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This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17
A few days ago we began a brand new year. I remember growing up and thinking the year 2000 was a long way away and perhaps would never get here. Now, Y2K seems like a dream and many of our kids in high school have no idea what you are talking about when you mention it unless they remember something from a history class!
I don’t mean to sound like a ‘Debbie Downer’ but I always watch the New Years Eve festivities on TV with a bit of a smirk on my face. The airwaves are full of hope for the New Year. “All that happened in 2014 is behind us now, we can move on to better things.” (I actually heard that said in an interview.)
The reality is, many of the struggles each of us had on December 31, 2014 are still with us. There are concerns about the economy, world peace, health care, disease, ebola, terrorism and family/relational issues. And the worst part? No doubt some of your Christmas toys have already been broken or are the wrong size/color/style.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every day could be filled with the same hope and excitement of New Years? How much would you give to be able to put all the worries of 2014 behind you and really be able to leave them there?
There are some things we can’t let go of in a physical sense. However, there is a solution to the worries and concerns of the heart. If we are honest, when the heart is at peace, circumstances have little or no effect on our outlook on life.
In the book of 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul makes a startling statement. When Jesus comes into our lives and invades our heart-felt emotions, we are made new. Not remodeled. Not reconditioned or reconstructed. NEW.
I was thinking of that verse the other day and a couple other verses about ‘newness’ came to mind. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
We are made entirely new through personal faith in Jesus Christ. We receive the newness of God’s love every morning. The new hope and excitement of New Years Eve every day? Maybe not physically, but a heart centered on Jesus Christ can celebrate being ‘new’ every day of the year regardless of outside circumstances.
If you are looking for hope that transcends the physical, I encourage you to visit a house of worship where Word of God is spoken and the forgiveness of Jesus is lived out. Feeling the need to recharge of your emotional/spiritual batteries? Many Camps/Retreat Centers offer personal retreat areas or retreats and events designed to help you get refocused. Whatever situation you are in, realize that God’s love transcends the struggles of our physical lives. His love is new every morning, just as we are ‘new creations’ in Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as we enter this New Year of 2015 I’m in awe of so many things. Time and circumstances have no bearing on you. You know my past and my failures but are willing to make me a new creation. Your love for me is brand new, exciting, passionate every morning regardless of my mood. All I can say is thank you. I look forward to living with you over the next year. Amen.
Dear readers,
I just want to let each of you know how much I appreciate you following ‘Built with Grace’. The past several months have been tough as far as blogging goes. Something I hope to change. I’m posting the first in a series of lessons I presented to my Zion family called Fresh Start. I hope you enjoy and are encouraged by this video.
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints (some versions translate saints as holy ones). Jude 1:3 (NASB)
He came into the church with his wife and daughter to celebrate our community Halloween party. We were a small church in a rural community, eager to reach out to the many children in our area who didn’t attend church. Hoping to offer a safe place for games, fun and, of course, treats.
Since we were a church we encouraged (not required) our kids to dress as their favorite super hero, Bible character or cartoon character. We were willing to risk the fact that some kids (from our church or not) would show up as goblins, witches, vampires, ghosts and a plethora of other ‘Christian no-no’ costumes. Outreach was the key.
As this young man (later found out he was the new pastor in a church down the block) saw the simple ‘traditional’ Halloween decorations our ladies had painstakingly made, he made a comment about how disgusting and evil the setting was and stormed out of the building with his young family in tow!
Now, mind you, I’m not a fan of Halloween. Nor am I wild about horror flicks or anything that portrays death and the spirit world lightly. However, I think that sometimes ‘the Church’ spends more time fighting the negative rather than embellishing the positive.
For the record, Halloween, or Hallowed Eve precluded ‘All Saints Day’ which was a celebration of saints (known and unknown) who had gone before them. Pagan ideas were later added to accentuate the spirit world. The tragedy (in my opinion) is that we’ve focused on the pagan additions to what was once a church celebration and largely ignored the celebration that is to follow.
This year, I propose that once we work through the painful pagan edition of Hallowed Eve, we celebrate those who have gone before us, those men and women of God who have stood strong for their faith, some at the cost of their lives.
