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Written by Keith Riley, a contemporary pastor and author. This is an excerpt from his work “The Sacred Ordinary of Each Day.”

There are spiritual practices that can help us stop and pay attention, receive the gifts, and find God. Handed down by Christ himself and Christians across the ages are simple ways to turn our attention to ​“every good and perfect gift … coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.”Here’s one to explore: At the end of a day, run back over the day in chunks: morning, midday, afternoon, and evening.  Think about what you enjoyed eating and drinking. Recall the friends you spent time with, the highs of your day, and even the difficult moments. Then, hold your day in prayer before God.  Where did you experience God’s love in your day? Was it in the smile of a loved one, the sun on your face, or the delightful taste of that ice cream?  Look back on your day with curiosity and grace. There is no need for shame or regret. Instead, pray, ​“God, help me to see your gifts to me in this day.” I was able to practice this recently on a gloriously long summer day. Here were some of the good gifts of God’s love to me: the smell of redwood trees in the sun, the taste of my morning coffee, a text message from a good friend, watching my daughter play at the beach, seeing her smile and laugh, the cool ocean breeze, the sunset, and the taste of tacos at the beach.  In each of these good things, I was able to look back and imagine God smiling at me with delight as I enjoyed the goodness of the day… God’s love is waiting for you in the midst of your sacred, ordinary day.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  [1 John 4:16]

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Written by Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), an American author.

Over coffee in our living room, David du Plessis, a minister formerly of South Africa said, “For a long time I was puzzled about what “loosing” and “binding” meant. Then I found out: it means that by hanging onto my judgment of another, I can bind them to the very conditions I’d like to see changed. By our unforgiveness, we stand between the other person and the Holy Spirit’s work in convicting them and then helping them. By stepping out of the way through releasing somebody from our judgment, we’re not necessarily saying “they are right and I am wrong.” Forgiveness means, “They can be as wrong as wrong can be, but I’ll not be the judge.” Forgiveness means that I’m no longer binding a certain person on earth. It means withholding judgment. “How I wish, “ David continued, “that I’d been taught that from the beginning. My whole Christian life would have been different. Judge, judge – there are not more judgmental people in the world than Christians. When the Lord made me face up to that, He told me “you’re not forgiving. You’re a public prosecutor, judging everybody in sight. And I want you to be a public defender – not a public prosecutor.”

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. [ Matthew 7:2]

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Written by Mark D. Roberts, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from his work “The Gifts of Wisdom.”

We might define wisdom simply as “the capacity or ability to discern what’s right in life.” Such wisdom doesn’t exist “out there” in some disembodied form. Rather, it is found in persons (especially God!). The wisdom from above is deeply personal. When it is active in our lives, it not only helps us to live rightly but also forms us to be more like Christ. … If we think of wisdom as “the capacity or ability to discern what’s right,” we must remember that this is the capacity or ability of a person. Wisdom isn’t a technical ability. Nor is it a list of best practices that could be separated from the best practitioners. Rather, wisdom is something deeply connected to the human being who has it, uses it, and is formed by it. … Commenting on James 3:3-18, Uli [Chi in his book The Wise Leader] writes, “For James, ‘the wisdom from above’ produces a certain kind of person. It’s not first and foremost a body of knowledge but is instead, embodied in a person.” Wisdom is not just something we possess but something that possesses and shapes us. Therefore, as Uli observes, “Wisdom is about formation, not just about information.”

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. [James 3:13-18].

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Written by Ken Boa, a contemporary author and evangelist.

Lord God, it takes little faith to realize that trouble in this fallen world is unavoidable. And now that I have come to faith in Jesus Christ, I know that opposition and tribulation may well increase, especially when I seek to be Your ambassador of reconciliation in the lives of people I meet. When I encounter personal adversity or hostility and when I consider the broader adversity and hostility to the gospel in this world, may I choose to respond in love and not in fear or hatred. May I remember that people are not the enemy; they are victims of the enemy. Give me the grace to embody love for others in spite of what they say or do, and to express the sacrificial love of Jesus by treating others in the way Jesus treated me. My confidence is in You, and I will steadfastly hold fast to You rather than wringing my hands over the evils in this generation. Amen.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.  [Romans 13:8]

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Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor and author.  This is an excerpt from his book “Grace for the Moment for Moms.”

When you wonder if anyone is listening, know this: God is. Your voice matters in Heaven. He takes you very seriously. When you enter His presence, He turns to you to hear your voice. No need to fear that you will be ignored. Even if you stammer or stumble, even if what you have to say impresses no one, it impresses God, and He listens.  He listens to the painful plea of the elderly in the rest home.  He listens to the confession of the prodigal.  When the guilty beg for mercy, when the spouse seeks guidance, when the mom steps out of the chaos and into the chapel, God listens. Intently. Carefully. God is standing on the front porch of Heaven, expectantly hoping, searching the horizon for a glimpse of His child… And the name He calls is yours.   

