day no. 13,185: the gracious gifts of God almighty‏

Genesis 33:5

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”

He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”

If you ever see Team VV putting around, you will see in our train those children God has graciously given to His servants.

Children are a gift from God.

Yes, they are work.

But they are worth the work.

Everything costs something.

Children are worth the price of admission.

day no. 13,184 continued... and happy thanksgiving by the way

turkey.
football.
pumpkin pie.
etc...

grateful for a paid day off.

for reals.

day no. 13,184: the Israel of God‏

Galatians 6:15-16

¹⁵ For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. ¹⁶ May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy to the Israel of God!

The standard is that of being reborn (a new creation) by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

May peace come to all those who believe and behave in accordance with this standard.

Those who do are the true Israel of God.

Those who struggle the good struggle of faith.

day no. 13,183: the sword of the Spirit or the scalpel of men?‏

Galatians 5:1

Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Do everything you can to resist the urge to go back to proving your worth and value by doing something great for God. God values you as much as He does Jesus if you have faith in Him. That’s it. If you are willing to be simple and have faith, you will have to value what God values instead of valuing what you strive so hard for outside of Jesus. If this was once or currently is you, be on guard against reverting being that way again on this side of the Cross of Jesus. Be careful to root out and kill any part of you that seeks now to earn what you have been already been given by faith.

Galatians 5:5

For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

We came to Jesus and were adopted into the family of God by our faith in Jesus and the Spirit’s work in us to believe Him alone.

Galatians 5:12

I wish those who are disturbing you might also get themselves castrated!

It’s not every day an apostle tosses out a statement like this, eh?

Paul is running out the heretical argument to its logical conclusion: if cutting some of your penis off makes you more holy, would not cutting the whole thing off make you even holier. If circumcision is JV, castration is varsity.

Clearly not. We are made right with God by our faith in Jesus, not through works of the flesh (here represented quite literally as a work of literal flesh)

Galatians 5:13

For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

So one might conclude from his strong words earlier that it doesn’t matter then what we do as long as we have faith in Jesus because nothing else matters.

Hit pause on that.

Paul didn’t say that everything else doesn’t matter, he just clarified that nothing else saves except the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christ did not set us free from sin so that we could serve ourselves.

Galatians 5:25

Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.

We declare that by the Spirit alone do we have life.

Since the Spirit is the source of our lives, should not He also be the Ruler, Guide and Comforter of our livelihood?

That’s what they call rhetorical my friends.

day no. 13,182: which new something are you seeking?‏

My friend, Tim sent me this email in response to our Bible read through passage:

Galatians 4:15-16

15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

When a man finds that he doesn't agree with the Truth, he should not seek to find a new truth, rather he should call on Jesus for help to find a new man, within himself.

Well put my man.

When we find that we disagree with Truth, it is not a mere matter of finding a better truth to agree with, but asking God to create in us a new man to embrace the one Truth, Way and Life that leads to life with God in Jesus.

day no. 13,181: an unlikely birth story

Galatians 4:28

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Isaac was a miracle baby.

His elderly parents conceived a miraculous child as promised by God.

When you or I place our faith in Jesus and our lives into His hands, a miracle takes place, just like the unlikely birth of Isaac.

By our faith in Him, we are remade and reborn into a child of God.

It requires a miracle of God to remake us.

day no. 13,178: fettered and free‏

Galatians 4:8-9

⁸ But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

You will be a slave to something.  

You are either a slave of Jesus or a slave to something else.  

Would you say you are a slave of Jesus’?  
Would anyone else say that you are a slave of Jesus’?  
Would your calendar speak to you being a slave of Jesus’? 
What about your bank account?  
Would your words spoken on any given day repeated back to you testify that Jesus is your boss?

Galatians 4:16

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

I realize that asking questions like that may miff some people, but what would you have me do?  

Would you prefer flattery?  

You didn’t come to Jesus by flattery and you certainly won’t maintain pressing on in the race by flattery.  

The truth will set you free.  
Free to do what?  

Free to become a slave of Jesus rather than a slave to your silly, sorry self.