Entries by YMI

ODJ: humbly His

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December 16, 2013 

READ: Daniel 4:19-37 

God is able to humble the proud (v.37).

Only a handful of people know who wrote the book Embracing Obscurity: Becoming Nothing in Light of God’s Everything. The writer, who published the book under the name “Anonymous”, is a well established author who is living out the main point of his (or her) message. According to Anonymous, the book is “a call to stop imitating the world’s formula for success and instead follow the model of our humble King.”

This book, written for Christians, shows that we can know who God is, yet be dizzied by a sense of our own importance. King Nebuchadnezzar had this problem. After seeing Daniel and his buddies escape—unharmed—from a furnace, he praised God, saying ultimately, “There is no other god who can rescue like this” (Daniel 3:29). Nebuchadnezzar had the right idea about God’s greatness, but he needed a lesson in humility.

His lesson began one day when he was strolling along the roof of his palace. Surveying the scene below, he said, “By my own mighty power I have built this beautiful city . . . to display my majestic splendour” (4:30). A voice from heaven interrupted his self-congratulation. The voice told him he would go to live with wild animals and eat grass like a cow. He would return to society when he learned that “the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses” (v.32). This is exactly what happened.

When Nebuchadnezzar regained his sanity, he declared, “all [God’s] acts are just and true and he is able to humble the proud” (v.37). When we allow pride to pollute our souls, we can expect God to take us down a peg or two. However, it’s encouraging to remember that if we follow the Bible’s teaching and “humble [ourselves] before the Lord,” he will lift us up in honour (James 4:10). We will be humbly His. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

MORE
Read Deuteronomy 8:12-15 to see how prosperity can lead to pride. Read Psalm 138:6 to see how God relates differently to those who are proud than to those who are humble. 
NEXT
Would you rather try to correct arrogance in your life or to have God take action to do so? Why? How can pride and arrogance harm relationships? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Canceled Christmas

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December 15, 2013 

READ: Luke 2:36-38 

Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of [Jesus]. —Luke 2:33 

We felt as if our Christmas was being canceled last year. Actually, our flight to see family in Missouri was canceled due to snow. It’s been our tradition for quite a few years to celebrate Christmas with them, so we were greatly disappointed when we only got as far as Minnesota and had to return home to Michigan.

On Sunday, in a message we would have missed, our pastor spoke about expectations for Christmas. He caught my attention when he said, “If our expectations for Christmas are gifts and time with family, we have set our expectations too low. Those are enjoyable and things we’re thankful for, but Christmas is the celebration of the coming of Christ and His redemption.”

Simeon and Anna celebrated the coming of Jesus and His salvation when Joseph and Mary brought Him to the temple as a baby (Luke 2:25-38). Simeon, a man who was told by the Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Messiah, declared: “My eyes have seen Your salvation” (v.30). When Anna, a widow who served God, saw Jesus, she “spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (v.38).

We may experience disappointments or heartache during the Christmas season, but Jesus and His salvation always give us reason to celebrate.

— Anne Cetas

How wonderful that we on Christmas morn
Though centuries have passed since Christ was born,
May worship still the Living Lord of men,
Our Savior, Jesus, Babe of Bethlehem. —Hutchings

Jesus is always the reason to celebrate. 

ODJ: leaving church

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December 15, 2013 

READ: Psalm 122:1-9 

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD” (v.1).

Poised at the door of the church auditorium, I hesitated. Why? I realised that I didn’t want to go to church. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to any church at all. I simply no longer wanted to go to this church. My wife felt the same way. A few weeks later, after 20 years as members, we made the agonisingly painful decision to leave. But leaving is not the same as quitting.

Later I spoke with a friend from Estonia who had moved to America. She too was struggling with leaving a church. “We’ve been to three churches now in 10 years,” she said, “but still we’re not happy. Is there something wrong with us?”

It’s a vital question. Changing churches can be all too easy in areas blessed with options. But accountability to each other and to God may be hindered. Our sense of community suffers. “Let us not neglect our meeting together, . . . but encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:25).

A psalm for worshippers on pilgrimage to Jerusalem begins, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’ ” (Psalm 122:1). The psalmist sang of the joys of being inside the gates of Jerusalem and near to God’s house. “All the tribes of Israel—the Lord’s people—make their pilgrimage here,” he observed (v.4).

The psalmist loved the sense of community with God’s people and he focused on others throughout his song. He desired peace “for the sake of my family and friends” (v.8). His motivation was “for the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem” (v.9).

