Month: August 2024

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

Things from childhood echo in my head.  Mother imploring my three siblings and me to just get along is one resounding phrase.  She did not desire to remain in a constant state of kangaroo court, sorting out who was right, wrong, the offended and the offender. It was an impossible, unpleasant task. Four young children needed to take it upon themselves to become active participants in peace making and keeping.

Jesus begins His Galilean ministry with the opening comments we call the ‘B’ attitudes. With this teaching Jesus turns man’s common presumption of entitlement upside down and begins to paint a perfect likeness of God. The disciples considered this list to be as important as the Ten Commandments. The Bible equates peace with prosperity. If we want a part in a future of glorious hope, then we must invest in Godliness today.

God doesn’t play give and take, keeping score to appropriate favor/blessing. He has a standard and boundaries that protect His supreme creation, you and me, designed in love. Peace is not a destination, it is a lifestyle. When our actions honor our Savior, others will follow.

Love,

Gretchen

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him, but with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh; He will pursue His foes into darkness. Nahum 1:7-8

One Hundred and fifty years before Nahum, God sent Jonah to take a message of Mercy to this capitol of Assyria. This book of doom was more than just a prophecy of destruction, it was first a reminder of God’s patience and enduring love. It is the story of second chances ignored.

Nineveh was a strong city, head of a warrior state, rich on the loot of those it conquered, built on the backs of slaves. It’s nation destroyed Israel and wreaked brutal misery on Judah. It is described as arrogant and reckless, assuming indestructible security. But when this huge city was wiped off the face of the earth, it went totally undetected until excavations in 1820 uncovered it. For 2400 years people forgot it ever existed.

In the Bible’s story, God’s mercy always stands in contrast to His judgement.  He choses FORGIVENESS, REDEMPTION, RESTORATION, ETERNAL HOPE!!! It is not His desire to cast anyone into darkness, a place where His light will never shine, aka hell. This final move is the consequence of rebellion and resistance to truth. It isn’t God’s choice, but man’s.

Choose wisely!

Love,

Gretchen

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Luke 15:32

These are the final comments from the parable of the Prodigal Son, a story Jesus Himself told to teach a point. I encourage you to read verses 11-32. It is an illustration of the Heavenly Father’s response to a lost soul returning home. Jesus’ objective in this verbal painting is to give encouragement when we grow discouraged over sinfulness.

Jesus’ sole purpose was to forgive.  All else He has done is a residual of this one thing, FORGIVE! He was without sin, but His heart ached for those in bondage to death’s grip. The lost brother was found and freed.  The other brother, he who never rebelled and stood loyal and faithful to his father, was resentful.  Why was this added as a dimension to this narrative? Because the attitude exists in reality and is destructive. God doesn’t need our notches to assist Him in keeping track of who deserves what.

Jesus became man so that we could become eternal. It wasn’t an even trade. When we try to keep score, we lose every time. Take the win, then take as many as you can find with you!

Happy Monday,

Gretchen

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

There is not a more intimate song of praise to our creator God.  This Psalm tells of God’s infinite knowledge of man’s soul and His universal presence in all things.

Fear, as it pertains to our relationship with God, is a profound respect, rooted in awe and wonder. We must honor and worship God alone, but the Psalmist recognizes that we also, are fearfully made, not from an assembly line of repeated parts that work together in synchrony, but each, a unique combination of God’s supreme creative power. 

We strive to become like each other.  It makes us comfortable and even in our rebellion toward some standards of acceptable behavior, we align ourselves with those of similar actions, thus getting lost once again in our alikeness. This is not all bad, as it makes the world run more smoothly most of the time. Just don’t get lost in man’s cookie cutter mentality and lose sight of how independent and original your were when God decided the world needed one of you. You were woven together with the greatest respect by the One who loves you most.

Love,

Gretchen

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21

God is the sovereign originator of all that is. The world, designed for man, was purposefully created in a logical, ordered fashion:

           Days 1-4. Inanimate creation, light, atmosphere, land, sea, vegetation, sun, moon and stars.

           Day 5. Animate creation, sea creatures, land animals.

           Day 6. Man, with moral conscience, the ability to share in a variety of relationships, an imagination, and a free choice.

By the word, the very breath of God, chaos, a formless void, came into perfect harmony.

God is a God of Wonder, which is the root word for wonderful……FULL OF WONDER! He delights in all that He did. Point your face toward His Heavens and rejoice in the things God calls good, and that includes yourself!

Love,

Gretchen