John 15:12-15

In all of God’s creation, just one thing did not meet with His approval. He looked upon Adam, who was the only being of his kind, and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). The Creator designed people for emotional, mental, and physical intimacy so they’d be able to share their innermost selves with one another.

Jesus explained this to His disciples, saying they should love each other as He had loved them. In a God-honoring friendship, two people build each other up and spur one another toward Christlikeness. Many people, however, fall far short of making and maintaining relationships that sharpen their faith (Prov. 27:17). They instead welcome the trivial talk of casual acquaintances: the weather, tough bosses, and world affairs are safe topics. Sadly, believers often shy away from the penetrating conversations about sin, accountability, and biblical living that would serve to enrich their faith.

Strong relationships begin with men and women who decide to risk their pride and comfort in order to love as Jesus does. They recognize that friends are meant to motivate one another toward holiness. In a friendship of mutual trust and submission, two people will confess sin, offer gentle reproof, and share burdens.

The walls we build to keep people at a distance are often defenses against God as well: we don’t want Him too close to our most personal business. But as believers learn to share openly and freely with a brother or sister in Christ, they develop the capacity to be more honest with God.

 “The most important thing to be said about awards,” an anonymous voice once uttered, “is that Mozart never got one.” The statement draws into sharp distinction the often-troublesome quality about recognition: sometimes the most deserving candidates for praise are overlooked. (And the victim we notice most often is usually ourselves!) 

 By the age of six, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an accomplished performer and a promising composer.  In his lifetime he was commissioned to compose an opera, made a member of an honorary knightly order by the Pope, and was given membership by the Accademia Filarmonica despite their policy requiring candidates to be 20 years old. But he was not rewarded with the pomp and circumstance we might imagine for someone of his rare giftedness. He was not given a lifetime achievement award or presented with anything remotely comparable to a Grammy. Close to destitute at the time of his death, Mozart was given a third-class funeral. 

 Throughout the gospels Jesus can be heard reminding disciples, crowds, and Pharisees that the most important thing to remember about the things we do is that there is almost always a motive for recognition behind it. “When you give to the needy,” he told them, “do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets.”(1) Significantly, he makes the same comment regarding prayer, and also about fasting.  

 In each example Jesus offers, he doesn’t tell us that the human hope for recognition is wrong. On the contrary, he explains that within our hope, we can seek to be honored by humanity or seek something more lasting. Regarding those who make certain their actions are known and admired by the right people, Jesus explains that they have essentially received their reward in full. But if when giving to the needy, being the bigger person, putting another before yourself, he notes, you “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”(2) Where the motive is the honor of God and not personal recognition or gain, we store up something that can neither be destroyed nor stolen, something far more weighty than notoriety, wealth, or praise.

 And yet, as the thought of an award-less Mozart reminds us, labor unnoticed, hard work unappreciated, and fruit unseen are sometimes disturbing realities. The promising rewards of the wisdom of Jesus seem to promise an uncomfortably delayed response. 

 Here, the weariness that might come from not seeing the fruit of our laboring, the results of our fervent prayer, or our life’s greatest efforts is a reality we must wrestle with—and not alone. The prophet Isaiah once lamented, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” Isaiah was further comforted by God’s response to this recognition of reward in the hands of a greater giver: “Yes, kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”(3)

 In Isaiah’s efforts to serve God and people, though he struggled with a nation that did not honor him, he was reminded that God was the one delving out the better gifts. Though it seemed his efforts were in vain, there was yet a purpose, whether he would see it in the time and fashion he hoped for or not. Fruit would come; a different hope would unexpectedly surface; and God would be glorified in his decision to labor for heaven. So it is with those who choose to follow after lesser titles for the sake of a greater bestower. Thus as another laborer warns, “Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.”(4) Perhaps the most important thing to be said about awards is that we are looking to things unseen—great and unsearchable gifts from one who knows you better than any Grammy can attest.

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
 (1) Matthew 6:2. 
(2) Matthew 6:2-4.
(3) Isaiah 49:4, 7.
(4) 2 John 1:8

 Morning “The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.” / Isaiah 37:22

Reassured by the Word of the Lord, the poor trembling citizens of Zion grew

bold, and shook their heads at Sennacherib’s boastful threats. Strong faith

enables the servants of God to look with calm contempt upon their most haughty

foes. We know that our enemies are attempting impossibilities. They seek to

destroy the eternal life, which cannot die while Jesus lives; to overthrow the

citadel, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. They kick against

the pricks to their own wounding, and rush upon the bosses of Jehovah’s

buckler to their own hurt.

 We know their weakness. What are they but men? And what is man but a worm?

They roar and swell like waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. When

the Lord ariseth, they shall fly as chaff before the wind, and be consumed as

crackling thorns. Their utter powerlessness to do damage to the cause of God

and his truth, may make the weakest soldiers in Zion’s ranks laugh them to

scorn.

 Above all, we know that the Most High is with us, and when he dresses himself

in arms, where are his enemies? If he cometh forth from his place, the

potsherds of the earth will not long contend with their Maker. His rod of iron

shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, and their very remembrance

shall perish from the earth. Away, then, all fears, the kingdom is safe in the

King’s hands. Let us shout for joy, for the Lord reigneth, and his foes shall

be as straw for the dunghill.

 “As true as God’s own word is true;

 Nor earth, nor hell, with all their crew,

 Against us shall prevail.

 A jest, and by-word, are they grown;

 God is with us, we are his own,

 Our victory cannot fail.”

 

Evening “Why go I mourning?” / Psalm 42:9

 Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so

often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who

told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of

circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues

of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy

discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to

deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day

follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed

winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not

know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in

darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God’s love is as true to thee now

as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates

the rod as much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which

should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting

good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob’s ladder with the angels, and behold him who

sits at the top of it–thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours

of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God

who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in

the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make

the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine

exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then

“forever with the Lord,” thy bliss shall never wane.

 “Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,

 He changeth not, and thou art dear;

 Only believe and thou shalt see,

 That Christ is all in all to thee.”

And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?   Jeremiah 2:18 

By different miracles, by various mercies, by strange deliverances Jehovah had proved Himself to be worthy of Israel’s trust. Yet they broke down the hedges with which God had enclosed them as a sacred garden; they forsook their own true and living God and followed after false gods. Constantly the Lord reproved them for this infatuation, and our text displays God’s remonstrating with them, “And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?” “Why are you wandering and leaving your own cool stream? Why do you forsake Jerusalem and turn aside to the wasteland? Why are you so strangely set on mischief that you cannot be content with what is good and healthy, but instead chase after what is evil and deceitful?” Is there not here a word of exposition and warning to the Christian?

O true believer, called by grace and washed in the precious blood of Jesus, you have tasted a better drink than the muddy river of this world’s pleasure. You have fellowship with Christ; you have obtained the joy of seeing Jesus and resting in His loving embrace. Do the trifles, the songs, the honors, the merriment of this earth content you after that? Have you eaten the bread of angels, and can you live on scraps?

Good Rutherford once said, “I have tasted of Christ’s own manna, and it has put my mouth out of taste for the brown bread of this world’s joys.” I think it should be so with you. If you are wandering after the waters of Egypt, O return quickly to the one living fountain: The waters of the Nile may be sweet to the Egyptians, but they will prove only bitterness to you. What have you to do with them? Jesus asks you this question this evening—what will you answer Him?

Family Reading Plan Jeremiah 16   Mark 2