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Let There Be Light

Daily Reading

2Corinthians 1-4

Daily Thought

Light remedies darkness, and in the beginning, “darkness was over the face of the deep, and God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:2-3). But there is another kind of darkness, a darkness in the heart of humanity, for “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Our world is veiled in darkness, explains Paul, because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2Corinthians 4:4).

The Apostle Paul recalls how the face of Moses shone when he descended from Mt. Sinai, “because he had been talking with God” (Exodus 34:29). Moses had been on the mountain forty days and forty nights, and so bright was the glory on his face that he wore a veil to dim the glow. “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed,” writes Paul, “and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2Corinthians 3:16, 18). 

When I was a kid, my brother and I would shut our bedroom door, turn off the light, and play catch with a rubber, glow-in-the-dark ball. But first you had to get the ball to glow. The longer and closer we held the ball near the light, the longer and brighter it would shine in the darkness.

“You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” ~Matthew 5:14, 16

Stay close to the light because God’s answer is still, “Let there be light.”

Daily Prayer

My God, Your light shines in this dark world and reveals what is good and pure and right. May my life be a reflection of Your glory. The more time I spend in Your light, the brighter I glow. May my life shine in such a way that people know I have been in Your presence. May Your church do Your works in this world so that You are known and loved and followed.

Amen

Daily Question

In what ways can the world see Jesus in the way you “glow”?

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One Thing

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 15-16

Daily Thought

The movie is City Slickers. Billy Crystal plays Mitch Robins, a man celebrating his 39th birthday and dealing (poorly) with a midlife crisis. Jack Palance plays Curly Washburn, a crusty old cowboy. “Do you know what the secret of life is?” Curly asks Mitch. Mitch shakes his head no. Curly holds up one finger. “One thing. Just one thing.”

“That’s great. But what’s the one thing?” asked Mitch.

Curly grinned, “That’s what you’ve got to figure out.” 

Mitch is perplexed; he’s worried about lots of things. That’s why he left the city and came to the ranch, but he didn’t know what the one thing was. I don’t think Curly knew, either. Not really. But the Apostle Paul knew, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1Corinthians 15:3-4). Without the resurrection, says Paul, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1Corinthians 15:32). You only live once… if Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead.

But he was, and “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers at one time” (1Corinthians 15:5-6), and the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. You live once, and then you live again, because “in Christ shall all be made alive” (1Corinthians 15:22), and the first life is a shadow of things to come. “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1Corinthians 15:42-43). The secret to life is not to figure out what is the one thing that matters most to you, but the one thing that matters most, period, and make that the one thing that matters most to you.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ~Matthew 6:33

Daily Prayer

Father God, the most important thing, the one thing out of everything, is You. To love You with all that I am, my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In doing this, I will, at the same time, love others as much or more than myself, because that is what You did. In humility, You sacrificed Your Son for me, for each of us, for all of us.

God, grow Your love in me. May You be not the first of many, but rather my one and only consuming passion.

Amen

Daily Question

What would those who know you best say is the one thing most important to you? Why?

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Love

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 12-14

Daily Thought

I started a sermon on 1Corinthians 13 like this, “Dave is patient, Dave is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. Dave is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. Dave does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Dave always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Dave never fails.” Then I laughed. Too many of the parts didn’t quite fit. The congregation laughed (a little too much, actually). My wife needed to stop laughing.

They knew what I was doing. 1Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. The Apostle Paul has been dealing with the problems in the Corinthian church for twelve chapters, and finally he stops and says, “now I will show you the most excellent way” (1Corinthians 12:31), and he writes about love.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. ~1Corinthians 13:4-8

Go ahead, put your name in there. The parts where you cringe highlight the places needing work. Put the name Jesus in there and it reads just fine. This is the way we are to love because this is the way God loves us. 

Paul sculpted this passage, choosing his words carefully, saying it just right, because love is the most important thing to get right. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1Corinthians 13:1-3). Love matters before anything else matters.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, I am learning to love. Keep teaching me because You are perfect at love and there has been no greater display of love than the cross. Help me to be patient, to be kind. Keep me from envy and boasting and pride. Correct me when I am rude or self seeking or easily angered. Let me keep no record of wrongs. Change my heart so I do not delight in evil, but always rejoice with the truth. Teach me to protect and trust and hope and persevere. May I strive to be someone who never fails, but when I do, to get up and strive again, to do the next right thing, to always love. 

