The good news of Christ
In you, O Lord, we live and move
And breathe, to exist forever more.
From nothing you created me,
For the purest glory that Jesus wore.
The stars, my God, seem far away,
And farther still perfection’s goal.
The flesh is too much present here,
In distant light the eternal soul.
Our Father, open heaven’s view,
That we might know the end of war,
And see, with Christ, the faithful few.
From him let us not wander far.
God who rules in heaven above,
Keep me from running to people and places that appear to have the resources I’m looking for. The Israelites ran down to Egypt, and it did them no good. They thought the Egyptian military power would save them. Their dependence upon Egypt was exactly their problem. They trusted in man, rather than in the Lord. They used humanly wisdom, rather than yours.
Let me look to you, Holy One of Israel! I seek my help from your hand. You make the enemy fall. You give your people victory. You care for the humble.
You are the fire that consumes the adversary. Purge from my heart everything opposed to your rule!
Isaiah 31
John 1.1-18
Our Father in Heaven,
Praise to you for providing for your people, for Jesus who is for us fullness with grace upon grace.
Praise to you for the message of faith, that allows us the right to become your children, through your own will, and not the will of man.
Praise to you for Jesus, the Special One, who is with you, and become one of us, and showed us your glory.
Praise to you for grace and truth in Christ, that we might receive what we could never achieve, and know the Unknowable.
Praise to you for the light which shines and is never overcome, for the well-marked Path to your throne, for the life began at creation and recreated in your Spirit.
Praise to you for your invisible Spirit, now seen in the flesh of the Son of Man, demonstrating the glory too wonderful to look upon.
Praise to your for the Word, who speaks your mind and reveals your will and declares your purpose for our lives.
Father, waiting is hard, for we cannot see ahead.
We wonder if you’ve forgotten us.
Like Sarah, we think you might need an extra hand.
We think we must have it now.
What confusion between wants and needs!
Remind us that you do not fail.
That you often save and help at the last minute.
That you use this interval for our good.
You teach us dependence upon your grace.
Father, help me wait patiently, quietly.
I watch today for your generous hand.
And I will watch tomorrow and the next day, if need be.
As long as you see fit.
This prayer was inspired by a devotional mentioned here.
We all know the frantic, panicked feeling we have when searching for something that’s lost, such as our keys, wallet, or phone. Hopefully, we’ve never known the sheer terror of losing a kid in a store, or if so, hopefully we know the sheer joy when that object or person is finally found. That’s God’s joy in finding us when we repent and turn back to Him.
Most of the time, however, we are like the German groom in a 2013 Daily News article who didn’t even realize that he’d lost his bride when she went to the restroom at a gas station until he had driven 125 miles. Sadly, many of us are lost in sin, just driving through life, but don’t know it.
I. Luke 15:1-24. We will never realize that we are lost in sin and want to repent until we realize our worth to God and His incredible love for us. For Jesus not to eat with sinners, as the charge was made, He couldn’t eat with any of us (Romans 3:23), but the truth was that He was eating with repentant sinners. In all three parables that follow, God’s love for us and, thus, the reaffirming of our value to Him are the focus–even in the indignity of the watching Father running to His returning son.
II. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11. A parent will demand his kid say he’s sorry to someone, but this just reinforces worldly sorrow in that child. Even if the kid means it but continues to do the wrong behavior, he may have reached godly sorrow but not repentance. Repentance produces actions that are consistent with a change of heart, mind, and attitude toward sin and selfishness. When the lost son’s money ran out, he tried to fix his own problem by hiring himself out but found his life empty, physically and spiritually, as the pigs were eating better than He was. Godly sorrow led him to consider that his father’s hired hands did better than he was doing at that moment. But, it wasn’t until he “got up” and “went” to his father that true repentance was produced.
III. Romans 2:4-7. Just as Simon the Sorcerer believed and was baptized but was not living out repentance (Acts 8:13-24), it is quite possible that those who have obeyed the gospel warm our pews with only a godly sorrow or worse–a worldly sorrow. We need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance daily. Eternity is at stake!
So, what stage are you in: sinning because the money has not run out yet? Hiring yourself out to futilely take care of the problem by your own resources? Or, is your stomach growling while you watch the pigs eat better than you do? If this brings godly sorrow to you, let it produce repentance. Get up and go to your heavenly Father. He’s watching and will run to you with open arms.
O Lord, what must your to-do list look like?
What perfect alignment between task and purpose?
Let my every thought today be given to your glory.
May every task of mine reflect my life and purpose in Christ.
Put my sanctification on your to-do list.
In all 176 verses in this psalm about God’s Word, one in particular gives us the cure for sin and selfishness: we need to be “living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9). Great! But, someone new to Christianity can be overwhelmed by the hundreds of translations out there. How can they each read differently and still be God’s Word preserved to us through the centuries?
I. Galatians 4:4-5. After the canon was established, the gospel continued to be spread in Greek that, thanks to Alexander the Great who conquered a few centuries earlier, was a perfect and precise language to preserve God’s Word. The gospel spread faster by use of the Roman system of roads and preached at synagogues that existed wherever at least ten Jewish families resided. A few decades after Constantine made Christianity a legal religion and the “masses” were forced to leave paganism to flood the churches, Jerome translated the Greek Scriptures into Latin that would hold dominate for the next 1100 years. Latin was not very perfect or precise but careful copying by the Masoretes and monks got us to the invention of the printing press in 1455.
II. Acts 12:4. The greater availability of God’s Word spurred on the Reformation a half century later but also stirred Erasmus to translate the Bible back into Greek. The problem? He didn’t have access to the over 5,900 ancient copies of the New Testament that we do today, and so he largely drew from the Latin Vulgate. His “textus receptus” was the basis for many of the early English translations, including the King James Version (KJV). It is the filtering of the Greek Word, pascha, through the Latin and the compromises with the pagan masses come into the church that the KJV renders that word ‘Easter’ instead of ‘Passover.’
III. Psalm 119:9-16. Later translations and the rise of textual criticism relied on better research and bring us ever closer to the originals, of which none still exist. In 1947, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written about the time of Christ, confirm this in all the Old Testament books but Esther. We can be confident, then, that the translation you have in your hand or on your phone will allow you to be “living according to [God’s] word.”
The big question is “will you?” Most of us have more Bibles and various translations available to us than Erasmus could ever have dreamed of, yet we spend much time in other pursuits rather than studying God’s Word to live it out in our lives. We must live according to God’s Word so that we can one day live–according to God’s Word.
Father, thank you for the gift of generosity. Show us more and more how to give freely and gladly. We want to be like you in this respect.
Life is a wonderful blessing. Time brings us closer to eternity, and we are grateful for its passing. Trials cause pain, but we rejoice, O Lord, for they cast us upon your care to find relief in your promise.
Make us ever more conscious of our need for salvation and of the subtlety of sin. Awaken us to the power of the gospel. Lord, strengthen us in Christ.
We all have your Spirit. Although our life experiences are different, we know we have equality in Christ and enjoy all the privileges and blessings of eternal life you provide us. The fullness of your presence is available to all, and we praise you for your love of every single soul.
Dear God, you desire to be near us.
We, too, desire it, or perhaps we don’t.
Distant from you, we choose our way,
create our loneliness.
Let us feel loved.
The universe thrums in praise to your glory.
The mountains shake before your majesty.
The valleys are filled with your goodness,
But the souls of men are empty by choice.
Open our hearts, O Lord, to your presence.