With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
TO PONDER
Ezra had a tough gig working with the Israelites who had returned from exile to rebuild the temple of Israel, the place where God dwelt with his people. It was hard work, and many people complained that the new rebuilt temple was not as grand as the one that had been destroyed.
The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God." Sometimes the work of rebuilding your body and your life into something resembling a temple, a place where God dwells, is also difficult. Sometimes it involves hard work, sometimes it includes tough conversations or acknowledging truths that we would rather ignore.
But we can join with the shouts of praise offered by the Israelites because the foundation on which our lives as temples of God's Holy Spirit has been laid in the person of Jesus. Without the work of Jesus on the cross and His death and resurrection, we would have no hope of living with God's presence with us. But now because of him, the foundation has been laid and we can get busy dwelling with God as he dwells with us - His living temples.
PRAYER
Lord God, please help me always to remember that I am yours. Make a temple of my life so that others may be drawn to you as they see you at work in me. Amen
Today's devotion by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
TO PONDER
My brother and I used to share a bedroom when we were kids. One of our favourite things to do when we were supposed to be sleeping was to use our torches to make shadow puppets or shadow shapes on the wall. We were not very good at it, but we had fun trying to guess what shape the other person was trying to make.
I like how this verse reminds us that God does not change like shifting shadows. He gives good things, that is his nature, that does not change. This thought has potential to bring great comfort in the mids of our troubles and struggles if we can remember that even under the pressure of life in this broken and fallen world, God is busy at work for the good of those who love Him.
Our priorities about 'good' might at times be different from God's but you can always rest assured that God will bring something good, even ithough we may not always see it or recognise it.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help me to see and to recognise all the good things that you bring into my life. Please help me to see, even in the tough times, all the ways that you have blessed me and all the ways you have equipped me to bless others. Amen
Today's devotion by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
TO PONDER
In this story of the 10 lepers from Luke's gospel, we are not told about the nationality of the other nine lepers. So why is it important for us to know this one was a Samaritan?
I believe that it is something to do with the 'outsider' view of the Jews towards the Samaritans. The Samaritans were descendants of the Northern kingdom of Israel after the split during the reign of King Rehoboam. During the course of this separation, the people of the Northern kingdom stopped traveling to the temple at Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, they began to intermarry with other nations against the command of God, and rejected many of the prophets and poetry of the Old Testament. The in Judea (the Southern Kingdom) rejected them as a result of their rejection of Gods commands and scripture.
Perhaps this is why the Samaritan is the only one to return in thanks to Jesus. The other 9 men had received physical healing that allowed them to return to their old lives, but for this Samaritan leper, Jesus' healing of his disease was an invitation into the people of God. It was an invitation into a life that was bigger and better than the one he had previously as an 'outsider'.
Too often and too easily, we can fall into the trap of viewing others as outsiders and fail to recognise how our own sin keeps us separated as outsiders from God. What better reason to give thanks and praise than for the way Jesus makes for us to be rescued from our sin and reconciled with God the Father so that we are no longer outsiders!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank you that you came into our mess to help us out of it. To reach out to us and invite us into your death and resurrection and to share in your life now and forever as insiders of the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
“…and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
TO PONDER
A quiet life, oh sometimes don’t we all long for that quiet life, filled with no yelling kids, no noisy traffic, no wonky fridge noise irritating me late at night at my desk, (hey, don’t we all have at least one irritating thing), barking dogs, email pings, whatever pushes our buttons. But that’s not really what this is about, I think.
We can make a lot of noise about important issues quietly, firmly, with deliberate care towards the feelings of others. We can quietly earn the respect of outsiders by our honesty and fair dealings, our integrity and reputation. We can hold our own and not be dependent on others for praise, propping up, sympathy or fixing because we know ourselves and who we are in Jesus.
A quiet life is not a dull life, an insignificant life, an ignored life. Its alive in Jesus, colourful in its complexity and is a haven for the searching souls God sends our way.
PRAYER
Be my quiet noise this week Jesus, colour my days with your complexity and simplicity, grow me into your stillness no matter what the day brings. Amen
Today's daily devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…”
TO PONDER
We all have a calling, a vocation, a task to do. Whether it’s a life long calling into a specialist ministry, or a day to day vocation of dealing with tangled relationships in the home, frosty neighbours or the stranger asking for help in the car park. Or all of the above every day!
And why… “so that the body of Christ may be built up”. Not us and our egos, our dreams, wants, shopping list, career or retirement plans.
