Philippians 2: 1-2
Note: For the Summer we are reprinting some devotions that ran back when we were getting this site up and running. Hopefully this is new content to you, and we will get back into writing fresh devotions as our schedule allows.
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
I think this is Paul's way of saying, stop complaining and get along! Here he says, if you've ever gotten anything out of being a Christian, if the words that I've spoken to you have ever made any sense, then do me a favor and be nice to each other. Paul was a little nicer about it, but really when you think about it, God has done so much for us, we need to be willing to sacrifice ourselves for Him. Have you been fighting with anyone recently? Maybe it's time to start being friends again.
-Jeff-
The Parables of Jesus: Luke 7:41-47
Luke 7:41-47
41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." (NIV)
I have struggled with Verse 47, because I put words into it that aren’t there. I would summarize it to say that those who sin more, are forgiven more, and thus love God more. When I look closer, it doesn’t say that. Her love was not as a result of being forgiven. It is the other way around. For she loved much, her many sins have been forgiven.
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But only those who love the Lord and seek forgiveness will receive it. Had the man who owed 500 denarii not sought to have the debt cancelled, he would not have received release from his debt. Who then do you think would love the man more, the one who still owed 500 denarii, or the one who had his 50 denarii debt forgiven? If we fool ourselves into believing we haven’t sinned or believe our debt is too large to deserve forgiveness, we will not received the gift of forgiveness. When we come to God and truly repent, we truly realize how much Jesus did for us.
Forgiveness is a free gift, but it came with a price. Don’t take it for granted. Take time today to reflect on how big of a debt has been forgiven. Like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, find a way to show God how much we love him.
John Gesick
The Parables of Jesus: Matthew 7: 1-5
Matthew 7:1-5
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (NIV)
When I used to babysit my cousins, fights would often break out. In most cases, both of the brothers had similar stories. They were the innocent victim and the other was the guilty instigator who should carry all of the blame, and punishment, for the fight. We often find justification in our own actions, but see other’s explanations as a “lame excuse”. We often say things like, “I only did it once” or “what I did was not half as bad as what they did”, or “I had no other choice” when we have faults. When it is someone else’s struggle, we view similar sins as inexcusable.
In this scripture, Jesus reminds us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is God’s laws that we are violating, as such, only God has the right to judge our actions in light of these laws. Only someone perfect can judge the intent and the heart of someone. We, with the planks in our eye, do not fit the description of perfect.
It should be understood that God does not want us to ignore or accept other’s sins. He wants us to correct in love, but not judge or punish. 2 Timothy 4-1:2 says “1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (NIV)
John Gesick
The Parables of Jesus: Matthew 18: 23-35
Matthew 18:23-35
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of your because you begged me too. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
When I read through this story something jumped out at me. I was reminded that Jesus died to cover my sins thousands of years before I was even born. That means that while Jesus was hanging on that cross He was shedding His blood for every sin I will ever commit in my entire life. He forgave me knowing how I would betray Him; before I ever even had the chance to ask for forgiveness.
And, yet, when someone wrongs us how often are we willing to forgive them before they ask? Isn't it more likely that we plan to make them grovel and beg and convince us of why we should give them grace? And even then, after we have said we forgive them, we often hold on to the offense for next time they mess up so we can rub their noses in it.
I am struck my the thought - “What if God had treated us like that? What if He waited till we died, then made us fall at His feet begging for forgiveness for all the sins we had committed? We would certainly deserve it. But He didn't. He gave us all encompassing grace. Shouldn't we do the same for others?
Dealing with Offense part 2
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
Often when we read this passage, we focus on the people and their intent to trick Jesus (otherwise, why didn't they bring the man? It takes two...). And it's true. The only reason they brought this woman was because they wanted to see what Jesus would do. But I want to look at this passage from a slightly different angle.
Leviticus 20:10 says this:
10 " 'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.These men had the law on their side. Forget the fact that they were probably waiting outside her house so they could capture her, they were in the right. The law clearly says she should die. And no one would have given Jesus a hard time for agreeing with the law. But instead Jesus says "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." And at that, the men dropped their stones and walked away.
We've all been in situations where someone has hurt us, and according to the law we have the right to get them back. We say things like: "It's okay for me to hate them, you don't know what they did to me." or we talk to our friends and say: "Just thought you'd like to know, so and so did this to me." And you take those rocks in your hands and begin to throw them at the person, because it's your right to do so.
But Jesus had a different take on this. Have you ever sinned? Have you ever cut someone off in the hallway at school? Have you ever gotten carried away and done something you regretted? If you have, and you've been offered forgiveness, it is your responsibility to do the same to others. When someone hurts you, you have a choice to make. I can take the stone in my hand and throw it at them, or I can drop it and walk away. But as you're thinking about your choice, remember that God took the rock that had your name on it, and instead he threw it at Jesus.
-Jeff-
Matthew 5:9 The Beatitudes
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
You want to be a child of God? Jesus said that everyone would know that we are His disciples because of our love for each other. James says that we can't even know God unless we love our brother. I can imagine that seeing Christians fight is a HUGE turnoff to non-believers. One of the ways we shine God's love is by loving others, even at the expense of ourselves. In order to be a peacemaker, we need to be willing to compromise and let others be right, that's what God has called us to do.
Let your light shine, find someone you've been fighting with and forgive them.
-Jeff-
Matthew 5:7 The Beatitudes
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
One of the sayings of Jesus day went like this: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." That meant that if someone did something bad to you, you had the right to get even. Interestingly, the reason that was put in place was to limit the amount of payback you could get. So if someone stole your cow, you couldn't go kill them, you just took a cow back. But that's not the point of this verse. Mercy is defined as compassionate treatment of those under your power. According to the law, you have the right to take revenge, you have the power over them. But according to mercy, you're going to give them a pass. If you do that, the Bible says that you will be shown mercy. And let's be honest, before God all of us have messed up waaaayyyyy more than we'd like to admit.
Find someone who's wronged you today, and give them a little of the mercy that you've received.
-Jeff-
1 John 1:9-Forgiveness
Forgiveness
1 John 1:9 (New International Version)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Have you ever messed up, sinned, made a mistake, did something or said
something you regret? I have plenty of times! Believe me!
I was taught a valuable lesson on this a few years ago... I'll never
forget.
I was a new Christian and I was really trying hard to serve God
but I messed up. I sinned. I felt so bad I could barley hold my head up.
I asked God to forgive me but didn't feel forgiveness. I went to Youth
Group that night, sit in the back felt all alone when this other kid
came up to me and said; "God wants you to know you are forgiven" WOW! I
felt so free! a smile came to my face I could lift my head up again,
didn't feel ashamed anymore.
To this day I don't know if that other kid was an Angel or if he had a
word of knowledge for me or what, all I know is how it freed me from my
sin and guilt.
Now that I have been serving God for a few more years now, I
have learned to turn to God's word for help. When I sin or mess up I
turn to 1 John 1:9 and have done so many times! Just like the kid who
told me I was forgiven God's word has power to forgive.
In Christ
Later,
DJ Jackson
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