Are You Using Your Talents?

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Matthew 25:14-15

If you have not read this parable of the Talents, you can find it in Matthew 25:14-29. It is a parable of a merchant who gave his servants money to double for him. In banking terms he made an investment in his servants and expected to double his investment in return. To one he gave five talents, to the other two and to the last one he gave one, according to the abilities that he knew they had to make profit of his investment and went on his trip. When this merchant returned to settle accounts with his servants, the one he gave five to had doubled his investment. Likewise the servant whom he gave two talents to, doubled his investment, but the servant to whom he only gave one talent, hid in the ground and did nothing with it.

God gives each and every one of us a talent. It may not be an obvious talent like some but nonetheless it is a talent. A talent is something that you can do and do very well; a specialty so to speak that you may have. For example, some people have the talent of hosting. People can go to their house and they will make them feel as if they are in there own home or at a luxurious resort. That is a talent not everyone has. Some people have the talent of calming situations so they don’t escalate into something ugly. These are not very obvious talents but they are effective and necessary talents nonetheless. If they weren’t necessary why would God give them? God gives us these talents to use for His glory. If we host, we host for Him, if we pacify a situation, we pacify for Him. Whatever your talent is, you are to use it, practice getting better at it, and multiply it. How do you multiply it? By using your talent to bless others. I know a newlywed couple who have several talents and they use them all to glorify our Father, hence I have been witness to the multiplication of those talents. Not only do they sing, they host, they direct, they preach, and they lead and there are probably more talents I have seen yet in them. The point is that they are multiplying that investment that God made in them by blessing others. If you hear these two sing together or individually you will be truly blessed.

The first thing you need to do is discover your talent. Once you discover your talent, you have to develop it or put it into practice. It can be an obvious talent such as singing, preaching, or teaching, or it can be a talent that is not seen in crowds or the general public. A talent is a talent, however obvious or unobvious it may be. Is that a word?? You have to use it. As you develop your talent and become good at it, you multiply it. You cannot hide your talent and do nothing with it. God gave it to you for a reason. He gave it to you to bless others and to bless you and in so doing you are honoring the One who gave you the talent. If you allow fear and other elements to prevent you from using your talent you can lose it. Now let me be clear on what I mean about losing it – you will lose the desire, you will lose the ability to do it well, it is like a flower that receives no sunlight or water and dies. It is like a muscle that is not exercised and grows weak to the point where it is useless. A talent in monetary terms is equivalent to 10,000 shekels. In American money that would be about $1500. Jesus used the monetary example so that the people would understand but He was actually talking about those deposits that God makes in each and every one of us.

If you read the verses where he came to the last servant who he gave one talent to, you will see that the servant did nothing with his talent. He knew he had it, but he didn’t develop it and he didn’t multiply it because he was afraid. He was considered wicked and lazy by his master. Fear, insecurity, low self esteem, complexes and other elements can prevent you from discovering and developing your talent. A low self esteem will make you think that there is no way that you could have a talent but you do. Fear will say, you can’t do it, what if you fail? Insecurity will say you’re not that good, so and so can do it better, let them do it. These are all obstacles the enemy puts in your path to keep you from your full potential. You have to step over those giants and remind yourself, if God gave it to you it’s because He knew that you had the ability to do it. You see, verse 15 says “to each according to his own ability.” Not according to so and so’s ability but according to your own ability God gave you a talent or 5 talents or 10 talents or more! It is up to you to discover them, develop them, and multiply them!

I want to hear the Lord say “well done, my good and faithful servant”; how about you? Verse 29 says: ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” If you don’t use your talents they will be taken away. Let us use those gifts God has given us to further His kingdom so that we can hear the Lord say “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
God bless!

The Sanctity of Marriage

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:22-31

This is for those who are married and those who will get married. I don’t pretend to be an expert on marriage – far from it – but there are some things I learned in the course of my marriage to my wonderful husband that I would like to share and may help someone in need.

First – IT CAN BE DONE! The society and age we live would have us believe that marriage doesn’t work. So many people are terrified of the commitment of marriage or are hostile toward it because of past hurts or the wrong example of the marriage of someone close. The statistics of the divorce rate in the 21st century alone are scary and at the highest they’ve ever been. 50% of married couples in America end in divorce. A person who marries more than once is more likely to divorce sooner than the first time. The sanctity of marriage is no longer regarded in today’s society. It was every little girl’s dream to have a beautiful wedding and spend the rest of her life with the man waiting for her at the altar. Those dreams can still come true! It is God’s design for man and woman to live in the intimate relationship called marriage. Of course the world has a twisted and warped view of what marriage should be. It is more challenging today to marry and stay committed to that union than it was 50 years ago, even 20 years ago, but it can be done. Marriage is not a fairy tale where you marry the person of your dreams and live happily ever after. It requires an investment of time, patience, sacrifice, compromise and commitment. It is a decision to love when life is just like a fairytale and when it’s not. A decision to love when you realize your spouse is not perfect and you can not change him/her. The good news is that you can be a vessel that God uses to mold him/her. Marc and I will be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary on June 29th, a little more than 2 months away. It has not always been easy and there have been times when one or the other wanted to throw in the towel but God continued to remind us that it can be done, we could make it work if we put Him first and build our marriage on His foundation. 8 years is a victory!!! Praise the Lord!!! I’ve noticed that each year that we’ve been married, God has taught us something new about marriage, about ourselves, and we’ve grown as individuals and as a couple. This brings me to my next point.

Ladies, WE CAN SUBMIT to our husbands. Not only can we submit but our Heavenly Father tells us to do so. Growing up and in the first couple of years of being married I had a terrible misconception of what it meant to submit to my husband and I believe many woman as well as men share this misconception. The dictionary’s definition of the word submit reads as so: to give over or yield to the power or authority of another. My understanding of submitting was different and when you grow up in a home where the woman does everything it’s hard to see yourself submitting to someone else. I thought that submitting to my husband meant that I had to be a doormat for him to walk all over and/or be his slave. So my attitude was, “no man is going to walk all over me.” As I began to grow in the Lord and as a wife, God began to teach me what submission to my husband truly is. Ladies it has absolutely nothing to do with being his slave or him telling you what to do and you have to do it. It’s about giving him the respect he deserves as a man and as the head of your home. Men yearn for respect from their wives and sadly today there aren’t many marriages where the husband is respected by his wife even in the church. When God created woman, He created her to be the helpmeet of man. He created her to help him in his walk with God, in his struggles as a husband, father, friend, brother and as a man. Of course we cannot relate to some of the things men struggle with, but we can be supportive and give them the respect they need that will encourage them to keep pressing forward. You’d be amazed at the difference it makes when you show a man respect. Your respect motivates him to do all that he can to keep your respect and your trust.

Gentleman, YOU CAN LOVE your wives. This is what you are called to do in your relationship with your wife. The woman is usually more emotional than the man so it is in her nature to love. That is why God does not tell her to love her husband because she is going to do that anyway. It’s how she is wired. That doesn’t mean that men cannot love, they just don’t show it the way women do. Women want to feel loved by their husbands. Sometimes that requires showing affection, telling her that you love her, or doing little things to make her smile that let her know you care. Some men have a hard time showing affection. They may have brought up to think that showing emotion is not manly, but gentleman we love it when our men show us how they truly feel and when God is at the center of the marriage it is so much sweeter! In the past few months, I have experienced and continue to experience the gentle side of my husband that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The side of him that lets me see how he is feeling about me and our life together; the side of him that comes out when God is the center of his life. Guys, when you allow your Heavenly Father to have His way with you or as I like to say, invade your mind, soul, and spirit, your heart is open door. He can then go in and do spring cleaning in those dusty closets inside your heart that have stuff you probably didn’t even know was there collecting dust and hindering your spiritual life! When your wife allows herself to be the vessel that God uses to mold you and you allow yourself to be molded, beautiful things happen in your marriage. Your wife has to feel loved; she needs to feel secure in your love. Without the demonstration of this element, the wife feels unloved, unwanted, and can become quite bitter. This does not mean that you don’t love her, but if you are not showing her, she will think that you don’t. The same way you men need respect, we women need to be loved.

