Discipling Life

There is a kind of awe that stops you mid-step. Maybe you’ve felt it at the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley, or seeing the sunrise on the beach, or watching a thunderstorm roll in across wide-open fields. It is a moment that brings change. Something inside you goes quiet. You sense that you are in the presence of something far greater than yourself. Psalm 114 is a poem built entirely from that kind of awe. The psalmist recalls the Israel’s Exodus from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land and describes it in sweeping, even playful images. The sea sees God coming and runs away. The Jordan River turns back. The mountains skip like rams. The hills leap like lambs. It sounds almost whimsical, until you realize what is really being said: when God moves, all of creation responds. Nothing can remain unmoved in the presence of the living God. Israel’s story begins with grace. The people did not free themselves; they were  brought out . When the psalm tells us that “the...

On Monday we looked at the first three verses of Isaiah 51 . Today we look at the next three verses.  4 Listen to me, my people,     and give heed to me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from me     and my justice for a light to the peoples. 5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;     my salvation has gone out,     and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me,     and for my arm they hope. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens     and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke,     the earth will wear out like a garment,     and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever,     and my deliverance will never be ended. These verses resonate with the idea that sometimes the world feels like it’s coming apart at the seams. The news is...

We’ve all had moments when we realized something costly was given for us. Somebody made a sacrifice for us that we didn’t earn. Maybe a parent working long hours, a teacher spending a lunch break with you, a friend standing by us when it would have been easier to walk away, or a stranger offering unexpected kindness. Those moments can change how we live. They invite us to respond, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude and love. In 1 Peter 1:17-23, we are reminded of a far deeper gift. The writer says, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors… not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish” (vv. 18-19). This is the heart of the gospel: God’s grace reaches out to us before we ever respond. We call this prevenient grace: God is already at work, drawing us in, making a way where there was none. This grace doesn’t leave us unchanged. God’s grace isn’t ju...

In Psalm 116 , the psalmist begins with a beautiful declaration of love: “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live” (vv. 1-2). This isn’t some distant God we worship; it is a God who leans in close, like a parent bending down to hear our faintest whisper. Even in our most desperate moments, when “the snares of death encompassed” us, God was already there, reaching out before we even knew how to ask for help. Consider how the psalm moves from desperation to gratitude. “What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (vv. 12-13). The psalmist recognizes that grace received invites a response. Not repayment, because grace cannot be earned, but a life of thanksgiving, worship, and faithful living. This is the beginning of sanctifying grace at work, shaping a heart that desires to love God more dee...

There is so much contained in Acts 2:14, 36-41 . People hearing Peter’s words are “cut to the heart” and want to know what they must do. They are told to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. But what does it mean to repent? The word metanoia (μετάνοια) is usually translated as repentance. Some translations use the expression “change of heart and life” (e.g. Common English Bible) and others include the expression “a change of mind.” When we hear the word repent, we tend to think about a feeling of remorse, but it must be more than that. Repentance is indeed a change of mind, heart, and life. Is is a “turning back to God event.” Scriptures speak of the need for the “fruit of repentance.” In other words, true repentance is evidenced by a change of mind, heart, and life, that demonstrates a desire to live a life pleasing to God and is expressed in tangible evidence of loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Peter’s answ...

Sometimes it helps to remember where we’ve come from. Think for a moment of the family you were born into (or the family that took you in). Where did you grow up? Did your family stay rooted in the same place or did you move around much? What schools did you attend? Who were your friends? Did you grow up in a church? How have all these things influenced who you are today? As we are told during our Baptismal Renewal services: Remember who you are. Isaiah speaks to people who have forgotten their own holy beginnings ( Isaiah 51:1-3 ). “Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug” (v. 1). God reminds Israel to remember their roots, not in power or abundance, but in the small, faithful beginnings of Abraham and Sarah, who trusted in God’s promise when everything looked impossible. From one man and woman came a multitude, and from their faith came blessing upon blessing. God’s r...