Tag: salvation

Hebrews 2:1-4 – Learning to Pay Attention

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“We must give our full attention to what we were told, so that we won’t drift away.” (CEV)
 
            My three girls all have attention deficit disorder (A.D.D.).  You might think this is a disadvantage.  Rather, since the biology of their brain doesn’t have a good filter for sifting out all the stimuli they hear each day, each of them are much more intentional about picking out the voice they want to hear and engaging with it.  Whereas you and I might take this for granted, my girls know the value of creating the skills to pay attention.
            We stand at the cusp of Lent, just two days from now.  A healthy way of looking at this important season in the Christian Year is that it is a time to listen.  It’s the opportunity and privilege of giving our complete attention to Jesus as we plod along the 40-day path to Easter.  And we need to develop some solid skills in paying attention, whether we have A.D.D. or not.
            The cost of not developing such skills is that we will drift away.  Taking for granted that we are Christians, that we know something about salvation, and are basically good people might only be setting us up for spiritual failure. That is, we think we already know about Christ’s person and work of salvation, so we don’t really pay attention.  Bad idea.
            Assuming we are paying attention is not the same thing as actually doing it.
Assumptions lead to drifting away from truth.  We are meant to have continual and constant reminders of Christ and his redemptive events.  This is what Lent intends for us.  To ignore the wisdom of two-thousand years of church practice puts us in a precarious position of being lost in a sea of competing voices.
            For the next six weeks, make the choice that you will pay attention to Christ each day through:
·         Reading the Scripture every day with a combination of standing and sitting, reading silently and out loud.
·         Holding a cross or other Christian reminder in your hand and feel free to fidget with it.
·         Journaling your thoughts in a notebook.
·         Imposing a time limit on yourself each day for the next 40 days.
·         Using different versions of the Bible to read throughout Lent.
·         Going outside occasionally and praying while walking.
·         Focusing on your breathing. Breathe out: “Speak Lord.” Breathe in: “I am listening.”
·         Drinking some coffee, tea, or something soothing.
·         Being mindful of distractions and acknowledging them without judging yourself.
The point is to have an intentional plan for paying attention.  Don’t assume you’ll just be focused.

 

May your journey with Jesus this season be a fresh experience in knowing him better.

1 Timothy 1:12-20 – Grace for the Biggest Sinner

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all.” (CEB)
 
            Toward the end of his life, the Apostle Paul reflected upon the grace given to him by God.  In writing to Timothy, his protégé, he distilled his reflections into one short succinct phrase: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 
 
            Before Christ got a hold of his life, Paul actively opposed Christians as much as he could.  He had the persecution of Christ’s followers down to a science.  But God had mercy on Paul and delivered him from his misguided and tortuous ways.
            Paul was forever grateful for the grace of God.  He knew he didn’t deserve anything from God.  Paul knew firsthand the words of the Lord Jesus: “I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)
 
            Once your heart has been captivated by God’s mercy, you are never the same.  Your life has a new and wondrous perspective.  Your soul is filled with love.  Your mind is changed and charged with the realization that God is not only good but has given you a status as his beloved – a privilege and a position which you neither earned nor deserve.  Gratitude erupts from your lips: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to save me, the chief of sinners!”
 
            You don’t need a past like Paul’s to know God’s grace.  Whether you are now a follower of Jesus after having lived a life far from God; or, you can’t remember a time when you didn’t know God; or, you grew-up in faith, walked away from it all, then were captured by grace and came back to Christ; from whatever backgrounds we all come from, it is the saving grace, the delivering mercy, the infinite love, the abiding compassion, and the undeserved kindness of Jesus Christ which makes your world spin the opposite direction on its axis.
            Take time throughout the day to utter that simple phrase over and over: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  What does this mean for the world as it is right now? What does it mean for you?

 

Loving Lord Jesus, there are not words to express my gratitude for your salvation given to me.  I was once lost, but now am found by the endless mercy of God.  May sinners be saved, as was your servant Paul, so that the world will be undone and changed forever by grace.  Amen.

Romans 7:14-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            “I don’t understand why I act the way I do.  I don’t do what I know is right.  I do the things I hate.”  Paul’s existential angst is a timeless description of our common human condition.  We all can relate to the seeming inability to do what is right in so many situations.  It can really drive us nuts, even to a constant low-level discouragement that underlies almost everything we do.
 
            Paul’s prescription for dealing with this does not rely on law.  That’s right.  Paul understood that putting our willpower and effort into obeying commands gets us nowhere because we will eventually fail.  The law just shows us how bad off we really are in this world.  We are a bundle of contradictions, doing good, then bad, and flip-flopping back and forth with great frustration.
 
            “What a miserable person I am.  Who will rescue me from this body of that is doomed to die?  Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.”  Sheer willpower and obedience will not work because what we really need is a Savior who will deliver us from ourselves.  Grace, then, is the operative power that changes lives, and not law.  Freedom from the tyranny of our misplaced desires comes from Christ’s forgiveness through the cross.  Like a lover enamored with his beloved, our desires become oriented toward Jesus for his indescribable gift to us.  That is the strength of grace.
 

 

            Saving God, I thank you for delivering me from sin, death, and hell through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  May your Holy Spirit apply the work of grace to my life every day so that I can realize practical freedom from all that is damaging and destructive in my soul.  Amen.

Hebrews 2:1-9

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Here we are at the end of another Lenten season with Spring upon us and Holy Week’s near arrival.  For many people this is simply old hat.  The redemptive events of Jesus are so familiar to some of us that it runs the risk of being, well, boring.  After all, we know this stuff already – why keep doing this continual Church Calendar thing? 
 
            While some might cry out that lectionaries, the Christian Year, Holy Week, and liturgies are just vain repetition, I would argue otherwise:  we are in grave danger of not paying attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  Like a beach-goer out on the lake drifting on her flotation device far out from shore, we are unaware of how far we have strayed from our spiritual moorings.  If the passion and death of Jesus can only get a shoulder shrug and a “meh” out of us, there is a real problem.  We have ignored Lent’s emphasis on repentance and want the destination without the time it takes to get there.
 
            “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” protests the author of Hebrews.  The events and services of Holy Week are designed to help us pay attention, to remember, to give thoughtful reflection and due diligence to the incredible work of salvation that Jesus has pioneered and achieved for us through the cross.  The sin which we must turn from is not the overt commission of having done something really bad, but the negligent omission of not doing anything, of treating Holy Week just like any other old week.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
 

 

            Gracious Lord Jesus, you went to the greatest lengths possible to redeem us from sin’s terrible bondage.  As I contemplate your passion in this next week, lead me to fresh appreciation and a depth of gratitude that goes beyond comprehension.  Amen.