The Bible describes the love/respect relationship between the husband and the wife as the relationship between Christ and the church. The church/the bride submits to her beloved Bridegroom/Christ. The Bridegroom/Christ loves His bride/the church. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5 that the husband should love his wife as Christ loves the church. He goes on further to say that the husband ought to love his wife as he loves is body. The church is the body of Christ, Christ is the head of the church. The husband and wife become one flesh when they are married. The bible says that when a man marries, he will leave his mother and his father and cleave to his wife. This simply means that he becomes one with his wife.

The world would have us believe that it is okay to marry and divorce and marry again. That it is okay to have more than one spouse. That it is okay for men to marry men and women to marry women, defiling the sanctity of marriage as God intended. But the Bible is very clear on the marriage relationship. Genesis 2:24 says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The marriage relationship was meant for one man and one woman per marriage. Not one man and one man or one woman and one woman or one man and three women or one woman and three men, but one man for one woman and one woman for one man. Only a man and a woman joined in marriage can become one flesh. All other substitutes just don’t work! Those of us who know the Bible or who have understanding or know of the Word of God, let us keep the sanctity of marriage as it was meant to be; holy before God, to be fruitful and to multiply. Wives respect your husbands, husbands love your wives. Every year that you celebrate a wedding anniversary with God at the center of your marriage is a victory! God bless you!

Called to Love

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9

God is love. We have heard it said many times and have read it many times. The very thought alone that He would give up all He held precious to Him for us to be reconciled to Him, demonstrates that love. Jesus as a man was love in the flesh. Everything He did, He did in love. Everything He said, He said in love. Even when He got angry in the temple, He got angry but still there was love. Even when He rebuked His disciples, the Pharisees, and the scribes, He rebuked them in love. He poured out His love on the disciples and the people every time He healed, spoke to them, delivered them from demonic oppression. He taught the disciples what love is and how they should walk in love. John spoke about this love in his letters years after the crucifixion. He was the embodiment of God’s love for us and He gave His life for us because of that love.

So now that we are saved and sanctified we have to walk in that love also. The same way He loved us, and still loves us, we have to love others. Like Pastor was talking about yesterday in the message about Juan and his co-workers, only a person filled with the love of God can withstand abuse in that way because his desire is to please the Father and the Father is love! When we deal with people who have been hurt, abused, betrayed, who don’t trust anyone and have walls thicker than El Yunque in Puerto Rico, built up in their hearts to protect them from being hurt, love is the only thing that can penetrate those walls. Love is the only thing that is going to help that person trust again, open up, receive love, and give it in return. God’s love that abides in us is what penetrates those walls.

In our walk with Jesus, we will encounter many such people but if we are not walking in love they will never see Christ in us. They will only see the religious acts of going to church, praying, and reading the Bible but they will never see the transformation and renewing power of the Holy Spirit in us if we do not walk in love. We are getting ready for a new dimension in the Lord. Anytime God gets ready to move His people into another dimension in Him, He prepares them for it. God is calling us to love as He loves. God is telling us that there are those that are hurting and wounded and they will only be reached in love. God is telling us to walk in His love, abide in His love, and let His love shine in us! It is a requirement for where He is taking the church and what He is going to do and is doing.

Jesus came to mend the broken hearted, comfort the grieving, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, release those who are in prison from their bondage; He did it because He loved us so. Now we are called to love the loveless, give hope to the hopeless, comfort the grieving, and do everything Jesus did because we are His ambassadors here on earth. He empowers us to love those we thought we could not love. He empowers us to comfort others in their pain and lead them to Him because He reveals His love to them in us. We should ask the Lord to fill us with His love daily. Let us abide in His love as He abided in the Father’s love. The Father loves Him with all that He has and all that He has He freely gave to Him. He gave His most precious to show us the true meaning of love. The Father’s love heals, restores, revives, reinstitutes, reestablishes, reaffirms. The Father’s love was all it took to bring humanity to a place where they could reconnect with Him. Because of that love Jesus gave His life to become the bridge between the Father and humanity. Praise God for His everlasting love!!

