If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
TO PONDER
One of my hobbies (obsessions?) is researching my family ancestors and their families. While pursuing my research, I found out that one of my cousins was convinced we had Jewish ancestry. This was news to me since I knew who most of my ancestors were for quite a few generations back. This cousin didn’t have any proof, but had come to this conclusion based on things her father had said and done. On thinking about this, I realised that if this was true, I was probably a direct descendent of Abraham – what an exciting thought.
Since then, I have researched every branch of my family as far back as currently available on-line records let me and I have found no Jewish connection. I have also had my DNA analysed and no Jewish markers were identified. So, the excitement evaporated.
But now as a Christian, I have been adopted by God to be Jesus’s brother. And since Jesus, still fully human, is a direct descendant of Abraham, I am now adopted to be a descendant of Abraham after all.
So what does it mean to be a descendant of Abraham? For starters, I am a member of God’s Chosen People – through Jesus. Just as Joshua led God’s Chosen People into the Promised Land, Jesus (Greek version of the same name Joshua) is leading us into the New Jerusalem; and we, as brothers and sisters of Abraham’s specific descendant, Jesus, are being used by God to bring the blessing of eternal life with Jesus to all people as we share the good news.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for adopting us into your family. We surrender our lives to you for you to use us to bring your blessing to others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
TO PONDER
God has used lots of different images to help us understand the relationship He wants to have with us. One of these images is a marriage relationship, which is designed to be a lifelong commitment (or covenant) between two people to love each other unconditionally while they both are alive. Within this image, the implication is that if we go looking for purpose and meaning for our lives other than in the love Christ has for us, it is like being unfaithful to our marriage partner.
In just writing that, it has made me think over my life, comparing my love and commitment to my wife to my love and commitment to Christ, and I feel that Christ probably comes off second best. Could it be that part of the reason is out of sight, out of mind? For my relationship with my spouse to be one of mutual blessing, we have to work at it, getting to know one another and how to care for one another. It takes time and dedication. Do I put anywhere near that effort into my relationship with Christ?
But when we fail in our relationship with Christ, He doesn’t run off to the Divorce Courts to end the relationship, but works tirelessly to draw us back into the security and blessings of His love for us. And He gives us so many resources for us to use in nurturing our relationship with Him; just one being the ability to regularly meet together with our Christian brothers and sisters and celebrate together the love God has showered on us.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, awesome Heavenly Bridegroom, thank you for wooing us into a relationship with you that will last for eternity. Help us to treasure that relationship and accept your invitation to spend time with you, getting to know you better and to know your plans for our lives. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.
TO PONDER
It was the Day of Pentecost. The small group of Jesus’s followers received the gift of the Holy Spirit in the form of small flames of fire falling on them – during a wild wind storm that caused a crowd to form. Peter took the opportunity to preach to the people. Those who were convicted by his sermon asked how they should respond to Peter’s message. Peter’s response was that should repent and be baptised and then they would receive the gift of the promised Holy Spirit.
The gift of the Holy Spirit was a promise made by Jesus recorded in John 14. Jesus was going to be leaving the disciples and ascending back to heaven. But he was being replaced by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was limited by his physical body to being able to be with only a small group at a time, while the Holy Spirit was able to be with billions of people at the same time. All the treasures that Jesus was able to provide by his physical presence were now to be available to all his followers at the same time by the Holy Spirit living in them.
We may sometimes think how wonderful it would have been to be living in Palestine when Jesus was there, but to have that 24/7 contact with Jesus would have been very difficult unless we had been one of the disciples. Living now in the 21st century, we have Jesus’s teaching written down for us in the bible (for ready reference – especially if we have it as an app on our smart phone) and we have access to the Holy Spirit 24/7 for his guidance for our lives. And if we feel we are missing out by not being able to see Jesus’s miracles in the flesh, can I suggest we are not looking in the right places because all that Jesus did is being done by Jesus’s present-day followers through the power of the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you that when you called your Son home, you replaced him with your Holy Spirit who is with us always. Thank you that your Holy Spirit is working continually in our lives to change us to be more like your Son in the way we live and relate to others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
TO PONDER
Where are the places you feel closest to God? For some people it is a church or even a cathedral. For others it is a quiet place. For one of my friends it was a small clearing in a reserve behind their house. In the Gospels, we read of Jesus often going up a mountainside or isolated place to spend time with His Father. Spending time with God is obviously important in developing our relationship with God.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul reminds us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in us. Our bible reading for today says we have been marked with the Holy Spirit. This indicates that the activities of the Holy Spirit in us are an important part of our growing and maturing as children of our Heavenly Father. But how aware are we of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us? Are we even trying to be alert to the ways He might be guiding us as we go about our daily business? From my experience, it is very common to not spare a single thought about God for the whole day, especially when I am absorbed in whatever task I am working on.
