Archive for Devotional

Whom Did Jesus Bless?

2015-09-24 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Mark 10:13-16; Luke 7:22-23; 10:23-24

Jesus came speaking the Father’s words and doing the Father’s deeds. Therefore He came blessing. In the Old Testament, we saw that the Father longs to bless His people, even when they don’t deserve it, and He abundantly blesses those who trust Him. We see the same in Jesus Christ.

Ask the average person who is particularly “blessed” – that is, who is fortunate, who has been singled out for success or special happiness – and you’re likely to hear that it is the rich…the lottery winners…the famous…the highly respected…those with great jobs. Or if the person answering can see beyond materialism, they might say that the “blessed” are those who are healthy, or who are surrounded by loving friends and family.

But notice who Jesus called “blessed”. God’s blessings are not dependent on circumstances. They are not the product of chance. Since all God’s greatest gifts come to us in Jesus (read Ephesians 1:3-14), we are blessed through relationship with Him. The “blessed” are those who know Him, respond to Him, and trust Him.

“Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15-17, NIV)

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:27-28, NIV)

Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:28-29, NIV)

Remember this: God has decreed the complete, eternal well-being of all who trust in Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, NASB)

Creation Will Blossom

2015-09-17 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Isaiah 35

Creator God conceived and made this world to engulf us in His goodness and embrace us with all His blessings. He wanted us to see and feel and discover that He is perfect wisdom, power, and love, and He is immediately, personally, constantly with us.

That is still His purpose. He has not abandoned it. This earth was designed to glorify God and bless His people, and that is what it will do.

Look at the rich array of blessings our Creator God promises His people:

  • Even the most barren parts of creation will blossom into beauty and abundance (vv.1-2, 6b-7). 
  • Take courage! Don’t be afraid! Though we are weak, He is strong. Our God will come and save His people from all that oppresses us. He will make everything right and good (vv.3-4).
  • Disease and physical affliction are evil cancers on God’s created world. They will be gone forever. Health and healing will reign all around (vv.5-6a). 
  • God’s people will be able to get around His world easily and safely. A road will penetrate even the wilderness – a road that is clearly marked and safe (vv.8-9).
  • In the future, God’s world will be permeated with joy. All the natural world will rejoice with a rich display of life and beauty (vv.1, 2). The afflicted will leap and shout for joy (v.6). All God’s people will be filled with everlasting joy, and sorrow in all its forms will be gone forever (v.10). 

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world.
The battle is not done;
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
And earth and heaven be one.
(Maltbie D. Babcock)

Don’t Forget

2015-09-15 Devotional No comments

I am a conservative, evangelical, Bible-believing Christian. The laws, court decisions, and social movements in this country often conflict with my deeply-held beliefs. That will not change until Christ returns. Like most of you, I wrestle with how I should live as salt and light in this crooked and perverse generation (Matthew 5:13-16; Philippians 2:15, NASB).

I can’t tell you how you should respond to the moral issues that will continue to stir societal tensions; gay marriage, for example. But I can urge you to remember some basic truths that are easily forgotten in the heat of cultural combat:

1.       As children of God, our most basic calling is to show all those around us just how much God loves them (Ephesians 1:6). Our responsibility to each and every person is to love them as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Nothing is ever more important than actively demonstrating God’s love. Nothing! Without love, everything we say is as meaningless and obnoxious as a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1, NASB).

2.       Jesus didn’t respond to people as classes. He resisted labels. He dealt with people as individuals, and always with respect. His Spirit should guide every personal interaction. Remember that each individual is unspeakably precious to Him. Treat them that way.

3.       Jesus said: “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17, NASB). He didn’t condemn the moral degenerates of His day. He openly befriended them and warmly socialized with them. The religious conservatives accused Him of being a “friend of sinners”, a charge which He gladly owned. If He did not come to judge sinners, neither have we.

4.       People do not become righteous by externally-imposed laws, but by grace through faith. They are drawn to God from the inside, not driven from the outside. Righteous laws don’t make a righteous people, nor does a perfect president, a perfect court system, or a perfect Congress. Old Testament Israel was given a perfect legal code, dictated by God Himself, with Moses as their leader. Did that make them a godly nation? Not even close. Neither would Christian laws make America Christian. The Biblical agent for changing individuals and societies is not law, but grace. Shouldn’t grace be our focus?

Abraham and Ishmael

2015-08-27 Devotional, Pictures of God One comment

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Genesis 16; 21:9-21

God’s blessings don’t just come to picture-perfect families. God also blesses in those families filled with conflict and turmoil.

For Sarah, the pain of her childlessness was so great that she was willing to give her husband to another woman – her maid, Hagar. But this didn’t bring Abraham his heir, and it brought only trouble to the family. When Hagar conceived by Abraham, the relationship between Hagar and Sarah was strained to the breaking point. The pregnant Hagar fled and ended up alone in the wilderness. Only the intervention of God’s angel brought her back to Abraham’s household.