Heavenly Father,
We come before You this morning recognizing that You are love and that we need more of You. We ask You to fill us with Your love this morning so that everyone who encounters us today will feel that love and see that love. Father we ask that if anyone we come across today and everyday is sad, lonely, broken hearted, rebellious, or has walls built around their hearts to keep from feeling pain, that Your love in us would penetrate those walls, heal the broken heart, turn the sadness into joy, turn the rebelliousness to submission to You and let them know that they are not alone. Father let us be Your vessels and show us how to love the way You do. In Jesus mighty name, we thank You because You first loved us and because You showed us love, we can love You in return. Allow Your love to reflect in everything we do and say that others may feel You and come to know You through Your love in us.

In Jesus name,
Amen!

Trust God

But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had. Genesis 12:17-20

To fully grasp these verses you would have to read the whole chapter but I don’t have room to include the whole chapter in one devotional but we will discuss the previous verses in order to better understand the ones above. The first three verses are promises from God to Abram. God called Abram to leave his country and his family and in turn he would bless him and his future generations. Abram was obedient even though he was already 75 years old without children; he believed God would bless him with a son. In verse seven, God makes yet another promise concerning the land in which He had Abram settle in. The promise is that the land would belong to his descendants.

In verses 10-20 there was a famine in the land of Canaan and Abram and his wife traveled to the land of Egypt where there was food. Here we see the display of a very human reaction and a tool that the enemy uses against Christians – fear. Abram felt fear because he saw that his wife was beautiful and feared that he would be killed by the Egyptians so that Pharoah could have his wife. So he came up with a plan to say that his wife was his sister rather than his wife, not knowing that this would cause more harm than good. Many times God speaks to our lives and makes promises to us and ask us to trust Him, yet when we experience fear, we forget that trust and act on our own survival instincts. God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man to change His mind. If He said He would be with you wherever you go, then He will be with you wherever you go. Abram had not yet realized the faithfulness of God in His life at that point because He did not stand on God’s promise and trusted his own instincts and lied about Sarai being his sister.

Now look at God’s faithfulness, mercy and sovereignty in this situation. Not only did he bless and prosper Abram in this land but He also protected him and his family from harm and the Pharoah’s desire for Sarai. Since Abram said that Sarai was his sister, Pharoah saw no wrong in desiring her for himself because she was beautiful, but God plagued him. Praise the Lord!!! God warns us before we make mistakes!! Pharoah did not know that he desired a married woman but the Lord took his sleep and gave him dreams to let him know not to touch her. Pharoah’s response was as we read in the above verses, to send Abram on his way with his wife. Not only that but everything that he had acquired while he was there he took with him. God blessed Abram but the blessing could have been greater had Abram trusted God to preserve his life and told the truth about Sarai being his wife.

In application to us today, we must trust God with all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will be. Sometimes we allow fear to enter our lives through situations, people, or our own emotions, our own lack of self confidence, our own lack of trust in others and in God. When we enter situations where the unknown plays a major factor in the outcome, we must trust God for our deliverance, sustenance, and everything else. We cannot and must not compromise because we are afraid! The God we serve will never leave us nor forsake us. Abram’s fear could’ve cost him his wife and the promises that God had for them both, but God did not allow that happen. Mercifully He intervened and plagued Pharoah and his house and by doing so He protected Abram, Sarai, AND Pharoah! Although Pharoah did not know the Lord, God is merciful and desires that all be saved and therefore sent warnings so that Pharoah would not sin against God and against His anointed. God gives us chances to repent and He makes a way for us when in trouble. Abram feared and did not allow God to bless him the way He wanted to while in Egypt, but He still blessed him and never left him. Praise God!!! God bless you!

