But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.—Romans 8:25 (NIV)
Times of waiting can be challenging exercises that build your trust in God’s perfect plan. Allow patience to shape your character, teaching you perseverance and faith. Embrace this season as an opportunity for growth and preparation.
Heavenly Father, grant me the grace to embrace the waiting season as an opportunity for spiritual growth, knowing that You are working behind the scenes.
You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:3
Today’s Scripture
Listen to Today’s Devotional
Today’s Insights
Poverty and the mistreatment of the poor by the wealthy and powerful might be part of what James has in mind by “trials” and “testing of your faith” (James 1:2-3). In verses 9-12, he encourages “believers in humble circumstances . . . to take pride in their high position,” suggesting God is with the poor, while emphasizing “the rich will fade away” (v. 11). James warned against showing favoritism to wealthy persons: “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith . . . ?” (2:5). “Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?” (v. 6). As we grow in Christ, He’ll help us avoid favoritism.
Today’s Devotional
Four of us hiked through the beautiful Watkins Glen Gorge in New York. At times we stood together in awe as we gazed in wonder at waterfalls and two-hundred-foot cliffs. Other times, we had to stop to catch our breath and rest our hurting legs as we climbed wet rocks and endless steps. When we neared the top, a hiker heading back down said, “You’ve got only 10 steps to go of your 832.” Maybe it was best we hadn’t known how difficult the journey would be because we might have stayed back and missed the beauty of it all.
The journey of life has difficult steps too. Jesus and Paul warned believers about trouble and persecution (John 16:33; 2 Timothy 3:12), and this requires some perspective. James said, “Consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Why pure joy instead of pure agony? God knows and we “know that the testing of [our] faith produces perseverance” (v. 3). But to what end? So that we may be “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v. 4).
If we’ll stop and look, despite the pain, we may see the beautiful strength of character God is producing in us and those around us. And we’ll learn to appreciate the truth that one day we’ll “receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (v. 12). Let’s keep climbing together.
Reflect & Pray
What troubles are you facing? You might not see it yet, but which character traits could God want to grow in you?
Thank You, God, that You understand everything going on in my life and have good plans for me.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 (AMP)
We want things to work out in our lives in certain ways, but experience teaches us that we don’t always get what we want. We have a plan for the day, and suddenly something unexpected and unwanted happens—and our plan must change. At times like this, we can choose to trust God or to be upset.
Since being upset won’t change anything, why waste time doing it? Choose to trust that God can work out the change for your good and do something even better than what you had planned. Ask Him for anything you want to ask Him for but trust Him to give you what is best.
Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for directing my life according to Your plan, not mine. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Why the biggest story is not always the most important story
When Hurricane Helene swept through much of the East Coast six months ago, it left a trail of destruction that has continued to haunt those caught in its path. While some have been able to rebuild what was lost, the relative isolation of many western North Carolina towns slowed such progress. And, as Jesse Pierre reports, “Few places were hit as hard as Chimney Rock Village.”
Fortunately, they’re on their way back, thanks in part to a rather unexpected source.
Great Needs Trust is one of the groups that has been on the ground to help rebuild the town, and their workers are easy to spot both for the effectiveness of their work and … for other reasons.
You see, the men and women from Great Needs Trust hail from the Amish country of Lancaster, PA, a fact made evident by their dress and approach to the work that needs to be done in Chimney Rock. As Amanda Zook described, “We wanted to help the people with the disaster. Our hearts just felt drawn to come help the people in this area.”
Amos Stoltzfus, another volunteer, added, “It just fills my heart with joy, watching people get their life back again.”
In addition to their work in Chimney Rock, volunteers from the organization have also helped build tiny homes for those displaced by the hurricane throughout much of western North Carolina. And, as Pierre points out, “The volunteers are not just restoring buildings, they’re also restoring a sense of community.”
The true significance of breaking news
You may be wondering why I would start today’s article by highlighting the work of Amish volunteers in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina when the war in Ukraine, tariffs, and the Pope’s passing continue to dominate the news. Those are genuinely important stories and worth following. However, just because something is making headlines doesn’t mean that anything has really changed.
The latest updates on the war in Ukraine, for example, essentially mean that we’re still at the same place as when I wrote about it back in February, with the most significant shift that Trump’s threats to end support for Ukraine may be closer to coming to fruition should the peace process continue to bear little to no fruit.
Likewise, while the trade war in China has shown signs of shifting in recent days—and the stock market has responded well to that hope—the reality is that nothing of substance is all that different than it was last week or last month. There is still a massive amount of uncertainty regarding what the future will bring, and most of the market movements are based more on hopes and fears than reality.
And that is equally true for the reported ninety-plus nations trying to negotiate new trade deals with the US. Even as those deals start to be made, their actual implications for the global economy will remain all but impossible to determine until they are given time to go into effect.
Pope Francis’s funeral will be held at the Vatican tomorrow, with leaders from around the world in attendance and millions—if not billions—of others watching from home. But it will likely be weeks or months before the papal conclave chooses the Catholic Church’s next leader. And, if the past is any indication, there will be at least a few significant surprises in that process along the way.
The truth is, most of these news stories will play out in ways that will impact us, but we have little ability to impact them. Yet, as the story of the Amish volunteers demonstrates, the best way to advance God’s kingdom on earth is to keep our focus and energy on the parts of our lives where we can make a difference.
What is your Chimney Rock?
Our inability to influence the outcome doesn’t mean God wants us to ignore what’s going on with Ukraine, tariffs, the pope, or any of the other headlines out there today. However, it is crucial that we don’t allow the news—and, more specifically, the fear and angst it can generate—to make us ignore God, either.
Toward the end of Christ’s ministry, his disciples pulled him aside and asked what signs would precede the end times (Matthew 24:5–9). Across the nearly two millennia since, Jesus’s response has resulted in far too many attempts to find evidence of his return in the news of the day. But Jesus didn’t tell us what signs to look for so that we could then spend all our time focused on seeking them out.
Instead, he shared that teaching about false prophets, wars and rumors of war, famine, and natural disasters to give them—and, by extension, us—hope and encouragement that there are really only two ways such troubling events can end. Either they will pass, or they will result in his return, and both outcomes are good news for us.
As I wrote in Between Compromise and Courage, “God’s goal is that when the world seems like it’s falling apart, his people won’t. Instead, we should continue to share the gospel and proclaim Jesus is Lord as we prepare for the day when Christ will return and remove all doubt as to the truth of that statement.”
So where is God calling you to make a difference today? What is your Chimney Rock?
How you answer those questions will have a far more significant impact on your life and the lives of those around you than any of the stories dominating headlines today, and our priorities need to reflect that reality.
Do yours?
Quote of the day:
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” —Francis Chan
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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
The conflict between flesh and spirit is a frequent theme in Scripture, beginning way back in the antediluvian period: “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3). The “flesh,” of course, refers to the physical body with all its feelings and appetites, while man’s “spirit” refers especially to his spiritual nature with its ability to understand and communicate in terms of spiritual and moral values, along with its potential ability to have fellowship with God.
Because of sin, however, the natural man is spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). When the flesh dominates, even the apostle Paul would have to say, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). This aspect of human nature became so dominant in the antediluvian world that “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12), and God had to wash the world clean with the Flood.
Now, however, the substitutionary death of Christ brings salvation and spiritual life to all who receive Him by the Holy Spirit. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:10-11). By the Lord Jesus Christ, the human spirit is made alive right now through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the body’s resurrection is promised when Christ returns.
“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh.” The daily challenge to the believer is this: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). HMM
Be prepared in season and out of season. — 2 Timothy 4:2
In this verse, the word season doesn’t refer to a time of year; it refers to our emotional state. To be prepared “in season and out of season” is to be ready whether we feel like it or not. If we only ever do what we feel like doing, we may do nothing, forever and ever. There are unemployables in the spiritual domain—spiritually decrepit people who refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that we are rightly related to God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.
One of the great dangers is making a fetish of rare moments. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, do you say, “Now I’ll always be like this”? You won’t; God will make sure of it. Such times are entirely a gift from him. You can’t give them to yourself. If you say that your plan is always to be your best, you become an intolerable burden on God. It’s as though you’re telling him that you’ll never do anything unless he keeps you consciously inspired.
If you make a god of your times of inspiration, the Lord God will fade out of your life and never come back—not until you do the duty that lies nearest. This is how you show him you’ve committed to doing his will, in season and out.
Wisdom from Oswald
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
We . . . offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name.
—Hebrews 13:15 (TLB)
Jesus knew that one of the real tests of our yieldedness to God is our willingness to share with others. If we have no mercy toward others, that is one proof that we have never experienced God’s mercy. Emerson must have been reading the gauge of human mercy when he said, “What you are speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” Satan does not care how much you theorize about Christianity, or how much you profess to know Christ. What he opposes vigorously is the way you live Christ.
Some time ago a lady wrote and said, “I am 65 years old. My children are all married, my husband is dead, and I am one of the loneliest people in all the world.” It was suggested to her that she find a way of sharing her religious faith and her material goods with those around her. She wrote a few weeks later and said, “I am the happiest woman in town. I have found a new joy and happiness in sharing with others.” That’s exactly what Jesus promised!
Read and share these four simple steps to sharing your faith.
Prayer for the day
There is no greater joy, Father, than sharing Your love. Help me to convey this in all my dealings with others.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.—Psalm 1:3 (NIV)
Like a tree, you are rooted in the soil of experiences, drawing nourishment from God’s Word and His love. Even in the face of storms and harsh weather, remember that your roots in faith keep you grounded. Let the image of a strong, resilient tree serve as a reminder of your strength and potential for growth.
Lord, guide me to be like the tree, rooted in Your word, bearing fruits of love, patience, and kindness.
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13
Today’s Scripture
Today’s Insights
The book of Proverbs is followed by Ecclesiastes, yet the two seem to conflict with each other. Proverbs provides advice for living and assumes a good outcome if we live by its counsel. In contrast, Ecclesiastes says, “The righteous . . . get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked . . . get what the righteous deserve” (8:14). But Proverbs and Ecclesiastes aren’t in conflict. These two books are wisdom literature and communicate general truth. For example, when Peter advises husbands to treat their wives with “respect . . . so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Peter 3:7), he affirms the principle in Proverbs 28:9: “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.” Similarly, the principle of Proverbs 28:13 that “whoever conceals their sins does not prosper” is seen in Acts, where concealing sin cost Ananias and Sapphira their lives (5:1-11). And the writer of Ecclesiastes noted, “I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him” (8:12).
Today’s Devotional
Hidden and ignored sources of toxins can have severe consequences. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, telecom companies have left behind more than two thousand lead-covered cables across the United States. The toxic lead runs underwater, “in the soil, and on poles overhead.” As the lead deteriorates, it ends up in places where people “live, work, and play.” Many telecom companies, some of which have known for years about the dangers of toxic exposure, are taking the potential risk of lead leaching into the environment very seriously.
The toxin of unconfessed and unaddressed sin can also pose serious consequences in our lives. When a person sins, there’s a natural tendency to try to cover up or conceal it from God and others. But it’s foolish to indulge in things that go against Him and His “instruction” (Proverbs 28:9)—attempting to ignore, hide, or excuse them. As the writer reveals, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (v. 13).
When we confess our sins to God, Scripture reveals that He will purify us from them in His abundant grace: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive . . . and purify us” (1 John 1:9). So let’s ask God to help us honestly confess our sins before the toxins leach into our hearts and into the lives of others.
Reflect & Pray
When are you tempted to conceal your sin? What are the consequences of doing so?
Dear God, please help me to confess my sins honestly and forsake them completely.
Discover how Proverbs invites us to carefully and deliberately consider the words on the page as we look for the character of God behind those words.
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.
Ephesians 4:26 (NIV)
No one will ever reach a point in life where they don’t experience a wide variety of feelings. One of those is anger. Being angry causes many people to feel guilt and condemnation because they have the false idea that Christians should not be angry but be peaceful all the time.
Yet the Bible doesn’t teach that we are never to feel anger. It teaches that when we do get angry, we are not to sin. Rather, we are to manage or control our anger properly.
God gave me a revelation about this verse one time when I had been angry at my husband, Dave, as I was about to leave home to go preach. Guilt and condemnation whispered to me, How can you go out and preach to others after getting so angry this morning?
Of course, I was still angry, so even that question bothered me. But God caused me to understand that anger is just an emotion. Like all emotions, God gave it to us for a reason. Without the capacity to become angry, we would never know when someone mistreats us. We feel appropriate indignation when others suffer injustice. Without anger, we wouldn’t be moved to act or take a stand against wrongdoing and evil. Anger, like pain, is there to warn us that something is wrong. This motivates us to try to make it right or improve the situation.
As with all emotions, Satan tries to use and abuse our anger and lead us into sin. But we have the power to resist him.
Prayer of the Day: Help me, God, to manage my anger wisely, in a positive way so I will not sin. Show me how to manage my emotions in a way that honors You.
The path to courage that changes the culture
Child psychologist Allan Josephson received one of the American Psychiatric Association’s highest awards while serving as chair of the University of Louisville’s Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology. In 2017, he said at a Heritage Foundation panel, “Transgender ideology . . . is neglectful of the need for developing coping skills and problem-solving skills in children.”
For his comments, he was forced to resign as division chair. According to a lawsuit he filed, the university reduced his salary, retirement benefits, and academic travel funds before eventually choosing not to renew his contract, effectively terminating his position. He sued the university, alleging that they violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Dr. Josephson will receive a $1.6 million settlement from the university this week.
China bans foreign mission activity
I was in Hong Kong some years ago. On my first morning, I exited my hotel, turned left into the coming stream of pedestrians, and was nearly run over by the mass of humanity rushing the other way. I quickly learned to find my “lane” of intended direction and strayed from it at my peril.
Going the right way when the crowd is going the other way is always dangerous.
For those who truly follow Jesus, it has ever been thus.
The Chinese Communist Party is banning foreign missionary activity, effective May 1. Foreigners will be prohibited from “preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval.” Non-Chinese citizens will be forbidden from recruiting Chinese citizens as religious followers. In addition, foreign clergy can preach only if officially invited by state-sanctioned religious institutions, and all preaching content must receive prior government approval.
On a speaking trip to Beijing some years ago, I met underground church pastors who risk their families and their futures daily to share God’s word. I have prayed for them often and can only hope I would have their courage in their circumstances.
Paul warned his fellow believers that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22); “tribulations” translates the Greek word for a massive weight used to crush grain into flour. Jesus used the same word when he predicted, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33a).
However, our Lord then added: “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (v. 33b). “Take heart” could be translated, “have courage.” The Greek tense translated “I have overcome” states an accomplished fact with ongoing relevance. We could render his phrase, “I have overcome the world and am still overcoming it today.”
What happens “when people renounce lies”
Faithful Christians in communist countries face prison and worse. In the post-Christian West, the threat is less obvious but no less real.
Like the church in northwest England spray-painted with lewd images, obscene phrases, and the statement, “God is a lie,” Christ-followers face an ongoing mass of humanity rushing headlong into secularism. Its destructive consequences are all around us, from the epidemic of pornography to plummeting life satisfaction to the threat of loneliness to discouragement exacerbated by the daily news.
Ironically, the attack on the British church came on Good Friday.
If we wish to experience Jesus’ overcoming victory in a culture blinded by “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14), our first step is to follow Dr. Josephson’s example.
On February 12, 1974, the dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested by the Soviets. That same day, he had released the text of his now-famed address, “Live Not By Lies.” In it, he identified “the simplest, most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies!” (his italics). He added, “Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!” (his italics).
He explained:
This is the way to break out of the imaginary encirclement of our inertness, the easiest way for us and the most devastating for the lies. For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a person.
“The secret of the worker’s life”
To find the courage to refuse the lies of our culture, we need to love our Father more than we love our world. In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis (1380–1471) observed, “If God were our one and only desire, we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.”
How, then, do we make God our “one and only desire”?
We begin by remembering how much he loves us (1 John 4:19). Pope Francis, whose body is now lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of Saturday’s funeral mass, urged us in his last book, “Allow me to share the most fundamental truth with you: God loves you. . . . You are, in all situations, infinitely loved.”
Then we respond with the counselor’s adage: Act into feeling. If you loved God more than you do, what would you do?
The more time we spend with our Lord, the more his Spirit inculcates in us a desire for time with him. The more we worship him, the more we find ourselves wanting to worship him. The more we experience his presence in prayer and solitude, the more we yearn for his presence through prayer and solitude.
Oswald Chambers noted,
“The secret of the worker’s life is that he keeps in tune with God all the time.”
And the Holy Spirit infuses us with the courage of Christ in refusing the lies of our culture and testifying to the truth of the gospel.
Prior to Pentecost, Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69–75). But after he joined believers who were “devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14) and was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), he courageously told the same men who condemned Jesus, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
With this result: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (v. 13).
Will people recognize that you have “been with Jesus” today?
Quote for the day:
“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A. A. Hodge
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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.
“Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43:13)
This is one of the classic “archaisms” of the King James Version, where the English word “let” does not mean “allow” (as we now use the word) but almost the exact opposite. This particular English word was originally written and pronounced “lat” and was from the same Teutonic root as the word “late.” Thus, to our Old English ancestors, it meant essentially “make late,” or “hinder.” Note its similar use in the King James in Romans 1:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
However, the Hebrew word (shub) from which it is translated in the verse of our text is extremely flexible, being rendered no less than 115 different ways in the Old Testament and occurring about 1,150 times altogether, with the context controlling its meaning in any given case.
In this context, the great theme is that of God as omnipotent Creator and only Savior. The first occurrence of shub, however, is at the time of the primeval Curse on the creation, implanted in the very dust of the earth because of Adam’s sin. To Adam, God had said, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). Here, shub is twice rendered “return,” and this is the way it is most often translated in its later occurrences.
God therefore challenges every man: “When I work, who can return anything [or anyone] to its [or his] prior condition?” Though none can deliver out of His hand, or “make late” His work, He has promised to be our Savior “and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:11, 25). When it is time for God to do His work—whether of creation or judgment or salvation—there is no one in all His creation who can “make it late”! HMM
Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. — Luke 10:20
As Christian disciples, worldliness isn’t our snare; sin isn’t our snare. Our snare—the thing that threatens to entrap us—is a lack of spiritual discipline. If we are spiritually undisciplined, we shamelessly strive to fit in with the religious age we live in, drawn by the lure of spiritual “success.”
Never court anything besides the approval of God. Take yourself “outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:13). Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercial viewpoint, tallying up how many souls have been saved and sanctified on our watch. We forget that our work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace. Our work is to disciple lives until they are entirely given over to God. One life wholly devoted to God is more valuable to him than a hundred lives reawakened by his Spirit. God brings his disciples to a standard of life by his grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.
Unless we are living a life hidden with Christ in God, we are likely to become irritating dictators instead of indwelling disciples. Many of us are dictators. We dictate when we pray and when we preach, telling God what he must do, telling others how they must be. Jesus never dictated. When Jesus talked about discipleship, he prefaced it with an “if,” not with a “must” (Matthew 16:24 kjv). Discipleship carries an option with it.
Wisdom from Oswald
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.
The Place of Help
Because I live, ye shall live also.
—John 14:19
For personal Christianity, the resurrection is all-important. There is a vital interrelation to the existence of Christianity itself, as well as to the individual believer, in the message of the Gospel. The Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, said, “Do you want to believe in the living Christ? We may believe in Him only if we believe in His corporeal resurrection. This is the content of the New Testament. We are always free to reject it, but not to modify it, nor to pretend that the New Testament tells something else. We may accept or refuse the message, but we may not change it.” Christianity as a system of truth collapses if the resurrection is rejected. That Jesus rose from the dead is one of the foundation stones of our faith.
Prayer for the day
Lord, let me live today with the constant thought that You are alive!
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.—Isaiah 59:2 (NIV)
Is anything creating distance between you and God? Pay attention to areas in your life that are separating you and take steps to overcome them. By making Him your priority and asking for His help, you can remove any blocks that are obstructing your relationship.
Dear Lord, help me release the things that hinder my faith journey.
Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? Matthew 18:33
Today’s Scripture
Today’s Insights
Throughout Matthew 18, Jesus used extreme examples to make His point—become like a child to be deemed “greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 4); cut off your hand or foot to keep from sinning (v. 8). In this parable of the man who owed “ten thousand bags of gold” (v. 24), Bible commentator John D. Barry notes the monumental size of the debt: roughly 150,000 years of wages. Christ’s point is that our sin is a debt we can’t possibly repay. Since we’ve been forgiven such a great sum, our own willingness to forgive others is to be likewise limitless.
Today’s Devotional
In the animated movie Toy Story, a child’s toys come to life whenever he leaves the room or falls asleep. One character, a space ranger named Buzz Lightyear, shouts his signature catchphrase while flying about the bedroom: “To infinity and beyond!”
It’s a phrase that has confused many. Isn’t infinity as far as you can go? How can there be anything “beyond” infinity? Drawing on wisdom from ancient Greek philosophers, mathematician Ian Stewart suggests that what is beyond infinity are yet bigger infinities. On and on and on.
Jesus seems to employ such exponential effort in the realm of forgiveness. When Peter asked Jesus about forgiving another person, “How many times must I forgive him . . . seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22 ncv). Jesus goes on to tell a parable comparing a merciful king and an unmerciful servant, making the point that when someone truly regrets their error, there is no limit to the number of times we’re to forgive. We’re to forgive others the way God forgives us (v. 33). Over and over, on and on.
That may seem impossible to us. That’s why we constantly need to ask God for His help.
Only in His strength can we do this. Forgiven people forgive people. To infinity and beyond!
Reflect & Pray
Who longs for your forgiveness? What does it mean to forgive another in a way that honors them and God?
Dear Father, please help me to be as generous and wise with forgiveness as You are.
Hear more on how finding the strength to forgive others can bring you peace.
For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.
Isaiah 64:4 (AMPC)
The Holy Spirit will lead us into amazing exploits in prayer if we simply ask Him what to pray, wait for Him to answer, and then obey. We are unwise if we say we don’t have time to wait on God and allow Him to speak to us and lead us as we pray. We will wait 45 minutes for a table at a restaurant but say we do not have time to wait on God. When we wait on God, turning our hearts toward Him for direction, we honor Him. By our willingness to wait He knows that we want His will and that we are dependent upon Him for guidance. We save a lot of time by turning our hearts toward God and waiting on Him.
As the verse for today says, God shows Himself active on behalf of those who wait on Him. Start your prayers by simply saying, “I love you Lord and I wait on you for direction in my prayers today.” Then begin to pray what is in your heart rather than what is in your own mind or will. I was recently praying for someone to do a certain thing that I knew they needed to do, but God showed me that I needed to pray for them to develop discipline because the lack of it was affecting many areas of their life. I would have prayed for the one area I saw, but God saw much more deeply than I did. Another time I was praying for someone concerning some problem behavior that I saw, but God showed me that the root of their problem was self-rejection and that I needed to pray for them to know how much God loved them. You can see that we often pray for what we see, but God will lead us deeper if we will wait on Him.
A good way to start each day would be to pray for Jesus to gently guide you in the way He would have you go and to help you hear and obey His voice.
Prayer of the Day: Father God, I ask for Your direction in my prayers. Help me wait on You and trust Your guidance, and please help me to always know that You will show me the deeper needs to pray for, amen.
Why “Americans haven’t found a satisfying alternative to religion”
“Credentialed experts, especially those in the fields of epidemiology and public health . . . tied themselves to badly flawed theories, closed their minds to new evidence, and [threw] the mantle of ‘science’ over value judgments for which they had no special competence.” This is how a recent Wall Street Journal article describes the official response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article reviews two new books on the subject. An Abundance of Caution by journalist David Zweig reports that evidence in March 2020 showed the virus did not pose a serious threat to children, but American public health professionals “remained largely impervious to this fact,” leading to widespread school closures and disastrous consequences.
The other book, In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, by two Princeton political scientists, adds that “elite institutions failed us” by giving in to panic. According to the Journal, they report a “willful suppression of reasonable debate, including the unfortunate tendency to paint critics of lockdowns and mask mandates as racists, quacks, and conspiracy theorists.”
When our water heater stopped working
It’s often necessary for us to trust people whose expertise surpasses our own in the hope they will do what we cannot.
When the water heater in our house stopped working over the weekend, I tried to fix it myself but soon gave up and called the plumber. The days when we could repair our cars and homes are long gone for most of us. We need experts who know what we do not know.
But what is true of mechanical technology is not true of biblical Christianity. Tragically, many people do not know this.
This New York Times article caught my eye: “Americans Haven’t Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion.” The journalist Lauren Jackson attributes the escalation of secularism in recent years largely to Richard Dawkins and other champions of “new atheism,” so-called “experts” who assured us that Christianity is outdated, irrelevant, and even dangerous to society.
According to Jackson, “an immense social transformation” followed. And the results?
She reports that “people are unhappier than they’ve ever been and the country is in an epidemic of loneliness.” She adds that “those without religious affiliation in particular rank lower on key metrics of well-being. They feel less connected to others, less spiritually at peace, and they experience less awe and gratitude regularly.”
What explains this?
Religion provides the “three B’s”
Jackson cites sociologists who say religion provides the “three B’s”: belief, belonging, and behaviors. Its beliefs supply answers to the hard questions of life; it gives people a place to belong; and it tells us how to behave. All three speak to deep needs in human experience.
As a result, Jackson notes Pew findings that actively religious people tend to say they are happier than irreligious people. We are healthier and significantly less likely to be depressed or to die by suicide, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular illness, or other causes.
A long-term Harvard study found that women who attended religious services once a week were 33 percent less likely to die prematurely than women who never attended. An author of the study explained: “They had higher levels of social support, better health behaviors, and greater optimism about the future.”
In addition, religiously affiliated Americans are more likely than irreligious people to feel gratitude (by 23 percentage points), spiritual peace (by 27 points), and “a deep sense of connection with humanity” (by 15 points). Since positive relationships have been proven to be the single most important predictor of well-being, these differences are especially significant.
Jackson’s reporting is obviously good news, showing that the “experts” who rejected religion as irrelevant and dangerous were wrong on the merits. But there is an even more important fact her article omits.
When “your faith is in vain”
Paul testified, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). However, “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (v. 20). As a result, God “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 57) and we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
The living Lord Jesus now prays for us (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25), forgives every sin we confess to him (Romans 8:1; 1 John 1:9), heals us (cf. Acts 3:6), meets us in our most difficult places (cf. Revelation 1:9–20), and gives us eternal life in this world and the next (John 3:16; 14:3).
The benefits of religion cited in the Times article—belief, belonging, behaviors, gratitude, peace, and a “deep sense of connection with humanity”—are most fully experienced as the consequences of a daily, intimate relationship with him.
The good news is that all of this is as available to you and me on this Tuesday after Easter as it was on the first Easter twenty centuries ago.
“We are people of the spring”
The Vatican announced today that the coffin carrying the body of Pope Francis will be carried to St. Peter’s Basilica tomorrow. His funeral Mass will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square. (For more on the pope’s passing, see my Daily Article and website article from yesterday.)
But Francis would want us to look forward, not backward, demonstrating our faith in the God who wants only our best. In his latest book, published just two months before his death, the pontiff describes the hope at the heart of the Christian faith:
We believe that resting on the horizon of life is a sun that shines forever. We believe that our most beautiful days are yet to come. We are people of the spring, as opposed to autumn. . . .
A Christian knows that the kingdom of God, the dominion of Love, grows like a vast field of wheat, and that it may well have weeds in its midst. There are always problems: people gossip, there are wars, there is illness . . . But even so, the wheat ripens, and in the end, evil will be eliminated.
We know that the future does not belong to us. We know that Jesus Christ is life’s greatest grace. We know that God’s warm embrace not only awaits us at life’s end but also accompanies us on our journey every day.
The more we embrace the God who embraces us, the more we step past a religion about God into a vital relationship with the living Lord Jesus, and the more others are drawn to “life’s greatest grace.”
Do you believe that your “most beautiful days are yet to come”?
Quote for the day:
“We are all unique, free and alive, called on to live out a love story with God.” —Pope Francis
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by Daryl Robbins
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
A total solar eclipse is awesome in the true sense of the word. If you are in the path of totality, you can see the moon pass directly between the sun and your location on Earth. A dusky darkness covers everything. After a few minutes, the moon continues on its way, and full sunlight returns.
This experience may trigger a thought, a parallel to the times of “darkness” we experience in each of our lives. We lose a loved one, experience a health or financial setback, or are betrayed by a trusted friend. All these events can bring on a “personal eclipse” of our faith if we focus on the darkness.
In an eclipse, the moon does not affect the sun’s light-generating abilities, but it does affect our reception of the light. So the sun shines just like it does every day, and the darkness we experience is limited in intensity, location, and duration. While our trials may seem like total darkness has settled over us, we must remember that just as the sun continues to shine uninterrupted behind the moon during a total eclipse, God is still there shining His goodness over our lives.
“He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him” (Psalm 91:15). God does not promise believers a trouble-free life on this earth, but His promise to be with us in our troubles is what we need to cling to until our personal eclipse passes. Ultimately, for the believer all darkness will be eliminated. “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). DWR
For we are co-workers in God’s service. — 1 Corinthians 3:9
Beware of any work you do for God that allows you to avoid concentrating on him. A great many Christian workers worship their work. The one concern of a Christian worker should be concentration on God, and this will mean that all the facets of life—physical, mental, moral, and spiritual—are free. They are free with the freedom of a child—a worshipping child, not a wayward child. A worker without this solemn, ruling note of concentration on God is likely to be crushed by work, to have no delight in life, no margin of freedom in body, mind, or spirit. The nerves, mind, and heart become so crushingly burdened that God’s blessing cannot settle.
Yet the opposite is just as true. Once your concentration is fixed on God, all the facets of your life are free because they are under God’s dominion. There is no responsibility on you for your work. The only responsibility you have is to keep in living, constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to interfere with your cooperation with him.
The freedom that follows sanctification is the freedom of the child. Once you are born again in the Spirit, you find that the things that used to keep your life pinned down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been set free for one thing only: to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
We have no right to judge where we should be placed in God’s service. We have no right to our preconceived ideas about what God is preparing us for. God engineers everything. Wherever he puts us, our one great aim is to pour out wholehearted devotion to him in that particular work.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Wisdom from Oswald
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
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