Hosea 11:8-9 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.”

Observation:

Passages like this let me know that I actually am made in God’s image. It can be easy to forget when I am so fallible and he is so perfect. But even God feels this … I hesitate to call it temptation … struggles with his course of action against Israel. This situation reminds me of parenthood and watching my children repeatedly do something I’ve asked them to stop.

Application:

Because I am like God in my struggle, I can be like him in grace and mercy. I can let these attributes and practices outweigh my other emotions.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your example, for the gift of your likeness – help me be more like you.

Luke 6:37 “Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you.”

Observation:

Heh – another NLT specialty that should really be translated as “don’t condemn” rather than “don’t criticize.” Que sera, sera. Sometime before Christmas break I realized (again) how critical I am and how ugly it is. Every criticism is devoid of grace, compassion, and empathy. Though the verse could be interpreted to mean other people will criticize you, the sentiments themselves tend to just sit, like poison, in my soul resulting in far more retribution than any external result.

Application:

I need to have more grace, more compassion, and more empathy. Though I can’t immediately change my thoughts, I can change whether I express them, and if controlling my tongue is anything like a bit in a horse’s mouth or the rudder of a ship, then hopefully I can change my thoughts.

Prayer:

Lord, forgive me for being a critical person – redeem me. Please help me control my tongue, and beyond just not being critical, please fill me with grace, fill me with compassion, and fill me with empathy – so much that they overflow.

Colossians 1:19-20 “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.”

Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.”

Observation:

God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything. I’m called to let that peace rule in my heart in order to live at peace with others.

Application:

I’ve been praying for peace the last couple days.  I’m still upset that Ian and Erin are leaving the group, and don’t seem interested in trying to repair it. Katie and Craig were asking me about it yesterday at church; as soon as we each went on our way, I could tell I wasn’t at peace with it yet. I didn’t leave the conversation feeling like I was “full of grace” (Colossians 4:6). That to say, God made peace with us so we can make peace with each other: I need to submit this situation to God.

Prayer:

Lord … please give me peace. Help me reconcile whatever needs to be reconciled.

Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Observation:

I read this verse yesterday for a study I’m doing on staff.  I don’t remember what the question was, but there was one that framed this verse, for me, in the form of grace.  I often judge other people because a lack of understanding,  compassion, and ultimately grace.

Application:

I need to give people more room, and start with the (accurate) assumption that I don’t know enough about their situation to make any kind of judgment – even if it wewre my place (which it’s not).

Prayer:

Lord – I can’t help but to ask that you don’t measure grace to me in the amount I measure to others.

2 Corinthians 6:15 “How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?”

Observation:

I have a dear friend engaged to an unbeliever – an unbeliever I love.  When I initially read this verse (from yesterday’s reading), I just got this sick feeling like I should tell my friend “No! Don’t do it!”  Fortunately, God pounced on that thought and replaced it with a conviction to earnestly pray for this person to find Christ – ultimately the goal regardless of this marriage.

Application:

Pretty simple today – I need to start earnestly praying for this person’s salvation.  And although it’s important to this marriage, it’s eternally important to the soul.

Prayer:

Lord I lift this person up to you.  I pray they answer the call you’re making – that they’re responding to your voice.  I pray that the community surrounding them would also lift them in prayer and give them the support they need to make the commitment.  I pray that I respond quickly to any action you would have me take to help facilitate this transition.  Please give my believing friend strength and patience as they see their fiancee through this process.  Please settle this couple on my heart and remind me to keep them in my prayers.

Mark 6:56 “Wherever Christ went – in villages and cities and out on the farms – they laid the sick in the market plazas and streets.  The sick begged him to let them at least touch the fringe of his robe, and all who touched it were healed.”

Observation:

Jesus’ ministry … even when I think about the word “minister” as defined by offering care or aid is so different than what we see in churches today; we have “Adult Ministries” and “Youth Ministries” and “Children’s Ministries.”  Jesus healed people.  I wonder if all the accounts we had of Jesus preaching verses Jesus healing what the split would be.  In any case, Jesus didn’t need to “do outreach” as we think of it today – that was his entire mission, and because of that people were drawn to him.  He didn’t have to knock on doors.  He didn’t have to hold “seeker friendly” events.  People knew that if they came, they would receive healing … how much more “relevant” can you get?