Come Forth!

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:38-44

There are several points that I want to touch on in this passage. This is a very familiar passage and most know of the story of Lazarus but there are some human and divine characteristics in Jesus that are revealed in this passage that I want to point out. There are also some comparisons between Lazarus and us before and after coming to Christ that I noticed.

Jesus experienced three human emotions on His way to and at the grave of His friend Lazarus. He felt sadness for the people around who thought that He wept for His dear friend. He was sad because of their unbelief, because they could not see that the One they had waited for was before them. He felt compassion because they were like lost sheep and He being the Good Shepherd had come to find them and bring them back to the fold. He felt compassion for their physical, mental, emotional, and most importantly spiritual needs. He felt frustration because there were many that walked with Him that had not yet grasped who He really was and what He had the power to do. He was frustrated that the people would not believe in the love and mercy that brought Him to them without signs and miracles and even then, most did not receive what He came to offer.

In His divinity He could see the thoughts and intents of every heart standing there. In His divinity He knew the outcome of that scenario before He got there and He knew those who would believe and those who wouldn’t. I imagine this knowledge would bring on all three human emotions at once. After all, though He is the Son of God, He walked among men as a man. Experiencing all the emotions that men feel, experiencing pain as man feels it, yet without sin.

Jesus knew that Lazarus would not be dead long even after he was buried yet it had to happen this way to glorify the Father and so that those that would believe would have their opportunity to witness the glory of God. Martha, although she knew the Lord and believed that whatever He asked the Father was His, needed to witness this event so that she would fully understand that Jesus is the Messiah she was waiting for. That is why He tells her “if you believe, you will see the glory of God.” In this passage He reminds her of what He said in a question. Didn’t I tell you?

At the tomb, Jesus prays to the Father before calling Lazarus for the benefit of those around Him, that they would understand that the Father sent Him, that He was not just an ordinary prophet. He wanted them to understand that He was among them because He was sent from above, that He was the One the Scriptures spoke about, the Messiah.

Ever think about why Jesus called Lazarus by his name when He could’ve just said come forth and why He waited four days to do it? He called him by name because although their may have been many Lazarus’s in that time, there was only one Lazarus who knew the voice of Jesus. Had he said come forth possibly all those who walked with Him before would have risen so He specifically called him by his name. He waited four days so there would be no doubt that Lazarus was dead when Jesus resurrected him.

Now if you look at the last two verses, 43 & 44, this is where I see a comparison and at the same time the reason Jesus came into our world. The bible says that Lazarus was bound from head to foot. Think about where you were before you turned to Jesus, you were bound from head to toe in bondage and sin. Jesus called Lazarus by name just as one day He called you and I by name and set us free from our bondage. Lazarus or should I say the dead Lazarus is a type of the man without Jesus. He is bound by worldly lusts and desires, bound by the desires of his flesh. Bound by Satan’s grip, not knowing how to escape or be free. What a wonderful and marvelous thing Jesus did for us, that He came to set us free!! Praise God! Jesus told those around Him, to loose him and let him go. The same way Jesus tells Satan, when a person comes to Christ and receives salvation, “loose him and let him go.” Oh my God, my God, my God!!! How awesome is our Lord and Savior!!!!! All glory and honor belong to Him for all eternity!! He sets us free from bondage!!!! Satan has to loose us and let us go because we are now the property of Christ!!! Bought by His precious blood!!! Hallelujah!!! Oh my God! I am feeling the presence of God in such a powerful way right now that I just want to shout!

Lazarus’s resurrection had to come to pass to show us what Jesus truly came for! He came to set the captives free!!!! To save the lost, heal the sick, and deliver those captive!!!! Thank you Jesus!!! You see, when we are in sin, we are spiritually dead, we are bound as Lazarus was in graveclothes that represent the chains that had us bound, but when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are like Lazarus coming out of the grave of spiritual death and resurrecting as new creatures in Christ!! The old Lazarus did not come out of that grave but the new Lazarus who knew His Lord. Our old man is buried and our new man, our spirit man is resurrected to glorify Almighty God!!!! Santo!!! Praise the Lord!!!

