DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 12.10.22

The Myth of the �Little� Sin - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. �Ephesians 5:10 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-myth-of-the-little-sin/Listen A while ago, I read a story about a teenager from England who kept a Great Black Emperor scorpion as a pet. The teen had a habit of giving the scorpion, whom he named Twiggy,a goodnight kiss. But one night, much to the teenager�s surprise, Twiggy stung his owner on the lip. Then Twiggy jumped into his mouth and stung him again. As a result, he was hospitalized. Clearly, he underestimated the nature of that creature. We can be like that when it comes to sin in our lives. Most people fall into sin by entertaining what they see as small sins. But those so-called small sins snowball intobig ones. We might say, �It�s a little thing. It really won�t do any harm.� So we will commit a little sin in our estimation, something that doesn�t seem significant. And then we�reshocked when it turns around and bites us, when it hurts us. We can�t believe that it happened. But what were we expecting? If the Bible tells us to stay away from a certain thing, even if we don�t think it�s significant, then we obey, because God is looking out for us. If He tells us not to dosomething, that means it will hurt us if we do it. And if He tells us to do a certain thing, that means it will help us if we do it. We need to learn to trust Him. It�s not for us to second-guess God or edit His Word. Who are we to do that? Jesus said, �You are My friends if you do whatever I command you� (John 15:14 nkjv). He didn�t say, �You are My friends if you do whatever you�re personally comfortable withor find easy.� Thus, we must obey God in all things, big or little, because the little compromises in life lead to big compromises. ------------------------ GetYour Mind Ready “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be broughtunto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1Peter 1:13) We have been born again (1Peter 1:3), Peter tells us, to an incorruptible inheritance in heaven (v. 4), which is secure (v. 5) even though the intervening time is difficult (vv. 6-7). Such a salvation as we have is both mysterious and hard to understand, pondered by both the saintsof old (v. 10) and angels (v. 12). Yet, we have it with more complete understanding and fulfillment than even the prophets ever dreamed possible. Our rightful response to this knowledge and experience is given in today’s verse. We are to “gird up the loins of [our] mind.” Just as the flowing robes worn by the men of New Testament times had to be bundled up and tied at the waist to allow for rapid, unencumberedmovement, so the Christian is expected to be ready to be on the move, to discipline his or her mind by the renouncing of all sinful and/or confining habits and attitudes. To do so we must “be sober,” be clear-headed, calm, and in control. We must “hope to the end,” or more explicitly, “hope to the utmost degree” in our ultimate glorification at the return of Christ. The construction of “hope” implies a command to “fix our hope” on Him, a sure hope, not a wishful hope. This is the “grace that is brought [present tense] to the believer.” Furthermore, we must renounce “the former lusts in [our] ignorance” (v. 14), being “obedient children” of our Father. It is not enough simply to eliminate sinful patterns from our lives. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy” (v. 15). A mind that is disciplined and purified is ready for action and victory. JDM --------------------- The Best Friend of All - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. �Romans 5:8 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-best-friend-of-all/- Listen A time of hardship or crisis often reveals who our real friends are. When we�re going through difficulties, we�re often disappointed because certain people we thought of asfriends don�t come through for us. But we can also be surprised when those whom we never thought of as friends stand up for us or are there for us in our time of need. An old adage says that a true friend walksin when others walk out. The Bible tells us that there is �a friend who sticks closer than a brother� (Proverbs 18:24 NKJV). That friend, of course, is Jesus Christ. God proved His willingness to have friendship with us in a tangible way. Romans 5:8 tells us, �But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while wewere still sinners� (NLT). Jesus was called the friend of sinners, and that was certainly not meant as a compliment. But He really was, and is, the friend of sinners. In fact, He is the best friendthat sinners can ever have. And He showed His desire to have friendship with us when He went to the cross and died in our place while we were still His enemies. I don�t know how many people would die for their friends, but I think many people would be willing to die for their husbands, wives, or children. However, I think there arevery few people who would die for their enemies. Yet, while we were still sinners, while we were still God�s enemies, Jesus died for us, showing us His friendship. In fact, Jesus said, �Greater love has no one than this,than to lay down one�s life for his friends� (John 15:13 NKJV). Jesus showed that great love. Talk about having friends in high places. Jesus is the best friend we can ever have. ------------------------------ BeDiligent �And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge.� (2Peter 1:5) The importance of diligence is urged by Peter as basic in the development of the seven other virtues listed by him�that is, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity�as vital additions to our faith. Diligence is seldomconsidered as a particular Christian attribute, but it is essential if we really desire to develop the other Christian virtues in our lives. They do not come by wishing or hoping. Peter also exhorts us to �give diligence to make your calling and election sure� (v. 10), and then to �be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless� (3:14). Essentially the same Greek word is also translated �study� and �labor� and �endeavor.� Paul commands, �Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth� (2Timothy 2:15). He beseeches us always to be �endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace� (Ephesians4:3). We are even told to �labour therefore to enter into that rest� (Hebrews4:11). There are many other such exhortations in which Christian diligence is urged or shown in reference to other Christian virtues. There is one key verse, however, in which diligence itself is commanded as a Christian duty: �Not slothful in business; fervent inspirit; serving the Lord� (Romans12:11). Here the word �business� is the same as �diligence.� That is, each Christian is commanded to �be diligent in diligence!� Christian salvation is received solely by grace through faith. The Christian life, however, demands diligence. Can we not, as today�s verse commands, give all diligence in our service to the Lord who gave His life for us? HMM ---------------------- Active Obedience - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat oframs. �1 Samuel 15:22 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/active-obedience/- Listen In the Old Testament, we find the story of Saul, a king whom God rejected because of his constant wickedness. God instructed him to go into battle and destroy his enemiescompletely, along with their livestock. But after defeating his enemies on the battlefield, Saul saw some sheep and cattle and decided to keep them for himself. Afterward, when the prophet Samuel went to meet him, Saul greeted the prophet and said, �Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord� (1 Samuel15:13 NKJV). Samuel replied, �What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?� (verse 14 NKJV). In effect, Saul told him, �Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I saved those for the Lord. I�m going to sacrifice them to God.� Samuel said, �Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed thanthe fat of rams� (1 Samuel 15:22 NKJV). Samuel was saying that foremost, God wanted Saul�s obedience. Our worship, praise, giving, and service are fine, but obedience comes first. Let�s say, for example, that a husband is unfaithful to his wife, and she finds out. So he goes out and buys her a nice gift. Then he�s unfaithful again, so he buys her anew car. But his wife says, �You�re missing the point. I don�t want all this stuff. I want your faithfulness more than anything else. These things can�t take the place of what really matters.� A relationship with God, a friendship with God, requires active obedience. It�s more than not doing bad things. It�s also doing good things, the things that are pleasing toHim. -------------------------------- ASpiritual Pillow �And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called accordingto his purpose.� (Romans8:28) There is not one electron outside the absolute control of our sovereign God. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, �What doest thou?� (Daniel4:35). So, in a world full of suffering, how do we make sense of Romans 8:28? First, we know God has a precious, sovereign plan for all believers. Second, we may not know how God uses difficulties for our greater good. Job didn�t understand what was motivating his trials, but he knew his God experientially when he said, �I know thatthou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee....I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee� (Job42:2, 5). Third, God can�t be blamed for evil. He may allow evil things into our lives (Paul�s thorn in the flesh, Peter�s imprisonment, believers� suffering) for refining ends, but He is not a culpable agent since He �neither tempteth�any man� (James1:13). Theologians call this seeming paradox �concurrence��God supervising the actions of sinful agents for His own purposes. Fourth, God causes all things to providentially work together for good�God�s ordering of all events after the counsel of His own will. God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (1Timothy 6:17), but we know His loving providence may also include suffering (Romans8:18). There is deep comfort in this �pillow� verse as we are reminded that life is not a random collection of messy events. You may not be able to trace His hand, but like suffering Job you can trust His heart. CM ----------------------- Accepted in Christ By Jessica Van Roekel �For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.� - Ephesians 2:10 ESV �Why did you make that decision? It was dumb.� �Do you have to talk all the time? You have nothing important to say.� �Why are you here? You�ll never qualify.� Statements like these hit my heart like a broadhead arrow released from a compound bow. My heart heard that I was stupid, unqualified, and should be silenced. To stop the bleeding, I attempted to be whatever made someone else happy. I qualified or disqualifiedmyself based on other people�s opinions. My opinion of myself got tangled like sheep�s wool on a thorn bush in the woods. How about you? Do you carry the burden of heart wounds that make it hard for you to see yourself as God�s beloved and chosen child? We can note several things from Ephesians 2:10 that can help us see ourselves the way God sees us. First, we are God�s workmanship. In the original Greek, workmanship literally means �a person of notable excellence.� That might be hard to receive. One look in the mirror, and we mightkeel over laughing. Or our resume might reveal that we can�t seem to stick with something long enough to be excellent at anything. Maybe we think that since we don�t have a talent, then excellence can�t be used to describe us. But God says that we are excellent because he made us. We are his prized creation. He made you. He made me. He calls you excellent. You are his notable treasure. Second, God�s creation of you is in Jesus. God�s love for you caused him to give up his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross and rise from the grave so that when you believe in him, you will be saved. His love, before you said yes to him, was infinite.He didn�t start loving you when you believed but before you believed. His love for you doesn�t grow greater after you believe but starts out as an infinite love that doesn�t diminish or change. Third, God re-creates you in Jesus. Part of what this means involves putting off the old creation�past sins and any messages about inabilities and inferiority. He uses what he�s already put in you�your personality and potential�to bring you to your fullcapabilities in Jesus. Through your surrender and cooperation, Jesus works in you rather than you pursuing someone�s positive opinion of you. Fourth, God created you for good works, which means that he has a purpose, a plan, and a place designed just for you. Comparison to what other people do or disqualification of yourself based on what another person says about you distracts you from the discoveryof God�s plan for you. God placed potential in you. As you trust him to release your potential through your willingness to work hard at whatever he puts in front of you, he will bring about an amazing change in you. When we can take these important facts to heart, our confidence grows in God�s acceptance of us. God calls us an excellent creation, he loves us with infinite love, and he has a purpose for us to fulfill. It won�t matter what other people say about us orif they turn away from us because we know that God accepts us. God doesn�t use a sliding scale of acceptance, either. Someone else�s opinion doesn�t mean we�ve failed. Our own failures and mistakes don�t remove God�s acceptance of us. As we confess our struggles and choose repentance, God�s forgiveness flows into ourlives. We don�t have to disqualify ourselves because we allow our missteps to confirm the negative words someone spoke to us. Instead, we can reach for God�s forgiveness and remember that he accepts us. Intersecting faith and life: Do you have messages in your memory that prevents you from taking Ephesians 2:10 to heart? When you base your merit on other people�s opinions, you set yourself up to struggle to receive God�s acceptance. But when you base your merit on God�s infinite love for you, you can take steps toward replacing the negative messageswith God�s truth: you are the work of his hands�most notable and excellent. Further Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10 ------------------ Faith versus Reason 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 The first battle between faith and human reason took place in the garden of Eden. Spurred on by the lies of the serpent, Eve began to look at her situation from a purely logical perspective and decided she was being cheated by God out of something good.Her faith faltered as "reasonable" thoughts of self-interest filled her mind. I am not saying that the way of faith is never logical, but by operating only on the basis of reason, a conflict with the Lord is inevitable. The reason is that His instructions and actions don't always appear reasonable from a human perspective. Although Isaiah55:8-9 describes God's thoughts and ways as higher than man's, many people judge divine ideas to be lower than human intelligence. Paul emphasizes this when he points out that God's choices are illogical by the world's standards. His message of salvation seems foolish, and His messengers appear weak and unimpressive. In an age that thrives on recognition, admiration, and importance, a person who believes the Bible is considered a weakling in need of a religious crutch to cope with life. Whilethis description is given in derision, it's actually quite accurate. Recognizing their helplessness, believers lean on Christ so He can raise them to stand with Him in righteousness. That day in Eden, sin and self-importance entered the human heart. But all the worldly wisdom that fuels our pride is nullified by God. He is looking not for great and impressive people but for weak, humble servants who can boast only in Christ. The Savior alone is their strength and wisdom. ----------------- FaintNot �For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faintin your minds.� (Hebrews12:3) The Christian life and ministry can grow wearisome and hard at times, but with Christ Himself as our example, the Lord admonishes us not to faint but always to press on. If our prayers seem to go unanswered, He reminds us that �men ought always to pray, and not to faint� (Luke18:1). When we grow tired and are tempted to quit, the Scriptures assure us that �in due season we shall reap, if we faint not� (Galatians6:9). When God has entrusted us with a certain ministry, we need to learn to say, as with Paul, �Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not� (2Corinthians 4:1). As we see God�s mercy-drops of blessing begin to fall, we then can say, as he did, �For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day� (2Corinthians 4:16). We can even encourage others to faint not, as he did: �Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory� (Ephesians3:13). The same Greek word is translated �weary� in 2 Thessalonians 3:13: �Be not weary in well doing.� Finally, even when God has to rebuke us, we must learn to take it patiently. �Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him� (Hebrews12:5). But with all these strong exhortations to faint not, we also need to know just how we can obtain the needed strength to keep on keeping on. The answer is in God�s great counsel to Isaiah: �They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shallmount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint� (Isaiah40:31). HMM ----------------------- God's Wisdom Revealed 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 After exposing the futility of worldly thinking in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul introduces Christians to the higher realm of godly wisdom.This kind of knowledge and understanding isn't available through human intelligence and reasoning; it comes strictly through divine revelation. Only those indwelt by God's Spirit have "the mind of Christ" (v. 16) and access to "the things freely given" tothem by God (v. 12). Without this supernatural insight, no one can accurately know the Lord or His ways. Many people say they believe in God yet may not have a correct understanding of Him because their perceptions are based on their own thoughts and ideas. It's easier to custom-designa god to fit our preferences than to make the required adjustments that worship of the one true God demands. Even believers need to guard against trying to fit God into their preconceived image of Him. The Bible is the only reliable source of divine revelation, but we must be careful to consider the Scriptures as a whole�it's critical that we don't just pick and choose the verses we want to believe. For example, by focusing only on passages that emphasizethe Lord's lovingkindness while excluding those that speak of His holiness and justice, we misunderstand His true nature. Let's seek to know the Lord in truth by considering the entire counsel of Scripture. Divine wisdom is available to every believer through the Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of God. May we never try to limit Him to fit our preferences. Instead, may He enlarge our minds to embrace His thoughts. ------------------ A Message Worth Repeating By Laura Bailey �And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.� 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 �Can you give the devotion at our meeting on Tuesday night?� our women�s small group leader asked. Looking like a deer in headlights, I turned my head from side to side to ensure she was talking to me. �Sure, I think I can,� I finally managed to stumble out. I�d been in church for almost thirty years, but it was the first time someone had asked me to teach the Bible. I called my mom the next day and confided how nervous I was, scared I'd say the wrongthing and look like a spiritual phony and a colossal fool. I didn't know what to talk about. I'd only recently developed a regular habit of reading my Bible. I surely didn't feel as if I had something to teach! �Why don�t you tell your conversion story?� she gently suggested. My conversion story, what�s exciting about that?! These women know their Bibles; they would want to hear a message steeped in biblical truth, not a story about a wayward young woman who finallyfound her way back to God. Surely, they had heard similar stories a million times over. Surely they were tired of hearing about how someone came to know the Lord? As I prepared my lesson, I felt the familiar tug of the Holy Spirit urging me to give my mother�s suggestion a second thought. Paul is my favorite person in the Bible. I love his no-frills writing style and his excitement for theology, and I have often gleanedmuch encouragement from his conversion on the road to Damascus. Here was a man who was actively persecuting Christians one day and then traveling the world to share the Gospel the next day. His testimony is incredible and could only be accredited to the Lord. While my story doesn�t involve the active persecution of believers, in my waywardness, I denied Christ daily, criticized believers for following God�s commands faithfully, and repeatedly chose worldly things over God. Until one day, God used a conversationwith a co-worker to transform my life from rebellion to submission within minutes. In Corinthian 2:1-5, Paul, well-established with the Corinthians, reminded them of what it was like when he first arrived in Corinth. He wasn�t overly prepared, particularly well-spoken, or charismatic. Regardless, Paul had a message to share and trustedthe Lord would work through him despite his lack of ability. Paul�s sole purpose was to proclaim Christ! The gospel message doesn�t need to be glammed up, its speakers don�t require years of seminary or public speaking classes, and it�s a message that speaksfor itself. It is a message worth repeating, not just for salvation but for the daily renewal of our hearts and minds. So often, we focus on the presentation of the Scriptures. Are our words convincing? Do people enjoy listening to us? Will people think this is overly self-focused? And rightly so. We need to do our due diligence when teaching the Bible. Carefulstudy and prayer are required to steward God's Word. But, ultimately, the Lord opens minds and hearts to receive the message. And what better way is there to communicate eternal salvation than our personal testimony and experience? The next time you feel a nudge from the Spirit to share the gospel with a friend or coworker or are presented with an opportunity to share a devotion, might I encourage you to share your story? Tell your testimony and explain how they can come to know theLord. Sharing our testimonies is the simplest way to share the good news, and despite any conflicting feelings or concerns about how it's all been heard before, it's a message worth repeating! Interesting Faith and Life: Have you ever been asked to lead a small group, teach Sunday School, or share a devotion but declined because you didn�t know what to share? If you haven�t already, write your testimony, incorporatingsome of your favorite scriptures and verses that share the gospel. Practice in front of a mirror, a spouse, or a trusted friend to build your confidence.