TRAINING FOR LIFE
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Posted:Aug 4, 2017 4:44 am
Last Updated:Aug 4, 2017 4:44 am 5548 Views
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Read: Psalm 66:8–12
Bible in a Year: Psalms 66–67; Romans 7
For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. Psalm 66:10
My training for the long-distance race was going badly, and the latest run was particularly disappointing. I walked half the time and even had to sit down at one point. It felt like I had failed a mini-test.
Then I remembered that this was the whole point of training. It was not a test to pass, nor was there a grade I had to achieve. Rather, it was something I simply had to go through, again and again, to improve my endurance.
Lord, I know that You allow me to go through trials so that I will be strengthened and purified.
Perhaps you feel bad about a trial you are facing. God allows us to undergo these times of testing to toughen our spiritual muscles and endurance. He teaches us to rely on Him, and purifies us to be holy, so that we become more like Christ.
No wonder the psalmist could praise God for refining the Israelites through fire and water (Ps. 66:10–12) as they suffered in slavery and exile. God not only preserved them and brought them to a place of great abundance, but also purified them in the process.
As we go through testing, we can rely on God for strength and perseverance. He is refining us through our toughest moments.
Lord, I know that You allow me to go through trials so that I will be strengthened and purified. Teach me to keep relying on You for Your strength to endure.
Faith-testing times can be faith-strengthening times.
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PEACE AND TRUST
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Posted:Aug 3, 2017 3:16 am
Last Updated:Aug 3, 2017 3:17 am 4943 Views
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Read: Isaiah 26:1– 9
Bible in a Year: Psalms 63–65; Romans 6
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
When I was six years old I rode a roller coaster for the first time with my older brothers. As soon as we hit a turn at a high speed I started to yell: “Stop this thing right now! I want to get off!” Of course the roller coaster didn’t stop, and I had to “white knuckle” it, hanging on tight for the rest of the ride.
Sometimes life can feel like an unwanted roller coaster ride, with “downhill” drops and hairpin curves we never see coming. When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”
(Isa. 26:3).
Life will have its difficulties, but our Savior, who loves us more than life, is greater than them all.
The peace our Savior gives us as we turn to Him “transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4.7. I will never forget the words of a woman who was struggling with breast cancer. After a group from our church prayed for her one evening, she said
, “I don’t know what will happen, but I know that I’ll be okay, because the Lord was here with us tonight.”
Life will have its difficulties, but our Savior, who loves us more than life, is greater than them all.
Lord, help me to trust in You so that I may live in peace.
Jesus is our peace.
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THE PROFESSOR´S CONFESSION´S
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Posted:Aug 2, 2017 5:31 am
Last Updated:Aug 2, 2017 5:32 am 4512 Views
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Read: 1 John 3:11–18
Bible in a Year: Psalms 60–62; Romans 5
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 1 John 3:16
Horrified by his students’ poor writing habits, renowned author and college professor David Foster Wallace considered how he might improve their skills. That’s when a startling question confronted him. The professor had to ask himself why a student would listen to someone “as smug, narrow, self-righteous, [and] condescending” as he was. He knew he had a problem with pride.
That professor could and did change, but he could never become one of his students. Yet when Jesus came to Earth, He showed us what humility looks like by becoming one of us. Stepping across all kinds of boundaries, Jesus made Himself at home everywhere by serving, teaching, and doing the will of His Father.
Jesus loved us by serving.
Even as He was being crucified, Jesus prayed for forgiveness for His executioners (Luke 23:34). Straining for every anguished breath, He still granted eternal life to a criminal dying with Him (vv. 42–43).
Why would Jesus do that? Why would He serve people like us to the very end? The apostle John gets to the point. Out of love! He writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” Then he drives that point home. “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16).
Jesus showed us that His love eradicates our pride, our smugness, our condescension. And He did it in the most powerful way possible. He gave His life.
Father, we are so prone to look down on each other. Please forgive us. Give us the heart of love Your showed to us.
Jesus loved us by serving.
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NOZOMI HOPE
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Posted:Aug 1, 2017 4:15 am
Last Updated:Apr 27, 2024 10:40 pm 4308 Views
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Read: 2 Corinthians 4.7–18
Bible in a Year: Psalms 57–59; Romans 4
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4.7
In 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and a resulting tsunami took nearly 19,000 lives and destroyed 230,000 homes in the region northeast of Tokyo. In its aftermath, The Nozomi Project, named for the Japanese word for “hope,” was born to provide sustainable income, community, dignity, and hope in a God who provides.
