This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in King Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel. [Ephesians 2:10 (NTE)]
Last summer, we moved permanently to our home in Florida. Knowing we’d no longer be spending any time in the cold winters of the Midwest, I packed up our winter attire for the charity resale shop. Along with the many coats, scarves, hats, and boots, I had a pile of winter mittens and gloves. Along with our super warm double ragg mittens, my husband and I had an assortment of wool, fleece, and leather gloves. He had a pair of heavy duty insulated Carhartts and I had some polyester/spandex gloves I often wore while walking. While packing up the rest of the house, I came across work gloves in the furnace room, rubber gloves by the wash tub, gardening gloves in the garage, silicone heat resistant gloves by the grill, fingerless gloves in the gym bag, vinyl gloves in the first aid kit, a pair of oven mitts, and even some chemically treated silver polishing gloves! Each pair had a specific use but, without a hand inside any of them, they were nothing but empty shells.
Thinking about our mittens and gloves, I remembered the words a pastor said many years ago: “Let the hand of God slip into the glove of your life.” When God slipped His hand into Gideon’s life, the fearful man became a warrior. When He slipped His hand in David’s life, the shepherd boy became a giant killer and king. By slipping His hand into Mary’s life, a peasant girl became mother to the Messiah and, when His hand slipped into Peter’s life, a fisherman became a Rock. When God slipped His hand into the glove of Saul’s life, the persecutor of Christians became the builder of Christ’s church.
Those gloves are nothing more than pieces of fabric and leather until they are filled by a hand and put to use. Like a glove without a hand, we are but empty vessels until God’s Holy Spirit fills us. Each glove is designed for a specific function and so are we; each of us has been God-designed for a specific reason. When we let God fill the gloves of our lives, we become His hands and can do the work for which He specially made us. When God fills the voids in our lives, we truly come alive and gain both a sense of purpose and the power to achieve it.
Father Almighty, fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us loving obedient hearts and servants’ hands so that we joyfully do your holy work.
May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love and joy of God’s presence and not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for Him to fill full of His Spirit and His love. [Andrew Murray]
Games seem to be a requirement at wedding and baby showers and one such game is a purse scavenger hunt. Guests are given a list of items and the woman whose handbag contains the most of them is the winner. After playing it, I was amazed at the variety of articles beyond wallet, lipstick, tissues, and gum women pack into their purses.
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Come to your right mind, and sin no more. [1 Corinthians 15:33-34 (RSV)]
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. [Matthew 5:9 (NIV)]
Jerusalem and Samaria may only have been about 40 miles apart but centuries of hostility separated them. Both politics and religion alienated the Jews from the Samaritans—much as they did Catholics from Protestants in Northern Ireland during the violence plagued decades of The Troubles. Because of the enmity between the people, even though the shortest path from Judea to Galilee was through Samaria, most Jews detoured east to avoid Samaria entirely. John 4:4, however, tells us that Jesus “had to” pass through Samaria. The word used was edei meaning “it was necessary.” Why?
My husband, son, and sixteen-year old grandson were talking after dinner and reminiscing about Grandpa J, my husband’s father. A man of faith and fun, love and laughter, honesty and honor, he truly was one-of-a-kind. Having died shortly after my grand’s birth, the boy only knows his great-grandpa through photos and some wonderful stories that just seem to get better with time. The conversation gradually turned to the family business, started by Grandpa J nearly sixty-five years ago in the family’s garage. Although my grand had heard some of the stories, others were new and he listened intently.
Devotions of the Heart 