But I know that I repeatedly face situations in life that I respond to in ways that in retrospect show that I was not seeking to honour God but to deal with my own emotions. I would like to be more open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in me in these situations.
Some ways God’s people have experienced the guiding of the Holy Spirit are: giving us a new understanding of a bible verse or section we have been reading; a thought entering our head when we ask God specific questions; clarification of an issue we have been struggling with when someone has been talking to us without them knowing anything about the specific issue; providing a well-received or appropriate answer or word of advice to someone in response to their question when there is no way we would have said that if we thought about it for a while first; a song from the previous Sunday’s worship service going around in our head for days afterwards that provides encouragement that we need; helping us with our prayers when we struggle to know how to pray.
What about yourself? What are some of the ways you have experienced the Holy Spirit active in your life?
PRAYER: Thank you, Holy Spirit for loving us so much that you would come to live in us – even when we are not nice to be with. Thank you for all the ways you are guiding us and helping us to grow as children of our Heavenly Father. And thank you too for helping us to reflect the Father’s love into our communities. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
TO PONDER
Yesterday, we looked at God’s promise to restore Jerusalem and the lives of the people of Judah after the Babylonians destroyed the city and killed many of the people. However, a small number of people (4,600) survived and were deported to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar. But it was 70 years later that King Cyrus of Persia enabled some of the descendants to return to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Not all the people returned, however, since some had given up waiting for God to keep his promise of bringing them back.
Another episode in the Old Testament where the people had to wait years for God’s promise to be kept was the wandering of 40 years in the desert after escaping from Egypt and before entering the Promised Land.
In each of these cases, God had a purpose in the delay. He was preparing the people for the new life ahead of them. For the Israelites spending 40 years in the desert, God was erasing religious ideas and practices from Egypt and teaching the people how to live as his children before they dispersed into their new homes in Palestine.
For the people of Judah in Babylon, part of God’s purpose was to cleanse the people of the bad religious practices they had picked up from their neighbours in Palestine. I am sure God had a whole lot of other things he was achieving during their time in exile. And that is the point; we are not always let in on why God does certain things. Sometimes we may find out, but often we will never know. But we do know that God is working for our good as we wait for Him to do what he promised us.
While we accept that some things God promises will take time to happen, there are other promises of God which are met immediately – like His promise to be with us always wherever we are. Although we will often waste time trying to solve problems ourselves, when we finally give up and let God guide us, we find He has been there all along, just waiting for us to surrender into His love.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your promise to never leave us, but that you will always be with us in whatever situations we find ourselves – even when we deliberately decide to do our own thing against your guidance. Please help us to be patient as we wait on you, trusting that you are always working to grow us as your children. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
TO PONDER
Over many weeks at LifeWay, we have been working our way through the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been tasked by God, when he was still very young, to bring God’s message to the people of Judah. Not only were the people rejecting God’s will and purpose for their lives, they were also refusing to listen to God’s warning of the impending disaster that was coming their way. After many years of Jeremiah frustratingly trying to get the people to heed God’s message, we come to today’s reading - towards the end of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The prophesies from God through Jeremiah were now coming true and the situation in Jerusalem was really desperate. The inhabitants were now facing starvation while they waited for the Babylonians to finally break through the city walls and slaughter the inhabitants and burn the city down.
But God’s message is now not one of “I told you so”, but of the promise of restoration. God’s purpose in letting the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem was not so much punishment for rejecting Him, but for restoration of the people into the family relationship God wanted to have with his people.
You may currently be going through some challenging times in your own life (illness, injury, relationship breakdown, financial difficulties, employment issues) or you may be feeling depressed by the evil being inflicted on others in this world by those in positions of power. The discouragement you are feeling may even be related to what is happening to someone close to you. And you may be asking, like the people of Jerusalem were asking, “Where are you God? Why is this happening to us?”
