He redeems you from hell�saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy�a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness�beauty eternal.
He renews your youth�you're always young in his presence.
God makes everything come out right;
he puts victims back on their feet.
He showed Moses how he went about his work,
opened up his plans to all Israel.
"The Psalmist expresses more plainly what our condition is previous to God's curing our maladies--that we are dead and adjudged to the grave. The consideration that the mercy of God delivers us from death and destruction ought, therefore, to lead us to prize it the more highly. If the resurrection of the soul from the grave is the first step of spiritual life, what room for self-glorification is left to man? The prophet next teaches us that the incomparable grace of God shines forth in the very commencement of our salvation, as well as in its whole progress; and the more to enhance the commendation of this grace, he adds the word compassions in the plural number. He asserts that we are surrounded with them; as if he had said, Before, behind, on all sides, above and beneath, the grace of God presents itself to us in immeasurable abundance; so that there is no place devoid of it."
Wow. I could stop right here for the day!
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"God's Will and Your Vocation"
Romans 12:1-8
Reading from the English Standard Version.
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
One of the first things that we need to remember when trying to discern God's will for our vocations is that not everyone has the same gifts. In fact, this is just a very important thing to remember in the life of the Church. This also goes for talents, skills, and desires. We are all different. Just as no one is equipped to do every job in the church, so no one is equipped to do every job in the world.
For this reason, Paul tells us to think of ourselves with "sober judgment." We are not told to never think highly of ourselves. But we are told to not think more highly of ourselves than is appropriate. And we are admonished to always think of others more highly than ourselves. We should also not pretend to be gifted in areas that we obviously aren't. (If you can't carry a tune in a bucket, please don't ask your music minister if you can sing a solo in church...) "As we examine ourselves soberly, we will be determined to do the tasks to which the Lord has called us, but if we do not, we are in danger of engaging in work for which we are not really gifted, which can create all sorts of problems for ourselves and other people."
So...wondering about vocation? What do you have a heartfelt desire to do? Is it prohibited by Scripture? If not, then "Rock on!"
"From Curse to Christ"
Galatians 3:24
Reading from the English Standard Version.
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
"The primary purpose of the Law is not to curse us but to lead us to Christ." Christ became a curse for us as our substitute. "He experienced the full fury of the curse that we should have experienced."
This is completely unreasonable in human terms. There is nothing comparable that we can find in our human experience. But God declared it to be so. We should gratefully accept this marvelous truth.
Grace and peace, friends.