Daily Encouragement | A scripture-based, 60-second, challenge toward fidelity in living-out the call to Christian discipleship! | Page 62

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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

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“God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil — evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6, The Message)

God had made humans in His own image and after His likeness. The potential for immense good was resident within every creature, and it broke God’s heart to see divine inspiration squandered, and human potential corrupted. Yet, it was this apparent disregard of goodness, justice, and mercy by the very people that God had created, that He regretted having created us. Moreover, God was about to hit the “reset” button on the world that He had called “good” at the dawn of Creation.

Yet, even in the midnight of divine reckoning, God does not extinguish the flickering hope of reconciliation. In the case of today’s scripture, God’s immutable righteousness required the “reset”; as His unfathomable mercy allowed a “restart” through the faithful obedience of Noah and his family members.

God continues to seek us — even in our rebellion. God continues to loves us — even with a broken heart. How can we resist such love? – Luther

Tagged God's love, reconciliation, the book of Genesis