2025-04-21
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
2025-04-19
John 11:25-26 NLT
Author Chuck Swindoll tells about a couple whose marriage had been a fifty-year battle. The husband died, and it fell to the wife to choose a grave marker. She contacted a stonecutter and told him, “I don’t want to be fancy or spend a lot of money. Just engrave the words: ‘TO MY HUSBAND’ in a suitable place on the stone.” She went to visit his grave and, to her horror, read these words: “TO MY HUSBAND… IN A SUITABLE PLACE.”
Swindoll writes: “A humorous story helps mask the pain and confusion surrounding death, but in the end, the laughter stops because death still comes. Humor, as good as it makes us feel, is powerless to stop the grim reaper. Remember the bumper sticker: ‘Don’t take life too seriously, you won’t get out alive’? Well, the truth is, we should take life and death seriously because we do get out alive. We all face life after death because we all have eternal souls. We’ll live forever somewhere. The question is where. And the ‘where’ depends on how we answer this question of Jesus: ‘Anyone who believes in me… will never ever die. Do you believe this… ?’ Jesus alone has the power of resurrection. And our assurance of spending forever with Him in heaven depends on our response… If we say, ‘Yes,’ by asking Jesus to forgive our sins and commit to following Him as Lord – then and only then do we have His power for living at our disposal… only then can we face life’s end with a calm… joyous expectation.”
Soul food: Matt 27:62-66; Luke 23:50-56; Ps 144:1-8; Prov 10:17-18
2025-04-18
Romans 5:1 NKJV
In the legal system, there is something known as “the law of double jeopardy.” It means you can’t be tried twice for the same crime. Now, let’s apply this principle to your salvation. Jesus has already been tried and punished for your sins – all of them! So don’t let Satan, the accuser, convince you that God will also punish you for them and send you to hell. Christ’s last words on the cross, “It is finished,” are translated in the Greek text as “paid in full.” All your sins – past, present, and future – were atoned for at Calvary.
Think of the word “finished.” Imagine a master carpenter putting the finishing touches to a beautiful table. Would you take a wood plane and say, “I think I can make this look a little better and give it a little more value?” The carpenter would say, “Stop; if you touch it, you will ruin it!” And he would be right. The same goes for your salvation. You can add nothing to it, but by trying to merit it by your performance and good works, you can definitely take something away from it.
The word justified simply means declared or made righteous in the sight of God. The moment you place your trust in Christ as your Saviour, that’s how God sees you. “Therefore, having been justified by faith [not works, human effort, or performance], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (vv. 1-2). How can you stand before God clothed in grace? By faith in Christ alone and nothing else.
Soul food: Gen 22:1-18; Luke 23:26-49; Ps 22; Isa 53
2025-04-17
John 4:4 NKJV
The Bible says that Jesus “left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria” (vv. 3-4 NKJV). In case you may not be aware of it, Samaria was not on the way to Galilee. Actually, it was miles out of the way. Yet, the Bible says Jesus “needed to go.” Think about it: It was a long journey, and He was on foot. It was hot. As a Jew, He wouldn’t be welcomed there because of a long-standing animosity between Jews and Samaritans. As for the woman at the well that He went to meet, women in that culture were forbidden to talk to men outside of their own family. Furthermore, this woman was the talk of the town because she had been through five divorces.
So, why did Jesus feel like He “needed to go”? Because He saw this woman as a diamond in the rough. While those around her talked about her past and her problems, Jesus saw her potential for His kingdom. “Many of the Samaritans… believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified” (v. 39 NKJV).
To reach Galilee on God’s schedule, Jesus had to throw man’s schedule out the window. But the schedule didn’t control Him. What did? The will of God and the unmet needs of hurting people. And He was willing to go out of His way, turn tradition on its head, and break new ground in order to do it. How about you? Can God interrupt your plans? If He can, then He can use you. Pray, “Lord, show me what I must do today in order to please you.”
Soul food: Jam 3-5; Luke 23:13-25; Ps 7:10-17; Deut 21:22-23
2025-04-16
Isaiah 42:16 NKJV
As attested by the law of requisite variety, the continued existence of any system requires the ability to cultivate variety in its internal structures. In physical exercise, for example, routines eventually become useless. If you exercise the same way each time you work out, your muscles begin adapting and stop developing. You have to change your routine. You have to disorient them.
This is true spiritually. One author writes: “When I’m in a spiritual slump, nine times out of ten, something sacred has become routine. I’m sure it differs by personality, but one of the ways I snap out of a spiritual slump is by disturbing my routine and experimenting with spiritual disciplines. Sometimes all it takes is a small change in routine. Volunteer at a local homeless shelter. Start keeping a gratitude journal. Get plugged into a small group or Bible study. Take a day off and do a personal retreat. Or just get up a little earlier in the morning and spend a little extra time with God. One of the small changes in routine that has helped me rejuvenate my devotional times is picking up a new translation of Scripture. New words help me think new thoughts.”
In order to grow spiritually, you need consistency, structure, and discipline. But when you go through a spiritual dry spell, try changing your spiritual routine. Instead of doing things the way you have always done them, try doing things differently. “I will lead them in paths they have not known.” God doesn’t change, but He moves! And in order to get to where God wants to take you, you must be willing to move with Him.
Soul food: Jam 1-2; Luke 23:1-12; Ps 7:1-9; Prov 10:16
