“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.”
– Psalm 117

Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bile. It is only two verses long. But don’t let its shortness fool you into thinking it is not significant.

The psalm begins with a call to praise and ends with the same call to praise – Hallelujah!

• Hallelujah is the Hebrew word we translate as “Praise the LORD.”
• This word was used as a call to praise. It was an invitation for Jews to praise God.

In between the Hallelujahs is the reason why we are to give praise to God:

• For great is his love toward us
• the Faithfulness of the LORD endures forever

It is easy to go through the days without recalling or remembering all the ways God is loving and faithful to us. Too often, the only time we turn to God is when we have a concern, problem, or when we’re in need of something from God.

It’s not that we ought not pray and talk with God about these things. It’s just that it gets really exhausting when that’s all we talk with God about. It’s not that God is not working in our lives. God is. It’s just that we are too forgetful. Concerns or problems, we don’t even have to think about remembering. They’re all over our thoughts. But the good things take intentional recollection. That in and of itself tells us much about our nature. But we can correct that.

Start your prayers with praise and thanksgiving. Start by remembering and recalling all the ways God loves you and is faithful to you.

That’s your homework today. In fact, that’s your homework from now on. Before you utter a request, you will spend time recalling and remembering the ways God shows his love and faithfulness to you.

Start this day by recalling and remembering at least three ways God shows his love to you, and three ways God demonstrates his faithfulness to you. Write it down and thank God for the ways he loves you.

When you do, praise will come naturally.

Hallelujah! Praise the LORD!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We hear often people saying:

• That changes everything
• It would mean the world to me

But, it rarely does. Even when someone wins the lottery, when someone gets four “yeses” on America’s Got Talent, when someone gets a yes from the person they’ve been wanting to date…even though people say that this would change everything or that it would mean the world, it almost never does.

Even after winning the lottery, or getting the four “yeses,” or getting a date with that special someone, we’re still the same. If we were insecure before, these things don’t change our insecurity. If we were dealing with depression, these things don’t change our depression. Because we are the same, nothing is changed.

There is, however, one thing in the created universe that can change everything: Jesus.

As a young man, I learned the verse for today as, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” The implication was that when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior we are new creations. We are born again. But this was a poor translation and it failed to describe the astounding change that takes place when a person receives Jesus as Lord and Savior.

As you can see, modern translations of this verse correctly read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come…” The most wooden translation of the Greek would read, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation…”

That’s the right translation. That describes the astounding transformation of salvation.

When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior it is not just a personal transformation. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, the entire created universe is changed before us.

When Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord over all of his creation.

• That’s not just a pretty woman, she is God’s daughter. And that changes everything about how I am to interact with her.
• That annoying coworker is God’s child. And that changes everything in how I am to love that individual.
• Whereas, we used to live as if everything in the universe was for our personal consumption, when we receive Jesus as Lord we recognize that everything in the created universe is to be stewarded and managed for God’s glory.

Get it? Jesus changes everything.

When we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, there is a new creation. The entire universe changes right before our eyes. All of it – all of time, all of creation, all of God’s children – are for God’s glory.

That right there, that’s a game changer. That changes everything. This reality means the world to us.

“When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’

“They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?’

“Jesus replied, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.'”

“Then Judas, the one who would betray him said, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?’

“Jesus answered, ‘You have said so.'”

Matthew 26:20-25

The setting for these verses is the Last Supper in the Upper Room. This would be the last time the disciples would all be together before the crucifixion of Jesus.

What is astonishing about this passage is that right after Judas says this, Jesus offers to him the holy sacrament of bread and wine. It would not be surprising to me if Jesus were looking into the eyes of Judas when Jesus broke bread and said, “Judas, this is my body broken for you. This is the blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

It’s as if Jesus was saying to Judas, “You don’t have to do this. You can repent. You can change your ways. But even if you don’t, remember you are mine. I will forgive you this sin as well.”

Astonishing grace.

Astounding love.

It’s not just Judas who would betray Jesus that night. Within a few hours, Peter will so vehemently deny Jesus that Peter curses and swears that he does not know this man!

It’s not just Judas and Peter who would deny Jesus.

When the chief priest and the elders of the people arrive with the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus, Matthew tells us, “Then all the disciples deserted Jesus and fled” (Matthew 26:56).

In a matter of hours after the Last Supper, every single one of the disciples of Jesus deserted Jesus.

Jesus knew this. Jesus knew every single one of his disciples would betray him, disavow him, desert him and yet still offered up his body and blood for his disciples in the holy sacrament of communion and ultimately on the cross.

This is why we have hope.

How many times have we betrayed him? Disavowed him? Deserted him?

Yet, Jesus still offers himself to us to forgive our sins.

Astonishing grace.

Astounding love.

Thank you, Jesus.