Monthly Archives: December 2007

GRACE

My pastor has a great definition for grace– God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.  Dictionary.com has 20 listed definitions for grace.  A few of the first seven are, elegance or beauty of form, favor or good will, mercy, clemency, or pardon.  Number eight begins with Theology, and contains the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God, the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them, a virtue of excellence or divine origin, or the state of grace is the condition of being in God’s favor, or one of the elect.  I like the unmerited favor and love of God, because it reminds me that I do not deserve it, but He gives it because He loves me, even when I don’t deserve it.  That’s unconditional love, and we don’t often see that in our lives. 

That all leads up to a story about perfume.  A few weeks ago when Brooke and I were shopping, we came across inner grace.  I loved the name of it, so picked it up to try it.  It smells beautiful as well.  On the packaging it has philosophy, and I’m not sure if that is part of the name, but we found it in JCPenney, in the Sephora section.  I keep meaning to check it out online, and haven’t yet.  Anyway…  the perfume box says” philosophy:  to know peace is to know God.  within the context of peace we can know joy, love, and happiness.  in the absence of peace, we own nothing but the turmoil of our minds that jump from one thought to the next.  to find peace you must shut off your mind and open your heart to the only thing that matters; the gift of the present moment, it is peace personified.”  The body spray says “philosophy: top achieve inner grace you must practice acceptance.  surrender to a power that is greater and more loving than your own.  inner grace is eternal.  inner grace is immortal.  inner grace has no beginning and no end.”  Finally, the lotion says “philosophy:  God is love.  God is peace.  God is trust.  God is joy.  God is family.  God is friendship.  God is fearless.  God is breath.  God is life.  God is wisdom.  God is eternal.  God speaks in whispers.”  It gives me something to ponder every morning, and strive for each moment. 

Sunday Scripture 5

[sunday-scripture1.jpg]Since today is the beginning of Advent, I am choosing Isaiah 53:7 for my scripture.  It reads as follows.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep fevore her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world.  It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it.  Anyway, it was perfect until they chose to sample from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In that instant, the perfect world became blemished with sin forever.  Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, and they were ashamed, so they covered themselves with fig leaves.  God knew that they had sinned, and that they had to be covered in blood.  This is where the first animal sacrifice came in.  Adam and Eve were then covered with the skins from the animal, but God knew that there was a need for a permanent sacrifice.  That sacrifice would be Jesus.  Until that time, God commanded people to make animal sacrifices, or shedding of blood.  So now you know why the old testament contains so many sacrifices of animals, and why Jesus is called the Lamb of God.  The book of Leviticus is filled with rules for the different sacrifices which include the burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, purification offering, and reparation offering.  And Jesus is referred to as the Lamb several times in the Bible.  Think and study on these things this season, and thank God for the sacrifice that was made to cover our sins.