Leaving a church is a serious matter, but it’s not synonymous with leaving God’s people. Brothers and sisters in Jesus can be found wherever our pilgrimage leads us. —Tim Gustafson

MORE
If you’re grappling with a problem in your local church, read Philippians 2:1-4 for some help in avoiding unnecessary divisions. 
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What does your church do well? What things about your church would you like to change? Why? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: A New Force

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December 14, 2013 

READ: Luke 2:25-35 

My eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples. —Luke 2:30-31 

When Matteo Ricci went to China in the 16th century, he took samples of religious art to illustrate the Christian story for people who had never heard it. They readily accepted portraits of Mary holding the baby Jesus, but when he produced paintings of the crucifixion and tried to explain that the God-child had come to be executed, his audience reacted with revulsion and horror. They couldn’t worship a crucified God.

As I thumb through my Christmas cards, I realize that we do much the same thing. In our celebrations and observances, we may not think about how the story that began at Bethlehem turned out at Calvary.

In Luke’s account of the Christmas story, only one person—the old man Simeon—seems to grasp the mysterious nature of what God has set in motion. “This Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against,” he told Mary, and then he made the prediction that a sword would pierce her own soul (2:34-35).

Simeon knew that though on the surface little had changed—Herod still ruled, Roman troops still occupied Israel—underneath, everything had changed. God’s promised redemption had arrived.

— Philip Yancey

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected,
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He! —Chapman

The cradle without the cross misses the true meaning of Christ’s birth. 

ODJ: front to back

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December 14, 2013 

READ: Acts 17:16-34 

He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man made temples (v.24).

At the start of the film Walk the Line, young Johnny Cash is talking with his older brother Jack who is hoping to become a preacher. Johnny is sad because he doesn’t know the Bible like his brother, who said, “If I’m going to be a preacher one day, I gotta know the Bible front to back. I mean, you can’t help nobody if you can’t tell them the right story.”

Tragically, a sawmill accident ended the aspiring preacher’s life. But what he told his little brother Johnny—who would go on to become a famous musical artist—applies to us all. We can’t help people if we don’t tell them the right story. And the right story is found in the Bible from front to back.

The front of the story is where the apostle Paul began as he preached in Athens, presenting God as the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24-26). In the beginning God dwelt with His image-bearers in perfect relationship and they reigned together over His good creation (Genesis 1:26-31).

The back of the story comes full circle, with God again reigning “supreme over everything everywhere” (1 Corinthians 15:28) and dwelling “among his people” in a fully renewed heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1-3).

There’s also a lot in the middle of the story. Human rebellion (which left us separated from God and each other); God’s gracious promise to rescue us from the mess of humanity’s rebellion through Abraham’s offspring (namely Jesus Christ); and God now dwelling in the hearts of those He has rescued, enabling them to love others and to take part in advancing God’s kingdom on earth.

Declaring the story, front to back, is important. For it awakens us to our need for Jesus—our Saviour and King. —Jeff Olson

MORE
Telling God’s story, cover to cover, is one important way to answer anyone who “asks about your Christian hope” (1 Peter 3:15). 
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How would you briefly tell the story of the Bible, cover to cover? Why is it vital that we know and tell the whole story of God’s Word? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Lasting Rewards

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December 13, 2013 

READ: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 

Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. —1 Timothy 4:8 

Ukrainian gymnast Larisa Latynina held the record of 18 Olympic medals. She won them in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics. The 48-year-old record was surpassed when Michael Phelps swam for his 19th gold in the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay in the 2012 London Games. “[Latynina] kind of got lost in history,” the publisher of the International Gymnast magazine said. When the Soviet Union broke up, “we had forgotten about her.”

Paul, the apostle, reminds us that sometimes hard work is forgotten. Athletes subject their bodies to great discipline as they train to win perishable medals for their effort (1 Cor. 9:25). But it is not just that the medals are perishable. Over time, people’s memory of those achievements dim and fade. If athletes can sacrifice so much to achieve rewards on the earth, rewards that will eventually be forgotten, how much more effort should followers of Christ exert to gain an imperishable crown? (1 Tim. 4:8).

Athletes’ sacrifice and determination are rewarded with medals, trophies, and money. But even greater, our Father in heaven rewards the discipline of His children (Luke 19:17).

God will never forget our service done out of love for Him who first loved us.

— C. P. Hia

I thank You, Lord, for the opportunities to use
the gifts You have given me for Your service today.
Help me to do so in obedience, expecting nothing
more than Your “well done” as reward.

