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
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