Today’s Bible Reading:
Exodus 30; John 9; Proverbs 6: Galatians 5

Sometimes I am tempted to not spend much time meditating on familiar passages.  Galatians 5:22-23 is certainly one of those familiar passages.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (NASB) This comes on the heels of verse 14, “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Love.  I am celebrating 34 years of marriage and there have been some years where love was not the word of the day.  I look at that list of fruits and know I have fallen short many, many times.  And therein lies the importance of them all.  When I fall short it is most often because I am focused on some fault or some “injury” to my own person.  But I do not see that kind of attitude in the list at all.  We have not made it through 34 years of marriage because everything has gone smoothly-no disagreements, no disillusions, no disappointments-we made it this far because despite all of that we worked hard to put on love above all else.  And this does not just apply to my marriage, but to my family, my church, my workplace…wherever God has placed me.  We started out our marriage all starry-eyed and thinking we knew what love was-but it was just a spark at the beginning that has grown into a sustained flame after being tended over the years.
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Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra

Today’s Bible Reading:
Exodus 26; John 5; Job 42;Proverbs 2: Galatians 1

John 5: 2-10 has always been an intriguing account.  Here we are introduced to a man who has been waiting for healing 38 years!  He has been lying by this pool where healing occurs, he has watched as others have been healed by being the first to step into the pool after it is stirred by an angel of the Lord, but never able to be that first person himself.  And then Jesus notices him.  Jesus asks him what I have always taken as a very simple question, “Do you wish to get well?”  Who wouldn’t say yes?  The man then tells Jesus that he is unable to do what he needs to do in order to be healed without the help of another.  And Jesus heals him then and there; telling him to take up his pallet that he has been lying on and walk.  Immediately the man is healed and in his healing we have a beautiful picture of how Christ works in our lives.  On our own we were powerless to get to the living water (remembering Jesus conversation with the Samaritan woman in yesterday’s reading: John 4:7-14) but Jesus freely gives it to everyone who asks.  With a word from Him we are made whole and can stand on firm legs; full of life and the power that comes only from God.  And because we now have that living water we will never thirst again.  We do not need to go back to the pool and wait for the water to stir again-it has been stirred by the Lord Himself-we just need to get up and walk in obedience to His commands.
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Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra

Today’s Bible Reading:
Exodus 24; John 3; Job 42; 2 Corinthians 12: Proverbs 13

John 3:16-17 is certainly one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  Whenever I read it I am filled with hope, no matter what is going on in my world.  It just puts things into perspective,
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (NASB)  Here too I see what it means to follow the example we have in Christ, who came not to judge the world but to save it.

Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians are also on my mind today, that he “will not boast except in regard to my weakness.”  Which leads to another very familiar verse, “And He [the Lord] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’  Most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12: 9-10, NASB)

It is so much easier to judge the world than to be content when it insults us. Paul does not use his weaknesses as an excuse to not serve the Lord, but rather as the opportunity to let the light of Christ shine through his weakness-in that way all glory-all boasting-belongs to God.  My weaknesses should not keep me from serving the Lord, but propel me on to good works in the name of the Lord.

Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra