Sherpa Pink Himalayan Grace Crystals

August 13, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Sherpa Pink Himalayan Grace Crystals SCOTTY SMITH “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col. 4:6 “Don’t let any unwholesome talk (“sapros” – Greek word for rotting fish, fruit, and trees) come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Eph. 4:29   Dear Jesus, yesterday I refilled my favorite salt mill with some beautiful Sherpa Pink Himalayan Salt crystals—my favorite. I keep extra on hand because I hate to run out of good salt. Way more so, I hate to “run out of grace.” That doesn’t just impact the taste of my food, but, more importantly, the condition of my heart and the flow of my words. It doesn’t take me as it long as previously, to recognize when I’ve been in “spiritual cruise control”—or when I’ve been expending more emotional, mental, and physical energy than I’ve been “growing in grace” (2 Peter 3:18). In the absence of rest-giving, heart-refueling, joy-regaining fellowship with you, I get easily triggered, insecure, and controlling. I take things way more personally than I take the occupied throne of grace seriously. I can get become both defensive and offensive. Instead of “speaking the truth in love,” I share my disappointments with blame. (Kinda like Adam and Eve in Eden). Jesus, one of the greatest things about your grace, unlike salt, is we’ll never have, use, and share too much of it. Too much sodium can give us high blood pressure, heart disease, and a stroke. Copious grace gives you much glory, gives us heart-health, and those around us a taste of who you really are. Let it be, Lord. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

Let Your Waders Get Full and Float

August 12, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Let Your Waders Get Full and Float SCOTTY SMITH “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (make you like Jesus) through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thess. 5:23-24   Heavenly Father, fly-fishing with some dear friends, one of our companions lost his footing, filled his waders with water, and proceeded to float down the gentle river—to our raucous laughs and his great sense of humor. That moment became a Gospel-metaphor for me. Father, I don’t want to wade “safely” into the river of your grace; and I certainly don’t want to stay “dry.” Sometimes losing control, getting immersed, and floating is the very best thing that can happen to us. If these two verses were a river, here’s what “floating” looks like. Hallelujah, Father, you are our God of peace. You aren’t irritated or disappointed with us. You have given us peace, not probation—your eternal welcome, not a “second chance”—your raised Son, not your raised eyebrows. You are actively making us like Jesus, “through and through.” Every aspect of our being—our “whole spirit, soul, and body” is destined to be as free, lovely, and whole as Jesus. Hallelujah! We are kept “blameless” for that Day because you have already declared us “righteous in Christ.” You cannot love us more. You will never decrease your love for us. We can “float’ in the river of your grace—not flail away, thrashing about in fear and doubt. For you have “called” us, and you are “faithful” and you will “do it.” Thank you, Father. We really needed this today. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

No Need to Buck Up, Bail Out, or Blame Others

August 11, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH No Need to Buck Up, Bail Out, or Blame Others SCOTTY SMITH “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jer. 31:25   Lord Jesus, this one small verse is the ocean of your mercy, a cornucopia of well-timed grace, the Swiss Alps of your love, our sure hope in our un-sure world. Come shepherd us. Thankfully, we don’t have to pretend around you. We don’t have to feign strength or make excuses. There’s no need to buck up, bail out, or blame others. Jesus we need what you promise in this passage—what you alone can give. What makes us weary? Where do we start? What’s really going on inside those with whom we live, walk, and work? Most people are struggling more than we realize—carrying more burdens than you designed human shoulders to bear. If the emotional reserves of our hearts were measurable like gas in our cars, many are dangerously close to running on fumes. Underneath the quiet surface may be a violent tornado of shame, fear, and self-contempt. Behind much loud anger is dammed-up sadness—years of unvoiced hurt, disregarded pain, and unwept tears. Free us to get the help we need. And give us your compassion for those who have no clue what’s going on inside them. Turn our hasty reactions to their presenting “self” into slow listening and kind presence. Jesus, you still command, invite, cry out to us, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Thank you. We come. So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

Where Do You Go When Overwhelmed?

August 10, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Where Do You Go When Overwhelmed? SCOTTY SMITH “My  eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you.” Ps 88:9). “I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest” (Psalm 22:2). “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself…” 2 Cor 1:8). “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God” (Ps. 41:10). “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job. 13:15)   Dear Jesus, the question isn’t if we get overwhelmed, but when we get overwhelmed, where do we go? What do we do? Who can we trust? Until you return, trouble, tension, and temptation remain with us. Some of us have friends, as Paul put it, who are “despairing of life.” Grant us compassion and kindness for them. Some of us are the despair-ers. Grant us mercy and grace. It’s our eyes that are “dim with grief,” and we who are hoarse from crying out to you, while the heavens seem mute. Hold us tighter when like toddlers, we want to pull back from you in our pain and rage. Pursue us, when, like Jonah, fleeing seems the only journey to relief. Protect us, when in our moments of greatest vulnerability, Satan speaks to us the same words he spoke to Job, “Curse God, and die.” (Job. 2:9). Though we may not feel “friendly” right now, thank you for good friends—loving sisters and brothers. One of them might be our greatest chance today to see your eyes, hear your voice, know your heart, experience your compassion. Life can’t be done alone. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

An Eternally Better Response Than Defensiveness

August 9, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH An Eternally Better Response Than Defensiveness SCOTTY SMITH “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “Your love is better than life”  (Psalm 63:3). “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor 16:14). “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). “Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8).   Dear Jesus, I can certainly think about you without thinking of Jack Miller, (my spiritual dad for 21 years). But I cannot think about Jack Miller without thinking of you. No one taught me more about your love, life and the Gospel than Jack I woke up today remembering one of the many things he stressed—a “one-liner,” grace-lined with much liberating wisdom. “Scotty, just mount a love offensive,” he would say. “That is,” (to paraphrase Jack,) “when in a messy relational situation, or when you feel you’re being unfairly criticized, ignored, or sinned against—instead of getting defensive and attacking back, repay harshness with kindness, criticism with humility, and wrath with gentleness.” This is so revolutionary, counterintuitive, Gospel-like, and unlike me. Jesus, help me (and us) big time. May your incomparable, unwavering, inexhaustible, never-failing love drive out our fears, and drive us deeper into the riches of the Gospel and intimacy with yourself. Once again, may your love seem better than life itself to us—better, sweeter, more satisfying, and compelling. Jesus, we love, only because your first loved us, and gave yourself for us on the cross. Today, on this August Tuesday, may we prove the wonders of your love, and the sufficiency of your grace. So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

The Gift of Weakness

August 8, 2022 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH The Gift of Weakness SCOTTY SMITH   “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans… The Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Rom. 8:26–27   Heavenly Father, this passage is timely and encouraging for me today, as I’m feeling wimpy and “blah-ish,” and am moving at the pace of a snail on a sidewalk of molasses. Though out of Covid quarantine, I am feeling its fatigue. So, I am grateful your Spirit is much more than our “prayer partner” or prayer energizer. He prays in us and for us all the time—even “fixing” our prayers as they come before your occupied throne of grace. Sometimes we lack both the motivation to pray, and are clueless about what to pray; and that’s okay. The pressure is off, for the Gospel calls us to think of ourselves less as “prayer-warriors,” and more as “grace-needers.” So, hear our “wordless groans,” today Father. We gladly surrender to the intercession of your Spirit—which, of course, is in perfect harmony with Jesus’ non-stop intercession for us. Hallelujah, and thank you for such perfect and perpetual care. Father, help us to be patient in our weakness, restful in our trust, and expectant of your provision. You know my bad penchant to hurry up and get over-stuff. I’m not going there this time. If a part of my Covid-dance has been to slow me down a bit, gladly, I’m in a teachable mood and mode. So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2020 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe