YOUR MONEY IS NO GOOD HERE

Reading: Isaiah 55:1

It's not happened often, but it is always a blessing.  I have gone into a restaurant and ordered a meal. Then, having enjoyed the meal, I have reached for the check only to have someone snatch it away with these words:
"Your money is no good here."

You know what they means.  You're about to get a free lunch.  And since you've already eaten it, it's impossible to argue.  You just need to have the good sense and good grace to accept the gift.

I confess that the first time it happened, I protested.  Like many of you, I have this inbred pride that says I need to earn what I enjoy. And even more prideful, I am capable of earning it and prefer to.

Pride is the enemy of grace.  We protest, "It's too good to be true." What we are really saying is, "I'm good enough. I don't need anyone's help let alone their charity."

Yet that's not the grace works.  And God is all about grace,  Even before Jesus visited the planet to become the ultimate agent of God's grace, the prophet Isaiah recorded God's declaration:

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
-- Isaiah 55:1
Your money is no good here.

(c) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

ANGER MANAGEMENT

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.": - Hosea 11:8

I've spent a lot of time on the road lately ... traveling interstates during holiday weekends ... navigating narrow, congested city streets during rush hour.  My wife would prefer not to ride with me because I have a tendency to grow impassioned about the "inconsiderateness" of other drivers.  I mean, I think a car is a car, not a phone booth.  When the light turns green, you ought to step on the accelerator--sooner than later.  You should know where you're going instead of slowing down to read every street sign you pass.  And more than one car ought to be able to make it through a traffic light.

Since she has to ride with me, Dianne has taken to shaming me.  "Did you ever think of what's going on in that driver's life at the moment?"  Or she tries to encourage reason, "Frustration doesn't get you there any sooner."

Dianne has only been moderately successful in defanging my fierce anger.

Unfortunately when you someone wrongs us -- not only do we feel angry, but the more we dwell on it, the angrier we get.  And let the offender repeat, we might simply explode as that anger grows more and more fierce.

This passage always fascinates me.  People like to the characterize the God of the Old Testament as an angry God.; but as I read the text--his fierce compassion cries out and grips him.  His love is so great that even when he sees us rebelling against him, it is the desire of his heart to show mercy.

Because he is God, not man--the Holy One in our midst.  Maybe we would be able to manage our anger better if we were more like the Holy One in our midst.

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

THE STORY OF AMAZING GRACE

Here's a bonus for those of you who get the on line version of THRIVING IN CHRIST.