Month: August 2017

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood-to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. Romans 3:25

Since the beginning of humanity there has been a means of redemption. It begins with God’s unconditional love for man He made in His own perfect image. Man failed to remain without sin, but God didn’t quit. He is good and righteous, the only One who can provide victory over sin and death by faith alone.

Romans was written to citizens of Rome, gentiles. Jews tended to claim their birthright and attention to ceremony and law as their means of atonement, while judging nonJews. Jesus’ death and resurrection took the law, added grace and mercy and made love the standard for justice. Jesus died for ALL men and the terms are the same. Faith in His death and resurrection to pay the price for sins He did not commit, but you and I did.

God is good and long suffering. It is He alone that is able to defeat evil, judge justly and give eternal life.

Love,

Gretchen

Millions of Hearts

I once heard a comedian quickly list all the familiar songs about love commonly know to the current American population. It was entertaining, amusing and enlightening. The hope of love is a motivating force with great strength. Everyone wants to experience love, but love begins on the inside of one heart, specifically mine. I can only dictate one action, one motive, one reaction…..mine. My heart may change another’s but that is irrelevant, I am accountable for my love or lack there of. I dream of a world that will build a bridge between your heart and mine, or a love that will keep us together. Love is something that I do whether the one standing next to me does or not.

When Christ was hanging on the cross, HE WAS LOVING! Everyone else was paralyzed with fear or hating, but God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ were loving. If we want to change the world, love must begin in the heart of one. A million is just a bunch of little ones.

I am reposting a story my father told me when I was young. It changed me as it changed him in his time. I long that it will change and encourage others. But if not, I chose love.

Love,

Gretchen

Desegregation of the Heart

My grandparents pastored a church in Batesville, Arkansas. Batesville is a lovely community on the banks of the White River, but in the late 1940’s it was a city divided by color.

My father tells that one afternoon a black man came walking down the street in front of the church parsonage carrying a beehive on the end of a pole. (This was how you moved bees and started a new colony.) This gentleman’s path followed the middle of the street as he was not welcomed to walk on either side near the homes. Dad and his older brother began mocking and tossing rocks at the man, but in true segregated fashion, the dark skinned victim of their ridicule meekly continued on his march without reacting to my father and uncle’s cruel behavior. Granddad interrupted the scene by calling the boys back into the yard. Nothing was said at the time, and these two young boys thought the event was over and done.

A few hours later grandmother called the family to dinner but instead of setting down to the delicious meal granddad took a warm fruit pie off the counter, called the boys to his side and began a long walk to the “other” side of town. I don’t know what conversation accompanied the trio as they journeyed block after block in the late evening sun inhaling the aroma of a dessert they would never enjoy, but somewhere along the way dad and uncle realized the wrong they had done and disrespect to another human being for any reason would not be tolerated.

Granddad found the home of gentleman beekeeper and waited patiently while dad and uncle humbled themselves to a black man on his front porch, on the wrong side of town in 1940’s rural Arkansas. From what I know now of these two Godly men, they didn’t just apologize, they made a commitment to a lifetime of seeing all humans as God sees them.

It is very arrogant of man to think we need to ‘correct’ God with our attitude toward one another. It has been observed that the most segregated hour of the week is from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Many people have tried to change this trend but, with the chronological and cultural preferences and tastes, change isn’t going to happen soon. Yet, we must understand and know, God didn’t create a world of monotony. He isn’t going to start making us all the same now because He realizes He did wrong thousands of years ago and He needs a redo. His plan for diversity was and is to fill the earth, grant His children blessing, meet their physical need and glorify Himself. If you take the entire love chapter (I Corinthians 13) and apply it to the complexity and diversity of the human race you can see that there is no room for prejudice. Love one another because He first loved us and love never fails!

Gretchen

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door. Mark 1:32-33

Any Jewish man could be called on to speak in the synagogue, but when Jesus spoke, He spoke with authority, not quoting scholars and dropping names, but as a first person witness to the things of heaven. He drove out demons and silenced them, showing that he had power over evil.

Jesus needed time to dispel the assumption that God would send a political authority to defend Israel and conquer their enemies. Jesus wanted to avoid celebrity, but word about this tender and kind man who healed both body and the spirit spread. Soon people came from everywhere bringing loved ones that in need. Jesus turned no one away. This wasn’t about miraculous healing, it was about people who dreamed of life, physical and spiritual restoration, healthy relationships, a reason to get up in the morning. There was an inner instinct that drew them to the One, their only Hope.
When you wonder what to give, give Jesus. It’s is the absolute gift that keeps on giving. He is Counselor, Comforter, Just Judge, Healer, Redeemer, the Great I AM.

Love,

Gretchen

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes, I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27

These are amazing words coming from a man that had everything, wealth, health and family, then lost it all. In addition, Job’s friends believe a secret, unconfessed sin is causing Job’s troubles. Utterly alone with only his faith as companion, Job declares the words above. He knows that God, the author of his heart, the one that wove him together, will judge him and find him innocent.

Job acknowledges that he belongs to God, His redeemer, the One who saves and gives life. He declares that God is in charge and his faith rests peacefully in his creator. Finally, Job’s only hope and greatest desire is to see God, face to face.

In Job’s grief and tribulation his priorities became crystal clear, God’s will and God’s face. When this is all we need, we find we have everything.

Love,

Gretchen

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:23

The church at Colossae faced the theological quagmire of faith verses tradition. People who once worshiped false gods weren’t sure what to turn loose of and what to keep of their old life as they grew spiritually. This was fertile opportunity for unscrupulous people to take charge. Their issue then and ours today is this: Man likes rules and traditions that create authority in their favor.

Power is a fragile thing to hold. It is hard to maintain and requires a commitment to the greater good. Instead it sometimes deletes all common sense and compassion from its possessor. The ensuing temptation to exploit and abuse is great. When man attempts to live by rules, he ignores three basic principles of God: grace, mercy and love. These are the things that make and keep us Holy and faith is the fuel that gets you there.

Have a perfectly glorious day,

Gretchen

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the LORD Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:15-16

Paul wrote this letter/sermon from house arrest in Rome. The church was becoming divided over prejudices among Jews and Gentiles. Paul set out to bring every nation and background together through love and true Gospel.

Ephesus was a funnel of commerce that rioted when new converts quit offering homage to the Greek goddess Artemis. They thought they had beaten back and annihilated the new Christians, but no! The faith of friends strengthened the persecuted and the church grew, flourished and showed love and generosity toward others less fortunate.

From the bondage of men, Paul prayed and praised. His life’s work was to see these people find spiritual victory. Their perseverance and love in action for all men was reason to be thankful.

Lend the strength of your faith when others are are exhausted and can’t go on. They really do need it!

Love,

Gretchen

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. Ephesians 4:4

The fabled King Croesus called Ephesus home. It was originally a Greek city but by Paul’s time a Roman province. The temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world, was a source of tourism and trade even in ancient times. Paul was beaten when converts quit buying miniature likenesses of the goddess, thus creating an economic downturn.

In this city where demons, spirits, dead ancestors and gods were all recognized as danger wielding beings, the occult was alive and well, Paul teaches that there is only one body, the Body of Christ. He is the head and we, His followers, are the eyes, hands, feet, ears and heart. There is one hope, the hope of a resurrected Savior who has all power of Heaven and earth.

Unity, loyalty and common purpose meant spiritual survival. It remains the same today. Christianity fights the exact same forces it did two thousand years ago. There is so much that draws us away from our singular purpose and hope. Stay connected.

Love,

Gretchen

These were the sons of Noah, and from them came the the people who were scattered over the earth. Genesis 9:19

Early in the Biblical narrative sin is on the rampage, but God finds one faithful obedient man, Noah. He saves him and his family while destroying everyone else on earth. Noah descended from Adam, and now again humanity is reminded: We have one common ancestor, Noah. Genetic history is complex, yet very much the same. Sin determined the destiny of Noah’s sons, but obedience always brought redemption and restoration and changed the course of history, nothing else.

Differences are important. We put great emphasis on individuality. It is a gift from God. We long to be recognized for ways we are unique, not how we are the same. But then there is the issue of social order. We use all ways, commonality and diversity to justify power and authority over each other.

God designed all things for His glory, never to give one man the right to marginalize or hate another. We were made to love.

Let There Be Peace On Earth and Let it Begin With ME!

Gretchen

Learning to Read

When I was twelve my family moved to Greenbrier, Arkansas. I left a very small country school with 10 to 12 students per grade and enrolled in a much larger school with three classrooms full of of sixth graders that changed classes per subject. It was traumatic because I had a secret……….I could not read. Not a word and no one knew. It never occurred to me that I had been clever to cover-up or disguise my crisis, I was just deeply aware that everyone around me could decipher the mystery of written language except me. So I discerned that I was horribly, irreparably stupid. At my old school I had means of surviving. If there was a reading assignment I asked a friend to tell me the story. I was proficient in creating diversions and excuses.……and then I lost it all!!!!

Somehow I survived and completed the sixth grade. I joined band, continued with piano lessons and moved across campus to junior high school. I made a friend who asked me to attend a sleepover at her house. Her parents had purchased a video playing machine (a very rare item) and we got to watch Gone With the Wind. This civil war era story is epic in length and depth, but that didn’t prevent me from falling asleep half way through the four hour film. Shortly after I awoke the next morning my mom arrived to take me home and there I was, mentally anxious over the outcome of Scarlett O’Hara’s quest to survive against the odds. When I arrived home I found mom’s copy of the 1200+ page novel, started on page one and began teaching myself to read.

That year our school was getting a track installed around our existing football field and our math teacher used this as an opportunity to encourage a little critical thinking. She gave us formulas for circumference, perimeter and area along with the measurements of the field, the anticipated width of the new track and the cost per square foot. Our task was to find the exact area and calculate the taxpayers contribution to our new physical fitness opportunities. After instructing us she left the room and went to the teacher’s lounge for a cigarette. (Yes really!)

Mrs. Math returned and collected our work. Shortly she announced that only one student got the correct answer, ME!!!!! No one was more surprised than that teacher and myself. Then a beautiful, wonderful thing happened. She asked me to share how I arrived at my conclusions. On this day, seventh grade year, Greenbrier Junior High, I stopped being stupid. It took me twelve months to finish the first book I ever read, but I did, with comprehension. Soon I was reading everything. I continued to excelled at math and began to love school.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault I made it all the way to seventh grade as a non reader. I could play a Mozart piano sonata, I functioned well socially, became a cheerleader and hid my secret well. The curriculum of that era, used to its greatest effectiveness, would not have detected my delays or helped me overcome them. But God had a plan. He took away all my life preservers and threw me in the deep end of the pool.

Psalms 139 says, “You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me.” Yes indeed. God knew what was best. He didn’t toss me into the water to drown, but to swim and swim I did. He created me, knows me best and I can trust because He is good!

No Floaties for Me!

Gretchen

For He says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6:2

Salvation is available by God’s favor. His grace and mercy are gifts born of His love and the sacrifice of His one and only Son. Salvation is simple, but as a sinner saved by grace there is more work to do. A world is lost, hurting and seeking something they think is illusive and mystical. It is God’s favor, miraculous, not mystical, easy to acquire not illusive.

Christ did not give His life in vain.  When we bring the Gospel and His love to others we show great and reverent acknowledgement of God’s favor bestowed on you and me.

Love,

Gretchen