Jesus teaches about the nature of the Kingdom of God and makes clear that citizens of that kingdom are not about promoting themselves. Media, promotion, public relations, marketing - all that is priority stuff in our culture. And the idea that we must do our best to remain front page news has been around a while. The Irishman Oscar Wilde wrote in the late 1800s - "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." The Pharisees and religious hypocrites of Jesus' day had the same self-serving concern. They made grand entrances and blew trumpets prior to giving their offering at the temple. During their fasts they made themselves up to look as miserable as possible to impress onlookers. And when they prayed, they loved to pray aloud on the street with long, articulate prayers. All these activities, intended to bless God, were abused to exalt self.
Jesus teaches lesson after lesson on the humble secrecy of true spirituality. Our giving, fasts and prayers are not for anyone but God. Not that we cannot participate in corporate worship or prayer, but that we recognize that our audience is an audience of One. Our spiritual purpose is to serve God, no one else.
In today's text we also have what is known as The Lord's, or The Model, Prayer. In this prayer we hear Jesus' clarification of our priorities. First, God is called "Father" with the word "abba," which is more specifically translated, "Daddy." This is the familiar, affectionate form of the word and so shows that our first priority is intimacy with God. Prayer is for drawing near to the heart of God. It is in His lap, our ear pressed to His chest, that we come to know His heart, His priorities. Second, there are three phrases spoken in parallel form that give us our triune priorities for living. "May your name be revered as holy; May your kingdom come; May your will be done -- on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus is speaking to each of us. We must take these priorities personally. We can't pray for and hope for these realities and not expect that we are each personally responsible to do our part. We are not to set ourselves apart to be awed. We are not to build our own little empire. We are not to influence others to perform our bidding. All that belongs to the Lord.
Before exploring The Prayer any further, that is quite a huge chunk to swallow and digest. It challenges us to ask ourselves - How do I demonstrate my reverence for the name of God each and every day? How do I reflect His character, defer to His power, cooperate with His purposes, enhance His reputation (all aspects of His Name.) How am I a conduit of God's coming kingdom? Jesus rules in His kingdom. Does He rule in my heart? Do I submit to His Lordship in all things? Do I know the will of God and how it specifically applies to my circumstances? Am I seeking to grasp the desires of God's heart to fulfill them? How obedient am I to the will of God that I have already come to know?
This is an amazing prayer. Just two sentences in and I have a divine assignment that will last my lifetime. But isn't that what most people are looking for -- their purpose; their reason for being? Because of The Prayer, I know why I exist. I exist to glorify God's holy name as a partner in ushering in His Kingdom through obedience to His will.
So, would I rather be front page news for fifteen famous minutes? Not a chance.
Pray: Dear God, my precious Dad, help me to make your name great everywhere I go in everything I do. Use me to usher in more of your heavenly dominion right here on earth. Help me to know what Your heart desires so that I might run out and get it for you. Let all this be my labor of love for You all the days of my life.
Matthew 5:27-48 - We Couldn't Make the Last Height and Now He's Raising the Bar!
Innovation? Dedication? Courage? What does it take to turn ones back on the standard and traditional and start a revolution? In the world of track and field, that is exactly what Dick Fosbury did. Literally. Up until 1968, the high jump had always been executed by attacking the bar face down, chest down toward the bar. You kind of 'rolled over' the bar as you soared to your highest height. But in the 1968 Summer Olympics, a Junior from Oregon State won the gold medal for the USA by turning his back to the bar. His approach was 180 degrees different from the status quo. He innovated, committed to his new method, practiced and refined it, and dared to bring it out on the world stage. Fosbury revolutionized the event!
Jesus was a revolutionary, too. In His sermon on the mount, He took the standard approach to right relationship with God and stood it on its head. The standard approach then (and pretty much still prevails in all 'religious' systems around the world) was "right" behavior. "Don't murder; don't commit adultery; balance justice; love your neighbor and hate your enemy." That's where the bar was set in Jesus' day. Clear the bar, and you and God are on good terms. Fall short, and God will punish you. And while many were falling short, Jesus raised the bar!
