Saturday... Here is something else we do a lot.

Saturday... Here is something else we do a lot. We shop and shop and shop. Searching for more and more.

Are you are shopper? Do you love to shop? I love to look but I alway hope there is a Starbucks close so I can rest while everyone else shops. But I do love to give. That gives me joy.

Now the writer of Proverbs shows where shopping can be a problem. Proverbs 4:6 (MSG) says, "Why is everyone hungry for more? 'More, more, they say." I've got to find that just right gift or I have to have it. I need it, I want it. It has to be the best gift I have ever given. I want more, more.

He goes on in verse 7, "I have God's more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees" And that is so true. God is so good to us. He wants to give us more joy than we can ever get in all the shopping that we do. And shopping makes me so tired. Searching for more and more is hard work.

He says, "At days end I'm ready for sound sleep, for you God, have put my life back together."

Now shopping is a part of this time of the year but stuff is not what will give us joy. Oh watching that person open the gift you gave them is motivation for looking and finding that gift but the joy comes from the love that goes along with the gift.

The New Living Bible says, "Many people say, 'Who will show us better times?' Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy... In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord will keep me safe."

He wants to give us greater joy. "Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Thursday... Yet, now this is true.

Colossians 1:22a (NLT), "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body." Thursday... Yet, now this is true. Now Paul a prisoner in Rome is writing a letter to a church in Colossae. And in Colossians 1:21 (MSG) he says, "Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds" The NLT says "This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated by your evil thoughts and actions." And that is where so many in this world live today. They are blowing it and they don't know what to do. Yes, they are hostile in their minds and they are engaging in evil deeds but there is Good News. Now Paul in verses 19-20 sets the stage for an answer to those who don't want to live that way. He says, "For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth b...

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