grace and generosity

Isaiah 30:18 says, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"
It amazes me to think that God isn't just (as I'm often tempted to view him)a gracious God who would be "okay" with granting me grace if I really deserve it (LIKE I COULD DESERVE IT!) but he LOOOONGS to be gracious to me... to us. He moves just to shed compassion in my direction. That's AMAZING. I want to live a grace-giving life! I want to have a heart that responds FIRST with grace towards others.
Dan taught about generosity on Sunday. Not just giving money as a means of generosity but living generous lives - being generous with my time, my stuff, my heart. One of his line items was "Generosity gives the first and the best." That thought prompted me to write down the following: "Do I live to give God and others my first and best or does my first and best go to please ME?" I need to keep rolling that around in my head and heart. I'm far too quick to please ME and think later about what I COULD'VE done with my time, my money, etc.
It makes sense to me that grace and generosity go hand in hand. If I don't have a generous heart I will find it difficult to offer grace.
Jesus, teach me to live a generous life as one who is quick to give of myself and my stuff and even more quick to extend grace in every situation.
More of you and less of me!

my own plans

I've been chewing on Proverbs 21:30 today:
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the LORD."

I'm pretty sure I find it much easier to make my own plans and hope that I'm doing the right thing. Praying that God will bring it to a halt if I'm veering down a path that's not quite what He has in mind.

That lead me back to Proverbs 16:9 which says:
"In his heart a man (or woman) plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

Jesus, teach me to wait on you FIRST. To ask you FIRST. To listen to you FIRST. Give me a passion to please you that is so much stronger than my self-absorbed desires to please ME! Thank you that you determine my steps. May I be certain that my plans are carved by YOU - not me - before I move forward.

i will delight

I was reading Isaiah 11 this morning and read these verses (vv.2&3)
"The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD."
I'm not so great at figuring out the layers of meaning in O.T. prophesy but I'm pretty certain the "him" mentioned here refers to the then awaited Messiah, Jesus. I always want to keep at the top of my list the goal to be more like Jesus and I am strongly convicted of how much I fail to pursue growing in the FEAR OF THE LORD. Out of all the things this passage says the Spirit will infuse... wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge... THE FEAR OF THE LORD is the one thing that is followed by the words "... and He will DELIGHT in the fear of the Lord"!

Sadly this is a continual challenge for me. My heart so desires to live in a state where the Father's opinion of who I am; what I'm doing, saying, etc. is the first thing on my mind - my greatest motivator. Oh, that His perspective on my daily choices would be the single, most important thing that either makes my heart skip a beat when He is pleased with me or weighs heavy on my heart until I am motivated to make different choices.

In his book, "The Dangerous Duty of Delight", John Piper does such a great job of talking about what it means to DELIGHT in the Lord. He discusses the gap between, or rather the combination of, Duty and Delight when it comes to living like someone who believes they are ever being pursued by God.

All I know for sure is that I want my heart to expand EVERY DAY so that more and more I can say
I delight in the fear of the Lord!

love the overlooked

I was reading an excerpt from a Max Lucado book today and he referenced Matthew 25:40. I've heard it and/or read it hundreds of times since I was kid - at least in KJV or NIV. "...whatever you did for one of the least of these...". Lucado quoted The Message version which reads this way "...whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me."
I'm not sure why it made a huge difference for me to see the words "overlooked or ignored" but it really grabbed my heart like never before.
I am privileged, for reasons I'll never understand, to be the person to whom students are drawn who sometimes have a hard time fitting in with the typical high school crowd. I love them like crazy but sometimes I don't count their wanting my attention as a blessing. Sometimes I let my impatience, my pride or simply my desire for all the other things I could be doing with my time override my compassion.
When I read these words from The Message and thought of some specific students and, in general, all of the people out there who feel overlooked or ignored it made my heart ache!
I was prompted to make a couple of little cards (one for my car, one for my office) that read "Love the Overlooked". I know it takes far more than a cute sign to change my dumb flesh - it takes a move of God's spirit in me and I am challenged to spend time every day praying and thinking about how I can bless the overlooked ones that cross my path.
I pray that Jesus will stir my heart to remember these words - His words - the next time I feel like my time is "too valuable" for someone who might otherwise be ignored or overlooked!
Matthew 25:40 (MSG)
"...whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me."

a forever Hallelujah!

It's April 1st and 68.4 degrees Fahrenheit in State College today - I wore my Crocs without even any socks!!! I've been enjoying creation today - watching really FAT robins that I'm sure are ready to fill some nests with eggs and seeing the bright yellow of the ready-to-burst weeping willow trees out here at Harvest Fields. I was reading from John Piper's blog today and read this quote (by Piper) about God and his creation.

"God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation. But not for its own sake. He means for us always to look at his creation and say: If the work of his hands is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself!"

What must He be like in himself??
Excerpts from Psalm 111 (MSG) describe him like this:
"Hallelujah! I give thanks to GOD with everything I've got. God's works are so great, worth a lifetime of study—endless enjoyment!
Splendor and beauty mark his craft; His generosity never gives out.
His miracles are his memorial— this GOD of Grace, this God of Love.
He manufactures truth and justice;
He paid the ransom for his people,
He ordered his Covenant kept forever.
He's so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.
The good life begins in the fear of GOD—
Do that and you'll know the blessing of GOD.
His Hallelujah lasts forever!"

Hallelujah!

FOREVER!