2025-04-22
2 Corinthians 5:14 KJV
The most powerful incentive to overcoming sin is not our love for Christ, but His love for us. Even with the best of intentions, our love for Him is subject to fluctuations. Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4 NKJV). He said to the church in Laodicea that their love had become “lukewarm” (Revelation 3:16).
Many of us grew up in churches where we were told that the reason we yield to certain carnal traits is because we don’t love the Lord enough. So, we try harder, without success, and get discouraged. That’s like putting the cart before the horse. It should be the other way around. The secret of victorious Christian living is not found in trying to love Jesus more, but in having a revelation of His love for you. That’s why Paul wrote, “The love of Christ constraineth us.” Paul’s actions were governed by the knowledge of Christ’s incredible love for Him.
If you’re struggling with sinful habits today, pray for a revelation of God’s love for you. It makes all the difference! Paul writes: “I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts… as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to… understand… how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never… fully… understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself” (Ephesians 3:17-19 TLB).
Soul food: Num 3:1-4:33; Mark 1:9-13; Ps 6; Prov 10:22-23
2025-04-21
Romeine 8:28 NLV
Carolyn Arends skryf: “Ons verwagtinge is nie net onrealisties nie, dis ook nie volgens die evangelie nie. Baie van ons verdraai sy belofte van ‘n oorvloedige lewe in iets wat lyk soos wat adverteerders elke dag aan ons verkoop. Hoe weerstaan ons die verwronge verwagtinge wat so diep ingeburger is?
1) Kyk na die definisies. Wanneer ek lees dat God ‘alles ten goede laat saamwerk,’ dink ek aan die adverteerders se definisie van ‘goed’ – dat dit ‘maklik,’ ‘jeugdig,’ ‘begeerlik’ of ‘ryk’ beteken. God definieer ‘goed’ heeltemal anders. Die Christene in die Nuwe Testament het geglo dat die grootste ‘goed’ is om meer soos Jesus te word. Hulle het dit as vanselfsprekend aanvaar dat die proses nie maklik sou wees nie. Hulle het verstaan dat die ‘goeie’ waarna God werk, baie meer omvangryk as een individu se omstandighede is. God is besig om sy koninkryk te vestig, ‘en om deur die Seun sy goeie verhouding met alles in die hemel en op die aarde te herstel…’ (Kolossense 1:20 NLV). Die grootste goed is om by daardie proses ingesluit te word. My hemelse Vader weet wat ek nodig het. Sy definisie van seën verskil van myne.
2) Herevalueer die dood. Ek kan ‘doodloopstrate’ in my loopbaan of verhoudings, wat geleenthede was om van rigting te verander, uitwys. As ek dink aan die energie wat ek bestee het om veranderings te weerstaan, wonder ek watter nuwe lewe ek sodoende misgeloop het. Jesus sê vir ons om te sterf sodat ons kan lewe, om al die illusies oor wat ‘n lewe goed maak, te laat gaan. Hy stap dan saam met ons terwyl ons ‘n duisend dode sterf, in die proses om ons lewe volgens sy Woord te verdiep.”
Sielskos: Num 1-2; Mark 1:1-8; Ps 144:9-15; Spr 10:19-21
Romans 8:28 NKJV
Carolyn Arends writes: “Our expectations are not just unrealistic, they’re anti-gospel… Many of us… distort his promise of abundant life into something that resembles the illusion advertisers sell us every day. How do we resist our sense of entitlement and the distorted expectations that are so deeply ingrained?
(1) Check the Definitions. When I read that God ‘works all things together for good,’ I think of the marketers’ definitions… that ‘good’ means ‘easy,’ ‘youthful,’ ‘desirable,’ and ‘wealthy.’ God defines ‘good’ in entirely different terms. New Testament Christians seemed to believe the greatest good is to become more like Jesus. They took it for granted… the process wouldn’t be easy… that the ‘good’ God is working toward is much more expansive than one individual’s personal circumstances. God is establishing his kingdom… ‘reconciling all things to himself’ (Colossians 1:20), and the ultimate good… is to be included in that process… My heavenly father knows more than I do about what I need… His definition of ‘blessing’ is different from mine.
