We spend a good portion of our lives trying to get it right.  For those who haven’t given up on life — at least the part that honors and respects other people — we try to live a moral, just, and ethical life that invites others to honor and respect us.  Now, we know that for some, the idea of honoring and respecting others is a bridge too far to cross.  But, if we can look at our own lives and — being honest with ourselves — confess that we’ve done the best we can, then we’ve at least satisfied ourselves.  The problem is that everyone has a different idea of what it means to give and receive honor and respect.  And if we’re being honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we fall short of being worthy of the honor and respect we believe we’re due.  Sometimes our anger gets in the way.  At times it’s our selfishness.  At other times we simply disrespect other people by our refusal and inability to accept them for who they are.  And whether we’re held to the standards of God or the man-made laws which regulate our actions, we often fail living in obedience to either standard.

         For those of us who are persons of faith who consider life, death, and life eternally, failing God is our greatest mistake.  Failing on one point of God’s law is as good as failing them all.  And yet, it is our righteousness that God desires.  Our answer is to rely on God’s promise to the one person to whom God credited his faith as righteousness with the promise of adding a multitude of family members by the same promise of faith.  Since we are unable to remain errorless throughout our lives, God has provided a way by faith that leads to grace to wipe the slate of our mistakes clean through our faith in Jesus Christ.  We must trust that what God has accomplished in Jesus Christ and our faith in God’s acts in and through him is the one act of faith that leads to grace — the mercy of God and the cancellation of our debt owed.  Our faith in what God has done in Jesus Christ has raised our credit score to the level of righteousness.  Thank God for a faith that leads to grace.

• Why do people believe they can earn God’s love and respect by being obedient when their lives are examples to the contrary?
• What comfort is it to you to realize that your faith leads to God’s grace in a way that credits your faith as righteousness?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving and merciful God, thank You that I do not have to earn Your love through perfect obedience to the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ I am led to grace and made righteous in Your sight.

         Our search to discover God is amazing.  We look to discover God’s presence in God’s Holy word, the Bible.  We look to discover God in the midst of our prayer life.  We hope to have some supernatural, or spiritual experience by which God’s reality can be confirmed.  And yet, one of the greatest tragedies of the Christian faith is the number of ways in which we miss the presence of God with us every day.  Our failure, refusal, or unwillingness to see the Spirit of God present in the gifts that we’ve received through the Spirit is perhaps the most damaging blow preventing others from experiencing God’s full presence on display.  It would be a meaningful revelation to others and a powerful witness within ourselves if we would and could express to others the fullness of God’s presence utilizing the gifts we have to bring people together.  Because the Spiritual gifts we receive all come from the one God, the use of our gifts for the common good are an adequate expression of God’s reality and unity present in our world.  Nothing could make it more clear that our God is here than to see God working in us and through us in the unity of the Spirit right before their very eyes.

• In what ways have you valued your spiritual gift or the spiritual gift present in others to show the unity of God’s Spirit?
• What differences might occur in your church or community that would empower others to experience the unity of the Spirit and the fullness of God working together?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Almighty God, open me up to acknowledge that You are here as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Spiritual gifts you’ve given each of us and help me to value the gifts in others

         The questions asked about God most generally often lead people to question which god is real.  And I guess the answer is the same as the question.  We can make a god out of anything and anyone.  And the “gods” we make whether mental or made of some earthly substance or are created by some mystical experience or in our own minds can all be valid.  The question is not which God is real because — as Paul states — they are all real to some extent.  The reality for us — those of us who have accepted Christ — is that there is only one God.  The questions are, “Who gives us everything we have and need”, and “Who is responsible for our lives?”  If the answer to those two questions points to anyone other than the Creator — that God of all created things, the Redeemer — the One who has paid a price to capture our souls, and the Sustainer — the Spirit of God who watches over us, guides us, leads us, supports us, advocates for us and lets us know that our God is real, then, we probably need a reality check.  There is only one God who is able to be over all, in all and through all.  We know God as our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• How do you understand Paul’s statement: “Indeed, even though there may be so- called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God, … “ as a confirmation of your faith?
• What makes your God different from all the other gods and lords?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Holy and loving God, enable my faith to continue trusting in You as the only God of my creation, and Jesus the one through whom I exist, and the Holy Spirit who sustains me in every situation of life.