No One Righteous

December 21

(Psalm 143:1-12 NIV) "O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. {2} Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. {3} The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. {4} So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. {5} I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. {6} I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah {7} Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. {8} Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. {9} Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you. {10} Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. {11} For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. {12} In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant."

(Romans 3:10-24 NIV)  "As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; {11} there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. {12} All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." {13} "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." {14} "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." {15} "Their feet are swift to shed blood; {16} ruin and misery mark their ways, {17} and the way of peace they do not know." {18} "There is no fear of God before their eyes." {19} Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. {20} Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. {21} But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. {22} This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24} and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Most of us tend to think we are pretty good people. At least we’re not as bad as those others that we hear about on the news. At least we don’t do all of the bad things they do. And if we’re not careful we can begin to think that we have a shot at heaven based on our relative goodness in comparison with others. The bad news is that God doesn’t grade on a curve. The good news is that even though we flunk the test, we can still receive a passing grade because of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. The bad news is that in light of God’s holiness, there is no one righteous enough to make it to heaven on their own merit -- not a single one of us. The good news is that because of God’s unfailing love we can be acquitted of our sin when we put our faith in His Son. By grace we are saved -- through faith. Merry Christmas! Lift your soul to God. Put your trust in Jesus. He is our salvation. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day

Cave Days

December 20

(Psalm 142:1-7 NIV) “A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. {2} I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. {3} When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. {4} Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. {5} I cry to you, O Lord; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." {6} Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. {7} Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”

(Psalm 13:1-3 NIV) “For the director of music. A psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? {2} How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? {3} Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death…”

When you are hiding in a cave, “Peace on Earth and good will to men” won’t likely connect with your fainting spirit. When no one is concerned for you -- when no one hears your complaint, “Joy to the World” makes no sense. When it seems like no one cares whether you live or die, being of “good cheer” can feel impossible. There are folks around us this Christmas season who are in need... not for toys and gifts, but for hope and love. The cave where they hide is so dark that “merry and bright” is a foreign concept. Their days are filled with loneliness and depression, rather than with peace and joy. They cannot see out of their windowless prisons. Their hearts are blind to the light of Christmas. They desperately need the love of God. Believer, the Light of the world lives in you. The love of God has been given to you. They are yours to give away this Christmas. Be a giver. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day   

Getting Our Eyes Fixed

December 19

(Psalm 141:1-10 NIV) “A psalm of David. O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. {2} May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. {3} Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. {4} Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. {5} Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers; {6} their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken. {7} They will say, "As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave." {8} But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death. {9} Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers. {10} Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.”

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV) “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. {17} For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. {18} So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Many of us suffer from broken hearts that only God can mend. But what we often don’t realize is that our eyes are just as broken as our hearts. We must fix our eyes as well. They tend to focus on the wrong things. They tend to see what they want to see, instead of what’s real. Hearts and eyes often live in denial together. The solution (both short and long term) is to fix our eyes. It won’t help to just close them -- we must fix them on something different. David recommends that this “something” be the Lord. In the midst of wicked evildoers, he chose to fix his eyes on God. He found his way through trouble and found his way home because of who his eyes were fixed upon. Paul had essentially the same advice for the Corinthians: “Stop fixing your eyes on the temporary and begin to hone in on the eternal. See the unseen with new eyes of faith.” This is still good advice today. Fix your eyes. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day 

Serpent’s Tongues

December 18

(Psalm 140:1-13 NIV) "Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, {2} who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. {3} They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Selah {4} Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet. {5} Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. Selah {6} O Lord, I say to you, "You are my God." Hear, O Lord, my cry for mercy. {7} O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle-- {8} do not grant the wicked their desires, O Lord; do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah {9} Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with the trouble their lips have caused. {10} Let burning coals fall upon them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. {11} Let slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down men of violence. {12} I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. {13} Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you."

We live in an unfair world where evil seems to triumph on a regular basis. Violence, murder, and mayhem are daily news items. Enemies lay traps for us, hoping to snare us and bring us down. We are surrounded by institutions and people who want to harm us. The wicked spread their poison with serpent’s tongues. Slander and gossip are a billion dollar industry. Even amateurs can succeed at it. Like Mafia hit men, anyone with a Facebook or Twitter account can destroy the reputation of another. Truth and love seem to be in hiding. Grace and mercy are scarce. This is the world Christ was born into. This is the world He came to save. It went after Him and sought His destruction, even as a baby. But He triumphed, and is now our Strong Deliverer. His fire will purge evil and bring justice for the poor and needy. The righteous will praise His name. Why wait? Praise God today! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day