Tag: Savior

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Bad News, Good News

Daily Reading

Romans 4-7

Daily Thought

You could attempt to not sin. Benjamin Franklin tried, and recorded the effort in his autobiography, “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.” He made a chart of virtues: Temperence, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility. He recorded his success (and failure): Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and “was supris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined.”

A good way to become aware of our sins is to try not to. 

The Apostle Paul became aware and cried out in despair, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). Our sin is not merely personal, but ultimate, against God our Creator, who made us in his image to be holy, and thus, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God. In trying to be good, Paul discovered he cannot be good enough for heaven, but he is certainly bad enough for hell. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). When we become aware of our sin, we become aware of our need, not for a system, but a Savior. Then we begin asking the right question, not can I be good enough, but who is good enough?

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” ~Romans 7:25

It is an oft-asked question, do you want the good news first or the bad? We need the bad news first, “for the wages of sin is death,” for the good to sink in, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The bad news of sin prepared Paul for the good news of a Savior.

Daily Prayer

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We worship You, adore You, praise You. But how, then, do we approach You? For we are not holy. Far from it.

By the blood of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, we are made righteous with his righteousness. I may approach You, O God, with confidence, through a holiness not of my own, but through my Savior, my Lord, my God, my friend, Jesus Christ.

Amen

Daily Question

Are you good enough for heaven? Are you bad enough for hell? Why or why not?

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The Call

Daily Reading

Acts 21-23

Daily Thought

Paul was a good Jew, a devout scholar, a Pharisee “educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers” (Acts 22:3). He believed Jesus to be a fraud and rightly crucified, and all who followed Jesus deserved the same. “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women” (Acts 22:4).

Then, suddenly, on the road to pursue Christians in the city of Damascus, a bright light streamed from heaven and flooded Paul’s path of persecution. The beam from heaven blinded him to the visible world and opened his eyes to things unseen. Paul, now on his knees, was introduced to his Savior. Jesus, put to death as a would-be Messiah, is alive and seated on the throne of heaven. 

This changes everything and it changed Paul. Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” and once that question had been asked and answered, a second must follow, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10), because the truth of Jesus is more than a matter of belief, it is a call to action.

Daily Prayer

God, open my eyes to the Truth. Do not let be enamored and deceived by what glitters in this world, but may I always delight in the glory of heaven. I know who You are because You made Yourself known. I’m now responsible for what I know, but it is no burden, it is the greatest privilege and pleasure of my life. I now look to You to show me what to do, and whatever You say, I will say, “Yes”; wherever You lead, I will go.

Amen

Daily Question

Can Jesus be your Savior without being your Lord?

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The Journey

Daily Reading

Nehemiah 8-9

Daily Thought

When we open the Bible, we read the story of God and us. We see the ebb of our disobedience and rebellion and the flow of God’s grace and mercy. We learn about ourselves and our God. 

“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.” ~Nehemiah 8:1

Ezra read from the book all day, every day, for days, and when he stopped reading, “all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law” (Nehemiah 8:9).  

They worshipped their Creator, “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you” (Nehemiah 9:6). 

They worshipped their Redeemer, “You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them” (Nehemiah 9:17). 

They worshipped their God, “the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love” (Nehemiah 9:32).

Jesus said, “Follow me,” because transformation is a journey made over time and trouble. If it is not good yet, God is not done yet, because “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6) is God’s promise of process, persistence, and perseverance with us.

When we open the Bible, we see the big picture of our God who is faithful and wonderful and mighty and merciful. God is the author of life and it is in God we find our purpose and power and confidence. When we open the Bible, we are confronted with our sin which cries out sorrow, but more importantly, we come upon our Savior which calls forth celebration. Nehemiah rightly reminds the Israelites, and us, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Daily Prayer

My God, I celebrate Your goodness, Your love, Your grace and mercy, Your majesty. I sing loudly with joy, because You are good and You are my God. The joy I find in You gives me strength to overcome, because nothing compares. Certainly not the cheap pleasures of this world. May I wake each day, delight in Your Word, and walk in the joy set before me.

Keep my memory fresh, God, of the ways You have worked in my life. May I draw on Your faithfulness when times are tough, when my strength wavers, when it is dark. I know You are with me, help me remember You always will be.

Amen

Daily Question

Should a Christian be an optimist or a pessimist? Why?

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Jesus of Nazareth

Daily Reading

Mark 6-7

Daily Thought

His miracles, his teaching, his kindness, and his confidence set Jesus apart and above the typical celebrity and left people astonished and in awe, and then Jesus went home. You would never know of Nazareth had Jesus not grown up there. Population 500, it was a little place, 25 miles southwest of Capernaum, in the middle of nowhere. Jesus came home “and they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3). They knew Jesus and his brothers and sisters and his mom, and they do not mention his dad because it is a small town and there were rumors about his birth. He was not what they expected of a prophet, let alone a Savior. They sought majesty, he was ordinary, too ordinary to be extraordinary. They deserved better, “and he could do no mighty work there” (Mark 6:5).

