Expressions of Love

Matthew 3:16-17 (NET) - After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.”

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, God expressed His love for His Son.

God loved His Son, but it was not just for this singular act of baptism.

God loved His Son for who He was,

God also loved His Son for what He came into the world to do and how He would go about it.

Jesus did everything God expected of Him.

That included the one thing He did which we could not do for ourselves.

For God not only loved Jesus, but He also loved us as well.

God loved us so much that He willingly sent Jesus to die in our place (John 3:16).

When the time approached Jesus struggled with this.

He prayed to God about it.

Luke 22:42 (NET) - “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus did what God willed of Him.

Jesus submitted Himself to abandonment, scorn, tremendous pain, and death by crucifixion.

He did God’s will by enduring it all.

He endured it all to benefit us.

When Jesus was baptized, God expressed His love for Him.

But this was not the only time God expressed that love for all to hear.

God also expressed it at the Transfiguration of Jesus.

With it, God also expressed a command for us.

We are to “Listen to Him!”

Matthew 17:5 (NET) - While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”

As we read scripture, we hear the words of Jesus.

But we must do more than hear them.

We must really listen to them.

Jesus also teaches us by example.

We must therefore strive to become more like Jesus every day.

We too can turn to God in trying circumstances.

We too must accept God’s will as opposed to our own.

We must always remember that God loves us.

He proved that through what Jesus endured for us.

He also expressed this in the form of an empty tomb.

Jesus has risen and we now have true hope, and our lives will never be the same again!

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, April 9, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, April 16, 2021

Glimpses

Exodus 33:18 (NET) - And Moses said, “Show me your glory.”

Moses wanted to see God.

But God warned Moses that no one could see His face and live.

So, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock and covered him.

Moses did not see God’s face.

Instead, God allowed him just a glimpse as He passed by.

Moses was not the only one who wished to see God.

The followers of Jesus also wanted to see Him.

This was especially true of Philip.

Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father.

The response Philip received was not what he expected.

John 14:8-9 (NET) - Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

By knowing Jesus, we know God.

But the relationship we now have with God was affirmed by the Father.

This occurred the very moment Jesus died on the cross.

Matthew 27:50-51 (NET) - Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks were split apart.

This was a beautiful gesture on the part of God.

The temple curtain was a barrier.

It was a barrier that separated a sinful mankind from the most holy God.

God removed the barrier that separated us from Him the very moment Jesus died,

Just like Moses and Philip, many people today wish to see God.

Yet God gives glimpses of Himself not only in the miraculous but in the day-to-day.

Perhaps we are too preoccupied to notice.

One thing is certain.

As Christians we place our faith in Jesus.

When others see Jesus at work in our lives, they can capture glimpses of Him.

In doing so, they also capture glimpses of God.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 26, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, April 2, 2021

 

True Repentance

Judges 10:15 (NET) - But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today!”

It has been said that confession is good for the soul.

But it is more than that.

Repentance is scriptural.

It is important that we confess to God the ways in which we have fallen short.

But if God is omniscient, are we really revealing to Him anything new?

Doesn’t God know the ways in which we have fallen short?

Certainly, He does!

So why repent?

First, we admit to ourselves that we have sinned.

We are no longer able to rationalize or justify our actions and words.

Second, we express our sorrow and regret for them.

But repentance does not end there.

True repentance goes beyond this.

It requires one more thing.

It means turning back to God and changing our behavior.

It means changing our actions and words in the future to those He expects from us.

It means changing the way we live.

Thus, we are better able to love both God and our neighbor.

Luke 15:7 (NET) - I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

Confession may be good for the soul.

True repentance draws us closer to God.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 12, 2021.

I will be back here on Friday, March 19, 2021

 

Dual Roles

I recently watched two old programs that had something in common.

In each there was an actor or actress who played two parts.

In the first there was an actress who portrayed both the head of a corporation as well as the woman trying to take it away from her.

In the second, an actor portrayed both a ruthless dictator and a man trying to put an end to his regime.

The use of a single actor for dual roles was quite effective in each case.

This put me in mind of one of my favorite Christian allegories written in the 1600’s by John Amos Comenius.

It is entitled The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.

One of the devices employed by Comenius in his work was the use of masks.

In his book, people go about in public wearing masks.

They try to pass themselves off as beautiful, hiding their true ugliness behind their masks.

Comenius used this device to illustrate that people go about pretending to be something they are not.

They try to cover up things like greed, jealousy and pride.

They do so in order to fool the people with whom they interact daily.

They try to fool others into thinking more highly of them.

But there is a danger in this attempt to deceive.

If we practice it long enough ourselves, we might begin to believe the mask rather than the truth.

We might even convince ourselves we are the illusion rather than the reality.

One thing is certain.

We will never be able to fool God.

Galatians 6:7 (NET) - Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows,

There is a way to make the make the mask completely unnecessary.

Isaiah 1:18 (NET) - Come, let’s consider your options,” says the Lord. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

This is possible through Jesus.

Hebrews 7:25 (NET) - So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Performing dual roles may be fine for actors.

But it is certainly no way for us to live.

Galatians 6:8 (NET) - because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 9, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, August 16, 2019

Damage Control

Romans 3:10-18 (NET) - just as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

These words from the book of Romans spell out the human condition quite clearly.

They hold nothing back.

The opening words set the record straight.

“There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.”

This is clearly a set of circumstances we should address.

Where do we begin?

Perhaps Nehemiah can give us some insight.

When he arrived in Jerusalem he knew what God wanted him to do.

God wanted him to rebuild the wall that lay in ruins.

Nehemiah did not begin by gathering materials or assembling workers.

His first response to God’s call was to assess the damage.

He got up during the night and took a few men with him but he informed no one of God’s plan,

He examined where the wall had been breached and the gates burned.

Only after this assessment did he make the plan known.

Nehemiah 2:17-18 (NET) - Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.” Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” So they readied themselves for this good project.

Just like the wall in Nehemiah’s day, we are broken.

As we continue our journey through the season of Lent let us assess our damage.

Let us also turn to the One who can repair that damage and put us right.

Romans 3:23-24 (NET) - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 24, 2017.

I’ll be back here on Friday, April 7, 2017

Closing the Distance

Sometimes disobedience is intentional.

Sometimes it is not.

Disobedience, whether intentional or not, puts distance between ourselves and God.

In the book of Acts we learn of a magician named Elymas who intentionally tried to turn the proconsul from his faith.

There would be consequences for this disobedience.

Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, told Elymas that he would pay a terrible price.

Acts 13:11 (NET) - Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand.

When the proconsul saw this, he believed.

In fact, he was astounded.

Acts 13:12 (NE) - Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord.

Sometimes disobedience in unintentional.

That does not mean there are no consequences,

When David and those with him decided to move the ark, they knew they were never to touch it.

The oxen pulling the cart stumbled.

A man named Uzzah simply reached out his hand to steady it.

1 Chronicles 13:10 (NET) - The LORD was so furious with Uzzah, he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark. He died right there before God.

It appears that Uzzah did not intentionally disobey God.

Even so, there were consequences for Uzzah.

David’s reaction was quite different from that of the proconsul.

David became angry with the Lord.

He was also afraid of Him.

He decided not to move the ark but instead leave it at the home of Obed-Edom,

1 Chronicles 13:14 (NET) - The ark of God remained in Obed-Edom’s house for three months; the LORD blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything that belonged to him.

Obed-Edom must have obeyed God’s instructions.

God not only wants our obedience, He expects it.

Every disobedience, whether intentional or not, puts distance between us and God.

That is why confession is so important.

That is also why are fortunate to have a mediator between ourselves and God.

There is no better mediator to whom we can turn than Jesus.

He can mediate every disobedience of ours, even the unintentional ones.

He closes the distance we create between ourselves and God.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, January 27, 2017.

I’ll be back here on Friday, February 3, 2016

Sin is Overt

There is a car dealership I pass every morning and every evening.

What is most noticeable about it during the daytime is their large sign which displays their family name of Covert.

At night, the dealership is even more noticeable.

Lights are turned on and their facility is flooded with light.

Even their sign lights up.

In this state, both the sign and facility can be seen from quite far away.

The dictionary defines the word covert as “not openly displayed”.

I find it more than a bit interesting that a place that attracts so much attention could have the word “covert” attached to it.

This forced me to consider how sin impacts our relationship with God.

Each of us, myself included, is guilty of sin.

1 John 1:8 (NET) - If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Whether a sin we commit is intentional or not, we would prefer to hide it.

Hiding it from others is one thing.

Given enough time, we might eventually be able to hide it from ourselves.

We might even think about hiding it from God.

That simply is not possible,

Sin impacts our relationship with God and there is absolutely no way to hide it from Him.

It is no more hidden from Him than that car dealership and its large sign that are both lit up at night.

That is why confession is so important.

It is confession that mends our relationship with Him.

1 John 1:9 (NET) - But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 11, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, November 18, 2016

The State of the Church

(Author's note: I struggled with this post more than any other I have written to date. I will not devote any space as to what inspired and motivated me to write this, but I trust that it was genuine. It certainly raised my concern for the church as a whole and I came to some inescapable conclusions. ~ JP)

Church, frankly speaking, no longer plays the pivotal role in the lives of people that it once did.

As time goes by both church and the worship experience get pushed further into the background as lives get busier and other things compete for our attention.

Part of the problem is external.

When I was young school activities and organized community sporting events were never scheduled on Sunday let alone during the same hours that worship services were taking place.

Today, parents are forced to make a choice.

As more and more of these events take place on Sunday, the church experience is given an ever diminishing priority.

The problem is further compounded by the internal choices some churches continue to make.

Some dilute the message in order to make it more palatable.

Some choose not to display crosses or other religious symbols because they do not wish to make people feel uncomfortable.

Their end goal thus becomes one of delivering a message that merely makes members feel good about themselves and presents God as having few if any expectations of them.

As these churches grow larger, the message becomes even more watered down and expectations decrease.

As such, the cycle becomes more dangerous and more difficult to correct.

I personally know of one person who joined such a church.

What was his motivation? Sadly, he felt joining this particular church would be a good way for him to make new business contacts.

As these types of churches gain in popularity one would be hard pressed to find any real and meaningful differences between them.

Beyond this there are those outside the church who openly attack it.

For some of them, merely tearing the church down is not enough.

What they desire above all else is to see it fall.

Still others see church as an obstacle.

To them it is something that stands in the way of getting what the world has to offer.

Church requires time, money, effort and a host of other resources they do not wish to relinquish.

If you have read this far you are probably saying to yourself that this does not sound very uplifting.

You are correct. So far, it is not.

As difficult as this is, I am concerned that something is looming on the horizon.

I do not know what it is nor do I wish to indulge in speculation.

One thing of which I am certain is that when it happens we will receive very little warning if any.

Furthermore, any man made warning signals currently in place may prove to be of little value.

I am reminded of a warning from the book of Revelation that I find rather ominous.

Revelation 3:15-16 (NKJV) - I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,I will vomit you out of My mouth.

There is still a chance.

This warning is also accompanied by words of hope for the faithful.

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV) - Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

In the final analysis the choices are ours to make and there still remains time for us to make the right ones.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com

A Fresh Start

A new school year has started.

While I have not attended school in a long time, I remember well some of the feelings I had when I began a new school year.

One of the feelings that I remember best was the excitement of having a new beginning.

Nothing compares with the sense of leaving prior mistakes and shortcomings behind.

It is a chance to start over.

The slate is clean and free of test grades that are less than great.

It is free of homework assignments that have not been given my best effort.

There are no negative comments in the margins.

There are no essays with the comments "explain" or "give examples".

There are no math worksheets with the comment "show your work".

It is a chance for a fresh start.

There are many people in the world right now that would like a nothing more than new beginning.

They would love nothing more than to start fresh.

If only they could leave the mistakes of their lives behind them and start anew with God.

They think about it time and time again.

Their regrets may even keep them awake at night.

Many conclude that they can never escape their past.

They may even conclude that they’ve done too many bad things.

Sadly, many conclude that God could never forgive someone like them, let alone love them.

How wrong they are.

John 3:16 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

John reminds us that God loves the world.

That means God loves everyone in the world enough to want to save them.

He provides for that salvation in the only way possible.

He had Jesus pay the price we could never pay on our own.

God does have some expectations.

God asks that we believe in Jesus.

But can a person really start over?

In the words of Jesus, one must.

John 3:3 (KJV) - Jesus answered and  said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

When one is born again, he becomes a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NET) - So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, what is old has passed away - look, what is new is come!

Confession is also important.

1 John 1:9 (NET) - But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Why?

After all, doesn’t God know everything already?

Certainly, but confession helps us build a relationship with God and serves to remind us how much we need salvation.

When we do this, something wonderful happens.

Psalm 103:12 (NET) - As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us.

A new beginning is possible.

After all, nothing is impossible for God.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com

I wanna be a rock star

 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31,32
Many teaching we get in these two verses. I will look in this: "If you hold to my teaching..."
To believe in Jesus is more than to  know about Him. It is more than to know what He is able to do. To trust in Him means  to abandon our beliefs, even when we "believe" they may be came from God.
Many times we were taught about God but few of us look at Bible carefully to know if we were taught right, we use to believe because we use to believe!
When Jesus calls us, He says come and trust in me like I'm, even (and I dare to say, frequently) this believe means to abandon our on view point about Him. How many time we use to question our on faith? We have our faith and we always think be right.
John 7:27 shows us people confused about if Jesus was or not The Messiah, and why? Because a common sense in the time, used to say that when The Messiah come, nobody would know where He would come from and Jesus, even showing great miracles, amazing teachings and uncountable signs, was knowing by everybody, His birth city, parents and family making Him not fulfill 'the common sense'.
what it means, Patricia, you can ask me?
It means, dearest reader,  if we day by day, do not seek God, and obey His word more than religion and common sense, we are going to lost the real Jesus, and what is more important, salvation! Some times, we see Jesus in people that we don't think be "someone of God" and this kind of thought block us to listen God. We use to listen and read "that preachers we like" and few time we dare to question them, we just listen! Jesus said: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31,32. 
To hold His teaching many (many) times, will means be against common sense, religious traditions and culture.
We are near of a big american commemoration, Halloween. Some churches have bringing it into its temples cultivating witches, monsters and many kinds of bad stuff, just because 'it is our culture'. Brazil has many similar things, what people call folklore and I call blindness.
But, what matter is, that we have to be free and this freedom only come from obey Jesus and His word. To keep our salvation we have to stay living Matthew 5. Loving those who persecute us. Forgiving those who hurt us. Helping the needy.

I have  seen the church of 21 century. This is the most rich church of all time, and to our shame and sadness, the 21 century church is that has less impact and influence in the society. How is it possible? Maybe it is possible because people and leaders of this church, look for become similar to the world. Our clothes, life style, language, and habits in almost nothing differs of the world. We have the same desires, we have the same plans, we look for our own will, we look for be known by our greatness, our diploma in big universities. The 'dream' of big part of people that are called christian, is the same dream of those who aren't.
It is rare listen young from our churches say that to dream in become missionary, pastor our be known for forgive, love and live like Jesus. They want to be celebrity! If be pastor, they want be at TV, our to be a "gospel rock' star".  Resigns, altruism aren't words of our vocabulary!
Church, we have to wake up. We have to come back to Jesus life style. More of Him and less (too much less) of us.
To be a real christian, we need fast, turn away. We have to review our concepts before it guides us to too far that will be impossible to come back.
Come back church, come back!

Pati Nanni

Seeking and Finding

At one time or another we've all misplaced some item, like car keys, a cell phone, a ring, or the like. Then, watch out!--we turn the house or office upside down, frantically searching for that thing we think we can't live without. More often than not it's found sooner or later, under a seat cushion or a pile of mail, or maybe even right in plain sight where we just overlooked it. What relief and exhiliration we feel when that happens!  Of course, sometimes what we seek is never found, and on top of all the time and effort expended looking we have to spend money to replace the item, if it's replacable at all.

