“De-Weaponizing” Sadness, Fear, and Anger

September 23, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH "De-Weaponizing" Sadness, Fear, and Anger SCOTTY SMITH   “O Lord… you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:7-8   Lord Jesus, what a bold affirmation from King David at a time when his own son, Absalom, was seeking to take his life. Nothing has to change for us to have your joy in the depths of our hearts. It’s not that your joy replaces all sadness, fear, and anger. Rather, your joy “de-weaponizes” those important emotions. Your joy, which is our strength, enables us to bring our feelings to you. Whatever makes us sad, anxious, and angry isn’t ultimate. Only you are, Jesus, and your will for us and the entire cosmos. We can lie down and sleep in the peace of knowing you are with us and for us. Nothing can separate us from your love, diminish your delight in us, or silence your singing over us. Nothing. We can live each day in the safety of knowing not a hair can fall from our heads, not a breath can be snatched from our lungs, not a beat can be missed by our hearts apart from your sovereign purpose and pleasure. Though death remains until you return, you’ve already defeated its “victory” and obliterated its sting (1Cor.15:55). Thank you, Jesus. The “more joy” (Ps.4:7) you’ve put (and re-stock!) in our hearts is not only greater than having bounteous “grain and wine” (economic prosperity). It’s also greater than us having control over anybody, being adored by anyone, or us getting our way in anything… and that’s saying a lot, Jesus. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

Pick Your “Surrounded-ness” Awareness

September 22, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Pick Your "Surrounded-ness" Awareness SCOTTY SMITH  “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him (his servant). “For there’s more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6:16-17   Lord Jesus, it’s Friday, and some of us are heading into the weekend feeling surrounded by a variety of demands, depletions, joy-nibbling piranha, and yet-to-be-resolved tensions. The Apostle Paul said it well on our behalf: “Everywhere we turned, we had conflicts and disputes on the inside, and fears and dread on the inside” (2Cor.7:5). But there’s always a greater “surrounded-ness” going on. Jesus, open our eyes to see more than a “hillside filled with horses and chariots.” Help us see your every-direction provision for us. Behind us is your finished cross and empty tomb. Above us is heaven’s occupied throne and your constant intercession. Underneath us are Abba’s everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27). Wrapped around us is your perfect righteousness and the embrace of our Father. Inside us there’s the Spirit’s unbreakable sealing and his not-stop testimony to our belovedness as God’s children (Rom.8:16). In every nook and cranny, angels are working on our behalf—“the heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1:14). In front of us is an eternity of all things new and everything beautiful (Rev.21:1-22:6). And, hallelujah Jesus, thank you for our friends—our various Gospel-posses. For they are the ones who are riding in “chariots of grace”—showing up, coming alongside of us, picking us up, fighting our battles with us and for us. It’s true, Jesus, “it might look like we’re surrounded, but we’re surrounded by you.” Thank you and So Very Amen.     Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

The Tempo of Grace and the Rhythm of the Gospel

September 21, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH The Tempo of Grace and the Rhythm of the Gospel SCOTTY SMITH “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Luke 6:38   Lord Jesus, your forbearance, patience, and kindness towards us are on display all the time—ALL the time. We’ve used this this passage in ways you never intended—actually, in the opposite way want us to think about money, selfishness, and generosity. You don’t teach “give to get.” This isn’t a “fail-proof” investment scheme. It’s just the way generosity works in relationship with you. It’s the tempo of grace and the rhythm of the Gospel. We’ll never regret being generous. For sure, we can be taken advantage of, because you even tell us to be generous with love, goodness, blessing, and prayer for our enemies (Luke 6:27-28). We will never be generous without experiencing a far greater return. The return may not be “in kind,” or in a time frame that we recognize. But we will have a “full lap” of whatever you choose to give us, whenever, however you choose. In fact, Jesus, your giving is always prior, during, and after ours. In union with you, we have a wide variety of currencies to spend for the benefit of others—money, time, mercy, grace, forgiveness, encouragement, and kindness—and that’s just 7 of many. You lovingly, wisely made us stewards, not owners, of whatever you give us. Forgive us, free us, and supersize our gratitude and generosity. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

