Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offering you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come- it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; Your law is in my heart. Psalm 40:6-8
I have been thinking about this passage lately. God does not long for us to perform religious rituals if they are done out of obligation or duty. He wants our love and devotion. In Exodus 21:6-7 God gives instructions to His people as to what they should do if a Hebrew slave desires to remain with his master forever not accepting freedom after serving for six years.
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I’ve been around some Christians who seem to be constantly living in defeat. They are always reminding themselves (and me) what sinners we are and how undeserving we are. They seem to be in a perpetual state of sadness over their sins. We are a sinful people, but isn’t it rather depressing to say that and just stay there? Don’t forget there is more to the story.
I am convinced that the difference between living in victory and drowning in defeat is where we choose to put our focus. We are sinners who are saved by God’s amazing grace. Are we focusing on who we are or on what Christ has done?
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Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV
My mom loves to shop. Now I know a lot of people love to shop but not like my mother. Shopping to my mother means finding the absolutely lowest price on the absolutely best product. If you meet someone in my family and compliment something they are wearing, they are likely to tell you the story of how they got it and what a bargain it was.
You must understand this about my mother to understand how her wildest dream came true. K-mart was going out of business.
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Self-esteem. It has almost become a buzz word for our culture. We are to teach our children to have good self-esteem. Bad self-esteem is blamed for a myriad of problems ranging from bad behavior to serious psychological disorders.
While I agree that we are very special to God, created in His image, and loved unconditionally by Him, I also think we have sometimes “messed up” on our ideas of self-esteem. Too many times I find myself too focused on myself, whether it is to think positively or negatively about myself, I find myself too self-absorbed. I find the same pattern in my children.
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The center stone of my wedding set has a ‘feather.’ That’s a rather romantic name for what amounts to a chunk of diamond missing where one facet should be. I don’t know if the feather was always there—the set belonged to my husband’s mother before me.
The jeweler called about it when we left it to be sized. He put the diamond under his loupe and made a diagram of all the imperfections that make this stone unique. Someone else may have a ring that looks like mine, but like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two diamonds are exactly alike. I know what distinguishes mine from others.
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What a large number of things You have made, O Lord! You made them all by wisdom. The earth is filled with Your creatures. The sea is so big and wide with countless creatures, living things both large and small. All of them look to You to give them their food at the right time. You give it to them and they gather it up. You open Your hand, and they are filled with blessings. Psalm 104:24-25, 27-28.
We love the location of our home. Although it is nestled in the middle of a large development, each home backs to wooded common grounds.
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“En nombre de Padre, de Hijo, y de espiritu santo.”
The waters stirred as the dark haired gentleman followed the pastor into the baptismal pool. The pastor introduced himself and this gentleman to the congregation. Hundreds of eyes rested on these two as they readied to represent Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. “This man comes to us tonight to be baptized.” Those were the last words I understood.
The pastor then spoke beautiful Spanish as fluid as the water in which he stood. The words were engaging but made no sense to me. I followed as closely as possible listening for chunks of words I understood comparing them to the words I knew and expected at a baptism.
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My son had his ninth birthday a couple weeks ago.
After he left for school that day, I went to the store, got him a balloon as a surprise and a couple dozen donuts to share with his class.
When I showed up in his classroom, he beamed. His teacher helped him to clip the balloon to his desk and his classmates oohed and aahed at the donuts. I could tell he was surprised and happy.
About two hours later, as I was out running errands, I got an email on my phone from his teacher…
“Your son can’t stop smiling.
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