If you are walking with Christ, take this moment to praise Him for His sacrifice for you and me and thank Him for setting you free. If you don’t know Christ, I ask you this – why would you want to live in chains when you can be set free and live life abundantly? Jesus is knocking on your door, will you let Him in and dine with Him or will you ignore the knocking in hopes that it will go away? Receive His free gift today because tomorrow is not promised and you may not have another opportunity. Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. Jesus is calling you by name, answer Him with a “yes Lord” and allow Him to set you free. God bless you!

Experience Grace

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:7

We hear about grace all the time in sermons, in books, in songs, and in the Word. Yet what is grace?? How many of us truly know what grace is? Do we appreciate it as we should or do we simply accept it as part of the package that comes with being a Christian? Have we truly experienced grace in its purest form?

The online dictionary (dictionary.com) defines grace as such:
The freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.
The influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.

So if we paraphrase the above the verses according to these definitions they would read something like this:

For by the unmerited favor and love of God you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the Holy Spirit the gift of God, not of your own actions, behavior or righteousness, lest anyone should take credit for it.

But to each one of us unmerited favor was given according to the measure of Christ’s influence operating in us.

Grace is God’s love and favor lavished upon humanity to the point that He gave His only Son to allow us to receive that grace. It is because God loved us and favored us that He provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. It is because He loved us and favored us that He chose us, called us, set us apart to do a work for His glory, sanctified us, and called us sons and daughters of the Most High God. It is because He loved us and favored us that His Holy Spirit abides in us and empowers us to continue to press forward in that which He has called us. It is because He loved and favored us that His Son died on a cross and rose again on the third day to become our Mediator, our Lord, our Savior, our Defense Attorney, our Hope, our Prince of Peace, our
Redeemer. Praise the Lord!!

It is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of ourselves. We could not save ourselves from the imminent end that would come to our lives and the eternal suffering that we would have to suffer had not Christ paid the price for us. It was and is the love of God that saved us and continues to save. It was divine favor that appointed a day in our lives in which we would meet our Savior and receive His free gift of salvation. It is because God remembered that we were perfect in our creation but sin made us imperfect therefore He made a way for us to be perfect again when we are with Him. One day, when we go home to our Father, we will be perfect. Until that day we are imperfect human beings striving towards the day that we will be made perfect again as God intended. We cannot take the credit for anything we have done or accomplished in this life because we did not accomplish anything in ourselves but the favor of God is what allows us to do anything, without Him we can do nothing.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. We have been saved by grace but now we must walk in grace and live in grace as we grow in and mature in the Lord. We each have been given a gift according to the abundance of Christ. I read several versions of this verse in order to better grasp the meaning of the latter part of the verse – the measure of Christ’s gift. One version, called the Easy-to-read version (studylight.org parallel bible) reads: “Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Each person received what Christ wanted to give that person”. This verse deals specifically with the gift you’ve been given by grace according to what the Lord wanted to give you. This gift that enables you to stand out in a certain area was given to you because God loves you and showed you favor. For this reason we cannot boast about our capabilities, gifts or anything else God does through us because it is by grace that we are able to do them. It is because Christ gave us a gift that we are able to operate in a certain way, but all the credit belongs to Him.

To truly experience grace you have to experience Christ. You have to see yourself in your truest form in the eyes of God – human, fallible, sinful, desperately needing Him. Before we come to Jesus, we are a mess that has no way of undoing itself by our own strength, understanding, or power. The mess that we are only Jesus can fix. When we see ourselves in that light, small, insignificant, people capable of making a mess of our lives quite easily, we see that God’s love and unmerited favor has sustained us. We see that without Jesus our lives have no value, purpose, or direction. We experience the need for a savior, but not a human savior because though someone may be able to something better than you, they are still human, capable of making their own mess rendering themselves powerless to save anyone.

