The Long Way Home
If you’re unsure how to get from point A to point B, what do you do? Recently I discovered the Google Maps app. Key in your starting point, enter your ending point, and voilà! The application will get you there.
YMI (which stands for Why Am I?), is a platform for Christian young people all over the world to ask questions about life and discover their true purpose. We are a community with different talents but the same desire to make sense of God’s life-changing word in our everyday lives.
If you’re unsure how to get from point A to point B, what do you do? Recently I discovered the Google Maps app. Key in your starting point, enter your ending point, and voilà! The application will get you there.
September 25, 2023
READ: Psalm 118:1–7
The
When I was a boy, the schoolyard was where bullies threw their weight around and kids like me received that bullying with minimal protest. As we cowered in fear before our tormenters, there was something even worse: their taunts of “Are you scared? You’re afraid of me, aren’t you? There’s no one here to protect you.”
In fact, most of those times I really was frightened—and with good cause. Having been punched in the past, I knew I didn’t want to experience that again. So, what could I do and whom could I trust when I was stricken with fear? When you’re eight years old and being bullied by a kid who is older, bigger, and stronger, the fear is legitimate.
When the psalmist faced attack, he responded with confidence rather than fear—because he knew he didn’t face those threats alone. He wrote, “The
The threats we face in life are real. Yet we need not fear. The Creator of the universe is with us, and He’s more than enough.
— Bill Crowder
What are you fearing today? Ask God for His presence, comfort, and protection for whatever you're facing.
Father, thank You that You’re with me and that I can trust You in those moments to see me through by Your grace.
For further study, read When Fear Seems Overwhel
September 24, 2023
READ: Colossians 3:12–14
Clothe yourselves with compassion. Colossians 3:12
Building benches isn’t James Warren’s job. He started building them, however, when he noticed a woman in Denver sitting in the dirt while waiting for a bus. That’s “undignified,” Warren worried. So, the twenty-eight-year-old workforce consultant found some scrap wood, built a bench, and placed it at the bus stop. It quickly got used. Realizing many of the nine thousand bus stops in his city lacked seating, he made another bench, then several more, inscribing “Be Kind” on each one. His goal? “To make people’s lives just a little bit better, in any way I can,” Warren said.
Compassion is another way of describing such action. As practiced by Jesus, compassion is a feeling so strong that it leads us to take action to meet another’s need. When crowds of desperate people pursued Jesus, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). He turned that compassion into action by healing their sick (Matthew 14:14).
We too should “clothe [ourselves] with compassion,” Paul urged (Colossians 3:12). The benefits? As Warren says, “It fills me up. It’s air in my tires.”
All around us are needs, and God will bring them to our attention. Those needs can motivate us to put our compassion into action, and those actions will encourage others as we show them the love of Christ.
— Patricia Raybon
When did you see a hurt or need that, with compassion, you helped solve? How did your compassion make you feel?
As I see pain and need, Loving God, soften my heart to act with Christlike compassion.
September 23, 2023
READ: John 14:15–26
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things. John 14:26
Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes the awful moment he understood his father was gone. Motor racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. had just been killed in a horrific crash at the end of the Daytona 500—a race in which Dale Jr. had also participated. “There’s this noise coming outta me that I can’t re-create,” said the younger Earnhardt. “[It’s] this bellow of shock and sorrow—and fear.” And then the lonely truth: “I’m gonna have to do this by myself.”
“Having Dad was like having a cheat sheet,” Earnhardt Jr. explained. “Having Dad was like knowing all the answers.”
Jesus’ disciples had learned to look to Him for all the answers. Now, on the eve of His crucifixion, He assured them He wouldn’t leave them alone. “I will ask the Father,” Jesus said, “and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16–17).
Jesus extended that comfort to all who would believe in Him. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching,” He said. “My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (v. 23).
Those who choose to follow Christ have within them the Spirit who teaches them “all things” and reminds them of everything Jesus taught (v. 26). We don’t have all the answers, but we have the Spirit of the One who does.
— Tim Gustafson
What big questions trouble you? How do you sense the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit) guiding you in this?