The answer is that God is right beside you with open arms to give you a welcoming hug and then hold your hand as he leads you through the challenges you are facing. And he will be teaching you many new things as he does so. How do I know? Well, that was my own experience when my first marriage failed. (I am not blaming my former spouse; but we were facing issues which neither of us had the skills to deal with.) I worked so hard (I thought) to keep the marriage together, but finally had to admit my utter failure and accept the marriage was over. The amazing thing was that then, through the little miracles happening around me, I experienced God’s amazing care for me. But don’t just take my word for it. The Bible is full of God’s promise to be with us in whatever situations we find ourselves. And of course, He demonstrated His great love and commitment to us when Jesus willing went to the cross for each one of us. And what do we have to do? Stop trying to find the solution and answers, fall on our knees, admit our utter helplessness to God and then let Him be our loving Heavenly Father.
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your awesome love for us that your Son, Jesus, demonstrated through his life, death and resurrection that we are very precious to you. Thank you too for your promise to always be with us wherever we are and whatever is happening to us. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.
TO PONDER
I often wonder at the fascination that some of us 'common folk' have with royalty. Perhaps it's the fairy tales of princes and princesses that spark our imagination, perhaps it's the idea of an obscene amount of wealth and the idea of having a servant for everything that gets some people excited, but I just don't know if the dream matches the reality.
It seems to me that when you are a royal, your life is not your own. Every interaction with others is filtered through a strict level of protocol. I can't imagine many of Prince William's old school buddies would get away with simply addressing him as 'Will' anymore. Your schedule and calendar constantly being booked up with public engagements, and the general public always snooping around the palace hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the royals. Then of course there's all the international hobnobbing with other world leaders. I'm sure they eat some fancy food but I think the conversation would be fairly dull.
It's not at all like the picture painted in revelation. Revelation paints a different picture. We are not on the throne, God is. Everything is restored because all of creation acknowledges that Jesus is Lord, all his people simply worship him. All that comes when we stop chasing it for ourselves and instead let God take his rightful place in our hearts and in our lives. We were not meant to be kings and queens, we were meant to be princes and princesses; sons and daughters of the King of Heaven. When we let God have his place, and we take up the place he has for us... that's when we really begin to see and experience what it means to be a co-heir with Christ.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, take your throne in my life again today. Help me to know and to remember that I am your child and a co-heir with Jesus in your kingdom. Help me to learn how to live in that identity today and every day. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.
TO PONDER
They say it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only a moment to ruin one. I think we have seen that played out multiple times in various ways in the reports and feeds on our favourite news apps and tv networks. A politician with a stellar public service record said something thoughtless or controversial as a university student and now their career hangs in the balance, 'famous' or well respected preachers fall to various temptations (just like the rest of us) and suddenly we can't trust anything they say.
Jesus said people would know we were his disciples by how we love one another. It's not about being part of a church with all the fancy tech, music, and production elements. It's not about being part of a church with thousands of members that can throw money at every social issue and attract a charismatic preacher who has good feedback from test screenings with a large salary. It is about how we love.
Love is what drew people to Jesus. An undeniable, relentless love that didn't stop loving even at the point of death. That's the legacy Jesus left behind for us, his great and never ending love. It might have led to his death, but it also brought about his resurrection. It may have led him to the cross, but even those who do not believe he was God's son or messiah, still know him as a good man and an excellent moral teacher, even about 2000 years after the fact.
Jesus never owned a house, probably never owned much at all, but he had more love than any person before or since. So let the love of Jesus be your legacy! Do whatever it takes not to earn another dollar, but to show love to another person. That's what builds a good reputation; that's a legacy worth building.
PRAYER:Lord Jesus, I'm sorry when my behaviour is responsible for damaging your reputation in the world. Please help me to be someone who helps others to encounter your love which is perfect and casts out all fear. Help me to love as you have loved. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.
TO PONDER
One of the things you might notice about God's promises in the Bible is that they often take generations before they are fulfilled. God made a promise to Abraham which was only fulfilled generations later under the leadership of Joshua after escaping slavery in Egypt and forty years wandering in the wilderness.
It's not that God didn't deliver on his promise, but he had a bigger plan. Not only did he promise to be their God, but he also wanted to make them his people; because of the peoples stubbornness and complaining, this took a long time. When a promise takes that long to work itself out, people need to be reminded of the promise, it needs to be passed on and remembered.
This is a big part of the problem we face as Christians in the world today. Most of our friends, families and workmates have not had the benefit of someone reminding them of God's promises. God's promises and faithfulness have dropped out of the communal memory of our society because we have not been vigilant in remembering them, celebrating them, and reminding one another of them.
How will you celebrate what God has done and remind others of his faithfulness?
PRAYER: God, we are a forgetful people. Please help me to know how to invite and encourage others to remember and engage with your promises and faithfulness. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle