My heavenly spice rack

II John 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Once again I see here that there are certain characteristics, certain qualities, certain gifts God has given me because of my relationship with Him.  I do not have to ask God for these things; they are already mine to use.  Grace, mercy, peace, truth and love are in me and only need to be drawn on and put to use.  I picture the m like a row of bottles of spices in my kitchen cabinet, just sitting there waiting for me to open and add to my kitchen project depending only on what I need to use.  I have been given the whole “spice rack” by my Heavenly Father and my Savior.

Consider Jesus

Hebrews 3:1 … consider Jesus …

As I was reading through Hebrews 1-6 this morning, the phrase “consider Jesus” struck me as I thought about what these six chapters say about Jesus:

            1. He is the radiance of the glory of God (1:3);

            2. He is much superior to angels (1:4);

            3. All things exist FOR Him and BY Him (2:10);

            4. He was faithful to God as a man (3:2);

            5. He has been counted more worthy than Moses (3:3);

            6. He is the source of salvation (6:9).

There are other things in those chapters as well, but these six truths about Jesus were especially powerful to me as I considered Jesus at the beginning of this day.  We have a powerful and glorious Savior!

My beauty

I Peter 3:4 Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

I have never felt beautiful and have often joked that my beauty is just well-hidden from view.  In a more serious sense, however, aside from the jest, this verse tells me that what God sees as most beautiful, most precious, about me is indeed emanating from within me.  My true character, honed by my Savior’s work of grace and mercy in my heart and in my spirit, is my gentle and quiet spirit.  That gentleness and quietness is like Jesus’ spirit, displayed for all to see in His life on earth.  The beauty of that way of life is the imperishable beauty and it is what I most want people to see and to remember about me when I am no longer living on this earth.

More training required

Titus 1:7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach … self-controlled.

I was stuck this morning as I read through the book of Titus how important self-control is considered for all who name the name of Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.  A leader in the church (an overseer) has that call to self-control on him, but he is not alone.  Paul goes on to include older men (2:2), older women (2:5), and younger men (2:6) in that responsibility to learn and exercise self-control.  And just in case someone might think themselves to be exempt, Paul concludes by saying that all who have received salvation should train to be self-controlled (v.11012).  The grace of God in us will train us for self-controlled, upright, godly living.  Those areas of my life that show less discipline need to be trained for self-control in order to display godliness.  I must keep working on that, even in my older years because I have not learned total self-control yet, as much as I hate to admit it.

In training

I Timothy 4:7 Train yourself for godliness.

Godliness does not come naturally for the most part.  Because of my sinful nature and even though as a born-again child of God I have the Spirit of God at work in me, I still have the constant battle against sin.  This verse reminds me that I have to train myself to live in a godly fashion, to live a God-honoring life style.  The reason for this diligent training, according to this passage of scripture, is because “it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (v.8).  As the passage goes on, Paul tells Timothy what should be included in his training of himself, and I find it helpful and revealing to see what he lists as “training exercises”:  1) do not neglect to use my spiritual gifts (v.14), 2) immerse myself in my calling (v.15), and 3) keep a close watch on myself, i.e., be disciplined (v.16).  I have a lot of work ahead of me if I am going to become more godly!

Let peace rule

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.

One of the main messages I have received from God through my Bible reading this past year is that peace is a gift from God that I already have available to “use” whenever I need it.  Earlier in the year I saw that it is already available (May 8).  Then in 1 Corinthians I realized that it is a calling in my Christian life (Nov. 30).  Now, here in Colossians, I am told that all I have to do is to let it rule.  Allow the peace of God to operate fully in my heart.  May God be pleased to see His peace fully operational in my life in the coming year and in whatever amount of time I still have on this earth.  I know it will be there when I get to heaven as well!

Christmas in pastels

I got a new Papercrafting magazine and it included a free gift of a set of Christmas stamps and some beautiful foiled pastel Christmas papers so I made these three cards with some of it:

The stamps are very nice and the sentiments are equally sweet and more meaningful than some I've seen.  The inside sentiment, which I have not photographed, says "Peace & Joy at Christmas."

Here are close-ups of the three cards:

 The stamp set also included an embossing folder of stars and swirls, which you can see behind the word block on the dove card.