Lenten Devotional–Day 19

Q. 30. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—“ (Eph. 2:8)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NRSV)

If I had the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of John, the meekness of Moses, the strength of Samson, the obedience of Abraham, the compassion of Joseph, the tears of Jeremiah, the poetic skill of David, the prophetic voice of Elijah, the courage of Daniel, the greatness of John the Baptist, the endurance and love of Paul, I would still need redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sin. - R. L. Wheeler

  After a 20-year struggle with drugs and a backslidden faith, this Hollywood bad boy is now squeaky clean. With a penchant for gospel music and a new lease on life, good guy Gary [Busey] is on the road back to God ....

  Baptized at the age of 12, Busey grew up as a believer, but stardom drew him to the world of drugs. In 1979, Gary received a rock of cocaine from a man who called himself "the devil," beginning the downward spiral of cocaine abuse. So bad was his addiction, Busey was charged with a $10,000 felony and a five-year jail sentence.

  Now Busey is walking the straight line, thanks to his renewed faith in Jesus Christ. "I rededicated my life to Christ, to the Promise Keepers, four years ago at Los Angeles Coliseum," says Busey.

  After experiencing a series of nosebleeds, last May Gary found out he had sinovial cell sarcoma maximal sinus cancer. The fact that his cancer was malignant could have caused Gary to waver dramatically in his faith. But Gary says faith in God was what pulled him through.

  Gary took comfort in his communion with God. "My prayer was, 'Dear Lord, I'm filled with fear at this time,' and a voice came through the back of my head - it always comes from the right and into the back - the voice said, 'Replace the word fear with faith.' So I did. And everything got okay." Gary did not exactly know what having faith meant at that time, but he knew enough to believe he would come out a winner either way. - "Gary Busey: Hollywood 'Bad Boy' turns to the gospel," CBN.com.

Lenten Devotional – Day Nine

Q. 10. How did God create man?

A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:27)

Annie Dillard once summed up a day like this: “All day long I feel created.” (Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm, New York: Harper & Row, 1977, p. 25)

  Ronald Patterson tells this story about his early training in pastoral care: "One day many years ago, as part of my training, I worked at Boston City Hospital as a chaplain's assistant. I was assigned to a prison ward, and one of the prisoners there was a big-time drug dealer. It was my duty to visit him because he was very ill. Well, with the half-hearted pseudo-compassion of the typical do-gooder, I did my duty. Later, I confessed this to the Roman Catholic nun who was my supervisor. I said, 'How can I go and pray with this man who is ruining the life of this city? He deserves his illness and a whole lot more.' Do you know what she said to me?

  'Patterson, who died and elected you God? Somewhere deep within that man, covered by the layers of pain and denial and every rotten thing he has ever done, there is the kernel of God's image. Your only job is to see that spark; and the only way you can ever see it is to forget everything else about whatever anyone else has told you about right and wrong and believe with your whole heart that the spark is there. He, too, just as much as anyone you will ever meet, is a child of God's love."' - Recalled and preached by Dr. Ronald M. Patterson, Shiloh Church, Dayton, Ohio

  We sometimes forget God created all of us, even though some individuals in our society behavior less than human. As scripture reminds us God created us “very good” and both the confession and scripture tells us God created us “after his own image.” God intended far more for us within his creation than we often expect from ourselves. Later, the Shorter Catechism will deal with the question about sin, which not only forces us to live east of Eden separated from Paradise, but separates us from the love of God and his creation.

Lenten Devotional – Day Six

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

  “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,” (Eph. 1:11, NRSV)

“We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.” - Henri J. M. Nouwen

  You belong to God, and he takes it seriously. He gave his Son so you could be his. Don't make the mistake of thinking that God's commitment to you is only as strong as your commitment to him! You may fail from time to time, you may have a hard time keeping your promises, some days your heart may be cold and your faith may be weak. The good news is that God doesn't change his mind about us as often as we change our minds about him. As far as he is concerned, you belong to him, and nothing will change that.

  Paul in his writings to the early church piles up words to address God’s eternal purpose addressed in our question today: “predestined,” “purpose,” “counsel,” and “will.” Paul believed and emphasized God’s plan for His creation and that God is capable of fulfilling His plan. One such statement Paul made in Ephesians, “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (1:5) Paul means that God chose us to obtain an inheritance in Christ. But, Paul’s point is that everything we have in Christ is due to God’s eternal purpose to save us.

  Paul says that the reason we have been chosen to receive an inheritance in Christ is that God predestined us according to His purpose; and, He is the God who accomplishes all things after the counsel of His will. In eternity, before He created the world of space and time, God freely determined His purpose and plan, which is all for His glory. As stated in the first answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism our chief end is “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” and how to accomplish this purpose is further defined in each subsequent question and answer.

All the Saints of Our Lives

"The challenge of the saints of the twenty-first century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things of our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit." – Edward Hays in "Secular Sanctity"

  November 1st is All Saint's Day. All Saint's Day is not exactly a Presbyterian religious observance day in the church calendar, it is primarily observed within the Roman Catholic church and ended up serving as the backdrop for Halloween. All Saint's Day within the Roman Catholic church is a day to commemorate the lives of all the saints of the church who have no special calendar day of their own. While other traditions, celebrate the lives of all the communion of saints in the church who during the past year have passed on to claim their place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

  As Presbyterians we don't designate individuals specifically as saints in the church, like the Roman Catholic tradition, but it does not mean it can not be important to our practices. In the Roman Catholic tradition, they tend to focus on saints in heaven? In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he writes, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints” (Ephesians 1:15). Whenever Paul speaks of saints, he is talking about members of the church, those chosen by God and set apart to do his work in the world. Saints are holy people, according to Paul, but their holiness doesn’t come from achieving some kind of moral perfection. Instead, they have a holiness that comes from being marked as God’s people.

  When a person is proposed for Roman Catholic sainthood, evidence of that person’s virtue must be presented along with at least two postmortem miracles — miracles performed by the intercession of the person after his or her death. When you have a living saint during some stage of your life, you might come to believe you were the recipient of a miracle, even though no one will ask you to give evidence, you know this person has made a difference in your life. Who are the saints in your life, those simple people of faith who shared God's grace with devotion, sacredness, and compassion, who served as role models of the divine and the holy.

  We all have individuals in our lives we might call saints. People who were important to helping us shape us into the people we have become. A teacher who gave us a love for learning and encouraged us to pursue science, math, history or the arts. A church elder or member who mentored our faith formation in the church and helped us to follow Jesus Christ as a disciple. A Sunday School teacher who guided us to understand the wonderful stories contained in scriptures about God's great love for us. A person who supported and encouraged us to go on a mission trip, serve in the church, or volunteer for a project that changed and/or strengthened our faith and commitment to the church.