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"You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household." — Ephesians 2:19 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Those of us who have been Christians a long time sometimes forget that we have no claim or right to the grace that we have received. God offered his grace freely to all people who are willing to call on Jesus as LORD and Savior, then live for him wholeheartedly ( Titus 2:11 ; Acts 2:21, 41 , 16:22 ; Romans 10:13 ). When we feel we deserve our place in "God's household" , that it is ours by right, we are no longer living under grace. To be a part of God's family is a gift. The Holy One who spoke into existence the universe - and we are a submicroscopic speck in comparison - has given us grace to be adopted into his family. Being part of God's people, God's household, is simply and magnificently a gift from the One who knows how to share grace in ways we can't even imagine. My Pra...

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:28 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Wouldn't it be great if we could tear down all the walls that divide us - racial, social, economic, gender, and political. The apostle Paul spent his entire life trying to do just that: to tear down the walls that divided people by bringing them to Jesus and the cross. In fact, Paul emphatically proclaimed that Christ "has made us ... one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" ( Ephesians 2:13-14 ESV ). There are no positions of superiority or inferiority at the foot of the cross; only a place for those who discover God's might displayed in sacrifice and God's love displayed even when under attack at the hands of human cruelty. While the forces of culture and human selfishness are always trying to divide us, we can remember that in Jesus, and only in Jesus, we can all be truly one. My Pra...

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent." — John 6:29 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Do you believe in Jesus - not just "kinda believe" in Jesus, but do you really believe? Years ago, shortly after Max Lucado came back from his mission work in Rio, Brazil, he shared with a group of his closest friends that his theology was pretty simple. He didn't have a handle on a lot of the big, difficult theological problems that divide folks. However, Max said he came to the firm and deep conviction that God loves us, and he showed that love by really sending Jesus to live among us, to die for us, and to be raised from the dead so that we could be raised from death, too. This is the work of God - amazingly simple and awesomely powerful. I believe in Jesus. I pray that you believe in Jesus. While we may be uncertain about many specific details of complex doctrinal issues, the work of God we need is to genuinely "believe in the one h...

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. — Isaiah 26:3 Thoughts on Today's Verse... It is naive, on one hand, to think that trusting in God makes all of our problems go away. Christians have many of the same problems that unbelievers do because they share the same mortal flesh and live in the same broken world ( Romans 8:18-21 ). Some of our brothers and sisters are suffering hardship and persecution because of their faith. However, there is also a sense that trusting in God does make our problems go away - or at least helps us put those problems into perspective. Because we trust in God, our work stands or falls in his hands. Either way, we know that we will share in his victorious and glorious presence forever ( Colossians 3:1-2 ). Our lives are not lived in vain. That's not just confidence; it's the foundation of true peace. We can live our lives to their fullest, knowing that every moment matters. We don't need to be anxi...

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. — Romans 12:4-5 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Three key realities of our discipleship are belonging, usefulness, and connectedness. Each of us belongs! We belong to God. We belong to Jesus. We belong to Jesus' body, the Church. We belong to each other as members of Jesus' body. The Holy Spirit not only cleansed us when we were given new birth in Jesus' family ( John 3:6-7 ; 1 Corinthians 6:11 ), but the Spirit also gifted us ( Ephesians 4:7 ; 1 Peter 4:10 ) and connected us with everyone else in Jesus' body! We each have a place and a purpose for the Church to function as Jesus' bodily presence in our world today. We each have something to bring to the other believers who make us Jesus' body, the Church. Each of us belongs! Each of us is needed! Each of us has an importan...

Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. — Psalm 119:165 Thoughts on Today's Verse... My doctor likes to tease me when I come in for a checkup: "What is your problem with gravity?" You see, from an early age, my nickname was "Trip"! I am someone who has had several very clumsy stages of life and taken some pretty nasty stumbles. So, I hope you will join me in hearing this most beautiful promise from today's Scripture. For me, this promise is almost beyond believing. "Nothing can make them stumble." When it comes to life, God gives us this promise: as we know, love, and do his will, nothing can make us stumble. There is great peace knowing that the Father loves us and doesn't want us to stumble. Even when we do begin to stumble, if we go back to God and confess those stumbles and sins, he forgives them and makes us clean. It's as if they hadn't happened ( 1 John 1:9 ). God no longer sees it as a stumble...