2020-09-09
Galatians 2:20 NIV
It may sound clichéd, but the statistics prove that there’s a lack of commitment in our society today. Marriage rates are down, divorce rates are up, and people stay in a job for far less time than they would have done 40 years ago. The Christian life is one that requires the deepest kind of commitment, though. Galatians 2:20 explains how wholly we enter into our new lives with God: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (NIV). This is full, life-changing commitment. Jesus gave all that He is to give us life. Paul shows us that we should give all we are back to God in return. Wherever we’re at personally, there’s a lot that we can learn from the commitment of marriage to help us understand how we can commit to God, and to anything that He asks us to do. There’s a reason that we, as the Church, are called Jesus’ Bride (Revelation 22:17 NIV). Firstly, we see that it’s a lot easier to make a commitment to something if there’s love there. When we love God, we see no other option than to give our lives to Him. And when we find something that we’re passionate about, it becomes more possible to imagine jumping fully in. It also reminds us that even when we’re passionate, commitment takes a lot of work. No matter how much you love someone or something, it’s easy to want to quit when difficulties arise. But any successful marriage shows us that once we’ve committed, it’s worth working at things to keep them growing.
Eze 22-23; Luke 20:41-47; Ps 78:9-16; Prov 20:11-14
2020-09-08
Deuteronomy 15:6 NLT
Sometimes circumstances wear us down so much that we give up hope. But even when things are going badly for us, God doesn’t leave us. Jeremiah 17 says: ‘The person who trusts in the LORD will be blessed. The LORD will show him that he can be trusted. He will be strong, like a tree planted near water that sends its roots by a stream. It is not afraid when the days are hot; its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year when no rain comes; it always produces fruit’ (v.7-8 NCV). If we put our trust in God, He’ll keep us nourished and fruitful, even during the difficult times. He wants to bless each one of us, but sometimes we can miss His blessing because: 1) We don’t realise how privileged we are. We can believe God has saved us and has made a place for us with Him in heaven, but we might doubt that He can do anything about our past, present, or future. But He can help us use the experiences of our past to help others and glorify Him through how far we’ve come, He is beside us right now, and He’ll guide our future steps if we let Him. 2) We see ourselves in the wrong light. We believe He can bless anybody, but we can sometimes think that he won’t bless us because we’re not worthy enough. But God has clothed us in the righteousness of Christ, so we’re worthy in His eyes, and He has plans to ‘bless you as He has promised’.
Eze 20-21; Luke 20:27-40; Ps 78:1-8; Prov 20:7-10
2020-09-07
Philippians 4:8 CEV
The way that we think can start to dictate our lives. If we allow negative thought patterns to take over our minds, then our experience of each day will become clouded. When you expect the worst, you get it, or the anticipation of something bad happening ruins your day anyway. God doesn’t want us to live like that. Philippians 4:8 instructs us ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things’ (NIV). We may have read those words before, but take the chance to really examine them. They form a guide to help rewire our negative brains. For example, we can’t catastrophise if we’re thinking about something lovely. The fact is, God has a great life ready for you. It might not always be the easiest, but it really is a great one. He wants you to enjoy it to the fullest. Jesus said it Himself, that He came so that we can live life ‘to the full’ (John 10:10 NIV). It might not feel like the biggest issue to allow negative thoughts, but those habits start to affect our relationship with God. We may not bother to pray if we’ve already imagined the worst-case scenario to be the truth. And if we’re living in our own truth like that, we miss out on God’s. We won’t be available to take hold of the very best that He’s offering to us. Romans 8:28 tells us that ‘all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose’ (NKJV). Let’s remind ourselves of that constantly, and start to think and live with that as our real truth.
