DAY 304--ALL-PURPOSE GARMENT
2009-01-08

I'm not feeling very well this afternoon. Not sure why, but my stomach is, as Stephanie would say, "going round and round."

I think I made a slight mistake in yesterday's info about the pre-inaugural prayer rally. I think it's the 24 hours before the day. Not on the actual day. But if you clicked on the link, you got all that info anyway.

So here's the daily prayer for P.E. Obama and company from the Presidential Prayer Team.

For the members of the new administration from the President and Vice President to the West Wing to clerical workers at every level to be guided by the Holy Scriptures as they serve
How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
�Psalm 119:103-105

O Lord God, how I praise You for the love You showed us in giving Your Son Jesus Christ, the Living Word who was, who is, and who is to come. Thank You for providing Your holy Word to guide our path as we seek and serve You. May Your Word be lifted up, honored and obeyed by all Americans in the days and weeks to come.

As the members of the new administration are identified, appointed and hired to serve in specific positions of service to our government, I pray that they will be guided by Your Word. Shine the light of Your truth on their paths, Lord, so they may experience the sweetness of walking in Your truth. Do this, O Lord, for Your Name�s sake. In Jesus� name, amen.


Psalm for today: Psalm 140

I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence. Verses 12-13


The rememberance of God must be sweet to us, and fill our hearts with joy, or rather lavish us with love to him after he has caused us to taste of his goodness.--John Calvin in his commentary on Psalm 8

Day 304 in The Message//Remix:Solo

Colossians 3:3-5,12-17

There's kind of a process described in this passage from Colossians. First, he tells us, in verses 3-4, that new life is possible. The new life is with Christ, in God, yet invisible to those around us.

Then he tells us what needs to be "killed off." Sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. He describes those actions as "a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God."

Then we are told what we need to "put on," after we have killed off the old stuff. Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. We are told to be even-tempered, content with second place (!!!), and quick to forgive an offense. "And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment." I LOVE that verse!! "Your baseic, all-purpose garment." Yes!

Finally, he talks of "background thoughts and behavior needed to put on new life." Things like letting the peace of Christ keep us in tune with each other. No going off and doing your own thing. Cultivating thankfulness. Give the Message plenty of room in your life. Instruct and direct each other using good common sense.

So...where are you in this process? I'm kind of in between killing stuff off and putting the new stuff on. The sad thing is that, having been a Christian for decades, I'm still working on step 2. But I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that. It's not easy. And nobody every said it would be. What verse is it that says, "I beg your pardon...I never promised you a rose garden..."

I'm just kidding of course. That's not in the Bible. I think Joe South wrote it. But it certainly applies, and God could have very well said that! He promises a garden, all right, but more like Gesthemane!


Father, I thank you for starting me out in this new life process. I pray that you help me continue to kill off everything connected with the old life. Help me shape my life with you instead of with things and feelings. And most of all, help me put on this "basic, all-purpose garment" of love. Over and over, your Word speaks of how important love is in our lives. And that seems to be one thing that I run short of most often. So help me draw that from you, since you have an unlimited supply of perfect love.

Our old lives really are dead! We carry around some dead weight in this flesh, but the life itself has been crucified with Christ.

I want to close this with Paul's final admonition in this passage.

And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Sing!

Grace and peace, friends!



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