A Lesson From "The Law"

Well, today (Monday) is my day off. We usually try to travel outside of our small town to just get
away for the better part of the day. On our drive, my wife and I were having a great conversation when I realized I was traveling downhill and was going about 80 mph. I started to break as I saw a police officer still a good way off parked in the median. As I passed (at only around 65 mph at this point), sure enough, I watched him in my rear view mirror as he slowly pulled onto the road eventually flashing his lights to pull over.

"Oh, no!" I thought. Not only was the reality that I would be given a ticket suddenly sinking in, but that this would be my second ticket in the past 2 months was eerily creeping over me! "This is not good!" I thought. Rachel was very calm and understanding in light of my current predicament!

As I sat in the car during that seemingly eternal time when the officer takes your information back to his car to make sure you are not a murderer or anything, I couldn't help but feeling like kicking myself for not heeding the last officer's warning 2 months ago to "watch my speed!". You see, I took my chances with the law and the law won!

As I continue to think back upon the events of today I cannot help but think of an even deeper principle. The Law (God's Law) is meant to crush us. It will win every time! It is meant to show us the deep depravity and error of our ways. It is meant to show us of our great need. While we can try to "do better next time" (like the police officer's words to me 2 months ago!) when it comes to the law, we always fall short. No matter how hard we may try, it will not be long before we find ourselves pulled over along the road of life having broken God's perfect Law.

BUT, thanks be to our God for a Redeemer! Where I have broken the Law, Christ has perfectly obeyed the Law.  Where I have failed, Christ has fully succeeded. Where I fall short, Christ has reached God's perfect standard. Now, when I fail and must pull over alongside the roadways of life to look at my "ticket" of failures and insufficiencies, I see the blood red words of Christ written all over them and it says this: "PAID IN FULL".

Thank you Father that your Law points me first to my failure but does not end there! Thank you that your Law points me to Jesus and my daily need for Him!

Today's Prayer: A Prayer of Worship

Father,

We come to You with grateful hearts, O LORD! How magnificent are Your ways and Your dealings with man! Our minds could never comprehend You yet You came down to our level by means of Your Son so that we could truly have a relationship with You. How blessed we are, Lord. No depth of riches, prestige, or earthly success could ever match what You have already done for us. Father, we are eternally grateful. May today our minds focus on what we have in You, not what temporal desires we would relish in even for only a few brief moment. God, You know what is good for You are good. You know what we need for You are what we need. Thank you for choosing us for Your own good pleasure. Thank You for making us Your very own. May we live everyday in light of these eternal truths, Father. We glorify Your name today. We desire, this day, to be living testimonies of praise for what You have done in and through us. Lord, we worship You today. May our praise be acceptable in Your sight. We are Your children.

Through Jesus we pray,

Amen

Today's Prayer: The Need for Guidance

Please grant us Your mercy and Your goodness for the day. Make us aware of our own selfish pride and arrogant views that we so often hold against others. Release from the guilt that has already been taken care of at the cross. Guide us to the individuals you would have us touch with your love and favor. Help us to see that this life is not one in which we live for self but one in which we live for You and for Your glory. Please let us, as Your children, dwell in thankfulness, reliance, joy, and peace. Help us to see that the difficulties and trials we encounter are allowed by Your divine hand and that You will lead us through them as we place our trust in You. Help us to remember that You are the One who will lead us beside the still waters of refreshment. Father, may we never lose our focus. May we never take our eyes off of Your Son. May we go boldly on knowing You are in control. Thank you for providing a love that has never been known in this world before. Thank you for entrusting us with a divine call. Thank you for equipping us to serve You. God, give us this day Your gentle guidance.

In Your Son's name we come,

Amen

Show Us Christ

I am currently doing a short sermon series at church on how to view the Scriptures. I find that there are generally 2 ways that we can approach the Bible. The first is a man-centered approach. This approach sees self at the center of the Bible. This view misses or minimizes the grand narrative of the Bible: God's mission of redemption of all things for His glory. In other words, the Scriptures are all about me: the path I must follow, my guide to blessing, my list of "do's" and "don'ts", etc. etc. etc. When we come to the Bible in this way, how burdened we become! How off track we can go! Sure the Bible has many commands. Sure the Bible speaks of blessing and fruitfulness. Yet, is all of this dependent upon us?

I believe the Scriptures point to a better way. In Luke 24:25-27 Jesus tells us that all of the Scriptures point to Him. Jesus is to be the focal point of our approach to Scripture! He is the one who has already perfectly obeyed every command of God. He is the One who sits enthroned in heaven with all blessings and any blessing we receive comes because of Him. He is the One who brings us freedom to live free from the shackles of sin and self for a greater purpose! It is all about Jesus! The Old Testament points us to Jesus and the New Testament expounds upon Him.

Much more could be said about this topic and will be in future posts. For now, I want to close by sharing with you a beautiful song that should be the prayer of our hearts every time we open the pages of Scripture both privately and corporately. Enjoy!

