Dawn 2 Dusk When Grace Interrupts My StorylineJonah knew exactly who God is—and that’s what made him upset. He could handle a God who punished Nineveh; he struggled with a God who might forgive them. Jonah 4:2 exposes a familiar conflict: when God’s mercy collides with our sense of fairness, our hearts get loud. When God’s Goodness Feels Inconvenient Jonah’s anger wasn’t rooted in ignorance; it was rooted in theology. He knew God’s character well enough to predict mercy, and he didn’t want that mercy spent on “those people.” It’s sobering to realize we can be correct about God and still resistant to Him. We may pray for justice in the abstract, but when it gets personal—when grace might restore someone who wounded us, embarrassed us, or threatens our comfort—we start bargaining with God. Yet this is who He has always been. “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). Jonah wanted God’s power without God’s heart. And if we’re honest, so do we—especially when mercy complicates our timelines, our reputations, or our desire to see consequences land. Letting Kindness Lead Me Before I Lead Others Jonah was furious that God was patient with Nineveh, but he had benefited from that same patience in the storm, in the fish, and on the shore. That’s the blind spot: we often want grace to be our rescue plan and justice to be everyone else’s. God’s kindness, though, isn’t soft; it’s surgical. “Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). Before we critique God’s mercy toward others, we need to sit under it ourselves. The question isn’t whether Nineveh deserved compassion; the question is whether Jonah—and we—will be transformed by it. God’s patience is purposeful: “The Lord… is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). If His patience pursued me when I was stubborn, I can’t call it injustice when that same patience pursues someone else. Choosing Mercy as Worship God doesn’t just ask us to accept His mercy; He calls us to imitate it. That’s where Jonah’s story presses on our daily life: who are the “Ninevites” we’ve written off? The coworker who undercut us, the family member who keeps repeating the same sins, the public figure we love to despise, the neighbor who lives like God doesn’t matter. Jesus is direct: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). That isn’t denial of evil—it’s alignment with a Father who changes people from the inside out. Mercy doesn’t cancel justice; it hands justice to God and frees us from playing judge. “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). And God’s way forward is simple and demanding: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Today, worship may look like releasing the right to be angry, praying for someone’s repentance, and celebrating grace—especially when it’s given to someone we wouldn’t have chosen. Father, thank You for being compassionate and gracious. Soften my heart, align me with Your mercy, and help me love, pray, and obey today—especially toward the people I least want to. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Spirit TaughtAlways the decisive conflict in religion will be where important concepts are joined in opposition, concepts so vital that they are capable of saving or wrecking the Christian faith in any given generation. At this critical juncture in church history, the real conflict is between those who hold to an objective Christianity capable of being grasped in its entirety by the human intellect and those who believe that there are far-in areas of religious experience so highly spiritual, so removed from and exalted above mere reason, that it takes a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to make them understood by the human heart. The difference is not academic merely. Should the advocates of religious intellectualism succeed in setting the direction for the church in this generation, the next generation of Christians will become helpless victims of dead orthodoxy. In conversation with one of the better-known devotees of neo-intellectualism in evangelical circles, I asked the question bluntly, Do you actually believe that everything essential in the Christian faith may be grasped by the human intellect? The answer was immediate--If I did not, I would be on my way toward agnosticism. I did not say, but might properly have said, And if you do, you are on your way toward rationalism. For such indeed is the truth.
Music For the Soul The Attachments of FaithThese all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. - Hebrews 11:13 THE great roll-call of heroes of faith in this chapter (Heb. 11) goes upon the supposition that the living spirit of religion was the same in Old and in New Testament times. In both it was faith which knit men to God. It has often been alleged that that great word faith has a different signification in this Epistle from that which it has in the other New Testament writings. The allegation is largely true; in so far as the things believed are concerned they are extremely different, but it is not true in so far as the person trusted or in so far as the act of trusting are concerned, - these are identical. It was no mere temporal and earthly promise on which the faith of these patriarchs was builded. They looked indeed for the land, but in looking for the land they looked "for the City which hath foundations "; and their future hopes had the same dim haze of ignorance, and the same questions unresolved about perspective and relative distances which our future hopes have; and their faith, whatever were its contents, was fundamentally the same out of a soul casting itself upon God which is the essence of our faith in the Divine Son in whom God is made manifest. So with surface difference there is a deep-lying, absolute oneness in the faith of the Old Testament and ours, in their essential nature, in the Object which they grasp, and in their practical effects upon life. Therefore these words, describing what faith did for the world’s grey forefathers, have a more immediate bearing upon us than at first sight may appear, and may suggest for us some thoughts about the proper, practical issues of Christian faith in our daily lives. Observe that the words, "And were persuaded of them," in our Old Version are a gloss, - no part of the original text. Observe, further, that the adverb "afar off " is intended to apply to both the clauses: "Having seen them" and "embraced them." And that, consequently, "embraced" must necessarily be an inadequate representation of the writer’s idea; for you cannot embrace a thing that is "afar off"; and to "embrace the promises " was the very thing that these men did not do. The meaning of the word is, here, not embraced, but saluted, or greeted; and the figure that lies in it is a very beautiful one. As some traveller topping the water-shed may see far off the white porch of his home, and wave a greeting to it, though it be distant, while his heart goes out over all the intervening, weary leagues; or as some homeward-bound crew catch, away yonder on the horizon, the tremulous low line that is home, and welcome it with a shout of joy, though many a billow dash and break between them and it, these men looked across the weary waste, and saw far away; and as they saw, their hearts went out towards the things that were promised, because they "judged Him faithful that had promised." And that is the attitude and the act which all true faith in God ought to operate in us. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Luke 15:2 This man receiveth sinners. Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners--this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces--this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful--they are of our own race; but that he, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous. "This Man receiveth sinners;" not, however, that they may remain sinners, but he receives them that he may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by his purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve him, to show forth his praise, and to have communion with him. Into his heart's love he receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears them as jewels in his crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of his mercy. None are so precious in Jesus' sight as the sinners for whom he died. When Jesus receives sinners, he has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual ward where he charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but he opens the golden gates of his royal heart, and receives the sinner right into himself--yea, he admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes him a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is still most sure this evening, he is still receiving sinners: would to God sinners would receive him. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook The Dew of HeavenWhat the dew in the East is to the world of nature, that is the influence of the Spirit in the realm of grace. How greatly do I need it! Without the Spirit of God I am a dry and withered thing. I droop, I fade, I die. How sweetly does this dew refresh me! When once favored with it I feel happy, lively, vigorous, elevated. I want nothing more. The Holy Spirit brings me life and all that life requires. All else without the dew of the Spirit is less than nothing to me: I hear, I read, I pray, I sing, I go to the table of Communion, and I find no blessing there until the Holy Ghost visits me. But when He bedews me, every means of grace is sweet and profitable. What a promise is this for me! "His heavens shall drop down dew." I shall be visited with grace. I shall not be left to my natural drought, or to the world’s burning heat, or to the sirocco of satanic temptation. Oh, that l may at this very hour feel the gentle, silent, saturating dew of the LORD! Why should I not! He who has made me to live as the grass lives in the meadow will treat me as He treats the grass; He will refresh me from above. Grass cannot call for dew as I do. Surely, the LORD who visits the unpraying plant will answer to His pleading child. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Let Patience Have Her Perfect WorkPATIENCE supposes trials and troubles; it signifies to remain under a burden; it is opposed to fretfulness, murmuring, haste, and despondency; it produces submission, silence before God, and satisfaction with His dealings. The Holy Spirit produces this grace by means of afflictions; tribulation worketh patience. Every Christian is supposed to possess it, and is required to exercise it; yea, to let it have its perfect work. To this end let us study the examples of suffering and patience set before us in the Bible; let us take up and plead God’s promises; let us remember that eternal love appointed every trial and trouble; that Jesus forewarned us of tribulation; that He has set us an example which we are required to imitate. Impatience dishonours our profession, and grieves the Spirit; patience benefits others, and is of great advantage to ourselves. Let us watch against temptations to impatience, and in patience possess our souls. So shall we fill up our character as Christians; complete the evidence of our sincerity; and prove our principles divine. Dear Lord, though bitter is the cup Thy gracious hand deals out to me, I cheerfully would drink it up;-- That cannot hurt which comes from Thee. The gift of patience, Lord impart To calm and soothe my troubled heart. Bible League: Living His Word My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.— 1 John 2:1 ESV The Apostle John wrote his letter so that his readers "may not sin." That is, he wrote his letter to the readers of his day, and to us by extension, in order to encourage us not to sin. Although God sent Jesus Christ to earth in order to provide a remedy for sin, John still wants us to avoid sin. The remedy was not given by God as a license or an excuse to sin. Consequently, we should strive, with the help of God, to avoid it. As children of God, we should seek to be like our Father in heaven who is "light" and in whom "is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). Nevertheless, John is fully aware of the fact that this high ideal will not be fully achieved by us in this age. That's why he says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). And that's why he also tells us how to make use of the remedy for sin: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). When we confess our sins, "the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). In our verse for today, John also tells us that when we sin we have an advocate with the Father: "Jesus Christ the righteous." What does Jesus advocate on our behalf? Although His advocacy is similar to that which a lawyer provides for clients in a court, in that He seeks our good before a judge, there is a difference. Unlike a defense attorney, He does not try to prove that we are innocent of the charges brought against us; He acknowledges that our confessions of guilt are necessary. Instead, He advocates that because our confessions are sincere, we should be pardoned and treated as innocent, not because of any virtue on our part, but because He paid the penalty for sin by suffering and dying on the cross. Praise be to God that Jesus Christ, the righteous one, is advocating on our behalf in heaven! Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.1 Peter 3:4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, Luke 20:36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Romans 5:9-11 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. • For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. • And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; Mark 9:50 "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Ephesians 4:29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 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 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.Insight Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example, seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than lust. But this does not mean that because we do lesser sins we deserve eternal life. All sin makes us sinners, and all sin cuts us off from our holy God. All sin, therefore, leads to death (because it disqualifies us from living with God), regardless of how great or small it seems. Challenge Don't minimize “little” sins or overrate “big” sins. They all separate us from God, but they all can be forgiven. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Comforter PromisedEverything in Christian life is love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” There are other things that are mentioned as fruit but love is named first, and all the others are only parts or qualities of love. The one white ray of light is resolved into the seven colors of the rainbow. Just so does love, the white ray that shines from the face of God, separate itself into all the heavenly graces. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance” (Galatians 5:22, Galatians 5:23). Love is the one essential in the life which the Holy Spirit produces. Paul tells us we may have great eloquence, tongues of angels, the gift of prophecy, faith that can move mountains, generosity that will give all we possess, the martyr’s spirit; and yet, if we have not love we are nothing. Men have been champions of orthodoxy, and yet, lacking love are given to anger, evil temper, and resentment. There are those who are devoted to the institutions of religion and who yet fail to show love at home. These do not meet the highest requirement of the gospel. Nothing but love can satisfy the demands of the Holy Spirit. We must prove our love by our life. “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” We cannot live truly, except by loving but we cannot love and not live worthily. It is very easy to say we love a person but our conduct is the only true index. In one of his epistles John, the disciple of love writes: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth .” (1 John 3:16-18). John is speaking of the proof of love to our fellow men but the same principle applies to our profession of love to Christ. It is not enough that we sing it in our hymns and say it in our prayers and recite it in our creeds ; we must show it in our life by obedience to His commandments. A fruit tree proves its usefulness, by bearing fruit. If there is “nothing but leaves,” the tree’s profession is empty. The rosebush must prove its right to the distinction, by putting forth beautiful roses in the season for roses. When we claim to be Christ’s friends, we must show it by doing what Christ bids us do. “If you love me you will obey what I command.” Promise follows requirement. Then he says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter to be with you forever the Spirit of truth.” The “and” is important. It links the promise back to the previous verse. There are four links in the chain. If we love Christ, we will keep His commandments; then He will ask the Father, and the Father will give us another Comforter. The disciples thought they would be sore losers by Christ’s leaving them, and so they were, in a sense. It broke their hearts to part from Him. But He assures them that instead of His personal presence, another heavenly Friend would be sent to them. The name “Comforter” is a very precious one. Even in the common usage of the English word it is sacred. One who is a comforter to us, ministers to us in our sorrows, consoles us when we are in grief. Then the word “another” shows what kind of comforter the Spirit would be Jesus had been a comforter, and the Spirit would be one just like Him. We sometimes wish we had lived when Jesus was on earth, and feel that those who knew Him in the flesh had a privilege no other believers ever again can have. But this word tells us that the Holy Spirit, who came in Christ’s place is all to us that Jesus was to His friends. He may not take away our sorrows from us but if not, He gives us strength so that we can bear them. That is part of what the Holy Spirit does for us. He is not, however, merely a comforter in the sense that the word is now used. The word is “Paraclete,” which has not precise equivalent in English. The same word is translated “Advocate” in one of John’s epistles, which means one who stands by or stands for one. We may put all our affairs into the hands of this Advocate. He will defend us, intercede for us, and be our comrade and friend. The world does not want to receive the Holy Spirit ”Whom the world cannot receive.” It has no love for Him, no eyes to behold His beauty, no ears to hear His words. The world does not want the Holy Spirit as guest. Only those who desire to be holy, have any yearning for Him. It is one of the most wonderful proofs of the love of God, that the Holy Spirit is wiling to live in a corrupt, defiled, loathsome human heart, amid all its sin and impurity, for the purpose of cleansing it and making it holy and fit for heaven! It was one of the qualities of the love of Christ, that it went out in compassion and longing to the most unworthy. Someone defined the love of God as “loving people He did not like.” The Spirit of God takes up His abode in the worst heart that He may make it clean and holy. It is wonderful how gently Christ dealt with His disciples that night. He talked with them as a mother about to leave her children would talk to them mingled counsel, with words of love. He knew how lonely they would be when He was gone away from them. They would indeed be desolate in their sorrow and bereavement. We remember how it was with them those days that He lay in the grave. Then for forty days they saw Him occasionally, receiving sweet consolation from Him. After this He went away but soon He came again in the Holy Spirit, and after that the disciples were never lonely anymore, for they had their Master’s presence with them in close and loving tenderness all the while. We ought never to feel desolate if we have Christ. Everything else may be stripped off, and we may be driven out into the world, orphans, and homeless; but if we have Christ, we are rich in love and in all heavenly blessing. The proof of love for God is obedience to His commandment. Then, when love for God is in our lives, God Himself is with us. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” It is a wonderful truth that is declared to us here that God actually desires to have our love and longs to make His home in our hearts. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” One of the great words of the Bible is peace. Our heart hungers for it. Everywhere men search for it in paths of pleasure, in the avenues of fame. But peace does not come by finding a quiet place to hide in, away from the world’s storms. It must begin in the heart. Indeed, the peace a Christian has must be a peace that will hold the heart quiet in spite of the world’s storms . Two artists went out to paint each a picture of peace. One painted a silvery lake embosomed deep amid the hills, where no storm ever could touch it. The other painted a wild sea, swept by tempests, strewn with wrecks but rising up out of it a great rock and in the rock, high up, a cleft with herbage and flowers, amid which, on her nest, a dove was sitting. The latter is the true picture of Christian peace. “In the word you shall have tribulation,” but “In me you shall have peace” (see 16:33). The peace of Christ is a peace that holds the heart quiet in the very heart of the world’s trials. This peace is offered to us here as a gift, as Christ’s legacy to us. We can get it only by taking Christ Himself into our heart. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 23, 24 Proverbs 23 -- When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 24 -- Don't be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them: NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 5 2 Corinthians 5 -- Walk by Faith, and Not Sight; Christ's Love Compels us to Ministry 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
    |