Entries by YMI

ODJ: do you love God?

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January 17, 2015 

READ: 1 John 4:20-5:5 

Those who love God must also love their their fellow believers (4:21).

Do you love God? Just think about it. How can a lowly person draw near, much less talk about being in a personal relationship with such a high and exalted Being? It blows my mind. A classic hymn describes God as “immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes.” Perhaps God’s ‘otherness’ explains why we often feel so inadequate in claiming that we love Him.

Yet God loves us and desires that we love Him in return! In 1 John 4:20-5:5, He tells us how we can know if we truly love Him.

Firstly, to claim that we love God isn’t a true demonstration of love. There should be visible actions. Specifically, we’re called to love fellow believers in Him. Love for the unseen God will find expression in love for others whom we can see (4:20), for “everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too” (5:1).

Secondly, we’ll strive to keep God’s commandments without finding them burdensome (5:3). John Piper helps us understand this verse in context. He explains, “The test of the genuineness of your love to the children of God is whether you let the commandments of God govern your relation to them and whether these commandments are burdensome to you.”

Both these tests help us see that loving God and loving people are closely interconnected. If we love Him, we’ll love His people. And the way we love His people will be in conformity with the way He reveals His love to us.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:15-17). Jesus’ question wasn’t designed to criticise Peter, but to restore him to service. These are encouraging words, for if we’ve faltered like Peter, God still loves us and invites us to love Him as we love His people. —Poh Fang Chia

365-day plan› Genesis 27:1-40

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Read John 14:21 and consider what Jesus says is required in our love for Him. 
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What do your actions towards fellow believers reveal about your love for God? What will it take for you to love them better? To love God better? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Leaving It Behind

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January 17, 2015 

READ: John 4:9-14,27-29 

The woman then left her waterpot [and said,] “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” —John 4:28-29 

In the year or so after our teenage son got his driver’s license and started carrying a wallet, we got several calls from people who had found it somewhere. We cautioned him to be more careful and not leave it behind.

Leaving things behind, though, is not always a bad thing. In John 4, we read about a woman who had come to draw water at a well. But after she encountered Jesus that day, her intent suddenly changed. Leaving her water jar behind, she hurried back to tell others what Jesus had said to her (vv.28-29). Even her physical need for water paled in comparison to telling others about the Man she had just met.

Peter and Andrew did something similar when Jesus called them. They left their fishing nets (which was the way they earned their living) to follow Jesus (Matt. 4:18-20). And James and John left their nets, boat, and even their father when Jesus called them (vv.21-22).

Our new life of following Jesus Christ may mean that we have to leave things behind, including those that don’t bring lasting satisfaction. What we once craved cannot compare with the life and “living water” that Jesus offers.

— Cindy Hess Kasper

Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me;
There’s love and life and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee. —McGranahan

Christ showed His love by dying for us; we show ours by living for Him. 

ODJ: idk

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January 16, 2015 

READ: Psalm 77:1-20 

We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near (75:1).

Almost everyone loves to hear stories of God ‘showing up’. We feel trapped by circumstances, we pray in desperation and a providential answer arrives just in time. We know it’s God, and it’s easy to praise Him—for a while.

But so much of life is lived in the ‘idk’ (‘I don’t know’)

—those in-between times when our problems increase and threaten to obscure God’s goodness. We wonder where He is.

A cluster of psalms attributed to Asaph (Psalms 73-83) deal with life in the ‘idk’. Again and again the psalmist revealed the raw honesty of his heart as he saw his people violated and tyrants prospering.

In Psalm 77 he wrote, “All night long I prayed, with hands lifted towards heaven, but my soul was not comforted” (v.2). That anguish soon slipped into resignation: “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me” (v.10).

“But then . . .” (v.11).

For those who trust in God, every moment living in the ‘idk’ has a corresponding “but then”. Asaph continued, “But then I recall all you have done, O LORD; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago” (v.11). He then celebrated the “God of great wonders” who displays “awesome power among the nations” (v.14). The conclusion is one of triumphant memories, not despair over the present.

Despite the fear that permeates many of Asaph’s psalms, the focus is on God, His past goodness and His promise to be our God. We anticipate a day when justice will reign. Then we will look back and see how God was near us every step of the way.

The times when we don’t know what to do are the times to let God build our faith. When we don’t have anywhere else to go, He has us exactly where He wants us. —Tim Gustafson

365-day plan› Genesis 25:19-34

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Read through a couple of Asaph’s psalms today (Psalms 50 and 73-83). Look for the balance between anguished honesty and praise to God. 
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What “wonderful deeds” can you recall that God has done on your behalf? Write them down and thank Him for what He’s done in the past as you face your present concerns. 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: God’s Refreshing Word

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January 16, 2015 

READ: Isaiah 55:8-11 

My word . . . shall not return to Me void. —Isaiah 55:11 

When I was a boy, our family would occasionally travel across Nevada. We loved the desert thunderstorms. Accompanied by lightning bolts and claps of thunder, huge sheets of rain would blanket the hot sand as far as the eye could see. The cooling water refreshed the earth—and us.

Water produces marvelous changes in arid regions. For example, the pincushion cactus is completely dormant during the dry season. But after the first summer rains, cactuses burst into bloom, displaying delicate petals of pink, gold, and white.

Likewise, in the Holy Land after a rainstorm, dry ground can seemingly sprout vegetation overnight. Isaiah used rain’s renewal to illustrate God’s refreshing Word: “As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10-11).

Scripture carries spiritual vitality. That’s why it doesn’t return void. Wherever it encounters an open heart, it brings refreshment, nourishment, and new life.

— Dennis Fisher

God’s Word is like refreshing rain
That waters crops and seed;
It brings new life to open hearts,
And meets us in our need. —Sper

The Bible is to a thirsty soul what water is to a barren land. 

ODJ: the power of beauty

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January 15, 2015 

READ: Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time (v.11).

Sunsets. People tend to stop what they are doing to watch them . . . take pictures of them . . . admire their splendour.

Last January my wife and I watched the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico. We were surrounded by a crowd of people—mostly strangers—who had gathered at the beach to watch this nightly ritual. At the moment the sun fully disappeared below the horizon, the crowd broke into applause.

Why do people do that? I would suggest it’s the power of beauty! Beauty speaks to our hearts like few things do. It not only draws us into itself, but it also has the power to take us to something beyond itself. Ultimately, it can inch us ever much closer to the Maker of beauty.

The 20th century French philosopher Simone Weil wrote: “The soul’s inclination to love beauty is the trap God most frequently uses in order to win it.” As the ancient writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time” (3:11).

Beauty is absorbed through the senses our Creator gave us, and it can be found just about anywhere. We can see it in a sunset or in a fresh blanket of snow. We can hear it while listening to a favourite work of music or feel it in the soft, furry coat of a pet. Our hearts can sense it in the kind words of a friend. We can smell it in the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee. We can see it in the brush strokes of an artist’s painting.

Beauty may indeed be in the eye of the beholder, but it’s something we all need on a daily basis. It’s a gift from God that renews and gives life to our souls. —Jeff Olson

365-day plan› Genesis 24:28-67

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Read Philippians 4:8 and consider how Paul’s words remind us to think about what is truly beautiful in God’s eyes. 
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How can you bring more beauty into your life? How can you share God’s beauty with others this week? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Kindness Gone Viral

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January 15, 2015 

READ: Mark 10:13-16 

Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. —Mark 10:14 

News of a simple act of kindness on a New York subway has gone around the world. A young man, head covered by a hooded sweatshirt, fell asleep on the shoulder of an older passenger. When someone else offered to wake the young rider, the older man quietly said, “He must have had a long day. Let him sleep. We’ve all been there.” Then he let the tired fellow rider sleep on his shoulder for the better part of the next hour, until the older man gently eased away to get up for his stop. In the meantime, another passenger snapped a photograph and posted it on social media, and it went viral.

The man’s kindness seems to resonate with what we all long for—the kindness that reflects the heart of God. We see this gentleness in Jesus when His friends tried to protect Him from the noise and bother of little children. Instead, Jesus insisted on taking the little ones in His arms and blessing them (Mark 10:16). In the process, He invited all of us to trust Him like a little child (vv.13-16).

Jesus lets us know that all of us are safe in His presence. Whether awake or asleep, we can lean on Him. When we’re exhausted, He provides a safe place for us to rest.

— Mart De Haan

Under His wings, I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild;
Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me and I am His child. —Cushing

God is a safe resting place. 

ODJ: hard paths

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January 14, 2015 

READ: Acts 16:22-37 

Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God (v.25).

When I was hiking in a park with my grandfather, our trail lassoed a lake at the bottom of a valley. As we walked, several smaller paths broke away from the main trail. Each time we came to a fork in the road, my grandfather let me choose which way to go. I always picked the steepest, rockiest, most difficult choice. My grandfather sighed a few times, but he took on the most challenging path for my sake.

Paul and Silas consistently chose the hard path for Jesus. Even after being beaten and placed in a dungeon in Philippi (Acts 16:23-24), they praised God in their chains. “Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (v.25). They glorified God when it would have been easier to simply complain and cry.

Choosing the hard path again, Paul and Silas stayed inside the jail when an earthquake presented them with an opportunity to escape. Because of the quake, “all the [prison] doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!” (v.26).

When the jailer realised what had happened, he assumed the convicts had fled, so he prepared to commit suicide. Deciding to bless the one who placed the shackles on him, Paul shouted, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” (v.28). The relieved jailer then escorted Paul and Silas out of the prison. Later, he and his entire household committed themselves to Christ (v.34).

Although things went well for Paul and Silas in Philippi, the path that honours God is rarely pleasant. It often requires courage and self-discipline, for the end may be uncertain. But no matter what we face, we know that Jesus will never leave us on the hard path alone (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

365-day plan› Genesis 24:1-27

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Read Hebrews 11:24-26 to see what choosing the hard path meant for Moses. See Daniel 3:19-29 to learn what happened when three men chose a furnace over unfaithfulness to God. 
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What’s the most difficult thing you’ve done (or avoided doing) for the sake of Jesus? How does His sacrifice inspire you to choose the hard path for Him? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: It’s Worth It

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January 14, 2015 

READ: 2 Corinthians 11:24-33 

If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. —2 Corinthians 11:30 

“I can’t do it,” Robert said, throwing his pencil down in despair. “It’s just too hard!” Reading, writing, and spelling seemed impossible to our dyslexic 9-year-old. At last, a solution was offered. But it was tough. We had to do reading and spelling practice with him for 20 minutes every evening—without exception. Sometimes we just didn’t feel like doing it, and at times we despaired of seeing progress. But we were committed to getting Robert’s reading age and his chronological age to match, so we battled on.

After 2 1/2 years, all the tears and struggles seemed infinitely worthwhile. Robert learned to read and spell. And we all learned patient endurance.

The apostle Paul suffered all sorts of hardships as he pursued his goal of sharing the good news of Jesus with those who had never heard. Persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, and misunderstood, sometimes he faced death itself (2 Cor. 11:25). But the joy of seeing people respond to his message made it all worthwhile.

If you feel that the task God has called you to is too hard, remember that the spiritual lessons and joy that are wrapped up in the journey may seem hidden at first, but they are certainly there! God will help you find them.

— Marion Stroud

Sometimes we learn that hardships
Were blessings in disguise,
That earnest work and faith in God
Were proven to be wise. —Hess

The journey is as important as the destination. 

ODJ: getting in trouble

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January 13, 2015 

READ: Matthew 12:9-14 

And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath (v.12).

One day during class, Adrionna Harris noticed something disturbing—one of her young classmates cutting himself with a small razor. As she perceived it to be a grave situation, she did what she thought was the right thing to do—stepped in, took the razor from him and threw it away. But instead of receiving praise, her compassionate act earned her a 10 day suspension. Asked if she would do it again, Adrionna replied: “Even if I got in trouble, it didn’t matter because I was helping him . . . I would do it again even if I got suspended.”

Just as Adrionna’s act of compassion sparked controversy in her school, Jesus’ compassionate act sparked a religious feud with the Pharisees.

Always jabbing at Jesus and looking for an opening for a knockout punch, the Pharisees used a man with a deformed hand as a way to bait the Saviour into breaking their law (Matthew 12:10). Jesus told them that if Jews were allowed to care for animals in dire situations on the Sabbath, how much more should they set aside rules and codes to care for people (vv.11-12).

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, so He could regulate what is and isn’t permitted on that day (vv.6,8). Knowing that it would land Him in hot water with the religious leaders (and it did), Jesus restored the man’s hand to wholeness (vv.13-14).

Even if we get in trouble, sometimes we’re compelled to go against traditions and preferences to help people in need. When we help them, we imitate God (Ephesians 5:1), reveal the genuineness of our faith (James 2:14-17) and share our brothers’ and sisters’ burdens (Galatians 6:1). —Marvin Williams

365-day plan› Genesis 22:1-19

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Read Esther 4:8-16 and see how one woman went against the rules to save her people. 
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When was the last time you asked and acted on the question: “Is there anyone who I can show kindness to today?” Even if you get in trouble, what rules and rituals do you need to ignore in order to help someone in need? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)