For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending His own Son in the likeness for sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Romans 8:3-4

I grew up in a home with many unspoken expectations. The rules were rarely announced. You learned them by sensing tension, reading disapproval, and noticing what caused a parent’s stern look. My sister and I were expected to behave like little adults.

No running in the house. 

No loud voices. 

No leaving water spots on shower walls. 

Minimal water usage when you wash dishes. 

No asking to use the restroom while visiting someone.

That kind of upbringing leaves its mark. I desire for things to be ordered and calm. Some of that no doubt made its way into my parenting. Grace has softened me over the years, and grandchildren have given me a second go-around.

What I’ve come to understand is this ~ God did not reveal the Law to torment. Nor to be cruel. It was to be clear. I am not righteous and can not achieve it, no matter how hard I try. The Law was an act of mercy. It led me to the end of myself. It showed me that striving is useless. I needed a Savior.

Striving is no longer a way of life. Grace is not a theory; it is the atmosphere of abundant life. I no longer live under the old ache of failure. And that is the deepest mercy of all. In Christ, the ache of never measuring up is history. I no longer stand before God as a woman who disappoints, but as one who is beloved.

Oh, Jesus, because of You, I no longer have to bear the heaviness of inadequacy. Thank you. Amen.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Romans 8:1

An old German commentator, Spener, once said that if the Bible were a ring and Romans its precious stone, then chapter 8 would be “the sparkling point of the jewel.” I believe it. It is the gospel gathered into one blazing chapter.

At times I’ve watched documentaries about prison life. Even from a distance, you can feel the weight of it as the bars close—the loss of freedom, the constant danger, the awful realization that your life is no longer your own. But the most unforgettable scenes are the pardons. The gates open. A prisoner steps out stunned, hardly able to believe it. Then comes the embrace, the tears, the disbelief that a life once thought lost has been given back.

That is the atmosphere of Romans 8. Except, I was the condemned one. I sat on death row with my guilt piled high and no argument strong enough to save me. Then the door opened. And not because I had found a defense, but because Someone else stepped forward and paid my ransom. Not a stranger. Not a neutral party. But the very One I had resisted, ignored, and sinned against. Jesus became my Savior.

That is the scandal of grace. There came a day when I understood that because of Jesus, I no longer had to live as though I were still in prison. I could entrust myself to His mercy. I could walk out of the cell and into the wide country of His love. And with time I would see that His work did more than cancel my sentence. It broke the power of my bondage. My worst sins do not get the final word over me. My failures do not have the authority to drag me back behind bars. And even when I grieve Him, I cannot be sent back to death row. The sentence was carried out ~ in Christ.

Lord Jesus, keep the sound of those prison doors opening fresh in my soul. Do not let me grow casual with mercy or forget the darkness from which You brought me. Teach me to walk in the clean air of grace, to lift my face like one set free, and to live each day astonished that the arms waiting outside the gate were Yours. Amen.

I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!  Psalm 119:8

Have you ever given a ‘yes’ to something while knowing, even as the words left your mouth, that you were stepping in over your head?

That is how this verse feels to me. David makes a bold promise: “I will keep Your statutes.” I can almost hear him take in his breath before he says it. It is the language of love, but also the language of holy inadequacy. Who can truly keep God’s statutes? Who is sufficient for this tall order? And yet David loves Him enough to offer his obedience, even knowing how fragile the human heart can be. So almost in the same breath, he adds, “Do not utterly forsake me.” He knows his need. He knows that sincere intention is not the same as sustaining power. Without the nearness of God, he will not stand.

And isn’t that the posture of every true child of God?

Everything God asks of us drives us beyond ourselves. His ways are too high for the natural mind. His commandments are not sized to human strength. His callings are God-sized. Even the greatest commandment, ‘to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind’, reveals how unable we are apart from grace. We mean it when we say we love Him, and yet our loves are so easily seduced. The glitter of Babylon still catches our eye. Lesser things still charm us. Our first Love is betrayed in a hundred subtle ways.

