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Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 (NIV)
In 1683 William Penn made a treaty with the Indians in North America, and purchased from them a large woody tract, which, after its own nature and his name, he calledPennsylvania. Penn built a city in this tract of land which was populated by people of his own denomination, and called the cityPhiladelphia.
Regardless of what has transpired since then, Penn’s desire was to build a city of like minded people who were devoted to one another; that would be kindly affectioned to another with brotherly love.
The phrase ‘be devoted to one another’ in Romans 12:10 is best translated with that word-Philadelphia. Actually the original Greek wording in Romans is only used in that one spot. It’s best translated as the kind of love a parent might have for a child, or a brother might have for another brother. It’s a family kind of love. What Paul it telling us is that we are all part of one family and we should live as such.
The family has been the foundation of society since time began. This fact didn’t take away from the reality that differences arose as a result of personal preferences and personality traits. But the one defining characteristic that made families work was a devotion to one another regardless of those differences. We don’t agree, we may even quarrel, but you can’t change the DNA.
What’s true in the physical sense is true in the spiritual sense. Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior and live in his forgiveness and grace are family. Jesus gives each of us the same spiritual DNA so that we will live in harmony with one another. Each of us brings our own likes and dislikes regarding worship and music. Each of us brings our own opinions based on our backgrounds and traditions. Each of us brings a load of baggage from our past.
Regardless of what we bring into the family, we are admonished to live in devotion to one another by honoring others above ourselves. The New Century Version translates the verse like this: Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves. That means we are not only to treat each other well, we are to treat each other better than we want to be treated.
So many times I hear people say they have quit going to church because of all the fighting between church members and denominations. What a difference it would make if William Penn’s dream of a place where everyone was of like mind and devotion was realized in the body of Christ.
PRAYER: Father, show me today if I harbor any feelings of discord towards a brother or sister in Christ or in a denominational body that believes differently than I do. Help me to live with the devotion my spiritual DNA calls me to so that your church can be united. Amen.Cross references:
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
Adam tried it, so did Eve. They borrowed a couple fig leaves from a neighboring tree. But God came looking for them in the cool of the evening, right about the time they took their normal walk.
Moses tried it too. He ran off into the wilderness and just about the time he thought he’s succeeded, God ignited a bush with an eternal flame.
Elijah used an obscure cave for his game of deified hide-and-seek. But God sought him out with a fire and windstorm before he quietly whispered his name.
Jonah used extra-ordinary measures as well, using the sea as his method of escape, but God intervened and used a fish to bring Jonah to his senses.
Before you are too hard on these men of God, think of how you try to hide from God. It’s easy to try to hide from God through religious activities, work, and family duties. Usually we hide from God because we are afraid of what he will think of us. We may think that unless we do certain things he won’t approve of us or consider us ‘holy’. After all, doesn’t the Bible tell us to be ‘holy’? Aren’t we instructed to obey him?
When I was young and I’d misbehave I’d run to the closet to hide from my parents. My young mind had me convinced that I could hide from my parents long enough for them to forget my wrong or miss me so much they’d overlook my faults. Maybe you did that too. That tactic never worked for me. (Maybe I should have tried a different closet occasionally!) That tactic won’t work with God either. Some pretty important people have tried it.
So when you have failed for the 100th time; when you are ready to cash in all this religion stuff because you can’t make it work; when you find yourself not only doubting your own ability to succeed but doubting God as well, remember Colossians 3:3.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
That verse reminds us that when God sees you it’s like he’s looking through a lens named Jesus. He doesn’t see your sin, he sees Jesus’ sacrifice. He doesn’t see your failings, He see’s Jesus’ perfection. He doesn’t see your rebellion, he sees Jesus’ humility. When God looks at you, he smiles because you are hidden in Jesus. That’s grace!
PRAYER: Lord, I seem to try to fill my days with all sorts of good things to make you love me. I’d never admit that, of course, but in reality, it’s the truth. Forgive me for trying to earn your favor. Empower me to live in the favor I already have because of Jesus. Amen.
My problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! Psalm 25:17 (NLT)
The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, writes, “When the darkest hour of the night arrives we may expect the dawn; when the sea is at its lowest ebb the tide must surely turn; and when our troubles are enlarged to the greatest degree, then we may hopefully pray, O bring thou me out of my distresses.”
There are times in our lives when it seems our trouble goes from bad to worse with no relief in sight. It might be something relatively simple like a day in which everything seems to go wrong or something major that will change your life forever and threatens your faith and your ability to go on.
The struggles we endure can come from the hands of others, those intent on getting what they want at any cost without regard to the needs and emotional state of others. Their attacks seem relentless. The wounds they inflict may be unseen by men, but cause you to die internally one blow at a time.
Hard as it is to take the abuse of others the abuse of our own heart is the most destructive. The self-inflicted wounds of an unforgiving spirit entangle us. We won’t forgive them. Not after what they did. They won’t control us anymore. While our abuser may not control us physically anymore, our refusal to forgive keeps us in chains.
Another enemy of the heart may be more dastardly than the refusal to forgive others is the refusal to forgive ourselves. Isn’t it true that many of the things that keep us awake at night are those things that we’ve done to ourselves? The financial choices we knew were a risk but took them anyway and now the house is in foreclosure? The affair that you want so desperately to hold on to but know you need to end? The secret sin you harbor, but live in fear of being found out?
You may not have any control over the attacks of others. You can free yourselves of the shackles of guilt and shame. You can forgive your attacker and be released from that bondage. That forgiveness is for your sake, not theirs. It frees you from the shackles; it doesn’t free them from the responsibility for their actions.
You can be free of the problems that are keeping you down. You can’t do it alone. It will take time and hard work. But the rewards are worth the battle. The Psalmist knew where his help came from. He knew that with the help of his Heavenly Father he would once again see the light of dawn on the horizon.
We have that same hope. Your struggle may be emotional or physical. It may be self-inflicted or the cruel actions of others. Whatever is keeping you in bondage can be destroyed through Jesus Christ, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Your troubles may seem to be going from bad to worse with no hope on the horizon, but there is hope through faith in a loving Father.
PRAYER: Father God, I feel like my problems are too overwhelming for me to go on. I struggle to forgive others and myself for things that I now suffer the consequences for. I ask that you free me from these chains. Empower me with your Spirit to live free. Help me to see the dawn in the midst of my present darkness. Amen.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” Jonah 1:1-2
I’ve heard the story of ‘Jonah and the Whale’ retold hundreds of times in Sunday School,VacationBibleSchool, Sunday sermons and even a few theology classes. I know all about the typology of Jonahs three days in the belly of a fish and Jesus’ three days in the tomb.
I know the lesson about not running from God, about the faith Jonah had and how ungrateful he was. I know the story about the faithfulness and forgiveness of God as evidenced by his holding back the judgment promised because of the repentance of the city ofNineveh.
Yet there is another part of this story that escaped me until recently. The Biblical record tells us little about Jonah’s background other than the fact that he was a prophet and that he chose to run from God rather that go where God sent him.
Jonah was most likely a good prophet. His ability to preach the word of God is evidenced by the fact that his message brought a city of 120,000 people to their knees, literally. But Jonah was also a proud and stubborn man. When questioned on the boat about whom he was he proudly testified to his heritage (“I am a Hebrew”) and his theology (“I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Jonah 1:9).
His stubbornness is evidenced by the fact that he refused to follow the leading of the very God he professed to worship and then became angry when God relented of his judgment over repentantNineveh.
Stubbornness and pride are two things God can not honor in a ministry, and all of us, regardless of our walk in life are ministers in some way to the Father. We can be successful, but we will never experience the full measure of God’s blessing if we are governed by pride and stubbornness.
Nineveh can stand for anything that goes against our cultural heritage and our doctrinal/theological distinctives. Ninevehwasn’t the squeaky clean, suburban ministry. It was the little rural church made up of people who were content to stay the way they are. It was the inner city ministry with little money and large problems. It was no place for someone who rigidly stuck to their doctrine.
Nineveh didn’t need more religion, they needed relationship and Jonah was unwilling to give it to them. The story of Jonah is a story of grace. God asked Jonah to show grace to a people he disagreed with culturally, religiously and socially and Jonah refused. His story begs an answer from each of us. If we believe we are called to be ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ (and Matthew 28 gives us that charge) are we willing to passionately pursue those who are different than us in order to show them the forgiveness, mercy and love of Jesus Christ? Jonah wasn’t called to preach his own opinions; he was called to turn people towards the God of heaven, a God who passionately desires to bring ALL people to himself. If your Father calls you to preach to a group of people you dislike, are you willing to go in love?
PRAYER: Father, the message of Jonah is renewed in my heart today. I confess to you that I’ve been close-minded in ministry because of my own standards and doctrine. Open my heart and my eyes to those to whom I’ve been withholding your word by my deeds and attitudes. Amen.
Who is this glorious King? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, the powerful warrior. Psalm 24:8 (NCV)
It’s a rather peculiar phenomenon in the animal kingdom. The Martin will spend days building her nest in preparation for laying eggs and raising their young. Soon after that, a sparrow may decide that the martin nest looks like a pretty cool abode and take it over. That’s right, the little, calm looking; harmless sparrow steals the nest from the Martin. Sometimes even pushing eggs or newly hatched young out onto the ground. But the sparrow’s home isn’t secure either. Starlings have been known to come in and take over the nest the sparrow stole from the Martin!
The problem in this picture is that Martin and Sparrow had the ability to build their home, but not defend it. What the Martin needs is someone to fight on their behalf. Someone to defend all they’ve worked for, to protect their investment.
Like the Martin, each of us sets out to make a life for ourselves. It may not necessarily be a conscious thought, but in the backrooms of our minds we have an idea of what we’d like life to look like. Few of us include, in those plans, divorce, bankruptcy, cancer or the untimely death of a loved one.
The plans we have though are often disrupted, diverted or destroyed by life. The Sparrows and Starlings of life attack us. We didn’t plan on becoming addicted to drugs. We didn’t plan on the affair happening, it just did. We didn’t include in our plans the rebellious child or the disinterested spouse.
Like the Martin, what we need is a defender. Someone who can protect us from the attacks of evil in our lives. Someone who can walk us through the battle ground to the others side. Each of us needs someone we can call on when doubt, worry, anger and frustration raise their ugly heads.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had someone like that to call on in our time of distress? Religion will try to tell you it has the answer. Politicians have plenty of ideas of how funding can solve this problem or that. Friends and family always seem to have advice. But what we need is a warrior we can count on. Someone who not only knows how to wage battle against the evil one, but knows how to win.
The Psalmist says, ‘The Lord is a powerful warrior’. Most scholars agree that the ‘Lord’ in this passage not only refers to God the Father, but points towards Jesus Christ, his Son. The word picture is clear. There are many things along the path we call life that are there to distract us and destroy our dreams. Reliance on our mighty warrior, Jesus Christ, assures us that even though the battle may be tough, he will fight for us. He is a mighty warrior who believes in us and sees us as worth fighting for.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as I enter the battle of life ahead of me I see many enemies. Many who are intent on taking away my peace, my trust, my future. Thank you for being a mighty warrior I can count on in the midst of battle. Amen.
