Morning Musing: James 1:16-18

“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m away chaperoning camp this week with some of our awesome kids. I’ll still plan to post something each day, but it is going to be short and not about Exodus. Instead, I’ll give you a look into what we will be talking about this week. The theme for the week is Wow Factor, and we’re talking about the kind of things God does for us that make us say, “Wow!” First up and as we talked about tonight, God gives us good gifts.

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Morning Musing: Psalms 103:8-10

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One last reflection from camp today, and this one will be short because we are hitting the road early. We have talked this week about having a pure heart that reflects God’s holiness, a humble heart that willingly acknowledges who God is, a trusting heart that is willing to seek God’s kingdom ahead of our own, and today we are talking about a willing heart that is ready to live in obedience to God’s command. This morning, though, I want to reflect for a few moments on yesterday’s topic: a merciful heart. Let’s go beyond the surface.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 6:31-32

“So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Do you really know who God is? How well do you know Him? Do you know what His character is? Those are all questions you may answer instinctively if you’ve been around the church long enough to be programmed to answer them in a certain way, or they may prompt a bit more reflectiveness in you. I’d like you to really give it some thought today. Yesterday at camp we talked about having a trusting heart. This is a heart that has a grasp of God’s character that goes beyond the surface. There are several places in the Scriptures that call us to have this kind of a heart. Here’s one we talked about yesterday.

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Morning Musing: James 4:6-10

“But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We love stories of prideful people getting their comeuppance while humble people receive the honor and recognition they deserve. Arrogance is a trait we instinctively reckon at when we see it brazenly on display before us. At the same time, we are naturally drawn toward people who are constantly lifting up the people around them. And this is something pretty much every major religion points to as the way things should be in one form or fashion. But this wasn’t always the case. And it isn’t quite so common of a thing to think as we might expect. Yesterday at camp, we talked about having a humble heart. Here are a few things I learned.

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Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 16:7

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m away chaperoning camp again this week. That means posts will be on a slightly different schedule and will run a bit shorter than the norm. And, instead of plunging ahead into the plagues in Exodus, we’re going to reflect together on some of what the kids are learning. The theme for the week is Beyond the Surface. All week they will be learning about how God sees beyond the surface of our lives into our hearts. Because of that, what kind of a heart should we have? Let’s dig in beyond the surface today.

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