You will call My name. You will come to Me and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will search for Me. And when you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me! [Jeremiah 29:12-13]

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Written by A. B. Simpson(1843-1919), a Canadian preacher, theologian, and author.

We are told that Abraham could look at his own body and consider it as good as dead without being discouraged  because he was not looking at himself but at the Almighty One. He did not stagger at the promise, but stood straight up unbending beneath his mighty load of blessing; and instead of growing weak he waxed strong in the faith, grew more robust, the more difficulties became apparent, glorifying God through His very sufficiency and being “fully persuaded” (as the Greek expresses it) “that he who had promised was,” not merely able, but as it literally means “abundantly able,” munificently able, able with an infinite surplus of resources, infinitely able “to perform.” He is the God of boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small; our expectations are too limited. He is trying to lift us up to a higher conception and lure us on to a mightier expectation and appropriation. Oh, shall we put Him in derision? There is no limit to what we may ask and expect of our glorious El-Shaddai; and there is but one measure here given for His blessing, and that is “according to the power that worketh in us.”  

And being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is bound by, He is able to make good [Romans  4:20].

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Written by George MacDonald (1824-1905), a Scottish author, poet, and minister.  This is an excerpt from his book “Essential Poems.”.”

Too eager I must not be to understand.

How should the work the master goes about

Fit the vague sketch my compasses have planned?

I am his house—for him to go in and out.

He builds me now—and if I cannot see

At any time what he is doing with me,

’Tis that he makes the house for me too grand.

The house is not for me—it is for him.

His royal thoughts require many a stair,

Many a tower, many an outlook fair,

Of which I have no thought, and need no care.

Where I am most perplexed, it may be there

Thou mak’st a secret chamber, holy-dim,

Where thou wilt come to help my deepest prayer.

But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.  [Hebrews 3:6]

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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a British writer, literary scholar, and lay theologian. This is an excerpt from his book “Mere Christianity.”

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.  [Psalm 139:23-24]

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Written by Thomas Kelly (1893-1941), an American Quaker educator. This is an excerpt from his book “The Eternal Promise.”

The church building is not a church, the brick and mortar structure is not a church. God doesn’t live in a house with a peaked roof. God lives inside people. And if God isn’t inside you, you needn’t expect to find him in a house with a peaked roof that is outside you. God is within. And where He dwells, there is a holy place. [George] Fox was finding he had an altar inside his own soul. Inside him was a hushed and holy Presence, too sacred to be destroyed, too wonderful not to be visited continually. The holy Presence was inward. Fox found Him there, and all life was new. It was a wonderful discovery, to find that you are a temple, that you have a church inside you, where God is. There is something awful, that is awe-inspiring, down at the depths of our own soul. In hushed silence attend to it. It is a whisper of God Himself, particularizing Himself for you and in you, and speaking to the world through you.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. [1 Corinthians 1:30].

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Written by Dennis Hollinger, a contemporary professor and ethicist.

Terrorism tends to breed an emotional response of revenge. This is a natural retort wanting to hit back, get even, and take out vengeance on the evil doers. Revenge has roots in our created being, for it is the innate desire to make right the wrong. But, as fallen creatures, in us that deep impulse becomes twisted, excessive, and misguided. Revenge wants to strike back without principle or limitation on the basis of emotional outrage. Since September 11, we’ve heard the language of revenge, as people pour out contempt toward Muslims, Arabs, and people of Middle Eastern descent. Even Arab Christians in this country have had to fear for their lives. But in place of revenge, we need justice. Life in a fallen world calls for justice, even as believers are called to a spirit of forgiveness that ultimately seeks restoration. A voice for justice in a world that seeks unrestrained vengeance is a voice for fairness, not just emotional outrage. Justice seeks to limit our passions and feelings and to respond from principle not internal sentiments. It is never in personal hands but develops mechanisms to effect it. Justice is not arbitrary but is supported by evidence. It has often been symbolized by the blindfold on “lady justice” to ensure that justice, not revenge, is our response to evil. Without justice, revenge builds a history of injustice, perpetuates more acts of violence, and the spiral begins—generation after generation—a reality we know all too well throughout the world. The ultimate goal of justice is restoration and peace, for “the effect of righteousness will be peace,” Thus justice, not revenge… A sense of mystery in our understanding of and relationship to God is significant for deep spirituality.

The fruit of that righteousnesswill be peace;its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. [Isaiah 32:17]

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