The only One with the power to save is Jesus and when you come to the conclusion where you surrender your mess to Him and let Him sort through it to bring the real you out of it, then you have experienced Christ and you have experienced grace. God bless you.

As Far As the East is From the West

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:10, 12 & 14

Many times since I started walking with the Lord, I have thought about where He has brought me from. Truly He has not dealt with me according to my sins. It is good to reflect on the things God has done for us, on who we were before we encountered Christ and who we are now in Him. You can’t help but be grateful and praise His name because who you or I were before did not deserve the mercy that provided a way to be reconciled to God.

The second verse in this chapter says “Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not His benefits.” This ties into the above verses because when you remember His benefits, you remember where you were the day that mercy came running to you. You remember who you were back then, however long it’s been, and realize He has not dealt with you according to your sins or punished you according to your iniquities. There is a difference between sin and iniquity though many believe them to be the same. To sin is to miss the mark, to break the law of God. Iniquity or to be iniquitous is to deviate from God’s law or live in lawlessness. Where sin is to break the law of God, iniquity is the absence of God’s law in one’s life. We lived in the absence of God’s law in our lives before we found Jesus. Wow! Forget not His benefits.

Though some of us may have been raised in the church, it does not mean that we were not living a lawless life. If you think about it, before you actually made a commitment to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior you pretty much refrained from doing certain things because your parents taught you that it was wrong in the eyes of God. I wasn’t raised in the church and I was taught the same thing. Yet the choice is ours whether or not we will accept God’s mercy and live according to His will or continue in our iniquity. Praise the Lord that many of us have made that decision already and we are FOR Christ. But if you haven’t made that decision yet, don’t wait because tomorrow can be too late!

At the moment that we let Jesus into our hearts verse 12 says that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions.” Do you know what that means?! It means that our sins, our violations of His law, our life of lawlessness no longer exist to Him! Our slate is totally clean! We are knew creatures, a new Christine, a new you in Christ Jesus! Bless the Lord O my soul!!!

Verse 14 says “for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” I don’t know about you but that makes me want to shout! He remembers that we are not perfect, that we are only human, and that we are prone to sin! He remembers the elements used in our creation when He created us, DUST! He remembers that because we are dust, we cannot be all that He created us to be without His help! He remembers that when He created us, He created us with free will – the right to choose – and sometimes our choices leave much to be desired. He is not our dictator so stands aside when our choices don’t include Him until we ask for help. Our frame….our body…..this flesh or shell that encases our soul and spirit, what a beautiful way to put it! God remembers that we are flesh and has mercy on His beloved creation and sends His only begotten Son as a bridge to fill the gap between Him and His creation – us! What a wonderful, merciful, loving Father we have in our God.

There is always so much to say and little time to say it but I want to leave you with this thought. Sometimes you can fall into the monotony of routine and lose sight of His many “benefits.” I know because I have found myself in that condition on more than one occasion. I have learned though that when your service to the Lord feels like a routine, a duty, a habit or anything but joy, passion, and love for our Father and the desire to please Him – think back to where you were before the day that He saved you. This is not dwelling in the past, it is remembering the wonders that God has done in your life, starting with the salvation of your soul. It is going back to the day when you first fell in love with Him and falling in love all over again! It is blessing His wonderful name despite your current situation because in your current situation He is there with you regardless of what it looks like. The world is a lonely place when you don’t have purpose, when you don’t know what you were created for but when you have Jesus, your purpose is defined and the reason you were created becomes your joy. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits!

If anyone reading this today does not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life and have not yet experienced the joy, love, and mercy of our Heavenly Father, I invite you today to make the decision that will determine whether your life will be one with a defined purpose or one of no purpose. Jesus loves you and died a brutal death on the cross for you and for me. All you have to do is invite Him in. Confess that you are a sinner and your need for Him to transform your life, believe that He is able and willing to forgive you and wash you clean, and receive His free gift of salvation. The bible says that when believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, we shall be saved. Experience the joy of the Lord, receive Christ today and begin the journey God predestined for you. He loves you more than you can possibly imagine. God bless you!