Eze 16:53-19:14; Luke 20:20-26; Ps 27; Prov 20:5-6
2020-09-06
Proverbs 13:20 NCV
Being a good friend, and investing in the friendship, doesn’t necessarily mean that the friendship will never be challenging or that you will always agree on everything. Sometimes we can see our friends going down the wrong path, at other times they may even try and make us go down those paths too. Being a good friend doesn’t mean we have to support our friends in every decision they make. When that decision is harmful to them, or to us, we can speak up and tell them, in a sensitive way, that they need to reconsider what they’re choosing to do. We need to be brave enough to stand up for what we believe in. We shouldn’t follow the path they choose just because we want to keep the peace in the friendship or because we’re worried that the friendship may fall apart if we don’t. People-pleasing and peer pressure are things that aren’t helpful in building good friendships. If we’re strong in our faith and our identity, we’ll be able to be truthful, honest and constructive in our friendships. Being close friends with someone gives us the opportunity to speak God’s truth and wisdom into their lives, and they can do the same for us. The Bible says: ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another’ (Proverbs 27:17 NIV). So not only do we need to be open to standing up for what’s right, we also need to be prepared to accept those times when our friends need to tell us what’s right too. When we’ve got wise, godly friends, we’ll become wiser ourselves. ‘Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.’
Matt 16:13-23; Matt 26:69-75; John 21:15-19
2020-09-05
Psalm 13:1 NIV
When life is difficult, we can find ourselves thinking negatively, even questioning God. We sometimes allow this to damage our relationship with Him, worrying about sharing our raw, difficult thoughts in prayer. This often stops us praying altogether. But the truth is, God knows our hearts anyway. He welcomes us to share all our thoughts with Him. Psalm 139 says: ‘Lord, you have examined me and know all about me… you know my thoughts before I think them’ (Psalm 139:1-2 NCV). God wants us to be honest with Him. We’re only more likely to drift away form Him, and to continue hurting, if we don’t talk to Him at all. David begins Psalm 13 with an honest and desperate question to God. In verse 1 he asks, ‘How long will you hide your face?’ (NIV). Then a few verses later, the same hurting David declares, ‘But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me’ (vv. 5-6 NIV). David teaches us that crying out to God doesn’t mean that we can’t also praise Him. Even when we don’t understand, even when it hurts, we can still trust Him. Worshipping God in the middle of our questions can become a part of our healing. Yes, there are some questions that are so big that they will never be answered here on earth. We can wrestle with huge problems like death and suffering, and bring our thoughts and questions about everything honestly before God. All of that is okay, as long as we remember that our Father always loves us. We have to hold tight to our trust in Him, and continue to share praise for everything the He is.
Eze 14:1-16:52; Luke 20:9-19; Ps 112; Prov 20:1-4
2020-09-04
Hosea 2:15 NIV
In the Bible, references to valleys usually symbolise hopelessness. Feeling hopeless is something that we all experience, and it’s something that many people in the Bible felt too. David said: ‘My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear’ (Psalm 38:4 NIV). After several victories, Elijah ran away and said to God: ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors’ (1 Kings 19:4 NIV). And Job said: ‘I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes’ (Job 3:26 NLT). These were all men of God, but they still felt immense despair at times. When we feel the same way, we can become convinced that there’s no hope, but Paul said: ‘Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise’ (Hebrews 10:23 NLT). The Valley of Achor (which means ‘trouble’) got its name when Achan’s family was stoned to death and Israel’s armies were defeated (see Joshua 7:25-26). But even after God’s people had turned away from Him, He promised: ‘The Valley of Achor will be a place for herds to rest. They will be for the people who want to follow me’ (Isaiah 65:10 NCV). God can transform our own valleys into places of rest and hope. When we focus on our problems, they can seem massive and overwhelming to us. But when we focus on God and try to see things from His perspective, we’ll realise that He can lift us up to overcome any obstacle we’re facing. Nothing is too big for Him to deal with, and ‘nothing will be impossible with God’ (Luke 1:37 ESV).
Eze 10-13; Luke 20:1-8; Ps 20; Prov 19:24-29