Heavenly Father, help me to seek You for the answers I need. Help me trust You completely and find real peace in You.
For further study, read
People sometimes say “That begs the question” when referring to something that raises a query. But begging the question actually means to put forth an argument with a premise that assumes the conclusion. September 22, 2023 READ: Isaiah 65:16–22
The past troubles will be forgotten . . . . See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:16–17 In his wonderful book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, renowned artist Makoto Fujimura describes the ancient Japanese art form of Kintsugi. In it, the artist takes broken pottery (originally tea ware) and pieces the shards back together with lacquer, threading gold into the cracks. “Kintsugi,” Fujimura explains, “does not just ‘fix’ or repair a broken vessel; rather, the technique makes the broken pottery even more beautiful than the original.” Kintsugi, first implemented centuries ago when a warlord’s favorite cup was destroyed and then beautifully restored, became art that’s highly prized and desired. Isaiah describes God artfully enacting this kind of restoration with the world. Though we’re broken by our rebellion and shattered by our selfishness, God promises to “create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17). He plans not merely to repair the old world but to make it entirely new, to take our ruin and fashion a world shimmering with fresh beauty. This new creation will be so stunning that “past troubles will be forgotten” and “former things will not be remembered” (vv. 16–17). With this new creation, God won’t scramble to cover our mistakes but rather will unleash His creative energy—energy where ugly things become beautiful and dead things breathe anew. As we survey our shattered lives, there’s no need for despair. God is working His beautiful restoration. — Winn Collier What needs beautiful restoration? How does this imagery of “new creation” stir hope in you? Dear God, please restore me and make my world new. When we think about Christlikeness and see our sinful selves, we can sometimes feel disheartened. “Look at what you’ve done by becoming a Christian. You’ve deserted the family tradition. Your father feels like a failure. He couldn’t keep the family together.” My mother tried to reason with me to forsake my newfound faith. September 21, 2023 READ: John 8:1–11
“Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11 When one single mother had to find work to take care of her family in the 1950s, she took on typing jobs. The only issue was that she wasn’t a very good typist and kept making mistakes. She looked for ways to cover up her errors and eventually created what’s known as Liquid Paper, a white correction fluid used to cover up typing errors. Once it dries, you can type over the cover-up as if there were no errors. Jesus offers us an infinitely more powerful and important way to deal with our sin—no cover-up but complete forgiveness. A good example of this shows up in the beginning of John 8 in the story of a woman who was caught in adultery (vv. 3–4). The teachers of the law wanted Jesus to do something about the woman and her sins. The law said she should be stoned, but Christ didn’t bother to entertain what the law did or didn’t say. He simply offered a reminder that all have sinned (see Romans 3:23) and told anyone who hadn’t sinned to “throw a stone at” the woman (John 8:7). Not one rock was tossed. Jesus offered her a fresh start. He said He didn’t condemn her and instructed that she “leave [her] life of sin” (v. 11). Christ gave her the solution to forgive her sin and “type” a new way of living over her past. That same offer is available to us by His grace. — Katara Patton How has Jesus and the forgiveness of sin He provides written a new story in your life? How will this change how you treat others who’ve also sinned? Jesus, thank You for cleansing me of my sins. Help me to live a renewed life in You. Learn more about having a personal relationship with God. Begging the Question?
Sep 22, 2023
in Devotional, Featured Devotionals Asia Pacific, North America /by YMI
ODB: Beautiful Restoration
Sep 22, 2023
in Our Daily Bread Asia Pacific, North America /by YMI
Typography: 1 John 3:2-3
Sep 21, 2023
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A Bad Child?
Sep 21, 2023
in Devotional, Featured Devotionals Asia Pacific, North America /by YMI
ODB: God Covers Our Sin
Sep 21, 2023
in Our Daily Bread Asia Pacific, North America /by YMI
YMI (which stands for Why Am I?), is a platform for Christian young people all over the world to ask questions about life and discover their true purpose. We are a community with different talents but the same desire to make sense of God’s life-changing word in our everyday lives.
YMI is a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries.
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