Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: Genesis 16:13 (NIV) 13  She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Devotion:             The context of today's scripture is the narrative of Hagar, Sara’s slave, who had fled due to Sara’s mistreatment. What strikes us is the profound care God shows for Hagar in these verses. In the dialogue between the Angel of the Lord and Hagar that precedes this verse, God not only hears but also sees Hagar in her distress. He reveals to Hagar that she is with child and will bear a son named Ishmael. This revelation moves Hagar to the heartfelt exclamation we read in the verse above.             Today, our culture does not do very well at genuinely seeing people for who they are. We are too engrossed in our phones and other devices to pay attention to other people. Our addicti...

Scripture: Proverbs 21:30 (ESV)          No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel  can avail against the Lord. Devotion:             This proverb speaks loudly to the spirit of this age in America. Our cultural moment is full of the plans of mere mortals that directly contradict God's will as revealed in His inerrant, infallible Word. The Lord decreed in Genesis that humankind was to be fruitful and multiply. The culture promotes death from womb to tomb. People of goodwill seeking only to honor God by obeying the clear commands written for us in scripture are ignored, silenced, or worse in today’s culture. Here are some of the ways the culture promotes death.             Let us begin in the womb. Our culture promotes abortion as a positive good. Since Roe v Wade was overturned and the matter has returned to the states to decide if and when ...

  Scripture: Matthew 5:44-45 (NIV) 44  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Devotion:             The double commands found in verse 44 above are the most difficult commands to obey in the Bible. They are counter-intuitive. The last thing any human wants to do to someone who hates us (with or without cause) is to show them Christlike love in return. Praying for the well-being of such a one is not a natural act. It is clear, however, from the Greek text that loving and praying for those we do not like is an imperative, a command, not a suggestion.             Since it is a command, we must find a way to accomplish it. The Lord’s commands are notoriously difficult f...

Scripture: Genesis 3:19 (ESV) 19           By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,                         till you return to the ground, for out of it, you were taken;                         for you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.   Devotion:             Today, we celebrate (if that’s the right word) two special days on our calendar. The Christian calendar marks Ash Wednesday; the secular calendar marks Valentine's Day. Ash Wednesday marks a day of great solemnity in which we mark our mortality on this earth. Believers go forward to receive ashes on their foreheads to mark the eventual end of their lives in these mortal ...