Daily Devotions - Entries from February 2012

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col. 2:13-15, NIV)

A runaway steam-train loaded with passengers, a lone cowboy pressing his horse faster and faster trying to catch up, a bridge that’s out, twisted rails sticking out into thin air, a gaping chasm beneath…

Once upon a time we, too, were headed towards certain death. But the amazing news is that “God made [us] alive with Christ.”

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:6-8, NIV)

The gift of life is powerful. More so than we imagine when read the words on a page. When I went bungee jumping the euphoria I felt when I realized I hadn’t hurtled head-first into the sidewalk was like nothing else I had ever experienced. I could not help but scream out loud, “I’M ALIVE! I’M ALIVE!” I walked around for hours and hours afterwards in complete awe of the fact that I was ALIVE!

But those fleeting feelings from sky-diving or scuba diving or parasailing or triathlons or flying pass away and then it’s back to life as normal. From a medical point of view, once the sympathetic nervous system disengages, we come crashing back down to earth (so to speak). The problem is that all these activities, while fun and exhilarating, still leave us wondering, “So what?” “I’m alive, but to what end?”

When we are made alive in Christ however, every question is answered and we find the meaning and purpose and significance we’ve been looking for. When we are made alive with Christ we enter an entirely new realm.  We can join with David in proclaiming:

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

   my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

   nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;

   you will fill me with joy in your presence,

   with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psa. 16:9-11, NIV)

What an incredible blessing for us all! But now what are we going to do with that gift? Jesus has given us marching orders—“Go and make disciples.” How are we engaging in that task? 

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matt. 25:40, NIV)

 “If I have denied the desires of the poor   
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
 if I have kept my bread to myself,   
not sharing it with the fatherless—
 but from my youth I reared them as a father would,   
and from my birth I guided the widow—
 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,   
or the needy without garments,
 and their hearts did not bless me   
for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,
 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,   
knowing that I had influence in court,
 then let my arm fall from the shoulder,   
let it be broken off at the joint.
 For I dreaded destruction from God,   
and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things. (Job 31:16-23, NIV)

 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

   and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

   and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 (Isa. 58:6-7, NIV)

Feeding the hungry is important, but doesn’t earn us our salvation. After all, atheists can feed the hungry and still be lost in sin. Providing the poor with shelter is a fantastic humanitarian goal, but doesn’t necessarily ingratiate us with God. After all, people of all different religions can be concerned with eradicating homelessness while still worshiping false gods and idols.

In fact, just as fasting can become an empty religious ritual, so too can helping the poor. So, how then do we make sense of this passage?

These verses do not say that the people should stop fasting and start feeding the poor instead. Isaiah is not trying to impose new rules on the people. What it does call for is a heart so transformed by God that it cannot help but express that love in acts of worship and service. As we draw closer and closer to God, more and more of His character should be expressed in our lives, both internally and externally.  

One aspect of God’s character that comes up over and over again in Scripture is His concern for the poor and hungry. As our hearts are transformed that concern should slowly become our concern as well. But where do we begin?

Two great places to serve right here in our community are Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) and the Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB).

Every year millions of meals are put together by thousands of FMSC volunteers and shipped around the world to places that need it most.

Watch this video to learn more:

Packing meals at FMSC is a great activity do as a group from 2-90 people and any age kindergarten on up! Visit their website to sign up and pack some meals this month!

Just a few miles west of us in St. Charles is the Northern Illinois Food Bank. They have several volunteer shifts per week with a variety of easy roles. This is a great activity for small groups, but there are age restrictions, so check their website to see if it is appropriate for your children. http://solvehungertoday.org/GetInvolved/Volunteer/VolunteerWestSuburban.aspx

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Col. 2:8-12, NIV)

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Col. 2:6-7, ESV)

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matt. 7:24, ESV)  

“May you be blessed with the abiding presence of the LORD. May your walk be blameless and your work be righteous.”[1]

“How can a walk be blameless?”

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him (Col. 2:6, ESV).

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Col. 1:9-10, ESV)

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2:2-3, NIV)

 1 My son, if you accept my words   
 and store up my commands within you,
 2 turning your ear to wisdom   
and applying your heart to understanding—
 3 indeed, if you call out for insight   
and cry aloud for understanding,
 4 and if you look for it as for silver   
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD   
and find the knowledge of God.
 6 For the LORD gives wisdom;   
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
 7 He holds success in store for the upright,   
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
 8 for he guards the course of the just   
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just   
 and fair—every good path.
 10 For wisdom will enter your heart,   
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
(Prov. 2:1-10, NIV)

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, (Col. 2:2, NIV)

Yesterday’s devotional, read in isolation, might lead one to think that Christianity is about “doing more and trying harder.” In fact, some might argue that by claiming we need to exercise our faith with the same kind of discipline as professional athletes, we minimize the life-changing power of the free gift of grace.

Certainly, in a twisted way the call to work harder sometimes appeals to our human tendency to want to earn our way into God’s good graces. The church in Galatia, it would seem from Paul’s letter, was struggling with this very problem, willingly placing themselves back under the burden of the law that Christ had just freed them from!

So, as if sensing this problem, in the very next verse of his letter to the Colossians, Paul applies a much needed corrective to help balance the picture, saying,

To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (Col. 1:29, NIV)

Yes, Paul affirms, maturity in Christ is something he pursues with every fiber of his being. However, that very strength is itself a gift from God, something that is not his at all. On the one hand Paul is going to “strenuously contend” for this goal with every ounce of strength he has, but on the other hand the source of that power is really Christ, not Paul.

It’s always a both-and situation. Paul is constantly calling his disciples to work as hard as they can. But this call is always set within the context of God’s work in us.

Yesterday I mentioned that Paul had written a letter to the Galatians, rebuking them for drifting into a works-based system of righteousness, unnecessarily putting the yoke of the law back on their own necks. Paul holds nothing back, berating them,

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? (Gal. 3:1-3)

The Spirit, Paul says, is the one who is at work in our lives to energize us. The Spirit is the one who is at work in our lives to transform us. The law and our own efforts are powerless to do or to change anything. This week, as you join with Paul in striving for maturity in Christ, don’t give up and don’t lose hope. Though Satan may send every possible temptation and trouble your way, remember that it is Christ at work in you who provides the power and strength to move forward in your faith.

And finally, know that you are not alone, for we are in this together as brothers and sisters in Christ, and I personally join with Paul in saying,

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:6, NIV).

27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

How long has it been since you were saved? A year? Five? Twenty? How often do you reflect on the enormity of that moment? Do you ever pause to think through the incredible and astonishing implications of that single moment in time?

In almost every single letter Paul wrote there’s a palpable sense of awe and wonder at the free gift he has personally been given in and through Jesus. There’s a sense in which Paul just can’t ever quite get over the fact that God loves him that much. For Paul, the idea that he has been restored into right relationship with God is not some dry dusty theological concept, but a dazzling daily reality. His black and white world has suddenly become filled with color.

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph. 1:18-23)

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6-7)

Christ is in us. He’s in you. He’s in me. The Messiah, the Savior, the Beginning and the End, our living hope is dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit. It’s simple enough that my little girl can understand it, but deep enough that I almost can’t quite comprehend it. The glorious riches of this truth are an endless source of joy and wonder and discovery and delight. They are a treasure-trove without any end.

Christ in me, the hope of glory. May God forgive me for taking His presence too lightly and treating this wondrous truth too glibly.  Pray and ask God to give you that same sense of wonder and awe that Paul experienced.