"True, you shall not murder, but there is a way of treating people that disregards their life; this too is a form of murder." "True, you shall not commit adultery, but there is a way of being unfaithful in the lust of your heart; this too is adultery." "An eye for an eye? No, press on past mere justice to mercy." "Love your neighbor? Yes, AND your enemy."
Jesus has raised the bar too high for Dick Fosbury or anybody. How can anyone be right with God if we are called to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect? This is unattainable. But Jesus has not revolutionized the idea of holiness; He simply has clarified the full implications of it. It's like being a little pregnant. There is no holy ENOUGH. Either you is or you ain't. And, if that's the case, who can achieve right standing with God? Here's what Jesus revolutionized. He revolutionized the approach. We don't approach God with our spiritual Gold Medals in hand. We don't recite to Him our Olympian feats of righteousness. And He just smiles and shakes His head when we try to justify our "good-enoughness."
Go back to Jesus' prelude in the sermon, the Beatitudes, to put this revolutionary approach into perspective.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit ..." Aah! I fall short of the spiritual high bar and I ADMIT it! I have no gold medals. I am impoverished. To acknowledge it and admit it is the beginning of right relationship with God.
"Blessed are they that mourn ..." I can't clear the bar and it brings sorrow, not excuses. Tears, not justifications. The Lord sees me mourn my spiritual bankruptcy and He comes and comforts me.
"Blessed are the meek ... [and] ... the merciful ..." So, we humble ourselves before the perfect One.
"You are holy and I am not; have mercy on me."
Let's say it plainly now. Good deeds don't get you to heaven. Being in right relationship to God isn't about being 'spiritual' or 'holy' enough. What is enough? Jesus says enough is perfection. And you and I can't jump that high. So it's not about 'good enough.' It's about humbly seeking forgiveness; our meekness and His mercy. It's only the love and grace of God through Christ that will carry us over the bar.
Pray: Father in heaven, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Matthew 5:1-26 - Crazy, Man.
Freedomland opened its gates in 1960 and shut them forever in 1964. Such a short lifespan for the "Disneyland" of the Bronx. But my family lived a short car ride south of that entertainment wonder, so I got to experience with seven-year-old senses one of the 'meteors' of amusement park history. The park was laid out like the lower 48 states, and had regional theme rides and attractions throughout. I got to enter the flying saucer which was also a radio station and caught a glimpse of Connie Francis. I got to help the firemen bring down the blaze of the Chicago Fire by manning the handle of the old pumper.But the memory that is preserved most indelibly is the Casa Loca. Located in the Southwest region of the park, this Crazy House was built such that everything seemed to defy physics. Empty cans would roll uphill across a table top and out the window into a waiting garbage can. In the Casa Loca I saw for the first time the "magic faucet." Here's a gigantic sample of this impressive optical illusion. Even at seven I kinda figured how it worked, but it was still awesome eye candy.
 |
| The spigot levitates while providing an endless shower. |
In God's kingdom, an impoverished spirit is an advantage. In God's kingdom, you can be happy and mourning at the same time. In God's kingdom, the ones who don't seize anything end up owning everything. In God's kingdom you're blessed if you're insulted, slandered and discriminated against. You have to stay hungry and thirsty in the Kingdom, famished for righteousness. That's the food they serve at the table of God and it doesn't show up much on the menu of the world.
In the world they feed on ego, and never admit 'poverty'. But there's no blessing there. In the world they feed on pride, never admitting a loss - fearless, tear-less - but there's no blessing in that. In the world they consume and consume some more. It's all about having, but it's never enough. No. No blessing there. In the world they feed on domination and they put themselves high by putting others down. But when the kingdoms of this world are laid low, down they will go.
Live upside-down. Defy the world's logic. Follow Christ, the Ruler of the Upside Down Kingdom, the Teacher on the hillside. Learn from Him that accepting the impoverished state of our spirit is the point where the outpouring of endless mercy begins. Learn that mourning losses due to sin brings a new longing for the good and the holy. Learn from the Master that yielding to him in meekness assures us of a Kingdom inheritance. Learn that we will all take on an identity; so let your scars mark you as a 'righteous one'! And let this life of running against the grain penetrate the world's darkness as Divine light. Let it penetrate the stuff of earth and preserve it against decay. Righteous salt. Righteous light. Uncommon members of the House of the Holy.
