As the rain and snow

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

This treasure of a passage sandwiches what love is not between what love is, and we would do well to bite that sandwich daily and crush the middle. Active practice of the positive qualities of divine, Spirit-fueled love will do away with all it’s not, but it takes commitment and self-surrender to do so.

When we start with patient, we take a breath and exhale self. We inhale the divine, and our focus adjusts with Christ’s perfect vision. We see others as He does, fellow image-bearers who are sinners like us in need of a Savior. Our hearts beat with compassion and expand with forbearance as we recall God’s long-suffering toward us. A swelled heart is a kind heart, and acts of kindness are contagious as they catch fire within, consuming our energy. (Ephesians 4:2-3)

Such others-centered living has no room for envying, because it is caught up in outward giving, not sidelong glances, in bestowing benevolence, not hoarding comparisons. It also allows no boasting, because genuine kindness flows from Christ’s wellspring of blessings within, not self-effort. The richer the flow of patient, generous kindness, the cleaner the conduit from any hint of arrogance or rudeness. Love flushes that poison away. (Ephesians 1:3)

A loving life yields to the Lord’s sway over emotion and desire, having learned never to insist on self-derived motivation. It delights in pleasing and preferring others for their benefit and upbuilding, and does not chafe at their choices or hold against them successes, or failures. It wants only the best for them, and rejoices at the truth of God’s redemption and grace. (Romans 12:9-19)

Love is large, measureless in its reach and limitless in its power. It is strong enough to bear all pain, and grief, and offense, and to undergird others with burdens too weighty to bear alone. It believes in the best, and that God is able to bring about that best, no matter what. It hopes in redemption’s promise, and God’s possibles, and eternal glory. It endures all things with grace and profound, abiding joy, because its well is deep and its spring ever-flowing. It is everlasting, from first to last effusive and all-encompassing, because it is embodied by our eternal Savior. (Jeremiah 32:27; John 4:14; 7:37-39; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Ephesians 3:20; 1 John 4:8)

How does our love measure up to the Lord’s description? Are we increasingly growing in each aspect of love’s graces, and shrinking in those ugly opposite tendencies? How committed are we to daily practice of selfless, Christlike love to others, depending wholly on the Spirit of the One who has loved us perfectly? What will it take to be eight for eight in every ‘love is’?

Lord God, empty me of self, and fill me with Your pure, unrestrained love to overflow. May my life be a clear exhibit of Your love’s definition, to the praise of Your glory.

“He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
    and my hope has he pulled up like a tree…

 “He has put my brothers far from me,
    and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
My relatives have failed me,
    my close friends have forgotten me…
My breath is strange to my wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
Even young children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has touched me!
Why do you, like God, pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

“Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!” Job 19:10,13-14,17-27

Broken on every side, and hopeless, Job experienced unimaginable suffering like few through history. In his forlorn misery, he had a testimony, and his words were written, and they still speak! His excruciating pain and darkness are not his alone, and what he knew to be true is universally available by faith to be known by all.

“My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

When all is dark and suffocating and feels like death, our Redeemer lives. He is ours, personal and intimately loving. He is our Redeemer, soothing grief with hope, making all things new, and restoring what the wasting locusts have eaten. And He lives, presently, actively, dynamically, powerfully in and with and all around us. And we will see Him face to face! (Joel 2:25-26; John 14:16-17; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 21:5)

Is it health that fails? Or finances, or dreams? Our Redeemer never fails! Have loved ones betrayed, or friends forsaken? Our Redeemer never leaves or forsakes! Has hope diminished, joy waned, vitality been depleted, vision clouded? Our Redeemer lives and presently intercedes for us! (Deuteronomy 31:6; Romans 8:26-35; Hebrews 13:5)

Take heart! Know that when days are dark, Jesus our light of life shines. He is our strength for today and our sure hope for tomorrow. (John 8:12; 1 Corinthians 13:12)

“I Know That My Redeemer Lives
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead.
He lives, my ever-living Head.

He lives triumphant from the grave,
He lives eternally to save,
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to lead me safely there.

He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
‘I Know That My Redeemer Lives'” ~Samuel Medley (1775)

Gracious Redeemer, teach me to live with unwavering hope in Your bountiful life and redemptive purposes. May Your gift of faith to me shine and awaken desire in others to see You for themselves.

