GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Philippians 2:5-6 (NIV)

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If you take a snapshot of Jesus-love, it looks like this:

“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing” (Philippians 2:3-4 NLT).

What does this mean?

• We live with the same attitude as Jesus (Philippians 2:5). If someone snapped a picture of your attitude, what would it look like? If it were uploaded to the Internet, what beliefs would it reveal? This means the beliefs you live by, not necessarily the ones you say you believe.
• We believe compassion is more important than holding rank or privilege (Philippians 2:6). How many snapshots of things do you have compared to the ones of people encouraged by God’s love flowing through you? What two things can you do to re-prioritize people over things?
• We give without expecting anything in return. “He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form (Philippians 2:7 NLT). What snapshots do you have of others who’ve been blessed by you while you deliberately stayed out of the picture?
• We serve, even at great cost. “And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven . . . and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11 NLT). What do the snapshots look like of people enriched by what you gave away?

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

He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts . . .  2 Corinthians 1:22 (NLT)

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Your faith will grow stronger as you focus on your identity in Christ (Galatians 2).

What this means is that you abandon any image of yourself that is not from God. You stop accepting what others have said about you; you stop accepting how others have labeled you; you stop accepting how others have defined you.

You start believing what God says about you; you start believing God is pleased with how he created you; you start believing that God defines you.

You’re not defined by your feelings; you’re not defined by the opinions of others; you’re not defined by your circumstances; you’re not defined by your successes or failures; you’re not defined by the car you drive, the money you make, or the house you say you own when the bank really does.

You are defined by God, and God alone. He identifies you as his own (2 Corinthians 1:22).

The thing is, if you don’t know who you are then you’re vulnerable to other people telling you who you are. But the concrete, solid, gospel truth is that you are who God says you are and no one else has a vote in the matter.

This “identity issue” is an important part of living the abundant life. Jesus was able to face the incredible demands of his mission because he knew exactly who he was; he knew that he mattered to God, and that gave him confidence to move purposefully in faith.

You are now identified with Christ and have the power of the Holy Spirit within you. You are God’s precious child and he created you in a way that pleases him.

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

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14 (NIV)

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Back in the 1960s, Playboy magazine printed a drawing of Jesus – laughing. Although their philosophy stood counter to God, their point was that Jesus must have been joyful because who would be attracted to a frowning, judgmental teacher.

The magazine was not only reacting to all the overly serious depictions of Jesus, by implication, the magazine was also tossing a brick into the windows of shame and judgment that are so often the storefront of our faith.

If we’re always frowning and glowering, why are we surprised when the people around us have no interest in our Christian witness, and in our description of the joyful, abundant life?

If God’s perfect love drives out all fear, why do we live in such fear of God, and why do we try to control others with fear? (1 John 4:18). Why do we try to bring others to Jesus by emphasizing judgment and fear?

Jesus said he wanted to pass “the full measure of my joy” to those who believed in him (John 17:13 NIV). At his birth, the angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10 NIV).

Can you imagine Jesus as a joyful, laughing presence, full of humor and twinkling grace who energized the environment with his deep, bountiful joy?

Is it possible he understood the proverb: “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones” (Proverbs 15:30 NIV)? He was both the God who voiced the proverb and the man who obeyed it.

Jesus gathered the children around him, and like them, he was laughing, smiling and enjoying life with the exceeding joy that comes only from the Father: “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!” (1 John 3:1 NLT).

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

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:3 (NIV)

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For us to become like Jesus, God will acquaint us with sorrow, just as Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3).

God’s intent is not to hurt us, but to expand our capacity to carry his love into a world in desperate need of compassion. The sorrows we experience become part of the Holy Spirit’s work within us, as God transforms us into beings of love, who “shine like stars in the universe” (Philippians 2:15 NIV).

Sorrows clarify our thinking, helping us to trust that God is at work within and around us, teaching us that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. In this way, “we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10 NIV).

Our deathly sorrows ignite within us the living gladness of Jesus, putting the spotlight on God’s grace and mercy, revealing us to be chipped and cracked jars of clay that, nevertheless, contain resurrection power “raised imperishable” and “in glory” (1 Corinthians 15:42-43 NIV).

Sorrows teach us that God’s “grace is sufficient,” a power made perfect in our weakness. We can, therefore, “boast all the more gladly about [our] weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on [us]” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).

Our objective-in-Jesus is to take the deep regrets and loss in our lives, those past and present, and now view them as the death of Christ within us, acquainting us with the grief, heartache, and sorrow Jesus experienced on his way to the cross.

But even as Christ’s death is at work in us, so also is his life at work in us, a good work that will be carried on “to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:12; Philippians 1:6 NIV).

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.