Sun – March 2 – Exodus 13, Luke 16, Job 31, 2 Corinthians 1
Mon – March 3 – Exodus 14, Luke 17, Job 32, 2 Corinthians 2
Tue – March 4 – Exodus 15, Luke 18, Job 33, 2 Corinthians 3
Wed – March 5 – Exodus 16, Luke 19, Job 34, 2 Corinthians 4
Thu – March 6 – Exodus 17, Luke 20, Job 35, 2 Corinthians 5
Fri – March 7 – Exodus 18, Luke 21, Job 36, 2 Corinthians 6
Sat – March 8 – Exodus 19, Luke 22, Job 37, 2 Corinthians 7
I love my country. Because I love my country, I am burdened for my country. We are in a mess.
Like a levee break that started as a slow trickle through a small crack but turned into a full fledged water wall of destruction, our culture which was once slowly drifting from our moral base has in the last few years quickly drifted so far from it that all semblance of morality is gone.
Consider this warning from God:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! – Isaiah 5:20
God holds us, His children, responsible for this mess. It isn’t our government’s fault, it’s not Hollywood’s fault, it’s not the education establishment’s fault, it’s not the media’s fault. It’s ours. After all, Jesus reminded us:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” – Matthew 5:13
Not we SHOULD be, but we ARE the salt of the earth, we ARE the preservative of our culture. If our culture is rotten, the problem is with us.
With Jesus there is always hope. Transformation must first begin in us as individuals, then in our families, through our churches, eventually affecting our culture. It starts not by changing Washington, but by changing ME.
The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ Kingdom Manifesto. If we become Sermon on the Mount people, our culture will be salted and lit. Read Matthew 5-7 daily. Ask God to help you become that kind of follower.
Next week I will begin blogging on the Sermon on the Mount. I am doing it for me. I want to be transformed. I hope you will read along.
One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Tony Evans:
“If all you see is what you see then you will never see all there is to be seen.”
How many of us live our days trapped in a reality only seen with human eyes? The Bible teaches about a realm of spiritual activity taking place all around us, and most of the time we are unaware of it. We act as though reality is only what we experience through our five senses.
Coaches encourage athletes to visualize their desired outcome because we cannot achieve what we cannot visualize. I find a tremendous spiritual lesson in that concept. We miss so much when we only see with our eyes. God created us with eyes to see, but He also provided us with another means to “see the unseen.” That means is FAITH.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. …And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. – Hebrews 11:1-3, 6
I must caution you, though, that faith is only as reliable as its object. Having faith in ourselves, in other human beings, or manmade institutions will invariably lead to disappointment, possibly even disaster. Faith grounded in an infinitely reliable God, however, will always produce a supernatural outcome.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26
I like to define faith as “choosing to actively trust in all that God has said concerning His person, His precepts, and His promises.” Let me challenge you to open your eyes wider. See beyond the tangible and gaze into the spiritual realm. Choose to believe. Stop thinking that seeing is believing and learn that BELIEVING IS SEEING.
Sun – February 23 – Exodus 6, Luke 9, Job 23, 1 Corinthians 10
Mon – February 24 – Exodus 7, Luke 10, Job 24, 1 Corinthians 11
Tue – February 25 – Exodus 8, Luke 11, Job 25-26, 1 Corinthians 12
Wed – February 26 – Exodus 9, Luke 12, Job 27, 1 Corinthians 13
Thu – February 27 – Exodus 10, Luke 13, Job 28, 1 Corinthians 14
Fri – February 28 – Exodus 11, Luke 14, Job 29, 1 Corinthians 15
Sat – March 1 – Exodus 12, Luke 15, Job 30, 1 Corinthians 16
Pretty much every concern of life falls into one of three categories – things I cannot control, things I can control but shouldn’t, and things I can control and should. How I choose categorize the daily cares and responsibilities of my life will determine my attitude and eventually my attitude will determine my effectiveness.
Many things fall into the category of things that I cannot control. For most of us, many things lie outside of our control – the weather, others’ actions and opinions of us, the ebb and flow of daily events, just to name a few. Trying to control the uncontrollable only leads to frustration, anxiety, and ultimately burnout. We need to remember to trust God and follow His leading in these situations. (Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 3:5,6)
When we try to control things we can but shouldn’t, we can overload ourselves with too many responsibilities. In doing this we can rob others of the joy of accomplishment, or enable those who should be taking responsibility to continue to shirk their responsibilities. Even more dangerously, we may grow resentful over increased responsibility rather than joyful in the Lord.
When we learn to discern and concern ourselves on with those things we can and should control, we enjoy the freedom to live joyfully and enthusiastically. We enjoy what Max Lucado in his book Cure for the Common Life calls “living in your sweet spot.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)
Be mindful today of the things you do and why you do them. Do you live from a sense of purpose and calling or do you live out of obligation and a sense of “if I don’t do it no one else will”?
Choose to live on purpose, intentional, and in what Christ has given you to do for this day.
The sudden and tragic death of a church member has laid a question heavy on my heart: “Am I a good steward of my life?”
My clock is ticking. There are 86,400 seconds in every day. How do I use them? Do I spend them or invest them? Do I major on the things that really matter, or squander away those seconds on things that will not matter in time? Those 86,400 are counting down. I am not guaranteed a fresh clock tomorrow, so have I fully invested today’s allotment?
What if we get to the end of it all and found that we accomplished some tremendous things, we collected some nice toys, but we built this beautiful life with the wrong materials and it was all for naught? What if we succeed at pleasing ourselves or others only to find at the end of our lives that God is not pleased with us?
So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10
Take care how you use your 86, 400. Live with passion, intentionality, and purpose. Focus on what REALLY matters. Each day is a gift from God to you; how you use that day is your gift to God.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. – Philippians 1:9-11
Sun – February 16 – Genesis 49, Luke 2, Job 15, 1 Corinthians 3
Mon – February 17 – Genesis 50, Luke 3, Job 16-17, 1 Corinthians 4
Tue – February 18 – Exodus 1, Luke 4, Job 18, 1 Corinthians 5
Wed – February 19 – Exodus 2, Luke 5, Job 19, 1 Corinthians 6
Thu – February 20 – Exodus 3, Luke 6, Job 20, 1 Corinthians 7
Fri – February 21 – Exodus 4, Luke 7, Job 21, 1 Corinthians 8
Sat – February 22 – Exodus 5, Luke 8, Job 22, 1 Corinthians 9
St. Valentine’s Day is one of the most highly celebrated times of the year. Who was St. Valentine anyway?
Valentine was a priest in Rome in the Third Century AD. The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, wanted to amass a powerful army, but could not get any volunteers. It seemed as though men wanted to stay home with their families. So, Claudius declared marriage to be illegal. Valentine defied the Emperor’s decree and secretly married young couples. He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and on February 14, 269 he was beheaded. The jail keeper’s daughter visited him often and encouraged him. She too believed that true love was a just cause! The night before he was beheaded he left her a note thanking her for her encouragement and signed it “your dear Valentine.” Thus began a tradition!
What a challenge. What are we willing to risk to show love to others or to encourage others to love? The ultimate expression of love was when God sent His Son into the world to become the payment for our sins.Romans 5:8 says it this way, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Did you catch that qualifying statement? “While we were still sinners.” Now that is unconditional love. God does not wait for us to love Him; He takes initiative. God does not wait for us to straighten up; He loves us as we are. God does not love us partially; He went all the way to the cross with His love.
We can follow God’s loving example by loving unconditionally. We find it easy to love those we like, but what about those we do not like, even those who mistreat us? True love extends even to those who are different from us, indifferent about us, or unloving toward us. True love is given for no reasons, it is just given.
Let me encourage you to become a St. Valentine to several people this year. Take the initiative to love unconditionally and without thought of how your love will be received or if it will be requited. Find someone who NEEDS love, take a risk and SHOW them love. You may be surprised at the results. True love is indeed a just cause.
Try to imagine this scene:
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:
“ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“ Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
Then the four living creatures said,
“Amen!”
And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
(Revelation 5:11-14)
If you are a follower of Jesus, one day you will no longer have to imagine this scene… you will experience it. Spend some time in praise today.
I love my wife’s tuna salad so much that she has to use a whole can of tuna just for me; one can all for me and one split between her and Bekah. But really tuna salad goes a long way. That little boy, who brought five barley loaves and two fish, must have brought tuna. What other fish can you spread out among 5000 men and their families? (Read the story in John 6:1-14)
***Denominational note: obviously this crowd was not Baptist. A Baptist crowd would not have gathered like this unless there was a pot-luck or covered dish meal already planned! ***
Can you imagine what it was like to be that little fellow? Maybe his lunch box originally contained more than the bread and fish. Maybe he didn’t care for them and they were just the leftovers. But whatever the case, he made his lunch box contents available and it was enough for Jesus to use. How must it have felt for the Master to take his leftovers and perform such an amazing miracle? Imagine what was going through his mind as he watched his lunch – only multiplied by the hand of God – pass through the crowd until everyone ate all they could hold and still leave 12 baskets of leftovers.
We can learn a valuable lesson from this kid about allowing God to use us. First we see the simplicity – he gave what he had. The boy could have rationalized that all he had was stinky fish and stale bread. He could have reasoned that no one in the crown that day would be interested in what he had; it just wasn’t as good as food at some of the other gatherings he attended. We may find it easy to compare ourselves to others and think we have little or nothing to offer, but all God asks is that we bring to Him the “us” He created. The only ability we need to have is availability.
But we also see the commitment – he gave all he had. He didn’t “share” his lunch, he handed it over, all of it. He could have held back a little for himself, but instead he placed it all in Jesus hands. And here is the amazing thing about that – Jesus didn’t need five loaves and two fish. Jesus could have performed the miracle without anything from the boy. The boy could have reserved a fish and piece of bread for himself, and Jesus still would have been able to feed the crowd with four loaves and one fish. But when the boy gave up all his lunch, in return he received a stomach full much bigger than he would have gotten had he eaten just the 2 fish and 5 loaves. When Jesus used what the boy brought, the boy received a blessing and became a blessing to others because of it.
If Jesus wants to make tuna salad out of you, the only ingredient he needs is YOU . . . ALL OF YOU.
