make. We can try to carry the world with all its burdens, worries and cares on our shoulders or we can give them to Jesus and let Him carry them in His hands.

On our shoulders the burdens of the world can be overwhelming. In His hands, they seem small. On our shoulders we strain and fall. In His hands, He holds them effortlessly.

We all have burdens in this world. We have struggles and problems. But we all have a choice in what we do with them. We can keep them on our shoulders and let them weigh us down and stress us out. Or we can put them in the hands of Jesus and experience His peace.

^“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, ⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6–7 (NKJV)

Weave the Tatters

March 20, 2013 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

A devout Amish woman once said, “I seem to create so much of my life the way I fashion my rugs; from leftover remnants and tatters of whole days. How seldom we have days that are in one piece, unmarred by intrusions and interruptions. We find ourselves having to take a sliver of time to read a story to our child, a scrap of a moment there to make a call, another ragged piece of an hour to mow the lawn or hem a dress, a discarded handful of minutes to write a note.

“Yet when we take them all and dye them in the bright colors of our love, sew them together with the strong cord of devotion and plait them faithfully through the weeks, what delightful things have been fashioned.”

I found these words very convicting. How often I try to find the “perfect” time to do things or say that I have no time. How many times have I become overly frustrated when my plans didn’t work out. I keep waiting for a whole big piece of cloth out of which I can cut my day, but it never seems to come.

Yet, I also found these words comforting. I no longer need to feel guilty or frustrated because I don’t have the big piece of time. I need to take the advice of the Amish woman and weave the tatters and then see what God will fashion.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Ephesians 5:15–16, (NIV)

Becoming Possible!

March 19, 2013 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

The teacher asked the students in her class what each wanted to become when they grew up. One answered, “President.” Another said, “a fireman.” While one responded, “a teacher.” One by one they answered until it became Billy’s time.
The teacher asked, “Billy, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Possible,” Billy responded.
“Possible?” asked the teacher.
“Yes,” Billy said, “my mom is always telling me I’m impossible. When I grow up I want to become POSSIBLE.”
Isn’t this our own dream? Everywhere we turn the world is telling us that we are impossible. The world tells us that our dreams are impossible. We are told what we can’t do or what we can’t be.
The good news of the Gospel is that God says we are POSSIBLE. He tells us that through His love and His power all things are possible for us. We can be all that He intended us to be, which is far more than we ever dreamed. All we need to do is to turn our lives over to Him and commit our lives to Him and He will make us POSSIBLE.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Will You Shout?

April 20, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

W. E. Sangster

Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid 1950s her father, British Methodist minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow.

Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. “Let me stay in the struggle Lord,” he pleaded. “I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead.” He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. “I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering,” he told people who pitied him.

Gradually Sangster’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, “It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, ‘He is risen!’–but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.”

Nest Sunday is Easter. This day is the cornerstone of our faith. Because of Easter, disciples through the centuries gladly faced trials and struggles, persecution and hardship. They boldly proclaimed the good news of the resurrection because they knew that Easter changed everything. Without a risen Christ, everything about Jesus would be pointless. Without Easter, we would have no message to proclaim, no hope for our future, and no salvation from our sins.

But because of Easter we have all that and more. The Resurrection made Easter different from every other day, because it made every other day different as well. We now have hope. We now have joy. We now have life! No longer do we live in sin and despair. No longer do we live in shame and sorrow. We now have courage to face all this world throws at us.

Why wouldn’t we shout?

HE IS RISEN!

Cheap Grace

April 17, 2011 in Daily Faith with 1 Comment

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church.

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.

Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but deliver Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

[Source: "Devotional Classics" edited by Richard J. Foster & James B. Smith; "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. ]

The War is Over!

April 7, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Georg Gaertner, a young German man, found himself in North Africa in 1943. He was a part of the German Army’s Afrika Korps. He was captured by the British army at Tunis in 1943.He was handed over to the Americans along with thousands of other prisoners and was brought to prisoner of war camps in the United States. Georg was sent to Fort Deming, New Mexico.

In September of 1945, because he was afraid of being sent back to his hometown which was now under Soviet control, he slipped past a guard, lifted up the fence, and escaped from that prison camp. And he ran.

He started out working as a farm laborer. Because he was afraid of being captured, he was constantly on the move.

He became a tennis instructor. He had played tennis in Germany as a young man and was rather good.

He became a ski instructor in the Rocky Mountains. In fact, in 1952, he was part of the team that went into the Donner Pass. There was a train that had wrecked in there, and it was locked in because of the snow. The skiers went in and rescued some 200 people out of that train wreck.

He was continuously running, continuously trying to stay away from the authorities.

One day he came home fearful that he’d blown his cover: They’re going to know who I am, and so I’ve got to move again. He told his wife: “Pack it all up. We’ve got to move immediately.”

After 20 years of this, she said: “Wait a minute. I can’t take this any longer. What’s wrong with you? Why are we constantly moving like this?”

Georg sat down and he shared with her what he had never shared with anyone else: He was a prisoner of war, a man condemned. She looked at him and said: “Go to the office of immigration and naturalization. The war is over.”

Finally, Georg, who went by the name, Dennis Whiles, after 40 years of running, at 64 years of age, turned himself in to federal authorities. Instead of condemning him, they released him to live a free man.*

The war was finally over for Georg Gaertner. He no longer had anything or anyone to fear. The past was over. He now lived free.

