Dawn 2 Dusk One Life, One BannerPhilippians 1:27 calls us to live in a way that makes the gospel look as good and true as it is. It’s not mainly about polishing our image; it’s about belonging—conduct that fits citizens of heaven, courage that doesn’t crumble, and a unity that proves Jesus is real among us. Steady Steps Worthy of the Gospel “Whatever happens” is the test of our discipleship. When circumstances swing—good news, bad news, stress, relief—the question stays the same: Do my choices match the message I say I believe? Paul’s invitation is to integrity: a life where the gospel isn’t just something we admire, but something we inhabit. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12:1). Worthy living isn’t perfection; it’s direction. That means ordinary faithfulness counts: the way you speak when you’re tired, the way you respond when you’re wronged, the way you handle money, time, and attention. “He has shown you, O man, what is good… to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Ask today: If someone read my schedule and heard my words, would they conclude the gospel is precious—or merely convenient? Standing Firm When Pressure Rises Philippians 1:27 pictures believers who don’t drift with the current. Standing firm is not stubbornness; it’s rootedness—feet planted in truth when the world tries to rename what God has called good. Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). Rock-built faith doesn’t panic when storms hit; it remembers who holds the horizon. And courage grows when we realize we’re not alone. The Lord doesn’t call you to be fearless; He calls you to be faithful. “Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid… for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). The pressure may be real—temptation, ridicule, disappointment—but Christ is more real. Today, don’t negotiate with fear; take it to the throne. Striving Side by Side for the Faith The Christian life is not a solo sport. Paul imagines a church moving like one team—different gifts, one aim: making Christ known. “And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). Unity isn’t pretending we’re identical; it’s choosing the same Lord and refusing to let pride, preference, or petty offenses fracture what Jesus purchased with His blood. This “side by side” striving also means our relationships become part of our witness. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). So forgive quickly. Speak truth with gentleness. Serve without needing credit. Pray for your church by name. And when conflict comes, fight for the bond, not for the win—because the gospel is too glorious to be overshadowed by our grudges. Father, thank You for the gospel and for making us citizens of heaven; strengthen us to stand firm, love one another, and live today in a way that honors Christ—help us obey with courage and unity. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer The Foolish Spending of LifeThe Greek philosopher Pythagoras is said to have divided men into three classes: 1. Seekers after knowledge. 2. Seekers after honor. 3. Seekers after gain. Thus far Pythagoras. But I wonder why he failed to notice two other classes: those who are not seekers after anything and those who are seekers after God. These no doubt existed in Pythagoras as they do in ours and it is odd that he did not recognize them. Let us add them to the list. 4. Seekers after nothing. These are the human vegetables who live by their glands and their instincts. I refer not to those unfortunate persons who by birth or by accident have been deprived of their normal faculties. There but by the grace of God go I. I do refer to the millions of normal persons who have allowed their magnificent intellectual equipment to wither away from lack of exercise. These seekers after nothing have certain large ear-marks. They may be known by the company they keep. Their reading matter is the sports page and the comic section; their art is limited to magazine covers and the illustrated trivialities of the weekly picture magazines; their music is whatever is popular and handy and loud. After work they sit and watch television or just drive around waiting for-what? It is an omen and a portent that this describes the bulk of our population in the United States, and that they constitute what we proudly call the electorate; that is, they decide the direction our country shall go, morally, politically and religiously. O tempora! O mores! Music For the Soul The Loneliness of ChristBehold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. - John 36:32 THAT is not the aspect of our Lord’s sorrows, the element of our Lord’s Passion, which is most often dealt with and thought about; but it is a very real one, and one that I think deserves to be far more considered than we are in the habit of doing. Attention has been too exclusively directed to the physical sufferings of our Lord’s Passion, and to the mysterious element in His mental passion which made it unique and atoning. We have too much forgotten the sorrows which pressed upon Him as upon us, the same in kind, only infinitely deeper in degree, and hence we have lost some of the sense of reality of our Lord’s sufferings of these sorrows. I do not know that any is more sharp than the solitude in which He lived and yet more awful solitude in which He died. Jesus Christ was the loneliest man that ever lived. A little ignorant love and a little outward companionship He had; and soothing and strengthening it was to be surrounded by the affection even of such ignorant friends as the disciples. But there was not a single human being who fully understood or believed Him. There were none who sympathized with His aims, none who could receive His confidences. His thoughts were unshared, His words unintelligible, His life’s purpose shrouded in mystery. " He came to His own, and His own received Him not." " His soul was as a star, and dwelt apart." And so He traveled on, bearing a great burden of love which none would accept; the loneliest soul that ever wore human flesh. All great spirits are solitary; the men that lead the world have to go before the world, and to go by themselves. Starlings fly in flocks, the eagle soars singly. And so the pages of the biographies, teachers and religious reformers, and thinkers and path-breakers generally, tell us of the pains of uncomprehended aims, of the misery of living apart from one’s kind, of the agony of hungering for sympathy, for comprehension, for acceptance of a truth which dooms its possessors to isolation. But all that men have experienced in that kind is as nothing as compared with the blackness of darkness which the loneliness of Jesus Christ assumed as it settled down upon Him. Let me remind you what it was that condemned Him to this absolute loneliness. It was the very purity and sinlessness of His nature which necessarily made Him separate from sinners. He saw eternal things as no other eye saw them, and His vision of land, where others saw only cloud, parted Him from them. He read men as no other eye read them: He saw not only the clock-face, but the springs. He looked upon the flesh and behind the spirit, its inmost essence, its destiny and end. Before His human eye there stood plainly manifested the pale kingdoms of the dead, and all that vision separated Him from men. The children on the street used to point at Dante as he passed, saying, " There goes the man that has seen hell," and to shrink from him as if he carried his own atmosphere in which others could not breathe. But the equal vision which Christ had of all things, of all men, of all worlds, made His life an absolute solitude; and when He spake that He knew, and testified what He had seen, no man received His testimony. Hence came a deeper loneliness. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Psalm 100:4 Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Our Lord would have all his people rich in high and happy thoughts concerning his blessed person. Jesus is not content that his brethren should think meanly of him; it is his pleasure that his espoused ones should be delighted with his beauty. We are not to regard him as a bare necessary, like to bread and water, but as a luxurious delicacy, as a rare and ravishing delight. To this end he has revealed himself as the "pearl of great price" in its peerless beauty, as the "bundle of myrrh" in its refreshing fragrance, as the "rose of Sharon" in its lasting perfume, as the "lily" in its spotless purity. As a help to high thoughts of Christ, remember the estimation that Christ is had in beyond the skies, where things are measured by the right standard. Think how God esteems the Only Begotten, his unspeakable gift to us. Consider what the angels think of him, as they count it their highest honor to veil their faces at his feet. Consider what the blood-washed think of him, as day without night they sing his well deserved praises. High thoughts of Christ will enable us to act consistently with our relations towards him. The more loftily we see Christ enthroned, and the more lowly we are when bowing before the foot of the throne, the more truly shall we be prepared to act our part towards him. Our Lord Jesus desires us to think well of him, that we may submit cheerfully to his authority. High thoughts of him increase our love. Love and esteem go together. Therefore, believer, think much of your Master's excellencies. Study him in his primeval glory, before he took upon himself your nature! Think of the mighty love which drew him from his throne to die upon the cross! Admire him as he conquers all the powers of hell! See him risen, crowned, glorified! Bow before him as the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, for only thus will your love to him be what it should. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook What Is Painful Will EndOur heavenly Father seeks our instruction, not our destruction. His contention with us has a kind intention toward us. He will not be always in arms against us. We think the LORD is long in His chastisements, but that is because we are short in our patience. His compassion endureth forever, but not His contention. The night may drag its weary length along, but it must in the end give place to cheerful day. As contention is only for a season, so the wrath which leads to it is only for a small moment. The LORD loves His chosen too well to be always angry with them. If He were to deal with us always as He does sometimes, we should faint outright and go down hopelessly to the gates of death. Courage, dear heart! The LORD will soon end His chiding. Bear up, for the LORD will bear you up and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which He has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future. He that smote you will heal you; His little wrath shall be followed by great mercies. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Thou Art No More a Servant, but a SonIt would have been a great mercy if God had made us His servants, after we had proved His enemies; but He has adopted us as His sons, and taken us to the bosom of His love. He is now our Father, and wishes us to call Him so; we are His children, and He wishes us to walk and act as such. We are not mere servants, therefore we should not be servile; we are sons, therefore we should love, obey, and delight in God as our Father. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." We are delivered form bondage, introduced into favour, have the promise of eternal life, and should rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. It was free grace which adopted us; the Holy Spirit, by the word, begat us to a lively hope; and the gospel proclaims our privileges, and invites us to enjoy them. Let us today think, "I am a son of God. My Father is holy, His children are holy, His word is holy, He loves holiness, and commands me to be holy; I will therefore lift up my heart to Him; seek grace from Him; and in all things aim to glorify Him." Pronounce me, gracious God! Thy son, Own me an heir divine: I’ll pity princes on the throne, When I can call Thee mine; Sceptres and crowns unenvied rise, And lose their lustre in mine eyes. Bible League: Living His Word I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.— Jeremiah 10:23—24 ESV There's something bigger than ourselves in control of the way we walk through life. It's the Lord. The Lord has sovereign control over the way we walk. That's why the Bible says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). And that's why it also says, "A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?" (Proverbs 20:24). It's mistaken to think otherwise. It's mistaken to think that we do not exist under the sovereign hand of the Lord. Nevertheless, I see that there is mystery. Believers can go off course. Inexplicably, mysteriously, we can seemingly escape the sovereign control of the Lord and move in a way that is at odds with His revealed will. The Bible calls this sin. Instead of obedience to the will and ways of the Lord, there is disobedience. Instead of harmony with the sovereign Lord of all, there is discord. Since "the way of man is not in himself," no one can fully explain how this could happen, but it happens just the same. You can't blame God for it, for He is holy and good. There's no one else to blame but ourselves. How can this situation be rectified? How can we get our lives back on course? There is only one way. The Lord must correct us. The Lord must, as it were, re—exert His sovereign control and correct the way we have taken. Since "it is not in man who walks to direct his steps," we can't do it ourselves. Ultimately, it is the Lord who must do it. But there is more than one way the Lord can correct us. According to our verses for today, He can correct us in justice, or He can correct us in anger. Justice is what we want, for His anger can destroy us. What we want is a course correction that is tempered by the mercy of the Lord. What we want is a course correction that bring us to a place of reformation and transformation, not to a place of destruction. After all, we are God's children through Christ, and so we can expect His Fatherly discipline that comes from love (Proverbs 3:12). If we have strayed from your will in any way, O Lord, then correct us—but in loving discipline and not in anger, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 7:31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.James 1:9-11 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; • and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. • For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Genesis 5:27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Psalm 39:4 "LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. 1 Thessalonians 5:3,4 While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. • But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 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 And through him God reconciledeverything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. Insight Christ's death provided a way for all people to come to God. It cleared away the sin that keeps us from having a right relationship with our Creator. This does not mean that everyone has been saved, but that the way has been cleared for anyone who will trust Christ to be saved. Challenge We can have peace with God and be reconciled to him by accepting Christ, who died in our place. Is there a distance between you and the Creator? Be reconciled to God. Come to him through Christ. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Power of the TongueThe exhortation, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers” is a warning against the spirit which is always giving advice to people, trying to direct their lives and control their opinions and their movements. Some people are ready with advice on every subject. No question of duty in other people’s lives is so delicate, that they cannot settle it at once. Where wise, thoughtful men are silent they speak out with boldest self-confidence. They are always obtruding advice unsought upon others. They understand your business far better than you do yourself. They know what you ought to do in every experience. They are as much at home in spiritual matters as in local gossip, and can tell a distressed soul what to do as glibly and as unfeelingly as they can give advice about farming or sheep-raising. Perhaps James did not have this sort of “teachers” in mind but it would be a blessing to the world if some of them would take his reproof to heart. There are very few people fit to give advice to others. Especially are there few who are fit to guide others in spiritual matters. It does not matter so much if it be only the cut of a coat or the color of a dress but when it is the eternal interest of a soul, only one who is living near the heart of God and has learned by long and deep experience, should dare to give advice. The ambition to be recognized as leaders is a sure mark of vanity! It is better to be the propeller of a ship, hidden under the water, than the figurehead, vaunting itself on the prow. “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” The tongue is the most sensitive to impression from within, and most quickly interprets the emotions and feelings, good or bad. It is also the hardest of all to control. Therefore, if we can control our tongue, there is no doubt that we can control all our other members. Our tongue is the wildest and most wayward thing about us. People who in every other way live almost faultless lives, are constantly stumbling in their speech, speaking words they ought never to utter. It is a wise rule in all self-culture and discipline, to give most attention to those things in which we are most lacking, to strengthen the weak points, to curb the