It's a crazy house. But it's the forever freedomland.
Pray: Lord, I am exposed constantly, relentlessly to the world and its ways. It is so easy to go with it, think like it, shape my values by it. Help me. Help me devote to the discipline it takes to expose myself to Your Kingdom and its ways. Help me absorb that. So I can live in stark distinction to prevailing unrighteousness.
Matthew 4:12-25 - Jesus' Strategy in a Nutshell (Seashell?)
"Turn to Me."
"Follow Me."
"Obey Me."
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
“Come, follow me,”
“and I will send you out to fish for people.”
What Jesus came to do is not complicated. He came to bring light to darkness. Evil and all the bad stuff that comes along with it casts deep shadows across our world. We stumble in darkness. We hurt ourselves and each other groping and falling in the dark. Where's the light? Where's the switch, the torch, the match?
It's Jesus.
"Follow Me."
"Obey Me."
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
“Come, follow me,”
“and I will send you out to fish for people.”
What Jesus came to do is not complicated. He came to bring light to darkness. Evil and all the bad stuff that comes along with it casts deep shadows across our world. We stumble in darkness. We hurt ourselves and each other groping and falling in the dark. Where's the light? Where's the switch, the torch, the match?
It's Jesus.
Evil and its entourage draw the pall of hell over our lives. Christ comes and drives it away with but a glimpse of the glory of heaven. The kingdom of heaven did not come in its fullness when Christ came the first time. This was not the expectation of eager Jews, anticipating a Messiah who would set all things right and establish His Kingdom immediately. That comes later. But Jesus came with heaven's light, brought it near enough to woo us to repentance and faith, follow-ship and devotion. There is so much power in His single shaft of light that we are willing to stand steadfast on the world's midnight shore and shine as a beacon of heaven's haven.
Jesus' strategy is a simple one. He brings something of heaven near to capture the soul, makes it willing to turn from the things it is pursuing and turn to Him. That's repentance. Once captured, He continues to expose the soul to heavenly truths and experiences, enabling ease of absorption through the gift of His Spirit within us. Uniquely connected to Him in this way, we follow Him - in a going sense, in a thinking sense, in an imitative sense. That's discipleship. Then, as a true citizen of heaven we go out at His command as ambassadors of that kingdom. Or as Jesus said poetically to these fisherman, "I will send you out to fish for men." That calls for obedience.
Fishers of men, the lure is the light and Spirit of Christ in us. Our testimony of repentance and transforming discipleship is the line. And the presence of God working in and beside us is the strength that lifts them into the boat.
Let your light shine. When you come near me, may it be like the kingdom coming near me. "Thy kingdom come ... on earth as it is in heaven." Didn't you know that it comes through you? Tell your story. People don't want to hear your raw theology so much as they want to see it with flesh on. And be intentional about it. You were saved to be an instrument of salvation. You have been sent, Ambassador, Fisher of men.
Repent.
Follow.
Obey.
Rejoice!
Pray: Light of the World, you turned and taught your followers that they were also the light of the world. We are in this life-transforming, world-enlightening work together. Help me to turn from any evil way in me. Help me to follow You all the more closely. Help me to be obedient in my role as your representative in this place.
Matthew 3:7-4:11 - With the Holy Spirit and With Fire
What if someone could sneak up to you while you were sleeping and pour amazing knowledge into your head? What if that knowledge were specialized and deep, like ... knowing how to perform life-saving surgery with a tube sock and a ball-point pen with one hand tied behind your back? When you wake up, you go out into the world as you normally do, doing the things you normally do. You have no idea that you possess this new knowledge. How will you ever know that you possess this new knowledge? It's in you. Now something has to bring it out of you.
Your car hits a slick spot on the highway just like the car in front of you. You're both out of control and there is an hellacious crash. You stagger out of your vehicle, wincing in pain. Your arm dangles at your side, broken in three places. You catch a glimpse of another victim laying face down on the shoulder of the roadway. You feel for a pulse. You feel the blood. A rush of adrenaline goes through you. You suddenly, inexplicably, rip off your sneaker, jerk off your sock, tossing it between your teeth as your hand dives down into your pocket for a pen.