So this verse becomes not only David’s confession, but mine. I come again today and say, with as much sincerity as I can gather, I will keep Your statutes, Lord. But I do not say it with self-confidence. I say it with dependence. Stay close to me. Hold me up. Teach me. Correct me. Strengthen what is weak in me. Because if You leave me to myself, I will wander.

Today is a new day, and once again, I will take a deep breath. I will walk in Your ways, but only because Your Holy Spirit will walk with me. Do not leave me in my frailty. Keep me near enough to obey.  Amen

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit.  I Thess. 2:3

THE MESSAGE says it well.  “God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you, we’re not after crowd approval—only God’s approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas.”

It takes a while for ‘self’ to be conquered.  When I was young, God’s will was cobwebbed with what I wanted for myself.  I pursued my dreams with a vengeance, believing that God was behind them, but eventually I began to hit one brick wall after another.  I worked double-time to demolish the mountain of bricks.  God’s will was in there somewhere, but I couldn’t separate the difference between His plan and mine. I grew depressed and became disillusioned with God; eventually, disliking my ministry.  Post-traumatic stress visited me before nearly every event.

Crashing and burning was the best thing that could have happened to me in the 90’s.  I finally died to self, and then an amazing thing happened.  I was surrounded by deafening silence.  In the stillness, I heard God’s voice.  With frenetic activity halted and my own inner voice silenced, I was able to understand how I had been driven by mixed motives and hidden agendas.  It took three years.

Because of God’s mercy, I was raised up out of the same ashes that God had burned in the fires of testing.  He was a recycling expert, using my foolishness and sin to invent something new.  God crafted a new language on my tongue; a message birthed out of the healing of my deepest shame.

People could tell and began to relax under its influence; their spirits bearing witness with God’s Spirit that what they were hearing was void of pretense.  The spiritually intuitive hearers always know.

Lord, this ministry is continually birthed in our relationship with each other.  I get it!  Amen

And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” Genesis 31:3

Laban set up Jacob to fail. He stole some of his spotted and striped animals and hid them with his own son’s flocks in order to mate them. He would then accuse Jacob of stealing. When God prospered Jacob anyway, all pretenses of love and friendship Laban had exhibited, dissolved. No longer able to hide his true feelings, he accused Jacob and things became adversarial.

At that point, God did not instruct Jacob on how to repair the relationship. He was told to leave and return to the land of his father. He was released with God’s blessing.

Time in Laban’s household was a spiritual school. Jacob’s past sins were paid for and he bore up well under discipline. He gave his conniving father-in-law every opportunity to prosper and to embrace Yahweh. In the end, motives that Laban had hidden rose to the surface. What had stayed veiled for over a decade was exposed when issues of greed, Laban’s stronghold, pushed him to the limit. It was clear that Laban was not going to change so God released Jacob to leave.

There are relationships that are tolerable for a while, sometimes a long while. Others perceive harmony but you know that beneath the surface, you are dealing with an adversary, not a friend.   You may be in ministry with this person, or work for him. God has not released you to leave and you are straining under the pretense. Jacob’s story is a firsthand illustration that if we do what is right and bear up well under the pressure of unfairness, there will be a graduation day. Some issue will cause everything to blow up. What is hidden now will become clear for all to see and God will use their sin to release us to our next appointment.

For now, it can seem like you’re trapped. There is no such thing as ‘trapped’ in God’s purposes. Things might be uncomfortable, even excruciating. Your pride may be assaulted daily. Your coping ability might be pushed to the limits. Cling to God and allow this to strengthen your spiritual muscles of faith. One grand morning, God may just say, “Well done! Move on!”

I lived in oppression. It seemed endless. You taught me so much about my adversary and about myself. I remember the party our family threw when you said, “Move!” Oh Lord, You are a Deliverer! Amen