The Fine Print

 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

 

When my oldest daughter became engaged, she immediately attended every wedding fair and bridal show within a 200-mile radius. Part of the attraction of many of the booths were free drawings for everything from a honeymoon to wedding photos to cakes.

 

 The only requirement for each one was to sign your name, address, and phone number on entry tickets. So, she signed up for literally hundreds of “free” offers. There was only one problem – but it ended up being a big one.

 

A free signup for a wedding dress had a very small sentence with an even smaller font at the end of the form which stated, “The signer agrees to switch his/her phone service to Rainbow Phone Exchange.”

 

My daughter had not read the fine print of that sentence and had signed her name along with my home phone number. Imagine my surprise when, a month later, I received my phone bill from a new company with double the rate of the previous one.

 

It occurred to me that Ephesians 2:8-9 does not contain any hidden fine print, but I often act as if it is there when it comes to God’s gift of grace to me.

 

My human thinking says that somewhere in the Word there must be tiny letters at the end of a chapter that state “Come to me after you have taught a Bible study and fed the poor and not missed a day of church and not sinned for an entire day, and I will accept you.” In other words, after you have done a certain number of good deeds, you will have earned your salvation from God.

 

Nowhere in the Bible are there hidden conditions to God’s gift of grace. When you become the “signer” and hand your life over to the Lord in faith, you do not have to fear the hidden fine print with a list of “must be good enough first” items. Grace cannot be earned and is not deserved. But it IS a gift of love given to us, through faith, from our Father.

 

It took several days of long phone conversations for me to get my phone returned to the original company and the form with the fine print to be deleted. But it only takes an act of faith to receive the gift of grace from God.

 

Father, I do not understand your love gift of grace but I accept it now and thank you with all my heart. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 

R.A.P. it up . . .

 

Reflect

·         Have you ever felt like you needed to “do” something to earn grace from the Lord?

 

·         Does Scripture say anywhere that grace must be earned?

 

 

Apply

·         Journal Ephesians 2:8-9 and underline the word “grace.”

 

·         Thank the Lord that salvation does not depend on you but rather on God’s desire to save you by His grace.

 

Power

·         Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

 

·         II Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”

 

·         Romans 11:6 (NIV) “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” 

Doing Nothing

“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

II Kings 22:2 (NIV)

 

 

It is always a frustration working at school to have a student with zero motivation to learn. Not a 50% desire or even 5% but zero. Michael, a new 7^th grader at our middle school, was such a student.

 

He did nothing in the classroom. No homework, no reading, no math, no writing. His homeroom teacher and I had talked many times, trying to figure out how we could motivate him to make even a little effort to learn. She shared with him how bright he was and how he could do anything but he told her that he really didn’t care. At all.

 

            The teacher asked me if I would try to encourage Michael so one day, we sat in an empty classroom talking as I tried to find out how to help him develop a desire to learn. He had no hobbies, he told me, and really didn’t want any. Finally, I had an idea. Maybe there was someone in his life that he admired who could offer encouragement and instruction to inspire him. “Who do you look up to, Michael?” I asked him.

 

“My uncle,” he told me. “I want to be just like my uncle.” Fantastic! A breakthrough! “That’s great,” I exclaimed. “What does your uncle do?” A huge smile spread across his face as he replied, “Nothin’ He don’t do nothin’ and I wanna be just like him!”

 

Scripture tells us in II Kings that Josiah had a decision to make. He had become the new king in Jerusalem at eight years of age. He needed instruction and encouragement as he led his people. He could have chosen any number of officials around him and modeled their beliefs in his life. Instead, he chose to follow his father David’s example and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

 

Yes, his father David made mistakes in his life – I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t. But David was also a man who God said was “after his own heart” (I Samuel 13:14) and tried every day to follow Him.

 

Next to the Lord and His Word, who do you pattern your life after and look to for wisdom and advice? A Christian friend or couple who live what they believe and will pray with you about God’s will in your every decision? Or someone who will agree with whatever you decide if it makes you “happy” by the world’s standards, including the choice to do nothing for the Lord.

 

Because he chose to follow the example of his uncle, Michael, unfortunately, became a carbon copy of doing absolutely nothing with his life. What about you? There are a lot of people in this world who will tell you that “doing nothin’” in your spiritual life is fine. I encourage you instead to seek out those who will encourage you to do what is “right in the eyes of the Lord.”   

 

Father, help me to look for your wisdom and guidance through the prayer warriors around me and not through those with worldly wisdom. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 

R.A.P. it up . . .

 

Reflect

• Can you name people that you consult for wisdom with difficult decisions?

 

• Is their wisdom grounded in the Word or the world?

 

 

Apply

• Call one or two prayer warriors that you know and ask them to consider being someone you can look to for spiritual guidance.

 

• Contact them when you have decisions that need to be made, listen to their guidance, and pray together over the outcomes.

 

Power

• II Kings 22:2 (NIV) “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

 

• Psalm 119:33 (NIV) “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.”

 

• Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV) “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

 

  

Does My Name Matter?

