2018-03-29
1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV
We all need good role models. But when you devote your life to being like somebody else, you risk becoming something God doesn’t want you to be. Always remember, your “heroes” wrestle with blind spots and character flaws too. Paul said, “I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (v. 9 NIV). The same thing with Peter: When Cornelius sent for him, we’re told that as he “entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. ‘Stand up,’ he said, ‘I am only a man myself'” (Acts 10:25-26 NIV). If you’re successful in life, you’ll adopt that same attitude. The danger in hero worship comes from forfeiting your individuality and missing the path God has mapped out for you personally. Some of the lessons God teaches us may be similar, but another person’s purpose, gifting, journey, and time-frame will be different from yours. For example, a friend starts a business and makes money, but when you quit your job and follow in his footsteps you go broke. Or a co-worker wears something that looks great on her, but on you the same outfit looks like a sack tied in the middle. God is “jealous” concerning you (See Deuteronomy 4:24). Why? Because He wants to protect you from anything that would rob you of your uniqueness, or threaten your relationship with Him. Bottom line: If you want to be on safe ground, make Jesus your role model and you’ll win every time.
Soul food: Jer 10-13; Matt 27:27-32; Ps 38:13-22; Prov 8:24-26
2018-03-28
2 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV
Christians aren’t perfect! Here’s why: (1) Because they’re human. Yet with full knowledge of our highest potential and our lowest proclivities, God loves us unconditionally. The Bible says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” And guess what? Every time you meet treasure, you bump into the earthen vessel. An earthen vessel is just a clay pot, and when it’s cracked – it’s a cracked pot! That shouldn’t discourage you; it should give you hope and cause you to say, “If God can use that old cracked pot, He can use me too!” (2) Because they’re spiritually depleted. The saying goes, “When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall.” It happens to the best-intentioned among us. In the Old Testament a soldier was commanded to deliver a prisoner to a certain destination. His orders were clear: “Lose the prisoner and you’ll lose your life.” The soldier lost his prisoner and paid with his life. What happened? “While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone” (1 Kings 20:40 NKJV). So pay attention to your spiritual life and don’t let it get depleted. (3) Because they’re asleep spiritually. It was while Samson slept that Delilah shaved the locks of power off his head and delivered him to his enemies. And it was while the servants slept that an enemy sowed tares among the wheat and the harvest was lost. Two things you must stay alert to are – sin and righteousness. “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin” (1 Corinthians 15:34 NKJV).
Soul food: Jer 7-9; Matt 27:20-26; Ps 38:1-12; Prov 8:22-23
2018-03-27
Acts 27:31 NIV
Every church has problems – and the people who cause them. It has always been so. Consider the Corinthian church. Some members got drunk during communion, and others wouldn’t attend unless their favorite preacher was speaking. One guy was even having an affair with his stepmother (See 1 Corinthians 5:1). Sitting beside you on Sunday mornings are some very messed-up and dysfunctional folks. But God keeps working with us, because He sees our potential value to His kingdom. After writing about murmurers, complainers, the lustful, and the greedy, Jude ends his short book with these words: “Unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and…present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (v. 24). Noah didn’t jump ship for the same reason you shouldn’t leave your church – there’s no better alternative. Paul and 276 others were in a storm that looked unsurvivable. Nevertheless he told them, “Unless [you] stay on board the ship, you cannot be saved.” Does that mean it’s always wrong to leave a church? No, but make sure your reasons are scriptural and not self-centered. You say, “But the pastor’s sermons are too long.” Paul once preached so long that a man sitting in a third-story window fell sleep, plummeted to the ground, and died. And what did Paul do? He laid hands on him, revived him, set him back in the window and made him listen to the rest of the sermon! (See Acts 20:9-11). Seriously, if your church has problems, don’t leave; stay and pray. That’s how things get changed.
Soul food: Jer 4-6; Matt 27:11-19; Ps 55:12-23; Prov 8:19-21
2018-03-26
Ephesians 5:25 NKJV
Before you criticize your church, remember “Christ…loved the church and gave Himself for her.” He hasn’t given up on His church, so don’t you give up on it! And stop talking so much about what you don’t like. If your church was perfect, you’d be out of place! Noah didn’t sail on The Queen Mary; he sailed on a glorified cattle boat. Can you imagine the noise, the confusion, and the violent tossing of a ship in a storm big enough to destroy the world? And how about the smell? All those animals and only one funnel! But here’s the thing – everybody inside the ark was saved while everybody outside of it was lost. The story’s told of an aristocrat bragging about his lineage and pure-blooded ancestry. Irritated, one of his listeners remarked, “I suppose your forebears were on board the ark with Noah!” “No,” he replied, “My people had their own boat!” You may smile, but there’s only one craft that’s guaranteed to make it safely into heaven’s port, and that’s the old ship of salvation. Do things sometimes stink in the church? Sure. Jesus issued one of His harshest rebukes to Peter, the disciple who was destined to become a leader in the church: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest (smell) not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:23). But the great thing is that when you mess up, the same grace that restored Peter will be there for you too. So the word for you today is: Love your church!
Soul food: Jer 1-3; Matt 27:1-10; Ps 55:1-11; Prov 8:17-18
2018-03-25
Hebrews 6:1 NLT
Is what worked in the past not working for you now? Maybe it’s a job you’ve outgrown, or a relationship you need to reexamine, or a method you need to change. Regardless of what it is, don’t become so settled that you can’t let go and move on when you need to. They say the hermit crab looks for a shell that fits him, and lives there until he outgrows it. At that point he has to scurry along the ocean floor and find a bigger one – a process that repeats itself throughout his entire life. So here’s the question: Are you clinging to something that no longer fits you just because it’s easy and familiar? David said, “You…freed me when I was hemmed in and enlarged me when I was in distress” (Psalm 4:1 AMPC). You must be willing to move out of your comfort zone and deal with a little “distress.” That’s what makes you grow. Patience and persistence are admirable qualities, but they don’t work in situations you’ve outgrown. Instead of “hanging in” and trying harder, at certain points in life you have to stop and ask yourself, “Is this situation good for me?” If you’re not sure, ask God for “an understanding heart so that [you] can…know the difference between right and wrong” (1 Kings 3:9 NLT). And when He tells you what to do – do it – even though at first it won’t feel comfortable. When God says it’s time to move on, it’s because there’s another shell out there designed to fit you even better.
Soul food: Matt 21:1-16; Ps 118:19-29
2018-03-24
Matthew 9:36 NKJV
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines “compassion” as “being moved in one’s bowels” (the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity). It shares a root system with splanchnology, the study of the visceral [inner] parts of the body. Compassion, then, is a reaction from deep within – a kick in the gut, if you will. Perhaps that’s why we turn away when we see news reports of children starving in refugee camps, and hear about the 1.7 billion people who live on less than $1.25 a day and go to bed hungry every night. It’s too much for us – especially when we perceive the need as so overwhelming that we couldn’t begin to meet it. But what if you could? What if you could make life better for one hurting person? “Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand…lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength” (Acts 3:6-7 NKJV). What if Peter had said, “I have no silver or gold, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and pass on by”? But he didn’t, and as a result a crippled man who’d sat begging for thirty-eight years rose up and walked into a new life. You say, “But I don’t have that kind of power!” No, but God does! And when you see someone’s need and reach out your hand to meet it – God will release His power! It’s your compassion that flips the switch. So, today, act with compassion.
Soul food: Hos 11-14; Matt 26:57-75; Ps 13; Prov 8:14-16
