"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."- Acts 4:12
This past Tuesday evening, I took Anna to her tongue therapy session at Alabama A&M. We literally pulled into the school entrance with a minute to spare. I let Anna out just outside the building, both to help her be on time and to keep her from having to walk any longer than necessary in the freezing cold. I then went up the hill to park in our designated area (which is a few minutes walk from the building we use). By the time I got back down to where I had dropped Anna off, there she was – standing just outside the building. Thinking she was just being timid and not wanting to go in without me, I motioned for her to go ahead of me. She stood right there. I motioned again as I was walking towards her. She stood still. By this time, I was close enough for her to hear me and so I said ‘go ahead’. She stood.
At this point, I began to wonder if she had actually frozen solid!
I got within a few feet of her and asked why she didn’t go ahead. Her reply? The door was locked.
Sure enough, I pulled on the door... nothing. So then, we had to walk around to the other end of the building to get inside (which we did). It turns out that my best effort at not being late proved futile, as we were about 3 or 4 minutes after her allotted time.
That reminds me of how our best efforts at ‘getting in’ the kingdom of God are also futile if we are relying on our own strength. Nothing we can do or say will ‘open the door’ to God; only our faith in Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness and make us presentable to holy God. Jesus is the only Way in. It’s not just that there isn’t another door open… there isn’t another door period. He’s it. He’s all we’ve got. He is the access point to God. So we must choose whether we want to go in God’s Way or not.
Today, I hope you are reading this and have an assurance that you, in fact, have trusted Christ, and have gone through Him and His blood to find a relationship with God; if not, I hope that you will clearly see – perhaps for the first time – that there is but one Way, and that is Jesus.
Daniel
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
#325.2 – “Mission”
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…" - Matthew 28:19
Last year at Christmastime, we received as one of our gifts a video game that the whole family could play together.
Last night, we finally beat it. Hey, it only took us 11 and a half months of fairly consistent play!
Now we don’t know what to do with ourselves!
No, the truth is, we can still play it for fun and enjoy it… but there was something exciting and adventurous about exploring new worlds and playing parts you had never seen. When you played it, you felt like you were on a mission. Now it will be more like watching re-runs: still fun… but not the same.
We have yet to finish our mission as Christians. The theme of this year’s emphasis for the Lottie Moon campaign is a reminder that there are still places where the gospel has not be shared. And there are people that we meet and live next to that need to hear the Good News of Jesus as well. So let us be encouraged to go out until our mission has been accomplished!
Daniel
Last year at Christmastime, we received as one of our gifts a video game that the whole family could play together.
Last night, we finally beat it. Hey, it only took us 11 and a half months of fairly consistent play!
Now we don’t know what to do with ourselves!
No, the truth is, we can still play it for fun and enjoy it… but there was something exciting and adventurous about exploring new worlds and playing parts you had never seen. When you played it, you felt like you were on a mission. Now it will be more like watching re-runs: still fun… but not the same.
We have yet to finish our mission as Christians. The theme of this year’s emphasis for the Lottie Moon campaign is a reminder that there are still places where the gospel has not be shared. And there are people that we meet and live next to that need to hear the Good News of Jesus as well. So let us be encouraged to go out until our mission has been accomplished!
Daniel
Monday, December 6, 2010
#325.1 – “Our Little Horse”
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:4-7
This past week, Grant has really taken off in his eating. It seems as though he is hungry all the time. He eats as much or more at mealtimes than the girls, and he often asks for a snack in between meals. Of course, he is like his daddy and is willing to eat anything sweet most any time! Sarah and I were joking about the fact that she will have to get another job soon just to keep him fed! I mean, it feels like what I imagine it would be to feed a horse (ok… stretching it a bit, I know)!
God doesn’t have to go anywhere beside Himself to meet our needs; He doesn’t have to take out a loan or take on another job to provide for His children. He is our perfect Provider. He meets our needs as they arise… every time. He gives out of His limitless bounty. His supply of grace and mercy in Christ are only limited by our acceptance of them. He gives… and He gives… and He gives…
Worship Him today for all that He has given you.
Daniel
This past week, Grant has really taken off in his eating. It seems as though he is hungry all the time. He eats as much or more at mealtimes than the girls, and he often asks for a snack in between meals. Of course, he is like his daddy and is willing to eat anything sweet most any time! Sarah and I were joking about the fact that she will have to get another job soon just to keep him fed! I mean, it feels like what I imagine it would be to feed a horse (ok… stretching it a bit, I know)!
God doesn’t have to go anywhere beside Himself to meet our needs; He doesn’t have to take out a loan or take on another job to provide for His children. He is our perfect Provider. He meets our needs as they arise… every time. He gives out of His limitless bounty. His supply of grace and mercy in Christ are only limited by our acceptance of them. He gives… and He gives… and He gives…
Worship Him today for all that He has given you.
Daniel
Friday, December 3, 2010
#324.4 – “As Close as He Could Get”
"... the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." - 2 Timothy 3:15
During the wee hours of the morning, I awoke just enough to hear Sarah telling Grant that he could not get in the bed with us (something he has done the past couple of nights). The next conscious moment for me was as I was getting out bed some time later, which is when I found Grant lying on the floor right by my side of the bed… sound asleep, with his blanket over him. I staggered to the bathroom, where Sarah said that she too had seen him there this morning, and that it was a surprise to her; she thought he had gone back to his bed. I guess he just wanted to get as close to us as he could.
We could try and try and try to get close to God based on our own righteousness, and that would leave us a distance so great that it would seem as thought we weren’t on the same planet… much less in the same room. The only way to have a relationship with God is through an adherence to the biblical standard of confessing and surrendering our sins to Christ and by faith accepting His righteousness. In the same way that Grant needed to obey his mother, we need to obey the instruction given to us in this matter by our heavenly Father. We need to come to Him based solely upon Christ’s merit and our obedience (the greatest evidence of faith).
The good news is that He wants to approach Him and to draw near to Him. He desires that relationship with us. And if we approach Him His Way, He will never turn us away.
Daniel
During the wee hours of the morning, I awoke just enough to hear Sarah telling Grant that he could not get in the bed with us (something he has done the past couple of nights). The next conscious moment for me was as I was getting out bed some time later, which is when I found Grant lying on the floor right by my side of the bed… sound asleep, with his blanket over him. I staggered to the bathroom, where Sarah said that she too had seen him there this morning, and that it was a surprise to her; she thought he had gone back to his bed. I guess he just wanted to get as close to us as he could.
We could try and try and try to get close to God based on our own righteousness, and that would leave us a distance so great that it would seem as thought we weren’t on the same planet… much less in the same room. The only way to have a relationship with God is through an adherence to the biblical standard of confessing and surrendering our sins to Christ and by faith accepting His righteousness. In the same way that Grant needed to obey his mother, we need to obey the instruction given to us in this matter by our heavenly Father. We need to come to Him based solely upon Christ’s merit and our obedience (the greatest evidence of faith).
The good news is that He wants to approach Him and to draw near to Him. He desires that relationship with us. And if we approach Him His Way, He will never turn us away.
Daniel
Thursday, December 2, 2010
#324.3 – “I Think We Should Move”
"For in Him we live, and move, and have our being..." - Acts 17:28
Joshua hit us with a real doozy this morning: he was just getting to the breakfast bar when he stated: “Daddy, I think we should move, because we’ve been at this house for a long time!” I got so tickled at him, but he wasn’t joking… he was dead serious! I guess because we had been at our new home as long as he could remember that we had been at the one before this, he thought it was time to go!
The funny part aside, there’s a great spiritual lesson to be had here: we should never get too ‘comfortable’ with the status quo.
The children of Israel would have chosen rather to stay enslaved and forced to do hard labor the rest of their lives than to experience the kind of freedom associated with following God where they had never been. The certainty and comfort of doing what they knew and what they were used to was greater than their willingness to step out in faith.
We are no different. It is our nature to want what we are familiar with… to do what we are accustomed to doing… to go where we are used to going. The only problem with that is that God typically does not operate that way with His people (and I suppose a big reason why He doesn’t is because that kind of living does not nurture our faith relationship with Him). He calls us to the unusual… the different… the abnormal… and He sometimes only gives us just enough insight for us to take the next step. And so, we are forced into a decision: are we going to stay where we are… or are we going to move?
Oh, that we would have the faith of a five year old child who is not worried about how he would move… or what he would take with him… or what he would leave behind… whose only concern is with whom he would move.
Daniel
Joshua hit us with a real doozy this morning: he was just getting to the breakfast bar when he stated: “Daddy, I think we should move, because we’ve been at this house for a long time!” I got so tickled at him, but he wasn’t joking… he was dead serious! I guess because we had been at our new home as long as he could remember that we had been at the one before this, he thought it was time to go!
The funny part aside, there’s a great spiritual lesson to be had here: we should never get too ‘comfortable’ with the status quo.
The children of Israel would have chosen rather to stay enslaved and forced to do hard labor the rest of their lives than to experience the kind of freedom associated with following God where they had never been. The certainty and comfort of doing what they knew and what they were used to was greater than their willingness to step out in faith.
We are no different. It is our nature to want what we are familiar with… to do what we are accustomed to doing… to go where we are used to going. The only problem with that is that God typically does not operate that way with His people (and I suppose a big reason why He doesn’t is because that kind of living does not nurture our faith relationship with Him). He calls us to the unusual… the different… the abnormal… and He sometimes only gives us just enough insight for us to take the next step. And so, we are forced into a decision: are we going to stay where we are… or are we going to move?
Oh, that we would have the faith of a five year old child who is not worried about how he would move… or what he would take with him… or what he would leave behind… whose only concern is with whom he would move.
Daniel
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
#324.2 – “Life-Changing Experiences”
"For we were not following cleverly devised stories when we told you of the Coming in power of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when from the Glory of the Divine Majesty there were borne to his ears words such as these-- 'This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I delight.' These were the words that we heard, borne to our ears from Heaven, when we were with him on that Sacred Mountain." - 2 Peter 1:16-18
Monday night there were two bad accidents between Huntsville and Athens. I heard several different people give similar reports about them. One talked about traffic being at a stand still on 72 for miles and miles… another explained what the scene on 565 looked like… still another told me it took him over two hours to get back home. These were similar accounts, given by various people who were traveling through there at approximately the same time frame.
I never saw the accidents first-hand, yet I could describe them fairly well based on what I heard. But if you were to start asking me questions about the accidents, at some point I would leave a few key details out… or be forced to make them up. Why? Because I was not THERE. I did not experience the sights and sounds associated with those wrecks like some did. I did not sit in my car for hours… crawling and stalling.
But even if I had been there to witness either of those wrecks, it wouldn’t be the same as having been involved IN the accidents. There is a whole other level of experience when it is a real life, first-hand experience.
It is that hands-on kind of experience we should seek to have with our Savior. Our faith should not be one that allows us to remain distant from Him; no… quite the opposite: He wants (and we should want) us to be intimate with Him… to know Him well… to experience His majesty… to understand His way of thinking… to love Him and to be loved by Him. And so we experience Jesus when we get into His Word and when we talk with Him in prayer. These are the life-changing experiences for us.
Daniel
Monday night there were two bad accidents between Huntsville and Athens. I heard several different people give similar reports about them. One talked about traffic being at a stand still on 72 for miles and miles… another explained what the scene on 565 looked like… still another told me it took him over two hours to get back home. These were similar accounts, given by various people who were traveling through there at approximately the same time frame.
I never saw the accidents first-hand, yet I could describe them fairly well based on what I heard. But if you were to start asking me questions about the accidents, at some point I would leave a few key details out… or be forced to make them up. Why? Because I was not THERE. I did not experience the sights and sounds associated with those wrecks like some did. I did not sit in my car for hours… crawling and stalling.
But even if I had been there to witness either of those wrecks, it wouldn’t be the same as having been involved IN the accidents. There is a whole other level of experience when it is a real life, first-hand experience.
It is that hands-on kind of experience we should seek to have with our Savior. Our faith should not be one that allows us to remain distant from Him; no… quite the opposite: He wants (and we should want) us to be intimate with Him… to know Him well… to experience His majesty… to understand His way of thinking… to love Him and to be loved by Him. And so we experience Jesus when we get into His Word and when we talk with Him in prayer. These are the life-changing experiences for us.
Daniel
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