Grow in grace
Posted Mar 6, 2019
Did You Know?
The Church of the Resurrection will offer Ash Wednesday services at all four of our campuses at 7 pm. Leawood will also offer shortened services at 8 am and noon, as well as a children’s and family service at 6 pm in Room B206. Please join us tonight.
Daily Scripture
1 Peter 1:22-2:3
22 As you set yourselves apart by your obedience to the truth so that you might have genuine affection for your fellow believers, love each other deeply and earnestly. 23 Do this because you have been given new birth—not from the type of seed that decays but from seed that doesn’t. This seed is God’s life-giving and enduring word. 24 Thus,
All human life on the earth is like grass,
and all human glory is like a flower in a field.
The grass dries up and its flower falls off,
25 but the Lord’s word endures forever. [Isaiah 40:6-8]
This is the word that was proclaimed to you as good news.
2:1 Therefore, get rid of all ill will and all deceit, pretense, envy, and slander. 2 Instead, like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, 3 since you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Reflection Questions
From today through Easter, the sermon series on “The Walk” and the daily GPS will focus on teaching Bible principles and time-honored spiritual practices that help Christians of all types, temperaments and circumstances become more deeply rooted in their faith journey with God. Whatever your starting point, we hope you will join us in this journey. You can download an ebook of our Lenten Journal here.
Peter’s searching words show us what happens deep inside when Christians grow: we love deeply, sincerely, from our heart. Hypocrisy, deceit, envy or unkind speech are signals that we need a closer walk with Jesus, learning to love as he loves.
- Peter told his readers (and us) that hypocrisy, deceit, envy and unkind speech are qualities to “get rid of.” How has God made your life better by replacing those negative qualities with “the pure milk of the word”? In what areas of life do you want God to fill you more fully and nourish your spiritual growth more completely during this Lenten season?
- Peter referred in 1:23 to Christians receiving new birth – being born again. “Born again” did not mean, as it sometimes does today, to align yourself with a religious organization or political persuasion. It was Jesus' way of describing the new inner life the Holy Spirit brings into any heart that is open to him. Notice the qualities Peter said show in the life of a person to whom God’s power has given new birth. Do you find those qualities desirable?
Respond
Confess. We have all fallen short of who God wants us to be, in things we have done or things we have left undone. The opportunity to confess our sins comes with the absolute affirmation that the God of grace offers forgiveness and restoration.
Where do you need grace today? Write it on a piece of paper, then prayer for forgiveness and tear it up, trusting in God's grace.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, give me the gift of honesty with myself, so that I can recognize where I need to change. Show me the places where you call me to grow in your amazing grace. Amen.
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Kari Burgess
Kari is a part of Resurrection's ShareChurch team. She is involved with the marketing, guest registration, and volunteer coordination for the conferences we host, and she considers it a joy to serve, using her gifts to help renew God's church. She enjoys running and hiking and loves being a cheerleader for her girls at all of their sporting, music and school events.
This past Sunday, our daughter, Savannah, was confirmed as a full member of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, along with over 250 of her peers (mostly 8th graders, some high school students). They have been working towards this day since last September, gathering each week for large group teaching, small group discussion and mission work. It was a beautiful ceremony and celebration on Sunday.
I had the opportunity to help with part of their confirmation retreat a couple of weeks ago as a guide for an experience reviewing the “stations of the cross.” Each group of 10-12 confirmands and their leaders were led through 5 stations where they read aloud Jesus’ journey – his birth, his ministry, his arrest, torture and death and his resurrection and responded in prayer. Every group was a bit different, some taking it more seriously than others, but all taking some solemn time to reflect and pray on our faith’s central story at the conclusion of the confirmation program.
One group of young ladies was taking longer than some of the other groups. As I stepped closer, I could hear the leader stop after each reading and ask, “What are we meant to learn here?” or “What is the significance of this station?” She really took the time to dig deeper into the experience. I heard one of the girls ask, “I still just really don’t get why Jesus had to die for us? What is different for us because of his death?”
Wow. Just wow. The heartfelt depth of the question and the thoughtful, genuine and unhurried response of the leader was beyond touching. I stepped away, not wanting to intrude on the confidentiality of their conversation, but so heartened by the nature of it.
These confirmands have declared Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and are embarking on a lifelong journey to discover and claim a faith of their own. They are like a sponge – learning so much and soaking it all in. It reminds me of our scripture today from 1 Peter 2:2-3, “Instead, like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
May these confirmands continue to pursue the journey, grow in their faith and be open to learn from mistakes and missteps along the way. May they come to more fully understand and accept God’s grace, forgiveness and restoration.