Author: pastor.gerooney@gmail.com

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15

Maturity is a choice. Growing older is not. You don’t impassively get one with the other.

No one has say in when and where they enter the world and no one has a say in when and where they leave, but the choices in the middle bring about the mental and emotional level you dwell in. 

Maturity is facing the truth and owning what is yours…….mistakes and failures, successes and blessings. Recognizing other’s contributions to the above mentioned and showing gratitude where it is due exchanges bitterness and defeat for grace and mercy.

Believers become the body of Christ and Christ wants to perfect our growth to do His work on earth. The path for this progress is truth.  In accepting Jesus as the only truth we submit our tainted perspectives, petty folly and selfish ambitions to His perfect knowledge, patient love and final victory. Suddenly we are grown-up Christians, a very nice thing to be.

Love,

Gretchen

P.S.  I don’t think my spirit face has any wrinkles!!! Or maybe in loving truth I need to be okay if it does.

Have a great day!

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I Corinthians 13:1

Sorry if I offend any percussionist, but there is no worse music on earth than an extended, accapella, snare drum solo, a gong sonata, or maybe a cymbal minuet!  It’s just a bunch of noise that brings about one thought, “How soon will this end?”

Talk takes no effort, costs nothing and often brings the same response as the music I just spoke of, “When will it end?”  Lip service is worthless if there is no manpower to back it up.  Love is the verb this world needs. 

Words just stir air molecules, love in action changes things.

Just Love,

Gretchen

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17

This loud mouthed, fortune-telling young slave girl had become a regular aggravation to Paul as he made his daily trek to a place of prayer. After many days Paul turned and said to the spirit possessing this woman, “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her!”

Things didn’t go well for Paul and Silas after this act of healing. There is no further record of the young woman who lost her lively hood and that of her owner. BUT! A few hours later, wrongly flogged and imprisoned Paul and Silas experience the miracle of freedom from bondage and lead their jailer and his household to salvation.

This narrative leaves two legacies. Sinful man acts predictably.  The slave owner is outraged that his easy money is cut off, shows little respect for any other human and keeps his mouth going about his rights as a Roman citizen until he starts a riot that robs two other Roman citizens of their liberties. Godly men make beautiful history.  Because they are disciplined to daily prayer, they free a woman from an unwelcome spirit, respond to their injustice with praise and prayer, and when a natural disaster breaks their chains, they remain in place to minister to the frightened, hopeless and lost. Finally, they use their ‘rights as Romans’ to further the gospel, not oppress others.

You get to choose. Which legacy do you want to embrace?

Have a great day!

Gretchen

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. John 17:20

Jesus is within hours of being crucified and He knows it.  He also knows that His beloved disciples, the men He spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with for the last three years have no clue about what is coming down.  Yes, Jesus has prepared them, but they cannot comprehend what will prove to be the most mysterious, glorious and victorious event of all time.

So what does Jesus do?  He prays.  He sets things in perspective in a quiet talk with His dad.  The entire seventeenth chapter of John is Jesus praying, first for Himself to focus on the big picture, eternal life, then for His disciples.  Jesus is literally committing His friends into the care of His Father. How beautiful is that?! And Then……..drum roll please…….He prayed for you and me.  Yes, Jesus has spoken, out loud, a prayer personally for you and for me.

What did Jesus ask the Father to give us? A oneness with Him and each other so that we may know the full extend of the Father’s love.

Oh How He Loves Us!

Gretchen

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17

This loud mouthed, fortune-telling young slave girl had become a regular aggravation to Paul as he made his daily trek to a place of prayer. After many days Paul turned and said to the spirit possessing this woman, “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her!”

Things didn’t go well for Paul and Silas after this act of healing. There is no further record of the young woman who lost her lively hood and that of her owner. BUT! A few hours later, wrongly flogged and imprisoned Paul and Silas experience the miracle of freedom from bondage and lead their jailer and his household to salvation.

This narrative leaves two legacies. Sinful man acts predictably.  The slave owner is outraged that his easy money is cut off, shows little respect for any other human and keeps his mouth going about his rights as a Roman citizen until he starts a riot that robs two other Roman citizens of their liberties. Godly men make beautiful history.  Because they are disciplined to daily prayer, they free a woman from an unwelcome spirit, respond to their injustice with praise and prayer, and when a natural disaster breaks their chains, they remain in place to minister to the frightened, hopeless and lost. Finally, they use their ‘rights as Romans’ to further the gospel, not oppress others.