Once Isaac was born to Sarah, the conflict between the two wives boiled over again. Sarah demanded that Abraham drive out Hagar and her son, Ishmael. Imagine the inner turmoil that Abraham must have experienced. Both women were his wives. Both boys were his sons. But God came to Abraham and gave him the assurance and direction he desperately needed:

  • “Do whatever Sarah tells you. She is right – your descendants will come through Isaac, not Ishmael.”
  • “I will take care of Ishmael and will make him a great nation as well, simply because he is your son.”

Through this difficult circumstance, God proved Himself faithful, not only to Abraham and Sarah but also to Hagar and Ishmael. They were soon alone in the wilderness without food and water. Hagar was so desperate that she left the boy by himself simply because she couldn’t bear to watch him die. But “the God who sees” came to her rescue again, as He had when she fled years before.

True to His promises to Abraham and Hagar, God made of Ishmael a great nation. He is considered the father of the Arab peoples. Thus God made Abraham the father, not just of one great nation, but of two – Israel and the Arab peoples. And in Christ, Abraham became the father of an even greater nation – the “holy nation” of all those saved by faith in Christ (1 Peter 2:9). “All those who believe are children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).

God’s blessings are real and His promises prove true even in the most troubled situations.  The darkness of human distress can never snuff out the light of God’s love.

Abraham: God’s Promises

2015-08-20 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Genesis 12:1-7

God blesses His people. The same sovereign God who spoke the universe into existence also speaks all His best into the lives of those who trust Him.

There is no better example of that blessing than the story of Abraham. Read it all in Genesis 11:26 – 25:11.

According to Genesis 11, Abraham was the ninth generation after Shem, the son of Noah. When the Bible first introduces him, his name is still Abram (meaning, “the father is exalted”), and he is part of his father Terah’s household in Ur of the Chaldeans (in present-day Iraq). He moves with his father to Haran (in present-day Turkey), and there his father dies.

There also the Lord speaks to Abram, asking him to follow Him to a land He will show him. If Abram obeys, God promises him a number of magnificent blessings:

  • God will make him a great nation.
  • God will both bless him and make him a blessing. In fact, all the families of the earth will be blessed through him.
  • God will bless those who bless Abram, and curse those who curse him.

One might think that one so richly blessed by the Sovereign God would have an easy life. And indeed, God does lavish great material wealth on Abram. But like us, Abram was called to trust a God whose plan is sometimes mysterious and whose sense of timing is far different than our own.

  • The man who was to have descendants numerous as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the sea had no heir until he was 100 years old.
  • Though God had promised him that his heirs would possess the land of Canaan, Abram lived his entire life as nomad, living in tents, owning no land but a small burial plot.
  • Though God promised to stand up for Abram in all his disputes (blessing those who blessed him, cursing those who cursed him), the disputes and dangers just kept coming.

The God who blesses us does not promise a life of ease, but a journey of faith. That journey has a wonderful end for those who patiently endure.

You Are the Blessing

2015-07-30 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Father, how You long to bless Your people with all Your best!
And You Yourself are the gift You most long to give.
You are the prosperity that You pour into our souls.
You are the peace, the harmony, the completeness, the well-being
with which You would fill us and our world.
Your own Spirit is the blessing that You would
breathe and
speak and
sing
throughout all we are
into every corner of the universe.

Father, in You, we are cradled in Your
unfailing love and
absolute dependability.
You are unfailing love.
You are absolute dependability.

In You we possess all things.
In You we possess all the riches of reality
rather than this world’s passing illusions.
You are All-in-all,
the Source,
the Goal, and
the Giver.
Whom do we have in heaven but You?
And on earth, what could we ever need but You?
In life,
in death,
in all the world,
in all eternity,
there is nothing we could want but
the blessing You will soon give in all its fullness:
Yourself.

Jesus Models Forgiveness

2015-07-16 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Luke 23:32-48

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34, NIV)

Imagine that you are Jesus on the day of His death. Look around. Who do you see?

  • the religious leaders, proud, self-righteous, angry, blind to their own murderous jealousy
  • Judas, a close friend whose heart had wandered and who turned you in for a few pieces of silver
  • the disciples, who lived with you for three years then fearfully deserted you in your time of trouble
  • Pilate, who sensed the truth but was too weak to act on it
  • Herod, who held your life in his hands but was only concerned with his own entertainment
  • sadistic soldiers, to whom you were cruel sport
  • a thief hanging next to you, taunting You in an effort to save himself
  • the crowd of people, a mixture of mindless mob and curiosity seekers.

In short, you’re surrounded by humanity. To them, you’re a criminal, a blasphemer, a financial opportunity, a pawn, a scapegoat, a fool, a buffoon. Your pain is their afternoon’s entertainment. You’ve given yourself for these people, and they’re crushing you with their indifference, injustice, torture, humiliation, and the most agonizing death they can devise.

Every fiber of your being is screaming in pain and begging for relief. You are in your final moments. What is on your mind?

Most people being crucified would have filled their last hours with angry curses and bitterness. Read Jesus’ words. Listen as He speaks them. What is on His heart during these moments?

Forgiveness. Forgiveness fills His mind, His heart, and His words. Forgiveness for the proud, the cruel, the ignorant, the fearful, the weak. Forgiveness for us.

In Him, pain and injustice never overwhelmed love. In His final moments, with His final life breath, He completed His beautiful portrait of our loving, forgiving Father.

Your Unique Place of Service

2015-07-14 Devotional, Reading & Study No comments

For years I felt that God had called me to one specific task. I would get impatient with Him when He seemed intent, as He often did, on diluting my focus. Why did He continually drain away my precious-little time on other obligations, other responsibilities outside my one, all-important “calling”?

At age 65, I finally have a little perspective on that issue. I look honestly at myself, and I freely admit that I am not the world’s best at anything I have done. I am not the world’s best composer. I am not the world’s best author or lyricist. I am not the world’s best Bible scholar or publisher or teacher. I never will be.

But I am one of the few people whom God has specially prepared to combine and integrate all those abilities. My uniqueness is not in one special ability, but in one special combination of abilities. In my college years, when He drew me to study classical music composition, far outside my musical comfort zone, He had a purpose. When He led me to leave the conservatory halfway through a masters and teach at a small Bible college, He had a purpose. When He sent me to Kansas City, far away from family support, to work in the demanding field of church music publishing, He had a purpose. All those years when I longed to spend every spare moment writing, and He had me invest those hours studying the Bible to teach an adult Sunday School class, He had a purpose. Through every twist and turn and mystery of my life, He had a purpose.

Stay flexible as the all-wise, almighty God stretches you in various directions. Be patient through all the waiting and all the side-trips, through the alluring successes and discouraging failures. You never know what skills, experiences, and perspectives He is combining in you for some very special role, some very special ministry He has reserved just for you.

Forgiving Others

2015-07-02 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Matthew 6:9-15

Notice that the Lord’s Prayer puts a condition on God forgiving our sins:

“Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
(Matthew 6:12, NIV)

If we want our sins forgiven, we must also forgive those who wrong us. This is so important that immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus emphasizes that one point:

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15, NIV)

Why would our Father, so anxious to forgive us, put such a condition on our forgiveness? Why must we forgive others in order to be forgiven? Why are the giving and receiving of forgiveness inseparable?

  • We cannot embrace forgiveness as the solution for our sins without embracing it for others as well. Either forgiveness is the solution for sin or it isn’t.
  • Forgiveness cannot flow to us until it can flow through us.
  • Until we grant forgiveness to the one who wronged us, we too are enslaved by their sin. We who were wronged continue to suffer – we suffer lovelessness, resentment, anxiety, anger, and more. We cannot enjoy the blessing and freedom of forgiveness until we both receive it for the wrongs we do and give it to those who wrong us.
  • We tend to excuse our wrongs and blame others for theirs. Jesus urges us to do the opposite: excuse others and be more aware of our own failings.

An unforgiving heart is an unloving heart. It is a heart diseased with self-centeredness and bitterness. We cannot enjoy an open Father-to-child relationship with our forgiving God if we refuse to both give and receive forgiveness.

David and Bathsheba: Renewal

2015-06-11 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

2 Samuel 12:14-25

Lust. Adultery. Deceit. Murder. Abuse of power.

David had set a dreadful example for God’s people. What’s more, instead of being God’s light to the peoples around Israel, David had shamed God’s reputation among them (2 Samuel 12:14). As a result, God decreed that the sorrow and death David had brought into his home would begin with his newborn son. The child would die. And he did.

But here is where the story takes an amazing turn. One might have expected that David’s illicit union with Bathsheba would be cursed, or at least that no good fruit would come of it. The opposite happens. The Lord blesses their union with another child, a boy, and the scripture says specifically that “the Lord loved him” (12:24).

The child was Solomon. His name comes from the Hebrew word “shalom”, meaning “peace”. He was also given the name “Jedidiah”, which in Hebrew means “loved of the Lord” (12:25). Of all David’s children, he was selected to inherit the throne at David’s death. God chose him to build His house, the temple, and God blessed him with wisdom and riches beyond imagination. What’s more, the Messiah would come from Solomon’s line, from the line of David and Bathsheba.

What a marvelous story of God’s forgiveness! While David’s sin had destructive consequences, God also blessed his line with compassionate, life-giving renewal. This is a foretaste of what God would do in Jesus Christ:

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (Romans 5:20, NASB)

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