Loving Jesus Style

A Call to a Nation in Need Scripture: Matthew 12:25 Jesus said “ “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. [1] (ESV) Devotion Our nation faces a great crisis. Greater even than the political crises that makes the news headlines constantly. The governmental shutdown is a symptom of a larger more pervasive crises. The opioid crises is another symptom of this larger issue with America. There is a full litany of slow-motion disasters that are wreaking havoc on America and indeed the world. All of these are symptoms of a spiritual deadness that threatens to devour the nations of the world. Leaving in its wake people who can no longer tell right from wrong and indeed no longer desire to do so. Having given up on traditional religions as having no answers. They pursue what ever desire over comes them now no matter how selfish or how self-destructive it is. Leaving lonely, depressed, and broken humanity in their...

Matthew 25:31-46 31  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39  And w...

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7 4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication w ith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Meditation: Scripture’s teachings can be hard to follow. With all that we hear on the news these days we hardly think of rejoicing. The latest murder or other disaster makes us feel more like mourning than rejoicing. I think that we can and should mourn when bad things happen. However we should not be trapped in our mourning. We should follow the advice of the teacher in Ecclesiastes who says, “For everything there is a season, and l a time for every matter under heaven: ” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Let us take time for weeping and laughing. There really i...

Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-4 (ESV) 1  The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. Habakkuk’s Complaint 2      O Lord , how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?        Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3      Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?        Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4      So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.        For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.   Meditation              This reading from the prophet Habakkuk is definitely a prayer that God’s people can and should pray today. We as God’s faithful people need to continue to ask these questions of our God ...

Scripture: 2 Peter 1-2 (ESV) 1  Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2  May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.   Meditation         Today’s word from 2 Peter is a great encouragement to the church. According to Peter we, through no action of our own, have obtained equal standing with Peter through faith and righteousness. The purpose of this statement was intended to raise up the level of the average believer to that of the Apostle Peter.         So often we get discouraged and think we are of no use to the Lord. The Holy Spirit through the pen of Peter would beg to differ with that assessment. Our faith is just as good as Peter’s because of the action of the Holy Spirit within us when we believed...

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16 14  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [1]   Meditation:             Just as our culture has lost the taste of salt that the church should bring to it, so also it has become a very dark place. Christians have taken to the habit of hiding their lights under baskets so that no one will see them. There is a great deal of fear in modern culture of being known as a Christian. Fear that one will be thought to be backward or not culturally “with it” on social issues of the day.             The light of the world was Jesus. He claimed...

Scripture: Matthew 5:13 (ESV) 13  “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. [1]   Meditation:             The culture seems to be rushing by the church in these days. Moving in more and more distasteful directions. Why should this be? I think we need only to look to the words of Jesus above to come up with a hint.             We as Christians and thus the church are really not much like salt at all in our communities and even in our own families. We complain about the ways the culture has changed but feel powerless to do anything about it. When we do try to be salt we come off as grainy and hard making even our saltiness unpalatable. Therefore as Christ has said our saltiness is cast on the ground and ...