by Elizabeth | Jul 26, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living
A Prayer about God’s Grace for Our Sin
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Romans 1:29-31.
Merciful Lord,
It’s impossible to read the list of sins
describing people who don’t “see fit to acknowledge God,”
and not see ourselves somewhere in it—
have I ever gossiped,
speaking ill of people behind their backs?
Have I ever been boastful and haughty,
thinking I know the right thing to do
about raising children,
protecting from disease,
or even teaching Bible study?
Was I ever disobedient to my parents as a teenager?
Have I ever wanted to possess what someone else has?
Have I ever not only done these things
but given approval to others who do them (Romans 1:32)? If so, I deserve to die for my sins (Romans 1:32).
I have, and I do.
And yet.
By your mercy,
through your undeserved grace,
you have turned my heart toward Jesus
as my only hope for salvation.
Although I will continue to struggle
with some of these sins
until the day you take me home,
“There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Lord, help us to take stock of our sins.
Forgive us when we judge others’ sins
more harshly than our own.
Open our hearts to our one true hope for salvation.
And empower us to fight the battle
against besetting sin
through the might of your sanctifying Spirit.
In Jesus’ saving name. Amen.
Read Romans 1:18-32; Romans 7:7-8:1.
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by Elizabeth | Jun 12, 2022 | Daily Prayer, Gospel living
A Prayer about the Grace in Which We Stand
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2.
Lord Jesus Christ,
What peace and hope and joy we have
when we trust in you for our salvation.
In you, we have “obtained access,”
that is, gained entrance into secure relationship with God.
It’s like the Queen of England has an open door policy
inviting us into her state room.
But it’s even better than that.
Not only are we given an audience with the Queen,
she welcomes us with delight,
like familiar family she really loves.
We don’t wobble in your grace
as though we’re about to fall out of it;
we stand in it.
We are held secure in your grace,
which will not let us go.
We stand tall and strong like mighty oaks,
Unmoved by difficult circumstances.
Not only that, in this grace we rejoice, even boast.
We are so confident in your grace
that we want to shout it out like thrilled fans at a football game.
Our sure hope for today and for the coming years
is that the glory of God will be known throughout all the earth.
Our joy comes in knowing
that we get to play a bit part in the story of your glory.
In your justifying name. Amen.
Read Romans 4:13-5:2.
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by Elizabeth | Jul 15, 2014 | Learning Story
It’s July 15 — can it really already be time to think about back to school and back to Bible study? Apparently so, since I received a from our women’s ministry leader that teachers needed to let her know by August 1 what we’re teaching.
If any of you are looking for good material, be sure to check out the Living Story Bible studies. I wrote these to help you know the story of grace Scripture tells, to know your own stories, and to live them out in real life. I address questions that people new to Bible study may ask and that people who have been doing it for years may need to be reminded of — in short, the good news of the gospel.
There are now three studies in the series — you can do them in sequential order, but they will also stand alone:
Learning God’s Story of Grace looks at the whole story of redemption: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation, and what it means for our lives.
Living God’s Story of Grace focuses on the struggle of faith and hope that we all experience.
Loving in God’s Story of Grace is about, you guessed, it — love — the radical, countercultural love that the gospel tells.
Try them — you’ll like them! And, if you do one of these studies with a group and would like me to meet with your group via Skype or telephone, let me know! I would love to interact with you!
Check out this “theological theme,” in which I try to take some “big words” and make them make sense in real life:-)!
Theological Theme: Justification by Faith
“Abram believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
In the first chapter of the study, we asked the question, “What does faith do?” One of the most important byproducts of faith is “justification.” To understand the word justification, consider this story:
I had spoken impulsively, reeling off some sarcastic remark sure to draw peals of laughter from my daughter’s friends. Immediately I felt chagrin. My joke came at the expense of my daughter’s dignity. I wanted to justify my action, saying I was only trying to be funny, but it was clear there was no excuse – I had traded my daughter’s reputation for a moment of fame among a group of 13-year-olds. In God’s court of law, I would have been declared guilty of a love-failure.
As sinners, which we all are (Romans 3:23), there is no justification for our sin. In a court of law, we are declared guilty. That is why Genesis 15:4 is such a radical statement. Abraham is declared “righteous,” that is, “not guilty,” just because of his faith. Abraham’s righteousness does not come from his moral rectitude or good actions – it comes from his faith, which comes from God.
Faith in Christ brings an even more astounding reality to our stories. We receive the credited righteousness (see imputed righteousness in Learning God’s Story) by transferring trust from our own efforts at being good to Christ’s finished work on the cross (Romans 3:23-26). When a person confesses, “I believe Christ has fully paid the price I owe for my sin,” we are credited with Christ’s righteousness (Romans 4:23-24).
The radical concept of justification by faith should humble and astonish us. One of the great old hymns asks, “How can we keep from singing?” Indeed, when we understand that the holy God sent his holy Son as the only adequate substitute for our sins, how can we keep from living a life of loving God and loving others?
by Elizabeth | Jun 10, 2014 | Learning Story
When we pay attention to God’s stories of grace in our lives, we begin to see what Flannery O’Connor calls the “imperceptible intrusions of grace.” In recognizing God’s grace worked out in our lives, we live and love freely as God created and redeemed us to do. I hope you enjoy one of my favorite “intrusion of grace” stories.
“Mom, please don’t cry!” My thirteen-year-old daughter begged me to lift my head and look at her. I had collapsed over the steering wheel when I saw the blue lights of the second trooper in a matter of three weeks, realizing that despite my earnest efforts to watch my speed, I had again failed. I was furious with myself, even though I knew that I had no malicious intent – I had driven over 3000 miles in the previous two months, carting kids around the Southeast to various camps and volleyball tournaments. My chief method of coping with the draining and dreary hours on the road was to listen to sermons or lectures and sometimes as I did so I simply forgot to pay attention to how fast I was going. But I knew it was no excuse and I dreaded the thought of telling my husband, even though I knew he would be understanding and forgiving. So as the trooper sat in his car scrawling out an illegible ticket, I laid my head on the steering wheel and sobbed.
Then I heard Mary Elizabeth through my fury and self-pity and exhaustion, “Mom, I know – let’s pray!” And since I certainly didn’t start praying, she did. She asked God to be with me and to help me know it was just a mistake and to help me remember what a great trip we had had. Somewhere in her prayer, I heard the voice of Jesus, whispering, “Come out and join the party.” The officer offered me the ticket like a bill from the local diner and said cheerfully, “Have a blessed day, Ma’am!” I resisted the urge to tell him exactly what would bless my day and maneuvered the car back onto the highway to drive the last 60 miles of the thousand mile round trip I had done in the last 24 hours.
Mary Elizabeth, tender nurturer that she is, persisted in her goal of cheering me up with more camp stories. That morning she had been talking with a friend whose grandfather had died before camp. M.E. noticed her friend was sad and asked her what was bothering her, and the friend told her going home made her remember how much she missed her grandfather. Mary Elizabeth reported the consoling words she spoke to her friend, “That’s the way it is with losing someone to death, you are sad, then you forget for a while, then you may be sad again, and that’s okay.”
As she told me this story, she seemed to experience a sudden revelation and chirpily added, “But getting a speeding ticket isn’t the same as your grandfather dying!” I couldn’t help but laugh, and I remembered the words I have spoken numerous times and heard repeated back to me, “This will make a really good story one day!” Indeed, God was redeeming this story already, bringing beauty out of ugliness. I would never choose the humiliation of being stopped by state troopers twice in one month, but I also wouldn’t trade the beauty of my thirteen-year-old daughter ministering to my heart.
Because I am attuned to God’s story of grace playing through all of my stories, I can hear the melody of redemption in this particular story. Though it highlights my humiliation, I remember and tell this story, because it reveals God’s redemption. I was committed to a story I had written, one in which I played the righteous hero, the supermom driving my children all around the country, and everyone praised and lauded me for my tremendous efforts. In this story, a state trooper should understand how I could fall into the trap of driving a little faster than the speed limit, and rather than giving me a ticket, he would bestow a special needs tag on my car that would allow me to drive as fast as I wanted without ever being stopped.
My self-righteousness and self-pity reflected the sad state of my heart. I withdrew from my daughter, at first refusing to receive her offers of grace. Thankfully, the story isn’t catalogued under the title “Elizabeth’s Stupid Sin” because God’s story of grace trumps my sin. The story unfolds in the good news of God’s pursuing love, incarnated in my daughter, who relentlessly hounded me with the sounds of heaven in encouraging me “to remember what a great trip we had” (and unspoken message: “Don’t ruin this memory for me, Mom!”). God did save me from ruining the story for my daughter, and this chapter will stand in our storybook on the page with other memories of God’s miraculous movement in our lives.
by Elizabeth | Mar 17, 2014 | Learning Story
I am so oblivious sometimes. I am not wearing green. I’m not a hater; I like shamrocks, leprechaun hats, and the pictures of the St. Paddy’s Day race put on by our local Irish pub. (Though I admit green beer at 8:30 a.m. befuddles me…) But I am so curious. So when my calendar reminded me today is St. Patrick’s day, I studied up on him again.Here is his story of grace in 5 s’s:
1. Acknowledged Sinner: St. Patrick writes in his confessions, “And He watched over me before I knew Him and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil.”
2. Slave: Born around 390 A.D., Patrick was kidnapped from his home in Roman Britain at 16 years old (some legends say by Irish pirates) Under the harsh and lonely conditions of an enslaved shepherd, he converted to Christianity (I could not find out how). After six years, he fled Ireland and returned home to Britain.
3. Sent: Patrick studied theology. Twenty-five years after his return, God sent him back to the place of his enslavement to bring the gospel good news to the captives. Really cool fact: One impact of his ministry was to explain gospel freedom to the women of Ireland, who at the time were treated like possessions. He taught them that they were free in Christ and belonged to God alone.
4. Saint: When Patrick died on March 17, 461, he was largely forgotten.Many years later, he was made patron saint of Ireland.
5. St. Patrick’s Day: The Irish did not celebrate the day as many in America do until the 1970’s. St. Patrick’s Day as the celebration of parades and wearing green was largely invented in America by Irish soldiers fighting in the revolutionary war. While researching,
I discovered this beautiful prayer written by St. Patrick: “God, my God, omnipotent King, I humbly adore thee. Thou art King of kings, Lord of lords. Thou art the Judge of every age. Thou art the Redeemer of souls. Thou art the Liberator of those who believe. Thou art the Hope of those who toil. Thou art the Comforter of those in sorrow. Thou art the Way to those who wander. Thou art Master to the nations. Thou art the Creator of all creatures. Thou art the Lover of all good. Thou art the Prince of all virtues. Thou art the joy of all Thy saints. Thou art life perpetual. Thou art joy in truth. Thou art the exultation in the eternal fatherland. Thou art the Light of light. Thou art the Fountain of holiness. Thou art the glory of God the Father in the height. Thou art Savior of the world. Thou art the plenitude of the Holy Spirit. Thou sittest at the right hand of God the Father on the throne, reigning for ever.”
