JUST LIKE MY FATHER
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Posted:Jan 5, 2018 5:58 am
Last Updated:Jan 9, 2018 5:34 am 11164 Views
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Read: 1 Peter 5:8–12
Bible in a Year: Genesis 13–15; Matthew 5:1–26
It is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
My father’s dusty, heeled-over, cowboy boots rest on the floor of my study, daily reminders of the kind of man he was.
Among other things, he raised and trained cutting horses—equine athletes that move like quicksilver. I loved to watch him at work, marveling that he could stay astride.
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
As a boy, growing up, I wanted to be just like him. I’m in my eighties, and his boots are still too large for me to fill.
My father’s in heaven now, but I have another Father to emulate. I want to be just like Him—filled with His goodness, fragrant with His love. I’m not there and never will be in this life; His boots are much too large for me to fill.
But the apostle Peter said this: “The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ . . . will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). He has the wisdom and power to do that, you know (v. 11).
Our lack of likeness to our heavenly Father will not last forever. God has called us to share the beauty of character that is His. In this life we reflect Him poorly, but in heaven our sin and sorrow will be no more and we’ll reflect Him more fully! This is the “true grace of God” (v. 12).
Father God, we want to be just like You. Help us to grow more and more like You each day!
Through the cross, believers are made perfect in His sight
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WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?
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Posted:Jan 4, 2018 3:48 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:17 am 11393 Views
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Read: John 5:31–40
Bible in a Year: Genesis 10–12; Matthew 4
These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39–40
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes of the “uncanny ability of experts to get things hopelessly, cataclysmically wrong.” A quick glance at recent history shows he’s right. The great inventor Thomas Edison, for instance, once declared that talking movies would never replace silent films. And in 1928, Henry Ford declared, “People are becoming too intelligent ever to have another war.” Countless other predictions by “experts” have missed the mark badly. Genius obviously has its limits.
Only one Person is completely reliable, and He had strong words for some so-called experts. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day claimed to have the truth. These scholars and theologians thought they knew what the promised Messiah would be like when He arrived.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
Jesus cautioned them, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.” Then He pointed out how they were missing the heart of the matter. “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39–40).
As another new year gets underway, we’ll hear predictions ranging from the terrifying to the wildly optimistic. Many of them will be stated with a great deal of confidence and authority. Don’t be alarmed. Our confidence remains in the One at the very heart of the Scriptures. He has a firm grip on us and on our future.
Father, whenever we are troubled or alarmed, help us to seek You. We commit this coming year and all it holds to You.
Knowing the future is uncertain; knowing the One who holds the future is a sure thing.
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BREATHTAKING GLORY
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Posted:Jan 3, 2018 5:36 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:17 am 11717 Views
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Read: 1 Chronicles 29:10–13
Bible in a Year: Genesis 7–9; Matthew 3
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. 1 Chronicles 29:11
One of the pleasures of a trip to Europe is visiting the grand cathedrals that dot the landscape. They are breathtakingly beautiful as they soar toward the heavens. The architecture, art, and symbolism found in these amazing buildings present a spellbinding experience of wonder and magnificence.
As I thought about the fact that these structures were built to reflect God’s magnificence and His all-surpassing splendor, I wondered how we could possibly recapture in our hearts and minds a similar feeling of God’s grandeur and be reminded again of His greatness.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
One way we can do that is to look beyond man’s grand, regal structures and contemplate the greatness of what God Himself has created. Take one look at a starry night sky and think of God’s power as He spoke the universe into existence. Hold a newborn baby in your arms and thank God for the miracle of life itself. Look at the snow-covered mountains of Alaska or the majestic Atlantic Ocean teeming with millions of God-designed creatures and imagine the power that makes that ecosystem work.
Mankind is not wrong to reach for the sky with structures that are intended to point us to God. But our truest admiration should be reserved for God Himself as we say to Him, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor” (1 Chronicles 29:11).
Lord, You do take our breath away with Your greatness. Thank You for reminding us of Your grandeur in Your world and in Your Word.
God alone is worthy of our worship.
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PRESSING ON
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Posted:Jan 2, 2018 5:23 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2024 10:17 am 11460 Views
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Read: Philippians 3.7–14
Bible in a Year: Genesis 4–6; Matthew 2
I press on toward the goal to win the prize. Philippians 3:14
As I walked past an outside wall of the office building where I work, I was amazed to see a beautiful flower growing up through a crack between concrete slabs covering the ground. Despite its deprived circumstance, the plant had found a foothold, rooted itself in the dry crevice, and was flourishing. Later, I noticed that an air-conditioning unit located directly above the plant dropped water on it throughout the day. While its surroundings were hostile, the plant received the help it needed from the water above.