Click to watch on YouTube

A Reason to Give Thanks

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." I Thessalonians 5:18

Its been a while since my last post. A lot has happened in the Pereira household over the past few weeks including the birth of our beautiful little girl! As I sat thinking about my blog and what the Lord would have me write, a verse that has become very real to me over the past few weeks popped into my mind. Let's face it, this is one of those verses which is much easier to read than to live out! I recall sitting on the couch very frustrated over a life event that was really weighing on me. It wasn't anything overly serious like cancer, tragedy, or anything else on the top 10 lists of life crises. Yet, it was, nonetheless, greatly consuming my mind and energies and was burdening me. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my Bible app to take a look at the "verse of the day" when I Thessalonians 5:18 came up. It really hit me between the eyes. I had totally lost perspective on what God had called me to do! 

God was, once again, trying to pry my fingers from trying to control even the "little things" of life to fasten my gaze upon Him and His sufficiency. When this happens, my flesh screams out in the pain of lost certainty while my spirit is ever mindful of the great need my God is trying to meet. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the battle lies. 

So, what are we to do in such times of difficulty. Give thanks: not for the enjoyment of what we are enduring but for what God is seeking to rescue us from, ourselves. How can I give thanks? I certainly can't muster up any thankfulness on my part. My thankfulness stems from realizing God's part in what He is accomplishing in my life. As I look to Him, I remember that His will is being accomplished in my life. And best of all, I do all of this with the certainty and encouragement that Jesus is on my side, having already secured for me that which I could never secure for myself, acceptance and hope no matter what comes my way!

How about you? What has God allowed in your life that He wants to use to rescue you from you? That is something to give thanks for!

Baby Girl On the Way.......(sometime)

As many of you know, Rachel and I are eagerly awaiting the birth of our 3rd child. As we joked with our church family on Sunday, we are not keeping our fingers crossed for a "timely" delivery. Rachel
was 8 days overdue with our 1st son and induced at 7 days over with our 2nd son. This baby is a girl so we were both hoping that maybe this child would be different. Maybe this one would be early.....well, maybe on time??? Well, tomorrow (July 8) is Rachel's due date and there does not seem to be much glimmer of hope.

One thing I notice, however, with both Rachel and I is this: everyday we are living with anticipation. Every day our minds are geared to the realization that there is not much time left (even though it doesn't feel that way--especially to my wife!). Everyday we are wondering when our new baby girl will make her presence known!

When I think of this, my attention is often turned to the anticipation of our Lord and Savior's return. Jesus will indeed one day return (Acts 1:11; Jn. 14:3) even though no one knows the exact time (Mark 13:32). But am I living in light of this promised and glorious event? Are my waking moments spent in anticipatory living of my Lord's soon return (Rev. 3:11)? Am I getting so bogged down in the details and routines of life that I am actually denying the reality of His coming through my thoughts and actions?

I mentioned earlier that everyday we are living with the anticipation of our little girl's birth. But if I am to be completely honest, while this is true, there are many moments when ministry, life, decision making, etc. distract me from the imminency of her coming. She is much more on Rachel's mind as she carries her every minute of everyday! Yet this does not negate the fact that our baby will come at an appointed time. So....will I be ready? Is my bag packed? Is the car seat in place? Am I mentally geared to raise another infant? I hope so!

How about you? Are you ready for Christ's return? Are you living in light of that victorious moment? Will you be caught unaware with your "bag unpacked" and the "carseat" left in the garage?

That day is coming! As John states, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20)

Product Or Process?

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo that I saw on Facebook the other day! It really made me laugh because it hit so close to home. How many of us have not felt this way before! Let me play out the

common scenario with you:

The Lord impresses upon your heart through the revelation of His Word a spiritual truth or need in your life. Your heart is tender because you want to follow in the ways of Christ. You sincerely ask the Lord to give you the needed quality in your life to better follow Him and reflect His glory. However, you soon become discouraged when you find yourself repeatedly failing in the very area that you gave over to the Lord and asked for His help with. 

Sound familiar? I know it does for me. What do we do during these discouraging times? Too often, though not with the exact words, we reflect the attitude of the picture above. However, we fail to realize that God is doing the very work that we are asking Him to do by allowing us to face those very difficulties. You see, you cannot have the product without the process. God uses this process to grow us, strengthen us, and make us more dependent on Him.

So, in the midst of your failures, remember that God is working in you through those very failures. You do not need to depend upon yourself. Instead, realize that your weakness is further showing you your need for the perfection of another. You need Someone who has already perfectly obeyed where you are failing. You need Someone who has faced the very temptations that you are succumbing to but went through them without giving in. You need Someone who both understands you and has keeps you secure--no matter what. That Someone is Jesus. In our union with Christ, His obedience has been transferred to our account and made to be our obedience. His perfection is likewise our perfection. That is more than enough to keep us going and striving to follow in His footsteps!