Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single day to his life?
TO PONDER
Matthew 6 is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and it consists entirely of Jesus’s words as he teaches the Jews. The section we read today is about worry, in society today worry takes up a lot of time, worry over unstable situations overseas, our own leaders, our children; however, the state of the economy and the gap between cost of living and income is probably what is currently worrying people the most at the moment – how will we manage?
We pray “Give us this day our daily bread” and God grants us this generously to cover every aspect of daily living. We know from Psalm 139:13-16 the care and protection God has shown to each of us from our conception and how well he knows us. Would he really not fully meet our needs?
I have never been in a position of not knowing where my next meal will come from as the saying goes; but I remember when my father died, I received the news at Sydney airport after returning from a visit to Adelaide and catching up with family. We had to find the money to buy tickets to return, and wondered how we could find the money, we just left it in God’s hands. Late that evening the owner of the property we were managing called in saying the stock that had been sent to market brought a record price and he was giving Keith an extra bonus. We were wise not to add to our sadness by worrying and leaving it in God’s hands.
I think it is part of our nature to worry but God tells us it won’t add a day to our lives and uses nature to urge us to stop worrying and trust in his provision. It pays to spend time observing nature and how God protects and cares for his creation – heavily foliaged bushes with flimsy stems that make it hard for cats and other predators climb so tiny finches and wrens can safely nest and raise their young, or grain being spilt when loading and emptying silos so birds can find food in summer months when food is harder to find are two instances that come to mind; make a habit of observing nature when you are out walking and understand what God means in the above verses, and consciously bring the experience to mind next time you are tempted to think worrying will bring the answer.
Prayer: Father God you are my Good Shepherd, you know me and my needs and daily tend me. Please forgive me when I become concerned over an issue or if all my needs are going to be met; when outside pressures intrude into my life and I forget your goodness and begin to worry. When the ‘What if's begin to creep in, please help me to count my blessings and your goodness to me and banish worry from my mind. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
Today's devotion by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?
TO PONDER
Is there an element of ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ here? When I was doing yard duty as a teacher, there were often minor disputes to smooth over. Nothing too serious – but for children, it seemed like the end of the world sometimes. When sorting out some unfairness, we would always aim for things to be fair. If a child had annoyed someone, or not played by the rules, they were told to leave the game (usually handball, and usually boys), and then it was that isolated child who came to the teacher. And it was always Johnny…
Johnny would approach the teacher on duty, usually with a forlorn look, or quite angry, or with tears in his eyes, and say, ‘Mr Simpfendorfer, they won’t let me play’.
I’d reply, ‘and why not Johnny? What happened? Tell me your side of the story?
And when the real story emerged, Johnny had not been playing by the rules, and had not been playing fairly, so the consequence was that he would need to sit out that game. He wasn’t being faithful to the rules or his classmates, and the punishment was to miss out. All fair in everyone’s eyes.
Jesus, however, doesn’t work in fairness. He doesn’t care about the past. He isn’t bothered with what has gone on before. And we call that grace.
God’s faithfulness to you will not be nullified if you don’t obey or follow him. Unlike many other religions, God will continue to watch over you, love you, and walk with you. His faithfulness to us will never falter, even though ours does for him.
What a great God we have access to!
PRAYER: Thanks God, for the amazing stuff you do in our lives. Thanks for being with us despite us not wanting to be with you. Help us to be faithful to you and your call every day. Prompt us to recognise the things you do for us. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
TO PONDER
I don’t want to be fearful of God’s name – do you? The word ‘fear’ is not always understood clearly in scripture, because over 300 times, we’re told not to fear!
There are two types of fear mentioned in scripture, and it’s the first type, a fear that is beneficial and is to be encouraged, that our Psalmist talks about.
The first type of fear is fear of the Lord. This type of fear does not necessarily mean to be afraid of something. Rather, it is a reverential awe of God, a reverence for His power and glory. However, it is also a proper respect for His wrath and anger. In other words, the fear of the Lord is a total acknowledgement of all that God is, which comes through knowing Him and His attributes.
