Evening, February 14
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Bible League: Living His Word
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Although it may not always look like it, something radical happened when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. What we once were no longer truly characterizes what we are now. Once we were characterized by the "flesh," the Apostle Paul's metaphor for the sinful spiritual state of individual human beings. Living according to the flesh is to live according to the old sinful state of life apart from Christ. Now that we are "in Christ," however, the flesh does not properly characterize what we have become. Indeed, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). The flesh, in other words, died with Christ at the cross.

Further, since we are in Christ, what we once were not only died with Him at the cross, but what we are now was raised to life with Him. We have been made alive with Christ (Colossians 2:13). We are, therefore, new creatures. The old person that once characterized us is gone and the new person we are in Christ is here. This does not mean that we no longer sin, but it does mean that the old sinful spiritual state is no longer adequately descriptive of what we have truly become. The old sinful spiritual state no longer defines us.

From Paul's perspective, all this means that we should no longer regard those who are in Christ from "a worldly point of view." We should no longer define fellow Christians according to what they may seem like on occasion, but according to what they truly are in Christ. At one time Paul even regarded Christ from a worldly point of view. Now, however, we should no longer make that mistake, because it totally mischaracterizes Christ and the people who are in Christ.

We should also not regard ourselves from a worldly point of view. Although at times we may fail and not live up to everything we truly are in Christ, we should never lose our faith in Paul's proclamation that "the new is here!"

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Leviticus 18, 19


Leviticus 18 -- Laws on Sexual Relations

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Leviticus 19 -- Idolatry Forbidden; Various Laws

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Matthew 27:32-66


Matthew 27 -- Judas Hangs Himself; Jesus' Trial, Crucifixion and Burial

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
They speak without a sound or word;
        their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
        and their words to all the world.
Insight
The apostle Paul referred to this psalm when he explained that everyone knows about God because nature proclaims God's existence and power. This does not cancel the need for missions because the message of God's salvation found in his Word, the Bible, must still be told to the ends of the earth. While nature points to the existence of God, the Bible tells us about salvation. God's people must explain to others how they can have a relationship with God.
Challenge
Although people everywhere should already believe in a Creator by just looking at the evidence of nature around them, God needs us to explain his love, mercy, and grace. What are you doing to take God's message to the world?
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Luke 8:47  She was healed immediately.

One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's miracles is before us tonight. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without his knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which he was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have said, "I have but to put myself where he can see me--his omniscience will teach him my case, and his love at once will work my cure." We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of his grace: little did she comprehend the fulness of his love! We have not so clear a view of him as we could wish; we know not the heights and depths of his love; but we know of a surety that he is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay--faith's miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord's children we are written as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon his bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the press behind him, and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one! thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Numbers 18:20  Then the LORD said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

Psalm 73:25,26  Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. • My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 16:5,6  The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. • The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

Lamentations 3:24  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

Psalm 119:111  I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart.

Psalm 63:1,7  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. • For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning February 14
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