Paul writes in Hebrews 4:16, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

I try to picture this situation in my mind’s eye; We, simple humans, boldly approaching Almighty God who made everything and has power over everything. How could that be appropriate? Yet just like an earthly father, who wants to provide for his family’s needs and help them be all they can be, God wants us to come to him with the confidence that He has mercy and grace beyond our understanding to help us.

Dear Lord, what a humbling and powerful confidence this gives us to know that we can come to you boldly and you will always be there with mercy and grace for us when we are in need. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Have you read stories about successful people, athletes, musicians, actors, chefs, Nobel prize winners, business people, etc. and the story writes about how they studied under the same instructor that coached several other great athletes, or the person studied under the same professor as several other famous people.

These successful people are bringing fame and “glory” to their teacher, coach, or mentor as a result of their own success.

In a similar way, Jesus’ tells us in Matthew 5 that we, Christians, are the light of the world. In verse 16 he says, “let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

We need to be those people who bring glory to our teacher, Jesus, with our actions.

Dear Lord, thank you for setting the example for us on how to live a humble life serving others with love. Help us live this life and be a light for all to see and bring glory to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

One of the questions people have about the accuracy of the Bible is, how can we be sure there is no transmission error, meaning error in the message between the time the events occurred and when they were recorded in the writings we have today.

I came across an interesting way to answer that question in “Why Trust the Bible?” by Greg Gilbert, he uses the following example.

Can you recite the words to the nursery rhyme “Jack and Jill?” “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch…..” Did you learn this by reading it? Most of us learned this by hearing it told to us by our parents, and we told it to our children, but we remember the words verbatim. Do you know when this was originally composed? 1791, over 200 years ago.

So we obviously have a clear example of people’s ability to maintain the original words of a story for many years without having to have the original text available for reference. This is a simple example that gives us more confidence in what 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

Dear Lord, thank you for giving us the wisdom in the Bible. Help us to find strength and confidence in its teaching. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

There is a great deal of attention given in our present time to the concept of Justice. There are protests held and talk show interviews with people revolving around “social justice,” and “economic justice.” However, when it comes to our relationship with God, the last thing we really want is justice.

Justice is getting what you deserve. If we received what we deserved from God, we would be condemned. God’s standard is perfection, and not one of us can achieve this. Therefore if we received justice, we would be in deep trouble.

In contrast, Mercy is, not getting the punishment and condemnation we deserve. It is like a pardon. A pardon for someone condemned to prison forever would be an unimaginable joy and relief.

But even beyond the amazing joy of Mercy, Jesus came to give us Grace. Grace is not only receiving a pardon, it is like being pardoned and subsequently provided a kings lifestyle when really deserving to be in prison.

Paul writes in Romans 5:21, “So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” All we need to do is accept this gift of grace. Then like the adulterous woman, after those who were going to stone her left, in John 8:10-11, “Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Dear Lord, we all have sinned and deserve to be condemned. Only through your mercy and grace can any of us be made right with you. Help us realize how simple it is to accept your grace and forgiveness, and move forward living your way. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Paul writes, a familiar text, in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” The NLT version puts it, “For we live by believing and not by seeing.”

In the context of his letter, Paul is discussing the promise of a new life in heaven after death; That we live with the faith in this promise.

However, I think he may also be stating a fact of life. We live by faith in our daily lives. When we wake, we turn on the water with faith that it will run. We turn the key on our car with faith it will start. We send an email, text, or make a phone call, with faith that it will connect with someone. We get on airplanes and boats, believing in the physics that they employ. We count on “seeing” these things happen because we first believed they would. We all live by faith, whether Christian or not.

As Christians we have additional beliefs that we count on “seeing” just the same. We pray with faith, counting on God’s answer. We attend worship with faith that it will renew our spirit. We make commitments to serve, witness, and contribute with faith that God will provide and protect. Most importantly, we have faith and believe first, that we will have eternal life, and we are counting on “seeing” this when our life on earth is over.

Dear Lord how common it is for people to think “I’ll believe it when I see it,” but they have things backward. Life now and eternal life is actually, “you’ll see it when you believe it.” Give us the strength to believe first so we will see your promises fulfilled. In Jesus’ name. Amen.