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Life Changes

Read: Ephesians 4:20–24 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 107–109; 1 Corinthians 4

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Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24

Stephen grew up in a rough part of East London and fell into crime by the age of ten. He said, “If everyone’s selling drugs and doing robberies and fraud, then you’re going to get involved. It’s just a way of life.” But when he was twenty, he had a dream that changed him: “I heard God saying, Stephen, you’re going to prison for murder.” This vivid dream served as a warning, and he turned to God and received Jesus as his Savior—and the Holy Spirit transformed his life.

Stephen set up an organization that teaches inner-city kids discipline, morality, and respect through sports. He credits God with the success he has seen as he prays with and trains the kids. “Rebuilding misguided dreams,” he says.

In pursuing God and leaving behind our past, we—like Stephen—follow Paul’s charge to the Ephesians to embrace a new way of life. Although our old self is “corrupted by its deceitful desires,” we can daily seek to “put on the new self” that’s created to be like God (Ephesians 4:22, 24). All believers embrace this continual process as we ask God through His Holy Spirit to make us more like Him.

Stephen said, “Faith was a crucial foundation for me changing my life around.” How has this been true for you?

When you look back over your life, what comes to mind as key moments that prompted change? What long-lasting change resulted?

Jesus, You’re alive and working in the world and in my life. Help me become more like You day by day as I leave the old self behind.

INSIGHT

In view of what Jesus has done to save us (Ephesians 1–3), Paul urges the Ephesian believers to “live a life worthy of the calling [they] have received” (4:1). Paul insisted that they “must no longer live as the Gentiles do” (v. 17), living a life of sensuality and moral impurity (v. 19). Writing metaphorically, Paul speaks of the sinful nature as something old that must be replaced by the new (vv. 22–24). Paul reminds us that “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 nlt). In Colossians 3, Paul instructs us to “put to death . . . whatever belongs to [our] earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed . . . . [And] clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (vv. 5, 12). One Bible teacher says we’re to put off our grave clothes and put on grace clothes.

K. T. Sim

By |2019-08-12T17:16:40-04:00August 21st, 2019|
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Touched by Grace

Read: Luke 6:27–36 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 105–106; 1 Corinthians 3

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Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Luke 6:27

In Leif Enger’s novel Peace Like a River, Jeremiah Land is a single father of three working as a janitor at a local school. He’s also a man of deep, sometimes miraculous, faith. Throughout the book, his faith is often tested.

Jeremiah’s school is run by Chester Holden, a mean-spirited superintendent with a skin condition. Despite Jeremiah’s excellent work ethic—mopping up a sewage spill without complaint, picking up broken bottles the superintendent smashed—Holden wants him gone. One day, in front of all the students, he accuses Jeremiah of drunkenness and fires him. It’s a humiliating scene.

How does Jeremiah respond? He could threaten legal action for unfair dismissal or make accusations of his own. He could slink away, accepting the injustice. Think for a moment what you might do.

“Love your enemies,” Jesus says, “do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27–28). These challenging words aren’t meant to excuse evil or stop justice from being pursued. Instead, they call us to imitate God (v. 36) by asking a profound question: How can I help my enemy become all God wants him or her to be?

Jeremiah looks at Holden for a moment, then reaches up and touches his face. Holden steps back defensively, then feels his chin and cheeks in wonder. His scarred skin has been healed.

An enemy touched by grace.

What would your first reaction be in Jeremiah’s situation? How can you help a difficult person move closer to God’s purposes for them?

God, when faced with unfairness, injustice, or abuse, show me how to help my enemy move closer to You.

INSIGHT

Christ’s words here echo His revolutionary teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5–7, especially 5:38–48). Some Bible scholars say both accounts refer to the same event, but others point to key differences. For instance, Luke specifically says that Jesus “went down with them and stood on a level place” (6:17). Matthew says He “went up on a mountainside and sat down” (5:1). Matthew lists eight beatitudes (vv. 2–12); Luke provides only four and in a somewhat different order (6:20–23). Luke also records a different style, reporting that Jesus said, “Blessed are you” instead of Matthew’s “blessed are those.” Importantly, the substance of Christ’s message in both accounts is the same: God’s love goes far beyond any legal requirement of what’s just and fair. Jesus is teaching us to emulate that extreme love.

Tim Gustafson

By |2019-08-12T17:16:05-04:00August 20th, 2019|
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Our New Home

Read: Revelation 22:1–5 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 103–104; 1 Corinthians 2

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No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. Revelation 22:3

As the first immigrant to the US to pass through Ellis Island in 1892, Annie Moore must have felt incredible excitement at the thought of a new home and a fresh start. Millions would pass through there afterward. Just a teenager, Annie had left behind a difficult life in Ireland to start a new one. Carrying only a little bag in her hand, she came with lots of dreams, hopes, and expectations of a land of opportunity.

How much more excitement and awe will God’s children experience when we see “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). We will enter what the book of Revelation calls “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” (v. 2). The apostle John describes this amazing place with powerful imagery. There will be “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22:1). Water represents life and abundance, and its source will be the eternal God Himself. John says that “no longer will there be any curse” (v. 3). The beautiful, pure relationship God intended between Himself and humans will be fully restored.

How incredible to know that God, who loves His children and purchased us with the life of His Son, is preparing such an amazing new home—where He Himself will live with us and be our God (21:3).

What comes to mind when you think about heaven? How does this passage from Revelation encourage you?

Father, thank You for Your love! We’re excited as we wait for that day when we will live in peace with You and each other in heaven.

INSIGHT

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of what the future will be like when we exist together with God in eternity. Chapters 21–22 list a variety of “new” things we’ll experience in the new heaven and new earth. In today’s passage, we see the existence of two trees of life—or one tree that spans both sides of the river (22:2). Access to the tree of life was lost when Adam and Eve were banished from the garden (see Genesis 3:24). In the new heaven, its fruit, seemingly meant to be consumed, will always be available. The tree of life underscores the idea that life in the kingdom is ongoing.

J.R. Hudberg

By |2019-08-12T17:15:21-04:00August 19th, 2019|
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Spiritually Exhausted?

Read: 1 Kings 19:1–9 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 100–102; 1 Corinthians 1

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An angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 1 Kings 19:5

“Emotionally, we’ve sometimes worked a full day in one hour,” Zack Eswine writes in his book The Imperfect Pastor. Although he was referring specifically to the burdens pastors frequently carry, this is true for any of us. Weighty emotions and responsibilities can leave us physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. And all we want to do is sleep.

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah found himself in a situation where he was depleted in every way. We read that Queen Jezebel threatened to put him to death (vv. 1–2) after she discovered he had the prophets of Baal killed (see 18:16–40). Elijah was so afraid he ran away and prayed he would die (19:3–4).

In his distress, he lay down. An angel touched him twice and told him to “get up and eat” (vv. 5, 7). After the second time, Elijah was strengthened by the food God provided, and he “traveled forty days and forty nights” until he came to a cave (vv. 8–9). There, the Lord appeared to him and recommissioned him (vv. 9–18)—and he was refreshed and able to continue the work God had for him to do.

Sometimes we too need to be encouraged in the Lord. This may come in the form of a talk with another believer, a worship song, or time in prayer and God’s Word.

Feeling exhausted? Give your burdens to God today and be refreshed! He will carry your load.

What area in your life is calling out for encouragement? What form may this come in and how can you seek it out?

Loving God, help me to turn to You when I am worn out. Thank You that in You I find rest.

INSIGHT

Ahab was the seventh king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His wife Jezebel is the notoriously wicked daughter of the king of Sidon. Under her influence and dominance (1 Kings 21:25), Ahab led the nation into unprecedented idolatrous worship of the Canaanite god Baal and goddess Asherah (16:29–33). Jezebel herself supported 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah by providing food for them (18:19). She vigorously opposed the worship of Yahweh and viciously massacred Yahweh’s prophets (vv. 4, 13). She’s so fearsome that even the great prophet Elijah ran for his life when she threatened to execute him (19:2–3).

K. T. Sim

By |2019-08-12T17:14:46-04:00August 18th, 2019|
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Created for Relationship

Read: Genesis 2:15–25 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 97–99; Romans 16

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The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

There’s a growing “rent-a-family” industry in many countries to meet the needs of lonely people. Some use the service to maintain appearances, so that at a social event they can appear to have a happy family. Some hire actors to impersonate estranged relatives, so that they can feel, if briefly, a familial connection they long for.

This trend reflects a basic truth: Humans are created for relationship. In the creation story found in Genesis, God looks at each thing He has made and sees that it’s “very good” (1:31). But when God considers Adam, He says, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (2:18). The human needed another human.

The Bible doesn’t just tell us about our need for connection. It also tells us where to find relationships: among Jesus’s followers. Jesus, at His death, told His friend John to consider Christ’s mother as his own. They would be family to each other even after Jesus was gone (John 19:26–27). And Paul instructed believers to treat others like parents and siblings (1 Timothy 5:1–2). The psalmist tells us that part of God’s redemptive work in the world is to put “the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6), and God designed the church as one of the best places to do this.

Thanks be to God, who has made us for relationship and given us His people to be our family!

Who are the lonely people in your life who need you to be their family? How have your relationships with fellow believers sustained you through periods of loneliness?

God, help me to depend on others and to be a dependable friend as well.

INSIGHT

The book of Genesis is remarkable for its portrayal of women and men as equal partners dependent on each other to flourish. In fact, Genesis 2:18–22 is the only complete account of woman’s creation in all of ancient Near Eastern literature. The Hebrew word ezer (“helper,” pronounced ay-zer) used to describe the woman (2:18, 20) is also a profoundly dignifying word, often used in Scripture to describe God as a deliverer of His people.

Monica Brands

By |2019-08-12T17:14:08-04:00August 17th, 2019|
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A Sad Story

Read: 2 Samuel 11:2–15 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 94–96; Romans 15:14–33

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The thing David had done displeased the LORD. 2 Samuel 11:27

Painfully, the evil that has long been swept under the rug—sexual abuse of many women by men who had power over them—has come to light. Enduring headline after headline, my heart sank when I heard proof of abuse by two men I admired. The church has not been immune to these issues.

King David faced his own reckoning. Samuel tells us that one afternoon, David “saw a woman bathing” (2 Samuel 11:2). And David wanted her. Though Bathsheba was the wife of one his loyal soldiers (Uriah), David took her anyway. When Bathsheba told David she was pregnant, he panicked. And in a despicable act of treachery, David arranged for Joab to have Uriah die on the battlefield.

There is no hiding David’s abuse of power against Bathsheba and Uriah. Here it is in full color, Samuel ensuring we see it. We must deal with our evil.

Also, we must hear these stories because they caution us against the abuse of power in our times. This was David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (Acts 13:22), but also a man who needed to be held accountable for his actions. May we also prayerfully hold leaders accountable for how they use or abuse power.

By God’s grace, redemption is possible. If we read further, we encounter David’s profound repentance (2 Samuel 12:13). Thankfully, hard hearts can still turn from death to life.

Why is it important to prayerfully address the abuse of power in our midst and in our world? How did Jesus reveal the right way to live out true power?

God, I don’t know what to do with all the brokenness I see in my world, the brokenness in me. Will You shine Your light and heal us?

INSIGHT

Uriah—Bathsheba’s husband—is listed among David’s “mighty men” (2 Samuel 23:39). He’s also identified as a Hittite (11:3), a Canaanite tribe listed consistently with the nations that Israel would conquer upon entering the promised land (Exodus 3:8). Other significant Hittites in the Old Testament include Ahimelek, another of David’s soldiers (1 Samuel 26:6); and Ephron, from whom Abraham purchased the cave in which he buried his wife Sarah (Genesis 23:2–20).

Bill Crowder

By |2019-08-12T17:13:31-04:00August 16th, 2019|
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Lincoln’s Pockets

Read: Romans 15:1–6 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 91–93; Romans 15:1–13

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Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. Romans 15:2

The night US president Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater in 1865, his pockets contained the following: two spectacles, a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a handkerchief, a leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate bill, and eight newspaper clippings, including several that praised him and his policies.

I wonder what the Confederate money was doing in the president’s pocket, but I have little doubt about the glowing news stories. Everyone needs encouragement, even a great leader like Lincoln! Can you see him, in the moments before the fateful play, perhaps reading them to his wife?

Who do you know who needs encouragement? Everyone! Look around you. There isn’t one person in your line of vision who is as confident as they seem. We’re all one failure, snide comment, or bad hair day away from self-doubt.

What if we all obeyed God’s command to “please our neighbors for their good, to build them up”? (Romans 15:2). What if we determined only to speak “gracious words” that are “sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”? (Proverbs 16:24). What if we wrote these words down, so friends could reread and savor them? Then we’d all have notes in our pockets (or on our phones!). And we’d be more like Jesus, who “did not please himself” but lived for others (Romans 15:3).

Whose words have most encouraged you? Who might need encouragement that you’ve been overlooking?

Loving God, help me to encourage others with my words, actions, and presence.

INSIGHT

In his writing to first-century believers, Paul referred to Jesus as the prime example of the kind of selfless conduct that believers in Christ should model in their relationships with each other. Twice in Romans 15:1–6, Paul directs our attention to Jesus as a pattern for our conduct (vv. 3, 5). Just as Jesus didn’t please Himself, so believers shouldn’t be only concerned with themselves but with pleasing their neighbors to build them up (vv. 1–3). Then in verse 5 Paul prays, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.” We see this same theme in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where he points to Jesus as the primary example of self-sacrificial humility (2:1–11). When Christ is the model for our attitudes and actions, others can feel safe around us because we’re His agents of encouragement.

Arthur Jackson

By |2019-08-12T17:12:31-04:00August 15th, 2019|
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The Illusion of Control

Read: James 4:13–17 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 89–90; Romans 14

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You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. James 4:14

Ellen Langer’s 1975 study titled The Illusion of Control examined the level of influence we exert over life’s events. She found that we overestimate our degree of control in most situations. The study also demonstrated how reality nearly always shatters our illusion.

Langer’s conclusions are supported by experiments carried out by others since the study was published. However, James identified the phenomenon long before she named it. In James 4, he wrote, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (vv. 13–14).

Then James provides a cure for the delusion, pointing to the One who’s in absolute control: “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (v. 15). In these few verses, James summarized both a key failing of the human condition and its antidote.

May we understand that our fate doesn’t rest in our own hands. Because God holds all things in His capable hands, we can trust His plans!

In what ways have you given in to the illusion that you’re in control of your fate? How can you turn over your plans to God and leave your future in His hands?

Heavenly Father, I place all of my life in Your loving hands. Thank You for Your good plans for me.

INSIGHT

There are reasons to believe the New Testament letter of James bears the signature of a half-brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3). Though the letter isn’t mentioned by church fathers until the third and fourth centuries, the apostle Paul wrote of meeting with James, “the Lord’s brother,” who’d become a leader of the Jerusalem church (Galatians 1:19; 2:9). Paul seems to be referring to the James who played an important role in resolving an ethnic and religious disagreement that was dividing Jesus’s followers (Acts 15:13–21). By speaking with grace and perspective, James expressed the kind of wisdom emphasized throughout the letter of James (James 1:5; 3:17).

Such calming counsel leaves us with an intriguing possibility. A younger James might have learned something from his older brother—long before describing the kind of wisdom that comes from being servants and extended family of Jesus (James 1:1; 2:1).

Visit christianuniversity.org/NT336 to learn more about the book of James.

Mart DeHaan

By |2019-08-12T17:11:35-04:00August 14th, 2019|
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Jesus in Disguise

Read: Matthew 25:31–40 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 87–88; Romans 13

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Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17

My son Geoff recently participated in a “homeless simulation.” He spent three days and two nights living on the streets of his city, sleeping outside in below freezing temperatures. Without food, money, or shelter, he relied on the kindness of strangers for his basic needs. On one of those days his only food was a sandwich, bought by a man who heard him asking for stale bread at a fast-food restaurant.

Geoff told me later it was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, yet it profoundly impacted his outlook on others. He spent the day after his “simulation” seeking out homeless people who had been kind to him during his time on the street, doing what he could to assist them in simple ways. They were surprised to discover he wasn’t actually homeless and were grateful he cared enough to try to see life through their eyes.

My son’s experience calls to mind Jesus’s words: “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. . . . Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:36, 40). Whether we give a word of encouragement or a bag of groceries, God calls us to lovingly attend to the needs of others. Our kindness to others is kindness to Him.

What little kindness can you extend to another? When have you been the recipient of another’s kindness?

Dear Jesus, help me to see You in the needs of others today and to love You by loving them.

INSIGHT

In today’s reading, Jesus invites those who are blessed by the Father to take their inheritance. Is the inheritance the blessing? The inheritance is a good thing, but perhaps the blessing is what enabled them to gain the inheritance. When Jesus explains why the inheritance is theirs, He lists their actions toward those in need. Instead of the blessing being the reward, the blessing could be what made this group compassionate to those in need as opposed to the lack of sympathy in the group that’s sent away (vv. 41–43). God’s blessing—salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit—makes us aware of the needs of others.

J.R. Hudberg

By |2019-08-12T11:41:25-04:00August 13th, 2019|
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Celebrating God’s Creativity

Read: Romans 12:3–8 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalms 84–86; Romans 12

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We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. Romans 12:6

As music filled the church auditorium, color-blind artist Lance Brown stepped onstage. He stood in front of a large white canvas, with his back to the congregation and dipped his brush into black paint. With smooth swipes, he completed a cross. Stroke after stroke with brushes and his hands, this visual storyteller created images of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. He covered the large patches of the canvas with black paint and added blue and white to finish a now abstract painting in less than six minutes. He picked up the canvas, turned it upside down, and revealed a hidden image—a compassion-filled face—Jesus.

Brown said he’d been reluctant when a friend suggested he speed-paint during a church service. Yet he now travels internationally to lead people into worship as he paints and shares Christ with others.

The apostle Paul affirms the value and purpose of the diverse gifts God has dispersed to His people. Every member of His family is equipped to glorify the Lord and build others up in love (Romans 12:3–5). Paul encourages us to identify and use our gifts to edify others and point to Jesus, serving diligently and cheerfully (vv. 6–8).

God has given each of us spiritual gifts, talents, skills, and experiences to serve wholeheartedly behind the scenes or in the forefront. As we celebrate His creativity, He uses our uniqueness to spread the gospel and build up other believers in love.

Who can you encourage to use their God-given gifts to serve others? How will you do the same?

God, thank You for Your creativity. May I reflect it today.

INSIGHT

Romans 12 marks a turning point in Paul’s letter. Previously the apostle had been explaining the work of God in salvation, describing Jesus as the second Adam who came to redeem what had been lost through our first parents’ disobedience in Eden. Now he turns his attention to the way this salvation is to be lived out by those bought by Christ’s sacrifice. It starts with the redeemed becoming a “living sacrifice” (v. 1), whose focus is on being useful to God in the lives of others. This is followed by a list of spiritual gifts to equip God’s children in service to others (vv. 3–8). Another list of spiritual gifts appears in 1 Corinthians 12:7–11, and a list of leadership roles (gifts to the church) is found in Ephesians 4:11. Through these provisions, the Spirit enables us to be useful in our spiritual service.

Bill Crowder

By |2019-08-09T16:17:04-04:00August 12th, 2019|
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