Dawn 2 Dusk When Grace Has a NamePhilemon received a letter that turned a personal mess into a spiritual moment. Paul didn’t just talk about faith in the abstract—he asked for something specific, something that would show what Jesus can do inside a relationship. Today’s verse is an invitation to make our faith practical: to become the kind of person who leaves others strengthened, not stranded. The Holy Audacity to Ask for What Honors Jesus There’s something bold about Paul here. He doesn’t manipulate, and he doesn’t demand; he appeals as a brother and asks for a real, visible outcome—something that will count “in the Lord.” Love does that. It doesn’t float above life; it lands in decisions, conversations, and how we treat the people who have complicated our story. “So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead” (James 2:17). Sometimes the most loving thing is to ask plainly for what is right: reconciliation, honesty, a next step forward. Not because we’re trying to control someone, but because we believe Christ can be obeyed in real time. And when we do that, we’re also giving someone the dignity of a clear path to do good. “And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). Refresh My Heart in Christ Paul puts it in words that are both tender and challenging: “Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ” (Philemon 1:20). That’s not weakness; that’s spiritual maturity. It’s admitting that what you do with forgiveness, mercy, and obedience affects more than you—it refreshes the people around you. God loves to make His people into fountains, not drains. “A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). Encouragement is not small; it’s warfare against despair. The Lord Himself “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4). When you choose to refresh someone today, you’re passing along the very comfort of Christ. Forgiveness That Turns Enemies Into Family Philemon isn’t just being asked to let something go—he’s being asked to receive a person back in a new way. That’s the miracle of the gospel: it doesn’t erase truth, but it rewrites the future. Forgiveness is not pretending nothing happened; it’s choosing to obey Jesus more than we obey our hurt. “Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). And forgiveness isn’t cold paperwork; it’s comfort with backbone. “So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:7). That kind of mercy looks like God: “Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). Today, ask: who needs to experience the gospel through your tone, your welcome, your next action? Father, thank You for forgiving me in Christ; make me a refresher of hearts today—give me courage to forgive, to encourage, and to take the next obedient step. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Lost but Not Abandoned. . . The Advent established:. . .
Third, God indeed spoke by the prophets. The priests and scribes who were versed in the Scriptures could inform the troubled Herod that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judaea. And thereafter the Old Testament came alive in Christ. It was as if Moses and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the minor prophets hovered around Him, guiding His footsteps into the way of the prophetic Scriptures.
So difficult was the Old Testament gamut the Messiah must run to validate His claims that the possibility of anyone's being able to do it seemed utterly remote; yet Jesus did it, as a comparison of the Old Testament with the New will demonstrate. His coming confirmed the veracity of the Old Testament Scriptures, even as those Scriptures confirmed the soundness of His own claims.
Fourth, man is lost but not abandoned. The coming of Christ to the world tells us both of these things.
Had men not been lost no Savior would have been required. Had they been abandoned no Savior would have come. But He came, and it is now established that God has a concern for men. Though we have sinned away every shred of merit, still He has not forsaken us. ''For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.'' Music For the Soul What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?And the multitudes asked Him, saying, What then must we do? - Luke 3:10 What is there to do? First, and last, and midst, keep close to Jesus Christ. In the measure in which we keep ourselves in continual touch with Him will His law be written upon our hearts. If we are for ever twitching away the paper; if we are for ever flinging blots and mud upon it, how can we expect the transcript to be clear and legible? We must keep still that God may write. We must keep near Him that He may write. We must wait habitually in His presence. When the astronomer wishes to get the image of some far-off star, invisible to the eye of sense, he regulates the motion of his sensitive plate, so that for hours it shall continue right beneath the invisible beam. So we have to still our hearts, and keep their plates - the fleshly tables of them- exposed to the heavens; then the likeness of God will be stamped there. Be faithful to what is written there, which is the Christian shape of the heathen commandment, "Do the duty that lies nearest thee; so shall the next become plainer." Be faithful to the line that is " written," and there will be more on the tablet tomorrow. Now this is a promise for us all. However blotted and blurred and defaced by crooked, scrawling letters, like a child’s copybook, with its first pothooks and hangers, our hearts may be, there is no need for any of us to say despairingly, as we look on the smeared page, " What I have written I have written." He is able to blot it all out, to " take away the handwriting" - our own - " that is against us, nailing it to His Cross," and to give us, in our inmost spirits, a better knowledge of, and a glad obedience to, His discerned and holy will. So that each of us, if we like, and will observe the conditions, may be able to say with all humility, " Lo! I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Thy will. Yea! Thy law is within my heart." Two mirrors set one against each other reflect one another, and themselves in each other, in long perspective. Two hearts that love, with similar reciprocation of influence, mirror back to each other their own affections. " I am thine; thou art mine," is the very mother-tongue of love, and of blessedness the source. All loving hearts know that. This mutual surrender, and, in surrender, reciprocal possession, is lifted up here into the highest regions. " I will be their God, they shall be My people." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Mark 1:18 Straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. When they heard the call of Jesus, Simon and Andrew obeyed at once without demur. If we would always, punctually and with resolute zeal, put in practice what we hear upon the spot, or at the first fit occasion, our attendance at the means of grace, and our reading of good books, could not fail to enrich us spiritually. He will not lose his loaf who has taken care at once to eat it, neither can he be deprived of the benefit of the doctrine who has already acted upon it. Most readers and hearers become moved so far as to purpose to amend; but, alas! the proposal is a blossom which has not been knit, and therefore no fruit comes of it; they wait, they waver, and then they forget, till, like the ponds in nights of frost, when the sun shines by day, they are only thawed in time to be frozen again. That fatal to-morrow is blood-red with the murder of fair resolutions; it is the slaughter-house of the innocents. We are very concerned that our little book of "Evening Readings" should not be fruitless, and therefore we pray that readers may not be readers only, but doers, of the word. The practice of truth is the most profitable reading of it. Should the reader be impressed with any duty while perusing these pages, let him hasten to fulfil it before the holy glow has departed from his soul, and let him leave his nets, and all that he has, sooner than be found rebellious to the Master's call. Do not give place to the devil by delay! Haste while opportunity and quickening are in happy conjunction. Do not be caught in your own nets, but break the meshes of worldliness, and away where glory calls you. Happy is the writer who shall meet with readers resolved to carry out his teachings: his harvest shall be a hundredfold, and his Master shall have great honor. Would to God that such might be our reward upon these brief meditations and hurried hints. Grant it, O Lord, unto thy servant! Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook The Lord Our CompanionSweet are these words in describing a deathbed assurance. How many have repeated them in their last hours with intense delight! But the verse is equally applicable to agonies of spirit in the midst of life. Some of us, like Paul, die daily through a tendency to gloom of soul. Bunyan puts the Valley of the Shadow of Death far earlier in the pilgrimage than the river which rolls at the foot of the celestial hills. We have some of us traversed the dark and dreadful defile of "the shadow of death" several times, and we can bear witness that the LORD alone enabled us to bear up amid its wild thought, its mysterious horrors, its terrible depressions. The LORD has sustained us and kept us above all real fear of evil, even when our spirit has been overwhelmed. We have been pressed and oppressed, but yet we have lived, for we have felt the presence of the Great Shepherd and have been confident that His crook would prevent the foe from giving us any deadly wound. Should the present time be one darkened by the raven wings of a great sorrow, let us glorify God by a peaceful trust in Him. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer It Is God That JustifiethTO be justified is to be acquitted, and pronounced righteous. Every believer in Jesus, however ungodly he may have been, or however vile and unworthy he may feel, is justified by Jehovah. The perfect work of Jesus is imputed to him, free grace is glorified in him, and he is passed from death unto life. To him there is no condemnation; no one can lay any thing to his charge; he is accepted in the Beloved; Christ lived and died for him, and now he liveth and shall be glorified through and with Jesus. All his trespasses are freely forgiven and eternally forgotten. God has cast all our sins behind His back, and now He pronounces us just. Let us approach God, believing that He has justified us; and let us look forward and rejoice that the Judge of all the earth will declare us righteous. Who shall lay anything to our charge? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. My soul, look to Jesus, to His perfect work and prevalent intercession, and there see thy salvation and find peace. Turn then, my soul, unto Thy rest; The merits of Thy great High Priest, Speak peace and liberty: Trust in His efficacious blood, Nor fear thy banishment from God, Since Jesus died for thee. Bible League: Living His Word “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.”