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June 27, 2023

Tuesday

Do it Heartily

Colossians 3:22-24

²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”

Have you ever seen someone sweep a floor half-heartedly? The result is the opposite of the desired purpose—and it remains half finished. To do something well, you need to put your heart into it. One translation of Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men” (HCSB). True enthusiasm comes from God. The Lord doesn’t want us sulking around, bored, languishing at our tasks. He has a plan for every day; and as we tackle the projects before us—whether doing the laundry or building a skyscraper—we should remember we’re doing His will and fulfilling an agenda He designed for us.

George Matthew Adams wrote, “Enthusiasm is a kind of faith that has been set afire.”
If you’re reading this in the morning, go into the day with enthusiasm. If you’re reading it at night, wake up tomorrow with excitement. Say to yourself—“This is the day the Lord has made!” And whatever you do, do it heartily, excitedly, energetically, cheerfully—and with enthusiasm.

When we are given a task for God, we’re to do it heartily with all our might and strength.

A point to ponder…

You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.
G. K. Chesterton

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 74-77

I love you!!!

June 27, 2023

Tuesday

Do it Heartily

Colossians 3:22-24

²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”

Colossians 3:23

A point to ponder…

You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.
G. K. Chesterton

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 74-77

I love you!!!

June 26, 2023

Monday

That Glorious Day

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11

²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2

When the apostle Paul planted a church in Thessalonica, he had little time to establish the new believers in their faith. According to Acts 17:2, he was driven from town by a persecuting mob after two or three weeks of teaching. But evidently Paul left the Thessalonians with a deep belief in our Lord’s return. They were so eager to learn more about the Second Coming that Paul wrote two letters to them—1 and 2 Thessalonians—answering questions and stoking their anticipation for the Lord’s soon appearing in the clouds of glory.

Those letters are for us too. They are full of information about the Rapture of the Church, the resurrection of the dead, and the return of Christ.

Imagine how excited those early believers were to receive Paul’s letters and soak in his teaching. We, too, should eagerly digest every word in Scripture about our Lord’s promised return, to better anticipate the moment of His coming for us. How differently we’d live if, like the Thessalonians, our hearts were seized with anticipation for that glorious day!

A point to ponder…

I am waiting for the coming of the Lord who died for me; / Oh, His words have thrilled my spirit, “I will come again for thee.”
S. Trevor Francis, hymnist

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 70-73

I love you!!!

Weekend Wisdom

June 24– June 25, 2023

Trust + Wait

³Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

⁷Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Psalm 37:3, 7

Rest is such an elusive thing. Our bodies and souls desperately need it, which is why God gave us command #4: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). As our Designer, God knows how much we need a break, and He even modeled it for us on the seventh day of Creation. But some of us act allergic to slowing down. We can hardly manage to stop working and to sit still, and even when our bodies are still, our minds and souls are still frenzied. We need rest.

Psalm 37 is likely the main passage in Scripture that describes rest. David wrote this psalm, but it’s unique. Almost everything David wrote was addressed to God—conversations with God, thoughts about God, worship of God. Psalm 37, however, is written to God’s people. This psalm is for us.

The theme of Psalm 37 is trusting God during a difficult season of perceived injustice. Perceived is a qualifier, because in the end, nothing will remain unjust. God will balance the books of justice. But until then, we have to trust God.

“Fret not,” David tells us repeatedly in this psalm. “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers” (Psalm 37:1)! The word fret literally means don’t get heated up. Don’t kindle yourself. Don’t get worked up about the person who seems to go unpunished and succeeds by doing wrong. We can’t help but think, Look how she acts! Look how he cheats and steals! Look how she slanders and betrays!

Rather than fret—rest. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (37:7a). So what does it mean to be still and rest in the Lord? It means to be at peace without resolution. You may not be able to fix your problems anytime soon, and you can’t put your life on hold. Without tidy solutions, during a seemingly unending season of turmoil, you can be at peace and rest in the Lord.

If you read through the rest of Psalm 37, you could write beside almost every verse one of two words: trust or wait. For example:

“Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil” (37:8). Trust.

“For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” (37:9). Wait.

In your time with the Lord this week, you could go through the whole psalm and write these words, trust and wait, right in your Bible. It’s the refrain of this psalm: trust and wait, trust and wait, trust and wait.

Trusting is leaning on God. Specifically, during a season of injustice, trusting means confidently expecting that at the right time, God will act, and you will have a front row seat to your own vindication (see Psalm 23:5, 27:13).

Waiting is accepting God’s timing, knowing that you have to go through this season of hardship. You have to stay in this difficult place and feel this pain. You can’t go around trials, only through them.

