GraceCreates

By Jon Walker
 
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 (NIV)
 
While moving through the line at a college cafeteria, one of my friends spotted a note stuck in a bowl of apples. It read, “Please take only one apple per student. Remember, God is watching!”
 
When my friend, one apple in hand, got to the end of the line, he spotted another note – this one hand-written – next to a bowl of cookies. It read, “Take all the cookies you want! God is watching the apples.”
 
It’s a comic absurdity, the way we behave as if God can be compartmentalized, believing there are parts of our lives that remain separated from God’s omnipresent Spirit.
 
And this belief, and the resulting behavior, is contrary to the Gospel. The brutal and bloody death of Jesus accomplished more than just paying the wages of our sin; his death also released the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, so we could be transformed into masterworks of Jesus.

You are united with Christ, he is in you – Jesus-in-you – allowing you to participate in the Divine nature (Colossians 1:27; 2 Peter 1:3-4). This doesn’t mean you become divine, or that you access some mythological inner divinity; rather, it means you’re now connected with the Divine nature through the work of Jesus Christ, who came that you can now have the life of God in you, so full it overflows into the lives of others (John 10:10; John 4:14).

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Colossians 1:18 (NIV)

If our love for one another is not energized by Jesus, we’re doomed to slide from the promise of “All You Need is Love” into the push and shove of “I, Me, Mine.” Our love can’t stop at ‘let’s just get along’ because the deep and ancient God-love emerges, not from compromise, but from sacrifice.

And the first step of sacrifice is submission – not submission to one another, although that will often be required — but an uncompromising submission to the head of all us ‘one anothers’ – Jesus, our Lord, our brother, and our King.

Jesus is the “head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:18, NIV)

The ancient wisdom demands there be only one ruling mind – a mind that was there from the beginning, firstborn among the ‘one anothers,’ and this one ruling mind now operates within, providing us with a wisdom that passes all human understanding and connecting us to a deep, fathomless, supernatural love.

Submit to the head of our body, and he’ll show you how to love others with a deep Jesus-love. It is his power and his strength that will energize you to love even those, especially those, you find impossible to love.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker
 
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind …. Luke 10:27 (NIV)
 
No doubt it sounds strange, but in order to love God with all your strength, you have to admit you are weak.
 
By doing this, you acknowledge God is the true source of your strength, and that in your weakness, he is strong. You become strong as you become totally dependent upon him, allowing his strength to work through you.
 
As God shows his strength through you, you’ll find yourself doing things you never thought possible. God promises you can do all things through him as he gives you his strength. (Philippians 4:13) You’ll take steps of faith you never thought possible, and you’ll love others in a way you never imagined as God supplies you with supernatural strength and energy.

Tell God you need his strength, and really mean it this time. When you try to love and serve others with just your strength, you’ll inevitably fail. And that’s OK, because God wants you to fail in your own strength so you’ll start to rely upon his strength.

Then, love God with all his strength. God knows you won’t be able to love him with all your strength until you become dependent upon his strength to do so. You simply can’t do it through your own energy or strength. God knows you’ll come to realize this yourself and, at that point, you’ll be faced with a very clear, but difficult choice: Keep-on keeping-on in your own strength, wondering why this abundant-life thing just doesn’t work, or take the Nestea plunge into a deep-end dependence on God’s strength.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Love your neighbor as yourself …. Luke 10:27 (NIV)

The Bible teaches that you should take deliberate action toward loving your neighbor — in the same way you want to be loved by your neighbor.
 
Yet, God knows this is an impossible assignment unless you have his Spirit working within you, guiding and transforming you. It’s hard enough to love yourself, let along the contrary (my polite Southern way of saying disagreeable) neighbor down the street.
 
You will be empowered to love your neighbor as you allow God to empower you – as you trust and obey (for there’s no other way) God’s leading in your life; as you purposefully give your whole being – heart, soul, strength, mind – to God.
 
This brings you daily to the door of dependence upon God, a threshold you step through acknowledging that you need him to work through you. In doing this, you’re able to draw upon God’s strength and love; he becomes the power – the infinite LOVE — within you to love others as yourself.
 
They may waste your love; they may discount your love; they may react angrily to your love; they may never understand your love, yet, your other-centered love demonstrates the depth and breadth of God’s love for us: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NIV)

Truth says God is transforming you from self-centered to other-centered, and that frees you to love without expecting anything in return. It empowers you to love others knowing they may not want your love or appreciate your love.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.