Loving Jesus Style

  Lamentations 3:40 (NIV) Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Devotion: Lamentations is a book written in the ashes. Jerusalem has fallen, the temple lies in ruins, and the prophet weeps over a city once full of people. Yet at the heart of the book, like a lamp set in a dark room, stands the confession that the Lord's compassions never fail and his faithfulness is great (3:22–23). Our verse grows out of that hope. Because God is faithful, his people can face the truth about themselves. Notice the order. The prophet does not begin by blaming Babylon or questioning God. He has already acknowledged that nothing comes to pass unless the Lord has decreed it (3:37), and that the living have no ground for complaint when punished for their sins (3:39). So, he turns the searchlight inward: "Let us examine our ways and test them." And notice the pronoun. He does not say "you." He stands among the guilty and says "us." ...

  John 6:44 (NIV) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." Devotion: Jesus spoke these words to a crowd that had eaten the loaves only the day before. They had followed him across the lake, but now they were grumbling. They wanted bread, not the Bread of Life. Their complaint exposed a deeper problem, one Jesus names plainly: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them." This is a humbling word. It tells us that the natural heart, left to itself, will not come to Christ. The problem is not that the invitation is unclear or that the Savior is unattractive. The problem is in us. Our wills are bound by sin, and we cannot free ourselves. The word "draws" is a strong one. John uses the same verb for hauling in a net full of fish (21:11), and Luke uses it for dragging Paul and Silas before the magistrates (Acts 16:19). The Father does not merely suggest or nudge. Ye...

  Isaiah 45:22 (NIV) "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." Devotion: In the ancient world, every nation had its gods, and every god had its territory. The people Isaiah addressed lived among wooden idols that had to be carried from place to place (45:20). Into that crowded marketplace of deities, the Lord speaks a word that leaves no room for rivals: "I am God, and there is no other." This is more than a statement of monotheism. It is the ground of an invitation. Because there is only one God, there is only one place to turn for salvation. The idols cannot save; they cannot even move themselves. The Lord who forms the light and creates the darkness, who raised up Cyrus to do his bidding, is the only one with power to rescue. And he does not wait to be sought. He calls. Notice how wide the call reaches: "all you ends of the earth." Spoken first to Israel, the invitation runs outward to the nati...

Hebrews 4:15–16 (NIV) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Devotion: Under the old covenant, few dared to enter God's throne room. Once a year the high priest passed behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place, carrying blood and trembling lest he be struck down. The mercy seat was near, but the people stood far off. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that everything has changed. God has not become any less holy. What has changed is that we now have a better High Priest. Jesus, the eternal Son, took to himself a true body. He knew hunger in the wilderness, weariness at the well, sorrow at Lazarus's tomb, and anguish in Gethsemane. The Greek word behind "empathize" means literally to suffer with...

Scripture: James 1:5 (NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Devotion: Ask Without Shame There's a particular shame in not knowing what to do. You can feel it in your chest when a crisis lands, and you have no idea how to respond—when grief, a hard decision, or a relationship gone sideways leaves you standing there with no wisdom of your own to offer. Most of us would rather look competent than admit we're lost. James assumes we'll be lost, and tells us exactly where to go. This verse doesn't arrive out of nowhere. James has just told his scattered, suffering readers to "consider it pure joy" when they face trials, because the testing of their faith produces perseverance, and perseverance, allowed to finish its work, makes them mature and complete (vv. 2–4). It's a staggering command. And James seems to know it will leave people asking: but how? How do...

  Scripture: Romans 13:13-14 (NIV) Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Devotion: There's a particular honesty that comes with daylight. Things done in the dark — words spoken in a drunken haze, appetites indulged where no one's watching, grudges nursed in secret — rarely survive the sun's exposure. Paul knows this, and he uses it to press his readers to decide. Paul has just said, in the verse before this one, that "the night is nearly over; the day is almost here" (v. 12). The point isn't a vague call to "be your best self." It's that the new day has already dawned in Christ's resurrection, and believers are told to dress—and live—like people who know it. Acting in line with the coming day, before it...