Sometimes we don’t experience rest in life because we’re trusting but not waiting, or waiting but not trusting. Trusting without waiting is striving. Do everything you can do, and then trust that God will come through. Waiting without trusting is worrying. Yet God reminds us, “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6a). Trusting and waiting have to go together. Combine them, and you’ll have peace even without resolution. You’ll have rest.

Points to ponder…

In your life, what does it look like when you trust but don’t wait? What does it look like when you wait but don’t trust?
In what hardship in your life do you need to experience God’s peace and rest?

Saturday’s Reading

Psalm 58-65

Sunday’s Reading

Psalm 66-69

I love you!!!

June 23, 2023

Friday

At What Cost?

Lamentations 5: 19-22

²¹Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”

Lamentations 5:21

When King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in 1922, it instantly became a famous tourist destination with thousands of people coming every day, year after year. Carbon dioxide from the visitors’ breath and all the dust they stirred up had a dulling influence on the stunning gold walls of the tomb. The site was closed for years while the Getty Conservation Institute restored the images and installed new ventilation systems and walkways. Now King Tut’s tomb is open again, but when asked how much the restoration cost, the institute says it was so expensive they won’t disclose the cost.

We live in a dusty world, and the devil is always breathing down our backs. It’s easy to become spiritually dull and stained. Sometimes we lose the golden glow of God’s energy in our hearts. We often need for Him to do as He said in Psalm 23—to restore our souls.

But we shouldn’t forget the great cost that gained all our blessings for us at Calvary, for He gave us Himself.

Let Jesus revive your heart today, then thank Him for the cleansing power of His blood.

A point to ponder…

When Satan deplores us and the world ignores us, God restores us.
Anonymous

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 51-57

I love you!!!

June 22, 2023

Thursday

Faithful Fathers: Zacharias

Luke 1: 5-25

⁶And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;”

Mark 1:6

In the 1950s, American churches were full of prosperous, buttoned-down, middle-class families. And then came the sixties and the countercultural revolution. Many of the children of those fifties Christian parents joined the “Jesus People Movement,” showing up at church with long hair and beards, wearing sandals and beads. Lots of fathers found it hard to accept their children’s choices.

A father in the first century wrestled with his son’s countercultural approach to life—and made some serious adjustments. Zacharias was a priest in Jerusalem when the angel Gabriel appeared and announced that Zacharias and his wife would have a son. That was fine, but their son turned out to be John the Baptist—a man who lived in the wilderness, wore a garment made of camel’s hair, a leather belt, and subsisted on locusts and wild honey. And his message to Israel was no less unique: Repent, for the Messiah is coming!

When God’s call on a child’s life is unexpected or out of the ordinary, a faithful father will do whatever he can to encourage that calling.

A point to ponder…

The more a child becomes aware of a father’s willingness to listen, the more a father will begin to hear.
Gordon MacDonald

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 46-50

I love you!!!

June 21, 2023

Wednesday

God of Second Chances

Joel 2: 12-27

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ²“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah 3:1-2

It was not uncommon in the Old Testament for “the word of the Lord” to come to God’s prophets again and again. It happened to Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and others. And it also happened to Jonah: The word of the Lord came to Jonah the first time (Jonah 1:1) and then the second time (Jonah 3:1). With the other prophets, the “second time” meant additional prophetic utterances they were to deliver. But with Jonah, the “second time” was because Jonah had failed to speak God’s word the first time. Jonah was a disobedient prophet.

God commissioned Jonah to go east to Assyria, to the capital of Nineveh and deliver a message of judgment. But Jonah fled west toward Spain because he feared the Assyrians. You know the story—Jonah ended up in the sea where he was swallowed by a great fish. Jonah repented and called on the Lord and was delivered. God gave him a second chance.

Don’t let your past keep you from trusting God for a second (or third, or fourth) chance. The God of grace loves to forgive.

A point to ponder…

Forgiveness is to be set loose from sins.
G. Campbell Morgan

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 40-45

I love you!!!

June 20, 2023

Tuesday

Stand Firm

2 Timothy 3: 1-9

³And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

Matthew 16:3

Jesus called out the religious leaders of His day who asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He rebuked them, saying they could read the signs of the weather but could not read the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-4).

That wasn’t all Jesus said about signs of the times. When His disciples asked Him what would be the signs (indicators) of the end of the age, He gave them many (Matthew 24; Luke 21). And the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about the signs of godlessness in the last days prior to Christ’s return—things like loving pleasure more than loving God and a long list of others (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Given the signs that Paul mentions, all of which have to do with personal character and behavior, the world seems headed for a downward crisis.