wayward elements, to put the restraint where there is the most tendency to defy control. Every tongue, therefore, needs watching. With most of us, this is the weakest and the strongest point the weakest in its self-control and the strongest in its wild waywardness. “The tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts.” Two admirable illustrations of this are given. The great, strong horse is controlled by a bridle, and the largest ship obeys the rudder even in the wildest storms. What the bit is to the horse, what the rudder is to the ship, that the tongue is to the body. Not only does the speech express the inner emotions but it reacts again upon those emotions. Thus uncontrolled speech does double harm. Evil words spoken, while they do harm to others, kindle also into still intenser flame, the inner passions which first prompted them. “You cannot deliberately besmirch your neighbor’s reputation, however bad a woman she may be, without making yourself a worse woman.” We are not done with wicked words, when we have uttered them. While they go out into life on their career of hurt and injury our own life has in it a new element of evil because of their utterance! Our duty is to get and keep our tongue well in hand; to get a rider on the horse who shall guide the fiery animal; to get a pilot on the ship whose hand on the wheel shall be instantly recognized and instantly yielded to in the fiercest gale. The tongue is capable of wonderful mastership over the life, if only it can be made servant to a good heart and a strong will. “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” The old hunter lit his pipe, then threw down the match among the dry leaves and passed on. In a little while the whole forest behind him was ablaze! A kerosene lamp was upset by the kick of a cow in a stable, and soon almost the whole city was in ruins! A boy’s Fourth of July firecracker carried a spark to a dry roof, and another city suffered from a terrible conflagration! A spark from a passing locomotive flew into the dry grass, and a prairie was over swept by fire! There are many people like the old hunter, throwing burning matches among the dry leaves in almost every conversation. There are men and women who are continually upsetting lamps among the hay and starting conflagrations. The tongue is a fire, and words are sparks. Ofttimes the words burn into some tender heart, almost extinguishing its life! “No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison!” This may seem rather a discouraging word. We must not conclude from it that the tongue cannot possibly be tamed. No man can tame his own tongue or the tongue of another but Christ is able to get the mastery for us over every power of our own being. The story of Moses is suggestive. When he went out, at forty years of age, thinking he was able to begin his work, he had not yet mastered his tongue or his temper. God took him into the wilderness, and for forty years had him in training. Then he came out, at the age of eighty, and was ready to become the leader and the lawgiver of his people. This may seem discouraging, too that it took forty years to tame a man’s tongue. Perhaps most of us will find that it does take a good many years to get perfect mastery over our speech. At the same time, there is no sin in us so masterful, so resistless, so perverse that the grace of God cannot bring it into full subjection. “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.” It is inconsistent that the same tongue which is given to praise God should tomorrow, out in the world, speak bitter words against men. No doubt many good people are sometimes led by sudden impulses to speak words that are not true or loving, to or of others. But every Christian should understand that the tongue which has been given to Christ, should never speak any but Christly words. We are to be Christ to others, and our words should be Christ’s words. We should train ourselves, under God’s grace, to nourish only good thoughts, kindly thoughts, loving thoughts, and instantly to quench in our heart every thought of bitterness or cursing. If the evil thoughts are quenched, there will be no flame of anger or passion bursting from our lips. If our heart is filled with love our speech will not give vent to bitterness, to wrath, to anger, to scandal, to anything that is not beautiful. “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” A man may achieve the honors of his class in college and be a walking encyclopedia of information and yet have no wisdom for the ordinary affairs of life. His knowledge does him no good. One may know all the precepts of the gospel concerning love, gentleness, or patience and yet if he does not show these qualities in his daily life all his knowledge is worthless. Knowing how to live is good but doing is the test of true knowing. The tongue is an index of the heart. Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. We must, therefore, show our wisdom in our words. The kind of speech that proves our wisdom, is that which is filled with the Spirit of Christ. On the day of Pentecost the disciples got new tongues. Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to speak the language of heaven, the language of love the soft answer which turns away wrath, the word of blessing for one who curses, the word of gentleness in reply to rudeness, the prayer for those who persecute us. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 40, 41, 42 Jeremiah 40 -- Jeremiah Set Free by Nebuzaradan, Remains in Judah NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 41 -- Ishmael kills Gedaliah; Johanan Rescues the People NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 42 -- Jeremiah Assures of Safety in Judea and Destruction in Egypt NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 2 Hebrews 2 -- Pay Attention; The Author of Salvation Perfected in Sufferings 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
    |