For God�s choice of Secretary of Transportation to be identified, so our nation�s roads, railways and skies will be safe and free from attack
And it will be said: "Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people."
�Isaiah 57:14
Oh Mighty God, how magnificent and vast is the world You have made! I praise and thank You for its great diversity of places and peoples; I praise and thank You for the privilege of traveling from one place to another and of meeting You and those who love You there. The created world is amazing, God, and I thank You for connecting us in many ways.
Today, I pray for the person of Your choosing to be identified to serve our country as Secretary of Transportation. O God, provide someone who is passionate for excellence in our roadways, railways, ports, rivers and skies! Provide the ideal person who will serve with diligence to keep our nation safe and travel smooth in the new administration. I pray this in Your name, amen.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Verses 5-6
Galatians 6:11-16
In this passage, Paul is rebuking first-century Christians for getting caught up in the idea that rituals like circumcision can get rid of guilt before God. This spawns a list of questions.
Who are you interested in impressing?
How much energy do you expend figuring out ways to be more accepted by others?
Is your security rooted in others, or is it rooted in your total acceptance by God?
Do you ever imagine God taking sides--either with you against the world or with everyone else against you?
How would your life look if you lived to please only him?
All very good questions. I'm really not all that interested in impressing anyone at all. Maybe that's not 100% true. It's my goal, though. I probably do occasionally attempt to impress someone that I know. However, it is not with my alleged "spirituality."
I actually probably don't spend enough energy attempting to be accepted by others. Frankly, I don't really care what others think about me. I don't live for them. I don't work for them. I live and work for God and God alone. He is the only one that matters. And when I'm not living for him, I seem to be living solely for me.
That, of course, is bad. But "it is what it is." My goal is to live for him more than I live for me.
In the course of all of this, I do love people. I love my family, and I do look out for them. I do things that are not self-serving in the name of love for my family, and sometimes for the love of others, as well. But I look at all of this as serving the Lord, not trying to gain acceptance from people.
Paul sums this all up at the end of the passage. It is not what you and I do--submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God--his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!
Grace and peace, friends.