Dwelling on Gospel Truth

[an excerpt from a I.M. conversation that I had with Andrea's husband, Mike]

Michael: I was studying for the sermon this week and something struck me about the greatness of the gospel, so I want to share it with you

Joey: RAD. Let's hear it!

Michael: heb. 6:10 - God is not unjust so as to forget your work and love which you have shown toward his name.
What strikes me is God will not remember any of my sins, but will remember and reward the work that I have for His name sake. That is grace. Underserved blessing.
Sent at 12:25 PM on Wednesday

Joey: That's incredible. I have to dwell on that truth today.

Michael: Just imagine if God said, "I am going to weigh your bad deeds against your good and bless you accordingly"?
there would be fear, not toward God, but of doing more good then bad
but now, that my sin has been forgotten in Christ, I have freedom to serve Him for His glory
Ps. 130:4, there is forgiveness with you that YOU should be feared

difficult prayers build character, like finishing your veggies

Dear Lord,

Thank you for my boss. Even though he is one of the most powerful and consistent sources of stress, embarrassment, confusion, and frustration in my life, I am so glad that you have put him in it.

On a day-to-day basis, my boss is condescending, demeaning, hostile, and argumentative. He is a very skilled engineer, but seems to enjoy making everyone else feel incompetent and useless by comparison. He is dismissive of others' ideas, concerns, and proposals, and he is impatient with anyone who questions his own, even gently. Working for him can be a harrowing experience, and it is likely that when I finally move on to a new job, it will be mainly as an effort to escape him.

But, Lord, I thank you for him. Thank you for my boss, and please bless him.

I know that he played a major role in hiring me in the first place, which motivated me to move back to LA in 2005. Returning to Los Angeles wasn't my favorite idea at the time, but, since then, it has become clear to me that you brought me back here for a purpose, Lord, and my boss was one of the people you used to make it happen. Without him, I would not have my job, I would not be in LA, and thus I would not have returned to Venice Church. Without my boss's help, unwitting though it might have been, I wouldn't have discovered this purpose or this direction, which I pray are your purpose and your direction.

My job is a blessing, Lord, and so my boss is a blessing, and I thank you. My job allows me to pay my bills, and gives me the hope of being a financially responsible citizen, son, brother, friend, and church member. When I was hospitalized and near death in the summer of 2006, the medical insurance provided by my company spared my family from an overwhelming burden of health care expenses. When I needed to take a medical leave of absence from work, my company was supportive, and my coworkers actually seemed to care that I take the time to heal. My job has been such a blessing, Lord. And without my boss and his work, my own work would not be possible. So, again, thank you for my boss, Lord. Thank you for using him in my life, and please bless him.

And please, Father, help me resist the temptation to hate. Please help me to love my boss, to appreciate him and to care for him. I know that he is under an extreme amount of pressure, and that he works unbelievably hard. Please help me remember that, if I were under similar strain, I might act like a jerk sometimes too. Actually, even under much less strain, I already do act like a jerk a lot of the time! I pray that you will give me the patience and the understanding to see and understand the many, complex forces that push and pull on my boss, and I pray that you will give him the strength and perseverance to survive the wrenching effects of these forces. Please help me be able to share his burden, to be able to ease the pressures put on him, to be a blessing to him in some way.

And finally, Father, please draw my boss closer to you. Please touch his heart and his life, and if he doesn't already understand his desperate need for a savior, please help him to see it. I pray that your love and grace will saturate every part of his life.

I pray this in the name of our savior Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit,

Amen

How blessed

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

How blessed we are that God has given us the ability to understand his gospel. How blessed we are to understand Christ crucified. How can we go on living sinful lives when we are blessed to understand God's truth. How blessed are we that we have an almighty God. A God so powerful that his foolishness is wiser than all men and his weakness is stronger than all men.

Glorious Grace

Ephesians 1:3-10

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.