Author: STANDPOINT360

I am incredible and so are you….read on.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

Psalms 139:13-14 NLT

The way you and I are made is stunning. The more medical science learns about the way we are made, the more awe inspiring it is. Intricate structures that are both delicate and strong. Capacities for healing and the ability to overcome incredible adversity are like none other.

The soul encompasses the mind, body and human spirit. The soul lasts forever. The mind and body incrementally fade and die. Along this journey we see the strength of youth and the wisdom of age.

To look into the depths of how we are made has the capacity to draw us to God. The workmanship God has poured into our lives is absolutely amazing. The bible teaches that we are made in the likeness or image of God.

As I write this, my back hurts and I am nursing a sore arm. At the same time my body is letting me know all is not well, my mind seeks to understand and know more about the one who made me. There is a desire to work through issues, to see truth, to give hope to others.

You and I have been “knit together” in the most amazing ways. We are complex. We are incredible.

Why? Because this is how God made us.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for the incredible ways God made each of us. Thank You for the delicate and the strong. Thank you for the simple and complex.

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.

1 Timothy 1:15 NLT http://bible.com/116/1ti.1.15.NLT

A Trustworthy Saying:

Words and actions that can be counted on are increasingly more valuable in the world today. People who actually do what they say draw people to them. “A trustworthy saying” is a phrase that is right there with some other great phrases:

* My word is my bond

* A handshake deal

* You can take that to the bank

Each of these phrases communicate a reliable commitment that one can count on. The apostle Paul is telling the young leader, Timothy, about a very trustworthy saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Jesus is reliable. He can be counted on. His words become His actions. Jesus says He has the ability to save, and guess what, He does actually save people from a life of separation from God forever.

Paul gives Timothy two more important pieces of information:

* Everyone should accept it

* I am the worst sinner of all

In general, people accept the fact that the person of Jesus Christ existed and was real. His existence is Trustworthy. Many people and religions accept Jesus as a great teacher. His teaching is trustworthy. Several world religions and historians recognize Jesus as someone with incredible healing powers. His healing power is trustworthy.

So, why is it if his existence, teaching and healing are trustworthy that people are reluctant to accept Jesus Christ as one who saves sinners? The core of that answer can be found in Paul’s closing statement “and I am the worst of them all.” Paul recognizes that he is a sinner and needs the life saving work of Jesus in his own life.

The biggest challenge in sharing the truth of who Jesus is with the people around us is the honest recognition that we are actually separated from God because of sin and brokenness in our lives. Paul willingly calls that truth out in his own life.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for saving me from the sin that separates me from God. When I compare myself to you, I am the worst of sinners. You have chosen to give everything to break the bondage that sin creates in this world. I am so grateful to be lifted from the load of broken commitments and self indulgence, greed and pride. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for restoring me to God the Father in relationship.

In Jesus name, Amen

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Revelation 1:8 NLT http://bible.com/116/rev.1.8.NLT

We all know that people don’t last forever in this world. Death is real. Birth is real. There are beginnings and endings. It is also true that the created world lives longer than any one person. Many of the things that are built by us do last far beyond our lifetime.

We are used to beginnings and endings. We know that we don’t last forever.

Along comes God through Jesus Christ. He makes the profound statement “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come.” It is hard to get our head around the idea of God never beginning, never ending, and always being. Always!

No one or nothing else can make that statement and stand by it! He is not an option among options. He really is the almighty one.

Contrast that to another aspect of God, He wants to be in relationship with us. In fact, God has gone “all in” to make this work through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He invites us into a life that transitions after physical death. He tells us that this life is only the beginning in a life that lasts forever. There is teaching about a new heaven and a new earth. There is teaching about new bodies that are not subject to the deterioration we currently experience.

Images of “no more sorrow and no more tears” are part of what Jesus communicates. There is this relationship with God that is alive and does last forever. There is also a critical choice God has given to us:

Do we want to spend all of life with Him or do we want to be separated from Him in isolation and torment forever?

This is not philosophical or abstract. This is a real choice in real time. Our best understanding of this choice to be with God is that it must be made while we live in the bodies we have now, this physical life.

I have made my choice in this life. I am living with the one who was, is and always will be.

I am living with the Almighty One who seeks to know me. I now seek to know Him.

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13.5 NLT.

The use of money is a fact of life. We use it everyday. It does have great functional value in our lives. As a follower of Jesus, we are asked to manage life well. We are asked to be generous, to save, and to share. Living within our means is an important responsibility in our lives.

Money is not designed to capture our hearts or become the primary focus of our lives. It has no capacity, in and of itself, to care for our needs. It does not intercede for us. It has no capacity to forgive wrongs or to reconcile brokenness. Money is meant to be managed and used. The mismanagement and misuse of money creates bondage and burdens that choke the lifeblood out of people.

God, on the other hand, actually loves us. Between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are loved, adopted and never abandoned. He forgives us from all that is wrong. He works to restore all that has been broken. He does lead. He is faithful. He guides us into all that is true (including matters related to money).

In the first four books of the New Testament, Jesus talks about the challenges of money and materialism more than anything else but the nature of God’s Kingdom and His love. He recognized the challenges of people exchanging their designed love for God with a cheap substitute. Jesus laid out the two greatest focus points of life:
• Love God with everything you are and have
• Love others with the love God has given you

When God is really first, and money is a matter of stewardship, there is contentment in life. The quest for improvement or expansion flows from a perspective of making a difference in this world as part of the Kingdom of God.

Dear Jesus,
Today I receive the reminder to love God with all of me and to manage money for His glory and the help of people. Thank You for being faithful in my life. In Your name, Jesus, Amen.