ALL – Psalm 74:1-23
ALL – Proverbs 24:15-16
OT – Isaiah 66:1-24
NT – Philippians 3:4-21
Interesting passage for the day: I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you—if you fully obey the truth you have. – Philippians 3:15-16, The Living Bible
Thought: When writing to the Philippians, and through them to us, Paul firmly taught what he believed. But he understood that we might not get what he was saying, and that we might even disagree with him. He wasn’t concerned.
His concern was that believers take the truth they have and obey it—that we live what we’ve learned from God. Paul was convinced that if we did this, we would grow in our understanding of what God had to say to us through him. He believed that God Himself would teach us as we followed Him.
Let’s follow and obey our God rather than arguing about the points where we disagree. Maybe then we’ll learn and grow together.
Question: When disagreements begin to divide you from others, what ways have you found to do life together and fight the division? How have you chosen to love people you disagreed with, and learned more deeply from God as a result?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Ownership Blues
ALL – Psalm 51:1-19
ALL – Proverbs 22:24-25
OT – Song of Solomon 5:1-8:14
NT – 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Interesting passage for the day: Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when we take your gifts to those who need them they will break out into thanksgiving and praise to God for your help. – 2 Corinthians 9:11, The Living Bible
Thought: I really struggle with ownership. I’m not saying that I have a hard time owning. I own much more than I need to own. But I struggle with that reality. On the one hand, I’m called to give thanks for God’s wonderful provision. On the other hand, I’m called to be generous. And I live with a sense of guilt that says I fall short in both areas. I’m neither as thankful nor as generous as I ought to be. And then when I start to think about how I ought to be managing our family finances and belongings in such a way that they grow to the point where I can still care for my wife when I get to old or weak to work, my sense of tension goes through the roof! How can I be thankful and content, yet seek more? How can I both build personal wealth and be generous to the extent that I believe God wants?
I can’t. I just can’t. I’m not perfect. And I don’t see perfection coming my way too quickly, either. In fact, I’ve come to the point that I believe this is a tension I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. And Jesus will grow me in all three areas as the years go by. Sometimes I’ll take a leap forward in gratitude. Other times I’ll learn more about planning for the future and providing for my family. And other times I’ll soar into higher levels of generosity. But I doubt they’ll all be at once, at least not usually.
Which will require faith. That’s what I hear Paul encouraging the Corinthians to display: faith. Faith that God is the ultimate provider. Faith that, because He is, they can be generous and provide for others. Faith that expresses thanks to God for all He does and will do. Faith that rests in God to such an extent that others in turn have the chance to thank God, too. Faith that at the end of the day, our ownership isn’t about ownership at all, but about God’s wonderful love toward us, providing enough for us all and giving us gifts that transform us into thankful recipients rather than prideful owners and managers. We may not get it all down to a T, but we can walk by faith that allows us to grow, because we can rest in God’s perfection rather than ours.
Lord, grant me the faith to provide, to give, and to be thankful through it all. And by the way…thank You. Keep taking care of us all.
Question: What have you learned about being an owner? How have you learned not to let your possessions own you? Or are you still learning? What’s the journey of faith looking like for you?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 22:24-25
OT – Song of Solomon 5:1-8:14
NT – 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Interesting passage for the day: Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when we take your gifts to those who need them they will break out into thanksgiving and praise to God for your help. – 2 Corinthians 9:11, The Living Bible
Thought: I really struggle with ownership. I’m not saying that I have a hard time owning. I own much more than I need to own. But I struggle with that reality. On the one hand, I’m called to give thanks for God’s wonderful provision. On the other hand, I’m called to be generous. And I live with a sense of guilt that says I fall short in both areas. I’m neither as thankful nor as generous as I ought to be. And then when I start to think about how I ought to be managing our family finances and belongings in such a way that they grow to the point where I can still care for my wife when I get to old or weak to work, my sense of tension goes through the roof! How can I be thankful and content, yet seek more? How can I both build personal wealth and be generous to the extent that I believe God wants?
I can’t. I just can’t. I’m not perfect. And I don’t see perfection coming my way too quickly, either. In fact, I’ve come to the point that I believe this is a tension I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. And Jesus will grow me in all three areas as the years go by. Sometimes I’ll take a leap forward in gratitude. Other times I’ll learn more about planning for the future and providing for my family. And other times I’ll soar into higher levels of generosity. But I doubt they’ll all be at once, at least not usually.
Which will require faith. That’s what I hear Paul encouraging the Corinthians to display: faith. Faith that God is the ultimate provider. Faith that, because He is, they can be generous and provide for others. Faith that expresses thanks to God for all He does and will do. Faith that rests in God to such an extent that others in turn have the chance to thank God, too. Faith that at the end of the day, our ownership isn’t about ownership at all, but about God’s wonderful love toward us, providing enough for us all and giving us gifts that transform us into thankful recipients rather than prideful owners and managers. We may not get it all down to a T, but we can walk by faith that allows us to grow, because we can rest in God’s perfection rather than ours.
Lord, grant me the faith to provide, to give, and to be thankful through it all. And by the way…thank You. Keep taking care of us all.
Question: What have you learned about being an owner? How have you learned not to let your possessions own you? Or are you still learning? What’s the journey of faith looking like for you?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Sorrow-Motivated Life
ALL – Psalm 48:1-14
ALL – Proverbs 22:17-19
OT – Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18
NT – 2 Corinthians 7:8-16
Interesting passage for the day: For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it. But the sorrow of the man who is not a Christian is not the sorrow of true repentance and does not prevent eternal death. – 2 Corinthians 7:10, The Living Bible
Thought: We just looked at our motivation for doing right, and found that the promises of God give us a desire and a drive to obey Him. But what about our motivation for turning away from what’s wrong? I mean, let’s be honest. Sin is often pleasurable. Temporarily pleasurable, but still. We often have plenty of desire to do what is wrong. Finding the motivation to turn away from it—a motivation above and beyond the bare truth, “I know I shouldn’t be doing this”—can be pretty difficult.
And so we find that while God’s promises are one form of godly motivation, sorrow is another. Yes, that’s right. Sorrow can motivate us to turn away from wrong. Sorrow can motivate repentance. Sorrow sparks in us a deep desire to set things straight, to reconcile broken relationships, to mend what we’ve destroyed. In sorrow we can finally set aside our pride enough to admit what we most hate to admit: “I was wrong.”
When you sin, do you care that you’ve sinned? When you hurt someone, do you squelch that feeling of regret that begins to rise up in your gut? Do you perhaps even add literal insults to injury, talking yourself and everyone else into the twisted belief that your hateful words and behaviors are justified?
May God give us hearts that can still feel deep, genuine, true sorrow. Not the kind of sorrow that people sometimes wallow in—more a mire of despair, really. But the kind of sorrow that motivates us to make a move, to change course, to commit our lives into Jesus Christ’s hands, to seek forgiveness, to deal with our sins. May our sorrows move us to gladly walk by the Spirit, praising God for freeing us from the lives that apart from sorrow we would still live.
Question: Which sins and pains especially lead your heart into change-motivating sorrow? And once you’ve answered that question, consider this one: Which of your own personal sins leads you into repentance-motivating sorrow? Some of us may not sorrow over that kind of sin in our lives as we should. Help us to understand how destructive your particular sin can be. Please. Lead us into godly sorrow.
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 22:17-19
OT – Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18
NT – 2 Corinthians 7:8-16
Interesting passage for the day: For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it. But the sorrow of the man who is not a Christian is not the sorrow of true repentance and does not prevent eternal death. – 2 Corinthians 7:10, The Living Bible
Thought: We just looked at our motivation for doing right, and found that the promises of God give us a desire and a drive to obey Him. But what about our motivation for turning away from what’s wrong? I mean, let’s be honest. Sin is often pleasurable. Temporarily pleasurable, but still. We often have plenty of desire to do what is wrong. Finding the motivation to turn away from it—a motivation above and beyond the bare truth, “I know I shouldn’t be doing this”—can be pretty difficult.
And so we find that while God’s promises are one form of godly motivation, sorrow is another. Yes, that’s right. Sorrow can motivate us to turn away from wrong. Sorrow can motivate repentance. Sorrow sparks in us a deep desire to set things straight, to reconcile broken relationships, to mend what we’ve destroyed. In sorrow we can finally set aside our pride enough to admit what we most hate to admit: “I was wrong.”
When you sin, do you care that you’ve sinned? When you hurt someone, do you squelch that feeling of regret that begins to rise up in your gut? Do you perhaps even add literal insults to injury, talking yourself and everyone else into the twisted belief that your hateful words and behaviors are justified?
May God give us hearts that can still feel deep, genuine, true sorrow. Not the kind of sorrow that people sometimes wallow in—more a mire of despair, really. But the kind of sorrow that motivates us to make a move, to change course, to commit our lives into Jesus Christ’s hands, to seek forgiveness, to deal with our sins. May our sorrows move us to gladly walk by the Spirit, praising God for freeing us from the lives that apart from sorrow we would still live.
Question: Which sins and pains especially lead your heart into change-motivating sorrow? And once you’ve answered that question, consider this one: Which of your own personal sins leads you into repentance-motivating sorrow? Some of us may not sorrow over that kind of sin in our lives as we should. Help us to understand how destructive your particular sin can be. Please. Lead us into godly sorrow.
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Dying While Living, Living While Dying
ALL – Psalm 44:8-26
ALL – Proverbs 22:13
OT – Job 37:1-39:30
NT – 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:11
Interesting passage for the day: These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. – 2 Corinthians 4:15-16, The Living Bible
Thought: Is ministry draining or empowering? Is it death or life? I’m not just talking about professional, paid ministry. I’m talking about how you and I relate to our neighbors, our relatives, our co-workers. When we serve them, when we hear about their struggles and temptations, when we debate with them over where our faith is worthwhile or not—what happens to us? Are we renewed? Or do we fade away?
Honestly, sometimes being there for other people is draining. Sometimes the struggle is more than sometimes. It might be normal or usual. Sometimes it feels like we’re dying so that everyone else can have life.
But what a joy to see more people joining us in thanking the great God we serve! What a thrill to see Jesus’ name lifted high!
And there is something tremendous happening—no, not just happening—GROWING, inside us. We are gaining strength, even when our bodies feel like they’re falling apart. The physical strength we sometimes like is being replaced with a deeper, permanent, eternal life that keeps us going and reminds us that any pain we might go through is only for now. It won’t last forever.
Question: Do you remember when you’re going through really tough periods that Jesus is giving you a life that is growing stronger day by day? Or do you forget? Or do you have a hard time caring? How can we learn to find strength through Jesus more frequently and joyfully?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 22:13
OT – Job 37:1-39:30
NT – 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:11
Interesting passage for the day: These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. – 2 Corinthians 4:15-16, The Living Bible
Thought: Is ministry draining or empowering? Is it death or life? I’m not just talking about professional, paid ministry. I’m talking about how you and I relate to our neighbors, our relatives, our co-workers. When we serve them, when we hear about their struggles and temptations, when we debate with them over where our faith is worthwhile or not—what happens to us? Are we renewed? Or do we fade away?
Honestly, sometimes being there for other people is draining. Sometimes the struggle is more than sometimes. It might be normal or usual. Sometimes it feels like we’re dying so that everyone else can have life.
But what a joy to see more people joining us in thanking the great God we serve! What a thrill to see Jesus’ name lifted high!
And there is something tremendous happening—no, not just happening—GROWING, inside us. We are gaining strength, even when our bodies feel like they’re falling apart. The physical strength we sometimes like is being replaced with a deeper, permanent, eternal life that keeps us going and reminds us that any pain we might go through is only for now. It won’t last forever.
Question: Do you remember when you’re going through really tough periods that Jesus is giving you a life that is growing stronger day by day? Or do you forget? Or do you have a hard time caring? How can we learn to find strength through Jesus more frequently and joyfully?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
With What Shall I Fix It?
ALL – Psalm 40:1-10
ALL – Proverbs 10:11-12
OT – Leviticus 14:1-57
NT – Mark 6:30-56
One of my best excuses is, “I don’t know how.”
It covers just about everything I don’t want to do. After all, anything that I want to do, I make time to learn and to practice. So there are quite a few things I have almost no knowledge about.
Another great excuse is, “I don’t have anything to give.” What we mean, of course, is that the budget is tight and helping out would be a sacrifice. Sometimes the need is actually greater than we can meet by ourselves. But usually not. Usually it’s just that we would prefer not to give, so we say, “I don’t have anything to give.”
Jesus disciples faced that situation one day. A crowd of at least 5000 was in front of them, and Jesus came up with a crazy idea:
But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “It would take a fortune to buy food for all this crowd!”
“How much food do we have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back to report that there were five loaves of bread and two fish. – Mark 6:37-38
It’s at this point that we expect Jesus to say, “Oh, you’re right. You really don’t have enough. Oh well. Forget that plan.” But instead Jesus takes what the disciples have been able to drum up and uses it to feed the whole crowd.
When will we stop holding so tightly to the little we have instead of obeying Jesus and giving to meet the needs He calls us to meet? When will we learn that He doesn’t expect us to meet people’s needs on our own? When will we realize that Jesus can take care of the needs on His own? When will we see that Jesus’ goal is to change our hearts? When will we respond by trusting Him and generously joining Him in His acts of love?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 10:11-12
OT – Leviticus 14:1-57
NT – Mark 6:30-56
One of my best excuses is, “I don’t know how.”
It covers just about everything I don’t want to do. After all, anything that I want to do, I make time to learn and to practice. So there are quite a few things I have almost no knowledge about.
Another great excuse is, “I don’t have anything to give.” What we mean, of course, is that the budget is tight and helping out would be a sacrifice. Sometimes the need is actually greater than we can meet by ourselves. But usually not. Usually it’s just that we would prefer not to give, so we say, “I don’t have anything to give.”
Jesus disciples faced that situation one day. A crowd of at least 5000 was in front of them, and Jesus came up with a crazy idea:
But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “It would take a fortune to buy food for all this crowd!”
“How much food do we have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back to report that there were five loaves of bread and two fish. – Mark 6:37-38
It’s at this point that we expect Jesus to say, “Oh, you’re right. You really don’t have enough. Oh well. Forget that plan.” But instead Jesus takes what the disciples have been able to drum up and uses it to feed the whole crowd.
When will we stop holding so tightly to the little we have instead of obeying Jesus and giving to meet the needs He calls us to meet? When will we learn that He doesn’t expect us to meet people’s needs on our own? When will we realize that Jesus can take care of the needs on His own? When will we see that Jesus’ goal is to change our hearts? When will we respond by trusting Him and generously joining Him in His acts of love?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
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