Because of the Cross, our war is over. Jesus Christ won the victory over sin and death. If we trust in Christ, we have no thing or no one to fear. We can live in the freedom that God designed for His creation. We no longer live in condemnation for a life in the past. No longer do we have to live under guilt and shame. We are free to become the person God meant us to be, His child.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)

*”Hitler’s Last Soldier in America,” by George Gaertner and Arnold Krammer.

The Cross Not the Scales

April 1, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Because of recent events, there has been much interest in the religion of Islam. Sales of the Islamic scripture known as the Qur’an have been record setting. Many people have wondered about the differences between Islam and Christianity. We both believe in the one God of the universe. We both claim Abraham as our spiritual ancestor. So, what is the difference?

John Stott, in his book, Authentic Christianity, states this one critical difference. “The repeated promises in the Qur’an of the forgiveness of a compassionate and merciful Allah are all made to the meritorious, whose merits have been weighed in Allah’s scales, whereas the gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.”

The Cross is the one critical difference between Christianity and all other religions. All other religions admit that the human race has a problem with sin, but none have a solution that is so complete and final as the Cross. With all other religions, one must wait until death to see if you made it. One has to wait until that final breath to see if the scales will tip in their favor. The guilt and shame are never wiped out. There is no certainty of hope in life.

But the Christian’s forgiveness was settled once and for all on that Cross. No more guilt. No more shame. Just joy, peace and everlasting life. The Cross is the difference. It is the difference between Christianity and all other religions. It is the difference between sin and forgiveness. It is the difference between life and death. It is the cross and not the scales that make the difference in not only in our future but in our lives today.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NLT)

HE’S THE ONE!

March 26, 2011 in General with 0 Comments

The judge glared down from his bench at the prospective juror. “And just why it is,” he asked, “that you don’t want to serve on this jury?”

The man replied, “Well, judge, I’m biased. One look at that man convinced me that he is guilty.”

The judge scowled and replied, “That man is not the defendant, he’s the District Attorney.”

Did you know that the same sort of situation happened to Jesus? He had every right to be the prosecuting attorney, but He chose to be the defendant. The one who had no sin had every right to point our transgressions out. He could have convicted us of all of our failures and disobedient actions, but instead He chose to take them upon Himself and bear the guilt and shame that were really ours.

During this time of Lent, when we think about Jesus’ death upon the cross, we need to remember that He died for OUR sins. He took OUR place and He died OUR death.

I am glad that we have such a God who would give us such a Savior.

In His Place

March 22, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

. Maximilian Kilbe

In February 1941, Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest, was arrested by the Gestapo for harboring Jews and sent to Auschwitz. Kolbe was assigned to Barracks 14 where he continued to minister to his fellow prisoners.

One night a man escaped from Barracks 14. The next morning there was tension as the ranks of phantom-thin prisoners lined up for roll call in the square. Afterwards, Commandant Fritsch ordered the dismissal of all but Barracks 14, who were forced to stand still in the hot sun all day long. By evening the commandant would make a lesson out of the fate of this miserable barracks. “The fugitive has not been found. Ten of you will die for him in the starvation bunker!” he screamed.

As the ten were chosen, a cry rang out from one of the men chosen, “My poor children! My wife! What will they do?”

Suddenly there was commotion in the ranks. A prisoner had broken out of ranks and volunteered to take this crying man’s place. It was Father Kolbe. The frail priest spoke softly, even calmly, saying, “I would like to die in place of one of the men you condemned.” The commandant ordered it done, and the ten were marched to Barracks 11 where they would spend the last of their days.

Franciszek Gajowniczek was the prisoner whose life was spared. He survived Auschwitz and for 53 years—until his death at age 95—he joyously told everyone about the man who had died in his place.

As we go through this time of Lent, we must remind ourselves that we were once under a death sentence. Yet, one came forward and offered to take our place. Jesus Christ died in your place. He gave Himself on the cross so that you could go free.

Franciszek Gajowniczek joyfully told everyone about the man who died for him. Could we do any less.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NIV84)

New Blood, New Life

March 17, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

. Demi-Lee Brennan

In January, 2008, a story made the rounds about a 15-year-old girl in Australia named Demi-Lee Brennan. Brennan became the world’s first known transplant patient to change blood types from O negative to O positive, taking on the immune system of her organ donor. Her body’s ability to accept a new liver – and then produce new blood cells on its own – has left doctors mystified.

The rare phenomenon now means Demi-Lee no longer has to take a cocktail of anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.

The blood stem cells in Brennan’s new liver invaded her body’s bone marrow, taking over her entire immune system. She now has an entirely different kind of blood—blood that welcomes life, rather than carrying death.

“It’s like my second chance at life,” Brennan says.*

Demi-Lee’s doctors call her change “a miracle.” A transplant not only extended her life, but changed it. The transplant transformed her basic source of life.

There is another miracle of which we need to be aware. As human beings, we are under a death sentence. We have broken the holy law of God and we are condemned to consequences of our actions. Yet, because of the cross of Christ, we have hope. His blood has been applied to our lives. His sacrifice was not just a legal transaction that sets us right. It is even more. It enters in to our lives and changes our very being.

His blood not only is exchanged for ours, but his blood transforms the very DNA of our lives. He didn’t just fix us, He changed us.

That’s truly a miracle.

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” (Hebrews 9:14, NLT)

*sources:

www.reuters.com and www.news.com.au

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