“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
TO PONDER
I am currently sitting in my local café to do some sermon prep and write some of these “Daily Verse” posts because I find the noise and activity helps my creativity (research suggests distracting environments can help some people be more creative) not because before I drove our youngest boy to school today I noticed my incredible wife, who is working from home today, put a load of laundry on, so if I go home I will end up having to hang it on the line…
Today’s verse is one of those loving, sweet things Jesus said which is a great quote for a poster with cute puppies snuggling up with yellow freshly hatched chicks, in a basket full of flowers.
Well, it is loving but it is not sweet, it’s not about puppies snuggling with baby chickens, and baskets full of flowers but about a life lived in sacrifice given for others.
It’s a calling to, at its simplest, leave the business of my favourite café to go home and hang the washing on the line so my wife doesn’t have to.
PRAYER: Almighty God, you thought it nothing to come down to earth to live and die sacrificially for me, I ask you to help me live sacrificially for all those around me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay West Side
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get. (MSG)
TO PONDER
Do you ever think to yourself “OH COME ON!” when someone asks you to help them with something (like move house), or when your neighbour asks to borrow your lawn mower… again? You know, one of those requests where its just that step too far, you’re too busy, they never return what they borrowed, you barely know them, or even you just don’t feel like it.
Sometimes I am tempted to respond to God and what he has said to us through the Bible with a good ol’ “OH COME ONE! Now that’s just going too far!” Of course I don’t… well not as much as I used to.
Today’s verse is one of those times, where Jesus takes it further, so He is not only asking us to “love” our neighbour but He is moving into the “OH COME ON!” zone. When he is saying here to not wait for a person to ask for your help but to notice they have a need and for then for you to meet the need. This verse is what is referred to as “the Golden Rule” and the concept can be found in the writings of most other World religions with varied ways of saying very similar ideas but in the Bible, being an apprentice of Jesus requires us to continually move into the “OH COME ON!”, extra realm.
See we are told not only to love our neighbour, but to forgive our enemy and to not only forgive those who have wronged us but to also bless them, to pray for good things over them, “OH COME ON!”.
We are told not to only love the stranger but to show unreasonable hospitality to them, to treat them as family. “OH COME ON!”
We are told to not grow weary of doing the extra good deeds for others but also to treat our neighbour as family, “OH COME ON!”
AND then we realise our neighbour is anyone who is not you, the stranger, that annoying person at work, the neighbour who doesn’t return your mower, your mortal enemy, everyone… “OH COME ON!”
PRAYER: Jesus, I thank you that you that you loved me even when I was your enemy, that you continuously forgive me, that through you life, death and resurrection through your grace you have made me family, please help me to show the same grace to my neighbour and treat them as family, Amen.
Today's daily devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay WestSide
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
TO PONDER
Don’t you love it when everything seems to be going your way, when all the traffic lights are green on your way home, even your bank account is overflowing…
Yeah, it doesn’t really happen to me either but I am still blessed to bless others and so are you, even though we may feel lack.
In today’s verse we read how God was going to display his unreasonable hospitality to an old man and his barren wife after he had shown hospitality to strangers. In this we see that Abraham had already displayed the understanding that he was blessed to bless others.
During the hospitality shown towards the strangers we get a glimpse into the lacking within this old man and his barren wife; the lack of children.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome we read; “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”
What does that have to do with Abrahams story? Paul is telling the Roman church and by extension us, that in their lacking if they surrender that lack to God they will reap the results of eternal life, which is the overflowing life in John 10:10.
Old man Abraham discovered when we bless others inspite of our lack we are surrendering it to God and experience the overflowing life.
PRAYER: Jehovah-jireh, I know you are the God who provides even from my lack, I ask for your forgiveness for the times I have not been a blessing to others because of what I don’t have, instead of because who you are. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
TO PONDER
I recently read this an a book by John Mark Comer called God Has A Name. In it he says, “Marriage is the art of learning to forgive over and over and over again.” Hopefully, If you’re married you will chuckle and agree with this statement and if you’re not married, I imagine, you would think mariage sounds exhausting…
In today’s verses Paul is encouraging us to do the same thing that John Mark Comer is talking about in his book; not to become weary in doing good, especially when it comes to those closest to us, whether actual family or our Christ born family.
In John’s biography of Jesus he quotes Jesus as saying that everyone will see him in us if we whole-heartedly love our church family (paraphrased John 13:35).
This way of living is part of LifeWay’s DNA; to Share Boldly, to display unreasonable hospitality to our church family and to our neighbours (your neighbour is anyone who is not you).
Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Colossians; “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-17
So, the concept of “learning to forgive over and over and over again” is something that doesn’t only belong in marriage but is our fitting response to God’s “aggressive forgiveness” (grace) shown towards us.
PRAYER: Almighty God, I thank you because you first loved me, you forgave me when I didn’t deserve it, you even welcomed me into your family displaying your unreasonable hospitality of grace, I ask you to use me in mirroring this grace to those around me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
TO PONDER
Do you ever think about how you come to God in prayer? I know some people who are still full of reverence and it sometimes also feels like apprehension when they timidly and cautiously offer a prayer to the God of the universe. I think there is a place for reverence, but that kind of timid fear can be left at the door, especially in light of this vers from the letter to the Ephesians.
However, I have also heard people pray in such a way that suggests God is no more than just another friend you might bump into on the street and have a casual conversation with, a peer, if you will. Someone who is no more significant than I might consider myself to be. I'm not sure that this is always helpful either.
So what then to we do? What is the model that helps us to come to God in the right way? Jesus give us that answer in the Lords Prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed (holy) be your name. We can come with freedom and confidence when we come to God, our Father in Heaven, our Father who loves us. We can come because he is holy and in Christ, he makes us holy.
But those of us who have been lucky enough to have had positive, loving relationships with our own human fathers, might remember the sense of awe and wonder; the kind of esteem in which we held these human figures who for some of us, seemed to have almost superhero like qualities. To our younger selves our dad's were strong and could open things that we as children thought were closed shut forever. They could fix things and solve problems that we, as children, thought were impossible. That's the kind of dad we have in heaven, that's the kind of confident respect, with which we can freely come to God and offer him our, thanks, praise, concerns and hurts. He's not a cranky and vengeful dad, waiting for an opportunity to smite us, He's the father of the prodigal son, sitting on his verandah looking and waiting eagerly for his children to come home and be with him. So what's stopping you?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you that in Christ, I can come to you with freedom and confidence and lay before you my thanks and praise, my hopes and dreams, my concerns and fears, my triumphs and failures, and know that I will always encounter a loving Heavenly Father ready to help, console, encourage and instruct me in whatever way is necessary. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
TO PONDER
What are you a slave to? For most of us, our immediate response is probably 'nothing!' but let's take a moment to look and dig a little deeper.
What is the greatest love of your life? Is it your spouse or your family? Perhaps it is financial success and freedom? Maybe reputation and recognition are the things that drive and motivate you. None of these things, in and of themselves, are bad. However we were created to worship and having rejected the original focus of our worship, our God and creator, we have all turned to other things to 'worship' and find meaning and purpose for our lives.
Don't get me wrong, you should love your family and be dedicated to your spouse. You should work diligently at your job as if working for the Lord. You should build a good reputation for yourself because as one of his disciples, your own behaviour either reflects or obscures His love and mercy. But we can only rightly and freely pursue these things without fear that they may end up enslaving us, if our first love is God. We have no hope of leading others to Christ, if we ourselves are being led by other masters.
Submit yourself first to God, then allow him to point you in the direction of the 'others' he would like you to serve with the gospel. In the midst of all that you can rest assured that God will attend to your needs and the needs of your family, your career, income and reputation. It may not look the way you planned, of we really trust that Gods plans for us are good, why would we not seek to live and walk in His plans anyway?
PRAYER:Lord Jesus, sometimes I can be blind to the thinks that have a hook in me and are leading me in directions that are not part of your plan for me. Please help me today, and every day, to freely submit myself and my plans for the day to you so that I might walk in your plans and serve only you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle