Spacious Greatness of God

Today’s Reflection I GREW UP BELIEVING that salvation was something that happened after the altar call during the singing of “Just as I Am,” when someone prayed for God’s forgiveness and accepted Christ into their lives. I still believe that experience can be part of God’s work of salvation. But there is more. Salvation is an ongoing work of grace through which I am being released from the suffocating smallness of life turned in on itself to live in the spacious greatness of God’s boundless life and love. —James A. Harnish Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World

Upper Room Daily Reflections The Spirit Compels

JESUS DOES NOT CHOOSE to go to the wilderness; the Spirit compels him to go.
Throughout scripture, the wilderness represents more than a lonely, barren place on the map. It’s the place where God’s people confront the ruthless power of temptation; where they wrestle with questions about who they are, where they are going, and how they are going to get there. It’s where Jesus faces the temptations to deny his identity as the Son of God, to use divine power to satisfy his human desires, to find a less costly way of doing the expensive work of salvation.

For all disciples, the wilderness is the barren space between where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s the empty place between a familiar, comfortable past and an unfamiliar, often risky, future. It’s the soul-searching place where we face the temptations to settle for things that are less than God’s best for us, to take a shortcut to get to Easter without going through Lent, to experience new life without going to the cross.

—James A. Harnish
Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World

The Aftermath

Today’s Reflection

THE POINT of the Resurrection is not that Jesus has gone to heaven and if we stay faithful for the rest of our lives, we will see him there after we die. The promise is not simply a new life that awaits us after death but a new life that begins right now, and death can never defeat it. We live now in ways that bear witness to the way this world will be when God’s kingdom comes and God’s will is done on earth as it is already done in heaven. In the aftermath of the Easter earthquake, we live now in the power of the risen Christ.

—James A. Harnish
Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World

Upper Room Daily Reflections Earthshaking

Earthshaking

Feb 25, 2019 12:00 am

Today’s Reflection

THE EARTHSHAKING promise of Easter is that God has not forsaken any of us. The risen Christ will meet us along the confused, chaotic, fearful paths of our lives and speak the same words the women hear at the tomb, “Do not be afraid.”

 Too often we build our lives on the bedrock of fear: fear of terrorism, fear for the economy, fear of people who are different from us, fear of anything politicians tell us to fear in order to maintain power, fear of rejection, fear of sickness, fear economy, fear of people who are different from us, fear of anything politicians tell us to fear in order to maintain power, fear of rejection, fear of sickness, fear of death. But the Resurrection shatters the power of fear. Because Christ is risen we no longer allow fear to dominate, control, or manipulate us. We don’t remain imprisoned in the tombs of our past failures or buried under the weight of present anxiety. In the risen Christ old things pass away and everything becomes new.

—James A. Harnish
Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World

Making Peace

Today’s Reflection DESPITE CONSTANT TALK of the value of peace, we find very little in this world. Both our public and personal lives reflect our tragic lack of peace—spiraling cycles of violence, unhealthy addictions, and destructive tensions that divide families, communities, and countries. We are far better at loving the idea of peace than at making peace within the realities of our lives. —Trevor Hudson Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days

Upper Room Daily Reflections Powerful Words

Today’s Reflection WORDS carry much spiritual power. They wound and heal. They break down and build up. They discourage and encourage. Jesus places eternal value on them when he says we will be judged by the words we have spoken. Words are always more than words. We dare not underestimate the damage that harmful words cause. They can destroy confidence, tarnish reputations, spread rumors, split families, divide communities, and spark wars. The old saying “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is a lie. In contrast, helpful words of love and appreciation have the potential to bring blessing and life. They can make God’s love real for those around us. —Trevor Hudson Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days

Space for Quiet

Today’s Reflection

THE PSALMIST emphasizes that we need to be still to know God. Perhaps this is why our souls yearn for stillness. In their restlessness they long for that silent communion with God for which they are created. Aware of this, Desmond Tutu writes, “Each one of us wants and needs to give ourselves space for quiet.” It is in stillness we come to know what our hearts long for: the Divine Presence alive in us. In this way, we can see the importance of fostering a life of outer and inner stillness.

—Trevor Hudson
Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days

Ashes, Upper Room Daily Reflections

Today’s Reflection TO THINK that one day we will be nothing but ashes is a pretty grim reality. Not surprisingly, many of us avoid facing this truth. We don’t want to reflect on it or speak about it or even read about it. After all, when we begin to sense how near to nothing we are, we can easily find ourselves in despair. Being born to die is not good news. However, the fact that we are marked by the sign of the cross tells us we are infinitely more than dust. We are God’s beloved, and nothing—not even death—can separate us from God’s love through Jesus Christ. Our dust is charged with God’s own life-sustaining and death-defeating breath. We are beloved dust. —Trevor Hudson Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days

Burning Bush Moments

Today’s Reflection WE ALL have experienced what could be called a “burning bush” moment. These moments occur when we sense that God is seeking our attention, speaking to us, and calling us to participate in what God is doing in our midst. Burning bush moments change our lives and the lives of those around us. They draw us into a deep engagement with the living God, who is always active in our lives and in the lives of those who suffer. Tragically, we often miss these moments, therefore missing out on partnering with God in God’s great work of liberation. —Trevor Hudson, Anthony Egan, SJ, and Russell Pollitt, SJ Divine Friendship: Reflections for Lent

In the Wilderness

Today’s Reflection

JESUS’ EXPERIENCE in the wilderness (see Luke 4:1) reminds us that temptation is not a sin. Additionally, Jesus is not surprised or shocked by our temptations. However sinful they may seem to us, he knows how it feels to be tempted. Admitting our temptations to Jesus may be the most difficult part of our spiritual journey. We would rather see ourselves as virtuous and good, but this denial is not helpful to us in the long run. When we refuse to admit our temptations—our jealousy, our greed, our cowardice, and so on—our shame and guilt can cause us misery. Instead, let’s share our temptations with Jesus—and perhaps also with a trusted friend, mentor, or counselor—so that he will provide us with the grace we need to overcome.

—Trevor Hudson, Anthony Egan, SJ, and Russell Pollitt, SJ
Divine Friendship: Reflections for Lent

Follow

JESUS SAYS to Levi, a tax collector, “Follow me.” Levi leaves everything and follows Jesus immediately and then throws a party for him. The party gets tense when the Pharisees and their scribes question Jesus for spending time with “sinners.” They know that Levi’s life and profession are messy and, according to their standards, unclean. But this does not stop Jesus from wanting a relationship with Levi. Jesus knows that our lives are messy. He knows about the issues that drag us down and hold us back from becoming the kind of people God wants us to be. Even so, Jesus says to us, “Follow me,” believing that we possess the gifts and potential to be his followers.

—Trevor Hudson, Anthony Egan, SJ, and Russell Pollitt, SJ
Divine Friendship: Reflections for Lent

God Runs Toward You

Brighten your day by envisioning God running toward you.

When his patriarchs trusted, God blessed. When Peter preached or Paul wrote or Thomas believed, God smiled. But he never ran.

That verb was reserved for the story of the prodigal son. “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20 NKJV)

God runs when he sees the son coming home from the pig trough. When the addict steps out of the alley. When the teen walks away from the party. When the ladder-climbing executive pushes back from the desk, the spiritist turns from idols, the materialist from stuff, the atheist from disbelief, and the elitist from self-promotion…

When prodigals trudge up the path, God can’t sit still. Heaven’s throne room echoes with the sound of slapping sandals and pounding feet, and angels watch in silence as God embraces his child.

You turn toward God, and he runs toward you.

From Great Day Every Day: Navigating Life’s Challenges with Promise and Purpose
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2012) Max Lucado