Wages and Gifts

 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 6:23

Here’s a scenario for you to consider:

It’s your birthday. Your Aunt Sally approaches you with those ruby-red-painted lips of hers that you used to dread when you were four or five years old. Remember those kisses she always planted on your cheek? No matter how hard you seemed to scrub, that lipstick would not come off easily! Nevertheless, here comes Aunt Sally carrying a medium-size box wrapped in colorful paper with cartoon drawings of balloons all over it.

Aunt Sally smiles as she hands you the box. “Happy Birthday, Sweetie!” she says with a smile.

“Thank you, Aunt Sally,” you dutifully reply.

“That will be $29.95,” Sally intones.

“What?” you reply.

“I said that will be $29.95 for your gift,” Sally repeats.

You stand there immobilized by the shock of it all. Pay for my gift? you think to yourself. That’s absurd! How can it be a “gift” if I have to pay for it?

And, there it is. You can’t pay for a “gift.” You simply don’t pay for a “gift.” After all, a gift is a gift.

Furthermore, wages that you earn because of something you have done is certainly not a gift either. Wages are paid for what you’ve done. You’ve earned your wages. No reasonable person pays you wages and calls it a gift.

Please take note of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We surely have earned the “wages” resulting from our sin. Yes! We most definitely earned those wages. You earned them and I earned them. Our sin extracted a price, and that price was justly paid to us for our sin.

However, the good news is that the “gift of God”—the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus, in our place on the cross, along with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead—has freed us from sin, from the power of Satan, and from eternal death. God gave this redemption to us as His special gift of love. We did nothing, absolutely nothing, to earn this salvation. It’s a gift. In fact, it’s the most precious gift we could ever receive.

As another new day begins, we need to make certain that we make the distinction between spiritual wages and spiritual gifts. It’s important we understand what we’ve earned as our wages—eternal death for our sins—and God’s undeserved gift to us of eternal life, through His one and only Son, Jesus.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Great Power

 

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

—Proverbs 18:10

There is enormous power in words. Words can uplift and words can destroy. Words can bring hope and words can bring hopelessness. Words can speak truth and words can tell lies.

The use of profanity has increased exponentially over the course of my lifetime. When I was a child, nearly eight decades ago, I never heard a woman use profanity. That’s right! It was unheard of to imagine that a “lady” would swear or curse. Now, I’m certain that in some circles to which I was not exposed, women may well have used coarse language, as a symbol of their independence, or of how brazen they were, or of how “cool” they thought they were. But, in the normal course of a human exchange of words, women just didn’t speak profanely.

Today, many women speak with such profanity that there is not enough soap in the entire world to effectively wash out their collective mouths. Yes, there still are some women who purposefully do not speak coarsely. I celebrate them and give them the distinct honor that is their due. But, for the most part, both men and women now use words that heretofore were scorned and never accepted as a common part of their everyday speech.

Part of the gigantic up-tick in the use of profanity involves the vane use of God’s name. In spite of the fact that the third of the Ten Commandments forbids the improper use of God’s name, countless millions of people curse and swear using His precious name improperly, almost every moment of every day. Even devoted Christians have fallen into the trap of using profanity. When you live or work in an environment where such language is constantly used, it’s very hard to not begin to use it yourself. It takes lots of self-discipline. And, one thing we people of America are not known for is our self-discipline.

The sadness in all of this is that the names of the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are powerful, amazing names. Notice what King Solomon wrote, as recorded in Proverbs 18:10:

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Here we see the power of God’s name. His name is a strong tower, one that is fortified against attack. His name has power to protect His chosen children. Those children can seek refuge in God’s name and find safety in His glorious name.

As we begin a new day, if we have fallen into the trap of using profanity because we hear so much of it around us, let’s determine to put coarse speech aside. Instead, when we speak of the God who loves us, let’s focus on how important His name is to us. After all, God loved us so much that He willingly gave us His one and only Son, Jesus, to die in our place. Shouldn’t we honor His name instead of using it as a means of expressing anger or surprise?

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Follow the Rules

 

… keep your father’s commands …

—from Proverbs 6:20

Do you always follow the rules? Okay. Do you almost always follow the rules? Or, are you one of those Concrete Randoms™ who believe that the rules don’t apply to you? ¹

I’ve shared this example before on this blog. The classic CR example occurs in the multiple-story department store. A man or woman approaches an escalator pushing a baby in a stroller. A sign at the base of the escalator warns that the use of strollers is forbidden on the escalator and gives directions to the nearest elevator. Nevertheless, the man or woman boldly pushes the stroller onto the escalator and begins a tortuous ascent to the next floor. Why? It’s likely because he or she is a dominant CR. And, dominant CR’s sincerely believe that rules do not apply to them.

