Category: IP Devotional (Page 11 of 11)

Honest to God

May 11, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Are you honest to God?

Most of us have heard the phrase, “Honest to God!” It’s like saying, “I swear to God.” It’s an oath. An oath is a solemn promise that calls God as a witness. Even though people abuse oaths, calling God to witness the truthfulness of something is a valid biblical concept, and we see examples in the Bible.

In this post, I don’t want to talk about oaths, but rather about truthfulness. Specifically, I want to talk about truthfulness with God when we pray to him. Are we honest to God when we pray?

For many people, prayer is just polite religious chitchat, the kind of small talk you have with a total stranger. We don’t reveal anything deep or personal or sensitive. We’re afraid God will think less of us, or he’ll be shocked or angry, or he’ll terminate our relationship because of something we said.

However, some prayers in the Bible aren’t polite. And they were spoken by God’s most faithful people:

Moses’ complaints about Israel in the wilderness – Exodus 17.4; Numbers 11.10-15
Elijah’s complaint about being the only faithful Israelite left – 1 Kings 19.1-18
Job’s bitter complaints about his suffering – Job 3
David’s prayers for vengeance against his enemies – e.g., Psalm 58.6-11
Jeremiah’s complaints to God about his ministry – Jeremiah 4.10; 15.10; 20.7, 14-18

Why could these men pray in this way? Because they had an intimate relationship with God!

Intense prayer is like intense conversation: it’s the outgrowth of intimacy. You don’t talk like this to a stranger – you only talk like this to a friend, to someone whom you know and trust, and who knows you. That’s God! He knows our weaknesses but loves us anyway – “Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103.13-14).

Grace is God’s side of things; honesty, truthfulness, and integrity are our responsibility:

Are you angry (toward others or toward God)? TELL HIM!
Are your worried? TELL HIM! (See 1 Peter 5.6-7)
Are you bitter and struggling with hatred? TELL HIM!
Are you caught in greed or gossip or lust or pride? TELL HIM!

AND ask for his help. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139.23-24).

Today and every day, be honest to God.

The Fundamentals of Success

May 4, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” – Jim Rohn

I’m not an expert on motivation, or success, or self-help. Although I’ve read books about success and motivation, I’ve never completely mastered any of them, and in some areas, I’m still not very good. But I’ve studied it enough to know that the principles of success aren’t mysterious, but, in fact, are reasonably obvious. My problem isn’t knowledge, it’s application. Or more accurately, lack of application.

Now, think of this in terms of your spiritual life. I’ll reword this quotation by substituting the word “spirituality” in place of the word “success.” It would then say, “Spirituality is neither magical nor mysterious. Spirituality is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” I find it helpful to think of spiritual growth in that way: applying a set of fundamental principles to the problems we face in our spiritual lives.

By way of application, which of these two components do you struggle with the most? Is it with learning fundamental spiritual principles? Or is it with putting the principles into practice?

This is where the discipline of self-examination becomes so critically important. Every day of every week, each of us needs to take a hard and honest look at ourselves to see where we should improve. The only way we can improve is to identify the problem, find the biblical principle that addresses the problem, and then put the principle into practice to eliminate the problem. That’s spiritual success.

As we said at the beginning, there’s nothing magical or mysterious about spiritual success. It’s a matter of applying the principles to the problem.

Jesus said it best of all: “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13.17).

The Bright & Morning Star

April 27, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Early this morning, as my wife and I were walking, we saw the moon and the morning star. The temperature was in the forties, and the sky was clear. The moon was in its waning crescent, so we saw just a sliver of it. But above it were two stars (planets, actually): above it and to the left was the planet Jupiter, and just above it and to the right was the planet Venus.

The planet Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It’s called both the “morning star” and “evening star” because it can appear in the early morning and early evening hours. It’s the second brightest object in the nighttime sky besides the moon. About once a month, it appears in the nighttime sky in close proximity to the moon. On a clear morning, they’re a beautiful sight when seen together.

In Revelation 22.6, Jesus said, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” What did he mean, and how does that affect us?

First, I think Jesus was alluding to an ancient prophecy from the Old Testament Book of Numbers. The prophet Balaam saw a star coming forth from Jacob and a scepter arising in Israel (Numbers 24.17). He was talking about the Messiah’s future dominion over all of Israel’s enemies. Readers of the Book of Revelation were suffering intense persecution, and John’s allusion to Balaam’s prophecy would assure them that Christ was, even then, in the process of fulfilling his role. He would be victorious over the enemies of God’s people.

Second, Jesus was reminding us that he’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. From the earliest times, the Roman emperors believed they were descended from the gods. Julius Caesar believed he was descended from the goddess Venus. The emperor Domitian (who may have been emperor when Revelation was written) believed he was descended from the god Jupiter. Around the time that John wrote the Book of Revelation, the Roman poet Martial honored the emperor Domitian, saying, “Thou morning star, Bring on the Day! Come and expel our fears, Rome begs that Caesar may soon appear.” So, when Jesus called himself the “bright morning star,” he was countering the notion that any human leader could be his equal.

Third, Jesus was reminding us that he’s our ultimate reference point. When we see the morning star rising above the horizon, we know that daylight is near. Jesus was assuring his disciples that despite their suffering and persecution, they could look to him as the dawning of a new day, the arrival of a new era. That promise holds true for us as well.

So, the next time you’re awake before dawn, take a moment to look at the eastern horizon, and look for Venus, the morning star. Then take a moment to remember that Jesus is the ultimate bright morning star. He’s our king and our hope. Because of that we can rejoice at the dawning of each day.

The Asymptote of Perfection

April 14, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

In geometry, “asymptote” refers to a line and a curve that get closer and closer together but never actually touch. If you really want to impress your friends and family, graph the equation y=2^x. The asymptote is x=0. When you crunch the numbers, when x is negative and gets bigger and bigger (x=-1, -2, -3, -4, etc.), y gets smaller and smaller, but never reaches 0. But enough of the geekiness!

I want you to think about a Christian’s character in relationship to God. I would suggest that it resembles an asymptote. God is the absolute standard of everything we should be. God is love. God is holy. God is righteous. God is patient. God is merciful. As God is, we should strive to be. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5.48). Thus…

God is love, and I must become more and more like God in my love.
God is holy, and I must become more and more like God in my holiness.
God is righteous, and I must become more and more like God in my righteousness.
God is patient, and I must become more and more like God in my patience.
God is merciful, and I must become more and more like God in my mercy.

We are to grow more and more Godlike in our character, but in this life, we’ll never fully reach his perfection. We’ll grow and grow, but never completely reach our full potential. In other words, God’s perfection and our growth form a moral and spiritual asymptote.

Obviously, that’s easier said than done!

However, we should be encouraged by the fact that Jesus still expected it of his followers. I don’t think Jesus’ point in Matthew 5.48 is that we will, or even can, become morally flawless people. I think he was stating it to put before us an ideal that keeps us perpetually moving in a godward direction.

I think the apostle Paul understood this concept when he said, “Not that I have already obtained it [the resurrection from the dead] or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained” (Philippians 3.12-16).

Paul said to press on. To keep getting closer and closer to the prize. To get closer and closer to the reality of heaven. Paul was saying to keep our eyes on the goal, keep our eyes on the standard, but at the same time worry less about the arrival, and more about getting there.

Inertia

April 14, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 2 Comments

Do you remember in science class a thing called “inertia”? The popular definition is that “bodies at rest stay at rest, bodies in motion stay in motion.” It’s why a car traveling 60 mph don’t easily stop. It’s also why a car sitting at a stoplight takes a few moments to get back up to speed.

Inertia may also explain Mondays and Fridays. When we’re at rest, we tend to stay at rest. Mondays come and we’ve been relaxing for a few days, and inertia makes it difficult to start. Likewise on Fridays we’ve been hard at work for several days, and inertia makes it difficult to slow down.

How do you prevent inertia from taking control of your life? How do you overcome it when you’re sluggish and don’t want to start? How do you slow it down when you need to relax?

One verse that has always been helpful to me is Psalm 118.24: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” If I knew nothing at all about this verse, it would still be a boost for me when I’m struggling.

However, if we dig deeper, it has even more significance. Psalm 118 is a thanksgiving psalm that begins with a familiar formula: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his lovingkindness is everlasting” (v 1). Psalms 113-118 are called “Hallel”, which is the Hebrew verb meaning “to praise.” These six psalms were recited during various festivals, but especially at Passover.

Matthew 26.30 says, “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Here, Jesus had just celebrated his last Passover with the apostles, and then inaugurated the Lord’s Supper. The “hymn” they sang was the Hallel, including Psalm 118. Think about Jesus’ situation. He’s about to be betrayed by one of his own apostles; it’s the eve of his death; it’s the moment for which he came to earth. He’ll soon ask his Father to remove this cup of “nameless dread”. And on the next day, he’ll die for the sins of the world.

Yet he could still say, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Friends, if Jesus could find joy as he faced the cross, surely, we can find a bit of joy in whatever circumstances we face. Maybe we’re feeling sluggish at work, or burdened with care, or hurting, or sad, or tired or just plain grumpy. Nonetheless, we have reason for joy.

“This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Drifting Into Goodness

April 6, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

In 1982, author Anne Herbert wrote a book titled, Random Acts of Kindness. The title was a phrase coined by her to counteract a then-popular phrase, “random acts of violence.” Ever since then, we are often encouraged practice these “random acts of kindness.”

I certainly agree that we should practice kindness in our everyday lives. However, to say that kindness is something done randomly misses the mark. Kindness isn’t random, any more than evil is random. Kindness and evil are both character traits we consciously pursue.

William George Jordan said, “Man does not drift into goodness… the chance port of an aimless voyage. He must fight ever for his destination.”

He reminds us that character never happens by chance, only by choice. At some point, we decide to do the right thing, we decide to become a certain kind of person. And every component of our character – goodness, faithfulness, compassion, nobility, love, integrity – results from choices we make and actions we take.

In other words, decide if you want to be good, or decide if you want to be bad. But don’t blame your circumstances or your peers or your parents or your teachers or your church or your stars. And don’t say that you just randomly did something. The choice was yours all along.

There’s a certain irony to all of this. What if you choose not to choose? What if you just don’t want to decide? The irony is that by not choosing, you’ve already chosen. If you don’t want to be good, in essence, you’ve chosen to be bad. Or at least you’ve chosen to be indifferent toward the good. Maybe not as bad as you could be. Maybe not pure evil, like Hitler. But by not choosing the good, you’ve settled for something less than good.

All of this has a biblical basis. The writer of the book of Hebrews, uses the same metaphor of drifting” when he says, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (Hebrews 2.1).

Aimless drifting isn’t idyllic, it’s dangerous. It’s the shortest route to moral shipwreck.

Vestigial Organs & the Body of Christ

March 30, 2022 / BroClo-Blogger-2022 / 0 Comments

Do you have a function in the body of Christ?

The short answer is yes. The apostle Paul said, “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12.12, NASB).

Christ’s church is described as a body about seventeen times in the NT. This metaphor emphasizes that each member of Christ’s body (each Christian) has a function to perform, just like the parts of the human body.

To put it another way, there’s no such thing as a vestigial organ in the body of Christ. Do you remember “vestigial organs” from high school biology? A vestigial organ is a body part that has no apparent function. It includes things like the appendix, body hair, or the tail bone. It can also include bodily reflexes like goose bumps and hiccups.

That won’t work in the body of Christ. Earlier I read from 1 Corinthians 12. Twice in that chapter, and again in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4, Paul gives lists of spiritual gifts or spiritual abilities. Those gifts are for the good of the body, and each person must use the gifts they have to help the body.

How do you know your function in the body of Christ? What gifts or abilities do you have? There are several ways to answer that. One easy way is to start with the needs that you see around you, especially in the local church. What needs to be done?

One answer comes in the form of a prayer I found several years ago written by T. L. and LaDonna Osborn in their book, New Miracle Life Now. It reads:

HEAVENLY FATHER,
When there is a need for teaching, TEACH through me.
When there is need for truth, SPEAK through me.
When there is a need for love, LOVE through me.
When there is a need for music, SING through me.
When there is a need for understanding, LISTEN through me.
When there is need for guidance, ADVISE through me.
When a gift is needed, GIVE through me.
When a helping hand is needed, REACH and TOUCH through me.
In Jesus’ Name I pray this prayer, AMEN!

Remember, you have a place and a function in the body of Christ. So, find something that needs doing in the body of Christ, and do it! Don’t be a vestigial organ!