Growing in the Christian life can sometimes be difficult, but when we persevere with Christ, barriers are surmountable. Our circumstances may be unfavorable and discouragement may seem like an obstacle. Yet if we press on in our relationship with the Lord, we can flourish like that lone plant. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. Despite the severe hardships and challenges he faced (2 Corinthians 11:23–27), he wouldn’t give up. “I . . . take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me,” he wrote. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize”
(Philippians 3:12, 14).
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
Paul realized he could do all things through the Lord who strengthened him (4:13), and so can we as we press on with the help of One who gives us strength.
This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.
God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.
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BEGINNING AGAIN
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Posted:Jan 1, 2018 5:56 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:26 am 11318 Views
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Read: Ezra 1:1–11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 1–3; Matthew 7
Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:5
After Christmas festivities conclude at the end of December, my thoughts often turn to the coming year. While my are out of school and our daily rhythms are slow, I reflect on where the last year has brought me and where I hope the next will take me. Those reflections sometimes come with pain and regret over the mistakes I’ve made. Yet the prospect of starting a new year fills me with hope and expectancy. I feel I have the opportunity to begin again with a fresh start, no matter what the last year held.
My anticipation of a fresh start pales in comparison to the sense of hope the Israelites must have felt when Cyrus, the king of Persia, released them to return to their homeland in Judah after seventy long years of captivity in Babylon. The previous king, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the Israelites from their homeland. But the Lord prompted Cyrus to send the captives home to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple (Ezra 1:2–3). Cyrus also returned to them treasures that had been taken from the temple. Their lives as God’s chosen people, in the land God had appointed to them, began afresh after a long season of hardship in Babylon as a consequence for their sin.
Lord, thank You for Your grace and forgiveness and new beginnings.
No matter what lies in our past, when we confess our sin, God forgives us and gives us a fresh start. What great cause for hope!
What can you do to grow closer to God this year?
God’s grace offers us fresh starts.
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SILENT NOGHT OF THE SOUL
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Posted:Dec 22, 2017 4:47 am
Last Updated:Jun 14, 2018 6:09 am 11116 Views
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Read: 2 Corinthians 5:14–21
Bible in a Year: Micah 6–7; Revelation 13
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone; the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Long before Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber created the familiar carol “Silent Night,” Angelus Silesius had written:
Lo! in the silent night a to God is born,
And all is brought again that ere was lost or lorn.
Could but thy soul, O man, become a silent night
God would be born in thee and set all things aright.
Jesus, thank You for being born into this dark world so that we might be born again into Your life & light.
Silesius, a Polish monk, published the poem in 1657 in The Cherubic Pilgrim. During our church’s annual Christmas Eve service, the choir sang a beautiful rendition of the song titled “Could but Thy Soul Become a Silent Night.”
The twofold mystery of Christmas is that God became one of us so that we might become one with Him. Jesus suffered everything that was wrong so that we could be made right. That’s why the apostle Paul could write, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone; the new is here! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17–18.
Whether our Christmas is filled with family and friends or empty of all we long for, we know that Jesus came to be born in us.
Ah, would thy heart but be a manger for the birth,
God would once more become a on earth.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being born into this dark world so that we might be born again into Your life and light.
God became one of us so that we might become one with Him.
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HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
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Posted:Dec 21, 2017 3:36 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:28 am 8926 Views
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Read: Genesis 28:10–17
Bible in a Year: Micah 4–5; Revelation 12
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. Genesis 28:15
One year Christmas found me on assignment in a place many of my friends couldn’t locate on a map. Trudging from my worksite back to my room, I braced against the chill wind blowing off the bleak Black Sea. I missed home.
When I arrived at my room, I opened the door to a magical moment. My artistic roommate had completed his latest project—a nineteen-inch ceramic Christmas tree that now illuminated our darkened room with sparkling dots of color. If only for a moment, I was home again!
A Light has entered the world to show us the way home.
As Jacob fled from his brother Esau, he found himself in a strange and lonely place too. Asleep on the hard ground, he met God in a dream. And God promised Jacob a home. “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying,” He told him. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring”
(Gen. 28:13–14).
From Jacob, of course, would come the promised Messiah, the One who left His home to draw us to Himself. “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am,” Jesus told His disciples (John 14:3).
That December night I sat in the darkness of my room and gazed at that Christmas tree. Perhaps inevitably I thought of the Light that entered the world to show us the way home.