It’s not even about knowing what I am good at most of the time, or volunteering for that task at church with a sigh. It’s the awareness of the soul that is in the person sharing the bus seat with me, the teacher talking to me about my son’s behaviour, the angry rebellious daughter, the father with dementia struggling to know my name, the woman asking me to volunteer for that task. God is aware of the soul in each person, and I want to be aware when he introduces his loved soul to me.
PRAYER
Jesus, Equip my hands and feet to accept your tasks, bless my eyes that I may see with your eyes, open my ears and mouth to really listen and ask what is going on, open my heart to feel your love for others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
TO PONDER
Suffering is the pits. Sickness, acute or chronic conditions that just endlessly drag on, pain, aches in the cold weather, and its not just the physical. Mental illness, stress, depression, anxiety can plague our day and we wonder where God is. Spiritual dryness that goes on for months, doubts that cripple us, attacks from the enemy when we are our weakest. Watching others suffer. Our emotions become exhausted and fragile.
But suffering can also be transformative. It grows us into who we are as we look outside ourselves to a transformative God. Sometimes I hate the long slow journeys of healing in my life, but when I look back, I appreciate how they have given me strength, closeness to God, dependence on Jesus, a strong foundation that gets me through the dry times in my faith. I hold on to them like a dear friend. Like Jesus held on to his Heavenly Father in his suffering times. He knows… he is with us.
PRAYER
Jesus, you are with me in my suffering, your hand is upon me always, may I release my spirit and body to you daily, as I die to self and rise to you, and follow in your steps. Amen
Today's devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
TO PONDER
“Some days are diamonds, some days are stone”, who remembers John Denver singing that song. Come on, everyone must have at least one “Country” playlist or album. You must like at least one hillbilly Blue Grass song. Even Paul Kelly put out one Blue Grass album. And don’t tell me you don’t know who he is! Or how about Cajun music and zydeco from the Deep South. Orchestra perhaps or guitar riff? Bit of Opera, head banger beats, Beatles or a bit of Hip Hop, bit of sad blues or the weird Icelandic Cowboy song that goes very nicely with Icelandic Vodka.
You might feel you are becoming a prisoner of my music tastes! And isn’t this the Christian life, that as a prisoner for the Lord, we live with all the variety of ‘music’ that is out there, we embrace the good and look for the lovely in what at first glance seems ugly, we discern merit through the eyes of a compassionate Jesus, not our own tastes or judgements.
PRAYER
Jesus, Bless us with new ‘music’ to explore in all its complexity, give us budding ‘musicians’ to encourage, may we dance to the music knowing we are safe in the calling to be on the dance floor of life with you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra
“The most important one [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these”.
TO PONDER
I feel this is the foundation of the theme of vocation for this week.
Jesus establishes God as the one and only Lord. And our task is to love him (despite our brokenness), love ourselves (in all our brokenness), and love our neighbours (in their brokenness) also. Sometimes it’s in the deliberate act of loving others that we find we can love ourselves, not because of what we have done, but because we have responded to the love of God for us, and we become blessed and humbled in that action of sharing.
Loving ourselves, God, and others, cant come just from our touchy feely hearts or sentimentality, or just our spiritual high ground, or just our rational mind full of knowledge, and not just out of our own physical strength. But it comes when we act as a whole person, using all these parts of us, in union with self and God within us, for the good of ourselves, others and Gods kingdom.
PRAYER
Jesus, we are so not good at this whole loving thing, but you are our God, you are One with the Father and Spirit, bless us with your grace and love today so that we can shine some light for you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.”
TO PONDER
There is a Leonard Cohen songs that says “there’s a Law, there’s an Arm, there’s a Hand.” We are each called to serve. We can do that in theory (we know what to do but ignore it), or from a distance (impersonally at arm’s length), or up close and personal (lets get hands dirty).
How often do we intentionally ask “Jesus – who shall I pray for today, and how do you want me to bless them?”
Do we know some of us so well that we presume there is nothing more to learn from them? Do we try to get to know the acquaintance and invite them into something deeper? Am I self serving, or serving Jesus? Am I doing whatever it takes, or watching from the sidelines.
Self examination, with Jesus, is good for the soul. Are my desires worthy and fitting to the calling you have placed in my heart Jesus? Do I really want to hear and obey them?
PRAYER
Jesus, as I submit to you today, examine my heart, reveal my ego and reveal my hidden treasures so that I can be a joy to you and others that you place in my path. Amen
Today's devotion written by Barb Niczynski, LifeWay Illawarra