Stewarding Bruised, Bewildered, Broken Hearts

September 20, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Stewarding Bruised, Bewildered, Broken Hearts SCOTTY SMITH “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3) “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18). “He (God the Father) has sent me (Jesus) to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isa. 61:1)   Dear Jesus, a song from the soundtrack of my youth asks the question, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?” It’s an important question, not asked enough. I know what I did with mine. I medicated it poorly. I tried to bandage my heart wounds with denial, disconnect, and distancing myself from anything or anyone that threatened more pain. None of those end well. I was a false prophet to myself—like those you rebuked in Jeremiah’s day, for “healing the wounds of my people lightly” (Jer. 6:14). And because I wouldn’t make time for my pain, I had little patience, kindness, and presence to offer others in their pain. Fortunately, the tinker-toy, scotch taped scaffolding of my self-healing collapsed under the weight of your grace. You came near Jesus, and you haven’t left. To suffer is to be human, but to experience healing for our heart wounds is to be yours. Not content just to prepare your Bride for heaven, you bring a good measure of heart-healing that we might come alive before we die. By your mercy, gentleness, and kindness, I’m still in the healing journey—a process that has a most wonderful end in view (Rev. 21:1-22:6). Our wounds from loss, the fear of more trauma, and the shame we still bear of not being enough… all these things matter to you and you claim them. Jesus, “you give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for,” for you are a most “wonderful, merciful Savior” indeed. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

One Verse That Makes Jesus Beautiful and Necessary

September 19, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH One Verse That Makes Jesus Beautiful and Necessary SCOTTY SMITH “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Cor.13:7  ESV). “Love puts up with anything. Trusts God always. Always looks for the best. Never looks back, but keeps going to the end” (1Cor.13:7 The Message). “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything” (1Cor.13:7 JB Phillips). “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1Cor.13:7 NIV).   Dear Jesus, no matter how we translate, parse, or paraphrase this one verse from your Word, it makes us immediately grateful for at least three things: 1. New mercies as this day begins (and continues). 2. Abba, Father’s commitment to finish his work in us, making us like you (Phil. 1:6). 3. Lastly, the height, depth, width, and breadth of your incomparable love for us (Eph.3:18). For only you love like this, Jesus. And it’s the way you love us right now, and the way you are committed to loving others through us. Having born our sin on the cross, you now bear and forbear all the ways we love poorly. You know the worst about us, and you still love us. You believe the best about us, because you’ve given the best to us—your righteousness, indwelling Spirit, and the guarantee one Day we will be like you. Hallelujah, and thank you. In view of this one verse, Jesus, you know the relationships, stories, and contexts where we feel like the biggest love-failures. You also know our confusion, fear, traumas, and reluctance to risk loving like this. So we fix our eyes on you, and not this verse. In ways beyond all we can ask or imagine, love through us to your glory, Jesus. So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe

Harvesting Righteousness Or Calling Down Fire?

September 18, 2023 Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Harvesting Righteousness Or Calling Down Fire? SCOTTY SMITH “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matt. 5:9 “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:18 “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Rom.12:18   Lord Jesus, irrespective of our horticultural skills, there’s one kind of gardening for which there’s no possibility of crop failure. When we sow in peace and seek to live as agents of your reconciling love, you guarantee a harvest of righteousness. When we choose to be a peacemaker, relationship restoration isn’t guaranteed. But what is 100% guaranteed is you being honored, the Gospel being demonstrated, and us getting a freer. Help us, Lord, for some of us already feel a bit uneasy and anxious as this prayer unfolds. Jesus, keep replenishing our hearts with your mercy and grace. For peacemaking often requires more emotional energy than we have, and demands more heart openness than we want to offer. Give us courage when obedience to you means we need to move towards situations and people we’d rather avoid—like forever. You have called us to love others as you love us, Jesus; and, as far as it depends on us, to live at peace with everyone. Sometimes that’s easy, and sometimes mildly challenging—just requiring swallowing a little pride and taking the first step. But sometimes it’s complicated by personalities + time + remembering things differently. And, when we’re honest, Jesus, sometimes it means we have to deal with that part of us that would rather call down fire than grace (Luke 9:54-55). Grant us wisdom from above and humility greater than our hurt. You aren’t asking us to pretend, but you are asking us to trust you. So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! About Us    |     Council    |     Donate ©2023 The Gospel Coalition, All Rights Reserved. P.O. Box 170346 — Austin, TX 78717 Update Email  |  Unsubscribe