Breaking news: US President Obama is just like one of us after all. ICYMI, a recent humorous buzzfeed video shows the US President wielding a selfie stick and uttering the infamous “YOLO” acronym, all in a bid to encourage US citizens to sign up for healthcare insurance. It wouldn’t have garnered 23 million views in […]
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February 16, 2015
READ: 1 Corinthians 8:4-8
We know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him (v.6).
Being a Chinese woman raised in a polytheistic environment, I used to think that Christianity was a Western religion or the ‘white-man’s religion’. My thought was, We Asians have our own gods. Later, as a young believer in Jesus, I still wondered from time to time if I had forsaken my own roots and believed in a foreign god.
Over the years, however, I’ve had the opportunity to visit churches in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and America. I’ve joined with believers across the whole world to sing familiar hymns and new songs of praise. And though worship styles may differ, I’ve seen that ultimately we worship the “only one God, the Father, who created everything” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
These experiences have helped me confidently testify that “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth” (taken from the Apostles’ Creed).
The Hebrew word for “Almighty” is El Shaddai. It means “the God who is over everything, the One who overpowers”. He’s the maker of heaven and earth. In other words, His sphere of authority includes the entire universe.
I was once a polytheist—a person who believes that each race has separate gods with separate job descriptions for separate tasks. Then I became a henotheist—a person who believes that each god has certain sovereignty over a certain geography or ethnic sphere. But now, as a monotheist, I believe that there’s only one God before whom all tongues and nations must bow their knees, confessing that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10).
I know who I’ve believed in—the one true God. And I’m so thankful that He found me. I’m a member of His family with brothers and sisters in Christ around the world! —Poh Fang Chia
365-day plan› Exodus 32:1-29
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
February 16, 2015
READ: James 3:1-12
No man can tame the tongue. —James 3:8
From Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs to Siberian foxes, humans have learned to tame wild animals. People enjoy teaching monkeys to “act” in commercials or training deer to eat out of their hands. As the apostle James put it, “Every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind” (3:7).
But there is something we cannot tame. All of us have trouble getting a little thing called the tongue under control. “No man can tame the tongue,” James tells us (v.8).
Why? Because while our words may be on the tip of our tongue, they originate from deep within us. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). And thus the tongue can be used for both good and evil (James 3:9). Or, as scholar Peter Davids put it, “On the one hand, [the tongue] is very religious, but, on the other, it can be most profane.”
If we cannot tame this unruly tongue of ours, is it destined to be a daily problem for us, always prone to speak evil? (v.10). By God’s grace, no. We are not left to our own devices. The Lord will “set a guard” over my mouth; He will “keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3). He can tame the untamable.
— Dave Branon
To rule your tongue, let Christ rule in your heart.
February 15, 2015
READ: Genesis 2:1-7
I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course (Jeremiah 10:23).
In 2012, thanks to a rapper named Drake and the supercharged vehicle of social media, “YOLO” became a popular acronym. It stands for “You Only Live Once.” Though the message of YOLO is test the limits, it became a justification to live life irresponsibly. The answer to drunk driving, parking illegally, disrespecting parents and missing class was simply YOLO. Its underlying meaning is that my life is mine and I get to live it how I want to.
YOLO, however, can point us to a few important truths about life:
Life is temporary, and death is by God’s appointment. After we die, we’ll live eternally either with God or apart from Him. It’s wise, therefore, to submit our lives to Jesus and spend our days following His ways, for He’s the true Source of life. —Marvin Williams
365-day plan› Exodus 20:1-22
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
February 15, 2015
READ: Mark 9:14-27
[Jesus] answered him and said, “. . . Bring him to Me.” —Mark 9:19
“I don’t believe in God and I won’t go,” Mark said.
Amy struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. Her son had changed from a happy boy to a surly and uncooperative young man. Life was a battleground, and Sunday had become a day to dread, as Mark refused to go to church with the family. Finally his despairing parents consulted a counselor, who said: “Mark must make his own faith journey. You can’t force him into the kingdom. Give God space to work. Keep praying, and wait.”
Amy waited—and prayed. One morning the words of Jesus that she had read echoed through her mind. Jesus’ disciples had failed to help a demon-possessed boy, but Jesus had the answer: “Bring him to Me” (Mark 9:19). The sun shone through the window at Amy’s side, making a pool of light on the floor. If Jesus could heal in such an extreme situation, then surely He could also help her son. She pictured herself and Mark standing in that light with Jesus. Then she mentally stepped back, leaving her son alone with the One who loved him even more than she did.
Every day Amy silently handed Mark to God, clinging to the assurance that He knew Mark’s needs, and would in His time and in His way, work in his life.
— Marion Stroud
Prayer is the voice of faith trusting that God knows and cares.
February 14, 2015
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is (v.18).
God loves us. Most of us know this. But how many of us feel it? Paul knew that understanding God’s love was a difficult proposition. He believed supernatural revelation was required even to get started (Ephesians 3:16,18). God’s love is so large and our comprehension so small. How can we ever truly understand His love for us?
Part of our problem is that we interpret God’s love through the lens of human love. If we understand God’s love to be anything like the distorted, damaging ‘love’ we’ve experienced from an abuser, or even the relatively good love of family and friends (at best limited, at worst tainted by wrong motives), we’ll forever feel cold about God’s love for us.
But there’s another way. Through the help of the Holy Spirit we can begin to grasp God’s love not by likeness to, but in contrast to, human love. Try this exercise: think of the most loving thing someone has done for you. Even as great as their act of love was, it’s tiny in contrast to God’s love for you. How tiny? Picture a grain of sand sitting next to a skyscraper. Picture a microbe next to Jupiter. Picture the tiniest trickle alongside the mightiest of rivers, or a strand of cotton next to a mile of fabric. Imagine the faintest scent against the strongest perfume, the quietest chirp against the loudest of thunderclaps. Compare a water drop to the Pacific Ocean, the flicker of a candle to the blaze of the sun, a single leaf to a forest of trees. That’s how tiny human love is, and how great God’s love is!
The truth is that God’s love can never be fully grasped, which means that all contrasts fall short! (v.19). It’s bigger than you could ever imagine.
—Sheridan Voysey
365-day plan› Exodus 19:1-25
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
February 14, 2015
READ: Mark 12:28-34
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. —Deuteronomy 6:5
“Where intellect and emotion clash, the heart often has the greater wisdom” wrote the authors of A General Theory of Love. In the past, they say, people believed that the mind should rule the heart, but science has now discovered the opposite to be true. “Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love.”
Those familiar with Scripture recognize this as an ancient truth, not a new discovery. The most important commandment God gave to His people gives the heart the prominent place. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). Not until the gospels of Mark and Luke do we learn that Jesus added the word mind (Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). So, what scientists are just now discovering, the Bible taught all along.
Those of us who follow Christ also know the importance of whom we love. When we obey the greatest commandment and make God the object of our love, we can be assured of having a purpose that transcends anything we could imagine or our strength could achieve. When our desire for God dominates our hearts, our minds will stay focused on ways to serve Him, and our actions will further His kingdom on earth and in heaven.
— Julie Ackerman Link
Count as lost each day you have not used in loving God. —Brother Lawrence