May 2009 Devotionals
May 11. 2009
Come Just as You Are
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
Walt and I once got an invitation to a “Come as you are” party. The idea was that you weren’t to dress up for the party; you had to wear whatever you were wearing when you opened the invitation. I think probably we all cheated a bit—at least no one came in pajamas!
The Bible tells us that God is planning a wonderful celebration, and it’s a “come as you are” party. Jesus told a parable about it in Luke 14:16, where He tells us about “a great supper” God invites everyone to.
So often, when I talk to someone about the invitation God has given us to come to His party, she will say, “I’m going to do it just as soon as I get my life straightened out.” Or she might say, “God wouldn’t want the likes of me.”
But God’s invitation isn’t “Clean yourself up, and then come to Me.” God’s invitation is “Come just as you are.”
The truth is, none of us can get ourselves clean enough to meet a Holy God. That’s why Jesus died on the cross, so He could pay for every rotten thing we’ve ever done, and give us His
righteousness. Ephesians 2:4,5 says it this way: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ. By God’s grace you have been saved.”
And what a party it will be! Imagine our getting to spend all of eternity enjoying God’s wonderful gifts! The next two verses in Ephesians 2 describe it this way: “He raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Have you been waiting to “get your act together” before coming to God? Can you hear Him saying, so tenderly, “Don’t wait. Come to me just as you are. . . . Let me do the ‘fixing up’ for you.”
May 4, 2009
Jigsaw Puzzles and Other Imponderables
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
Daughter Margaret brought over a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle the other day, and we’ve enjoyed putting it together. (Don’t ask us why we think it’s fun to take an absolutely beautiful picture, chop it into 500 little pieces, just to put it back together again!) When our children were young, we often spent a family night together doing a jigsaw puzzle. We early learned it was impossible to put a puzzle together without regularly consulting the picture on the box.
One time, finishing up a puzzle, we discovered that a piece was missing. How frustrating! It was a brand new puzzle, so it had to be somewhere. Sometimes a child would keep back one piece, so he could triumphantly put in the final piece, but not this time. We searched the floor, the chairs, the empty box. Then we noticed that Skippy, our new puppy, was merrily chewing on something. Yes, it was our missing piece. We decided the completed picture didn’t look too bad, after we’d smoothed out the mangled, damp cardboard, and fitted it into its proper place.
Do you sometimes feel your life is like a jigsaw puzzle with all kinds of odd-shaped pieces with no pattern or sense? Does it seem to you that the really important pieces are missing? Worse, that you don’t even have a picture to follow? How can you make sense of your life out of such unlikely pieces?
Be comforted to remember what God tells us about Himself in Psalm 33:11:
The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
God does have a specific, beautiful plan for your life. He shaped it, as this Scripture reminds us, out of His own great heart of love and compassion. His plan for you is shaped by His wisdom, His intimate concern for your welfare and joy, no matter your circumstance. He sees your life in exquisite entirety, a perfect, complete picture. There are no missing pieces, no bits carelessly discarded.
When will you see that completed, perfect picture? Perhaps not until Heaven. But meanwhile, you can be sure God’s good plan and purpose for you will be complete some wonderful day. You’ll see it and say with reverence, “I understand it all now. He has kept every promise He ever made to me. He has done all things well!”
Meanwhile, give your heart and life to the God who loves you so much He suffered the loss of His beloved Son on the cross for your sake. He has a perfect plan for you.