In life there are Rule Makers, Rule Takers, and Rule Breakers. I’ve spent most of my career in fire protection working on various Technical Committees of the National Fire Protection Association, writing codes and standards—in other words, “the rules”—for the National Fire Codes. So, I understand the process of rule-making all too well.

I have also spent most of my life determined to follow all the rules. Of course, like all sinful humans, I’ve not always succeeded. But, I’ve tried to do whatever I’m told to do—whether it’s by traffic signals, or signs, or authority figures. Oh, all right. Once, in Miami, I did drive the wrong way down a one-way street to purposely scare a fellow NFPA committee member that I picked up at the airport.

You may not realize this, but following the rules—obedience—is now, and has always been, the way God measures the loving response of His chosen people to the way He cares for them. Read through the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible—and the first five books of the twenty-four books in the Hebrew Tanakh—and you will see that God measures the loving response of His chosen people to the Covenant that He made with Abraham by observing their obedience, or lack therof.

That same Covenant is critically important to Christians, as well as to Jewish people, because it forms the foundational basis for the New Covenant that came into being when God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, into the world as a human baby, so that Jesus could ultimately become the once-for-all blood sacrifice to cover the sins of God’s chosen people, both Jews and the now-grafted-in Gentiles. ²

God also intends for obedience to mark our lives, as a symbol of love with regard to our interactions within our families and in our dealings with the people who cross the pathway of our lives. Note these words from King Solomon, as recorded in Proverbs 6:20:

My son (or daughter), keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

As we begin a new day, let’s ask ourselves whether or not we are truly willing to be people of obedience—obedience to God’s perfect and divine will, obedience to His written Word, as well as obedience to the rules of the society under which we live. For, as long as those human rules do not conflict with God’s rules, we do well to humbly and quietly observe them.

 

______________________

1 Gregorc, Anthony F., PhD. The Mind Styles Model: Theory, Principles, and Practice. Maynard, MA: AFG Publishing Company, 2006. Please note that in each case, citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

2 Please carefully read Romans 11:11-24, where the Apostle Paul clearly explains that God has grafted Christians—“Christ’s-ones”—into the bloodline of God’s original chosen people: the children of Israel, the Jews. Thus, Christians have become “God’s chosen ones” in the same manner in which He originally chose the Jews to be His special people here on earth. Christians have joined the Jews in serving as God’s ambassadors to the needy world in which we live.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

An Overflowing Measure

 

“Give, and it will be given to you …”

—from Luke 6:38

Please allow me to begin this blog post by sharing the following narrative:

Many years ago, soon after I had begun my career as a fire protection engineer working for an insurance company that insured large industrial facilities, I met a man who had worked in this field for nearly 20 years. He had accumulated a large number of books related to the field of fire science and engineering. He also had a collection of municipal and industrial fire alarm boxes.

On one occasion, he invited me to his home on a weekend. In the basement of his house he had a large area constructed with walls that held part of his collection of fire alarm boxes and other equipment related to fire protection. Each box had been restored to full working order and connected to a network of other boxes, so that they all functioned just as they would have functioned when they were originally installed on telephone poles and pedestals throughout some community.

After he had carefully demonstrated the operation of each box and showed me the internal working mechanisms, he explained where he had obtained each box and how long it took him to restore each one to working order. I was utterly fascinated.

As our time together came to an end, he carried a large cardboard carton to my car. In it he had placed several of his “spare” boxes. “I thought you might like to start a collection of your own,” he said with a smile.

His generosity overwhelmed me. He had not only given me some boxes to start my own collection, he had given me some of his very best yet-to-be-restored boxes. He had given me above and beyond what anyone would have ever imagined.

That’s the way God is with we dear ones, whom He has chosen to belong to Himself. As followers of Jesus, God gives us “abundantly more than we even dare ask or think,’ as the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20. In fact, Jesus Himself said these words found in Luke 6:38:

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

As we are generous in giving of ourselves to others, as an expression of God-breathed love, God will bless us in ways we can’t even conceive. That’s something very worthwhile for us to remember at the beginning of this new day. God gives generously—yes, with enormous generousity. And, that’s a good pattern for us to follow.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Giver of Great Goodness

 

How great is your goodness …

—from Psalm 31:19

Please let me ask you these questions:

• Have you ever had someone come into your life who turned out to be a giver of expensive gifts? Or …
  
  
• Have you ever had someone who became your friend, and who then gave you an unlimited amount of that one’s time? Whenever you needed someone with whom to talk, or someone to help you work through a problem, this person was always available. Or …
  
  
• Have you ever had someone who crossed your pathway, and who then opened up new avenues for you and stood beside you to help you acclimate to a new and highly beneficial experience?
  
  

In each of these cases, you had the joy of experiencing great goodness. As followers of Jesus, we all have access to great goodness. Notice what King David wrote about God in Psalm 31:19:

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

Yes, as believers we have direct access to the God who not only loves us, but is the Giver of great goodness. God listens for what we have to say to Him. He never tells us to contact Him later. He provides bountiful blessings for us in ways that far exceed any material possessions. His love is so great for us that it cannot be measured.

For all of this great goodness that God gives to us, let’s, in turn, give goodness to others out of the storehouse of blessing that God has given to us. Let’s give others our time, our listening ear, our helpful hand, our giving spirit, and our loving heart. If we do this, we will become channels of God’s great goodness to those who cross the pathway of our lives.

So, as we begin another new day, let’s praise God for the fact that He is always present in our lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit. And, let’s praise God that He truly is the Giver of great goodness.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Genuine Acts of Love

 

Dear children, let us not love with words …

—1 John 3:18

Every day, we who follow Jesus have the opportunity to represent our Great King—in a kind, gentle, and loving way—to every person who may cross the pathway of our lives. We do so with the full understanding that God is holy. He is righteous. He is just. He is One who desires obedience to His will and to His written Word. Most of all, He is a God of Love.

It makes sense, then, that in our interactions with those we meet along the road of life, we should declare God’s great love. But, simply telling people about God’s love isn’t nearly enough. We must show them God’s love by means of the way we act toward them. The Apostle John said it well in 1 John 3:18:

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

So, the principal way we show God’s love to others is in the way we act toward them. Yes, we also need to speak words of gentleness, kindness, and God-breathed love. But, we can only earn the right to do so after we’ve illustrated God’s love in the most practical manner possible.

As we begin this new day, let’s determine to allow the Holy Spirit to use every aspect of our being to show—yes, show—the love of God to every person we meet. Imagine, for just a moment, what a difference that will make in our lives and in the lives of those who cross our pathway.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Sing to God the Lord

 

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name …

—from Psalm 68:4

Come with me, dear Christian friend. Let us join our voices together and sing songs of praise to God. He is certainly worthy of our praise.

Our God has redeemed us from the penalty of our sins. He has cleansed us in the shed blood of His one and only Son, Jesus. He has filled us with the Presence of His blessed Holy Spirit. As the Psalmist, King David, has written in Psalm 68:4-5:

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

As we begin this day, let’s do so with songs of praise to God. It will be very good for us if we do! Here’s a fitting song of praise, sung by the St. Olaf College Choir, conducted by Anton Armstrong:

 

 

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Where is the Good Way?

 

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths … ”

—from Jeremiah 6:16

Frequent readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of the Gregorc Style Delineator™ and the work of Anthony F. Gregorc, Ph.D., the creator of the Mind Styles™ protocol of understanding human behavior (https://www.gregorc.com/). I have had the privilege of helping several thousand individuals come to a greater understanding of who they are and how they interact with others by using this instrument.

One of the four dominant Mind Styles™ is the dominant Concrete Random™. This individual takes in information very concretely—it is what it is—and then processes that information and orders it out randomly—chunk, chunk, chunk. Typically, the dominant Concrete Random™ has a very short attention span and derives a great deal of his or her personal energy from new experiences. Thus, the dominant Concrete Random™ person is always looking for something new to think about, explore, or do. Sometimes, this individual, in questing for all things new, “throws the baby out with the bath water.” Said another way, the dominant Concrete Random™ person may far too quickly discard the old tested and tried way, in the rush toward something new and exciting.

In our walk with Jesus, we “Christ’s-ones” must not fall into the trap of thinking that only new things matter. In fact, God gave specific instruction to His people through the Prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in Jeremiah 6:16:

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

As we begin a new day, let’s not be like the people of old. Let’s not refuse to walk in the way the Lord lays out before us. Let’s not too quickly discard the old in favor of the new. It may just be that connecting with the saints who have gone before us has far greater value than we may imagine. Let’s ask where the good way is. At least, asking this question is worth considering.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

In the Matter of "Tomorrow"

 

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

—James 4:15

I spoke recently with a friend who loves to plan. This dear one lives by the calendar daybook she carries in her attaché case. Her daybook is somewhat unique in that it covers five years in advance. Remember, I said she likes to plan.

One time many years ago, when I was teaching a class on “Time Management,” she showed me her daybook. Every entry was neatly entered in very precise lettering. She had used eight different color codes to group her entries into the following categories:

• work appointments
• personal appointments
• work deadlines
• personal deadlines
• holidays
• vacation days
• family time, and
• work trips.
  
  

At a glance, she could look forward as many weeks, months, even years, and tell you exactly what she expected to do at any given moment. Now that’s serious planning!

But, for the follower of Jesus, we know that as much as we might desire to plan our lives—although some people hate planning and would rather live by “whim and fancy”—we really have little actual control over our lives. For example:

Just yesterday, I sat down at the computer keyboard to write an outline for a training class I’m leading. Before I could even begin, I had to answer three phone calls, one of which took twenty minutes to resolve the issue at hand. I then received four emails that required my immediate attention. By the time I got back to the outline I needed to write, several hours of time had passed.

The Apostle James offered the early Christians these wise words, as found in James 4:13-17:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

That’s very good advice for us, as we launch into another new day. Let’s recognize that it is God who sets our pathway. He will open up the day for us.

Yes, we should still make good use of our time. And, part of that good effort is the stewardship of our time that we can achieve through thoughtful planning. But, when God sends an interruption our way, we should graciously stop what we are doing and cheerfully attend to whatever He wants us to do with the person interrupting us. That encounter may be just the opportunity that God has given us to say a word in His behalf.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

No Separation, Ever

 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? …

—from Romans 8:35

“Hold my hand! Please, hold my hand!”

Countless moms have spoken those words over the years, as they guide their dearly loved children along the pathway of life. In fact, that loving gesture of handholding has found a very secure place in our cultural norms. Holding hands is a signal of purposeful dependence, physical closeness, and deep love.

Often, one of the first acts of young people in love—and older people, too—is to hold hands. It signals the first bond-building experience between people who find joy in each other’s company. It is right and proper that we don’t want to be separated from the one who loves us and the one whom we love.

One of the best known and most respected college choirs in the United States is the choir from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Quoting from the choir’s website:

The St. Olaf Choir, comprised of 75 mixed voices, is the premier a cappella choir in the United States. For over a century, the choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. The ensemble’s annual tour brings its artistry and message to thousands of people across the nation and around the world.

Nearly twenty years ago, I had the privilege of attending a concert by this fabulous choir and of hosting two of the students in my home. One striking part of their performance was that, throughout the concert, the choir members held hands. They did this then, and continue to do this today, as a symbol of their unity as devoted performers, but also as a way of creating an intimate and highly collegial connection between choir members as they sing. Just seeing these 75 young people holding hands and singing to the glory of God was a breathtaking and deeply moving experience for me.

In our relationship with God, we can rest assured that He will never leave us. He will never let go of our hands. The Apostle Paul confirmed this great truth when he wrote these words found in Romans 8:35-37:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

As we begin a new day, let’s remember that we walk the road of this life with God holding us in His loving hands. We are never alone. We are never without His care. We are never without His overwhelming and never-failing love.

Let me help begin this new day with you by sharing a portion of a video featuring the St. Olaf College Choir and its Conductor, Anton Armstrong. Be sure to notice how they hold each other’s hands:

 

 

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Do All To God's Glory

 

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

—Romans 6:13

Life is filled with choices. In fact, we make many hundreds of choices every day. We choose what we will wear, what we will eat, where we will go, with whom we will talk, and countless other such choices. We also choose the way we will relate to God.

In writing to the new “Christ’s-ones” gathered at Rome, the Apostle Paul carefully laid out the theology he had developed, as a chosen servant of God. This was particularly significant to those Roman Christians because Paul had never yet had the chance to visit with them at the time of his writing. This also makes Paul’s words significant for us, as well. Notice these words of the Apostle Paul, as recorded in Romans 6:13:

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Here Paul states a clear choice. It was common in Rome for the people to participate in all kinds of sexual sins. The practices of that day are detailed in many accounts by writers who lived contemporaneously with the Apostle Paul. The rankness of these sexual sins was very well known throughout the world. These sins were part of the downward slide of the Roman civilization that, over time and several generations, ultimately spelled its doom. The Apostle offers an alternative to that societal norm.

Paul urges the new Christians to set themselves apart from the society in which they lived by choosing to offer themselves wholly to God—to hold nothing back from Him. Not only were they to develop appropriate Christian spiritual formation, they were to declare the wholehearted love they had received from God by loving Him back with all four human modalities: heart, soul, mind, and strength, or emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Can we do otherwise?

As we begin another new day, let’s make the choice urged upon us by the Apostle Paul. Let’s choose to give every aspect of our humanity to God, including all four human modalities. Let’s not hold any part of us back from Him. In that way, we will declare our complete devotion to our God and our determination to serve Him fully.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Far, Far Away

 

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

—Psalm 103:12

When someone does something to harm us, or to hurt our feelings, even when we respond to their request for us to forgive them and we do so, we will most likely remember what that person has done to us for a very long time. It seems as if we have an extensive memory for those things that cause us personal pain.

It is almost inconceivable to us that someone might forgive us and literally forget what we have done against them. I am more than a little embarrassed to admit that I still remember, in vivid detail from the days of my childhood, some of the things people did or said that caused me deep emotional pain. In fact, the image of what was done or said remains in my mind is as clear as a 1080p video image. But, God does not operate that way. Note these words from Psalm 103:12:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

God not only forgives our sins—through the finished work on the cross by His one and only Son, Jesus—He casts those sins as far away from us as possible. In fact, Hebrews 8:12, quoting from Jeremiah 31:31-34, states:

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

As we begin a new day, how wonderful for us to realize that our sins are not only forgiven, but they are forgotten. Yes! God no longer remembers our sins. Those sins of ours are absolutely covered by the shed blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God for His unfailing love for us.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Clothed With Salvation

 

“I delight greatly in the Lord …”

—from Isaiah 61:10

Do you spend time planning, thinking about, and carefully choosing your wardrobe each day? If you do, you are a far better person than I am. Please allow me to explain:

Back in 1975, John T. Molloy wrote a book titled Dress for Success. ¹ This book intended to help people in business choose a wardrobe that would greatly enhance their chances of rising upward in whatever company for which they worked. The book made a huge splash in the business community. I read it carefully from cover to cover. Then, I dropped the book into the trash can.

As a bit of a weird someone, with very few social skills, who kind people refer to as “chubby” and who my Personal Care Physician calls “morbidly obese,” I have long had difficulty finding clothes that fit. In fact, I seriously doubt that any wardrobe choice would make me appear thin, handsome, or socially acceptable. In addition, in regard to many things for which other people willingly spend money, I am a tightwad. So, the whole idea of spending a significant block of time and a significant amount of money designing a success-assuring wardrobe seems laughable to me.

As Christians, it’s quite common in the current church to disclaim any concern about what people wear to worship on Saturday night or Sunday. I understand that what someone wears really should not interfere with the way other believers receive that one into the fellowship of the church. But, we followers of Jesus do have a unique bit of clothing that shapes our lives. The Prophet Isaiah wrote about this special clothing in Isaiah 61:10:

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and through the power of His shed blood on the cross, God has clothed you and me with salvation and righteousness. We wear unique spiritual “clothing” that signifies our membership in God’s eternal Kingdom.

As we move out into this new day, let’s live our lives worthy of the spiritual “clothing” in which we have been clothed. Let’s honor God’s choice to clothe us in salvation and righteousness by living in a way that honors Him and magnifies to others His great and powerful love.

 

______________________

1 Molloy, John T. Dress for Success. New York, NY: Warner Publishing Company, 1985. Citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Transactional Cleansing

 

“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

In many ways, as we move along the road of our lives, the interactions we have with other individuals comes about as a series of transactions. Please allow me to explain a bit further:

A few years after I entered the workforce, writer Thomas Anthony Harris wrote a book in 1969 that took the business world by storm. Titled I’m OK—You’re OK, ¹ this book provided an easy-to-understand introduction to a psychological tool called “Transactional Analysis” (TA).

Basically, TA asserts that the neurological research of Wilder Penfield could be merged with the psychotherapeutic work of Eric Berne to create a model for assessing and understanding human interaction within the framework of interpersonal relationships. Harris creates a model for this analysis that casts each participant in an instance of interpersonal relationship (transaction) as either a Parent, Adult, or Child.

In my role at the insurance company where I worked for most of my career, I taught the basics of TA for many years. It proved most helpful in giving employees a way of divorcing themselves from the emotions of an interpersonal transaction, so they could critically analyze what was taking place and how to bring agreement, or harmony, to a disharmonious relationship.

Our relationships take place as transactions. As Christians, we often lose sight of the fact that our relationship with God is transactional—in fact, it is a covenantal relationship. God created us that we might know Him and that He might enjoy a relationship with us for all eternity. But, our first parents, Adam and Eve, failed to obey His single command. As a result, sin entered the perfect world God had created. That sin became passed down to every successive generation, right to us in this the present time.

Early on, God set apart a people to be His ambassadors to the troubled and needy world. God formed a covenantal relationship—a transactional relationship—with these very special people. These chosen ones, the Jews, were given a means of temporarily covering their sins through the shedding of the blood of specific animals. God told them, through His spokesmen, that this act was a foreshadowing of a once-for-all atonement for sin that He would bring about in the future.

God’s relationship with His chosen people was a rocky one because they continually strayed from following close to Him and obeying His commands. But, out of the line of King David, God caused His one and only Son to take on human form. Born of a virgin, this God-man, Jesus, would eventually die on a cruel Roman cross of torture and shed His blood to cover the sins of all those God would call to Himself. God then grafted into the line of the Jews certain non-Jews, or Gentiles, thus extending redemption through His Son to people from every tribe and nation whom God would call to Himself.

The forgiveness of sins is transactional. And, we are a blessed part of that transaction. As the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:5-10:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Throughout this new day, let’s remember to confess our sins to God and receive His pardon. While the penalty for sin has truly been paid by the blood of Jesus, we must strive to overcome those sins that would still enslave us. Because we bear the sin nature of Adam, until we pass from this life to the next, we will always sin. But, we can learn through the transaction of confession to become more and more like Jesus.

 

______________________

1 Harris, Thomas Anthony. I’m OK—You’re OK. North Hollywood, CA: Galahad Publishing Company, 2004. In each case, the citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

We've Been Shown

 

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

—Micah 6:8

Here’s a scenario to which we all can likely relate:

It’s a person’s second day in his or her new job. Yesterday, this one spent the day filling out paperwork and taking a tour of the facility where he or she will now work. This person met key people. Sat at his or her new desk and did a bit of organizing of it. Now, it’s time to begin to do actual work.

Someone has placed a rather tall pile of file folders on this one’s desk. Obviously, he or she is supposed to do something with what’s inside those folders. But, this one has no clue. No one has shown him or her what to do.

This person sits there for a while. He or she even opens one of the folders and look at the contents. This one looks around to see what the other workers are doing. He or she sighs, and, to his or her self whispers:

“I wish someone would, very directly, tell me what I am supposed to do!”

The American Management Association declares, in several of its major research projects on improving worker productivity, that the number one thing workers want to happen is for someone—anyone—to tell them exactly what they’re supposed to do.

As a long-term management consultant, I can’t for the life of me imagine why this necessary direction isn’t given automatically. Don’t managers realize they must always clearly tell their employees what tasks they are to perform, and that they must train their employees exactly how to perform the tasks that make up their jobs?

As followers of Jesus, we do not have to ask God what He wants us to do. He has clearly told us in His written Word, the Bible. In fact, notice what the Prophet Micah has shared, as found in Micah 6:8:

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Wow! Here’s just one of many places in Scripture where God speaks to us through His choice servant and tells us what we need to do. Can we ask any more than that? No, we can’t. So, as this new day begins, let’s get to work. Okay?

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Everyone Who Asks, Receives

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. …”

—from Matthew 7:7

Did you ever ask for something and the person you were asking said, “No!” As children, that seems to happen more than it does for us as adults. Although, I am sad to report that I know a woman who is married to a man who seems to delight in saying “No!” to almost every request she makes. I always feel sad when I hear about such people. I guess I’m someone who prefers, even delights, in saying “Yes!”

I also know Someone who really, really delights in saying “Yes!” to the children He dearly loves. And that, of course, is God. Jesus explained this quality of His Father in Matthew 7:7-8:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

As we begin a new day, let’s not hesitate to ask of God whatever we wish. We can do so knowing that He will give us all that we truly need, whenever our request matches His divine and perfect will for us. He will reach into His storehouse and give us an abundant outpouring of His richest blessings. He does this because He loves us.

And, maybe that’s a lesson we need to learn. Maybe we need to learn to say “Yes!” whenever we hear of someone who needs our help. What a joy it is whenever we can share with others what God has so graciously given to us.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Life of Trusting in God

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart …”

—from Proverbs 3:5

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, it was very popular for Evangelical Christian teenagers to become part of Youth For Christ International (YFC). This nationally significant organization had arisen in the early 1940s out of rallies held across the United States and overseas. The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham became the first full-time staff member of Youth For Christ International. Please allow me to share a bit of my personal history:

Youth For Christ had a number of key elements that those of us who participated in the twice-monthly rallies adopted, to name a few:

• The red-covered YFC Bible, which we were encouraged to carry on top of our books at school
  
  
• A commitment to spend time each day in Bible reading and in prayer
  
  
• Choosing a “life’s verse” from Scripture that would both mark and guide our lives
  
  
• Familiarity with somewhat simple songs with happy melodies that celebrated our relationship with Jesus Christ
  
  
• A determination to sexual purity, partularly in light of the all too rapidly changing behaviors that came to the front of society in the mid-1960s.
  
  

We were very serious about our devotion to Christ and His Kingdom. We participated in Bible Study groups, as well as faithfully attending the rallies. We devoured each issue of YFC Magazine when it arrived in our mailbox. We followed the travels of Billy Graham, Jack Wyrtzen, Dave Breese, Sam Wolgemuth, Torrey Johnson, and other key YFC leaders.

I can remember the evening that I sat in the control room at radio station WESB in my hometown of Bradford, Pennsylvania, when the telephone rang and the local YFC leader, Ted Hess, asked if he could stop by the radio station on his way home from work. Naturally, I agreed and soon he sat next to me as I monitored the broadcast of a New York Yankees baseball game.

“Have you been praying about your life’s verse?” Ted asked me.

“Yes, I have,” I replied. “And, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about it, too. I have no idea what God has in store for me. In some ways, I feel drawn in three very different directions: radio broadcasting, fire protection, and the ministry. I really don’t know which of those God wants me to pursue. But, I know He will reveal His plan to me in His time. So, I think I know the Scripture passage that I will choose as my life’s verses. They’re Proverbs 3:5-6.”

“Oh!” Ted exclaimed. “I think that’s a perfect choice for you.”

And so, I took the words of King Solomon, as recorded in Proverbs 3:5-6, and made them my own:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

While I have failed in my quest to be obedient to God many times over the years of my life, I have never lost sight of the truth of these two verses. Time and again, God has proven faithful to these golden words. The more that I have learned to lean on Him, to trust Him, to give Him the whole of my heart, the more He has directed my path. And, the more I have made certain to acknowledge Him and the key role He has in my life, the more I have the confidence of knowing that He is keeping my pathway straight.

This new day, I commend these verses to all who may read this blog post. Let us do what these verses instruct. Let us trust God with all of our hearts. Let’s specifically determine to not lean on our own understanding. Let’s acknowledge God’s critically important role in our lives. And, let us enjoy, with great peace, the reality that God will make our paths straight.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Worthy of Praise

 

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”

—Psalm 103:1

God is worthy of our praise for so very many reasons. Here are just a few of them, as written by King David and found in Psalm 103:1-5:

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Praising God offers us a means of spiritual renewal. When we focus on who God has revealed Himself to be, and when we focus on what God has done, we begin to experience within our own selves a sense of His goodness permeating our lives. God desires to renew us each day. Praising Him grants us the ability to focus on the God who loves us with His unending love. As our humble praises rise to God, He provides a spirit of joy that lifts us up above the mundane problems of our earthly lives.

As we begin another day of life, we would do well to start our day with praise to God. His everlasting love fills us full to overflowing. Every good thing comes from Him. Our salvation and eternal life give us meaning beyond our ability to comprehend. He guards us and guides us. This day, let’s not allow anything to diminish our praise for the God who is our All-in-All.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Baptized Into New Life

 

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

—from Romans 6:3

The Sacrament of Baptism holds great significance for the follower of Jesus. In the Reformed tradition, we baptize the children of believing parents in the expectation that God’s covenant reaches down through the lines of families. Unlike some Christian traditions, whether baptizing children or adults, we require the baptism to take place as a part of a worship service. We do this because, in addition to promises the parents make regarding the raising of their child, the members of the church in the congregation also promise to do their part to nurture the Christian spiritual formation of this young child.

Of course, other traditions require the person being baptized to have made a conscious and willful profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Savior and Lord. I understand their reasoning for doing this and, in fact, worshipped for many years in just such a tradition.

No matter what specific tradition your church may follow, the Sacrament of Baptism mirrors the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is both a sacramental act and an act with deep symbolism. As the one being baptized rises from the baptismal waters, he or she experiences, in sacrament and symbol, the newness of life that the Apostle Paul was writing about in Romans 6:3-4:

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

As we begin a new day, let’s remember that we who belong to God through His Son have experienced the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus through the Sacrament of Baptism. We now live in a new life. We need to let go of the “old things” and cling to the new life we have been given through the Lord Jesus Christ. In our “newness of life,” we represent Jesus to a world that desperately needs His salvation. We become light in the darkness and salt for the unpreserved. Let’s go forth this day and truly be salt and light, so that all who cross our pathway will sense God’s mercy, grace, and amazing love.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Key to Success

 

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

—Proverbs 16:3

Most ambitious individuals look for some almost magical key to success. Some motivational books will insist such a key consists of a carefully crafted, frequently reviewed, and modified-as-necessary strategic plan. Other motivational sources insist that success comes from determined hard work. Still other such books will claim that it’s who you know and the alliances you form that will guarantee a person’s success.

This is not at all the way that a follower of Jesus should look at success. First and foremost, the very definition of the word “success” takes on a new meaning for a child of God. Success, in terms of God’s ambassadors, must become defined in the terms that relate to our role of stewards.

I’ve shared many times on this blog that a steward is a slave elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her Master’s Kingdom. Still a bond slave (see Deuteronomy 15), such a person invests all of himself or herself into actions that will benefit the Master’s hopes, dreams, desires, and wishes. It is a calling to absolute obedience and total commitment. King Solomon expressed this sentiment well, when he wrote these words found in Proverbs 16:3:

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

This instruction does not mean:

“When you begin a task, pause for a moment, pray, and ask God’s blessing on your self-appointed task.”

Quite to the contrary, this wise saying indicates that we must, first of all, know exactly what our Master desires. We learn this by reading, studying, and meditating on His written Word, the Bible. Next, we must clearly recognize our part and His part. We cannot serve Him alone. That’s why He gave us the in-dwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Working under the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can proceed to obediently follow the pathway laid out before us and accomplish for God what He intends.

As we begin a new day, let’s not lose sight of the fact that God wants us to achieve success—as He defines that word. He wants us to reap the benefit of our obedient service to Him and to His Kingdom. So, let’s rejoice that He has loved us enough to make us a part of His effort to free the world from sin, death, and Satan.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Let Us Help

 

“Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

—Galatians 6:2

One of the great joys of belonging to God through His Son, Jesus, is the opportunities He gives us to help other people. Nothing makes us smile quite as much as seeing one of our brothers or sisters in Christ helping someone in need. The Apostle Paul wrote these words of instruction, found in Galatians 6:2:

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The road of life is just too difficult to travel it alone. That’s why God created His church—to bring believers together, so they could worship Him, while they encourage and help each other. We need to keep this reality in the forefront of our minds.

As we begin a new day, let’s look for opportunities where we can be of assistance to our fellow “Christ’s-ones.” And, let’s also be aware of people around us who have needs that we can help them meet. Giving a hand-up is certainly a fitting way to honor the God who loves us with His everlasting love. By so doing, we represent Him well to a world that needs to learn of Him.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Dead to Sin

 

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

—Romans 6:1

I have a dear friend who, by God’s grace and his own determined discipline, has freed himself from addiction to alcohol. It wasn’t that he was a falling down drunk. But, more and more, he found his life controlled by the desire to “take the edge off” with a drink of some alcoholic beverage. Soon, almost every waking thought was directed toward when he would be able to have his next drink. And, once he began to drink, he had a very hard time reigning in the desire for more and more booze.

But then, one day he realized he had completely lost control of his life. He fell to his knees and poured his heart out to God. He sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous. Soon, he began to sense that, with God’s help, he had regained control of his own life. Today, he has not had a drink for nearly 45 years. His life has taken on new meaning and purpose. He has accomplished a great deal, not only in his personal and professional lives, but he has accomplished much on behalf of Christ and His Kingdom.

We may not feel enslaved to alcohol or drugs, but in many ways we humans have become enslaved to sin. The ironic part of this, for those of us who believe in the life-transforming power of the living Lord Jesus Christ, is that Christ has freed us from the bondage of sin. Why, then, do we keep re-enslaving ourselves to destructive behaviors? The Apostle Paul wrote these words of admonition, as recorded in Romans 6:1:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, we have been given the power from the Holy Spirit that allows us to put sin to death. Our bondage to sin is over. As we begin this new day, isn’t it high time we started to live like sin has no hold over us? Should we not call a halt to continuing to repeat the same sins over and over and over again?

Let me be so bold as to suggest that this new day gives us an opportunity to make a conscious decision to stop ourselves from repeatedly sinning. We can ask for God’s help, through the Holy Spirit. We can fill our minds and hearts with positive spiritual thoughts that will steer us away from those worldly negative thoughts that drag us into sin. After all, don’t we owe our very lives to Jesus? It’s time we took a stand against the sin that we allow to plague our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}