Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: John 3:26-30 (NRSV) 26  They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27  John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28  You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29  He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason, my joy has been fulfilled. 30  He must increase, but I must decrease.” Devotion:             As we continue to read the advent stories in the Bible we come across this scene in the gospel of John. It is packed with meaning. In it John’s disciples come to him with a complaint about Jesus. His popularity among the people is increasing. The disciples of John say, “all are going to him.” John responds in three ways. First, (v. 27) John uses

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-3 (NIV) In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2  and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”   Devotion:             This scripture can be found almost word for word in the gospels of Mark, and Luke. In it we are introduced to John the Baptist. Matthew identifies him as the one in Isaiah 40:3 who was to come announcing the arrival of the Messiah. John comes to us as one whom we would not pick to be announcing the coming of the Messiah. He is dressed strangely and eats a diet that is repulsive to the modern ear. Yet here he comes announcing the coming of the anointed one of Israel.             What are we to make of this John the Baptist? He comes to us suddenly without any preparation. Telling us, indeed, commanding us to repent

  Scripture: Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)   For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.   Devotion:             It is advent time again. Christmas is right around the corner. We again call to mind the stories of Jesus coming into the world so long ago. We, also, renew our hope that this child will return again to claim us as his children and begin his reign in the new heavens and the new earth. Where there will be no more sin or sorrow. It is a season of already and not yet. The promise of his coming has been fulfilled, but the promise of his return has not yet been realized.             The hymns and songs of the season ring all around us. Our spirits are lifted from the fog of day-to-day life to contemplation of a coming time when all will be well with us and our loved ones. We read our advent devotionals searching for some words of h

Scripture: Psalm 100 (NIV) 1  Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth. 2      Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3  Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations .   Devotion:             Today we prepare for tomorrow’s celebration of Thanksgiving here in the United States. This psalm will help us prepare to give thanks for all the blessings God has bestowed upon us. We may like to complain and moan about how bad we have things here in the U.S. but compared to some places in the world we are blessed beyond all measure. Sure, we have our problems all nations do. We, compared to the rest of the world, are wealthier and more privileged than most of the w

Scripture: Genesis 50:19-20 (NRSV) 19  But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20  Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. Devotion:             In today’s scripture we see Joseph reassuring his brothers that no harm would come to them because God took their evil actions and turned them around for the salvation of their very lives. God’s ways are mysterious to us mortal human beings. We see only what is immediately in front of us. Just as God knows us from our mother’s womb, he knows how and when our lives will end. He can see more than we can. His intention is to love us and bring us to salvation and eternal life in heaven.             I encourage you to read the end of Genesis when you have time. Joseph’s story is inspiring and challenging for us today. Because we can see the evil all around us and imagine that God has forsaken us, abandoned us to the pit

Scripture: Psalm 121:1-8 (NIV) 1  I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2  My help comes from the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth. 3  He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4  indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5  The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6  the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7  The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8  the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.   Devotion:             In this brief Psalm we see the announcement of God’s provision for his people. The opening stanza declares that the psalmist is looking solely to God for help for help. The mountains here probably refer to Jerusalem where God was thought to dwell with his people. We should always look to God who dwells with us for assistance with all of ou

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) 24  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. Devotion:             Running a race is hard work. Back when I was a freshman in high school, I signed up for the cross country team. It thought it would be more fun than football and less chance of injury too. Actually, running the races was pretty fun. The training was hard. Running five miles or more  for five days a week is really hard work. Even though the rewards were excellent I hated training, but I did

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NIV) 17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. Devotion:             Becoming a new creation is not an act of will on our part. We come to Christ naked, sinful, and with nothing to offer him in our hands. Christ accepts us just as we are and changes us into new creatures. This is a great mystery of faith. How God accomplishes this in our lives we really have no idea, but we are certain that it happens. We rejoice that we are counted worthy to be changed in this way.             How are we to behave as new creations in Christ? Verse 18 gives us our direction for living this new life we have been given. We are to be ministers of reconciliation. This means that in both word a

Scripture: John 1:1-5 (ESV) 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  He was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Devotion:             John’s gospel begins with a clear echo of the creation story in Genesis chapter one. In John’s gospel we learn that the Word (logos in the Greek) was present in the beginning with God. This Word was in God as the Word is uncreated and uncaused. Like God, the Word simply existed with God in all of eternity. Later in this chapter of John we learn that the Word became flesh and walked among us. The Word is the second person of the trinity, Jesus was his human name.             What does this mean for the merely Christian believer like you and me? It means that our salvation was planned in eterni

Scripture: Ephesians 4:14-15 (NIV) 14  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Devotion:             Paul in today’s scripture is laying out what our life will be like when we are finally mature in the Lord. As it is today Christians are too often blown about by every new wind of doctrine, every new thought about Christ. We often fight and wound our brothers and sisters in the Lord by being immature children playing at things that the mature in the Lord know enough to avoid. Culture tells us what we are to believe and do and we follow along not wanting to seem different or be called out as unloving or backwards in our thinking.             The world, the flesh, and the devil, seek to put

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (The Message)             You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you —keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. Devotion:             Today’s scripture would be right at home here 21 centuries later. According to recent surveys today’s Christian is not holding fast to the faith of our ancestors but increasingly many in the church are turning to doctrines and teachings that have no place in the Christian church. Almost half the evangelicals surveyed agreed with the statement that “Jesus was a great moral teacher, but he was not God.” (thestateofthology.com)             From queer theology to prosperity theology, there is a theology to tickle anyone’s ears. And w

Scripture: Hebrews 10:22-25 (NIV) 22  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Devotion:             The author of Hebrews is in this passage desiring that all Christians grow closer to each other in fellowship. The plain fact is we need each other. Brothers and sisters under one God and Father of us all. It is the Father’s will that we should meet together and encourage one another to live godly lives.             We are to hold onto our profession of Christ as savior. Let us remind and encourage each o

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (ESV) 3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5  For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6  If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7  Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. Devotion             These verses were originally written to a church that was undergoing tremendous suffering and pain. There was much turmoil and chaos in the church in Corinth. Paul here tries to bring a word of hope and encouragement to these hurting peo

Scripture: Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV) 24  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  25  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  26  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  27  For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Devotion:             This scene is captured by Mark, and Luke almost verbatim. For whatever reason, this scene got the attention of the disciples and burned it into their memories long after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. These words are important to us who call ourselves Christians and disciples of Christ because they tell us how to live life as disciples of Christ. The way Jesus describes here is not an effortless way

Scripture: Luke 6:40 (ESV) 40  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Devotion:             Today we consider what it is like to be a disciple of Jesus in our modern society. We will begin by looking at what it must have been like for those first disciples who followed Jesus throughout his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The first disciples did not know what they were getting into. There was no job interview. Just a stark call to “come follow me.” The amazing thing is that they did drop everything they were doing and followed this itinerant teacher. They must have had to put up with difficult living conditions. And they faced strong opposition from their friends and family.             These first disciples learned much from their teacher. They were found ministering to the poor, the widow, and the orphan. They also received power from on high to heal the sick, get rid of oppressive demons, and even raise