GOLDEN WORDS

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to
     the Father except through me."

John 14:6  NIV



     Apart from the Way there is no going  . . .
     Apart from the Truth there is no knowing . . .
     Apart from the Life there is no living.  God says, "Remain in Christ, and rest
     yourself.  He is the way and the truth and the life." 

—  LIVING INSIGHTS NIV STUDY BIBLE

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman

January 2

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am making a new thing!" Isaiah 43:18,19a; "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17. "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am making a new thing!" Isaiah 43:18,19a; "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17.

God tells us, "I will cover your iniquity...I will blot out your transgressions...Go, and sin no more." He asks us to forget the things--the sins--that we committed last year, and go on with His love and mercy. We would wonder about the man who drops a glass bottle on the sidewalk, then gets down and so carefully collects all the jagged little pieces and then hugs them to his bosom until he bleeds. This is what we do when we spurn God's forgiveness.

"Forgetting what lies behind" (Philippians 3:13): slanders; temptations; the little and large faults of others; provocations that sear our sensitive nature; quarrels that either we or they have started; and all the disagreeables of life. Let us reach forward, as Paul tells us in the same verse, to what lies ahead and enjoy the agreeables that God has in store for us this year. We have such a perverted and sinful tendency to hone in on the bone and forget the delicious meat of life: family, friends, co-workers with whom we can share a thought and a laugh. Let us blot out others' transgressions and our disagreeables right now, at the beginning of another beginning.

This new year is another chance and charge to become a new character. We have yet again another opportunity to change from Saul to Paul, from Jacob to Israel. Physically we do not change, of course, but it is our motives, our principles and our habits which change. Jesus gave us the pattern for our unique transfiguration in His Sermon on the Mount and in what He Himself was and is. His Word is His promise, "And this is what he promised us--even eternal life" 1 John 2:25. Eternal life starts today.


Pat Nordman ©

 

T H I N K A B O U T I T

Baby Blue Wisdom Speaker and author Carol Kent was on the fast track to being an absentee parent--until her young son, Jason, made a simple observation. She recalls:  "We were eating breakfast together, and I had on an old pair of slacks and a fuzzy old sweater. He flashed his baby blues at me over his cereal bowl and said, 'Mommy, you look so pretty today.' I didn't even have makeup on! So I said, 'Honey, why would you say I look pretty today? Normally I'm dressed in a suit and high heels.' And he said, 'When you look like that, I know you're going some place; but when you look like this, I know you're mine.'  "His words were like an arrow piercing my heart. I realized I might fail at being a godly Christian mother because I was saying yes to so many speaking engagements. I got on my knees with my precious appointment book and offered it to God."  – Jan L. Senn in Today's Christian Woman. Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no. 4.

Today's' fact about Time and its measurement, a time quotation and a New Year Inspiration.

New Year 7

January 2 Ge 4:1 - 6:22 Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Today's  Devotion

 

... ...and by his light I walked through darkness!    JOB 29:3 NIV     DNA by Pat Nordman   "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us' Romans 12:6 "But each man has his own gift from God" 1 Corinthians 7:7 We each have our different DNA: Different Natures All! Just as fingerprints are different, so is each temperament and each physique. This is what makes life so profound and pro-voca-tive. How dull our lives would be if we all had the same predilections and elections. "For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust" Psalm 103:14 NIV. How easy it is to become discouraged and to hate ourselves because we can't do as much or as well as others, but it is God who has placed us in our circumstances and it is He who has given us our talents. Surely He realizes our weaknesses. He also knows that there are certain areas in which we can do very well, for this is His commission for our life. Even our bodily constitution is from the Creator, and we have to face the fact that others are stronger, physically. One person has strength of body; another may have to compensate with strength of will and be better for it, too. Some have manual dexterity; others, dexterity of mind. Even in thinking, there are differences. Some have logic and others have intuition, but both types arrive at the same conclusions. This doesn't mean that either is wrong. In choosing His twelve disciples, Jesus chose across the board of temperaments and physiques. They were busy, ordinary men who probably wondered why they were chosen for the distinct privilege of walking with the Master. He purposely chose clay that could be molded into His image. We, too, have been chosen that His image can be stamped onto our hearts. So let's not be discouraged at our lack of all ten talents, but give as we have been given by the Master. Had we all ten talents, pride would wipe away His impressions. © Pat Nordman   We each have our different DNA: Different Natures All! Just as fingerprints are different, so is each temperament and each physique.

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