Oh Esau.  The man who gave up his birthright for a bowl of food.  (You'll find his story in Genesis 25:24-34) As I read that passage, I wondered how often I am tempted to do the same thing.  I have an incredible birthright really, the one I gained when I was born again as a daughter of the King.  Oh, what peace and joy await!  Yet far too often I do not value it the way I should and am willing to settle for lesser things in my day to day.  How often I have wanted the easy route instead of the path that God had put me on.  While I am pretty sure I would not trade heaven, I have to confess that I do sometimes trade His best for something that fills a temporary spot in my life. Just what is it I hunger for?

I am going through the process of simplifying my life which includes decluttering my home.  I have held on to so many things over the years, especially in my closet, that really serve no purpose other than to add to my stress.  I wonder what it would be like to “declutter” my spiritual life-to truly let go and let God.  Hopefully I’ll have more to share on that as the year progresses.  For now my physical closet has lost about 80% of it’s inhabitants and it feels so good to just be down to what is essential and actually fits my lifestyle.  Everything in there is something I want to wear.  Imagine living life with God that way; realizing that everything He provides is more than enough and the best is yet to come.  To live in such a way that obedience is not a difficult sacrifice but an absolute joy.

May grace, peace, and mercy from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ be upon you dear reader.
Debra

Who Do You Trust?  That is the question today’s reading poses to me.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 
Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT, emphasis mine)

I just love it when a theme runs through the daily readings.  When I came to these last verses of my daily reading it brought me back to where I am in the story of Abraham today.  Abraham has sent out one of his most trusted servants to find a wife for Isaac.  Chapter 24 of Genesis tells his story. In the past I have gotten annoyed at having to read the same thing over and over when the servant relays how he came to be among Abraham’s relatives upon finding Rebekah.  I hate to confess that to you, but it is true.  This morning as I was looking for those mentions of God that I am underlining this year I realized for the first time that the repetition is a wonderful example of the importance of sharing with others what God is doing in our lives.  It was a great testimony to the plans of God as well as showing by whose authority the servant had come; not Abraham’s as we might first suspect, but God’s.  The servant prayed to God for some very specific direction and God answered Him with a clarity that is just amazing.  Sometimes in the familiarity of the stories I lose my wonder at what is really happening.  This morning the familiar is exciting.

One of the verses that stands out to me this morning is Genesis 24:40 in which the servant quotes Abraham as saying, “for the LORD, in whose presence I (Abraham) have walked, will send His angel with you (the servant) and will make your mission successful.”  That is such a cool line!  “The LORD, in whose presence I have walked.”  Abraham’s walk was by no means perfect, but by walking closely with God he had learned to trust Him with an amazing faith. (Remember yesterday the trust Abraham had that God would provide a lamb in place of his son Isaac?  And oh, what a perfect picture of what He accomplishes for us by providing THE Lamb who took our place.)

My reading in Matthew continues this theme.  Read Matthew 8:5-10.  Jesus declared that this Roman officer demonstrated faith like He had not seen in all the land of Israel.  Imagine that for a moment, Jesus was amazed at this man’s faith.  An outsider, a Gentile, not an Israelite for whom the Kingdom of Heaven was prepared--this is the man whose faith Jesus commends to the crowd.  O praise God that He has opened up the kingdom to us Gentiles.  This God who adopted me is the God of Abraham, the God of the Roman officer, the God of whom the writer of Proverbs tells me to trust in with ALL of my heart.  He is the same God today that He was then.  I think that all too often my god is just too small.  He must be or I would not put so much faith/trust in myself each moment.  I need these daily reminders of just how great and awesome He is so I don’t confine Him into the way too small of a box I tend to put Him in.  Oh, may I seek His will in all I do and trust the LORD with all my heart.

May grace, peace, and mercy from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ be upon you dear reader.
Debra

Many will call Him, “Lord, Lord.”  But the sad reality is in the end Jesus will tell them to depart from Him for He never knew them.  This passage in Matthew in actually pretty sobering.  Like many of you, I learned all about the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. I learned the song and enjoyed singing it with all the motions as a child and then teaching it to a new generation.  But the underlying truth is a really hard thing for us to come to terms with.  Do I call Jesus Lord only in name, or will I actually obey Him?  Is He truly Lord of my life?

Abraham was faced with this very same question in the reading from Genesis today.  God tells Abraham to take the son he was promised and sacrifice him to God on an altar.  Abraham obeys, to the point of tying up his son Isaac, placing him on the altar, and taking up a knife to kill his precious son.  But God stepped in, stopping Abraham, and providing the lamb for the sacrifice.  This episode is rich with meaning on many levels, but the thing I am focused on this morning is Abraham’s total surrender to the LORD.  Abraham’s answer to the questions I posed is a resounding yes.  He built his life upon the solid rock. 

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys is wise.” (Matthew 7:24, emphasis mine)   It is not enough to just call Jesus Lord. I can’t just sit back and enjoy His teaching.  I must obey as well. 
 
May grace, peace, and mercy from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ be upon you dear reader.
Debra