Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
TO PONDER:
GK Chesterton once said, "There are two ways to get enough. One is to accumulate more, the other is to desire less." As you reflect on that statement, which way is your natural leaning point...to get more or desire less? To covet more than you already have or to be content with what you do have?
Every day we are bombarded with media that wants us to believe that we have to have what we already know we don't need. Advertising is designed to make us feel discontent. And if you don't have enough to pay for it, just use Afterpay, Zip Pay, Gimme, Humm or the countless other options created to indulge our covetousness. The underlying premise is you don't want to be left behind others.
But the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that we have enough when we have Jesus. We already have the greatest treasure when we have Jesus. We already have all we need in every situation when we have Jesus. We already have his promise that we will never be left behind. We don't have to keep up with the Jones. We just have to walk with Jesus, who is by our side. I don't know about you, but I'm content with that!
How can you be more aware of Jesus' presence with you as you go about your day today?
PRAYER
Thank you Jesus for your promise that I will never be left behind. Help me to celebrate and enjoy your presence with me as we go about this today together.
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
TO PONDER:
Have you heard the old saying? "As a rule, man's a fool. When it's hot, he wants it cool. And when it's cool, he wants it hot, Always wanting, what is not!" It's a truth that advertisers play on, that what we have is never enough. That we need the newest, the most up to date, the best. Is it any wonder that we are so discontent and dissatisfied with the things we have been blessed with?
Paul, in writing to Timothy, shares with him that true contentment doesn't come with a full bank balance or the accumulation of stuff. Contentment comes when we realise how rich we are because we have been given the gift of a relationship with Jesus Christ. The love that he has shown, the mercy that he gives, the grace that fills our life is what makes our lives truly rich, irrespective of the situation we find ourselves in financially or materially. Christ is enough for you and me.
How can your life today give witness to the truth that Christ is all you need?
PRAYER:
Lord, when I am tempted to think the grass is greener someplace else, remind me that the grass is greener where it is watered. Help my relationship with you to flourish so that I might know the joy of contentment. Amen.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
TO PONDER
‘I was trying to fix it, but I’m afraid I’ve made a bigger mess of it. Can you help?’ Holding the starter pull assembly in one hand and an uncoiled spring in the other, a man just down the road from our home, who knew I used to fix lawnmowers, stood at my front door looking for assistance. As I began to rewind the spring tightly to fit in its plastic holder, we chatted and he started sharing his worries and anxieties about life and his future. It was ironic that with each wind of the spring, it seemed that the one who was getting more tightly wound up was my neighbour.
Fear has a way of doing that to us. It winds us up. When we are afraid, our first impulse is to tighten our bodies and shut down our minds. The impulse to tighten can become so deeply ingrained in us that sometimes without even being aware of it, our actions and decisions are motivated by our fear. When we are wound up so tight and we keep our lives at stress point, that one little thing can end up causing our whole lives to unravel and creating an awful mess.
Are your fears winding you up tighter and tighter at this present time? Do you long to live without worry? To be free from anxiety? Do you wonder whether it will ever be possible?
God never commands that which he doesn’t also empower us to do. Paul tells us. ‘Do not be anxious about anything.’ Paul gives us a model for letting go when we are so tightly wound up and our life is starting to unravel and become a mess. Instead of replaying or rehearsing our fears over and over again or allowing them to determine how we live or act, simply give God the content of your worry and invite his word and presence into your fears. For example, ‘God, I am afraid of being alone, but you have said that you will be with me always.’
As we claim God’s perfect promises which are built on his steadfast love, we discover the joy of learning to live without fear.
So what do you think? Is it worth having a go? Give God your fears or worries today.
PRAYER
Lord God, when I am wound up tightly by my fears, help me to confess my anxiety to you and claim your perfect promises. Amen.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
TO PONDER
This is a very popular funeral text. Now, funerals are to comfort the living, and this is certainly a comforting verse, and so it should be, because it’s true. It’s a promise from God, and he doesn’t break promises.
I wonder if the term ‘passed away’ comes from this verse. Many people use it instead of the word ‘death’, or ‘died’. For some, a softening of the word is their version of pastoral care. In a way they are saying, ‘Í don’t want to remind you of the grief you are going through. I don’t want to remind you of your loss’.
For you and me, people of faith, a funeral is also a time of celebration. A time where we can and do celebrate and remember the life of the person being farewelled. God doesn’t mind that, because he is a God of stories, and everyone has a story. And all good things come from God, so to be reminded of a person’s joy in their life, pleases God.
The verse is a confirmation of where that faithful person is now, and that’s with Jesus. Children sometimes ask me, ‘What will heaven be like’? I answer, ‘It will be great, because you’ll be with God’. That’s his promise.
PRAYER: We thank you Father, firstly all the promises you made, and then for keeping every single one. We are sorry Lord, for the times when we have not kept promises, or kept our vows, especially the one’s we or our Godparents made at our baptism. Bless our lives, as only you can. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
TO PONDER
It’s interesting the text says, ‘if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed’…. It’s not a good translation as it should be ‘when the earthly tent we live in…’
The message here is about things that aren’t important in our faith walk. It’s about stuff. Stuff you can’t take with you to heaven.
When our boys were growing up, we’d often watch Veggie Tales, which is an animated series using fruit and vegetables characters telling biblical messages. There was an episode with Madame Blueberry, who was distraught because she never had enough ‘stuff’. She always wanted more, thinking more stuff would make her happy. She was overjoyed one day when a new department store opened across the road, called ‘Stuff-Mart’. One of the questions was ‘How much stuff do you need to be happy’? ‘Dunno. How much stuff is there’ was the answer.