Now you know. What got poured in came pouring back out.
In today's text, Matthew tells us of Jesus' baptism and wilderness temptation. In the one, Jesus has the Holy Spirit flow down upon Him, in the other He has the demon of hell fly in His face. John the Baptist was baptizing with water so the people could demonstrate their turning from sin and toward faith. But John says of Jesus, "He is more powerful than I." "He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." How fluid is Matthew's storytelling that after that statement, the Spirit shows up and then, a fiery trial!
The baptism of the Holy Spirit pours something special and deep into you, and the fiery trials of life bring it out of you. Most of what we have abiding in us through the Holy Spirit is a mystery to us. Only when the test comes do we discover what we possess. And as generous as God is at sending His Spirit into those who turn from sin and toward faith in Him, He is just as overjoyed at drawing Him out. I suppose James understood this when he wrote, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
What a conundrum! I want to be mature. I want to be complete. But, I do want to lack something -- trials and testing! Nevertheless, Matthew and James are in agreement; no fire, no refinement. no painful struggle, no proven Spirit. OK, then Lord. I've turned from sin and to You. I have demonstrated that by my baptism. And You have baptized me. You have immersed me in your Spirit. Now immerse me in Your flame. I thank you for your Spirit. Teach me how to thank you for the fire.
Pray: Teach me how to thank you for the fire.
Your car hits a slick spot on the highway just like the car in front of you. You're both out of control and there is an hellacious crash. You stagger out of your vehicle, wincing in pain. Your arm dangles at your side, broken in three places. You catch a glimpse of another victim laying face down on the shoulder of the roadway. You feel for a pulse. You feel the blood. A rush of adrenaline goes through you. You suddenly, inexplicably, rip off your sneaker, jerk off your sock, tossing it between your teeth as your hand dives down into your pocket for a pen.
Now you know. What got poured in came pouring back out.
In today's text, Matthew tells us of Jesus' baptism and wilderness temptation. In the one, Jesus has the Holy Spirit flow down upon Him, in the other He has the demon of hell fly in His face. John the Baptist was baptizing with water so the people could demonstrate their turning from sin and toward faith. But John says of Jesus, "He is more powerful than I." "He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." How fluid is Matthew's storytelling that after that statement, the Spirit shows up and then, a fiery trial!
The baptism of the Holy Spirit pours something special and deep into you, and the fiery trials of life bring it out of you. Most of what we have abiding in us through the Holy Spirit is a mystery to us. Only when the test comes do we discover what we possess. And as generous as God is at sending His Spirit into those who turn from sin and toward faith in Him, He is just as overjoyed at drawing Him out. I suppose James understood this when he wrote, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
What a conundrum! I want to be mature. I want to be complete. But, I do want to lack something -- trials and testing! Nevertheless, Matthew and James are in agreement; no fire, no refinement. no painful struggle, no proven Spirit. OK, then Lord. I've turned from sin and to You. I have demonstrated that by my baptism. And You have baptized me. You have immersed me in your Spirit. Now immerse me in Your flame. I thank you for your Spirit. Teach me how to thank you for the fire.
Pray: Teach me how to thank you for the fire.
Matthew 2:13-3:6 - What Does God Have Planned for Me?
One of the reasons there are four gospel accounts and not just one is that each writer had a different particular audience in mind as he wrote. Matthew was especially interested in demonstrating to a Jewish audience that the life and work of Jesus fulfilled the proclamations of their prophets. In today's segment, Matthew indicates four prophetic fulfillments. Matthew is telling us that God has a plan. That plan began to be revealed through the ancient Hebrew prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and that plan came to a head in Jesus Christ. Jesus is a surprising fulfillment because the previous 'words' from God's mouthpieces needed some interpretation. And no one had the breadth or boldness of imagination to interpret those words as radically as God would flesh them out. Can THIS one, this stable-born Nazarene, this "Joshua Carpenter," really be the Son of God?
