Today’s reading is Colossians 1:1-2:23.

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. Tis he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:11-14).

Thank you, God, for putting me to death. Thank you, God, for bringing me to life. But the greatness of this is seen in the verses to come. Because of God’s powerful working through my baptism, I know longer have to submit to the judgments of others who would weigh me down with shoulds and oughts. I simply live for God. I can let Him direct my paths without concern for what others think about how I live. I don’t have to belittle and berate myself. I don’t have to ascetically deprive myself. I don’t have to listen to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who claim to have some kind of spiritual insight or vision. I have been set free from the burdens others would place on me. I only have to live to God.

Boy, that makes today so much easier. Thank you, God.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

PPS. Here is something that is a little fun. Thanks to Jason Hardin for bringing this to my attention.

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 13:1-14:23.

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:12-14).

I needed to read this today. Thank you, God, for the reminder. Some days are harder than others. Some days are fraught with temptation. Today is one of those days for me. I needed this reminder that my job today is not to make provision for the lusts of my flesh. Today, I need to put on Jesus Christ. I need to wear Him like clothing, like armor of light. I need to surrender the works of darkness that are tempting me to Him. I need to throw them away from me and just let Him guide me into the next right thing.

As Galatians 2:20 says, I need to let Jesus live in me today. I need to work on increasing my faith in Him today. I need to understand that pursuing orgies, drunkenness, immorality, sensuality, quarreling, jealousy, et al, will not draw me closer to God, but drive a wedge between us. These will not make me the man I want to be but will lead me further down a path of guilt, shame, and slavery.

Today, I’m going to wear Jesus.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 11:1-12:21.

“Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Romans 11:18).

Wow! That hit me where it hurts.

I’ve caught myself recently trying to barter with God. “God please do such and such so I will be better able to do such and such for You.” Now, I certainly think this is a valid approach to prayer when done from the proper motivation. Clearly, the psalmists prayed for God’s deliverance from death that they might continue to praise God among the living.

However, it is too easy for me to get into barter mode while trying to get the semantics to sound like the prayer is about God instead of me. I need to remember that God is the one supporting me and not vice versa. I need Him. He doesn’t need whatever it is I’m trying to offer Him. There is no room for manipulative ploys in praying.

Today, I’m going to check my motives in my praying. Am I asking because I want to better glorify God or because I want what I want and I’m hoping to make it sound like it’s about Him? That’s the question.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 7:1-8:39.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

What a thought! God was willing to give up Jesus in order to save me. If He was willing to go that far just to bring me into His family, how much farther will He go to protect me now that I’m in the family? No wonder I can cry out, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” I have nothing to fear. I simply need to hang on to God and He will carry me through to eternity.

No matter what comes my way, God has already proven that He will do whatever is necessary to conform me to the image of Christ. Since that is the case, today, I’m just going to hang on to God and follow Him wherever He leads me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 13:1-14:28.

“…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Paul didn’t say tribulations come with the kingdom of God. He didn’t say tribulations happen to coincide with entering the kingdom of God. He actually said we enter the kingdom of God through tribulations. In other words, if there are no tribulations we won’t get into the kingdom of God.

Too often, I have the mindset that since I’m entering the kingdom, I shouldn’t have tribulations. Why isn’t God taking better care of me? Then I read this and learn that God actually knows better. In some way, the tribulations prepare me for the kingdom and usher me into it. If God took my tribulations away, then I wouldn’t enter the kingdom.

This is what Paul says in Romans 5:3-5. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character. Character produces hope. Hope doesn’t put us to shame. But without suffering and tribulation, there is no endurance, no character, no hope.

Thank you, God, for not giving me everything I want, but instead giving me what I need.

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?

Today’s reading is Luke 21:1-22:71.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

For me, this should be the model prayer. I know I need to pray for my daily bread and for forgiveness, but at the heart of everything I do, I need this prayer. “Not my will but Yours be done.” I need a daily reminder that today is about God and not about me. A friend once shared a prayer he prays with me, “Lord, let me know your will for today and grant me the strength to do it.”

That’s really all I need for today. I need simply to do the next right thing. What does God want me to do next and may I surrender to God’s strength and power to accomplish it.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?