Friday, October 17, 2008

Sample E-devotion

Here's the daily devo I sent out today to the Wed. night ladies class. It's based on Calvin Miller's book, "Love: Cultivating Spirit-Given Character":


Day 2: The Purpose of God in My Life
Read Genesis 21:1-6

God's love is inseparable from His grace. The gifts that He gives us show His grace, and the grace that He gives us shows His love. See how you can't have one without the other? Because His very essence IS love, He is naturally full of grace toward us.
If we look at our passage in Genesis, we see that "The Lord was gracious to Sarah...and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant." Though it might have seemed like odd timing to Sarah (remember, she laughed at the notion of having a baby when she was older than most grandmothers, and even named her baby Isaac, meaning "laughter"!), as it turned out, God new the perfect time and the perfect way to show His love to her. Though God's promises sometimes seem dormant, they are never dead. Because He is love, His heart is compelled to give. Grace in its most basic meaning is "gift". Sarah held that sweet little Isaac and easily saw that God is love.
We thank God for His gifts when we say "grace". If we see a ballerina gifted with poise, balance, and interpretation, we say she is graceful. When we talk about the many blessings and gifts that God gives us, we say He is gracious.
So how are we to see the purpose of God in our lives? Scripture says we are His ambassadors. Our feet carry His message. Our hands reach out as His hands. Our minds hold His vision. Our hearts beat with His compassion, all in the name of love.
Sarah's story reminds us that our relationship with God is not one-way. He is not stationary on His throne merely listening to incoming requests, but otherwise uninvolved. He is in the middle of our lives, graciously giving His love. And our purpose in this life is to give Him glory by being the vessel through which He can show that "grace-love" to others. Now that's purpose!

Questions:
1. Do you know what God's purpose is for your life? Explain.

2. Do you show God's love to others? In what ways?

1 comment:

Kathy Douglas said...

I would LOVE to get them. Address:dkdouglas@hotmail.com Thanks!!!