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, ~Isaiah 53:2-3

Later, far from home, outside Israel, a woman fell at his feet. “Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 7:26). Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, the Savior of God’s children, and he rebuffs this foreign woman, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). I do not know how to make that not sound rude, yet the woman accepts her role as dog, and still insists on her food, “she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs’” (Mark 7:28). She is not allowed at the table, she is not of the tribe of Israel, she does not worship Israel’s God, she does not read the Bible, she does not follow the Law. She knows she is unclean and unworthy in the eyes of Israel, and so she does not ask Jesus of Nazareth to give her what she deserves because she is good; she asks Jesus to give her what she does not deserve because he is good. “And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone” (Mark 7:30).

One of the disciples, when he was first told of Jesus, asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Another answered, “Come and see.” (John 1:46).

Daily Prayer

My God, You are righteous and good, but more than that, You are full of grace. I do not deserve Your favor, I am neither righteous nor good, and yet You looked upon me with love, and sent Your Son to bring me back into Your family. Thank You.

May I look at others as You look at me. May I see each person as a special creation, lovingly made by You, and give them the grace and the goodness You have shown me.

Amen

Daily Question

What is your favorite Jesus story? Why?

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Perfume for the Savior

Daily Reading

Matthew 26

Daily Thought

A woman approached Jesus with a flask of top-shelf perfume and poured it on him, and the disciples objected, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor” (Matthew 26:8-9). But this is Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). The Son of God became Son of Man, was born in a manger to die on a cross for the sins of the world. In “two days,” Jesus tells his disciples, “the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2). Thus, Jesus also tells his disciples, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Matthew 26:10).

Look what everyone else did. 

The religious leaders hated Jesus and “plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him” (Matthew 26:4). They enlisted one of Jesus’s disciples, Judas, to betray Jesus into their hands, “and they paid him thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15). They put Jesus on trial before a jury of the Jewish council, and declared him guilty; “he deserves death” (Matthew 26:66). The rest of the disciples abandoned Jesus, and Peter, with a last chance to defend Jesus, denied him instead, “I do not know the man” (Matthew 26:72, 74).

But “a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table” (Matthew 26:7) and worshipped her Savior; and she got it right. “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,” said Jesus, “what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13). 

It just happened again.

Daily Prayer

My God and Savior, You ask for my worship, nothing more, yet nothing less than to love You with all my heart and and soul and mind and strength. To give You my all, just as You gave yours.

May I simply follow You, every step, every day. I want to do grand things for You, God, but the simple are harder, and I must begin there, to be content, to tell the truth, to serve others, to love my neighbor. This is the perfume of worship that pleases You. May my life smell good.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you worship Jesus?

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Let Go and Hold On

Daily Reading

Matthew 15-17

Daily Thought

The disciples travelled closely behind Jesus after he challenged them to “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:22; see also 8:22; 9:9). It was time now to clarify why Jesus was worth following. Jesus asked the twelve men who have watched him heal the sick, feed the hungry, raise the dead, challenge those in power, and speak with the authority of heaven, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13). That question demands an answer from every person who has ever lived, and those who believe will respond as Peter did, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Peter gave the correct answer, but he failed to grasp the full meaning of why Jesus came to our world and called his disciples to follow. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21)  Jesus is God, but Jesus said he was going to die, and Peter rebuked him, “This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). God does not die, thought Peter, but if the man you just called God says he is going to die, you do not tell God, “No,” but Peter did.

Peter did not yet understand that death is how you are saved. A lifeguard knows the most difficult people to save are those trying to save themselves. They need to let go, let themselves be saved. “Whoever would save his life will lose it,” Jesus warns. On the cross, Jesus would show Peter how to live, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46). When we give up ourselves and place our lives in the hands of the Savior, we can only then be carried to the safety of the shore. 

“But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” ~Matthew 16:25

Peter rightly recognizing Jesus is God, must now lose himself and place his life in the hands of his Savior. Do that completely, and you are ready for anything that follows.

Daily Prayer

Eternal God, no beginning, no end, you are all in all. I chase things that I want, things that get used up or rust or fall apart, things that cannot and do not last, and will not save me. 

Change my heart, Jesus, to seek what matters, to love what lasts, to love You, to love Your Word, and to love all the people You have created, which is all people. My most difficult, but greatest ambition is to release my hold on everything else, and hold tightly to the one who matters most, Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

Do you and God typically agree on how things should be done?

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Great Sinners

Daily Reading

Psalm 40-45

Daily Thought

David begins the 40th Psalm, “I waited patiently for the Lord” (Psalm 40:1). That seems proper, but by the end of the psalm, David’s mood changed, “O Lord, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 40:13). 

What happened to patience?

Verse 12! “For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.” David counted his sins, and they were too many to count so he stopped.

David warns against the proud, “those who go astray after a lie” (Psalm 40:4). The lie they tell themselves is “I am not so bad”; therefore, their god is not so big. 

Jesus said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” ~Mark 2:17

Great sinners need a great Savior, and David’s sins were countless. He needed God and he needed him now.

As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God! ~Psalm 40:17

Daily Prayer

My God, keep me from comfort in sin. May I love Your righteousness so much that I never delay to confess and turn away from the wrong I do. Thank You that Your mercy is endless because my sins are countless and I need your never-ending forgiveness.