Amen

Daily Question

Which qualities of love make you cringe the most when you try to attach your name to them? Which qualities seem to fit nicely?

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The Night When He Was Betrayed

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 9-11

Daily Thought

The church in Corinth was a mess and the Lord’s Supper put this on display. The people gathered on Sundays, each bringing their own food, and consuming commenced on arrival. No one waited for anyone else, no shared communion. Some got drunk, the wealthy overate, and the poor went hungry. Paul’s dismay was wrapped in a single word, “What!” (1Corinthians 11:22). It was time to clean up this mess and return the Corinthians to the night when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples and instituted the Lord’s Supper, “the night when he was betrayed,” (1Corinthians 11:23) is how Paul describes it. 

Jesus instituted communion as a reoccurring reminder of our daily devotion. In eating the bread and drinking the cup, we remember the cross of Christ and commit and recommit to follow, and it began “on the night when he was betrayed,” because it is a choice we must make, shall I follow Jesus or go the way of Judas, and there is no in-between. 

Daily Prayer

Father God, the abundant life You promise begins with a choice to follow You, to love You with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. That’s what I choose to do, to  follow You, and everything else in my life follows after that. 

I promise, Jesus, to keep Your cross in front of me, to live my life as a sacrifice to You just as You gave Your life as a sacrifice for me. And the amazing thing is, I lose nothing of value and gain everything that’s worth anything. The good life is the godly life.

Amen

Daily Question

What is involved in the decision as to whether or not you follow Jesus? Why follow? Why not?

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Free to Choose

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 5-8

Daily Thought

Once a Muslim, now a Christian, he was attending the men’s breakfast, and we were inviting him to enjoy the bacon. “You know, as a Christian, you are freed from all those food restrictions and you can eat bacon or ham or whatever you like?”

He understood, “Yes, I know. I know I am free to eat, but I am also free not to eat it. I go home to my family in Egypt once a year, and when I come up to my father’s door, the first question he will ask me is, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet?’ If I say to him, ‘Yes, father,’ I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I say, as I have always said, ‘No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips,’ then I have admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ. Therefore I am free to eat, and I am free not to eat. I choose no bacon”

There are some things more important than knowledge. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1Corinthians 8:1). He knows he is free to eat whatever he wants, and what he wants is for his family to know Jesus.

Daily Thought

My God, You saved me. Not because I was good. Not because I was worth saving. You saved me because You loved me. What an amazing love, too, because I did not love You. I was not good, nor was I godly, and yet You went to death for my life. Now, because of Your goodness, I am becoming like You. 

May I love others, as well, sacrificing my wants for their needs. Make my deepest desire be to do what is good for others. May the choices I make help others choose Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some things you are free to do, but you choose not to, for the sake of your witness to others?

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Follow Me

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 1-4

Daily Thought

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” ~1Corinthians 1:10

The Apostle Paul grieves at division in the church at Corinth. They were choosing sides, , “for when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?” (1Corinthians 2:4). It began at the beginning, when Adam and Eve, rather than follow God, preferred to make their own choices and ate the fruit, and now we follow them. Do a search of churches and you find lots of choices, Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist or Lutheran or Catholic or Anglican or Episcopal or Pentecostal, the list goes on. That is our way, we major on the minors and champion the lesser. We choose style or songs or sermons, and brush aside the prayer of our Savior, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).

Paul insists that he and Apollos are but gardeners, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1Corinthians 3:6). Jesus said, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19, and a whole bunch of other verses), so Paul, “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1Corinthians 2:2). He championed Jesus, and it is in that alone that we are Christian, we are united, we are one.

Daily Prayer

You, O God, are One. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Lord our God. The Lord is one. 

You told us we must be one, that we must love one another, that we must be united, that our joy in You is connected to our unity in Your Spirit. God, bring us together. Your church is strongest when our shared love for Jesus matters more than our differences. Teach me humility and servanthood and love.

Amen

Daily Question

Why are there so many different denominations in the Christian Church? Is this a good thing or bad thing? 

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Names

Daily Reading

Romans 14-16

Daily Thought

The last chapter of Romans is like the credits at the end of a movie. I don’t sit through the credits. I usually make it to about verse 4, then I start skimming, but Paul names over thirty people by the end of this chapter. 