 

 “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.

I will never blot out his name from the book of life,

but will acknowledge his name before

my Father and his angels.”

Revelation 3:5 (NIV)

 

 

I have an old red sweater. The tag says, “This has been knitted especially for you with love by Patty Hallam.”  It is a comfort to me . . . it is precious to me.

 

Why? Well, first, it was made for me by someone who loves me – my sister.

 

Secondly, when I am hurting, when I am sad, when I need to hide away from the world for a while, I pull out that sweater and I wrap it around me like the hug from an old friend. I immediately have a sense of not only warmth, but security and peace.

           

But you know something? Some day when I am gone, that sweater will be given away, perhaps to Good Will.

 

Someone will look at it and the tag and say “Patty Hallam . . . who is that? Who cares?” and my sweater will no longer be a source of warmth and security, nor will it be considered precious but instead will be a rag for soaking up oil from an engine or tossed in the trash because it is no longer in style.

 

And why is that? Because no one will know the name of the person who worked so hard to create it out of love for another and they will not recognize its value.

 

How wonderful it is that Jesus not only knows each of our names but considers us precious in His sight. We read in Revelation 3:5 this beautiful promise: “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”   

 

Can you imagine Jesus speaking our names to His Father? And if that’s not enough to encourage us, we read in Isaiah 49:16 “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

 

How amazing is that! Our names are not penciled in which can be easily erased or written with permanent ink which fades with time but engraved by Jehovah Himself. And why has He done that? Because He created us. Because He loves us. Because we are precious to Him.

 

The name on a tag in an old red sweater may not mean anything except to the person who made it or the person wearing it. But the names engraved on the palms of our Father’s hands will be spoken with love in heaven for eternity.   

 

Father, thank you: for knowing my name; for loving me so much that you call me your very own child. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 

 

R.A.P.  it up

 

Reflect

• Have you ever considered that God calls you by name as His child because you are truly special to Him?

 

 

Apply

• Tattoos are popular today. When you see a person with one, remember that our Father has an eternal “tattoo” of you on His hand. Lift him or her up and specifically pray that, if they do not know our King, they will seek His face.

 

• When the Lord lays someone’s name on your heart to pray for them, write their initials on the palm of your hand and as you look at your hand throughout the day, pray for that person.

 

 

Power

• Revelation 3:5 (NIV) “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”

 

• Isaiah 49:16 (NIV): “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

 

• John 10:3 (NIV) “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

 

Going Through the Door

 

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

 

The doctor scheduled a surgery to remove a small fatty tumor on the back of my neck. He said that it was a minor procedure and he could do it in his office – no problem. He explained exactly what he was going to do and what he expected to find.

And yet, because it was on my neck, I was more than a little concerned. Yes, he’s a great doctor and no, he would not have said he could do the procedure in his office if he could not. But I still had considerable apprehension at what was going to take place.

Oh, I prayed about the surgery but my prayers went something like this: "Lord, I am really nervous about the surgery on my neck. What if there is a problem? What if something gets cut that isn't supposed to? What if I can't lie still like the doctor wants me to?" and on and on and on. Can you relate?

And then one day, after a month of approaching the Lord repeatedly with my “what if” sessions, I think He felt He needed to reassure me. I slumped in my chair and prepared to give God another list of possible complications with my upcoming surgery.

But my Bible fell open to the Old Testament and I found myself reading Deuteronomy 31:8. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  

Gently the Lord whispered to my heart “I am not going to leave you at the door of the doctor’s office and say “See you when you are done. I will never leave you – never! I will walk through the door, be there beside you through the surgery, and walk out through that same door with you. Just as I have always done. Always.”

I know. I know. How many hundreds or even thousands of times in the past has the Lord gone before me, making a path, and then stayed right by my side. And yet, here I was, facing the unknown and thinking that just maybe, on THIS journey, Jesus would decide not to go.

So let’s be honest: what “door” are you entering, afraid that the Lord will not go with you? Maybe it’s divorce or financial problems or a prodigal child. Or it could be health issues or broken friendships or a new job in a new town. Perhaps you have lost a loved one and are facing an uncertain future alone.

Whatever it is, rest assured that just as Moses shared with the Israelites that “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you,” He will be with each of us, no matter what we face or what “door” we may be going through. Always.

May I share with you that Jesus did just as He said. He stayed with me and kept me calm and at peace. I talked to Him during the procedure and thanked Him when it was over. And once again, as has happened so many times before, I knew with all my heart that my Father was faithful. May you have that same conviction today.

Father, thank you for your faithfulness to stay right by my side, no matter what I have faced in the past or will face in the future. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

·         Have you ever been faced with a “door” that you were truly afraid to go through?

·         Did you realize that the Lord was at your side and would never leave you?

Apply

·         Journal some of the “doors” that you have gone through over the past few years.

·         Beside each one, write a sentence of praise for how the Lord stayed with you through each one and never left your side.

Power

• Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV) “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

 

• Exodus 33:14 (NIV) “The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

 

• Joshua 1:9 (NIV) "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”