Sacrifice for the kingdom is never without reward. 

ODJ: laying claim

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December 13, 2013 

READ: John 19:17-27 

He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home (v.27).

My mother has developed a habit of occasionally asking us what items we would want once she leaves this earthly existence. Responding with lighthearted humour to her musings on death, my sister and I tell her not to hide any money in the house because we plan on selling it fully furnished when she dies. When I realised the other day that she still had a grapevine wreath my dad and I had made more than 20 years ago, however, I half-jokingly told her to write my name on it.

Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one knows the heightened tensions that arise among family members when it happens. Feeling the grief of losing someone we love, we lay claim to any remembrance in an attempt to prolong the connection. Sadly, our attempts to hold on to the love of someone who has died can cost us our relationships with the living.

Scripture provides little insight into Mary’s inner thoughts as she witnessed the death of her Son Jesus, but we can well imagine what she felt (John 19:25). Memories tumbling one on top of the other, her mind must have raced in trying to reconcile the son she had loved and raised with the Messiah who had come to save humanity (Luke 2:19,34-35,51).

Mary didn’t even receive His garment as a remembrance of time with Him. She watched as the hands that nailed Jesus to the cross now drew lots to see who would get His belongings (John 19:24; Psalm 22:18). But even as she endured her emotional torment, Jesus offered forgiveness to those who were causing Him unspeakable pain (Luke 23:34). She didn’t lay claim to possessions, but only to the future hope that all those in Jesus now share. —Regina Franklin

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Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9-18 and consider how this passage can show us how to interact with others when we’re faced with the death of a loved one. 
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If you’ve ever experienced anger at the way others have handled the death of a loved one, what do you believe was at the root of your frustration? What can believers in Jesus lay claim to as they face death?  

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Costume Or Uniform?

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December 12, 2013 

READ: Romans 13:11-14 

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. —Romans 13:14 

Eunice McGarrahan gave an inspiring talk on Christian discipleship in which she said, “A costume is something you put on and pretend that you are what you are wearing. A uniform, on the other hand, reminds you that you are, in fact, what you wear.”

Her comment sparked memories of my first day in US Army basic training when we were each given a box and ordered to put all our civilian clothes in it. The box was mailed to our home address. Every day after that, the uniform we put on reminded us that we had entered a period of disciplined training designed to change our attitudes and actions.

“Cast off the works of darkness,” the apostle Paul told the followers of Jesus living in Rome, “and . . . put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). He followed this with the command to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (v.14). The goal of this “casting off” and “putting on” was a new identity and transformed living (v.13).

When we choose to follow Christ as our Lord, He begins the process of making us more like Him each day. It is not a matter of pretending to be what we aren’t but of becoming more and more what we are in Christ.

— David C. McCasland

O to be like Thee, O to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart. —Chisholm

Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

ODJ: if you choose . . .

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December 12, 2013 

READ: Joshua 24:1-16 

If you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve (v.15). 

My oldest son is 10 and I still kiss him on the cheek. Unfortunately, cultural forces have conspired upon my son so that he believes he’s too old for such signs of affection. That’s okay. I’ll keep giving him bear hugs and kissing his cheek and perhaps when he’s much older and has sons of his own, he’ll surprise me with a kiss in return. The worst thing I could do is shame him for his boundaries or attempt to force him to show affection. If affection is not given freely, it isn’t true.

Sometimes we believe God operates differently, that He wants sheer obedience with little care for the authentic textures of our heart and our soul. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As Joshua led Israel into their homeland, he recounted their history and the miraculous ways God had provided for them and protected them. And now they had, in some measure, arrived (Joshua 24:1-13). They had a land and were beginning to build a life. Yet Joshua knew that a solemn choice remained. Would they serve the God who had brought them there, the God who had made and named them or would they return to the false gods they had left behind? (vv.14-15).

Remarkably Joshua didn’t persuade the people or attempt to force them. There was a choice to be made and the people had to make it. One of the more famous passages of Scripture from Joshua’s life is the one quoted here: “As for me and my family, we will serve the LORD” (v.15). Equally provocative, however, is the first line of that verse: “But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve.”

God desires more than mere compliance. He wants us to “serve him wholeheartedly” (v.14). And for this, we must choose. —Winn Collier

MORE
Read Deuteronomy 30:19-20 to see the choice Moses wanted the Israelites to make. 
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What does a “wholehearted” faith mean to you? Where is God offering you a choice? What will you choose to do? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)