You get to choose. Which legacy do you want to embrace?

Have a great day!

Gretchen

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Psalm 119:105

I know my yard well.  The shrubbery is mapped in my head, the water features give themselves away, there are sidewalks to mark common thoroughfares to necessary places. I spend a great deal of daytime and dark in my little paradise. So why would I ever need a flashlight?

For the unexpected, the unforeseen!  Dog pooh!  A SNAKE!! Rogue patio chairs!

We are a mobile race. Our minds and bodies stay constantly on the go.  For the most part we choose our routes, but even so, we encounter the unexpected and need light to avoid, detour or protect ourselves from the things we do not wish to step in or stumble over.

The Psalmist is praising God for this ‘Word’ that indeed sheds brilliant, shadowless light so we may journey free from the detrimental obstacles life offers. Let’s renew this praise also, for this wonderful luminary that is our gift.

Love,

Gretchen

Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.  2 Cor. 8:24

Paul, throughout his letters, preached the oneness of Christ across racial divides. Racial tensions between Jews and Gentiles were a reality and very deadly at this time.  Paul taught there was great virtue in doing good for those that persecuted you and asked often for Gentile Christians to set aside money for oppressed Jews, They went above and beyond the call.  As a result, Paul had to delegate Titus and two other associates to manage the churches of Macedonia and their offerings in an ethical and responsible way. This verse is a call to accept these emissaries in a way that will continue the work of the gospel.

There’s another subtle message.  Paul says, “Love those I love…… If you love me, then love them too.”  He is echoing Christ’s call to love one another….If you love Me, love those I love.

We have accepted His grace and we love Christ.  So now we are asked to love those He loves.  We didn’t earn Christ’s love upon Salvation. We were freely GIVEN salvation because of His love. Our highest calling; to LOVE those that Christ loves, basically…..everyone!

Love,

Gretchen

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. Galatians 1:11

These are the words of Paul to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia. 

The early church had no written Gospel. Having only the revelations of the Apostles, early believers were dependent on word of mouth and letter writing. Many false prophets wanted a piece of the action in this new ‘fad’ called Christianity.  It took very little time before opportunity for personal agenda became a chance to turn a ‘dollar.’ Young and unsuspecting believers were distracted and confused. It happens today too!

Paul was aggressive in testifying of his encounter with God, his perseverance for the Gospel and his passion that everyone know and accept the Good News. His message follows and is still the most important thing anyone can hear and accept today:

1. The God of Israel is the true and living God, always has been, always will be.
2. He alone saves people from their sins by means of Mercy and Grace, and is worthy of worship.
3. Jesus, God’s Son, is our Savior.
4. This Salvation is free to everyone who will receive it.

Love,

Gretchen

And his affection for you is all the greater when He remembers that you were obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 2 Corinthians 7:15

This seems a strange verse to pull out for a devotional, but as always, I encourage you to read the passage in its full context.

Paul is referring to his associate missionary Titus, a gentile, converted to Christianity, who did not observe orthodox Jewish practices, a serious offense to some early church members.  Paul was preaching salvation based on faith rather than works and Jewish law. He sent nontraditional  Titus too Corinth to correct some evil behaviors in the new church.  This young congregation of believers were so eager to live Holy lives they willingly excepted Titus and his message. Paul is ecstatic that the Gospel is continuing and his brother in Christ was accepted without bigotry.

It is devastating when Christians become bogged down in the petty things of life. Satan delights when God’s love is sifted through prejudices to the point the message it carries never gets delivered. Live and love as Christ, let the Gospel shine through.

Love,

Gretchen

As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allowed inheritance. Daniel 12:13

As a young child I had ‘Early onset leadership skills.’  In other words, I was bossy!  Dad ask me often if I thought God took the day off and left me in charge.  We can laugh now, but at that time I was intense.

So much of life is spent surviving…… earning money, engineering family life, keeping peace, staying healthy……… In the midst of all this purposeful action it is easy to think we actually have control over things other than the state of our heart in relation to who is God and who is not.  This clarification is the mission of the prophet Daniel. The final words of his book tell that no matter what, our earthly end will come. If God is our One True God, our immortal life will just be a continuation of our mortal character.

God’s faithfulness is pure and constant and is not determined by our autonomy or theology. Our inheritance comes by way of God alone. Efforts to prove otherwise are in vain.

Love,

Gretchen