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“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” Titus 2:11 NIV

As we look at this verse, the first thing I notice is the word ‘for’, which could be substituted with the word ‘because‘. Because the grace of God has appeared, salvation is now available to all men. This speaks to the intent that God had when He let His grace appear, which was to save all men.

The next part of the verse is ‘the grace of God has appeared’. Grace from God is undeserved merit or favor. We didn’t and still don’t deserve to receive God’s grace, but He has offered it anyway. That grace is Jesus, Who came to earth, appeared. The phrase ‘that offers salvation’, indicates to us that Jesus did not come to earth to just be here, or see what it was like to live here, He came to save us. He is the grace of God, Who came down to earth to save us.

When we see ‘to all people’, let us remember that ALL means ALL, not just some, not just the ones who appear to be worthy of saving, not just the ones Jesus likes. It means ALL, every last one of us, no matter what denomination, ethnicity, gender, physical capabilities some one has, ALL are being offered this gift of salvation.

So we have a verse that is telling us that God intentionally sent Jesus to offer salvation to every last person. If God was that intentional about wanting to save us, are we intentional about accepting it? Once we have accepted God’s gracious gift of salvation, what are we doing with it, are we being intentional in our pursuit of following God’s will. God intentionally sent His Son to die on the cross for us, He intentionally offered that gift of grace to us.

Have you accepted this amazing gift?

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” James 1:22 NLT

Imagine if you will, that you are 16 years old again and are learning to drive a car. You read the driver’s manual from cover to cover, you attend class with the instructor, and you then watch each person you ride with to see how they are doing the different actions needed to be a successful and safe driver. The time comes for you to put that information you have been gathering to use and get behind the wheel to drive the car, and you just sit there. You don’t act on any of the information you have, instead you are content to simply have the knowledge but not use it to become a driver.

Reading the Bible is wonderful, listening to Christian radio is great, attending church and hearing God’s word through sermons is inspiring, but if the knowledge you gain from each of those avenues simply stays locked in your brain, then according to this scripture you are fooling yourself. That seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? James doesn’t seem to be pulling punches here.

It is wonderful to know that Jesus loves you and died for you. It is great to know how to handle life situations you have heard about during sermons at church or on podcasts. It is inspiring to know that you could help change another person’s life by sharing God’s word with them, inviting them to church, but unless you do something with the information you have gained, nothing changes for you or your destination. It is just like the example above, all the information about driving does you really no good unless you put it into practice. Until you do it, you are not a driver, you are still a passenger and living life as a Christian is the same way.

What ‘action’ do you need to do? The action is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The action is true obedience. The action is applying what you have learned through your reading and hearing of God’s word to your life. The action changes your path from a destination of destruction to the destination of salvation. Simply hearing does not save you, only Jesus can do that and only if you act upon it beginning with accepting His gracious gift.

Have you accepted it yet? Are you doing anything with the information you have heard about?

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 NIV

Have you ever tried to keep a secret? I have and it feels like the greater the secret, the more exciting it is, the harder it is to keep. I want to tell someone, maybe even shout it out loud. That is what I think of when I read this verse. Once we believe that Jesus died for our sins and that God raised Him from the dead because He loves us, we tend to not want to keep it inside. We want to tell others this exciting news that Jesus is Lord, that He is our Lord. By sharing this wonderful news with others we are also showing Jesus that we are not afraid to let others know that Jesus is part of our lives, that the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts.

I believe this is important because Jesus wasn’t afraid to let everyone know who He was there to save. He told anyone who would listen that He was there to save all of mankind, the world, if they would only believe in the Son. If we are afraid to let others know that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, then maybe we are not really committed to following Jesus.

Please remember that when we decide to follow Jesus, we are given this wonderful gift. A gift that changes so many things in our lives, how we think, how we behave, how we spend our time, how we interact with others, where we will spend eternity. A gift that we should not want to hide from anyone but share with everyone, so others who are not followers of Jesus can hear about Him and decide for themselves if they want to accept this amazing gift of grace or not.

As you go about your day today, please ask yourself if you have said out loud that Jesus is your Lord? Do you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead? If you believe and haven’t said it out loud, what is stopping you?

“As long as I live, I will pray to you” Psalm 63:4 CEV

David was always in danger for the 15 years between when he was chosen to be king and when he actually became king. Saul was in a continual pursuit of David but God delivered him each and every time. David had to maintain awareness not only during the day as he fled Saul but at night as well. David goes on and becomes king and rules, and has a son, Absalom. David then is in danger again but this time because Absalom is an impatient person and wants to become king now instead of waiting for David to die naturally. Through all of this David didn’t stop communicating with God because of his circumstances. He had his mind on God.

We can do that as well, have our minds and thoughts on God continually. It should not matter if we are in the best situation we can be in or we are in trouble or danger, if we keep our minds on God, our attitudes change. God comforts us. We need to maintain communication with God always, we need to praise Him at all times. He is our maker and author of our faith.

I pray that we can all say ‘As long as I live, I will pray to you’.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ” Romans 3:23

Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome in this letter. He is talking about a universal condition of our hearts. We are all born into sin due to the actions of the first set of parents. With their manipulation and acts of willful deception, we were given the consequence of being separated from God.

Paul is writing in the previous verse that it didn’t matter who they were, Jew or Gentile, they all had the same condition, a sinful nature. It can be said now that it doesn’t matter who you are, Catholic, Baptist, Salvationist, Lutheran, American, European, African, Caucasian, Asian, able to do all physical things or need assistance with everything, we ALL are born with a sinful nature. Nothing has changed on our part, in that we miss the mark of favor and approval of God. We are all sinners. This is where we all start.

Sounds pretty hopeless, right, but it is not. We do not have to stay in the position of separation from God. We have been thrown a lifeline, a lifebuoy, a rope onto which we can grab and be brought to safety. There is no condition that you can possess that eliminates you from this lifeline and there is nothing you can do to earn the right to be thrown this lifeline.

Just as you can not earn the right to this lifeline, you do need to perform an action to use the lifeline, you have to accept it, receive it, grab onto it. Paul states in the next verse that God chose to show us all grace. That Christ Jesus redeemed us, freely justified us when He allowed the people of that time to crucify Him on the cross. He paid the final price, the last payment was made for our sins and now at the end of our life here on earth, we are able to be with God in heaven for eternity.

We are ALL the same, we are ALL sinners and ALL have fallen short of any favor from God, but we ALL are able to receive the grace that God is offering through Jesus. Whether we receive it or not is completely up to us.

Have you received it?

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending your Son to pay for our sins. Thank You for giving us a way to be close to You. I pray that if there is anyone reading this post who has not taken ahold of the lifeline You have thrown, I pray that they will grab it right now. That they will understand that even though we have been born with a sinful nature, we don’t have to live by that nature and we can live a new life renewed by You. I pray Your words here speak to whoever You want them to speak to and draw near to You those who are far away. I pray this all in Your Son’s most precious name, Amen.

“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9 NIV

Paul is telling the church at Philippi to take what he taught them and put it into practice each and every day. He was showing them how to live as Christians, which is very different than living as the world lives. In the previous verse Paul wrote to them about what they should be focused on, so now he is simply telling them to remember how they saw him practice those traits, that he didn’t just tell them how to focus on those things and then not show them how to live them out.

Those of us who have attended Sunday School as a child can probably think of one or two Sunday School teachers who impacted us, either negatively or positively, hopefully positively. As a child, mine was a woman named Nancy. I don’t remember a lot about the class, as I was only 7 or so, but she always had this warm smile on her face. I always felt welcomed by her to be in her class. It is the small things that sometimes mean the most. I am not sure Nancy even remembers me, but I remember her and what she taught me about being kind.

As a teenager, I had a wonderful woman named Rose as my Sunday School teacher. Rose, along with some strong women in my family, set the bar of how a woman of faith is to walk as a child of God. I have tried to reach that bar all my life. Rose wasn’t a saint, but she took the role of teacher to heart, knowing that her students would be watching her to see how she handled life.

The same is true with Paul, he knew others would be watching how he handled life because not everyone is able to learn what they need to learn by hearing it. Some individuals need to see what it looks like in practice, not just imagine what they are to do. The last part of this verse in Paul’s letter to the Philippians is that the peace of God would be with them. Paul knew what that peace felt like, he experienced it while in prison waiting for his trial. The peace that God gives is a peace that cannot really be explained, it just needs to be experienced. Once you experience it, you don’t want to be without it.

Is there someone in your life who has taught you about God, or showed you how to live life as a Christian? It could be a Sunday School teacher or a family member, it doesn’t matter who it was, just that you take what they taught you and apply it to your life if you haven’t already.

As you face the day, remember back to how you have been taught to handle life by those who were privileged to be your teacher. Have a wonderful day.

“You will keep your friends if you forgive them, but you will lose your friends if you keep talking about what they did wrong.” Proverbs 17:9 CEV

I heard this analogy on the radio the other morning and thought it is a wonderful way to get a point across about the dreaded topics of holding grudges and gossip.

The man on the radio said his friend asked him if he was an umbrella or a weatherman, and the man on the radio expressed that he was confused by this question. The friend asked him what he does when someone he knows, is friends with or loves does something wrong. Again the man on the radio stated that he was still confused, so the friend trying to clarify, put it this way.

When someone you know, a friend of yours or a loved one does something wrong, do you broadcast it like a weatherman for everyone to know or do you cover them in love like an umbrella covers you from the rain. That really spoke to me because this is such a simple analogy but it conveys the message so wonderfully. This made me think because I am as guilty as the next person of not always speaking in love when I am hurt.

So, my question is…..are you a weatherman or an umbrella?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for not leaving me where I was with this behavior and continuing to help me to get where I need to go. Please help everyone to grow in the way they handle hurt from others. In Jesus’s name. Amen

“From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 CEB

Paul is concluding his letter to the church in Philippi with this encouragement for them to focus on things that are excellent, admirable, true, holy, just, lovely, pure and worthy of praise. He is doing this because they were some members who were focused on conflict, what each one thought was the correct way to be a church. Paul is telling them to stop focusing on what is here on earth, all of the hatred, division and conflict and focus on what Jesus has taught. He is encouraging members to help remember the foundation that Jesus laid for our relationship with God and others. Help others to see this as that is what they should be focused on.

When we become a Christian, it is easy to get caught up in the emotion of it all. We are saved and we are excited about it, our fear of spending eternity separated from God is gone. However that emotion tends to fade as we move back into our normal everyday lives and encounter those around us who are not Christians. When those moments come, and they will, where we begin to doubt what we have committed to doing – living for Christ – this verse is a powerful reminder of what we should be focused on instead.

Christ’s journey, life and ministry were all excellent, admirable, true, holy, just, pure, lovely and worthy of praise. The foundation He laid is what we are to build on to grow in our walk with Him. We are to mature in our faith, not remain infants who need bottle feed everything that we should be doing. By beginning to focus on these things, we begin to soak in all of what Jesus is about.

What do you focus on? Is it time for a shift in your focus?

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 NIV

Good morning, I know that I already wrote about this verse; however, it has special meaning today for my family. I wrote recently about my aunt who passed away almost 2 weeks ago, today is her and my uncle’s wedding anniversary. I want my uncle to remember that he has his family to comfort him, and since he is a believer, he also has God to lean on and receive comfort from not only today but every minute of every day.

Losing a loved one is hard. Sometimes there are not even words that can comfort the person left behind. My heart is heavy for those who grieve and is especially heavy for those who grieve who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They don’t know or realize that they have a heavenly Father who wants to comfort them. If their loved one was a believer and they are not, then they have no hope of seeing their loved one again in heaven for eternity.

Today I simply ask that if you know of someone who is grieving or mourning, please reach out to them. They may not always ask for help in this time of great sorrow, but we can always give it.

Heavenly Father, thank You for always being there for us when we need You. Thank You for giving us a way to be able to spend eternity with You and our loved ones who have gone to heaven already who had a personal relationship with You. Please give comfort to those who are grieving, help them to feel Your arms a little tighter today as they long for their loved one. In Jesus’s name. Amen

“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:9 ESV

Have you ever wondered if God hears you? What about if He understands what you are going through? The good news is that God hears us when we pray. We are His children and He listens to us. He also understands what we are going through. He made all of our emotions and He knows our thoughts, how our minds work.

He also came down as a baby and lived life here as a human. He went through the same emotions as we all do, and He thought the same kinds of thoughts that we do. We do not serve a God who sits on high and is completely removed from us, not knowing what we deal with each and every day. We serve a God, the one true living God, Who knows exactly what we are dealing with each and every day.

Sometimes as we deal with life, we simply need someone to sit with us and be there with us. We always have that as a child of God, a follower of Jesus. Jesus is always there with us, whether we are dealing with hard situations or difficult emotions, Jesus is right there by our side. Take comfort in knowing that you are never alone and that God understands your life situation.