God has a plan for each one of us, too. I must say that I have not had the breadth or boldness of imagination to predict that plan for me - where it would take me, what it would have me do, and experience and suffer. Michael Card wrote the lyrics, "There is a joy in the journey ... there is a wonder and wildness to life ..." Yes, life is wild, and God is a bit wild. No, strike that. Not "a bit wild," God is thoroughly wild. No one tames Him. Although we try. We try to size Him down; a God we can handle. One we don't have to think too hard about or wrestle with. A God who is god-on-our-terms.
But then what do you do with Matthew 2:13-18, the "Slaughter of the Innocents?" God has a plan and the power to preserve the Christ of His plan, but He doesn't preserve the lives of these infants and toddlers? Their mothers must weep inconsolably? Didn't God foresee this in His planning session?
God has a plan. But it is a wild, unpredictable, too big to handle, MUST-be-wrestled-with plan. A plan we must think hard on on God's terms. If Jesus' birth is good news of great joy, then what do we tell Rachel in Ramah? The virgin Mary would soon join Rachel in her maternal grief, having pondered all these things long and hard in her heart. We must meditate long, hard and deep also if we are to begin to grasp it.
This is what God has planned -- for all of us, from the beginning until now: to know Him. To grab on and grapple with this Wild Thing to grasp the meaning of life by it. Not a tame life, not a one-third scale life, not a god-on-our-terms, easy to handle life. But to know how to live in the midst of the unimaginable, the homicidal, and inconsolable. Life where faithfulness and holiness are valued above liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
What does God have planned for you for 2011? Good news of great joy? Yes. Trials to form your faith? Yes. Glimpses of glory to inspire holiness? Yes. Losses to grieve your soul? That, too.
God's plan is wilder than we imagine. So is the joy of its fulfillment.
Pray: Lord, take me where you want to take me this year. Do with me whatever you see fit. Just don't let me put you on a pillow in the corner of my couch where I can pet you as and when I will. I will have no domesticated God this year. Take me to the place of sanctification. Form Jesus in me at any cost.
God has a plan for each one of us, too. I must say that I have not had the breadth or boldness of imagination to predict that plan for me - where it would take me, what it would have me do, and experience and suffer. Michael Card wrote the lyrics, "There is a joy in the journey ... there is a wonder and wildness to life ..." Yes, life is wild, and God is a bit wild. No, strike that. Not "a bit wild," God is thoroughly wild. No one tames Him. Although we try. We try to size Him down; a God we can handle. One we don't have to think too hard about or wrestle with. A God who is god-on-our-terms.
But then what do you do with Matthew 2:13-18, the "Slaughter of the Innocents?" God has a plan and the power to preserve the Christ of His plan, but He doesn't preserve the lives of these infants and toddlers? Their mothers must weep inconsolably? Didn't God foresee this in His planning session?
God has a plan. But it is a wild, unpredictable, too big to handle, MUST-be-wrestled-with plan. A plan we must think hard on on God's terms. If Jesus' birth is good news of great joy, then what do we tell Rachel in Ramah? The virgin Mary would soon join Rachel in her maternal grief, having pondered all these things long and hard in her heart. We must meditate long, hard and deep also if we are to begin to grasp it.
This is what God has planned -- for all of us, from the beginning until now: to know Him. To grab on and grapple with this Wild Thing to grasp the meaning of life by it. Not a tame life, not a one-third scale life, not a god-on-our-terms, easy to handle life. But to know how to live in the midst of the unimaginable, the homicidal, and inconsolable. Life where faithfulness and holiness are valued above liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
What does God have planned for you for 2011? Good news of great joy? Yes. Trials to form your faith? Yes. Glimpses of glory to inspire holiness? Yes. Losses to grieve your soul? That, too.
God's plan is wilder than we imagine. So is the joy of its fulfillment.
Pray: Lord, take me where you want to take me this year. Do with me whatever you see fit. Just don't let me put you on a pillow in the corner of my couch where I can pet you as and when I will. I will have no domesticated God this year. Take me to the place of sanctification. Form Jesus in me at any cost.
Matthew 1:1-2:12 - The Ragged Path to Glory
I wonder if God's last name is actually 'Mulligan.' He's just so gracious at letting us have another chance. And another. And another. He is the Lord of the Do-over. He has no problem letting us start again. And as each year gives way to a new one, I find myself reflecting on the mercy of God. He grants me fresh beginnings. Thanks to Him, what I was unable to achieve in the past, I may yet accomplish.
