Dawn 2 Dusk The Neighbor in Your MirrorWhen Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He refused to let love stop with God alone. He said that right next to loving God with everything we are stands another command: to love the people around us with the same intentional care we naturally give ourselves. According to Jesus, you cannot be serious about God and casual about people. Today is an invitation to look again at the faces around us—and to see them through His eyes. Love That Actually Costs Something Jesus did not describe love as a vague, warm feeling. He tied our love for God directly to how we treat others. Scripture says, “We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well” (1 John 4:19–21). Real love is not proven by what we feel during worship, but by how we act when we are interrupted, offended, or inconvenienced. Matthew records Jesus’ words: “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:39). That little phrase “is like it” is huge. Loving your neighbor is not optional; it is “like” loving God—woven together with it. To love your neighbor means choosing to absorb a cost: time you didn’t plan to spend, money you didn’t budget to give, emotional energy you weren’t expecting to pour out. But this is exactly how Christ loved us—sacrificially, at His own expense (Ephesians 5:2). Seeing Yourself in Your Neighbor Jesus did not simply say, “Love your neighbor.” He added, “as yourself.” You know your own fears, your weaknesses, your hunger to be noticed and valued. What if you saw that same story in the people around you—in the coworker who gets on your nerves, the family member whose politics you can’t stand, the stranger at the store? “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3–4). Humility begins when you recognize that the person in front of you is not an obstacle, but a soul as real and needy as your own. When the lawyer answered Jesus, he summarized, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27). Jesus affirmed that answer, then told the parable of the Good Samaritan to show that our “neighbor” is often the person we’d rather avoid. To love as yourself means asking, “If I were in their place, how would I want to be treated?” and then doing that—not just thinking it. This is simple, but it is not easy; it pushes us beyond politeness into compassion. Turning Ordinary Moments into Holy Ground The call to love your neighbor lives in the ordinary. It’s in noticing the lonely person at church, listening instead of rushing your own story, sending a text to encourage, bringing a meal, forgiving quickly, or quietly meeting a need without posting about it. “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, ‘Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,’ but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead” (James 2:15–17). Love turns “go in peace” into “I will help.” Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35). According to Him, our love is our badge. “For the entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14). That means every hallway, every office, every living room, every text thread you enter today can become holy ground—a place where the invisible God becomes visible through tangible, Spirit-empowered love. Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me first and best. Today, open my eyes to the neighbors You’ve placed around me, and by Your Spirit move me to love them in costly, practical ways that point them to You. Morning with A.W. Tozer Overflowing HopeSo strong, so beautiful is hope that it is scarcely possible to overpraise it. It is the divine alchemy that transmutes the base metal of adversity into gold. In the midst of death Paul could be bold and buoyant because he had firm confidence in the final outcome. "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake," he said, but his heart remained cheerful knowing that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:11,17). His lovely little benediction pronounced over the Roman Christians shows how faith and peace and joy live with hope like four fair sisters dwelling in the same cottage: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). Faith is confidence in the character of God, and hope is the sweet anticipation of desirable things promised but not yet realized. Hope is an electronic beam on which the Christian flies through wind and storm straight to his desired haven. To the child of God, hope is a gift from the heavenly Father "who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope" (2 Thessalonians 2:16).
The Christian's hope is sound because it is founded upon the character of God and the redeeming work of His Son Jesus Christ. For this reason Peter could call it "a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3). It is living because it rests on reality and not on fancy. It is not wishful dreaming but vital expectation with the whole might of the Most High behind it.
Music For the Soul The Companion of the Lonely ChristI am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. - John 8:16 One cannot but feel the sudden change in the words from plain time to exulting notes, from the pathetic minors of an Aeolian harp to the joyous clang of the trumpet. " Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me." Here is the reality of the perpetual Divine presence with Christ and through Him with us. That is the first point: "the Father is with Me." Now, we are not concerned here with that mysterious and Divine union between the Divine Father and the Divine Son, which, as I believe, is a distinct revelation of Scripture, taught in such words as, "The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father"; or, "I and My Father are One"; or, by His Name, "the Son of Man which is in Heaven." All that belongs to another region, where thought and language can safely go no farther than as His own declarations lead them. But here it is the presence of God with Christ’s perfect manhood which is spoken of - a presence the same in kind, however different in degree, which is granted to all loving and pure hearts. Take the words, then, as a wonderful utterance or our Lord’s own consciousness. That nature, perfect in mind, in will, in heart, was always conscious of an unbroken union with God. The mind was filled with His truth; the will ever consciously bowing to His supreme law; the heart ever at rest in His perfect love and goodness. Like some pure mirror of steel, on which there is no dint nor scratch nor stain, but every portion of it capable, and equally capable, of receiving and flashing back in brightness the rays of the sun, the whole Man, Christ Jesus, spread Himself out, if I may so say, beneath the lustre of God, and was shone upon with the unvarying radiance of His unclouded presence. And that is possible for us through Him. " I do always," said He, "the things that please Him." And, therefore, "the Father hath not left Me alone." We can come to Him, though our natures, as compared with His, be like the same shield - all battered and bruised, and stained with evil, and eaten into with rust, and incapable of catching the light or of throwing it back. We can go to that Christ in whom we come near to God, and in whom God comes near to us; and, holding by Him, we can enter into the fellowship, the wondrous fellowship, of the Father God, who will draw near to our minds and hearts and wills, and make all the fitful and fleeting days of our earthly existence stately and noble, and happy with the benediction and the elevation of His felt presence. "The Father is with Me." My brother, is He with you, or has He ever been with you in such a fashion as this? It is possible that He should be. Christ has brought God near to us; He will bring us near to God. He is near us in His own gracious presence, and in Him God is near. His Name is Immanuel - God with us. He that hath the Son hath the Father also. He lived alone, and went down into death alone, that no soul need ever be solitary any more. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Colossians 2:6 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord. The life of faith is represented as receiving--an act which implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea of receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us. While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere name to us--a person who lived a long while ago, so long ago that his life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him. All this is to receive Christ--to take him as God's free gift; to realize him in my heart, and to appropriate him as mine. Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings, we have received Christ Jesus himself. It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain him! Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook The Magnitude of GraceOur weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the LORD for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God. This is a precious word from our LORD’s own lip. It has made the writer laugh for joy. God’s grace enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want. He who is sufficient for earth and heaven is certainly able to meet the case of one poor worm like me. Let us, then, fall back upon our God and His grace. If He does not remove our grief, He will enable us to bear it. His strength shall be poured into us till the worm shall thresh the mountains, and a nothing shall be victor over all the high and mighty ones. It is better for us to have God’s strength than our own; for if we were a thousand times as strong as we are, it would amount to nothing in the face of the enemy; and if we could be weaker than we are, which is scarcely possible, yet we could do all things through Christ. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer O God, Thou Hast Taught Me from My YouthThe Psalmist was called early, and he ascribes it to divine teaching. None but God can teach us experimentally; and the lessons He teaches are always useful and important. He teaches all His scholars to know themselves, their depravity, poverty, and slavery. He teaches them His law--its purity, claims and penalty. He teaches them His gospel--its fulness, freeness, and suitability. He teaches them to know Himself: as a reconciled God, as their Father and faithful Friend. His teaching is accompanied with power and authority. Are we taught of God? We may know divine teaching by its effects, it always produces humility, they sit at His feet: dependance upon Him, abhorrence of sin, love to God as a teacher, obedience to the lessons taught, thirst for further attainments, and brings us daily to Jesus. Let us earnestly seek divine teaching: it preserves from dangers, sorrows, and snares: and if suitably improved, it brings great glory to God, and honour to the cause of religion. Our God says, "I will teach thee." Lord, teach me, and make me entirely Thine! Oh, let my heart be wholly Thine, Thy property alone; No longer let me think it mine, Or call myself my own. Bible League: Living His Word "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron."— Isaiah 45:2 ESV The Lord God is the Sovereign Creator King over all things. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to Him and He is in control of everything (Psalm 24:1). When He decides to go before you, nothing can stop Him. If He has decided to make a move through you, it's going to happen. If He has decided that you're the one He needs to accomplish some purpose of His, He will make it possible. It's a very good thing to have the Lord God of heaven and earth going before you. For one thing, it means that everyone exalted and lifted up will be brought low before you. That is, everyone who sets himself or herself up as an obstacle in your path will be leveled off. It's not actual mountains He has in mind, but those that act as if they were mountains—the proud who object to your advancement, thinking they should be the ones the Lord is using. To their consternation and shame, you will be lifted up and they will be brought down. For another thing, it means that every door that is closed before you, keeping you from moving forward, will be broken to pieces. That is, every hindrance to your reaching the goal God has set for you will be eliminated. It's not because you're so great; it's because the Lord God is great and has decided to go before you. To oppose you is to oppose Him. Jesus said, "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10:16). Finally, having this divine team means that the "bars of iron" that have locked you in will be cut through. That is, every situation of life that has locked you up tight in fear and anxiety will be cut through. Like the Apostle Peter in Acts 12, it will be as though the prison bars didn't exist. Get ready, then, to get moving! The Lord God is going before you. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.I Pet 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 6:14,16,17 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, • in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. • And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Isaiah 25:8,9 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. • And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 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 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.Insight We should consider ourselves dead and unresponsive to sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. Just like diseased limbs of a tree, these practices must be cut off before they destroy us. Challenge We must make a conscious, daily decision to remove anything that supports or feeds these desires and to rely on the Holy Spirit's power. Devotional Hours Within the Bible Sin and Salvation1 John 1:5 to 2:6 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you.” Everyone has a message from God to announce to men. John had heard Christ speak in human words. Christ had come from the Father, with a message to the world. His message was the announcement of God’s love, and of God’s desire to save His lost children. Christ delivered His message He went everywhere and told it. But especially did He announce it to His disciples. For three years they lived with Him and witnessed His works. Then, among the disciples, John had the closest place. He lived near the heart of Jesus all those three years; he leaned on the bosom of Jesus, and heard even His faintest whispers. In a very special way, therefore, had John learned the lesson which Christ had come to announce. He was well prepared to go out and deliver his message. It is the duty of every one of us to go with our message from God to others. Everyone who lives near Christ must hear the whispered word which he is to repeat. We should be ready to tell our message wherever we go. It should so burn in our heart, that we cannot help telling it this message of God’s wonderful love. A minister once climbed the stairs to a miserable garret to see a sick boy who did not know Christ. Bending over him, he said, “My boy, God loves you God loves you!” and hurried from the room. The boy was startled by the sudden appearing and vanishing again of the stranger but he could not forget the message. It crept into his heart and stayed there, and changed all his life. We should deliver our message in burning words in every ear. John’s message was, “God is light .” Light stands for everything that is beautiful and good. It is pure God is holy. “In him is no darkness at all.” Light is life-giving. All the life in the world is wooed out and nourished by the light of the sun. A friend asked Tennyson once, “What is Jesus Christ to you?” They were walking in the garden at the time, and, pointing to a rosebush, full of blooming roses, Tennyson said, “What the sun is to this bush Jesus Christ is to me.” As we open our heart and life to Christ, who is the revealing of the love of God, the life-giving influence spreads everywhere, and we grow into whatever things are lovely, whatever things are pure. Again, light reveals, makes manifest. In the darkness of the night we see nothing; but when the sun rises, all the beauty about us is manifested. A man sleeps on a mountain top, and all is blackness about him. The morning dawns, and the glorious splendors of nature burst on his view. One might walk through a great art gallery at night and he would not behold anything. At length, however, the day breaks, and he finds himself in the midst of the loveliest paintings. They were there before but were invisible to him before the light revealed them. So the light of God makes all things visible to us. “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not live by the truth.” It is an impossibility to have fellowship with God if we are walking in darkness. Moral darkness is sinfulness. It is the reverse of light and righteousness. The only way to have fellowship with God is to be like God, to love what He loves and hate what He hates. If one professes to be God’s child, Christ’s follower, and meanwhile lives an evil life it is evident that he is self-deceived, or else is a hypocrite. “Why do you call me, Lord, Lord and do not obey the things which I say?” asked the Master. Jesus said of His own life, “The Father. .. has not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him.” The secret of the fellowship of Jesus with the Father was unfailing obedience. We must do the things that are pleasing to God if we would have fellowship with Him. There is no way of being nearer to God, and abiding in His love, except by keeping His commandments. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” There can be neither fellowship, nor cleansing, unless we walk in the light; that is, unless we are following Christ. Sin has no true fellowship. It may have its compacts and covenants for evil ends. Pilate and Herod were made friends the day Jesus was condemned but it was only a rope of sand which united them. Their fellowship was only partnership in the darkest crime of the ages. There may be companionship in wrongdoing but there can be no heart-union. The only real and indissoluble friendship, is that in which both are in friendship with Christ. Christian fellowship is the only union of hearts and lives possible in this world. Thrice sacred is marriage when, both parties kneel together in prayer, sit together at the Lord’s table, and unite in love for Christ. Cleansing from sin is likewise dependent upon walking in the light. So long as one continues to walk in the filth of sin, one cannot be made clean. A man must leave the gutter and walk in dry, clean paths if he would have feet undefiled. There can be no cleansing from sin while we continue living in sin. It is only the forsaken sin that is a forgiven sin. It is interesting, too, to note closely the words used here. It is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses. How can blood cleanse? In a way beyond our understanding, the dying of Christ was the atonement for sin. We are forgiven, because Jesus bore our sin. He was the Lamb of God who bore our sin. “In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” The word “cleanses” is present tense, and tells of continuous cleansing. If we are walking in the light our sins are forgiven as soon as they are committed, and we are made clean and kept clean as we travel along earths miry paths. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” No one can get off on the plea that he has no sin. There is no person who never sins. What, then, can we do, since heaven is only for the pure? Here is the answer: we can have our sins, all our sins, forgiven! God’s forgiveness puts away not only the guilt of sin but the sin itself. Notice that we must confess our sins if we would have them forgiven. Unconfessed sin is unforgiven sin. But why must we confess? Does not God know that we are sorry? Why need we tell Him that we are? The blessing lies in our opening our heart to God, in our recognition of our relation to Him, and of His authority over us. Hidden and unconfessed sins are full of curse! They smoulder like the fires in the heart of a volcano. Sins confessed and put away have lost their power to hurt the life. “He who covers his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy.” We ought to try not to sin. “Little children, I write unto you that you may not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” We ought to live a holy and godly life. But the best of us, with the most diligent care, sin, for we are all weak and human, and surely sometimes fall into unintended sins. Is there any hope for us if we do? Yes! We have an Advocate, One who stands for us before God to plead our cause, to make intercession for us. He has a right to speak for us, for He is holy and sinless. Besides, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins He died for us. What, then, should we do when we have stumbled into some sin? Should we despair and give all up, and say there is on use in our trying to go on? No! We should flee at once to our Advocate and beseech Him to plead for us, that we may be forgiven. The Father always hears His intercession. If we would live thus, although we sin many times along the way, our sins shall at once be forgiven, and we shall be restored and ever kept in unbroken fellowship with God. The Scriptures never give us the impression that we can sin with impunity because we are saved by grace, and not by our own good works, or because God is so merciful and forgives so readily. Nothing is taught in the Word of God more clearly than that faith in Christ always implies surrender to Christ and obedience to His commands. There is no true faith, without obedience. This is made very plain here, “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, ‘I know Him!’ but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him!” 1 John 2:3-4 In the ancient cathedral of Lubeck, Germany, there is an old slab, with the following inscription: Thus speaks Christ our Lord to us : You call me Master and obey me not; You call me Light and see me not; You call me Way and walk me not; You call me Life and desire me not; You call me Wise and follow me not; You call me Fair and love me not; You call me Rich and ask me not; You call me Eternal and seek me not; You call me Gracious and trust me not; You call me Noble and serve me not; You call me Mighty and honor me not; You call me Just and fear me not. If I condemn you blame me not! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 49, 50 Jeremiah 49 -- Prophecies against Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazor NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 50 -- Prophecy against Babylon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 5 Hebrews 5 -- The Perfect High Priest NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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