2025-01-12
Ephesians 4:24 NLT
Dealing with crucifixion, Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He felt intense emotions. “Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44 NKJV). So strong were these emotions that He prayed for the cup of crucifixion to pass. But that night, Jesus broke the domination of emotions by obedience to the will of His Father, saying, “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (v. 42 NKJV). Not only can emotions be ruled by obedience, but they will obey faith.
Emotions will do what we, in faith, order them to do. David said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1 KJV). David ordered his soul, the center of his emotions, to bless the Lord. He believed his soul and everything in him would do what he commanded. Feelings can be transformed from drama to blessing.
Paul believed that negative emotions can be put off, and positive emotions can be put on. “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:22-24 NLT).
Again he writes, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15 NKJV). It is clear from the Scriptures that emotions can be governed, and the will can respond to God’s power and faith rather than the drama of emotions.
Soul food: 1 Sam 3:1-11; Acts 9:1-9
2025-01-11
Matthew 14:14 NKJV
Jesus demonstrated compassion wherever He went. He taught that we must care for “the least” among us (Matthew 25:40). The New Testament church continued His “brand” by doing away with racism and lots of other “isms.” “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female…you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28 NKJV). Following Christ means showing compassion to everyone, whether you like them or not. You’re called to practice compassion where you work and where you live.
Jean Henri Dunant couldn’t endure the sound of soldiers crying on a battlefield after they had been wounded, so this Swiss philanthropist said he would dedicate his life to helping them in Jesus’ name. As a result, he started the Red Cross in the 1860s. Every time you see it, you see a thumbprint of Jesus.
A Lutheran pastor in Germany named Theodor Fliedner taught a group of mainly peasant women to nurse the ill. This led to a development of hospitals all over Europe and inspired Florence Nightingale to give her life to tend the sick. Father Damien, a Belgian priest, worked in Hawaii in the nineteenth century and established a place where lepers could be loved and tended to. Each week he would tell them, “God loves you lepers.” And then, one week, he stood up and said, “God loves us lepers.” He died from leprosy. Jesus said of every unwarranted act of kindness shown toward someone, including those who don’t deserve it, “you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40 NKJV).
Soul food: Isa 38-41; Luke 2:34-40; Ps 74:1-11; Prov 2:6
2025-01-10
Luke 14:13 NKJV
Luke writes, “Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely” (v. 1 NKJV). That day He turned one of their most prized religious traditions on its ear by saying, “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (vv. 13-14 NKJV).
Anything defective was considered by the Pharisees as unsuitable to reflect the perfect holiness of God. Consequently, they allowed nothing malformed within the boundaries of the temple. Furthermore, since they believed the temple had been degraded by Rome, they believed they could honour God by treating their homes as small temples. For Jesus to tell this well-known Pharisee to intentionally invite malformed, defective human beings into his holy little temple was a deliberate slap in the face. Jesus was instructing him to place on his guest list people whose defects offended him.
Jesus’ compassion came from His love for all individuals and His pain when anyone is devalued. In Scripture, we are never told that Jesus had compassion for someone because they deserved it but because they were in need.
Don’t miss the point Jesus made. He promised that you will be blessed in this life and rewarded in the next one when you show kindness and compassion to those who “cannot repay you.” Keep this in mind when you’re tempted to overlook someone because they have a particular problem you don’t like.
Soul food: Isa 34-37; Luke 2:21-33; Ps 71:17-24; Prov 2:3-5
2025-01-09
1 Peter 3:10 NLT
Your tongue has creative power. If you doubt that, criticize someone, and observe the look on their face and their response. Now try complimenting them and observe the look on their face and their response. But let’s not just talk about the effect your words have on others but what they have on you.
The Bible says when you use your tongue to do good, you “enjoy life and see many happy days.” Jesus gives us a powerful illustration of this: “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23 NKJV).
What did Jesus mean? That you can talk about your problem or talk to the great problem solver about your problem. You can complain about it or pray about it. You can discuss it from a human perspective, focusing on all its complications, or discuss it from a divine perspective, focusing on God’s power to change the circumstances.
You can reinforce your sense of discouragement and despair by saying things like, “The problem is too big, and nothing can be done about it.” Or you can give the problem to God and say, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV). When you say that, you’re not only using the creative power of God’s Word, you’re using your tongue the right way.
Soul food: Isa 30-33; Luke 2:8-20; Ps 71:1-16; Prov 2:1-2
2025-01-08
3 John v. 2 NKJV
Your body is like an “earth suit” that will eventually die and be replaced with a new, celestial, Christlike body. Paul writes, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV). The treasure, the thing that matters most, the thing that will live for eternity, is your soul. John writes, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
Someone has estimated that the average body contains enough phosphorous to make 800,000 match heads, enough sugar to make 60 cubes, enough salt to cover 20 spoons, and enough iron to make twenty dollars’ worth of nails. The rest is just dust and water.
The story is told of a little boy who was taught in Sunday school, “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19 KJV). One day, when he was looking under the bed, his mother asked him, “What are you looking at?” He replied, “My Sunday school teacher said that we come from dust and go back to dust. There’s somebody under my bed, and I can’t tell whether they’re coming or going!”
Seriously, since your body is temporal and your soul is eternal, you must take the long view and practice soul care. Nurture your soul daily with God’s Word. Fortify and enrich it by spending time each day with God in prayer. Discover the talents and treasures He has placed within you and invest them into the kingdom of God. Next time someone says to you, “Take care of yourself,” think not only about your body but about your soul.
Soul food: Isa 26-29; Luke 2:1-7; Ps 46; Prov 1:32-33
2025-01-07
Romans 2:4 NKJV
Satan wants to convince you your failures are so bad that they disqualify you in God’s eyes, that you’re unworthy of His love and grace, and that you should avoid God altogether. Don’t believe him. Here are three steps that lead to spiritual restoration:
(1) Repent. Acknowledge your sin, renounce it, and trust in the shed blood of Jesus to forgive you. God loved you when you were a sinner, and He loves you no less as one of His redeemed children who has blown it.
(2) Restitution. When your actions have hurt someone, Jesus tells you what to do: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24 NKJV). If you want to walk in God’s blessing, follow His instructions.
(3) Refocus. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). When you focus on yourself and your failures, you’re looking in the wrong mirror. When you focus on Christ and His unfailing love and grace toward you, you’re looking in the right mirror. And you will be changed into the image you’re focusing on. And blessedly, the change agent is not you but the Holy Spirit who lives within you. He will keep working in your life to make you more and more like Jesus.
Soul food: Isa 22-25; Luke 1:67-80; Ps 42:6-11; Prov 1:28-31