(2) Re-evaluate Death: I can point to ‘dead ends’ in my career, or relationships that turned out to be opportunities to change direction. When I think of the energy I’ve expended resisting endings, I wonder what new life I’ve missed. Jesus tells us to die so we can live… to surrender all the illusions about what makes a life good… And then he walks with us… as we die a thousand deaths in the process of letting his life go deeper… into us.”
Soul food: Num 1-2; Mark 1:1-8; Ps 144:9-15; Prov 10:19-21
2025-04-20
Colossians 1:19-20 NAS
Our definition of “good” is different from God’s. “It was the Father’s good pleasure… to reconcile all things to Himself… through the… cross.”
Carolyn Arends writes: “During a jubilant Easter service, our pastor said something that stopped me in my mental tracks: ‘The world offers promises full of emptiness. But Easter offers emptiness full of promise.’ Empty cross, empty tomb, empty graveclothes… all full of promise. If I were writing the Easter story, I don’t think I’d choose emptiness as my symbolic gesture. But then, I also wouldn’t be talking about strength being made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), foolish things confounding the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27), the meek inheriting the earth (Matthew 5:5), or the poor in spirit getting… the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). And I certainly wouldn’t be talking about dying in order to live [See John 12:24]…
I don’t understand the way God thinks. But on those days when I feel hollowed out and broken… it makes me glad to remember that for Easter people, even death is full of promise… I’m writing this… during a particularly long Good Friday season in my own life. My mom is battling cancer, and I’d be lying if I said I was able to… ‘count it all joy.’… I pray for healing and hope desperately it will come here on earth… I vacillate wildly between… faith and doubt, openness, and bitterness. But… we do not suffer alone, because the God of the universe wore our skin and died our death and removed its sting forever… And even when I’m… sad, I look at my mom and remember: Without Good Friday, there would be no Easter morning. So, I pray through the night, and I wait for the resurrection.”
Soul food: 1 Cor 15; Luke 24
Kolossense 1:19-20 NLV
Ons definisie van ‘goed’ verskil van God s’n. ‘God het dit goedgedink… om deur die Seun sy goeie verhouding met alles… te herstel. Hierdie vrede is bewerk deur die… kruis…’
Carolyn Arends skryf: “Tydens ‘n jubelende Paasdiens het ons pastoor iets gesê wat my in my geestelike spore gestuit het: ‘Die wêreld bied beloftes vol leegheid. Paasfees bied egter leegheid vol belofte.’ ‘n Leë kruis, leë graf, leë grafklere – is alles vol belofte. As ek die paasverhaal sou skryf, dink ek nie ek sou leegheid as my simboliese gebaar gekies het nie. Ek sou egter ook nie van krag wat in swakheid sterk gemaak word (2 Korintiërs 12:9), dommigheid wat slim mense skaam maak (1 Korintiërs 1:27), sagte mense wat die aarde sal erf (Matteus 5:5) of mense wat God nodig het en deel aan sy koninkryk kry (Matteus 5:3), geskryf het nie. Ek sou definitief ook nie van sterf om sodoende te kan lewe (Johannes 12:24), geskryf het nie.
Ek verstaan nie die manier wat God dink nie. Op daardie dae wat ek egter leeg en gebroke voel, maak dit my bly om te onthou dat selfs die dood vol belofte is. Ek skryf hierdie gedurende ‘n besonder lang Goeie Vrydag-seisoen in my eie lewe. My ma is met kanker gediagnoseer en ek sal lieg as ek sê dat ek in staat is om deur hierdie beproewing bly te wees (sien Jakobus 1:2). Ek bid desperaat vir genesing. Ons ly egter nie alleen nie, want die God van die heelal het vir ons sondes gesterf en die dood se angel vir ewig verwyder. Selfs wanneer ek hartseer is, kyk ek na my ma en onthou: Sonder Goeie Vrydag sou daar geen Paasoggend wees nie. Dus bid ek deur die nag en wag vir die opstanding.”
Sielskos: 1 Kor 15; Luk 24