I propose we celebrate the unknown saints that tirelessly dedicate themselves as the vessels of dishonor to the obscure areas of ministry. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 12:20-26 (NASB):
But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
So, let’s celebrate the saints who have given their lives for our freedom; to clean our church buildings, change our babies diapers, tirelessly prepare sermons for those who take the time to come to church, hand out bulletins and the countless other things people do in the name of the Lord and out of sight of the public.
The apostles remind us that the church is a living organism, a body developed to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. Each of us who has made a personal decision to follow Christ are saints called to do his bidding. For that each of us should be celebrated.
PRAYER: Father God. Thank you for those who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the sake of the Kingdom. May we be forever thankful for ‘the glass of water’ we have each received in your name. Amen.
The ‘Cold War’ was that period of time following WWII when political and military tension existed between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) and the U.S.A. No bombs were ever dropped. No shots fired. But fear and threats were rampant. Most historians consider the dates of the ‘Cold War’ to be from approximately 1945-1991 when the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) dissolved.
Those of my generation remember the ‘Fallout Shelters’ that existed in every community as places where people were to go for safety in the event of nuclear attack. We remember air raid drills in the classroom much like some places have severe weather drills today. We remember frequent interruptions to television and radio broadcasts to report on this crisis and that threat.
One of the first lines of national defense in the United States was a series of radar bases located across the northern tier of states. These bases…
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Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12
Many years ago I 
was playing on a church softball team. It was our first year playing in the league and we weren’t very good. Most of our players were young teens, some had never really played ball.
One week we were playing one of the better teams in the league and, as expected, it wasn’t much of a game. On one particular play a rather large woman on the other team was running from first to second. Our second base-person, a small 12-year-old girl, was just getting ready to catch the ball and make the play at the base when she was completely flattened by the base runner, jarring the ball loose so that she arrived safely on base. Fair play? Yes. Appropriate under the conditions, I thought not.
I went out to help the girl up and make sure she was okay. As I left I had a few choice, not exactly Christian, words for the base runner who was now standing smugly on base. The guy who was with me grabbed my arm and helped me off the field as the woman said “Hey, it was her fault. She was in the baseline.”
I stood in the dugout seething about the dangerous play and smug attitude of the base-runner until a small voice inside reminded me that ‘Hatred stirs up dissension’. My anger turned to conviction for my words and as the inning ended I headed out to the field. I took a slight side trip and walked by the opposing dugout, not to get a parting shot, but to apologize to Joyce, the base-runner.
The next day at work I was talking with a friend of mine who happened to have been playing on the other team the night before. In the course of our conversation he chuckled and said “Boy, you really sent Joyce spinning last night.”
I asked what he meant and he explained that Joyce didn’t have much respect from anyone on the team. They were all angry with her behavior the night before and she had done similar things in other games. But after I apologized for my outburst she walked around the rest of the game asking ‘Why did he say that?’ ‘Why did he apologize.’
My words of apology had sent a message far deeper into her soul than the outburst I’d sent her way earlier.
There are always going to be people in our lives that hurt us. There will always be those who betray us, lie to us and in some way abuse us. When we’ve been wronged the easy way out is to become angry, defensive and full of hate. The healthy way out is to practice forbearance. By definition forbearance means to have patience, self-control, restraint and tolerance. Forbearance doesn’t mean I agree with the way you are. It doesn’t mean I’ll trust you again. It doesn’t mean what you did doesn’t matter.
What forbearance does mean is that in the name of love I will forgive you. Forgiveness is for the benefit of the one wronged, not the perpetrator of the hurt. In other words, I forgive you for what you did to me so I can be healthy.
Forbearance can’t be practiced effectively without help from the Holy Spirit of God. When we are in tune with our Heavenly Father; when we live in recognition of the pain he bore, the patience he has with us; the power we have available to us through his Spirit, then, and only then can we live at peace with those who we don’t agree with or oppose us.
May each of us learn to daily live in the power of forbearance!
PRAYER: Father God, I pray for those of us who are living under the weight of abuse and hurt. I ask that through the power of your Spirit we may be able to be patient with those who fail us; live a life of self-control when we’d rather lash out; and live in tolerance of those who have different beliefs than ours. In a word, Lord, help us to live in a way that your unconditional love will shine out to others. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 