— Luke 6:28 NLT In the previous verse, Jesus says, “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). In saying this, Jesus shows us that the second greatest commandment, the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18), applies to our enemies as well as to our family and friends. In our verse for today, He gives us two particular ways that we should fulfill the commandment. First, He says that we should bless those who curse us. In this context, to bless someone means to “speak well of them,” or to “speak well to them.” Obviously, it’s not an easy thing to do. The first inclination of the sinful self is to verbally lash out at those who curse us. Loving our enemies, however, requires that we speak well of them and speak kindly to them. It’s probably the last thing we want to do, but by doing it we will be following Jesus’ command. Second, He says that we should pray for those who hurt us. In this context, to be hurt by someone means to be injured by them in some way or to be persecuted by them. Instead of responding in kind, we should pray for them. No doubt, praying for someone is one of the highest manifestations of loving our enemies. After all, enemies who hurt us are in desperate need of prayer. They need to be delivered from sin and evil just as we needed to be delivered. Since Jesus’ two ways of loving our enemies go against the ways that people usually respond in these situations, we might well ask the question – Why? Why should we love our enemies in these ways? The answer comes a few verses later in the chapter. When we love our enemies, we are “acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked” (Luke 6:35b). The Most High is compassionate, so we should be compassionate as well (Luke 6:36). The Lord realizes how difficult this will be for His followers, because He gives an incentive to do it. He says (Luke 6:35) that if we do these things, our “reward from heaven will be very great.” Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 139:3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.Genesis 28:16,17 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." • He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." 2 Chronicles 16:9 "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars." Psalm 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety. Psalm 91:9-11 For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. • No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. • For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. Proverbs 3:24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Psalm 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. 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 The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Insight Jesus challenged society's norms. To him, greatness comes from serving—giving of yourself to help God and others. Service keeps us aware of others' needs, and it stops us from focusing only on ourselves. Jesus came as a servant. Challenge What kind of greatness do you seek? Devotional Hours Within the Bible The TransfigurationThe Transfiguration was one of the most remarkable events in our Lord’s life. The object, so far as the disciples were concerned, probably was to restore their confidence in Christ’s Messiahship, after the staggering blow to their faith which had come to them in the announcement by Himself, that He must suffer and be killed. So far as Jesus Himself was concerned, the object of the Transfiguration would seem to have been to strengthen and encourage Him as He set out on His last journey to the cross. For companions and witnesses on this occasion, Jesus had Peter, James and John. These were His special friends, admitted by Him to His closest friendship. On several occasions we find Him choosing the same three for special companionship. There must have been something in these three men, which fitted them for the place of honor to which they were admitted. We know that the holiest people will get nearest to Christ. We know, too, that faith always brings us near, while doubt and unbelief separate us from Him. Purity of heart brings us close the pure in heart see God. Likeness to Christ fits us for personal friendship. Jesus said that those who serve most self-forgetfully, are first in His kingdom. Selfishness keeps us far off from Jesus. No doubt the eye of Christ saw in the three favored disciples, reasons why they were best fitted to be witnesses of His glory that night. It was not an accident that these, and not three other men were with their Lord on that occasion. It is a special comfort to find that Peter, through such a faulty disciple, was one of those who were admitted to closest fellowship with his Master that night. Luke tells us that Jesus was engaged in prayer when the wonderful change in His appearance took place. From this we learn that prayer has a transforming power. Communion with God, brings heaven down into our life. Tennyson said, “Prayer is to me the lifting up of the sluice-gate between me and the Infinite.” Prayer lets God’s own life into our souls. While we pray we are in the very presence of God! When Moses had spent forty days on the mountain alone with God, and then returned again to the plain, the people saw the dazzling brightness of heaven on his countenance. When Stephen was looking up into heaven at the glory of God as revealed now in holy vision, even his enemies saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Only the upward look can give heavenly beauty. Our communing makes our character. If we think of earthly things we will grow earthly. If we dote on gold our lives will harden into sordidness. If we look up toward God we shall grow like God. A life of prayer will transform us into spirituality, and bring down upon us the beauty of the Lord. Another strange thing happened that night. There appeared unto Jesus and His disciples two men from heaven, not mere apparitions but actual men, not men either from the earth but from heaven Moses and Elijah. There was something very wonderful in this. For more than nine hundred years Elijah had been in heaven, and for more than fourteen hundred years Moses had been away