Dawn 2 Dusk The Overflowing Barn and the Empty SoulJesus’ warning in Luke 12:15 is striking because it doesn’t just target obvious greed—it exposes the subtle way our hearts can start measuring “life” by what we own, what we’ve saved, or what we’re chasing next. He invites us to a different way of living: awake, guarded, and truly rich in what lasts. Greed Hides in Respectable Places Jesus says, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) Notice how wide the net is: “every form.” Greed can look like ambition, prudence, “providing,” or simply wanting to feel safe. It can hide behind phrases like “just in case” and “once I get a little more,” until the heart quietly starts serving a master it never intended to follow. That’s why Jesus presses the question of ownership all the way down to worship. “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) Greed isn’t merely about having things; it’s about things having us. Today is a good day to ask: What am I guarding most—my treasures, or my heart? The Secret of Enough God doesn’t shame needs; He exposes the lie that more will finally settle the soul. Scripture gives a better math: “Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out of it.” (1 Timothy 6:6–7) Contentment isn’t pretending you don’t want anything; it’s learning that Jesus is enough even when you still have wants. And contentment grows where trust grows. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: ‘Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5) The deepest security isn’t in what you’ve accumulated; it’s in the Presence that will not abandon you. When God is near, you can hold everything else with open hands. Practicing Treasure-Transfer Using Proper Capitalization for a Title Jesus doesn’t just warn; He redirects. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21) Your heart follows your treasure—so one practical way to shepherd your heart is to move your treasure on purpose. Giving, serving, simplifying, and sharing aren’t just “nice”—they retrain the soul to love the right kingdom. This is also about perspective: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) Ask today, What would it look like to turn one grasping impulse into worship? Maybe it’s generosity that costs you something, gratitude that names what God has already provided, or a decision to stop chasing an upgrade and start seeking faithfulness. Little choices become a big direction. Father, thank You for being my true treasure; guard my heart from greed, grow contentment in me, and lead me today to give, serve, and seek Your kingdom first. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Born of God!I think most of us remember with assurance the words of the Charles Wesley hymn which was his own personal testimony: His Spirit answers to the blood, And tells me I am born of God! Wesley testified here and in many other hymns to an inner illumination! When I became a Christian, no one had to come to me and tell me what Wesley meant. That is why Jesus taught that whosoever is willing to do His will shall have a revelation in his own heart. He shall have an inward revelation that tells him he is a child of God. Too many persons try to make Jesus Christ a convenience. They reduce Him simply to a Big Friend who will help us when we are in trouble. That is not biblical Christianity! Jesus Christ is Lord, and when an individual comes in repentance and faith, the truth flashes in. For the first time he finds himself saying, I will do the will of the Lord, even if I die for it! Music For the Soul All Truth Based Upon ChristianityEvery good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. - James 1:17 There never was, and there is not, any religion untouched by Christianity that has any firm grip of that truth, "God is Love." There have been all kinds of deities in the world, outside the limits of the circle in which the influence of the Gospel has been felt. You have had cruel, capricious, good-natured, savage, vicious, revengeful, and impure deities. You have had the deification of lust and passion and favouritism and caprice, as well as of lofty and pure things; but there is no God of Love anywhere that ever I heard of, except where some faint rays of Christianity and its blessed message have come. And the people that now-a-days are kicking down the ladder by which they have climbed, and, in the name of this conviction which they owe to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, are turning round and rejecting that Gospel, are committing intellectual suicide, and strike away the very basis upon which the truth that they value so much rests. The fact remains that men have never been able to raise themselves up to, and maintain themselves at, the lofty level of the lofty belief that God is Love, when they have turned their backs on the Cross of Jesus Christ. Let history answer if they have! I believe that the course of thought in cultivated Europe is coming to this plain alternative, - that a mere bare theism cannot keep its hold, and that the choice is between Christ and His Cross on the one hand, and blank disbelief in the love of God, and in God at all, on the other. These two will divide the field. There will either be a happy, calm, triumphant hold of God’s love manifest in Jesus Christ, or there will be a despairing sense that we walk in darkness as orphan creatures here, knowing not whether we have a Father and a home. Oh, dear brother! our own conscience may tell us, and the world’s history may tell us, and men-made religions may tell us, that it is not an easy thing for a man to say, nor to believe in his heart, that God is Love. And when God’s love is proved, it needs to be pressed upon us; does it not? How we all forget it, and turn away from it, are careless about it; oppose ice to His flame, selfishness to His love, indifference to His pleadings! Do not you, dear brother? Do we not need something that shall touch our hearts, and shall press upon us, as well as prove to us, the endless love of our Father God? I think we do. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Psalm 28:9 Lift them up forever. God's people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, "lift them up forever!" David himself said, "Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul," and he here feels the necessity that other men's souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When you ask this blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also. There are three ways in which God's people require to be lifted up. They require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not suffer thy people to be like the world's people! The world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The world's people are looking after silver and gold, seeking their own pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts; but, Lord, lift thy people up above all this; keep them from being "muck-rakers," as John Bunyan calls the man who was always scraping after gold! Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord and the heavenly heritage! Moreover, believers need to be prospered in conflict. In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased to give them the victory. If the foot of the foe be upon their necks for a moment, help them to grasp the sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord, lift up thy children's spirits in the day of conflict; let them not sit in the dust, mourning forever. Suffer not the adversary to vex them sore, and make them fret; but if they have been, like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the mercy of a delivering God. We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift them up by taking them home, lift their bodies from the tomb, and raise their souls to thine eternal kingdom in glory. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Desires of Righteous GrantedBecause it is a righteous desire it is safe for God to grant it. It would be neither good for the man himself, nor for society at large, that such a promise should be made to the unrighteous. Let us keep the LORD’s commands, and He will rightfully have respect to our desires. When righteous men are left to desire unrighteous desires, they will not be granted to them. But then these are not their real desires; they are their wanderings or blunders, and it is well that they should be refused. Their gracious desires shall come before the LORD, and He will not say them nay. Does the LORD deny us our requests for a time? Let the promise for today encourage us to ask again. Has He denied us altogether? We will thank Him still, for it always was our desire that He should deny us if He judged a denial to be best. As to some things, we ask very boldly. Our chief desires are for holiness, usefulness, likeness to Christ, preparedness for heaven. These are the desires of grace rather than of nature -- the desires of the righteous man rather than of the mere man. God will not stint us in these things but will do for us exceeding abundantly. "Delight thy self also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." This day, my soul, ask largely! The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Set Your Affections on Things AboveWE are apt to be much affected by earthly things, but our affections must be permanently fixed on things above. Let us lift our eyes and hearts to heaven this morning; there are the proper objects of our love, desire, and esteem. There is Jehovah our heavenly Father, dwelling in unapproachable light. There is Jesus, our dear and adorable Saviour, exalted, dignified and glorified at the right-hand of the Father. There is the Holy Spirit, our divine, gracious and condescending Comforter. There the love, favour, and presence of God are fully enjoyed. There peace, rest, and happiness are eternally realized. There is the crown of righteousness, the throne of glory, and the rivers of pleasure which our God has promised, and set before us. There are our brethren who have gone home before us, and there our affections should be. What is earth or time? We shall soon have done with both. Let us then SET OUR AFFECTIONS ON THINGS ABOVE, AND NOT ON THINGS ON THE EARTH. Why should my heart descend so low, To brood on earth-a world of woe? While heaven, where endless pleasures roll, Waits to entrance my new-born soul. Saviour! let thine attractions be But felt in all their force by me Then shall I mount on wings of love, And fix and dwell on things above. Bible League: Living His Word Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"— Judges 6:14 NKJV The Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon while he was secretly threshing wheat where the Midianites couldn't find it and take it by force. The Lord said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (Judges 6:12). Gideon responded to this by questioning the Lord's declaration. How could he be a mighty man of valor if he, like the rest of the Israelites, was being oppressed by the Midianites? How could the Lord be with him if he, like the rest of the Israelites, seemed to have been forsaken by the Lord (Judges 6:13)? The Lord did not try to defend Himself. He did not try to explain why He said Gideon was a mighty man of valor, and He didn't try to explain why it seemed like He had forsaken Israel. Instead, He spoke the words of our verse for today: "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" He also said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." The Lord, in other words, did not feel any need to justify His sovereign decisions. He just told Gideon the way it was going to be. God has a plan for you just like He had a plan for Gideon. It may not be as dramatic as Gideon's plan, but it's a plan from God nonetheless. After all, God has a plan for every one of His children. He said this to the people of Judah: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). Like Gideon, you may look weak, you may look abandoned, but you can be a mighty man or woman of valor just like Gideon. You have what it takes because God has given it to you. So be bold! Do what is before you in the strength of the Lord. Daily Light on the Daily Path Jeremiah 45:5 But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh,' declares the LORD, 'but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.'"Matthew 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, • who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, • but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. • Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Matthew 10:38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 1 Peter 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. • For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. • If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 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. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Rumors are dainty morselsthat sink deep into one's heart. Insight It is as hard to refuse to listen to gossip as it is to turn down a delicious dessert. Taking just one morsel of either one creates a taste for more. Challenge You can resist rumors the same way a determined dieter resists candy—never even open the box. If you don't nibble on the first bite of gossip, you can't take the second and the third. Devotional Hours Within the Bible Omri and AhabThe story of Jeroboam’s northern kingdom is terribly monotonous in its sin and tragical in treasons, stratagems, and insurrections. There is no relief in the dark picture. In the southern kingdom of Judah, too, some kings are evil but now and then we come upon one like Asa or Jehoshaphat, who followed the Lord faithfully. In Israel, however, there is no break in the record of sin, each succeeding ruler being worse than his predecessor. “ Omri began to rule over Israel in the thirty-first year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. He reigned twelve years in all, six of them in Tirzah. Then Omri bought the hill now known as Samaria from its owner, Shemer, for 150 pounds of silver. He built a city on it and called the city Samaria in honor of Shemer. But Omri did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him.” 1 Kings 16:23-25 OMRI had a taste for building. He showed his sagacity in the selection of Samaria as the site for his new capital. The location was central. It was easily defended. Springs of water abounded. The city he built became prominent and influential, and continued as the capital of the kingdom unto the end of its history. Men may do some fine things, may be public-spirited, and do much to improve and adorn their city or country and yet in God’s sight be very wicked. Heaven does not write biographies, as earth does. Men look at what the eye can see; God looks within, at the heart and records the motives and desires. So it often happens that while this world extols a man for his achievements, God condemns him for his sins. It is better surely to have God’s approval, though we remain obscure in this world, than to be lauded by men, and then hear God’s condemnation. The Scriptures paint life stories faithfully. They hide nothing, because it is evil. Over against Omri’s fine achievement in building, we read, “But Omri did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him!” Omri’s great buildings were of no account in God’s sight while in his heart he wrought evil. The real worth of our work is what it is worth in the eyes of the Lord. Human estimates are nothing, human adulations are mockeries, while God sees sin in the acts which men approve. One honest and lowly deed wrought in love is worth more than a lifetime’s achievement wrought in pride and self-seeking. It is said that Omri “walked in all the way of Jeroboam.” Every man tracks a path on which other feet follow his. There is no one so obscure but that if he looks behind him he will see someone coming after him, walking in his steps. This is true, both in good and evil people. Some men, by reason of their prominence and influence, lead many others in whatever way they go. We may think of the continuous throng following after John, Paul, Peter, Bunyan, and such men. But evil men have followers, too. Jeroboam stamped his impression on all the dynasties and kings of Israel that came after him. What sort of influence are you starting in this world? What sort of path are you making? Where would it lead those who follow after you? A man who had been going with bad companions, drinking and carousing with them, came home late one night, and bending over his two little children sleeping in their clean, white bed, kissed their sweet lips. That night he could not sleep. One picture haunted him all night long himself hurrying toward ruin, and his two beautiful children clinging to his garments and drawn after him. He rose in the darkness, fell upon his knees by his children’s bed, and gave himself to God for their sake. “The rest of the events in Omri’s reign, the extent of his power, and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.” 1 Kings 16:27. It is startling to read after the story of Omri’s wickedness, that all his acts which he did were recorded. Everything was recorded, even the smallest matter. Yes, and the acts of every one of us are also written in a book of chronicles! The record is made moment by moment with unfailing accuracy. Nothing is omitted. Nothing is set down incorrectly. For “every idle word ,” the Master Himself said, men must give account; so for every thought and intent of the heart they must answer. What sort of a record are we making? The children at school are eager to have good reports to show their parents; what report is made of us in God’s books day by day! “When Omri died, he was buried in Samaria. Then his son Ahab became the next king.” After Omri came AHAB. “But Ahab did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him!” That certainly was a bad pre - eminence. It is an honor to do good above others. Excelsior is a good word when it leads upward, to higher nobleness and sublimer achievements. But when it leads downward, it is a dark and evil word. Yet that is the way of wrongdoing. In sin, the disciple is apt to outdo his master. A bad father has frequently worse children. A man is only a moderate drinker, and defends his practice as sensible and safe. His sons follow in his ways, and too often outstrip their father and become drunkards. God’s children grow in grace; the devil’s children grow in wickedness. The wife a man chooses, has a great deal to do with his career. One of Ahab’s worst mistakes, was in his marriage. “Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a trivial matter he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then proceeded to serve Baal and worship him!” The woman he married was of the worst heathen stock, one of the worst women known in ancient times. Her character has not a single beautiful, womanly trait, and her name stands unrivaled in history for cruelty, vindictiveness, and all manner of wickedness. Ahab married her, and then of course went over to the heathen with her. There is no step in life which has more to do with one’s future weal or woe in both worlds than one’s marriage. If one marries “in the Lord,” the event brings great blessing; if one is attracted by glitter or show and is married to a heathen, the result can be only misery! There is no other rock on which more lives and more human happiness are wrecked. Some people try to excuse Ahab for his wickedness by saying that he was weak, and that all the blame rested on his wicked wife. Possibly; but is any man to be excused on such grounds as these? Did he not sin, first of all, in marrying such a woman? Did he not sin also in allowing her to lead him into so much evil? Still the record grows darker and darker as we read on. “Ahab did yet more to provoke Jehovah. .. to anger than all the kings. .. before him.” It is strange how men dare the Lord and defy Him, doing the most heaven-defying evil before His eyes. The worst men will not commit their crimes in the presence of the officers of the law. No burglar would break into a house or commit a robbery with a policeman standing by. But men break God’s laws right before God’s face, and provoke Him to anger with impunity! They think nothing of defying the mighty God and daring Him. Why is this? Surely it must be because they cannot see God and therefore do not think that He sees them. They do not believe that He cares, or that He will punish. “You are the God who sees me” realized, would make the worst men fear to provoke God to anger by doing the things which He forbids and condemns. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Samuel 17, 18 1 Samuel 17 -- David and Goliath NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Samuel 18 -- Jonathan's Friendship with David; Saul's Jealousy NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 15:1-10 Luke 15 -- Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Prodigal Son NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
Jump to: Bible League • Daily Light • Daily Remembrancer • Devotional Hours • Faith's Checkbook • Morning and Evening • Music for the Soul • Tozer • Tyndale • Reading Plans
    |