The good news of Christ
The first stanza is based on M.B. Steinmetz
Give me courage to squarely face my life —
Evading duties cannot bring me peace,
Nor can encircling self with indulgent vices.
If I am blind to fear, restore my sight,
To prepare for a worthy passage with you, O God.
Let no excuse impair my soul’s condition,
Always discontent with my present state;
To pull at the hidden roots of a bitter spirit,
That Christ might larger loom in spiritual sight,
The lens to see the world and eternity.
Teach me, Lord, to glory in weakness,
To love at all times, to live by your power;
Show me, O God, to walk in meekness,
To work with pleasure, to cherish each hour.
Father, use me for good in this world,
Let mercy abound and grace prevail;
Holy Spirit, make me your child,
Let no good deed of blessing fail.
A wedding is an event; the marriage is an endurance race. As parts of the bride of Christ, we should plan ahead for the time beyond the “I do” of baptism to the daily walk with our Bridegroom. A glimpse into the lives of the 1st Century Christians can help us in the 21st Century.
I. Acts 2:42-47. How long would a marriage last if after the honeymoon, the bride returned to her single life and only spent an hour with her husband once a week? There’s much we can learn from the early church’s devotion to their new life. In western culture, we are in the habit of scheduling time with Jesus along with the other things that we do. But, a marriage is not something we can schedule. It is through our relationship with Christ that we live our lives.
II. 1 Timothy 2:1-6. Just as newly married soldiers in Israel were to stay home to work on the devotion to their wives (Deuteronomy 24:5), new Christians especially need to work on their relationship with Christ through their devotion to learning from God’s Word, serving with fellow Christians, remembering Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection through the Lord’s Supper, and praying as Christ desires all to come to salvation (Acts 2:42).
III. Ephesians 5:31-33. And, of course, as the years go by, all couples need to maintain their marriages through such things as retreats, date nights, and good communication. These keep their oneness from splitting back into two individuals again. The formula that Christ and His bride use is sacrificial love and obedient respect. This takes work as well as devotion in our spiritual walk to do the things that benefit ‘we’ and not just ‘me’ (Acts 2:43-47).
Rather than treating our Christianity as a checklist, we should seek to do those things that a good friend or spouse would do with our Bridegroom to have a loving and lasting relationship.
Eternal God,
Give us endurance until the end,
Integrity of heart and hands,
Courage in the face of opposition,
Honor when our names are reviled,
Strength in the hour of temptation,
Love when others reject us,
Holiness in the midst of an immoral world. Continue reading “We desire to do your will completely”
Christ does what I could never do,
He died my death, and brought me life;
He reconciled me back to you,
He gives me strength and keeps me safe.
So many truths I do not know,
And more to me are not revealed,
The heart is hard, the mind is slow —
But this I see: my future’s sealed.
Continue reading “So Many Truths I Do Not Know”
“We can talk directly to Him as our Father, telling Him all the secrets of our soul.” —Ruby Ramsey, A Daily Dose of God’s Word, May 18
All the secrets of my soul
Are yours to know, O Lord — I’ve told
Them time and again — Omniscient God
Who knows before the word is spoken!
But somehow you want to hear me say it.
In my unhiding, I ask forgiveness —
Strength in weakness — straighter paths —
Assurance of love — no shadow of darkness.
You sent your Son revealing your heart;
And here is mine, O God, complete.
Father, I fear to witness the judgment of man.
It starts with us. You shall call to account
What we have done with the treasure of the gospel.
Basically, we’ve sat on it. With notable exceptions,
We created isolated kingdoms, a people
For our own pleasure, doing what suits us.
If Israel paid dearly for its disobedience,
For insubordination, worship of idols,
Abandonment of the one true God, then how
Much more shall we, the blood-bought Church of Christ,
Stand guilty for surrendering our gospel task?
O God, I and my people have grievously sinned.
Be merciful, O Lord, and raise up a nation
That carries your heart, desires your sovereign will
Be done and all be drawn to you in love.
Your name will be exalted. Woe to us
Who fail in the one thing we have to do.
For ’tis a fearful thing to fall in the hands
Of the living God for whom failure is not an option.
When all are gone and none is left,
When I of youth and health am bereft,
When tongue and pen no longer are deft —
Eternal are you, O God.
Forgotten, reviled may be my name,
My distant memory a motive of shame,
Upon my head a world of blame —
Eternal are you, O God.
The hours may pass in a blur of days,
But I would see to my choice of ways,
To find where falls your fullest praise —
Eternal are you, O God.
Heavenly Father,
save me from dying in the desert
because of my discontent —
Let me find reason for gratitude.
Only God,
save me from the pleasure of idolatry,
from deifying desire —
Let me know the true and living God.
Continue reading “Save me”
In an age where our secular culture attacks any show of masculinity as ‘toxic,’ should the church settle for the feminized version of what it means to be a man?
I. Judges 8:18-21. Having overcome his fear and fully trusting in God, Gideon routs the armies attacking Israel and captures two of their leaders, who basically tell him to kill them himself if he were to be a man. Gideon does, but is it toxic masculinity or doing what has to be done–even if it’s hard? Fear almost always is the cause for most men to shrink back from being ‘men.’ Describing David as a man after God’s heart, God explains that he would do all of His will (Acts 13:22). So, to be a godly men, we must be a living sacrifice to know what God’s will is (Romans 12:1-2), choosing to do His will–even if it’s difficult.
II. Hebrews 5:7-9. Jesus was such a man, who suffered greatly in His obedience to His Father’s will, but became the source of salvation to all who obey Him. We are told to fix our eyes on Him as our example and for perseverance to obey because the way He endured the cross was “for the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:1-4). Jesus fulfilled what it means to be a godly man in the fullest sense and then left us an example to follow (1 Peter 2:21-23), even forgiving from the cross (Luke 23:34).
III. Psalm 18:29-40. So, only in Jesus and walking as He did (1 John 2:6) are we able to be ‘men’ by God’s definition. “For as the man is, so is his strength,” Gideon was told. Since “the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25), how better to truly be a ‘man’ than through Him?
God made both men and women in His likeness. There’s no reason why the church must accept that there’s no difference or that gender is somehow fluid or subject to choice. Rather, both men and women must live out how they were intended to be in Him as outlined in His Word.