Application:

I’m so grateful this is the direction Life Center is headed.  This is the direction I need to head as a “minister” to my world.  What are my resources?  I have no robe with healing powers, but I have lots to offer.

Prayer:

Lord – help me identify what I have to give, how to do so, and where I can minister those gifts.

Job 19:25-27 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the eart at last.  And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!  I will see him for myself.  Yes, I will see him with my own eyes, I am overwhelmed at the thought!”

Observation:

My Redeemer lives.  Something about that phrase fills me with triumph, comfort, and peace.    I do think it’s interesting that Job says it – As Christians, when we talk about a “living God” it is wrapped up in Christs’ resurrection – Job was a Jew, certainly a follower of a living God, but this phrase sticks out as unique to me.

Job ‘s despair is great, as are his reasons for having it.  He seems to lose it at times, asserting his own righteousness and perfection, but he returns to these thoughts about God – My Redeemer lives.

Application:

My Redeemer lives!  I always have reason for hope, reason for peace, reason for love, reason for grace … I have been redeemed – saved from living a life without this light.

Prayer:

Thank you Lord for being a living God, for redeeming my soul, and for the hope that gives me in this life.

Luke 7:36-39 “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

Observation:

Another display of the difference Christ makes.  Sin separates people from God.  It’s a wholesale deal-breaker for any hopes of communing with our creator.  That was true before Christ, and it’s still true today.  God will not tolerate sin.  Christ, however, bridges the gap.  God wouldn’t be in the presence of this woman – Christ lets himself be washed, kissed, and anointed by her.  It’s interesting – those very things are what we need Christ to do for us.  Wash us of our sin, welcome us to His Kingdom, and given a new path.  In any case – Christ can tolerate the sin in us, not to remain in us, but our sin doesn’t keep us from him.  God recognized the chasm that would always exist and that he would not move.  He also recognized that despite our best, we could never bridge that chasm.  So he sends Christ – holy and pure – able to be both in the presence of God, and in the presence of sin to bridge that gap.  Astonishing.

Prayer:

Lord – Creator, thank you for Christ – for a deep love and desire to be in our presence and for sending Christ to make that possible.

Jeremiah 38:20 – Jeremiah tells King Zedekiah “You won’t be handed over [to die] if you choose to obey the Lord.  Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.”

Observation:

Judah is being punished for years of egregious sin against the Lord.  King Zedekiah is the lucky leader of the nation when this punishment is taking place – he has done nothing to turn the nation back to God.  Yet God offers salvation to this wayward king even as his punishment rains down on Judah.  The old testament certainly displays God’s wrath in response to jealousy, protection, and correction of His people.  But along with that wrath comes sincere love for his people.  Even those who refuse to listen.

Application:

I do not want to need severe correction, but I know that if/when the time comes for an area of my life to be burnt to the ground, I will trust my life to this God who is benevolent even in punishment.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your empathy and your kindness.  In times when you offer me a good way to go, please let me take it.

Psalms 33:15 “He fashioned our hearts, and understands everything we do.”

Observation:

Knowing that the God I worship, the God of all creation, the God  in ultimate control understands what I do is comforting.  He knows my temptations, he knows my brokeness, he knows my heart and thoughts completely.  He knows exactly what is broken, and exactly how to fix it.  Paul says God will complete His good work in me (Phil. 1:6) – Jeremiah says He has good plans for me (Jer. 29:11).  Christ identifies with my struggle against sin, and God knows my struggle in sin – It makes it not feel quite so secret, not so isolating.

Application:

I need to be patient and trust that God is completing a good work in me, and that he is doing the same in others.  He knows and understands where we all are.  I need to remember these things when I’m frustrated with myself, and when I’m frustrated with others.

Prayer:

Thank you Lord for your omniscience.