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“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48, NIV)

God expects His children — every one of them — to be as He is.

If it is otherwise, either God is wrong for expecting something of us that we are incapable of achieving; or we do not have His “DNA” and God is lying when He claims paternity.

Today’s scripture verse follows Jesus’ command — with explicit examples — to love our enemies. It is difficult to love our enemies because love is very personal. We crave it only from those who matter to us; and we give it only to those we deem worthy.

To love as God loves is the litmus test of our progress toward divine perfection. Succeed at this one thing, and everything else we do falls into place. Fail at this one thing, and nothing else we do (no matter how spiritual or sacrificial) matters.

The Gospel of John reminds us that “God so loved the world (the same “world” that would abuse and murder His only begotten Son) that God, nevertheless, gave. . .” (John 3:16).

When a person accepts the way of Jesus, the Spirit of God is seal of God’s paternity. The Spirit is the power to be perfect as our Father is perfect. The Spirit is the strength to love.

It is not easy but, with God, it is possible — and expected. – Luther

Tagged love, paternity, perfection, the book of Matthew

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“The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” (Psalm 135:6, NIV)

“Unbossed and unbought” was the slogan of the late Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005).

Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the U. S. Congress (New York – 1968); the first black candidate from a major political party (Democratic) for the U. S. Presidency (1972); and the Democratic party’s first female nominee for President.

I remember well the appeal of Congresswoman Chisholm: Direct, truthful, principled, and — of course — “unbossed and unbought.” Many in the electorate who were on the margins of political influence and financial power were energized by Chisholm’s history and her message.

The psalmist’s description of God is of One who is truly sovereign. Sovereignty is defined as “the quality of having supreme, independent authority” in a particular realm; or, as the psalmist says: Doing “whatever pleases him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.”

It should cheer us to worship a God who is sovereign over (and in) everything because He can never be “bossed,” and He can never — ever — be “bought.” – Luther

Tagged God's sovereignty, Shirley Chisholm, the book of Psalms

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“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. . .” (I Corinthians 15:9-10, NIV)

What effect has the grace of God had in you?

Has it made you more humble? Has it made you more gracious? Has it made you more compassionate? Has it made you more obedient to the will of our heavenly Father?

Like Paul, we’ve all come into the light of the truth of God from some very dark places. In Paul’s case, he was a former enemy and persecutor of the disciples of Jesus. He took no credit for what he had become: An apostle of the same church that he had previously tried to destroy!

Paul knew that God’s grace had given him another chance to change for the better. He knew that repentance is the desired effect of God’s mercies: To turn from darkness to the light; from death to life; from the faraway or foreign places to our true home. – Luther

Tagged God's grace, mercy, repentance, the book of 1 Corinthians