Deeper Things

  Ephesians 2:4- "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,..." Have you heard the riddle, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I heard someone recently explain why the chicken must have come first, because otherwise where did the egg come from? Seems like a sensible argument.  The grace and mercy of God offer the same kind of conundrum. Which comes first, the grace or mercy of God? Or are they concurrent acts of a loving God on our behalf? The point of grace and mercy does not relate to how they benefit us, but rather they reflect God's providential choice to relate to us.  I like to think of God's grace and mercy acting like a door. John wrote in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Grace prompted the Father to knock so we could open the door at the sound of His voice. But mercy keeps the door open. Whi...

  2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.”  Through what lens do you view God? Do you view God through a lens of law or grace? All of us respond to God from a perspective that is either guided by a rule to which we feel obligated to adhere or a freedom by which we live in Christ based upon His work and not our own.  I grew up in the church. I was born, raised, ministered in, and will probably die in the church. And yet I have lived with the tireless effort to please God because the church has conditioned me to believe that while I was saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), I needed to live a certain way, believe the right things, witness to people as often as possible, earn the notches in my belt, espouse politically conservative issues to keep the approval of God and maintain my status in His church. A moral fall, a shift in political viewpoints, or a lack of zeal for the gospel could raise questions as to the a...

Psalm 91:4- "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." One of the consequences of broken families is broken trust. If it is a failed marriage, then trust between spouses breaks. If a child never sees a father, then the absentee father leads that child to question his trustworthiness.  Love and faithfulness go hand in hand when it comes to understanding God. In fact, the psalmist wrote, "love and faithfulness meet together..." (Psalm 85:10). Think about it. If God breaks His promises, how can you trust His love for you?  The key verse for this week's devotion comes from a psalm of promises where God's faithfulness meets His love.  We can rest in the shadow of the Almighty (1) He is our refuge and fortress (2) He will save us (3) He will cover us (4) He will protect us from harm (5-8) He will send armies of angels to watch over us (11-12) He will answer us when we call on H...

John 3:16- "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." When I was in seminary, we learned that every theological system has a central belief that drives every other belief. Back then, I believed that God's holiness was the appropriate center for everything I understood  about God. However, I have changed that viewpoint. I believe today you cannot understand how and why God does what He does without first understanding and experiencing His love.  When someone struggles with believing in God, that is not a holiness problem. It's a love problem. This key verse in John is one of the most frequently quoted verses in the Bible. It succinctly summarizes the Gospel in 25 words. It makes several points that helps us understand the nature of God through love.  First, there is a distinctive look to God's love. The verse starts by stating that "God so loved..." The ...

  Daniel 2:21- "He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings." Have you ever wondered what makes God, God? Is it the miracles He performs? Is it the power He displays? I don't think His miracles or His power proves He is the God the Bible portrays. God proves who He is every time He relates to you and me. What greater miracle is there than the God who spoke the universe into existence speaking to us? The fact that we can relate to a God who creates by mere word is proof-positive that He is the only true God.  This series of devotions is going to show how the living God of the universe relates to us by exploring: His sovereignty His love His faithfulness His grace His mercy His justice His Word  Before you can ever consider Him as the God you can know, you must encounter Him as the God who reigns beyond all your comprehension. Scripture presents Him as the Creator, the Savior, the King, the Almighty God, and the everlasting Father (...

Jeremiah 18:4- "But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make" (NASB). Most of us have regrets of some kind. Maybe we regret a decision we made. Or we regret a missed opportunity. As discouraged as regrets make us feel, we can't go back in time to fix them. We may want to fix that regret, but we can't. The Backstory of a Promise This key scripture can heal the brokenness of regret. It describes God as a master artisan who fashions a lump of clay into a brand new vessel. But the scripture presents a problem when the clay is ruined. We don't know exactly what happened to ruin the vessel, but the context of this chapter gives us a clue.  Jeremiah prophesied that Israel was like the clay in the potter's hand. They had chosen to worship other gods, spoiling their relationship with the one true God. God predicted their punishment (18:11), making it difficult to s...

  Revelation 2:4- "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Have you ever made a priority list? Having priorities is important for me. I use to-do lists because I am prone to distraction. As important as priorities are, though, I want to say something that may sound contradictory to what is normally taught. Avoid prioritizing God! You read it right.  The Context of First Love Why do I say that? Revelation 2 tells the story of a church that worked hard for the faith. They persevered during persecution. They even cleaned house when they discovered false teachers in their midst. But somehow they had lost their way. Detrimentally, they abandoned their first love.  We teach in the church that losing our first love means we have put other things above God. Maybe we prioritized some sin in our life or we put all of our energy into our careers. While prioritizing other things over God may have implicated Ephesus (Revelation 2:5), the wider context of scri...