My son-in-law, Staphon, works at Pixar. There is a theater at Pixar and he got me in to see a movie before it was released. As the movie wound to what I thought was the end, I started to get up, but Staphon grabbed my arm and sat me down. The important part was just beginning–the credits. The theater was packed with Pixar people and the names of their friends and co-workers were beginning to roll. We sat to the very end.

Lest we think Paul is merely writing Romans as a treatise on theology, building this great religion called Christianity, this last chapter grounds us in reality and reminds us what is vitally important. This is about real people who live in real community with each other and follow a very real Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I go to church and I know the names of all sixty-six books of the Bible. God would be happier if I knew the name of the person sitting next to me. 

Paul knows who these people are and what they have done. He knows their role in the church and their service to God. Paul does not see the church as an organized religion, but as a community of people saved by Jesus Christ and in love with one another. Paul knows their names, and so does God. Every last one of them.

Daily Prayer

Father, I love You and worship You. And You love me. You love people. God, help me love better what You love most. 

Change my heart, God, and teach me to love well, to serve all, to follow the example of Your Son and live a life of compassion, to sacrifice my life for the sake of others.

Amen

Daily Question

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Is one more important than the other? Why or why not?

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I’ve Got Wings!

Daily Reading

Romans 11-13

Daily Thought

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.” ~Romans 12:1-2

That last word, “transformed,” comes from the Greek word “metamorphoe,” from which we get our English word “metamorphosis.” 

“God causes an amazing thing to happen,” the science professor’s eyes flashed delight as he shared with his students the wonder of metamorphosis. “Inside a cocoon, the digestive juices go to work. The caterpillar eats itself from the inside out, transforming its body into something new.”

“Where do the wings come from?” asked Mary.

He smiled, “This part is really cool. When the caterpillar digests itself, it produces waste. That waste is the building material that becomes the wings of the butterfly.”

“So, can God take the waste in my life,” Matt’s head wrinkled as he put this together, “and make something beautiful out of it?”

“…that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ~Romans 12:2

He sure can. Imagine the caterpillar, when he wakes up and discovers wings!

Daily Prayer

Lord God, You created me once, and I messed it up. Then You created me again, transformed me into something new. The old has gone, the new has come, and life is different now. To wake up and discover I have wings to fly! Thank You for Your patience and Your love. Thank You for second chances.

May I do now what I should have done the first time, be the person you created me to be and live the life You created me to live. I am Yours, God. Every bit of me. 

Amen

Daily Question

Where have you seen God make the biggest changes in your life?

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Abba Father

Daily Reading

Romans 8-10

Daily Thought

I love when one of my children calls me “Daddy.” My boys started calling me “Dave.” They thought it was cute. All my kids call me “Dave” when I do something ridiculous, “Way to go, Dave.” I guess I deserve that. But “Daddy,” when I hear that word, I turn and smile and the one who said it has my undivided attention. 

“You have received the Spirit of adoption as children, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15). “Abba” is like calling God “Daddy.” My grandkids call me “Bapa.” Same thing. It is a special relationship, intimate, close.

The night before Jesus would go to the cross, he is in a garden in Jerusalem called Gethsemane, praying to his heavenly Father. We get to listen. “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). You can hear the intimacy. This isn’t “our Father who art in heaven,” this is “Daddy” and a deep sigh, and Jesus is ready to do whatever his Father says.

We can pray to God like that, too. We share the same intimacy as Jesus–“we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17)–like children with their daddy, that special, personal, unique relationship. That kind of relationship where you can run up to God and lift your arms up and get wrapped up in his. You are never interrupting, because nothing else is as important to your daddy. 

I never start prayer with, “Hey God, you got a minute.” Children don’t ask that. My children never considered my time because they know I always have time for them. 

That’s God. We talk to our Father with confidence because we know when we pray, he swipes all the paperwork to the side, turns his chair toward us, lifts us up on his lap, and he listens. And I am ready to do whatever he says.

Daily Prayer

Abba Father, You left Your throne and looked for me and found me and saved me and brought me into your family. I am Your child. I wasn’t even looking for You. You came to seek and to save the lost and that was me. Your love is amazing. 

I love this intimacy, that I can climb on Your lap and You are mine and I am Yours. You love me and I love You back and trust You and I am ready to do whatever You say.

Amen

Daily Question

What do you call your father and what does that indicate about your relationship with him?

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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?