"Seeking" is an inescapable and important--if often an aggravating and even agonizing--part of life. It extends from looking for lost objects to deciding what career to pursue, searching for a mate, or discerning what our purpose in life is. Sometimes we do it consciously, but often it's more like an irresistable current in the hidden depths of our minds and hearts.  And so often that all that seeking seems to lead nowhere but a dead end. Even a "successful" person may not really find the lasting fulfillment he or she was looking for, but discover too late that all his or her hard-won conquests were hollow. Sometimes, one spends everything he or she has in time, money, and even friends, only to make that mortifying discovery in the end.

That's why I love the Lord's "Lost and Found" stories so much, especially those in Luke ch. 15--the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost (or "Prodigal") Son. These stories hold many lessons, but at least one of them, I believe, is how we do, and should, assess the value of things. Of course, the missing piece of silver that the woman swept her whole house to find (Luke 15:8-10) was undoubtedly of great value to her--maybe it was a tenth of all the funds she had--and its recovery fully justified a celebration with her friends and neighbors. So much more so, said the Lord, was there "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Even more compelling is the story of that one Lost Sheep, in which the Shepherd left all of his other 99 to find and bring home. Likewise, the Lord said, "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." And then there is the story of the Prodigal Son, who left home and spent all his inheritance in "riotous living," and then had to crawl back to his father in sorrow and rags. The father might have shut him out in anger for having wasting all that wealth, but instead received him back with forgiveness and joy--much to the chagrin of the young man's more responsible brother--proclaiming, "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!" Surely this is one of the most touching and revealing passages in all Scripture. For it, and the other parables spoken by Jesus in Luke 15, demonstrate that one repentant soul returned to the Lord is worth infinitely more in the Kingdom of God than any amount of wealth or honor, or even a whole lifetime of outwardly "righteous" conduct (remember that these paragbles were told to a crowd of "publicans and sinners" in the presence of Pharisees and scribes who "murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.")

So, never give yourself up for "lost."  Never doubt your worth in the Lord's eyes, no matter what you may have done or failed to do--you're already bought and paid for, with His life. And not only are you worth seeking and reclaiming: unlike a hunt for car keys or for fame and glory, your own search after God, if sincere, is guaranteed successful: "[Y]e shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."  (Jeremiah 29:13)  He will always be there, waiting eagerly with open arms for His prodigal son or daughter to return. As Christ Himself said:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh

it shall be opened.
~  Matthew 7:6-8

Tom Fleming
Songs of Praises

Remember, Repent, Reform

O God, thou knowest my foolishness;
and my sins are not hid from thee. ~ Psalms 69:5

This is one of my favorite passages in Scripture--not because it expresses a happy thought, but because it's so true, and something I need to repeat every day in prayer.

Of course, it's necessary and right for a believer to daily remember the countless blessings he or she receives at God's hand, and to give thanks and praise for them. We are so grateful to have His guidance and comfort in our lives!  But sometimes this sense of well-being can lead to complacency, pride, and even arrogance. Seeing the spiritual, moral, and temporal travail of so many around us, we may start to feel as though we are impervious to troubles, that Satan can't touch us, and that we are and always will be superior to those others who haven't gotten, as we have, "right with God."  Our prayers may start to sound like those of the Pharisee: "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican" (Luke 18:11) -- and less like those of the publican, who, "standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."  (Luke 18:13)

The publican, who was the one who went away justified (Luke 18:14), had it right. As conscious as we should be of our blessings and of the things that are right in our lives, we should be at least as mindful of our sins and shortcomings, and truly sorry for them. We should always remember that the good things come only through the Lord's grace and forgiveness, and that they are not "earned" in the conventional sense by anything we have done. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We need to confess this in humble and contrite prayer ever day, begging God for the wisdom, patience, and strength to do better. Repentance also needs to include a firm resolve to live in a more righteous and Christ-like way, and real action on our part to carry out that promise. And all this should be capped off with an ever-present thankfulness to our Lord for His great mercy, without which we would be irretrievably lost.

So, pay attention every day to the "three Rs": Remember (our sins), Repent (sorrow and confession), and Reform (actually change conduct). In doing so we should never fall into the self-righteous arrogance of the distinguished Pharisee, but walk away justified, like the "lowly" publican--and happy in Christ's embrace!

Tom Fleming

Songs of Praises