“The Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey… Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt…’

“Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go…”’ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words…’

“The taskmasters were urgent, saying, ‘Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.’ And the foremen of the people of Israel… were beaten and were asked, ‘Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?’

“Moses turned to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.’ But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.’” Exodus 3:7-8,10; 5:1,6-9,13-14,22-6:1

What God promises, He will do, yet so often we chafe in the gap between utterance and fulfillment, the gap that requires patient faith. We like to string the jewel of promise on our pretty necklace of circumstance and schedule, and wear it with ease and pomp. But God designs the fulfillment of His already- accomplished-in-the-heavenlies plans so that His glory is all that sparkles. An immediate release would have obscured God’s magnificence in Israel’s exodus. (Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 46:10)

When we accuse the Lord of not keeping His word, we reveal our impatience and smugness. What we really mean is, ‘You’re not performing the way I want, when I want, and my way is best.’ When we rest in His word and watch His unfolding, we can marvel at His divine hand powerfully moving in the impossible and difficult to comfort, help, teach, and build holy expectation along the way. Our God uses darkness, trouble, and pain to show off the brilliance of His deliverance, His power rather than our desert. He loves us too much to give and allow lesser things.

Am I trapped in a hardship, griping about circumstances, impatient for God to act? Will I ask God for fresh faith to trust, clear eyes to look beyond, and an attitude adjustment from complaint to anticipation?

Lord, cause me to trust implicitly all You have promised and already completed, and watch eagerly for its glorious unfolding.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God… Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… So we have come to know… the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him… We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:7-11,16,19

A wealthy business titan tells the story of a concentration camp survivor who said upon meeting someone, her determination of whether she could trust them was, “Would they hide me?” His point was that success in life is measured not by our possessions or fame, but by the number of people who would hide us, who truly love us. For that to take place we need to be lovable, and this should be our motivation over any other endeavor. Yet, in God’s eyes, while we might feel valued by being loved, repairing our behavior to earn love is no guarantee for security or success.

First of all, because of Eden, we are at the root unlovable. Our worth is in the fact that God made us in His image and Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. There’s no earning here, only innate value appointed by God’s grace, and no proving, only precious redemption through Jesus’s blood. Believing by faith is setting aside self-effort and promotion, and depending wholly on Jesus. (Genesis 1:27; 3:1-6; Isaiah 43:1-4; Ephesians 2:4-5; 1 Peter 1:18-19)

Secondly, no matter how hard we try, focus on ourselves will not change our orientation or behavior. The mysterious exchange of the Christian life is that we must decrease and Christ increase for sanctification to occur. Christ in us is our hope of glory, and it is He indwelling who personifies love and loveliness. Winsomeness is marked by a Christ-ward mindset and others- centered living, not self-absorption, even if we pretend it’s for self-improvement. (John 3:30; Colossians 1:27)

The blessed truth is that in Christ we are hidden, never to be shaken or forsaken, and His unconditional love secures us in the abundant “success” of eternal life in His presence forever. Held in that boundless love, we find fulfillment loving Him and others through Him in limitless measure. Our life aim is not to be loved, but to love, serve, and spend ourselves and all we have for Jesus’s sake. (Matthew 20:28; John 10:28-29)

So are we loved? Yes! Vastly! Who would hide us? Jesus our perfect Savior already has, and in that we find our greatest worth. We are His treasure for eternity.

Father, may my security in Your love compel me to value and love others as You do.

“He entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?’ And after looking around at them all he said to him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

“He came down with them and stood.., with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,  who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.  And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: ‘Blessed are you..'” Luke 6:6-13,17-20

Jesus lived His public ministry in constant pressure. He couldn’t even feed His friends or exhibit compassion and heal without being criticized. The Pharisees were relentless in accusation and schemes, the needy crowds relentless in their pursuit of magical relief. In these strain-filled days, long hours that required wisdom, clear thinking, and physical energy, He spent all night in prayer. When the press around Him was greatest, His need for grace and mental acuity was greatest, and as Son of Man, He sought His supreme Source. (Luke 6:1-5)

Up on the mountain, Jesus was unfettered and quiet. Up on the mountain, He drew close to heaven to gain holy perspective. Up on the mountain, He understood the long view, and was reminded why He had come and what was His mission. It’s easy to get distracted, and dissuaded from your purpose, in the noisy crowd of the valley. (John 6:38; 10:10)

Coming down off that mountain, out of that time to refocus and refresh, Jesus was filled with power to discern, effectively call, minister, teach, and bless.

What activities and demands fill my days? Do they rule me? Do I let them inextricably consume my thoughts and emotions? Do they deplete me of vitality? Do they distort my far vision and focus? What could the Lord do in my nights— my time of alone, reflection, away from worldly glare, season of communion with Him— that would adjust and correct my daily perspective? Will I take advantage?

Father, keep me in balance with my coming and going, my mountain soak and valley tension, my quiet and noise, my filling and pouring out. Help me guard and value my nights with You during the frenziest of days.

“On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” Luke 5:1-11

Order makes a difference to our Lord, and so do effort and motivation. One of the qualities so ripe for refinement in these fisherman was their patient perseverance, learned over long hours of offering bait. But Jesus would teach them, and show with visual aid, that self-effort and temporal reward would not yield what was eternal. Pressing in to hear His word, then putting out per His instruction, as stewards responding to the Master’s call, would result in a far greater catch. It would make them marvel at His bounty, and be ashamed at their own pride. It would reorient their life-purpose, as they put honed skills to use in a new, redeemed way to make a lasting impact. It would keep them astonished, willing, surrendered, and dependent as they plodded on following Him.

Are there areas in our lives where we toil busily, but fruitlessly? Do we feel spent, with nothing to show for our efforts? Where might Jesus steer us in a new direction or venue through His word– a deeper faith, a new conviction, a fresh place or pace of ministry?

Do I clamor to hear from Jesus, pushing aside every distraction to hear His voice? And when I hear, do I hesitate, make excuses, or quickly obey? How has my obedience been blessed in such a way that my confidence in Him has grown, and propelled me to deeper trust and fuller surrender? Where and how is God’s marvelous hand humbling me? What is the Lord calling me to let loose so I can follow Him unfettered?

Lord, call me away from wayward efforts toward new fruitfulness. Grant me boldness to put out in new waters, and keep on for Your purposes and glory.

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens… But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

“Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live… So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.” Exodus 1:8-17,20

“By the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.” Proverbs 16:6

“They said before the king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition [in prayer] three times a day.’” Daniel 6:13

“Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.'” Acts 5:29

Knowing who God is and how He works, begets bold, reverent fear of Him. And bold fear of God begets brave faith in the face of any kind of challenge, threat, or opposition. When we know that we know God as King, both benevolent and sovereign, we gladly, humbly, and without fear of man serve Him and His instructions. When He has our full allegiance, no other tempts.

Why are we so weak in the world, so soft to hurt and offenses, touchy and self-coddling? Certainly, we have constant pressure from media, our culture, and academia, to elevate and pamper ourselves, and let feelings dictate reaction and decision. But the Bible says, fear God first. Reverence His throne that is above any other, His power that is superior to all, His ways and thoughts that rule far beyond our temporal ones. The midwives feared God more than man because He was worthy of it. (Isaiah 55:8-9; Philippians 2:9)

How do we develop this bold fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom? (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10) How do we transform warped thinking and allegiances and affections into godly priorities? If we would love and embrace wisdom and instruction, and practice it, we gain knowledge of the Holy One. The devil will entice us toward self, but our Lord says He must be first. (Luke 4:5-8)

What, and whom, do I fear? Have I enthroned any foreign entity where my Lord rightfully belongs?

Father, may I fear and worship You rightly, and live out each day in brave faith.

“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,  do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.  Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.  And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Romans 11:17-25,29

It is man’s flesh tendency to want to earn favor with God, and therefore take credit for it. Where I was born, how I was raised, the quality of my faith, all I do. We are either proud of our spiritual credentials, or we try to clean up, work up, and show up others so we stand out or shoulder our way ahead. We want to be a favorite. Even when we know there is nothing we must contribute to our salvation, it seems we slip into thinking we did or can contribute. There is much folly in forgetting who our vinedresser is.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1,5

There is no room for cocky in a heart that recognizes we are nothing without Christ. We are either broken branches, as were the Jews, temporarily set aside (cut off), or wild, contrary shoots, alien Gentiles who would die apart from the Vinedresser’s merciful hands grafting us in. All kindness and credit belongs to Jesus, the Root from which we draw life. We are wobbly, helpless, fruitless, without Him. All salvation is a mercy to those saved, and in humble faith and gratitude, there is no gloating. (Isaiah 11:1)

How might it change our sense of self-importance, and our attitude toward others, if we daily remembered who we were, and whose we are? That our only spiritual lifeline is Christ? With fresh, sober assessment of what is true about us all, how will we live out God’s grace in our world? (Romans 12:1-3)

Lord, keep me in awe at Your wondrous salvation. From You and through You and to You are all things. To You be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free… from the law of sin and death… For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you… If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:1-2,5-11

“He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’” Mark 8:33

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

“If… you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2

The mind is easily impressionable, and many forces in this world pander and cajole to make their mark. Religious beliefs, prejudices, scientific hypotheses, academic studies, popular opinion, social media, all have offerings that entice and take up mental room, that shape and dictate how we process information and make decisions. So what is a Christian to do? How does an image-bearer of God determine the mind of Christ in a godless culture? By fostering the mind of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

We are not born with a mind of life and peace. We are anything but righteous, and our mere flesh has stained our thinking through and through. But when we are born again, and have been raised with Christ into new life, and His Spirit dwells in us, we are no longer hostile to the mind of the Spirit. We warm to the things of God, and seek out spiritual truth as daily food. Our deepest hunger may be slow to transform, but holy desire is awakened, and by practice we begin to seek what is above, and recount what is true, noble, right, and pure. By discipline of our will, we set our minds on things of God, and camp there.

What old cravings of the flesh, and habits of self-loathing and condemnation, need to fade? When we recognize rebellion’s poke, do we ignore its come-on by submitting to the Spirit instead? How are we nurturing a mind of the Spirit?

Lord, infuse and shape my mindset with Your Holy Spirit. May I daily reckon myself dead to the flesh, and fully alive to You. (Romans 6:7-11)

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.’  So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father gave this command before he died: “Say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’” And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’ Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’  But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:15-21

Though Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers with affection, a full measure of grace for their misdeeds, and bountiful provision, his brothers couldn’t grasp the forgiveness God had wrought in his heart. Still burdened with guilt, they feared retribution, assuming his kindness was meant only to honor their father while he lived. But that very assumption was based on their own unwillingness to take hold of the Lord’s mercy. While they acknowledged their mistreatment of their younger brother, they were not freed from its burden. It took being forgiven for them to recognize the lavish grace of God. (Genesis 42:21-25; 45:1-15)

Without humbly receiving God’s full forgiveness, it is hard to accept it from, and extend it toward, others. The Lord had used Joseph’s harrowing experiences to teach him Who really ruled, and to mold his deep faith in the long view of His goodness and plan. Had his brothers never asked his forgiveness, Joseph had already settled it in his heart by an act of will. His God had orchestrated all things for His redemptive purposes. Joseph’s attitudes and actions were grounded in God’s promises, not the antics of people or the worst of circumstances. (Romans 8:28-30; Philippians 4:6-7)

When we honestly confront the cross of Christ, we are changed. Once it has its way in crucifying our flesh, we live with new perspective, and no longer nurse old wounds. Instead, in freedom and joy, we long to express and exhibit the cross and its power, especially to those who’ve wronged us. (1 Corinthians 2:2-5; Galatians 2:20)

Are we among those who say, “I know God forgives, but I can’t forgive myself”? This reveals a pale understanding of God’s rich grace, and espouses the power (and control) of me. Once we’ve received Jesus’s cleansing blood, His Spirit interprets that truth personally, and we’re released to forgive and be forgiven. (1 Corinthians 2:11-13)

Do I still fear punishment for past sins? Am I still nursing sins of others against me, and using them as an excuse, a weapon, a banner? Either way, I know not the forgiveness of Christ. Once freed by His forgiveness, we are free indeed to love and serve others. (John 8:36)

Lord, apply the full force of Your grace in me. May I ever rejoice in Your forgiveness, and the freedom it affords to forgive and bless others.