Tag: <span>joy</span>

By Marilyn Ehle

daily devotionalGod sent (Christ)…so that He could adopt us as His very own children.Galatians 4:5 (NLT)

When our son was six years old, he was diagnosed with a serious kidney disease. During the initial phase of investigation by physicians, we were repeatedly asked to provide a family medical history. Because our son was only a third-generation American (all his great-grandparents were born in Europe), our knowledge was limited. We did know that forty years earlier, an uncle I never knew had died at age nineteen with what was then known by a rather obscure term.

Because no one else in our family line had any illness even remotely connected, doctors finally decided there was little to no genetic predisposition in our son’s case. After lengthy treatment, he recovered. Only recently, and quite by chance, have I discovered that there actually is a direct connection between my uncle’s condition and that of our son’s. It was, after all, in the genes.

Along with the physical genes that bring health or illness, we have spiritual genes. The Apostle Paul wrote it succinctly:  When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12   New Living Translation) Just as we can look at children and see family resemblances, we have no doubt that the “sin gene” is present in even the smallest rebellious child.

The best news of all is further written by Paul: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners… the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”

Adoption into God’s family contradicts and confounds medical science:
we have been given new genes!

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2013/03/19/me_its-in-the-genes/

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Thoughts by All thoughts by Marilyn Ehle Thoughts by Women

by Rod Marshall

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28(ESV)

I hoped that being a Christian might save me from living in a marred world. Now I can say, in as far as I have the direction, peace and protection of God: it is true. In as far as, I still see, know and have bad things happen: it is false. This can seem a bit of an insult at times, as when a friend of mine was murdered or a work colleague committed suicide.

Unsuspecting, I soak up the world on my way to glory; I become captivated by its unwanted attentions and temptations and fail. Yet, I am called not to withdraw from life, to pass by on the other side of the road and avert my gaze. I am to be whom God has made me: fragile, fallible and dependent on Him in the mess and muck of life but not sucked in by it.

Jesus incarnate lived, ate and breathed in the midst of the mire of this world (Eg. Jesus eats with sinners Mark 2:15-16). He experienced the full range of emotional pain and suffering including his betrayal by Judas (Eg. last supper: Matthew 26:21-31). So failure comes as no surprise to Jesus because He has seen it all before.

However, this is not the whole story because I also succeed. Like Zacchaeus (cf. Luke 19:6) I rejoice in being accepted as a follower of Christ.

Jesus commissioned his disciples to go into the surrounding countryside and heal the sick, deliver people from evil and most of all to proclaim the coming Kingdom of God. How excited they were about the events they had experienced. On their return, Jesus reminded them of a more important issue:

Luke 10:20: “rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (ESV)

Without our names written in the Book of Life, all the rest counts for nothing both then and now!

PRAYER:
LORD, before we go out into the world once more today, grant us Your focus on what is important to You and Your vision for us to see how we can bring Your Kingdom’s Light to bear in our hearts and where we are. Amen.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2013/03/19/rm_book-of-life/

Thoughts by All Thoughts by Men thoughts by Rod Marshall