As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
TO PONDER
Two things to think about today. Firstly, the prophet refers to God in this passage as 'your Builder'. It's not a term you hear used with God very often, but it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Is a builder much different from a creator? Sure there are some differences but there is also a lot of overlap and we call God 'our Creator' all the time. When it comes to human builders thought, I have a few builder mates whose wives always complain that their husbands are very good builders, but that the building or renovating jobs that need doing in their own homes just never get done.
Our marriages are often similar. It is not uncommon in the busyness of life for couples to spend little or no time working on or building their marriages. Unfortunately, some couples put more time planning their wedding day, one single day, than they do working out or building the marriage which is supposed to endure for a lifetime. God is a builder, he creates, renovates, and restores his creations. He can also help to rebuild a relationship that may have 'hit the rocks' so to speak.
Secondly, God rejoices over his people, his bride. I have to confess, I'm guessing a bit here and assuming that what I have seen happen among my groups of married male friends, might also happen to some extent, but probably in a slightly different way, when married female friends get together for a 'girls night out'. I've witnesses many occasions, when the boys get together for a night out, how quickly the conversation can descend into 'throwing shade' or speaking poorly about their wives. Now any guy in that situation will insist he is just joking, but it certainly does not look like a group of people rejoicing over their partners.
If you are married, perhaps this devotion might encourage you to look for one thing that you can rejoice about your partner and maybe even share that with them. It may be difficult, it may not be a habit you have readily practiced, but remember, God rejoices over you and your partner so there has to be at least one thing to acknowledge.
PRAYER: God, thank you for the wonderful building and creating work that you do in the lives of your people. Thank you that you continue to work on me and in me as an unfinished project. Would you help me to see others as you see them. Not only as the rough raw material of an unfinished project, but as wonderfully created beings and bearers of your image worthy of my respect and rejoicing. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
TO PONDER
It's such a shame the way we have come to understand the word submission. These days we tend to talk about being 'beaten' or 'forced' into submission. It is not viewed as a desirable state to be in. We associate it with being under the thumb or being forced to obey or do something against our will; and in an increasingly individualistic society which is driven by the pursuit of ensuring the liberty, rights, and freedom of expression of individuals, it should not surprise us that this view of submission is vehemently opposed.
Thank goodness that's not the kind of submission Paul has in mind when writing to the Ephesians. We are to model our attempts at 'mutual submission' on the example given us by Christ Jesus, who voluntarily laid aside his own interests and his own life for our sake; to redeem us from sin and death and reunite us with our Heavenly Father.
This kind of mutual submission (when done well) means I do not have to worry about having my needs acknowledged and taken care of because my partner, my friends, or my family are focussed on taking care of me. It means that my partner, my friends, and my family should not need to spend so much time worrying about their own needs being met because they know and trust that I have their best interests at heart and will endeavour to put those needs before my own.
Rather than diminishing human dignity, this kind of submission honours and affirms the inherent value of all those it serves. After all, it is this kind of love and submission which Jesus offered us which has given us the right to be called children of God.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that you chose to willingly lay down your life for my sake and the sake of all those who put their trust in you. Please help me to learn to trust you and to use my own life in the service of others so that they may also come to know of you and your love. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
TO PONDER
I wonder if you have ever actually pondered about this? I don't usually get to deeply theological in these devotions but I hope you'll indulge me today. I'll return to my more personal approach tomorrow. So here it goes.
Historically this passage and the 'becoming one flesh' phrase has been understood to mean a sexual union - and there is certainly a validity to that interpretation. But I think there is something even deeper to this 'oneness' that get's talked about here.
Jesus prays, in John 17, a prayer asking that we "his followers" would be one just as He and the Father were one. And in Ephesians 5, Paul quotes these same verses from Genesis in his discourse about husbands and wives. Jesus and Paul seem to be implying that there is something within humanity that is capable of the same kind of unity or oneness that exists between himself and God the Father. Just earlier in Genesis chapter 1 we hear how God created them, male and female he created them, in his own image. God created male and female to complement and work with one another, not unlike the way our limited theological reasoning has understood the triune God to work together.
