Tracy's Blog

The blog's current theme is “the words we speak” but today I want to deviate from that a bit and focus on something we may need to hear. In Matthew 9:1-8 , there is an amazing story of a paralytic who is healed by Jesus. He gets up,takes up his mat, and goes home. Wow! But that's not all..... Jesus also speaks to him the words we all need to hear, “ Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven .” (Matt 9:2) It's a very dramatic story with tensions rising between the teachers of the law and Jesus. The miracle of the healing is a validation of Jesus' authority to forgive sins (see verse 6) and the result is a crowd filled with awe (verse8). But what does all of this have to do with you? Well, two weeks ago (see November 14) I talked about confession of our sins. Now, here we are able to hear through Scripture, the proclamation of forgiveness of our sins. I don't know where you are at with God but I want to suggest an exercise. Read through the story of Matthew 9:1-8 ...

I'm involved in a Mom's group in Selkirk and last week I was trying to teach the group of preschool children about saying, “I'm sorry”. I really wanted to emphasize that saying sorry is not enough and that we need to make restitution as well. I defined it as doing the opposite action of the sin. As I wondered how to get this idea across, I decided to roll play. Another mom and I pretended that we were kids and I then proceeded to steal a toy from her. The kids were suppose to tell me what I needed to do - say sorry and give the toy back - but what did they do? Laugh. They wanted us to act it out again. Especially the children of the other mom. They didn't seem to take us seriously. Why would I (a grown-up) be stealing a toy? In the second scenario, I said something mean to my fellow actor: “I don't like you and I don'tlike your clothes.” The response of the kids? Silence and shock. They saw this as serious. Maybe it was because it was more feasible th...

The words we speak when we confess our sin to God (this week's topic) and others (next week's topic) are words that can be very hard to speak but they lead to life. Acknowledging our sin can be difficult but as Scripture says: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8) Have you ever done that - been in a state of denial about your sin? I have and it is a terrible place to be (although I didn't comprehend it at the time). In retrospect, I realize that I was protecting my pride and nurturing my fear by denying the extent of my sin. What good did that do me? None. It left me stuck in repetetive patterns of sin, unable to access God's grace and redemption for that area of my life. So what does the Bible encourage us to do? "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Confession - the act of admitting and owning our s...

It's so routine. You walk through a door that someone has opened for you and you say, "Thanks". The gas attendant hands you back your credit card and without even thinking, the word "thanks" comes out of your mouth. While I'm a fan of people being courteous in our culture, I'm concerned that our "thanks" can just become a habit. And maybe this is ok with salespeople and drive-thru staff, but what about with our friends? our family? God? In the Bible, the phrase "give thanks" or "thanksgiving" is used alot. This got me thinking: we don't just say thanks, we give it. It is an offerring. When we receive a gift, "thanks" is the something we give back. It's our gratitude, our appreciation, our acknowledgment that the gift was significant, and our profession that the giver has been gracious to us. The passage on my mind this week is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in a...

I prepared my 3 1/2 year old for trick or treating today by explaining that everytime someone gave him candy, he was to say "thank-you". We practiced it and he seemed to understand - or so I thought. Apparently I was wrong. The lesson obviously didn't sink in because house after house I had to instruct him to say thank-you to the person who had generously given him candy. Why was this? Well, I can't go into Timmy's motives but I can think about myself. When do I find it hard to remember to say thank-you to others? to God? Often it is because my attention is so much on the gift and not the giver. Or I'm thinking of what is ahead now that the current obstacle is overcome. Luke 17:11-19 tells an interesting story about thanksgiving. It's a story of 10 lepers who cry out to Jesus for pity and he tells them to " Go, show yourselves to the priests ." (17:14) As they go, they are healed and one man - a Samaritan - upon realizing that he was healed, came...

One of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. His response? Luke 11: 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation." The Lord's Prayer teaches us that when we come to God in prayer, we can ask for what we truly need: food and forgiveness. It also teaches us that when we approach God, we can call Him "Father" indicating a close, dependent relationship. The familiar prayer is followed by a story similar to the persistent widow (see Luke 11:5-8 ). This one is a little different. Food, not justice, is needed and it is to a friend, not judge, to whom the seeker goes. But what is similar is the boldness and persistence of the asker. So, as we think about the words we are to pray, don't lose sight of mode of prayer. Verses 9: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you...

Everyday I speak words to many different people: my husband and children, friends and aquaintances, supermarket clerks, telemarketers and even myself. But today I want to write about the words we speak to God - specifically petitions we bring to Him in prayer. For some of us, asking for things from others is difficult. We are independent or we are shy. We can feel we are unworthy to be making such a request or, if we hold the opposite perspective, we can feel that we shouldn't need to ask as others should "just know" what we need since they should be spending their energies attending to us! When it comes to praying our requests to God, our fear and/or pride can really get in the way. Here we are speaking to the Most High God who we are unworthy before. He is the one who does know what we need even before we ask. And it is before God that we are confronted most keenly by our independent spirit and pride when we must humbly come before Him and admit how needy we are. But wh...