from this world; and now both reappear, still living, speaking, and working. There are many proofs of immortality but here is an illustration of the truth. Here we see two men, long centuries after they have left the earth still living and active in God’s service! It will be the same with us and our friends. Thousands of years after we have vanished from earth we shall still be alive and active somewhere. If only we can get this great truth into our heart, how much more grand it will make all life for us! We are told that these men had a talk with Jesus. One of the Gospels gives us the subject of the talk it was about Christ’s decease, His exodus from this world. These men were sent from heaven to comfort and strengthen Jesus for the journey to His cross. He would have bitter sorrows and great sufferings, and they came to cheer Him. We are not told that He was afraid or that He was in danger of growing faint-hearted before He reached His cross but the bravest and strongest are better for encouragement and cheer. So the heavenly messengers were sent to earth to talk with Jesus about His death, to show Him what it would mean to the world, that He might be strengthened for it. No doubt all the way unto the end of life, Jesus was braver and stronger because of this heavenly visitation. No doubt He had such a vision of redemption as He went to His cross that He rejoiced to suffer, that He saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied. May there not be a hint in this, of the kind of employment that shall occupy the redeemed in the next life? Possibly we may be sent to distant worlds on errands of love to carry help to weary ones. At least we are sure that heaven is not merely a place of inactive rest. Praise will not be the only employment of the glorified ones. They will have opportunity to serve . The hearts of the disciples were filled with strange ecstasy that night. So absorbed were they in the blessedness of the vision, that Peter proposed that they should stay there, offering to build three tabernacles, one for Jesus and one for each of the heavenly visitors. Peter was right it was good to be there. But at that very moment, human need was waiting at the foot of the mountain for the Master’s coming. Then, farther on, were Gethsemane and Calvary for Jesus; and for Peter there was Pentecost, with years of earnest service, and then martyrdom. It is very sweet to commune with Christ in the closet, at the Lord’s Table; but we must not spend all our time in these holy exercises. While raptures fill our hearts human needs are crying to us for help and for sympathy, and we must hasten away from our peaceful enjoyment, to carry blessing and comfort to those who need. Another element of the Transfiguration, was the witness from heaven. It was the Father who spoke and said, “This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” The disciples had been greatly shocked by what Jesus had told them six days before that He must suffer and be killed. Now from heaven the Father speaks, assuring them that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, and that they should listen to His voice and to His voice only. Even if they could not understand, and the things He said seemed to destroy all their hopes they must be content to hear. There are times when God’s ways with us seem very hard, when we think disaster is coming to ever fair prospect in our lives. In all such hours, we should remember that He who rules over all is the Son of God, our Friend and Savior and our trust in Him should never fail. We should listen always quietly and submissively to what He says, and when everything seems strange and dark we should never doubt or be afraid. What so staggered the disciples then we now see to have been the most glorious and loving wisdom. Through the cross there came to the world the most wonderful blessing the world ever received. So in our strangest trials there are the truest wisdom and the highest love. As Jesus and the disciples came down from the mountain the next morning, He charged them that they should tell no man what they had seen until after He had risen from the dead. Just so, there are many things that it is hard or even impossible for us to understand at the time but which become clear enough when the other events follow and cast their light upon them. One riding along a road approaches a building which has no beauty and which seems to be only a confused pile. But when he has passed by and looks back at it, he sees a structure graceful, impressive, and beautiful. He saw it first from the wrong side. One looks at an artist at work on his canvas and sees only rude daubs. The picture has not yet been completed. By and by it is finished and is a rare work of art. We must wait for finished work before we judge. A boy enters the academy, and a page of Greek is put before him but it has no meaning for him. He cannot read it. He spends a few years in the study of the language, and again the same page is presented to him. Now he reads it off with ease, and every word glows with some high thought. We are in Christ’s school now, and there are many things we cannot understand until we get farther on and learn other things, and then the former will be made plain and clear. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingNehemiah 12, 13 Nehemiah 12 -- Priests and Levites Who Returned; Dedication of the Wall NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Nehemiah 13 -- Foreigners Excluded; Tobiah Expelled; Tithes and Sabbath Restored NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 4:23-37 Acts 4 -- Peter and John Arrested and Released; Believers Share All NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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