Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Ephesians 1:3 -4

As Paul opens his letter to those who believe in the great Greek city of Ephesus, he reminds them of how blessed they are in Christ Jesus.   This includes us, of course.

All praise is due to God, the Father of Jesus, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  God takes us up into “heavenly realms” where we believers enjoy every spiritual blessing, nothing less!   We receive all this freely because God chose us to enjoy those glorious gifts.  Think about that!

Not only does this grace transport us to the glory of the Lord but it enables us to be holy and blameless in his sight. 

I am sitting here trying to take all this in, kneeling in my spirit, discovering all over again the glory of being loved, saved and sanctified by Jesus Christ.  There is no greater blessing, I do believe.   This is me, and you, receiving grace upon grace, every day in every circumstance.  I melt in thanksgiving!  Join me in praise!

One of my favorite meals is simple but great – soft boiled eggs, toast and bacon. Almost every Sunday this is the mid-day meal after Church. Simple is best, I think.

Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

I Cor. 1:30.

Can it be?  What blessings, what a God!  Let’s look briefly at each blessing one at a time.

Wisdom.  This is one of the most amazing and fundamental gifts, the ability to discern the wise from the unwise.  The world is full of the unwise!  Has been forever.  God gives wisdom to those who love Him. That is true wisdom, a free gift of God for all who believe!

Righteousness.   As with wisdom, this is a gift of God!  It is not earned, it is received at the hands of God.  We might struggle to be righteous in the sight of God, only to realize that the righteousness that Paul is talking about is from above, not discovered here on the earth, in earthly matters!

Sanctification.  The purpose of life is to be made holy, like God is holy.  Is that possible?  It is not only possible, it is an open invitation to all who believe.  The word means to make clean, like getting rid of all the dirt!

Redemption.  This means, to buy back.  We are created the sons and daughters of God, our Creator but without the aid of the Holy Spirit we see no way of asking God to redeem us, to buy us, so to speak.  That is the work of the Spirit of God.  The door is open to that redemption for all who believe, including you and me.

What marvelous gifts, a bundle of four that we receive every day of our lives, gifts of God himself.   

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 59:16

Times of trouble?  Shouldn’t we who follow Jesus avoid trouble by all means?  Jesus is with us, why all the trouble?  As I recall, Jesus does not promise us trouble-free lives, but promises to strengthen us when we are troubled!

Trouble seem to be swirling around our heads as we begin this new week in the middle of February.   Premature death on our street, our nation caught up in turmoil, strife and struggle all around, and despondency!

How about you, how about me?  Are we immune from these trials?  The Psalmist writes that we have a sure fortress, Jesus Christ, as we now know, who strengthens us to sing in the morning of God’s almighty love.   We sing in his strength, not our own!  We are blessedly weak.  That enables the power of God to flow in our lives to help us in what we call good times, and bad.

As I grow older it seems like the challenges I face raise the question of the power of Jesus in my life.  Obviously the Psalmist felt the same.  He determined to sing of God’s love in the morning, and the whole day through, certainly.  God is our fortress into which we run and our refuge from the troubles.

I need this reminder today and every day!

We were saddened by the news of the death of our neighbor, Christian Querry. Our hearts go out to the family that must be struggling beyond belief at the death of their promising son, 23 years old. Following High School he earned a scholarship to Temple University, where, in his second year there as I recall, he got involved in drugs. That changed everything. That was about 7 years ago.

Our hearts are heavy for this family, our friends of many years.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Who is this?  It is Jesus, my Jesus and yours. Praise God that we are his! 

The promise astounds us but it is truer than any other truth, if we may use that phrase.  Jesus is no less than this – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah saw this as a prophet of God hundreds of years before Jesus was born among us.

Now we live in the reality of the wonderful saving work of God, salvation purchased by the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus. All of us who have received Jesus into our hearts discover that He is more than we ever imagined.  Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Jesus is like a huge ocean of grace, full to the brim.  We live by drinking of that living water every day.  What a God!  What a Savior.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

I John 1:8, 9, 10

I recall when this passage written by John impacted me so strongly, while in Tanzania when I was in my late twenties.  I was raised in a denomination that sought for perfection.   Anything less was considered insufficient.  I did not realize how that attitude shaped my whole life and, to my amazement, cut me off from many people who had a different view, like John.  John is making no excuse for sin but reminds us of the eternal reality, no matter hard we strive, we can never make ourselves holy and pure, that is the work of the Spirit of God, not ours.

Verse 10 opened my eyes.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.  Am I reading this correctly?  John does not say, if we claim to have not sinned we make ourselves a liar, no, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

So, there it is. The door is wide open to live daily in the freedom of knowing our sins are forgiven, every day, and we are blessed beyond measure by that freedom that is exhilarating.

“I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”

Psalm 40:8

I thought about this as I am beginning my day today.  What do I really want?  What is my greatest desire?  The Psalmist gives his testimony, “I desire to do your will, my God.”  Is there a higher calling?  I can at least partially understand that. 

Today, February 14, is St. Valentine’s Day, a time when we praise God for the gift of love.  For us who are believers that love is not just a feeling but a major driving force in life!  It is a marvelous gift of God!

If that law is within my heart, by faith, I want to do what God wants me to do!  It is as simple as that.  If Jesus is not reigning in my heart, I hardly know what to do or think.  When by the miracle of the New Birth the Spirit of God enlightens my life, I see so clearly.  That is a miracle!  This touches me. 

So, today, Lord, I give myself to the law that you put into my heart, to do and think as God directs!