The Nicene creed goes to great lengths to articulate the idea that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 'of the same substance' and working together. Those of you who know your church creeds really well might have even read the Athanasian Creed, which really takes this idea of the 'oneness' of the trinity to a whole new level. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are of the same substance, seperate but also one. Man and woman were the same, made from the same stuff, woman made from the same stuff as man. Perhaps in a perfect creation, before sin entered the world, men and women were capable of a similar 'oneness' with each other as what is experienced between our trinitarian Godhead.
Is it too incredible to ponder that God instituted and gave us marriage as a placed where we might experience something of the love that exists within himself, the God who is love? I don't think so...
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Thank you that I have been created in your image and that through Jesus you have invited me into unity or 'oneness' with you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
TO PONDER
Every Christmas I watch the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and every year allergies get the best of me and cause my eyes to get watery (I’m not crying, you’re crying!) when George Bailey is shown all the lives he has touched and what the world would have been like if he hadn’t lived.
If you have never watched this classic movie, I would suggest you change that and if you have, watch it again but watch it through the eyes of being part of church, watch it as a parable about you and being part of the body of Jesus, the church.
Today’s verses could almost be a synopsis of the parable of church that is “It’s a Wonderful Life” as Paul compares church to the human body and how every part of that body has a role to play. If any part of the body is not fulfilling its role or is missing, the body is handicapped in some way.
And, just as George Bailey was shown that the life of those around him was handicapped/lacking without him, so to church is handicapped/lacking without us fulfilling our function.
Everybody is needed in the church, everybody has a role to play, everybody has something to add to the body.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I give you praise for inviting me to be an integral part of your body, that I have an ordained function to fulfil within the church. Help me to faithfully play my part. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
TO PONDER
For a little over thirty years my body was attacking itself, my immune system was misunderstanding signals it was receiving and as a result was attempting to destroy an otherwise healthy central nervous system. All the damage was happening hidden away, unseen from the outside, but none the less destruction of the central nervous system will eventually manifest in a myriad of symptoms that will eventually become obvious, even life threatening.
In today’s verses Paul is writing to the Ephesian church from prison and instead of urging them for their support in his difficulties he urges them in the previous verses “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Paul wanted the church to understand that in a fallen world trying to keep God’s people captive, outwardly attacking the church, it was important to be a unified body, not a body attacking itself as a result of misunderstandings and unhealthy attitudes and pride. The Message Bible puts it this way “And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.”
Mixed signals and misunderstandings within a body can and does have serious consequences.
PRAYER: Almighty Father, I thank you for your body, the church, you have placed me in. I repent for any pride, misunderstandings and judgements I have had towards my church family and ask you to help me be quick at mending fences. Amen.
But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
TO PONDER
I don’t know about you but when I watch a movie, hear a story, read a book, or even read the Bible, I usually relate to the hero/protagonist in the story, never really the bad guy.
Today’s verses are from the parable most of us know as “the story of the prodigal son” but I would often struggle with relating to the prodigal son as the main protagonist in this parable. Sure, I admit I am a sinner, I was lost but now am found as the great hymn, “Amazing Grace” proclaims but I really couldn’t relate to the wayward son.
I think the issue here, at least for me, was this parable was given the wrong title. So if you would allow me to flip the protagonist here and as result rename the parable, at least for this post, to “the story of the prodigal church.”
I do think that Jesus was addressing the church in these parable, the church being the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you know, the “righteous ninety-nine”, or the “older brother”.
The early church was a Jewish sect, they worshiped in the synagogue, they debated whether you could be a follower of Jesus without converting to Judaism, attending synagogue, follow the rules and regulations required to be a righteous Jew, being circumcised, etc…
Reread today’s verses but this time as the prodigal older brother, can you relate?
PRAYER: Forgiving Father, I repent of my pride and boastfulness, I ask for your forgiveness as the sinner I am, I repent as the older brother and once again accept your grace and forgiveness, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay WestSide
I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common. (MSG)
TO PONDER
When I was in my mid-twenties, I was moving from one house to another. I was moving to share a house with my younger brother and on the move in day my brother had around ten to twelve friends helping him, and I struggled to get four.
Sure, you could say maybe I didn’t have many friends, but I was part of the pastoral staff of a large church, and I still struggled to come close to the number of helpers my ‘heathen’ brother was able to muster with the promise of beer and pizza.
Today’s verse is from a letter of Paul’s written to the Corinthian church to address a few issues he had heard about in this established church. The first topic he discusses in today’s verse is in regards to which denomination they belonged to, pretty much, they were arguing about whose teachings they followed. The people who made up the Corinthian church were allowing partisanship to cause division. Paul says in today’s verse “You must be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.” Paul was arguing that they should find what they have in common with each other rather than arguing about which man-made differences they were using to draw ‘party lines’.
A group of unchurched, heathen, non-Christian, alcohol drinking, (insert your chosen partisan bias here) philistines came together out of consideration for the need of one of their friend. They didn’t need to have a discourse about the intricacies of moving house, or what the underlying causes of homelessness were. My brother’s friends saw a friend in need, had a common goal to help and cultivated a life in common over beer and pizza.
Paul’s letter is reminding us that we share a life of grace together as the church, we share a commonality of eternal proportions or in the words of Jesus ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
Imagine a house moving experience where there are too many people helping because the person moving was part of a church…
PRAYER: Loving Jesus, I thank you for the sacrifice of your life, given for me a sinner, an act of incredible love. I ask you to help me, empowered by grace, to walk out your love daily. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
TO PONDER
As a kid I remember my mum trying to get into a fake argument with me about whom loved whom more, she would quickly respond to my reply of ‘I love you, too.’ with a ‘I love you more!’, to which I would roll my eyes ‘more’ as I got older…
What my mum was hoping for was one of those engineered, cute arguments where the parties involved in this competition would each increasingly insist that their love for the other was indeed the greater. Unfortunately, having 3 male children to only 1 female child her attempts at concocting said fake argument usually hit a dead end after her use of the word ‘more’.
In today’s verses Paul is inviting us into a holy competition of love.
The Greek word used here for love is ‘agapē’. Agapē is one of four Greek words for love, denoting an active/sacrificial kind of love and due to what appears to be its primarily Biblical and ecclesiastical usage amongst Paul’s contemporaries, it has come to be identified as the love of God. Agapē is a ‘love you more’ type of love, a driven love, not a passive roll your eyes type of love but rather a love that requires action, a love that is outworked daily, a love that is sacrificial.
Agapē love walks hand in hand with God’s ‘aggressive forgiveness’ or grace talked about in Romans 5:20 (MSG), it’s a love of more.
PRAYER: Loving God, I thank you for your agape love you have shown to me, that sacrificial love demonstrated through Jesus and your grace that empowers me. I ask you to use me as a carrier of your agapē to everyone around me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.
“If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.” (MSG)
TO PONDER
Does your morning routine include deciding to worship God or, like 90% of Australians, do you religiously check your phone within 10 minutes of waking up.
Now, I am not judging those of you who are part of that 90%, as I am more often than not, part of that 90%. Obviously, if the study this figure comes from is correct, most of us are in this habit.
The study went on to find this habit was detrimental to our emotional and physical health as it jolts our brains into a wave of high stress. This abrupt jolt as we wake up causes feelings of worry, paranoia, fear, anger and irritability.
Today’s verse reminds us that everyday we should wake up and decide who or what we will worship/serve today. Do we choose to worship the need for information or do we decide to worship God. One of the spiritual practices we talk about at LifeWay Westside is starting the day with, what we call, “Headline Prayer”. That’s praying three single sentence prayers; Pray for LifeWay, pray for somebody else, and finally pray that God would use us today.
It’s as simple as, “God I pray that you would bless everybody who is part of LifeWay, I ask you to move in (inset name here) life today, and Father I ask that you would use me to be your tangible presence in somebodies life today, Amen!”.
As for me, tomorrow I will choose not to check my phone first thing in the morning but to pray instead.
PRAYER: Almighty Father, I repent for the times I have chosen other things before you, for the routines and habits I allow to crowd you out of my life. Today, I choose to serve you. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside