Today’s reading is Mark 3:1-4:41.

“‘If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you’” (Mark 4:23-24).

I have ears; I need to hear. This is great. Jesus didn’t say if I was just one of a specially chosen few I could get it. He didn’t say I could try and try and try and maybe someday He might bestow a gift of understanding on me. Rather, He said if I pay attention and give diligence to what He has to say, more will be added to me. What a relief. I’m not spinning my wheels spending time in His word. If I pay attention to what He says, Jesus will bless me. If I blow it off and only take a dip in it every now and then, I probably don’t need to expect much. But what confidence I can have that if I focus on Jesus’ word, I will be blessed by Him and more and more will be heaped on to me.

I’m glad I’m spending time in His word, paying attention to what He says today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Mark 1:1-2:28.

“And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:16-17).

At times, I can hardly fathom that Jesus would want anything to do with me. I keep thinking that I need to work more righteousness in order to attract Jesus to me. But exactly the opposite is true. If I were righteous on my own, then Jesus would go spend His time somewhere He was needed. Instead, He came into the world and continues to work in the world to be with people just like me: sinners.

As He spends time with me, I will become righteous. But I do not have to become righteous to get Jesus to spend time with me. My sins are why He came to earth in the first place.

I think today, I’ll spend some time with Jesus. I know He’ll want to.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Philippians 3:1-4:23.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own” (Philippians 3:12).

I’m in good company. I’m not perfect, which means I’m a lot like Paul. This passage provides me some of the most comfort I’ve had in a long, long time. This apostle who claims imperfection is the very same apostle who in Philippians 1:21-23 claimed that death would be better for him because it meant going to be with Jesus. He was going to be resurrected and spend eternity in the presence of His Savior.

WOW! He wasn’t perfect yet. That is, he still sinned. But, he was perfected by Jesus Christ (cf. Hebrews 10:14). But if he died that day, he was convinced he was saved. I’m so glad to hear that. I’m not perfect yet, but I have been perfected by the sacrifice of Jesus. If I die today, I don’t have to fear. I will be saved.

No, this doesn’t mean sitting on my backside. Because Paul knew this, he continued to press on. So will I. But it is sure a comfort to know that my imperfection doesn’t have to scare me anymore. I am free to keep pressing on because my mess ups don’t destroy my salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Philippians 1:1-2:30.

“…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

I can relax today. I don’t have to give myself ulcers worrying about how I’m ever going to be pleasing to God. I don’t have to fret that I’m just not ever going to be good enough for Him. He’s working on that. He is working in me both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Part of me wants to rebel against that. Part of me wants to say, “NO! I will do this.” But a very real part of me has come face to face with exactly how badly it goes when I am trying to do this. I have failed again and again and again. Today, instead of failing, I can just give up. That’s right. I can quit. I can surrender. I can admit I am powerless and only botch things myself, so I’ll just have to surrender my life to God and let Him be in control, simply doing what He says.

No, this doesn’t mean I sit on my backside and wait for the cosmic puppet master to pull my strings. It means I can have confidence to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is working in me. It means all I have to do is learn God’s will and surrender to that. My job is simply to do the next right thing. God is working in me. I can trust that He will get me where I need to go if I simply surrender to Him today.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Ephesians 1:1-2:22.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

What a thought! I am not my workmanship. I am God’s workmanship. Obviously, I’m making choices in my daily life. This doesn’t mean I’m nothing more than a puppet with God literally pulling the strings. But it does mean I’m not alone. It means I don’t have to direct the way for me to be all that God wants me to be, all that I want me to be.

God has created me in Christ Jesus to walk in His good works. But is His workmanship merely a moment in time switcheroo? Does Paul simply mean when I was baptized into Christ, God did some work but now He is sitting back hoping the switch took? I don’t think so. This verse means God is still working in me. He is providing me with progressive victory over sin and progressive victory in righteousness.

This doesn’t mean I sit on my backside and wait for God to pull the strings. But it does mean I can take comfort today that God is working in me. I am His workmanship and He is the Master Craftsman. He may not always work on my timetable, but He is working.

I think today, I’ll just surrender to God’s way. I’m pretty sure it works. And I’m pretty sure it will work on me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

PPS. For those who haven’t seen it elsewhere, here is a great video from the Skit Guys about God working on us. Even if you have seen it, you may want to watch it again. Enjoy.

God’s Chisel by the Skit Guys

Here is the link for my e-mail subscribers: http://giveattentiontoreading.com/?p=1620

Today’s reading is Galatians 1:1-2:21.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

I think I get it now. I’ve not allowed this verse to have its full impact in my life. I was baptized, crucified with Christ (cf Romans 6:1-6). Since then I’ve been telling Christ, “Watch this, see how I can live my life for You.” I was certainly sincere in this. I have wanted to serve Christ. I’ve been doing my best. But wasn’t that the problem that led me to Christ in the first place? My best only put me right back into sin (cf Romans 7:14-24). Why would it do any different now?

Paul doesn’t say to tell Jesus, “I’ll do my best to live for You.” Rather, Jesus is saying, “Quit trying to live. I’ll live my best for you.” I need to quit trying to live my life and simply start letting Jesus live through me. What does He want? Do that. Of course, that is going to take faith. Jesus won’t treat me like a puppet. It’s my choice to let Him live through me by my faith. But I have to make a conscious decision to quit trying to live my life, even if I’m trying to live it for Him. Instead, I need to let Him live my life through me. I need to surrender myself to Him, His will, His goals, His life.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 9:1-10:21.

“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law” (Romans 9:30-31).

Does that passage really say that? does it really say that the ones who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness and the ones who did pursue righteousness did not attain it? That is exactly what it says. How many times have I stumbled over this very stone?

But here it is, plain for all to see. As long as I’m trying to pursue a law to lead to righteousness, I’ll fall short. I won’t succeed in reaching the law. In fact, I’ve already botched the law. However, if I quit my personal pursuit of my own righteousness, filled with struggling and white-knuckling my way through each day, but instead pursue faith in Jesus, then I’ll actually get the righteousness I’m so hungry for. That doesn’t seem quite right in my mind, but perhaps that is why God has told me to trust Him instead of leaning on my own understanding.

Today, then, I’ll focus on building my faith in Jesus. If I pursue that faith, then I’ll attain the righteousness I want.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him” (Romans 6:8).

But that is the problem for me, isn’t it? I doubt whether or not I will also live with him. Since I am so wrapped up in how I act and behave and live, even though I died with Him in baptism, I am rarely convinced that I will live with Him. But Paul says I can be convinced. I died with Jesus. I surrendered my life to Him. Yes, I mess up along the way, but I’ve put myself to death and am letting Him live through me. I am going to live with Him eternally.

No, this doesn’t mean I can pursue sin and still have this confidence. But why would anyone think I’m saying that? I don’t want to sin. I came to Jesus to get rid of sin and get out of my sins. That is what He is doing for me. I have died with Him, I can have confidence that I will live with Him.

Today, I’m not going to live in doubt, wondering if I’m going to make it. I’m going to live knowing that I’m going to make it because of Jesus. Praise God!

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 3:1-4:25.

“No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21).

Over and over again the Bible stories make one strong point. God does what He promises. Abraham’s family became a great nation in the land He promised and He blessed all nations in Abraham’s seed through Jesus Christ. I need to remember that today. God is able and will do what He has promised me. I need to build my faith in that.

It appears one of the best ways to do that is to give glory to God. Today, I give glory to God for what He has done in my life, building my confidence that He will continue to work in my life accomplishing what He has promised–that I will be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-30).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household” (Acts 7:9-10).

But that took 13 years (cf. Genesis 37:2; 41:46), over 1/3 of Joseph’s life to that time. Then it was at least another 7 years before seeing his family again. What were those 13 to 20 years like for Joseph? While enslaved did he wonder if God was with him? When his enslavement ended in imprisonment, did he begin to think that maybe God had forgotten him? I don’t know about him, but that is the kind of thinking I do. If my afflictions aren’t resolved in a matter of months, weeks, and even days, I begin to wonder what on earth God is doing up there in heaven.

I learn from Joseph that God is with me during my afflictions, not that God is with me if I’m kept out of affliction. Some afflictions may even last for quite some time. But I can trust God to see me through to the other side. If there is no great “victory” in this life, there will be eternal life in the next.

I can have confidence that whatever affliction I’m facing today, no matter how long it lingers with me, God is with me and He is stronger than the affliction. In His good time, He’ll get me through it to glory and victory on the other side.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?