Nozomi women sift through the rubble of homes and furnishings to discover broken china shards that they sand and insert into fittings to form jewelry. The jewelry is sold around the world, providing a livelihood for the women while sharing symbols of their faith in Christ.
Dear God, please show Your power as I share the treasure of Your gospel in my broken, but beautiful life.
In New Testament times, it was customary to hide valuables in the unlikely vessels of simple clay pots. Paul describes how the treasure of the gospel is contained in the human frailty of followers of Christ: jars of clay (2 Cor. 4.7. He suggests that the meager—and even at times broken—vessels of our lives actually can reveal God’s power in contrast to our imperfections.
When God inhabits the imperfect and broken pieces in our lives, the healing hope of His power is often more visible to others. Yes, His repair work in our hearts often leaves the scars of cracks. But perhaps those lines from our learning are the etchings in our beings that make His character more visible to others.
Dear God, please show others Your power as I share the treasure of Your gospel in my broken, but beautiful life.
Brokenness can lead to wholeness.
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A " NEW MAN"
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Posted:Jul 31, 2017 4:59 am
Last Updated:Jul 31, 2017 4:59 am 4358 Views
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Read: Colossians 1:3–14
Bible in a Year: Psalms 54–56; Romans 3
Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1:23
As a group of teenagers visited a home for the elderly in Montego Bay, Jamaica, one young woman noticed a lonely looking man at the end of the room. He appeared to have little left in this world but a bed to sleep on—a bed from which he could not move because of his disability.
The began right away to share the story of God’s love for us and read some Bible passages to him. “As I shared with him,” she would say later, “I started to feel his eagerness to hear more.” Responding to his interest, she explained the wonder of Jesus’s sacrificial death for us. “It was hard for this man, who had no hope and no family,” she recalled, “to understand that Someone he’s never met would love him enough to die on the cross for his sins.”
Lord, thank You for the new life we have in Jesus Christ.
She told him more about Jesus—and then about the promise of heaven (including a new body) for all who believe. He asked her, “Will you dance with me up there?” She saw him begin to imagine himself free of his worn-out body and crippling limitations.
When he said he wanted to trust Jesus as his Savior, she helped him pray a prayer of forgiveness and faith. When she asked him if she could get a picture with him, he replied, “If you help me sit up. I’m a new man.”
Praise God for the life-changing, hope-giving, available-to-all gospel of Jesus Christ! It offers new life for all who trust Him (Col. 1:5, 23).
Lord, thank You for the new life we have in Jesus Christ. Help us to share the hope of that new life with others so they can be made new as well.
Jesus offers new life.
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FORGIVEN!!
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Posted:Jul 28, 2017 5:15 am
Last Updated:Jul 28, 2017 5:15 am 5051 Views
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Read: 1 John 1:1-10
Bible in a Year: Psalms 46–48; Acts 28
I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant. Psalm 119:176
My friend Norm Cook sometimes had a surprise for his family when he arrived home from work. He would walk through the front door, and shout, “You’re forgiven!” It wasn’t that family members had wronged him and needed his forgiveness. He was reminding them that though they doubtless had sinned throughout the day, they were by God’s grace fully forgiven.
The apostle John supplies this note about grace: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his , purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin [no inclination to 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”
(1 John 1.7–9).
Monitor your heart daily to avoid wandering from God’s wisdom.
To “walk in the light” is a metaphor for following Jesus. Imitating Jesus with the Spirit’s help, John insists, is the sign that we have joined with the apostles in the fellowship of faith. We are authentic Christians. But, he continues, let’s not be deceived: We will make wrong choices at times. Nevertheless, grace is given in full measure: We can take what forgiveness we need.
Not perfect; just forgiven by Jesus! That’s the good word for today.
Lord, I know I’m not even close to being perfect. That’s why I need You and Your cleansing in my life. I’m lost without You.
Monitor your heart daily to avoid wandering from God’s wisdom.
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SWEET COMPANY
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Posted:Jul 27, 2017 5:35 am
Last Updated:Jul 27, 2017 5:35 am 6627 Views
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Read: John 14:15–26
Bible in a Year: Psalms 43–45; Acts 27:27–43
The Spirit of truth . . . lives with you and will be in you. John 14:17
The elderly woman in the nursing home didn’t speak to anyone or request anything. It seemed she merely existed, rocking in her creaky old chair. She didn’t have many visitors, so one young nurse would often go into her room on her breaks. Without asking the woman questions to try to get her to talk, she simply pulled up another chair and rocked with her. After several months, the elderly woman said to her, “Thank you for rocking with me.” She was grateful for the companionship.
Before He went back to heaven, Jesus promised to send a constant companion to His disciples. He told them He would not leave them alone but would send the Holy Spirit to be in them (John 14:17 That promise is still true for believers in Jesus today. Jesus said that the triune God makes His “home” in us (v. 23).
Dear Lord, thank You for giving us Your Spirit as our constant companion.
The Lord is our close and faithful companion throughout our entire life. He will guide us in our deepest struggles, forgive our sin, hear each silent prayer, and shoulder the burdens we cannot bear.
We can enjoy His sweet company today.
Dear Lord, thank You for giving us Your Spirit as our constant companion.
The Christian’s heart is the Holy Spirit’s home.
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WHAT WE BRING BACK
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Posted:Jul 25, 2017 4:22 am
Last Updated:Jul 25, 2017 4:23 am 10604 Views
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Read: Psalm 37:1–6, 23–27
Bible in a Year: Psalms 37–39; Acts 26
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their begging bread. Psalm 37.25
John F. Burns spent forty years covering world events for The New York Times. In an article written after his retirement in 2015, Burns recalled the words of a close friend and fellow journalist who was dying of cancer. “Never forget,” his colleague said, “It’s not how far you’ve traveled; it’s what you’ve brought back.”
Psalm 37 could be considered David’s list of what he “brought back” from his journey of life, from shepherd to soldier and king. The psalm is a series of couplets contrasting the wicked with the righteous, and affirming those who trust the Lord.
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.” Psalm 37.23
“Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither” (vv. 1–2).
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand” (vv. 23–24).
“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their begging bread” (v. 25).
From our experiences in life, what has God taught us? How have we experienced His faithfulness and love? In what ways has the Lord’s love shaped our lives?
It’s not how far we’ve traveled in life, but what we’ve brought back that counts.
Dear Lord, thank You for walking with me throughout my life. Help me to remember Your faithfulness.
As the years add up, God’s faithfulness keeps multiplying
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BUILDING A COMMUNITY
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Posted:Jul 24, 2017 4:54 am
Last Updated:Jul 24, 2017 4:55 am 13073 Views
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Read: Ephesians 2:19–3:11
Bible in a Year: Psalms 35–36; Acts 25
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:6
“Community” is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives, says Henri Nouwen. Often we surround ourselves with the people we most want to live with, which forms a club or a clique, not a community. Anyone can form a club; it takes grace, shared vision, and hard work to form a community.
The Christian church was the first institution in history to bring together on equal footing Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free. The apostle Paul waxed eloquent on this “mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God.” By forming a community out of diverse members, Paul said, we have the opportunity to capture the attention of the world and even the supernatural world beyond (Eph. 3:9–10).
"'Community' is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives." —Henri Nouwen
In some ways the church has sadly failed in this assignment. Still, church is the one place I visit that brings together generations: infants still held in their mothers’ arms, who squirm and giggle at all the wrong times, responsible adults who know how to act appropriately at all times, and those who may drift asleep if the preacher drones on too long.
If we want the community experience God is offering to us, we have reason to seek a congregation of people “not like us.”
Lord, remind us that the church is Your work, and You have brought us together for Your good purposes. Help us extend grace to others.
The man who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world.
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DRESSED UP
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Posted:Jul 21, 2017 4:42 am
Last Updated:Jul 21, 2017 4:42 am 13848 Views
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Read: Romans 13:11–14
Bible in a Year: Psalms 29–30; Acts 23:1–15
Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:14
In her book Wearing God, author Lauren Winner says our clothes can silently communicate to others who we are. What we wear may indicate career, community or identity, moods, or social status. Think of a T-shirt with a slogan, a business suit, a uniform, or greasy jeans and what they might reveal. She writes, “The idea that, as with a garment, Christians might wordlessly speak something of Jesus—is appealing.”
According to Paul, we can similarly wordlessly represent Christ. Romans 13:14 tells us to “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” What does this mean? When we become Christians, we take on Christ’s identity. We’re “ of God through faith” (Gal. 3:26–27). That’s our status. Yet each day we need to clothe ourselves in His character. We do this by striving to live for and to be more like Jesus, growing in godliness, love, and obedience and turning our back on the sins that once enslaved us.
Dear Lord, grow us in godliness, love, joy, and patience.
This growth in Christ is a result of the Holy Spirit working in us and our desire to be closer to Him through study of the Word, prayer, and time spent in fellowship with other Christians (John 14:26). When others look at our words and attitudes, what statement are we making about Christ?
Dear Lord, we want to be a reflection of You. Help us to look more like You each day. Grow us in godliness, love, joy, and patience.
When others see us, may what they see speak well of the Savior.
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