And thank you, to all who have followed this blogger through five months of writing, not quite meeting my goal of daily entries. I have been especially spotty this last month of 2010, but perhaps you will forgive me. To those who were looking forward to commentary on Revelation - you will have to be the most gracious of all. I feel that I should begin the new year at the beginning, and so will jump to Matthew and a true January correspondence with the One Year Bible. (Revelation in summation - Jesus and His team win! Completely and forever!)
The gospel of Matthew starts with a genealogy; a means for looking backward (as we often do at the turn of a new year.) Genealogies help us remember how we got to where we are. They remind us of whose shoulders we stand on. And they encourage us, as ones who may not assess ourselves too highly in light of last year's failures; some of our forebears were as flawed and wounded as we are.
Jesus' family tree was a flawed and wounded bunch, too. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fathered dysfunctional families, Tamar was raped by a relative, David was an adulterer and murderer, Solomon, insatiably lustful, Manasseh, a wicked idolatrous ruler. And yet, God never gave up on His plan to bring a Redeemer to the world through this line.
We mess up, but God never gives up. Diseased trees produce amazing fruit under the careful cultivation of Christ. Have faith! Is your family dysfunctional? God is not done with you. Have faith! Have you done shameful things? God can transform you, redeem you, give you another chance. Have faith! Have you been wounded and scarred? So was Jesus. He will heal you; make your scars badges of courage and victory. Have faith!
In Matthew 2, a virgin teenage bride is given a shot at glory. An unremarkable carpenter is given a shot at glory. A Jewish King and Persian astrologers are given a shot at glory. The ones who had faith would persevere and behold His glory! You and I -- we have a shot at glory. Doesn't matter who you come from. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how you've suffered. Have faith! Persevere! And you will behold His glory.
Pray: Lord, you are so good to us. Your mercies are new every morning. You know where I've been, how I've failed, and yet you never have given up on me. You still have a plan where I get to experience your glory. Help me to grab hold of that by faith. Thanks for all I learned in 2010. Thanks for all you have in store for me in 2011. Thanks for another new beginning!
And thank you, to all who have followed this blogger through five months of writing, not quite meeting my goal of daily entries. I have been especially spotty this last month of 2010, but perhaps you will forgive me. To those who were looking forward to commentary on Revelation - you will have to be the most gracious of all. I feel that I should begin the new year at the beginning, and so will jump to Matthew and a true January correspondence with the One Year Bible. (Revelation in summation - Jesus and His team win! Completely and forever!)
The gospel of Matthew starts with a genealogy; a means for looking backward (as we often do at the turn of a new year.) Genealogies help us remember how we got to where we are. They remind us of whose shoulders we stand on. And they encourage us, as ones who may not assess ourselves too highly in light of last year's failures; some of our forebears were as flawed and wounded as we are.
Jesus' family tree was a flawed and wounded bunch, too. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fathered dysfunctional families, Tamar was raped by a relative, David was an adulterer and murderer, Solomon, insatiably lustful, Manasseh, a wicked idolatrous ruler. And yet, God never gave up on His plan to bring a Redeemer to the world through this line.
We mess up, but God never gives up. Diseased trees produce amazing fruit under the careful cultivation of Christ. Have faith! Is your family dysfunctional? God is not done with you. Have faith! Have you done shameful things? God can transform you, redeem you, give you another chance. Have faith! Have you been wounded and scarred? So was Jesus. He will heal you; make your scars badges of courage and victory. Have faith!
In Matthew 2, a virgin teenage bride is given a shot at glory. An unremarkable carpenter is given a shot at glory. A Jewish King and Persian astrologers are given a shot at glory. The ones who had faith would persevere and behold His glory! You and I -- we have a shot at glory. Doesn't matter who you come from. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how you've suffered. Have faith! Persevere! And you will behold His glory.
Pray: Lord, you are so good to us. Your mercies are new every morning. You know where I've been, how I've failed, and yet you never have given up on me. You still have a plan where I get to experience your glory. Help me to grab hold of that by faith. Thanks for all I learned in 2010. Thanks for all you have in store for me in 2011. Thanks for another new beginning!
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