And it’s a life-long journey for us faith-filled people. There is always something more to learn about the ways of God, and I hope you have a favourite Christian author you read. If not, here’s a few that are easy to read, not heavily theological, don’t use churchy’ words, and always see things a little differently – Mark Worthing, Michael Frost, Max Lucado, and Phillip Yancey.
May you be blessed in your reading and learning more about God.
PRAYER: God of all knowledge, continue to share your life-saving knowledge with us. Help us to regularly read more about you in your Word, and then expand on that information for our daily lives. Bless our times walking as your children. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
TO PONDER
Do you have any religious jewellery? Something you may have received as a confirmation gift, or from another significant event.
Some people wear a necklace. Some people are even brave enough to wear it on the outside, to show they are a faith-follower. I recently attended a breakfast for my favourite football team and got chatting to a stranger, who was wearing a cross necklace. This was great, because the conversation quickly turned to something – apart from following the same football team – we had in common.
So this is an encouragement, to wear your cross necklace, because that shows to others that love and faithfulness will never leave you, and you are reminded of that because you’ve bound the symbol of love and faithfulness around your neck, and close to your heart.
And then it’s a little bold step of faith to wear them, which might open up conversations you never thought you’d have, and then trust God to give you the words to say.
PRAYER: Thank you, Father, for your unconditional gifts of love and faithfulness, and showing us your heart. Help us to share those gifts with everyone, and if we have a chance to share more, give us the right words. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.
TO PONDER
Do you even wonder why lawbreakers seem to get away with stuff? Do you ever question if they get their just desserts?
I asked a police friend about this. My enquiry was why a police chase was called off, or why didn’t you continue to chase this offender, or why did you stop the immediate investigation? His response was that there were other safety issues at stake, and the welfare of others was more important…and this person was a repeat offender. The police know him. In fact, his words were…he’s an idiot, makes bad choices, so we’ll catch him sooner or later. Sure enough, they did. His evil plot had gone astray. The plot that didn’t include love and faithfulness. He’s thinking about these things in an Adelaide prison.
Being a following of Jesus allows us to receive love. Being a follower of Jesus gives us the opportunity to receive faithfulness. Being a follower of Jesus allows us to resist evil, and plan for good, and share that good with all.
This doesn’t sound hard, but it can be, especially with the world telling us that some of the things we think are evil are not considered sin these days.
So be wise when it comes your decision making in the world, and be aware that what you do is seen, and therefore teaches.
PRAYER: Help us resist the evil ways of this world, Lord, the wrong choices which come our way, and the bad decisions we are tempted to make. Help us be your children by responding in faithfulness to you, and then in love to others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
TO PONDER
It’s tempting to write about who the real ‘dill’ is here, because in reality, Jesus could be referring to all of us. It’s a justified outburst from Jesus, telling off the leaders, because they got their priorities wrong. And that’s why the message is also for us.
We often get our priorities wrong. We often worry too much about how something looks, rather than how someone feels. We often care more about the image of ourselves, than caring about someone in need.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; They’ll know we are Christians by our love, not our image. Jesus did not hang around the beautiful people.
Now, image is ok. Image is important sometimes, but not if it comes at the expense of love and care.
We can sometimes be so focussed on many other things in our busy lives, that we forget about the people God places in front of us daily.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, open our eyes to the needs in our local community, whether it be family, friends, or even enemies! Blind our eyes to the unhelpful and non-urgent things in this world. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
…and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt. (verse 4)
TO PONDER
We live in the hill country. Well, the Hills Shire. The Hills Shire, Northwest of Sydney. And we believe the house we’re in is a gift from God.
In the searching stages, we noticed this house, had a look through, checked the price, and said, ‘this is way beyond our means, but it’s to dream’, and promptly forgot about it.
We (by ‘we’ I mean my wife – she has more patience when it comes to shopping) continued to look around that neighbourhood – the hill country – and saw another house…and in our price range! Beauty! We should make an offer, which we did, and then it was accepted…and then we were gazumped. The best definition of gazumped is: ‘to refuse to sell a house that you own to someone you have agreed to sell it to and to sell it instead to someone who offers to pay more for it’. Yep, that was us. Agreements all round, until greed took over. We tried to talk to the owner of the real estate business about their ethics, but they stood firm. Needless to say, there’s one real estate group we’ll never use again, unless they change their policy of gazumping (which they won’t because officially, greed is not illegal).
Then we received a phone call from the realtor of our ‘dream’ home. ‘It’s not selling as fast as the owner wants. Do you want to make an offer?” Long story short, yes, and we’ve loved living in it for the past 18 years. Space for three boys to run around, and space for old men to have large parties.
When my wife tells this story, she ends by saying…’and so we ended up in the house God kept for us’.
God was involved the whole time, just like he was with Jeremiah’s people.
PRAYER: Father, we don’t always get the ‘trust’ stuff right with you. Help us to rely on you and your promises for those things in life we need, knowing you will provide. Sometimes though Lord, help us decide between a need and a want. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
"Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life."
TO PONDER
It’s pretty clear. Don’t seek great things for yourself. Yet we do, and the world tells us to, and the lotteries tell us how much we can spend if we win, and the consensus of the community tells us to look out for number one (me), and the media says we can just do what we feel is right.
Our reading above is near the end of the book of Jeremiah, where he hung around with his people for years and years, even though they were warned to stop worshipping the wrong gods or else destruction would occur.
So it’s a warning from God, and the warning still applies today. A warning, then the consequences…and yet, an element of grace attached to the verse…but you’ll escape with your life.
Destruction did occur to the chosen people, but they continued to live. And while living takes place, God’s work takes place.
Whatever you’re involved with, wherever you live, whatever you’re doing, whoever you hang around with, God reminds us he’s at work.
What an amazing God we have, that gives us a chance on a chance, or grace upon grace.
PRAYER: Ruler of all, forgive us when we think we are better than others, when greatness becomes more important than you. Give us humble hearts to serve where you have led us. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
TO PONDER
The Jewish religious leaders of the first half of the first century were very much into ensuring that the rules and regulations that God had given to them through Moses were kept. Over the centuries, the Israelites had faced many challenges and they were not always able to find specific regulations to deal with specific issues. So, they added more regulations as time went by to try to cover all the situations not specifically covered by the original Mosaic laws. Jewish children were taught from a young age what these regulations were, and then many of the regulations were reinforced by the cultural practices of the Jews and their regular ceremonies.
When Jews became Christians, they didn’t stop being Jews, but carried they Jewish rules and regulations into their new lives as Christians. Then God began to invite non-Jews (Gentiles) to become Christians, with very few regulations imposed on them. This created a massive issue for the Jewish Christians who found many of the Gentile practices offensive to them, and they tried to impose some of the Jewish rules and regulations onto the Gentile Christians, even suggesting that they couldn’t be saved unless they kept the Jewish rules and regulations.
Paul, in writing to the Roman Christians, who comprised both Jewish and Gentile Christians, stresses that God accepts people based on their faith, not on keeping a set of rules and regulations. To illustrate this, he uses the example of Abraham who answered God’s call to leave his home and family and travel to where God was leading him. This was centuries before God had given any rules and regulations to Moses and before God had given the requirement of circumcision to Abraham. All Abraham had ever done was follow God’s call, and God accepted him.
For us, we also don’t have to try to please God by our good lives. Jesus has already lived the perfect life in our place. God now sees us as perfectly holy in His eyes. We are now free to concentrate on listening to where God is calling us through his Holy Spirit and to follow that call.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you again for all that Jesus did to restore us to being your children. Please help us, through the guidance of your Holy Spirit to follow where you are leading us. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping