Devotions

It’s Hot! And I hate the heat. (I get grumpy!)

I’m Old! And I’m not too thrilled with that either.

I’m Tired! As I look at the years ahead, I have no idea how many there will be and no idea how able I will be to do the things I still want to do.

Looking at things from an earthly perspective, the future doesn’t look too bright.

As I was beginning to read Paul’s letter to the Colossians this morning, I was stopped in the first passage. The Spirit of God wanted me to focus on what Paul told his readers after the salutation — that he prayed for them and was thankful for them. And also, I am to focus on his reminder about their (and our) future!

“We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.” [Colossians 1:3-5 NLT]

These believers had faith in Christ Jesus and love for God’s people birthed out of a confident hope that erupted in their lives when they first heard the truth of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

That confident hope rests in what God has in store for those who love Him. That confident hope overcomes everything …

…the circumstances of daily life

… getting old

… even being tired.

I have a bright and glorious future!

As I slept last night, a portion of the chorus from “Through the Fire,” kept running through my mind. I kept singing over and over … “Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision, and the adversary says give in, Just hold on. Our Lord will show up, and He will take you through the fire again.”

One of the enemy’s favorite themes is “Give In!”

This morning, I was reminded of a famous Churchill speech given at Harrow School on October 29, 1941. “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparent overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Long before Churchill uttered that speech, Paul wrote a similar one to the Corinthian Church. Chapter 3 speaks of the New Covenant and the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. Chapter 4, however, speaks of the treasure of this new freedom and power in Christ, and begins and ends with “never give up.”

“Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way [New Covenant], we never give up.” [4:1 NLT]

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” [4:16-18 NLT]

I don’t know what you may be facing today. I know what I am facing. I know the adversary is shouting “Give in!” But, like Churchill and Paul, “We never give up!” no matter the “apparent overwhelming might of the enemy.”  (And the key word there is ‘apparent’!)

(2 Corinthians, Chapter 4 is a great read! Spend some time in it today.)

Monday morning’s daily Bible verse was about God’s faithfulness. “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.” [2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT]

While I sat contemplating God’s faithfulness, my attention was drawn to the last part of that verse. The part that says the LORD will … “guard you from the evil one.”

I realized that I saw a perfect illustration of that Sunday afternoon. Bob and I were watching the final round of the Traveler’s Golf Tournament. There were three players in the final grouping, and they were heading to the 18^th green to finish the tournament. Two of them were vying for the championship, only one point separating them.

As they were walking to the green, Bob asked me why there were so many police officers walking beside them. I simply said that you never know what might happen and since these were some of the top golfers in the world, they were being cautious. Who knew how prophetic that would be in just moments.

As the golfers reached the green, protesters with smoke bombs and canisters of white powder broke from the crowd and began to attack the 18^th green. Instantly, the police were upon them and had them handcuffed and taken away from the golfers.

No one was hurt, and the golfers continued with their round, but one golfer commented that he was “afraid for his life.”

Our LORD is FAITHFUL. Praise His Holy Name. He WILL STRENGTHEN us. Thank you, LORD!

AND He WILL GUARD us from the evil one. He walks with us every moment of every day, and nothing can steal us from His Hand, nothing! Amen.

I remember my time of greatest growth in the LORD. My children were all in school and I didn’t have to go to work until later in the day. I would sit on my couch after everyone left and I would read and journal. I had a Bible reading plan that, if followed, would have me reading through my Bible once a year (Gospels, Psalms and Proverbs twice a year).  I also had a journal plan that allowed me to focus my thoughts each day. It was called “ACTS,” which stood for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. I added a section at the end on Listening.

It was a great time of learning what God requires through reading His word and beginning to broaden my approach to Him from merely asking for stuff to adoring, confessing, and offering thanks also.  It was the beginning of maturity, but had it remained only there on my couch for a few hours every morning, it truly would have accomplished little.

Because the second part of any plan must be implementation.  James wrote: “Do not merely listen to [read] the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” [1:22]

If we aren’t translating the knowledge into action, the plan to mature and grow, worship more, be more like Christ, will accomplish little in our lives. It will be like those New Year’s resolutions that are forgotten by February 1.

May I be so bold as to say you haven’t really LEARNED the Word until you LIVE the Word. We have to know, but we also have to do. Otherwise, we are, as James reminds us, deceiving ourselves.

The prophet Micah asks the profound question we all must ask.  “With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?”

Then he goes on and lists many things he could bring … burnt offerings of calves a year old, thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil. He even wonders if he should offer his firstborn for his sins and transgressions, hyperbole for the most extreme offering imaginable.

None of that is what the Lord requires of us, and Micah goes on to admit that.  “He has showed 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.” [Mic 6:6-8 NIV]

Justice, Mercy, Humility. I am reminded that if we strive to act justly in this unjust world, and walk in humility amid the proud and arrogant, we are certainly going to need to LOVE MERCY!  Mercy is God’s loving kindness and favor toward us that we also show toward others.

 I must love and cling to God’s mercy for me because there is nothing resident in me, apart from His mercy, that will enable me to be just and humble.  It doesn’t take much more than one long line in a grocery when I don’t feel well to prove that I need a constant infilling of God’s mercy.

Father, fill me anew with Your mercy so that I might also show Your loving kindness and favor to others. Amen.

Titus 2:12-14:  “…while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own eager to do what is good.”  [NIV]

For years I have heard the saints of God speak of that Blessed Hope. They mean, of course, what Paul wrote to Titus. That Blessed Hope is the Second Coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We long for that time when Christ returns for His own, when His Kingdom is established across the cosmos. I can’t wait to see it all play out!

In the meantime, however, we are not to be sitting idly by, rocking in our rocking chairs, bemoaning the fact that it is taking so long! We aren’t arguing or debating the timing. We are to be eagerly doing what is good while we wait.

Jesus said that we need to be dressed and ready for service and keep our lamps burning as we wait for our Master to return.  He said it would be good for those servants if the master finds them ready for His return. (Luke 12:35-40)

I truly believe that being ready means we anticipate the Lord’s return at any moment, but we keep working (and when we cannot physically work anymore, we pray for and with others)  – eagerly doing what is good as we wait. I may or may not see the Lord return in my lifetime; I have far fewer days in front of me than I have behind me. I cannot miss even one opportunity to do what is good!

Father, keep my heart set the anticipation of that Blessed Hope, and my eyes constantly searching for where I can do what is good. Amen.

Don’t you just love it when you are reading in Scripture and suddenly a phrase or thought captivates your attention.  Happens to me all the time.  I’ll try to read further, but I just keep coming back to that one phrase that seems to resonate with my spirit at that moment. Today it was the phrase in Philippians, “able to discern what is best.”

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”  [Phil 1:9-10 NIV]

I also like the way the NKJV says it, “that you may approve the things that are excellent.”

Every day we make choices.  Some of them are simple choices, such as eggs or cereal for breakfast, which brand of something to buy, what color shirt to wear. Some of them are more serious or complicated, put the money in savings or take that vacation, continue to date this person, opt for treatment or let the disease run its course.

Paul’s prayer for his beloved Philippians is that they might have the ability to look at all the choices and pick the most excellent one. And I would think to Paul the most excellent choice is the choice that has eternal factors, the choice that leads toward God and not away from Him.

How will this affect my relationship with my beloved Savior? What are the eternal consequences? Knowing that it would take more and more knowledge and spiritual insight, Paul prayed for them.  That is my prayer for you and for me today.

Father, may our love grow in knowledge of You. May we have deep insight through Your Spirit so that we might always choose what is best eternally. Amen.

In Luke 16, we come to a parable about serving two masters. At the end of that parable, Jesus says, “‘No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.’  The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’” [Luke 16:13-15 NIV]

As I read that verse, I was confronted immediately with the question, “So what IS highly valued among men?”

Jesus made it clear that what this world highly values is detestable in God’s sight. Since that is true, we need to answer that question. What does this world value?  I can start off with a host of things, wealth, success, power, talent, intellect, social status. You can probably name a host of other things.

I am not sure I read anywhere in Scripture that these are bad things in themselves. After all, many of God’s people had wealth (Abraham), success (Deborah/Barak), power (Solomon), talent (David), intellect (Paul), social status (Esther).

I think, however, that when we start serving those things rather than allowing those things to serve us, we enter into idolatry. And you cannot serve both God and an idol no matter what that idol is.

Whatever we highly value more than God Himself is going to get us in trouble. Idolatry is detestable to God in any form.

Father, may I always place You above everything else in my life. May I never bow my knee to an idol, no matter what form that idol may take. Search my heart, find any wicked thing in me, and remove it far from me. Amen.

In Luke 15, we find Jesus taking on the establishment, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

“Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’“ [vs1-2 NIV]

Jesus, “friend of sinners.” I have often heard that title applied to our Lord. I have often rejoiced in that declaration of Jesus’ love for me—a sinner. Other times I have had someone paraphrase that verse in wrong ways. To them it meant that Jesus accommodates their sin, and that Christians should also.

Yes, Jesus is a friend to sinners. Yes, Jesus loves sinners, but that doesn’t mean that Jesus loves sin, nor that He will accommodate it in anyone. In fact, He suffered and died on a Roman cross because of our sin.

We need to understand what it means when we say that Jesus “welcomes sinners and fellowships with them.” He gave three parables as He explained His love for sinners to these Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  Luke 15, beginning in verse 3, speaks of a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son.  (Read Luke 15 today).

As you read you will notice a commonality through each parable. Something is lost. There is also the common theme of finding what is lost. And there is rejoicing over sinners who repent of their sins. “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [Luke 15:10 NIV]

It is not about abiding in our sin and being friends with Jesus.  It’s about abandoning our sin and becoming His disciple.

Rom 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  [NIV]

The word used for condemnation is only used in the New Testament in this verse and in Romans 5:16, 18. It is a legal term, speaking of the verdict and sentence issued by a judge in a court of law. Under the law we are all guilty – that’s the verdict.  Because the verdict is guilty, the sentence has been pronounced – death.  That’s condemnation.

For those who are in Christ Jesus, however, there is NO condemnation.  None. When a believer sins (and believe me we still do that), we don’t go back to court to stand before a judge, we go to a Father who loves, convicts, disciplines, and forgives His children–all because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

Understanding the difference between conviction versus condemnation is one of the hardest things to get deep down into our hearts.  So often we hear the enemy of our souls shouting to us, “if you really were a good Christian, you would not have done that,” or things along that same line.  That’s condemnation’s theme song.

As children of our Eternal Father, we hear conviction. “Child, I love you, I know you do not want to displease me.  Come to me, let us work together, I will forgive and lead you in paths of righteousness.”  That’s conviction’s theme song.

Remember:  Condemnation always leads us away from God. Conviction always leads us toward Him.