You can guess the outcome. She eventually realised that good friends, food to eat, and a roof over her head give her more joy that all the stuff in her house.
Proverbs 15:27a says ‘The greedy bring ruin to their households’.
We have the surety of a future with God. That’s his promise. If there are things on earth that are getting in the way of your relationship with God, they have replaced God. And in the scary real-estate state of NSW, it is easy to put our dwelling above all else. It’s a good time to re-think our priorities.
PRAYER: It is daunting Lord, to live in this world surrounded by many earthly temptations, and to compare ourselves with others and their treasures. Help us Lord, to put you first above everything else, and forgive us for the times we don’t. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
TO PONDER
One of my first jobs was cutting apricots. Apricot cutting in the middle of summer in the South Australian Riverland was how we spent many school holidays with my siblings. Dad was on holiday, while his kids slaved away. On a cousin’s fruit block, we would set up the tent (yes, middle of summer), and for two weeks we would cut many trays of apricots. We didn’t mind, because we were paid, and those days a completed tray was worth 50c!
At the end of the two weeks, our ‘wages’ were announced. One year I earned nearly $200. And then dad loved reminding us five kids of this verse. He’d quote it to us, but it was only ever the first part we heard. He never completed it, which we understand now, because then the humour of it would be lost.
You can’t have half the verse. You need it all. You need the second part to cancel out the first part. And you can’t just have the second half, because it doesn’t work without the first half. The first part is the Law, and the second part is the Gospel. The first part reminds us of our humanness, and the second part tells us what the gift is. It’s another reminder of our lives on this earth, and then what the next bit will be.
PRAYER: Thanks Lord, for sorting out the next stage of our lives. Help us to be the faithful people you want us to be. Give us strength and courage to act our faith on this earth because you take us home. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
TO PONDER
Would this be the most popular verse in the bible? It’s been memorized by countless Sunday school students, displayed on signs at major sporting events, banners, overpasses, and printed on the bottom of shopping bags and cups.
The verse leapt into popular culture in the 1970s, when Christians started holding “John 3:16” signs at stadiums, knowing full well they were televised games, as a way to spread the Gospel. The most famous figure of that era was an eccentric named Rollen Stewart, who wore a rainbow-coloured wig and danced with a “John 3:16” sign behind the goal posts at football games, the home plate at baseball games, and the backboard at basketball games. In the 1980’s, I recall seeing Rollen on TV when watching Wide World of Sports.
In 2009, a US sportsman wore eye black with the inscription “John 3:16” in his NFL game, and apparently 94 million people Googled it.
So if you were going to choose one particular verse to underscore the meaning of the Gospel and Christian truth, that would probably be it – because it covers a large amount of faithful truths.
We are reminded that God loves all of us, no matter how good or bad we are, or what’s happened in our past. And because he loves us, he sacrificed his Son, so we could live with him forever. That sums it up. Nothing more needs to be said. The message of grace in one verse.
PRAYER : Thank you, Lord, for loving us no matter what. Thank you that we can share that amazing message of grace very simply. Forgive us when we have had the opportunity and missed it. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
TO PONDER
The resurrection is what our faith is based on. The implausibility of someone beating death. The impossible being made possible. The unlikely made real. The only religion where someone has returned from the dead.
We have a faith that says that we believe in the resurrection. But sometimes part of us wants to say, ‘ok, prove it’. There is something called ‘apologetics’, which literally means ‘defence of the faith’. It’s an interesting genre of theology and is useful as it sometimes uses science and archaeology to prove the existence of Jesus. A good film to watch that shows this at work is ‘The Case for Christ’.
However, I like to stick to my faith given at my baptism, and not have to justify it. It helps in my daily faith-walk, which means that when I leave this earthly life, God has a room ready for me, which is the main point of our text today.
PRAYER :Thank you, Lord, for the faith you’ve given me, and for having a spot ready for me with you when my time is over on your earth. When my faith is weak, give me strength to overcome it. Amen
Today’s devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
TO PONDER
I don't know if you have noticed, but every time there is renewed or escalating conflict concerning Israel, there is also increased speculation about the 'end times' and the 'second coming' of Jesus.
To an extent, you can't really blame people who do this. When you look at the world around us today, it looks very similar to what Jesus describes in Matthew 24 as he describes his return and the 'end of the age'.
The problem is we are not supposed to be worried about that. We are not supposed to be preoccupied about trying to determine when Jesus is coming back. Instead we should be worried about and focussed on what we, as his people, are doing while we wait for Him to return. Jesus makes it pretty clear in this passage that, as His disciples, we are to be occupied with being His witnesses in all the earth. It's not our job to predict Jesus second coming, rather we are to live boldly and confidently in the face of these kinds of global conflicts and crises, knowing that whatever happens, God is sovereign and in control. Our joy and confidence in the midst of chaos is part of our witness to Christ in who we find our joy, strength and purpose.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for the promise that one day you will return in power and glory to bring the final and ultimate fulfilment to the Father's work of making all things new. Help me to not be distracted by the wars and rumours of wars that are currently occupying the world. Help me to focus on the task you have given me to be a witness to your victory on the cross. Please also be with those who are suffering in the midst of conflict around the world, particularly in Israel and Ukraine. May they also come to find their confidence and security in you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle