The Law Gave us a WAY to Cover Past Sin, but Jesus Gives us the WHY to Go & Sin No More

Following Jesus can be hard. Sometimes He leads us through terrain of temptation to remind us of our need of His Lordship.

If we lived in Old Testament times, I think the work of keeping the Law felt like less “work” because you didn’t have to think.

What makes it “easy” is that it’s simply transactional. Don’t do this & you’re good. Make a mistake? Offer a sacrifice & you’re good again.

I’m sure the repeated trips to the Temple, however, would eventually feel pointless.

AND that would BE the point! We don’t have a transactional God. We have a God Who loves us SO much that He set a Law in place we can’t meet to point to our need of a Savior!

Jesus fulfilled the transactional Law through a relational act of sacrifice!

He became the last spotless Lamb so we’d no longer have to make repeated trips to the Temple! All we need is to accept His gift of salvation & follow Him.

Accepting a gift is easy! It’s the following part that can be hard. I like systems & measurable metrics, but relationship is much messier because it involves the heart.

Jesus tells us in Mark 7 that it’s not what we put in our bellies that defile us, but rather what comes out of our hearts!

The thing about the heart is that it’s deceitful above all things-even to the point of deceiving ourselves!

Jesus tells how many people honor Him with their lips, but their worship is a farce. The root for farce means pointless & without fruit. The thing about the Law is that it gave a WAY to cover past sin, but it didn’t give the WHY to not sin again.

When we come to the realization of what Jesus did FOR us, something happens in our heart. His sacrifice becomes a greater motivator than the temptation we face on the daily!

On some levels, the transactional Law may have been easier to track than the intangible following of Jesus, but He, The Way, provides a why that doesn’t just impact past sin, but gives a vision-like “why” that leads us to an eternal future!

Father, may our worship not be a farce! You’re a relational God who cares about the state of our hearts! Remind us that the fruit we bear is an indicator of its health! Thank You for giving us an eternal why that helps us stick to Your Way!

#OneYearBible

February 24th One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 15:1-16:28

MARK 7:1-23

PSALM 40:11-17

PROVERBS 10:13-14

If you had 5 minutes to say one thing to the world, what would you say?

The other day my friend asked me a question that I still have yet to answer. She said not to think about it for too long, but that’s hard for a girl who considers everything before deciding anything!😂

She asked:

If you had 5 minutes on Fox News to look into a camera & tell the viewers what you believe & 1 way you could help them, what would you say?

A doozy right?

As I read Psalm 40 today, I felt like David captured what’s been burning in my heart since she asked the question.

He tells how the Lord lifted him out of a muddy pit of despair, setting his feet on solid ground. David’s life changes so drastically, that he suddenly has a new song to sing!

David sums up in 2 sentences the desire of my heart:

Many will see what God has done & be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.

Despite the fact that David was an adulterer, liar & murderer, God heard David’s cry for help & saved him!

You see that’s the unfathomable good news of the Gospel! We need not clean up to come to The One Who saves!

He takes no delight in our sacrifices or offerings! He has no NEED of them because He BECAME our sacrifice FOR us!

Most times it’s when we FINALLY come to the end of ourselves, in the moment of sheer desperation, that we finally turn to the Lord AS Lord in complete surrender!

That’s my story! My past is littered with sordid details that would make most people blush & the rest turn away in shock, but not my Savior!

He picked me up out of the pigpen of my life’s decisions & washed me as white as snow!

Now it is no longer a sacrifice to do God’s will! When circumstances tempt me to anger, bitterness

 or despair, I WANT to extend the same grace I’ve been given! I’m not perfect, but when I follow His lead into the land of grace & forgiveness, joy follows me!

So if I had 5 minutes on Fox News I think I’d do like David did &, “Tell everyone in the great assembly of God’s unfailing love & faithfulness!”

HE is the answer to ALL problems we face!  When we seek His face, our immediate circumstances may not change, but everything in our perspective does!

Father, save us & give us a new song to sing that causes many to stand amazed & trust in You alone!

#OneYearBible

February 23rd One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 14:1-57

MARK 6:30-56

PSALM 40:1-10

PROVERBS 10:11-12

Discovering Meaning in the Meaningless Moments

Have you ever had a meaningless moment? Like a time when all of the busy rushing of life briefly stops & you ask yourself, “What am I doing? Why am I so exhausted? Is my life making an impact anywhere?”

I had one of those recently. I did purposeful things, but they didn’t fill me with purpose.  By mid day, I was so spent by the spinning thoughts that I decided to take a brief nap with the hopes that rest would bring a reset to my mindset.😊

David recorded one of those days in Psalm 39. He writes, “We are merely moving shadows & all of our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.”

What I love about his lament, however, is that instead of letting it lead to a nap, he uses the meaningless moment to bring meaning.

He holds his tongue -choosing  silence over negativity, but the turmoil within grew so great that a fire of words ignite & he cries,

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.”

Wow…what a visual, right?

“Each of us is but a breath…”

He let the hopelessness of a meaningless moment affirm that our time on earth IS fleeting! Time IS passing quickly, “So where do I put my hope?” he asks?

“My only hope is in You.”

Y’all we are not promised tomorrow and there will be days that may feel meaningless.

What if the next time we have one of those downtime moments we remember to let it become a reminder? A reminder of where our Hope lies. 👈🏽The capital letter is intentional because Hope is not a feeling, it’s the very personhood of Jesus Christ.

He is our Living Hope.

Our days are but a breath AND we have Emmanuel, God with us Who is ready & waiting to be our Lord Who leads The Way.

And sometimes His Way passes through a meaningless moment to remind us of the great meaning gained under His Lordship!

Father, help us to make the most of our days on earth AND thank you for the quiet moments of seeming nothingness that remind us of our great need of You! May we ever keep eyes fixed on our Living Hope!

#OneYearBible

February 22nd One Year Bible Readings

LEVITICUS 13:1-59

MARK 6:1-29

PSALM 39:1-13

PROVERBS 10:10