The FROG Lesson

This weekend my youngest came out of Sunday school with a bead creation of a frog and a bracelet that spelled out FROG. He told me that it had something to do with God. Darling... but I needed more. I asked his teacher what the significance of the frog was. She told me it's an acronym for Fully Rely On God. OK. Kind of a no-brainer right? But I couldn't shake the significance of this lesson.

In going about my week following this "simple" lesson I realized that I am lacking in this area. My struggle is the "Fully" part. Ironically, this is the word I've been having the most trouble remembering from my son's acronym FROG.

God is a Master that is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness. When we humbly and obediently submit to His authority over our lives He delights to bless us. When we rebel in the flesh He reminds us who He is and what He expects and usually gives us a chance or two or three to repent and turn back to His love. God is not willing that even one of His little ones should parish (Matt. 18:14) so He lovingly disciplines us wayward ones with life lessons that redirect our hearts, our steps, our dedication to Him. His expectation is always that we fully rely on Him - for our good and His glory. He's our only antidote for death and our only answer for life.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

In our next verse of thanks Paul asks the question (in the preceding verse) "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24b) Then he answers his own question with the only truth:

 "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." Romans 7:25

Paul recognizes that God's gift; Jesus' life, death and resurrection, is the only answer to his battle with sin. Fully relying on God's love, through Christ's redeeming blood, will rescue him from certain death in the sinful nature of man. Jesus is our only rescue as well.

As I was pondering the lesson that Paul was fleshing out in our thanks verse, here are God's breadcrumbs of truth that He provided for me over the last week (I pray that you see the picture that God was painting for me beginning with a cute little frog):

"We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love." - Peter Kreeft

"but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." 1 Corinthians 13:10

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

"God's children are to dedicate their lives to radiating His character" - love, generosity, benevolence

"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him." - Henry Varley

Along with the apostle Paul, let's give thanks to God for His character of love that so abundantly blesses us through Jesus Christ, that we need not fear death but joyfully embrace life in freedom as we Fully Rely On God!

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

"And be thankful." Colossians 3:15b

Clean, White Pages

Anticipation. Excitement. Freedom. New beginnings are a beautiful thing. But they don't come easy.

I live in the real world. Though I'm a recovering perfectionist, I stumble on a regular enough basis that I wonder if I'll ever fully recover. A continuous goal to replace pride with humility looms always and is an infinite battle of my will.

A real life snip-it. Teaching my daughter to cook. Spill on the stove. Perfectionist freaks. Battle lost. Heart hurt. Fun turned to shame. Stove cleaned. Eager student lost. Lesson done. Apology offered. Accepted. Hug. New beginning.

Had I submitted to humility in the first place and simply forgave the spill and wiped it up without my prideful will, the blessings would have far outweighed the backwards, real life scenario. But, I'm thankful for do-overs, forgiveness and grace.

God is a specialist in new beginnings. He delights in giving His children clean, white pages. Thanks be to God! He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). A love we cannot fully comprehend. Through His grace, He gives us room to grow and make mistakes and come to Him with our pure heart apologies which He ALWAYS accepts and forgives our sin.

In this verse of thanks, Paul is thanking God for the freedom from sin that the new converts in the early church (Christians) were experiencing as a result of their willingness to obey the teachings of Christ (the Gospel).

"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted." Romans 6:17

Christian obedience is not forced or legalistic, but willing - from the heart - "wholeheartedly obeyed." When we submit in humility to God, through Christ's sacrifice, we receive His grace. We receive the blessing of trading masters. Naturally we are slaves to sin. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become willing servants to righteousness - clean, white pages.

Thoughts from Oswald Chambers about God's providence in our new beginning.

"But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future... He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our 'rear guard.' (Isaiah 52:12)... Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ... Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him." - from My Utmost for His Highest

In 2015, please prayerfully join me in the daily pursuit to lay down my pride for humility and my will for His, and receive clean, white pages of grace from Christ's loving presence. With that, thanks will be our continuous companion and our master One of grace and love.

"And be thankful." Colossians 3:15b