Entries by YMI

ODJ: Free to Forgive

Jun 12, 2016 in , /by

June 12, 2016 

READ: John 10:22-30 

No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand (v.29).

p>As a child growing up near the ocean, I did a great deal of boating. Weekends weren’t complete unless we rounded up friends and family and spent at least an afternoon on the water.

I vividly remember one occasion when a boat we were boarding wouldn’t start. It took nearly an hour of tinkering before the engine started. When it finally did, the driver was so excited he pulled away and made it far down the channel before he realised that he’d left his wife standing on the dock!
Rather than laugh off his mistake, his wife was furious. Several years later, she’s still angry with her now ex-husband for what he did that day. So sad...

It’s not easy to forgive when we’ve been intentionally or unintentionally hurt. But throughout life, following our Saviour’s example, it’s vital for us to regularly choose to extend God’s forgiveness when we’ve been offended.

In her book The Quiet Place, author Nancy Leigh DeMoss draws from John 10:28 as she writes, “We so often find ourselves chafing against second causes—those people, circumstances and events that seem to be wrecking our lives, making things so difficult and unbearable for us. But ultimately, we are not in the hands of other people and their sinful designs. We are not in the hands of chance or circumstance.” DeMoss goes on to share that because of Jesus’ sacrifice and the forgiveness He made possible, we can experience salvation and the reality that no one can “snatch” us from His loving hands.

Our heavenly Father, who is “more powerful than anyone else” (v.29), provides the identity and security we need by His divine power and promises. As we accept His love and forgiveness, we’re free to truly love and forgive others.

—Roxanne Robbins

365-day plan: Matthew 2:1-12

MORE
Based on Mark 11:25, is there someone you need to forgive today? 
NEXT
How does experiencing identity and security in God make it easier to forgive people who have hurt you? How has God’s forgiveness changed your heart? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Tears and Laughter

Jun 12, 2016 in , /by

June 12, 2016 

READ: Ezra 3:7–13 

No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping. Ezra 3:13

 

Last year at a retreat I reconnected with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I laughed with them as we enjoyed the reunion, but I also cried because I knew how much I had missed them.

On the last day of our time together we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. More smiles and tears! I rejoiced over the grace of God, who had given me eternal life and these beautiful days with my friends. But again I cried as I was sobered by what it had cost Jesus to deliver me from my sin.

I thought about Ezra and that wonderful day in Jerusalem. The exiles had returned from captivity and had just completed rebuilding the foundation of the Lord’s temple. The people sang for joy, but some of the older priests cried (Ezra 3:10–12). They were likely remembering Solomon’s temple and its former glory. Or were they grieving over their sins that had led to the captivity in the first place?

Sometimes when we see God at work we experience a wide range of emotions, including joy when we see God’s wonders and sorrow as we remember our sins and the need for His sacrifice.

The Israelites were singing and weeping, the noise was heard far away (v. 13). May our emotions be expressions of our love and worship to our Lord, and may they touch those around us. 

— Keila Ochoa

Lord, You welcome our sorrow and our joy, our tears and our laughter. We bring all of our emotions in their raw honesty to You. May we praise You with our whole being.

Both tears and smiles bring God praise.
   

ODJ: Friendly Wounds

Jun 11, 2016 in , /by

June 11, 2016 

READ: Proverbs 27:5-6 

An open rebuke is better than hidden love! (v.5).

I received an email from a close friend with the subject line “I’m too old for this!” His email told of his recent ordeal riding a roller coaster with his 12 year old son. He said that the ride lasted only a minute, but it was miserable. He didn’t get physically sick, but he also didn’t want to eat for the rest of the day.

After reflecting on his harrowing experience, he said his new motto is: “Friends don’t let friends (over 40 years old) ride roller coasters.”

My friend’s new motto reminded me of the old familiar proverb that many over the age of 40 probably first read from the pages of the King James Version of the Bible: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). In other words, stinging words from a friend can be trusted.

True friends will tell us something that’s difficult for us to hear because they’re concerned that we’re about to hurt ourselves or others. In speaking the truth, they “wound” us, not to cruelly hurt but to help.

Wounding words are spoken to sound a warning. They’re given in the hopes that it will keep us from a more tragic outcome. I for one have personally benefitted from a friend sharing such words with my father when I was a young boy. He said to my dad, “Kenny, you’ve already missed out on the lives of your two oldest boys. Don’t make the same mistake with your two youngest sons.” Thankfully, my dad wasn’t offended by his friend. He took the wounding words to heart and became thoroughly involved in his sons’ lives.

It’s never easy to receive such words (or to say them). But true friends “speak the truth in love” because they care (Ephesians 4:15). May we follow God’s lead by speaking hard words that lead to life!

—Jeff Olson

365-day plan: Luke 2:21-39

MORE
Read Proverbs 28:23 to see what people truly appreciate. 
NEXT
How might God be leading you to “wound” a friend in order to help? What does it mean to “speak the truth in love”? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Safety Net

Jun 11, 2016 in , /by

June 11, 2016 

READ: Matthew 5:43–48 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

 

For years I thought of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) as a blueprint for human behavior, a standard no one could possibly meet. How could I have missed the true meaning? Jesus spoke these words not to frustrate us, but to tell us what God is like.

Why should we love our enemies? Because our merciful Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. Why store up treasures in heaven? Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us. Why live without fear and worry? Because the same God who clothes the lilies and the grass of the field has promised to take care of us. Why pray? If an earthly father gives his son bread or fish, how much more will the Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?

Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7) not only to explain God’s ideal toward which we should never stop striving but also to show that in this life none of us will ever reach that ideal.

Before God, we all stand on level ground: murderers and tantrum-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.

— Philip Yancey

Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. You did what I could not do for myself, and in humility I accept Your gift of grace. Help me to live a life that is pleasing

Only God can transform a sinful soul into a masterpiece of grace.
   

ODJ: Hope Awakening

Jun 10, 2016 in , /by

June 10, 2016 

READ: Ezekiel 37:1-28 

[God] asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” (v.3).

In her blog, Gayla wrote about rescuing a cactus from the rubbish bins of a block of flats in her neighbourhood. She found a single stem that showed some signs of life. With some pruning, the seemingly dead plant blossomed once again and is now thriving. She shared the details of the cactus transformation in order to help those who think that their cacti are beyond hope.

When God asked whether the dry bones in the valley could live again, Ezekiel was caught off guard. It certainly didn’t look like they could be part of living, breathing human beings again. So the prophet responded with the only truth he could wrap his mind around. “O Sovereign Lord,” [he] replied, “you alone know the answer to that” (Ezekiel 37:3).

In the midst of their captivity, God’s people likely felt that they would never get out of the hole their sin had dug. Babylon seemed unconquerable and hope was gone. And so God sent a word through Ezekiel, likening Israel to the dry bones in the valley. Although they believed that hope was lost, God would pour out His Spirit on them and bring deliverance from captivity. Instead of being cut off, they would stand again as a strong and great army—just as the dry bones did (vv.10-14).

Like Israel and the previous owners of Gayla’s cactus, we can lose sight of hope in the midst of challenging or difficult situations. But since nothing is impossible with God, it means that there’s always hope. No matter where you are today, what hurt or disappointment you’re dealing with, hear these words that God shared with ancient Israel: “O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again” (vv.13-14).

Hope and life spring from God!

— Remi Oyedele

365-day plan: Luke 2:1-20

MORE
Read Romans 5:2-5 to see what Paul says about the source of our hope. 
NEXT
Do you tend to see the glass as half empty or half full? What gives you hope in this life? How does knowing the Source of life fill your heart with hope today? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Our New Name

Jun 10, 2016 in , /by

June 10, 2016 

READ: Revelation 2:12–17 

I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it. Revelation 2:17

 

She called herself a worrier, but when her child was hurt in an accident, she learned how to escape that restricting label. As her child was recovering, she met each week with friends to talk and pray, asking God for help and healing. Through the months as she turned her fears and concerns into prayer, she realized that she was changing from being a worrier to a prayer warrior. She sensed that the Lord was giving her a new name. Her identity in Christ was deepening through the struggle of unwanted heartache.

In Jesus’s letter to the church at Pergamum, the Lord promises to give to the faithful a white stone with a new name on it (Rev. 2:17). Biblical commentators have debated over the meaning, but most agree that this white stone points to our freedom in Christ. In biblical times, juries in a court of law used a white stone for a not-guilty verdict and a black stone for guilty. A white stone also gained the bearer entrance into such events as banquets; likewise, those who receive God’s white stone are welcomed to the heavenly feast. Jesus’s death brings us freedom and new life—and a new name.

What new name do you think God might give to you? 

— Amy Boucher Pye

May I live out my new identity, sharing Your love and joy. Show me how You have made me into a new creation.

Share your story on odb.org

 

ODJ: Life and Loss

Jun 9, 2016 in , /by

June 9, 2016 

READ: Job 1:1-22 

I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes (42:5).

Since the early days of human existence it’s been a constant foe. Recently it came calling in a friend’s life as she lamented her children not walking with Jesus. Another friend bemoaned the death of what had been a loving marriage. A family member looked at me with teary eyes, trying to form words that couldn’t come due to dementia. Another family member, deep in the throes of grief because of her father’s death, said softly, “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Loss affects us all.

Job experienced unimaginable loss. A good man in God’s eyes, he was concerned that his children possibly weren’t honouring their Creator in their “celebrations” (Job 1:1,4-5). Then, tearing at the very fabric of his soul, all of his sons and daughters died in a devastating catastrophe (v.19). What’s more, nearly all of his servants and hired help were murdered. His vast earthly goods were also stolen, leaving him broke and broken. Then a painful skin condition came calling (2:7-8).

Finally, as if the loss were not cruel and agonising enough, Job’s wife verbalised lost hope and faith. “Curse God and die,” she said to her husband (v.9).

We can identify with Job’s plight, even if we can’t fathom the extent of it. But we can also marvel at his initial responses. He praised God. “The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord” (1:21). He acknowledged God’s rule over all creation. Job said, “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (2:10).

Job had walked with God. But as he came through the fires of loss, he came to know and see Him more fully (42:5). May we do the same as God walks with us through loss.

—Tom Felten

365-day plan: Matthew 1:1-25

MORE
Read Isaiah 41:10 and consider what it says about God being present with us as we face loss in life. 
NEXT
How have you suffered loss lately? Where are you going with your pain? How can God’s presence comfort and steady you? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)