Keep your eyes on culture and on Christ at the same time. As the one deteriorates, the nearness of the Other increases. Prepare to stand firm and faithful until the end.

A point to ponder…

We are not to require “signs,” but we are to regard signs.
Ian MacPherson

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 36-39

I love you!!!

June 19, 2023

Monday

God’s Will for You

Ephesians 3: 7-9

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Romans 12:3

When the Israelites traveled from Mount Sinai to the edge of Canaan, the Kohathites—descendants of the second son of Levi—had the privilege of carrying the Ark of the Covenant and other holy vessels (Numbers 4:1-15). By contrast, someone—we don’t know who—was responsible for tent pegs, ropes, poles, and the like.

How did those with the menial tasks feel about those with the most holy tasks? Paul’s words in Romans 12:3 would have been good advice: Don’t think too highly (or too lowly) of yourself. Rather, think realistically about the role God has given you to play in building up the Body of Christ. God gives grace and faith to each one; we must discern the purpose of God’s grace to us and fulfill His calling. Some carry the Ark; some carry the tent pegs; all move the purpose of God into the future.

What grace has God given you? Step out in faith to prove what is His good and perfect will for you (Romans 12:1-2).

A point to ponder…

To obey God’s will is to find the fulfillment of our lives.
David Watson

Read the Bible through in a year

Psalms 32-35

I love you!!!

Weekend Wisdom

June 17– June 18, 2023

Within Your Jurisdiction

“Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

Matthew 7:1–2

Doesn’t it seem like everybody knows this verse? Especially that first phrase. People who don’t even believe in God’s Word quote this one little sentence with all the authority of an Old Testament prophet. Doesn’t the Bible say, “Judge not, that you be not judged”? Yes, it does, they’re quick to remind you. As if nobody ever has any right to comment on another’s behavior or confront them with biblical truth, even for the purpose of trying to be caring and helpful.

Because that would be “judgmental,” right?

Wrong.

“PART OF BEING AUTHENTIC AS BELIEVERS IS ADMITTING WE’RE STILL IN PROCESS.”

These words of Jesus do not amount to a categorical ban on evaluating people’s actions. Instead, the context makes it abundantly clear—He was decrying the double standard where we expect behavior from others that we don’t expect from ourselves. He was condemning the practice of picking at slivers in other people’s eyes when obvious logs are protruding from ours. “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). But He wasn’t saying we can’t make discerning judgments based on others’ actions. We just need to be sure the first person whose actions we’re judging—by the same or even a more rigid standard—is ourselves.

Actually, a person’s actions are among the few things we can judge. As Jesus said, “Each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44).

The things we can’t judge are these things the Bible says we have no business or capability judging:

1. Motives. We can never really know why people do what they do. Only God knows a person’s heart. We don’t even fully know our own hearts, much less somebody else’s. Paul warned, “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1 Corinthians 4:5). God doesn’t want us barging into territory that is His alone to monitor. Judging people’s heart motives is His job, not ours, and He doesn’t need any help with it.

2. Appearances. We also can’t make accurate judgments of people based solely on things like the clothes they wear, the car they drive, the job they hold, or the place where they live. As God said to Samuel in the Old Testament, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Forming quick opinions of others based on surface judgments of their appearance is how we allow false, incomplete information to determine how we treat people.

3. Harsh judgments. Even when we do need to make a judgment call on someone’s actions, our desire shouldn’t be to bring the hammer down. “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:10). Every delicate matter must be approached with maximum humility.

Part of being authentic as believers is admitting we’re still in process. All of us. Nobody has arrived. And though living responsibly with each other does require making judgments at times, back and forth, based on the fruit of our actions, humility grows by keeping ourselves under the scrutiny of God.

The life you spend the most time judging should be yours, always remembering that “with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” Being real about the awesome weight of your own sin will temper the tone you take with others.

Points to ponder…

What would you identify as your main motives behind the judgments you make about other people?
In what ways do action-based judgments of others (and ourselves) serve a helpful function for all of us?

Saturday’s Reading

Psalm 21-25

Sunday’s Reading

Psalm 26-31

I love you!!!

Growing Christian

Enrich Your Time With the Lord

Do it Heartily

Colossians 3:22-24

Do it Heartily

Colossians 3:22-24

That Glorious Day

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11

Trust + Wait

At What Cost?

Lamentations 5: 19-22

Faithful Fathers: Zacharias

Luke 1: 5-25

God of Second Chances

Joel 2: 12-27

Stand Firm

2 Timothy 3: 1-9

God’s Will for You

Ephesians 3: 7-9

Within Your Jurisdiction

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