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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

For a New Day

For Love

Lord God, I thank you for all the love you have shown me: the love of family, the love of friends and fellow believers, and above all the inestimable love of my Lord Jesus Christ, which showers me and washes away the soil of this world. Like a great waterfall it gushes without ceasing, overwhelming every sin and pain the world can dish out.

Forgive my failures to love you fully in return, Lord. Forgive me for all the times I have disappointed those who love me or have disappointed you by failing those who might not even know who I am, but whom you have given me to love or help. Where I have brought sadness, anger or pain into the world, I pray that you forgive me, even if those who I have hurt will not or cannot.

And lead me henceforth to follow your example in all that I do, showing forth your love and grace in my every word and act. Let me be as constant and steadfast as Christ, even to the point of pain and death, should I ever be called to such sacrifice. Let me wash the feet of the world as you did, Holy Lord, for if there was no humility too great for you in your life, who am I to puff up in pride?

And I pray that you will accept my small and tarnished loving without judgment, but by your grace; and that your Holy Spirit will guide me in my imperfect love, to strengthen it, that, through me, the world may get a small glimpse of your love.

Mason Barge 11/09/2015

Meditation

[Let me wash the feet of the world.]

Parting Prayer

O  good shepherd, seek me out, and bring me home to your fold again. Deal favourably with me according to your good pleasure, until I may dwell in your house all the days of my life, and praise you forever and ever with them that are there.

from a prayer of St. Jerome, 408 A.D.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Psalm 148:7-13 (NKJV)

John 3:19-21 (ESV)

Hiding Our Sin

his is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Notes on the Scripture

In John 1:4-5, John wrote: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Here he echoes the introduction to his Gospel, by fleshing out the concept of Christ as the light of men. When God deemed that his son would become human and walk among us, he “turned on the lights.” Those who understand and walk into the light will know life. Those who do not, will die.

The first verse tells us why people turn away from Christ. They (or we) have committed acts of evil and they do not want the light to shine on their hidden guilt. Just as Adam and Eve hid from God, after eating the forbidden fruit, we hide from Christ.

This is an inborn human characteristic. We will do almost anything not to see our own faults. Our minds rationalize our behavior. We make excuses. We filter our memory through an inborn warping device, so that we actually remember events not as they occurred, but in a way that makes us look better—if you ever doubt this, simply listen to the accounts given by two people to a dispute. It is full of phrases like “I did not say that,” “That is not what happened,” etc. A person who rear-ended my wife in traffic once stormed out of the car, angry at her because she did not step on the gas fast enough when the light turned green! (Not to imply that my wife or I aren’t as guilty of rationalizing conduct as anyone else.)

But to hide our guilt is to step into the darkness. God is light; Christ is the light. If our sin does not come into the light, we will die from it. Our guilt and shame is part of our sin. We must confess our sins fearlessly, secure in the knowledge of forgiveness. We may have to pay a penalty on earth, but it is a bargain. For we can walk as God’s saints and live after our bodies die; the only price is loving the good with our whole hearts.

At Eternity’s Gate, Vincent van Gogh, ca. 1890. “In my painting At Eternity’s Gate, I have tried to express what seems to me one of the strongest proofs of the existence of God and eternity — certainly in the infinitely touching expression of such a little old man; . . . There is something precious, something noble, which cannot be destined for the worms.” (See full-size.)

Daily Inspiration

“The Bible is True”

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