Develop in me a habit of goodness, that I would desire to do what is right. When I fail, pick me up and set me on the right path again, and I will do the next right thing. I want my life to reflect Your glory, so others will desire the same salvation You have given me. I love Your salvation!

Amen

Daily Question

How many sins did you commit yesterday?

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Bad News, Good News

Daily Reading

Romans 4-7

Daily Thought

You could attempt to not sin. Benjamin Franklin tried, and recorded the effort in his autobiography, “I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.” He made a chart of virtues: Temperence, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility. He recorded his success (and failure): Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and “was supris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined.” A good way to become aware of our sins is to try not to. 

The Apostle Paul discovered this and cried out in despair, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). Our sin is not merely personal, but ultimate, against God our Creator, who made us in his image to be holy, and thus, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), eternal separation from God. In trying to be good, Paul discovered he cannot be good enough for heaven, but he is certainly bad enough for hell. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). When we become aware of our sin, we become aware of our need, not for a system, but a Savior. Now he is asking the right question, not can I be good enough, but who is good enough?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 6:23

It is an age-old question, do you want the good news first or the bad? We need the bad news first. The bad news of sin prepared Paul for the good news of a Savior.

Daily Prayer

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. We worship You, adore You, praise You. But how, then, do we approach You? For we are not holy. Far from it.

By the blood of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, we are made righteous with his righteousness. I may approach You, O God, with confidence, through a holiness not of my own, but through my Savior, my Lord, my God, my friend, Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Death Can Wait

Daily Reading

Mark 4-5

Daily Thought

The daughter of Jairus is at death’s door. “Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live’” (Mark 5:22-23), What an opportunity, to save the daughter of a prestigious man. This would do much to advance the mission of Jesus. You would think. “And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him” (Mark 5:24).

Then, from the crowd, a woman, we do not even get her name, “came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment” (Mark 5:27), and she was made well. For twelve years she had a bleeding illness no doctor could cure, but one touch healed her. And Jesus stopped. Jairus and his daughter and death would have to wait. “And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’” (Mark 5:30). “Everybody!” thought the disciples. “You are in a crowd. Hurry up Jesus. You have to get to the home of Jairus. This is important,” but the immediate is never more important than the eternal. “The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease’” (Mark 5:33-34). Jairus’s was not the only daughter who needed the touch of Jesus.

While Jesus is not hurrying, while he is taking valuable time to talk to this woman, who was already healed, by the way, the news Jairus feared arrives. “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35), but the limits we place on God are not God’s limits. “But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe’” (Mark 5:36). The immediate is never more important than the eternal.

A little girl on the edge of death was next on the agenda, except Jesus was interrupted by a woman. Death could wait while Jesus paused to heal this woman, but death did not wait and the little girl died. No matter, the King of kings is the Lord of life. “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:42), and she did.

Daily Prayer

My Great God, what an amazing story, Your Son born a baby to Mary. No earthly father, but a Heavenly Father, a poor family, peasant shepherds announcing His birth, a Friend of sinners and outcasts, and yet Jesus is King of kings and the Lord of lords. Big things come in small packages.

You came humbly and changed the world. You defeated all enemies, including the last enemy – death. You have established an eternal kingdom of peace and declared the good news of salvation. I’m listening and believing, and my life has been changed forever. Thank You, my God and Savior.

Amen

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Let Go and Hold On

Daily Reading

Matthew 15-17

Daily Thought

The disciples have travelled closely behind Jesus since he challenged them to “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:22; see also 8:22; 9:9). It was time, now, to find out why. Jesus asked the twelve men who have watched him heal the sick, feed the hungry, raise the dead, challenge those in power, and speak with the authority of heaven, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13). That question demands an answer from every person who has ever lived, and those who believe will respond as Peter did, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Peter gave the correct answer, but he failed to grasp the full meaning of why Jesus came to our world and called his disciples to follow. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21)  Jesus is God, but Jesus said he was going to die, and Peter rebuked him, “This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). God does not die, thought Peter, but if the man you just called God says he is going to die, you do not tell God, “No,” and Peter did.

Peter did not yet understand that death is how you are saved. A lifeguard knows the most difficult people to save are those trying to save themselves. “Whoever would save his life will lose it,” Jesus warns. On the cross, Jesus would show Peter how to live, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46). When we give up ourselves and place our lives in the hands of the Savior, we will be carried to the safety of the shore. 

“But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” ~Matthew 16:25

Peter rightly recognizing Jesus is God, must now lose himself and place his life in the hands of his Savior. Do that completely, and you are ready for anything that follows.

Daily Prayer

Eternal God, no beginning, no end, you are all in all. I chase things that I want, things that get used up or rust or fall apart, things that cannot and do not last, and will not save me. 

Change my heart, Jesus, to seek what matters, to love what lasts, to love You, to love Your Word, and to love all the people You have created, which is all people. My most difficult, but greatest ambition is to release my hold on everything else, and hold tightly to the one who matters most, Jesus.

Amen