Lord, no matter where we are today, we can thank You for preparing a place for us to be with You. And we have the presence of Your Spirit today!
Home is not so much a place on a map, as it is a place to belong. God gives us that place.
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BREAKING THE SILENCE
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Posted:Dec 20, 2017 2:22 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:29 am 6170 Views
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Read: Luke 1:11–17
Bible in a Year: Micah 1–3; Revelation 11
He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17
At the end of the Old Testament, God seems to be in hiding. For four centuries, the Jews wait and wonder. God seems passive, unconcerned, and deaf to their prayers. Only one hope remains: the ancient promise of a Messiah. On that promise the Jews stake everything. And then something momentous happens. The birth of a baby is announced.
You can catch the excitement just by reading the reactions of people in Luke. Events surrounding Jesus’s birth resemble a joy-filled musical. Characters crowd into the scene: a white-haired great uncle (Luke 1:5–25), an astonished virgin (1:26–38, the old prophetess Anna (2:36). Mary herself lets loose with a beautiful hymn (1:46–55). Even Jesus’s unborn cousin kicks for joy inside his mother’s womb (1:41).
Jesus, You are the gift of redemption and hope for us. Thank You.
Luke takes care to make direct connections to Old Testament promises of a Messiah. The angel Gabriel even calls John the Baptist an “Elijah” sent to prepare the way for the Lord (1:17). Clearly, something is brewing on planet Earth. Among the dreary, defeated villagers in a remote corner of the Roman Empire, something good is breaking out.
You have come to us, and we rejoice! Jesus, You are the gift of redemption and hope for us. Thank You.
Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.
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EXTREME MEASURES
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Posted:Dec 19, 2017 5:16 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:29 am 6114 Views
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Read: Luke 19:1–10
Bible in a Year: Jonah 1–4; Revelation 10
The of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
A few years ago, a friend of mine lost track of her young while walking through a swarm of people at Union Station in Chicago. Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience. Frantically, she yelled his name and ran back up the escalator, retracing her steps in an effort to find her little boy. The minutes of separation seemed like hours, until suddenly—thankfully—her emerged from the crowd and ran to the safety of her arms.
Thinking of my friend who would have done anything to find her fills me with a renewed sense of gratitude for the amazing work God did to save us. From the time God’s first image-bearers—Adam and Eve—wandered off in sin, He lamented the loss of fellowship with His people. He went to great lengths to restore the relationship by sending His one and only “to seek and to save the lost”
(Luke 19:10). Without the birth of Jesus, and without His willingness to die to pay the price for our sin and to bring us to God, we would have nothing to celebrate at Christmastime.
Christmas is about God taking extreme measures to reclaim those who were lost.
So this Christmas, let’s be thankful that God took extreme measures by sending Jesus to reclaim our fellowship with Him. Although we once were lost, because of Jesus we have been found!
Heavenly Father, in the midst of all the joy of Christmas, remind me that the true meaning of this season lies in the depth of Your love. Thank You for sending Jesus to reclaim undeserving people like me!
Christmas is about God taking extreme measures to reclaim those who were lost.
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EVERLASTING HOPE
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Posted:Dec 18, 2017 3:27 am
Last Updated:Jan 2, 2018 5:31 am 5896 Views
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Read: Psalm 146
Bible in a Year: Obadiah; Revelation 9
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
Psalm 146:5
The week before Christmas, two months after my mom died, holiday shopping and decorating sat at the bottom of my priority list. I resisted my husband’s attempts to comfort me as I grieved the loss of our family’s faith-filled matriarch. I sulked as our , Xavier, stretched and stapled strands of Christmas lights onto the inside walls of our home. Without a word, he plugged in the cord before he and his dad left for work.
As the colorful bulbs blinked, God gently drew me out of my darkness. No matter how painful the circumstances, my hope remained secure in the light of God’s truth, which always reveals His unchanging character.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:5
Psalm 146 affirms what God reminded me on that difficult morning: My endless “hope is in the Lord,” my helper, my mighty and merciful God (v. 5). As Creator of all, He “remains faithful forever” (v. 6). He “upholds the cause of the oppressed,” protecting us and providing for us (v. 7). “The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down” (v. 8. He “watches over” us, “sustains” us, and will always be King (vv. 9–10).
Sometimes, when Christmas rolls around, our days will overflow with joyful moments. Sometimes, we’ll face loss, experience hurt, or feel alone. But at all times, God promises to be our light in the darkness, offering us tangible help and everlasting hope.
Father God, thanks for inviting us to know and rely on Your unchanging character as the source of our eternal hope.
God secures our hope in His unchanging character.
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