VOTD

Let’s Get Real in 2017 – VOTD.01.16.17

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

I’m always intrigued by how people introduce another person. Often it’s just along the lines of what defines their relationship to the person doing the introducing (e.g. “This is Pam, my coworker…”). Other times it gets more descriptive (e.g. “This is Bill, a man of the Word…”). Often times, the way we are introduced has more to do with what the introducer values about us than who we actually are. (e.g. “This is Suzy, she prayed for my mother who got healed.”).

So a lot of the time, we don’t have much control over how we are introduced; and that introduction maybe be different than what we would prefer to be known as.

So I ask the question: who do you want to be, when people introduce you? What would you rather be that first impression? What would you like to be known for? If you could rewrite your profile on Facebook or some other social media, what would you want it to say about yourself that would set the people you meet on the right track to knowing who you really are? (more…)

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The Culture of Sameness – VOTD.01.10.17

God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. 1 Corinthians 12:18-20

You’ve probably heard it said, “Imagine how boring the world would be if we were all the same”. And most of us would agree. It’s not a pleasant thought to imagine a world or a local church or business where everyone just like you or me.

And that’s not just because clones of you or me would be…uh, kind of weird, but also because there would be no one to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, experience, or abilities. Just as the body consists of various parts all working together to achieve different things, we Christians achieve the most for God’s Kingdom when we are being ourselves.

But it rarely works out quite that simply: Cloaked in nice spiritual terms like “we are one in the spirit” and “like-mindedness” is the idea that we all have to be in lockstep with each other or there’s ‘disunity’ or even ‘confusion’. There are scads of biblical examples where God debunks this idea. David wasn’t supposed to be in lockstep with his brothers even though he was youngest. Peter tried to press Jesus’ plan for his life on John and Jesus put him in his place. Lots of other examples exist, including Uzziah deciding to be the same as a priest…it didn’t go well for him.
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Be Who God Made You in 2017 – VOTD.01.09.17

We are being transformed into the likeness of the image of Christ; from glory to glory. This happens by the Spirit of the Lord.  2 Corinthians 3:17

You’ve probably heard the expression: “A fish out of water.” The beauty and grace we see when we watch a fish in the water is lost when you catch it and throw it up on the shore. The beauty and grace is not in the fish, it’s in the environment. Once you take the fish out of the environment God made it for, it flops around and looks clumsy.

If we are to exhibit the beauty and grace that God wants for us in 2017 we need to be in the environment He has made for us. If we go off into some other environment, we lose the beauty and grace because we weren’t made for that environment.

I’m sure you have seen people who have either left the place God has for them, or have never found the place God has for them, and they are “like fish out of water”. They never operate in the beauty and grace that God has for them because they’re up on the shore flopping around trying to survive in a hostile ecosystem. (more…)

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Hope in the Word, 2017 – VOTD.01.03.17

For whatever things were written before were written to instruct us, so that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4

One of the points of these meditations which come to you each week is that “through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures (we) might have hope.” Yes, Bible teaching (like reading the Bible) is supposed to give us hope…and it does.

For example, we can turn to God’s breathtaking promises in His Word like this one: “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (Heb 13:5-6). There are times in life when being reminded of God’s faithfulness can make all the difference between hope and despair.

We can follow the example of those in Psalm 107. This psalm recounts all the troubles of people without any hope at all. In each case, “They cried out to the Lord in their trouble” and He delivered them (vv 4-6, 13, 19).

In His Word, God “has given us his exceedingly great and precious promises” (2 Pet 1:4) both for now and for the future. Knowing how God has worked with people in the past and His promises for the future can encourage us and give us hope. (more…)

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Hope for 2017 – VOTD.01.02.17

“Be very careful then, how you live—not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (Eph 5:15-17)

Happy New Year, 2017. Some of us have had an awesome 2016 and are hoping for even better next year. Some of us have been beaten up this past year—we’re excited about a new start—to press the reset button. In today’s verse, Paul has a few thoughts on new starts. If one year from now we’re going to look back on 2017 as a good year, there are a few things we might want to consider:

“Be very careful then, how you live”. Some things we’ll bring on ourselves in 2017, and some things will be unavoidable. This is true of joys as well as problems. For the things we bring on ourselves, “live—not as unwise, but as wise”. Living wisely is simply living in such a way that we minimize the regrets we will be experiencing a year (or years) from now. Do that and many of the “unavoidable” problems in 2017 will be less severe, or maybe even dodged completely. When we live wisely, unanticipated blessings will find us.

“Making the most of every opportunity”. Whether we’re faced with blessings or problems— Either way, we don’t squander the opportunities God puts in our lives. We change the things that we can change, and trust God in those unavoidable problems:
•       we trust Him to be with us (Matt 28:20)
•       we trust him to be working it all for the good (Rom 8:28)
•       we trust Him to see us through (2 Thes 3:3) (more…)

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Overflowing with Hope – VOTD.12.27.16

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Let me start out with a question: Do you know anyone who is overflowing with hope? I don’t mean do you know any optimists. That’s altogether different. Someone who’s overflowing with hope is a person whose life is firmly planted in the joy and peace that comes from God as they trust Him. That’s what today’s verse is telling us.

Our hope is not in a specific thing or a specific result. Our hope is not even in what we hope God will do. Our hope is in God Himself. And that is an important distinction between optimism and biblical hope. We trust Him even if our life events may not be what we expected or desired. We walk in the certainty that God will prove Himself faithful to us, and that He will not disappoint us (Is 49:23).

One caution: this doesn’t mean that God’s goodness and faithfulness are always conspicuous and unambiguous. We may be afflicted, but we will not be crushed; We may be confused, but we will not be not driven to despair (2 Cor 4:8-9).

“The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” Lam 3:25
“The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” Ps 147:11

Sometimes it’s only in retrospect that we can see how God has been caring for us, providing for us, protecting us. Sometimes when we’re right in the thick of things, we can’t see any evidence of God working at all. But if we continue to trust Him, to place our hope in Him, He says we will not be disappointed. “Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (Is 49:23).

So where does this kind of hope come from? Let’s be real. It’s one thing to say, “put your hope in God.” It’s another to actually do it, especially when the pressure is high and our circumstances look hopeless. Where do we get the faith we need to do this? Faith comes from God (Eph 2:8). We have to go to Him to get the faith we need to place our hope in Him. (more…)

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The Hope for the Hopeless – VOTD.12.26.16

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2

Christianity is all about hope. It is a faith that looks forward to the future, to the time when God’s promises will be fulfilled. That was true for God’s people prior to Jesus’ birth, as they looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah. It’s true of us today as we look forward to the return of Jesus. Our faith is a future-focused faith…it’s all about hope.

That doesn’t mean Christianity has no relevance to the here and now. Paradoxically, our focus on “things above” allows us to live this life here-and-now to the fullest. It enables us to be servants in a world that is in desperate need. It gives us the perspective and the pace of God as we live in and among the multitudes of needs – around us and in distant places.

I’m tempted to end this meditation right there. Because hope is the bottom line. And I would stop right here except for one thing: Hope is not automatic. In fact, sometimes hope is very difficult.

Sometimes our circumstances seem anything but hopeful; sometimes things can seem totally hopeless. We’ve all faced situations where there seems to be little objective reason for hope—in our jobs, in our churches, in our homes… Some of us are facing seemingly hopeless medical or financial problems. Sometimes it’s so tempting to give up hope. To keep from throwing in the towel is emotionally painful.

So how do we stay hopeful in the midst of disappointment and difficulty? How do we keep from being completely overwhelmed by trials and pain? How do we maintain an attitude of hope when everything in us wants to yield to despair? (more…)

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The Hope of His Coming – VOTD.12.20.16

We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son… to redeem those under the law. Galatians 4:3-5

We don’t have to read very far into the Bible to find out that we have 2 big problems:

1. We all sin—we all do destructive and unloving things. Today’s verse calls that “slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world”.
2. None of us measures up to the glory that God planned for us walk in.

This situation would be bad enough all by itself, but we discover in our own experience and the experience of people written about in the Bible, that sin separates us from God who is our only hope, it produces misery in our own lives in in the lives of others. And we have no successful solution to this problem.

God, however, has a solution. As we read through the Old Testament, we find promise after promise that God made concerning how He was going to save people from the mess that sin makes in our lives. His goal is to restore us to the glory that He had planned for us.

His plan: He would send a Savior. (more…)

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The Hope of Christmas – VOTD.12.19.16

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Arguably, the best-known story in the Bible is the birth of Jesus. Why? Because in a biblically illiterate society, most people have seen Charlie Brown’s Christmas special that comes on TV each year. In it, Linus quotes a large portion of Luke 2’s account of the Jesus birth. Crazy, yet it’s all part of how God has chosen to reveal Himself.

It’s been more than 30 years since I saw Charlie Browns Christmas special, but I remember it’s simple theme: Charlie Brown is discouraged by how Christmas celebration panders to the materialistic spirit of selfish and entitlement-demanding people around him. He’s given up hope, when Linus recites the words of Luke 2. The show ends with hope being restored.

Hope is a fragile thing. When life disappoints us, our hope can be replaced by feelings of discouragement and hopelessness. Hopelessness turns into cynicism and pessimism, believing there is nothing in which we can confidently hope. (more…)

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Kindness: the Bottom Line – VOTD.12.13.16

You will know them by their fruits…A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit…Thus you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Matthew 7:16-20

One of the things I hope readers walk away from this series on Kindness with is that Kindness is not so much random acts as it is a radical lifestyle.

And I must admit that when I first started to write about Christian kindness, I was concerned it might come across as touchy-feely, like a down pillow with no substance at the core. Yes, kindness has a firm center and that center is Jesus (will of my Father in heaven). But it also has soft edges.

The fact is, too often we see Christians displaying soft centers and hard edges. When Christians have hard edges, you can be sure that those edges are there to protect a soft understanding of the Christian faith, a weak relationship with Jesus…or none at all. If you read today’s verse in context, that latter conclusion is inescapable.

Yes, our actions really do display the reality at the core of our lives. By their fruits you shall know them. Good beliefs are a wonderful thing, but they never walk alone. If our good beliefs aren’t accompanied by the fruit of kindness, then our beliefs aren’t good after all. They resemble the clanging gong Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 13.

It’s been said before, the branches of an apple tree do not try to produce apples; they produce apples because they’re attached to an apple tree. Same with Christians. We are kind because we’re attached to the right tree: Jesus. (more…)

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