Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Soon
Spring Will Bring Growth
Already & Always
God Makes Us Saints
Who Grow Daily
Joshua 1:9
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Words of Grace For Today
If we try and try and strive and focus and discipline ourselves and practice then can we be strong and courageous, not frightened or dismayed? Can we learn with practice and discipline to not be cowards but emanate a spirit of power, love and self-discipline?
No.
We cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and be anything better. Life is disappointing that way.
Doch, if we realize that God has already made us saints and there is nothing better, then leaning on God’s Grace instead of our own abilities (sinning boldly as Luther put it – which is not to just be great sinners, it is to serve God and know that doing so we will inevitably sin … and God will forgive, redeem, renew and guide us as saints) — then leaning on God’s Grace instead of our own abilities we can be (by God’s grace and only as God empowers us) strong and courageous. God’s Spirit of power, love and self-sacrifice and self-discipline will flow from God to us and over us, through us, and over all the people we interact with and more.
We are not alone; God is with us wherever we go, on that we can rely for everything in our lives. We work as diligently and consistently as we can, trusting that God will guide us. We spend time in prayer asking, praising, and … listening for God’s guidance that comes in the most mundane and surprising ways.
We are not alone; God is with us wherever we go, so that we are by God’s power, bold, courageous, strong, and remarkable saints.
There is nothing better we can strive to be or to improve ourselves in relationship to God’s love for us. What we can do is resist the temptation to not be what God has made us to be: saints … hardworking saints.
Trust God’s Grace. Love all people. God will show us the way forward.
It’s never boring, this life of discipleship, and never quite as we expect it to be; that’s being a God-made saint.