Laced With Grace

Traveling along the Kansas highway is quite uneventful. Plains, plains, and more plains.  To conquer my boredom on the way to Illinois, I found entertainment by reading freeway billboards and semitrucks’ mudflaps. I wrote the phrases that made me laugh or think. Here are some:

 “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.” (In other words, back off, Buster.)

 “Relieves Gas Pain.” (Promoting fuel economy.)

 “Dentures in a Day.” (Okay, time to pull over and fast!)

 “We Buy the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.” (Thankfully, God isn’t picky. He bought all good, bad and ugly.)

 “Unstoppable, never needs batteries.” (Sounds like my kids. Actually, a name brand watch.)

 1-800-GRANNY-8 (Ate what? My fried chicken and corn on the cob leftovers?)

 “Injured. We can help.” (I know who can help: My Physician and Healer, Jesus.)

 “Use your outside voice.” (Love this. There’s always time for noise! Laugh. Sing in the shower. Play Marco Polo.)

 “Together, we’re going places.” (Right about now, it doesn’t seem like it. Haven’t I seen those fields before?)

 “Let your message shout!”

 And with that one, I challenge you to think. If your life were a billboard sign, what would it say? Are you promoting anything? Is your message readable and clear? Will it help others? Does your sign need tending to? Or a new look?

 As believers, our lives should shout, don’t you think? Not just any ole’ message, but a message worth sharing.  Because we are uniquely made by God, our billboards are different sizes, designs and colors. However the common thread is our taglines should honor God. Maybe for you, it’s living out your your life verse amongst your neighbors, family, and friends.

There’s no better time than today to make sure our billboards are seen by those passing by. I’d love it if we all determined for the next 24 hours to “let our message shout.” Shout for what we believe in. Shout by the way we treat and talk to others. Shout by our gratitude and forgiveness and love. 

Father God, we are your billboards. Write on our lives whatever you want others to see. Help us remember that we are the only Bibles some people will ever read. Help us live our lives in such a way that we shout out Your love!

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through Him,” Colossians 3:17 (NIV).

*************

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tiffany

http://www.teawithtiffany.blogspot.com

(I’m on a different computer and couldn’t upload my pictures of billboards. Hopefully I can update them later. They really add to this idea better than words can.)

Some people are just naturally optimistic.  You know what I’m talking about – the ones who always see the glass as half full while the rest of us sit around and discuss the reasons why the glass is half empty, how it got so empty and who’s to blame.  But, for some reason, I don’t know many of those glass-half-full types of people.  When I watch the evening news, I notice that the things that interest us as a nation are always the glass-half-empty situations; we’re not excited about the positive news stories.  Give us something to complain about, something to argue about, something worthy of a great discussion. 

Women gathered around a fellowship table can sound no different than the news.  “How’s your job going?” one woman asks only to open up the can of worms labeled “frustrations at work.”  In another corner of the room, the conversation turns to men and how they never can do x, y or z right or why they can’t seem to understand women and on we go.  Whining about this, complaining about that, and finding fault with everyone who isn’t there to defend themselves. 

With only two days until Thanksgiving, you could be thinking:

a) I’ve vacuumed this carpet three times this week, but someone keeps eating popcorn in here and I’ll have to clean it two more times before company comes on Friday. 

b) The turkey will never thaw out in the fridge on time and I’ll probably end up serving raw turkey AGAIN this year.

c)  The pumpkin pies I made last week (to get ahead of the game) have already been eaten so now I have to start all over with that project.

d)  I’ll NEVER be ready by the time everyone gets here.  The rolls are burning, the gravy has lumps, the bathroom sink has toothpaste spit in it that no one cleaned out, the toys have migrated from bedrooms to underneath the dining room table….and

WHY is it that we’re doing this anyway?

And in the midst of the bad news, the propensity to grumble and gripe or the frustrations with life, God whispers…. “Be thankful.”

Thankful for A) A carpet to vaccum…A home which provides warmth from the winter cold.

Thankful for B) Turkey to eat…What a blessing that we get to rush about cooking multitudes of food.  It means we are among the richest people in the world.  We are well fed.

Thankful for C) Projects like pumpkin pie to keep our idle hands busy and teach us the art of serving others (just the way Christ served us, in humility) Philippians 2

Thankful for D) Messes everywhere because they are a reminder of healthy happy children. 

Perhaps these are not your reasons for thanksgiving this year, but maybe God would have you take that “reason” to grumble and turn it around into a reason for praise. 

Philippians 4:8

“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Come visit me…

“The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” a Henry Scougal quote (from The Life of God in the Soul of Man ), quoted by John Piper in The Pleasures of God.

I have a quote attached to my computer at work that says, “You act out what you believe, not what you know.” I found that to be profound because even in my life I may know something is wrong, but that does not mean my actions follow. What a person believes is displayed in their non-verbal, their actions, or what they allow to be part of their life.

I will take that one step further and ask you “what do you delight in?” Henry Scougal I believe is saying in this quote, that in essence your worth and character are determined by what you delight in. You may say you delight in God’s word, you may say you delight in your family, but like the second quote states, these things may be what you “know you should delight in.” What does your actions say you delight in? One indication is how do you spend your time? What kind of music do you listen to? What type of talk radio do you allow your mind to meditate on? Do you watch movies you shouldn’t?

Now ask yourself what does God delight in? You may respond by saying, “God delights in His son, or He delights in us.” What is our main purpose and His goal while we are here on earth? If you get a chance listen to John Piper’s message on contextualizing the gospel, he makes it wonderfully simple.

Adam sinned, so we were broken off from God.
When sin entered we did not reflect His glory.

In Genesis it tells us when God created us in His own image (Gen. 1:26-27). We were created to reflect Him, His glory.

So God’s delight was broken, we no longer reflected him.

To know what is meant by “his glory” that is where the Holy Spirit comes in and helps us by producing the Fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, etc…). That is reflecting God’s glory.

Then God sent his only begotten son, who was perfect in every way. He was fully man and fully God, to die on the cross for our sins. Christ became our new Adam. Christ’s suffering then took away the sin, and made it possible for us to reflect his Glory.

So what does God delight in? HIS GLORY. Like Max Lucado says, “ITS NOT ABOUT US.” It is about Him, and reflecting His glory. But you want to know the GREAT NEWS?

His Glory is our blessings.

Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart (Ps. 37:4).

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name (John 12:27,28).

This Thanksgiving, DELIGHT IN THE LORD! For in delighting in the Lord you are reflecting His Glory, and by delighting in the Lord you will be pleasing to God.

I pray you find the sweetness of this, this Thanksgiving holiday. I am so thankful God sent his son to die for my sins, so I can be a reflection of God’s glory and delight.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for my sins. If there is anyone that does not know you I pray they seek you out. You promise that anyone who seeks they will find you. Thank you Jesus for paying the ultimate price for my sins! Amen.