GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (NIV)

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Have you ever wondered why the winner of an Olympic marathon traditionally runs a victory lap? I mean, here’s an athlete who has just beaten his body into running twenty-six consecutive miles, without a break for lunch or a stop at Starbucks, and the reward is to run a lap around the stadium, waving at the crowd.

Come on!

If I won a marathon – and there’s little chance of that – I think I’d say, “Strap me in a recliner, start giving me Gatorade intravenously, and then push me around the stadium. Hey, go get the guy who comes in last to push me; he’s the one who should be running an extra lap!”

In order to keep my hands free for putting in a second IV of Gatorade, we could get a cute child to run along beside me, waiving the old red, white, and blue.

All kidding aside, my friend, we run the race for “a crown that will last forever” and, therefore, we do not run aimlessly (1 Corinthians 9:25-26 NIV).

And thanks to our champion, Jesus, our victory is assured – in truth, already won; and as we follow in triumphal procession, we spread “the Good News like a sweet perfume” (2 Corinthians 2:14 NLT). To God goes the glory. Forever and ever, amen.

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 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. 1 Timothy 4:15 (NLT)

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You’ve probably heard the story of the guy who was on a long drive with his wife, and as she talked, his mind began to drift.

They drove for about thirty minutes until he realized she’d stopped talking, and a feeling began to sink within him as he vaguely registered she’d just asked him a question.

He looked at her and she said, “So, what do you think I should do?”

He took a deep breath, and said, “Well, you have several options . . . I mean, you could . . . it depends on . . .”

His wife glared at him and said, “You weren’t listening to me at all, were you?”

Our objective-in-Jesus is to be fully present in the present. “Wherever you are, be all there,” is the way Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary phrased it.

We look life full in the face and engage all our senses in what is around us, especially the people we encounter.

We don’t let the past distract us, and we don’t let the future worry us; we remain focused in the present. We value those around us enough to put down the newspaper, look up from the computer, turn off the TV, and really listen to them. Our focus on the present teaches us to be sensitive to the needs, hurts, likes, dislikes, and even joys of those around us.

And, it gives us the capacity to spot where God is at work so we can join him there. We engage faith in the present, and in faith we trust God to cover our past and look out for our future. He comes behind and before us.

“It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to live by faith,” wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who later was hung by a rope supplied by Adolf Hitler.

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 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)

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In relationships the failure to communicate can be extremely frustrating. But, the failure to commune leads us to despair.

Communication is usually about sharing information; at its most basic level, the transmitting and receiving of meanings.

Communion, however, is about sharing life. It’s about knowing and being known, caring and being cared for on a deep and personal basis.

Perhaps the most pressing need each of us has is to know that we are fully known and, yet, still deeply loved. That, despite our failures and weakness, regardless of our successes and strengths, we are still unconditionally loved.

Some of our families did a fairly good job of this while others failed miserably.

But God, the Father, is perfect in his love, and we are already fully known by him. He created us with a desire for that “fully known” love and so he draws us to himself, where we are face-to-face with him, where one day we will know fully even as we are now fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

And our objective-in-Jesus is to carry this fully known love into our relationships, modeling for others a Christ-like communion that that emerges in a place where it is safe to be fully known and still be loved.

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 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

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God designed us to learn by observing. By taking note of “those who live according to the pattern” of Jesus-in-you, we’re able to see tangible examples of what it looks like to let the Holy Spirit transform us – our attitudes and behaviors – from the inside out (Philippians 3:17 NIV).
 
But as we develop our powers of observation, there will be times when we see a Jesus-one who is not living according to the pattern established by Jesus-in-you.

Then what do you do?

First, you don’t follow this Jesus-one’s errant examples; and second, you don’t criticize them, rather you pray for them.

Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest: “When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.”

When we discern a weakness or a fault in another believer, we’re to take our concerns to God, praying on behalf of our brother or sister.

This doesn’t mean we ignore or deny the fault or sin in our friend; but it does mean we peer past the fault and into the need in our friend that is feeding the fault. That gives us insight into how to pray for our brother or sister and how to offer support.

The discernment God gives us is a prayer alert for another Jesus-one, and woe unto us if we use that discernment in a self-centered manner, such as pointing a finger. The discernment is meant to push us toward the other-centered position of prayer and support in the Spirit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).

Our objective-in-Jesus is to love one another as God loves us, so that we support each other with “alert and always” prayers that give us the further discernment of godly solutions.

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 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.