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Author Archives: John D. Willome

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About John D. Willome

I post a blog of daily devotions that are my prayer journals based on scripture.

Mark 9:30-35

22 Sep

Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

Mark 9:30-35

Dear God, even now, it is so hard for us to get what Jesus is saying. And we have the texts. We have the history. We have hindsight. It is so easy to look at this and question why the disciples heard Jesus talking about his betrayal, death, and resurrection, and then wonder how they could possibly, one road trip later, be arguing over who would be the greatest in the kingdom. Even if they didn’t understand what he was telling them about the crucifixion, resurrection, and ultimate plan of the Gospel in that moment, how did they get to the point where they were positioning themselves for glory?

But don’t we do it too? Don’t I do it too? I want to be seen as smarter than others. I want to be seen as better. I was just with my parents for a couple of days. I have older siblings. I want to show my parents I’m the better child. There are people in our community who know me. I want to impress them and make them respect me. How can I see Jesus’s example and hear his teachings and ever adopt any of those positions?

Father, I am sorry. I don’t think I was all that you wanted me to be over the last 48 hours. I wasn’t terrible or anything, but I was closer to what Jesus saw in his disciples that I was like the little child he put before them just after this to make his point. I have a lot of work to do this week. I will interact with a lot of people on behalf of the nonprofit where I work. Make my contacts with them not about me but about you. About bringing glory to you. About helping them to draw closer to you. About my utmost for your highest.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 22, 2024 in Mark

 

Life Philosophy

21 Sep

Dear God, I woke up this morning and I thought, I need to put something Godly in me before I get going. So I decided to listen to the most recent homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz from 9/16/24. Of course, I made a huge mistake and happened upon a couple of news stories designed to make me fearful and, yes, I read them. By as I was reading them, I was able to acknowledge them for what they were and deny the idols that the articles were telling me would make everything better if I would just believe in them and do what they say. So maybe I’m getting a little better after all.

Getting back to Fr. Mike, he asked a question of all of us. He started by telling a story about a man he met who collects “life philosophies” from people he knows and meets, and he asked Fr. Mike what his life philosophy was. He didn’t have a great answer in the moment, but it’s a question I decided to try to answer for myself. If someone were to ask me for my life philosophy, what would I answer? More important, if it is a noble philosophy, do I live up to it?

The first thing that came to mind is my “life verse.” I’ve talked to you about it before. I discovered it when I was 17, and I knew then that it was special. Acts 20:24: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the talk the Lord Jesus has given me. The task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. I think that’s the key. It’s what Job ultimately learned through his trials. It’s what Paul came to pretty quickly after his conversion. The apostles who witnessed Jesus’s death almost all met their own deaths “testifying to [Jesus’s resurrection and] the gospel of God’s grace.” Honestly, I think it is the perfect life philosophy.

Ah, but do I live up to it? Do I protect myself from ridicule or rejection for your gospel? Do I risk my financial security for it? Am I doing it at all? If I am doing it at all, am I doing it enough? The answer, of course, is no. I’m doing it somewhat, but I am sure I could do more. I am sure I could be more and risk more for your kingdom. For your gospel. That doesn’t mean I need to be reckless, but I do need to intentional in sharing your gospel.

Father, I want to pray right now for the people around the world who do offer their lives for your gospel. Whether it is comfort and stability, or it is all of the way to death, there are people right now who are giving everything, literally everything, out of worship to you. Be with them. Strengthen them. Comfort them. If you are willing, free them. And don’t let the pain they are experiencing be wasted. Make it count. And make my life count. Don’t let the portions of my life that are painful be wasted either. Use it to form me and form others. Mold me into the man you want me to be. A man who would be able to ask himself if he is holding back sharing the gospel out of self preservation and answer it with a resounding, “No!” I love you, Father. I love you Jesus. I love you Holy Spirt. My Triune God, three in one.

I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 21, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Luke 8:1-3

20 Sep

8 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

Luke 8:1-3

Dear God, I don’t know that I’ve ever spent much time thinking about these women. But it is interesting that Luke takes the time to tell us about these women. The one who really caught my eye this morning is “Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager.” What an interesting person to have in your entourage. To have her be one of your patrons. I wonder what experience brought her to this role in Jesus’s earthly mission. Had she been cured of diseases or had evil spirits cast out of her or someone she knew? And how did Chuza’s proximity to Jesus through her, including giving some of his money to Jesus, impact Herod? Did it do something in his heart that directed his actions on the day Pilate sent Jesus to him to adjudicate his potential crucifixion? It most likely gave Herod some additional anecdotal information about this amazing Jewish man. Did it make Herod more scared and insecure?

Scared and insecure. I’m sorry I’m chasing rabbits now, but those two words I just used brought me back to a couple of things I read this morning. I read a document called Evangelical Confession 2024, which was largely related to how Christians should relate to politics. Then I read a piece offering caution and warnings about that Evangelical Confession. I’m not going to pretend to have thought through either of these things completely or thoroughly. But I will say that I see fear and insecurity everywhere I look right now. There is fear where our politics are headed, from liberals to conservatives to everyone in between. There is fear where the church is headed. There is fear where our societal norms are headed. When it comes down to it, however, it seems to me that there is fear that things are going in a direction that individuals don’t like.

I don’t know why you do what you do. Why did Nazi Germany rise up and commit so many atrocities? Why did World War I before that happen? Those are large scale questions. Closer to home, why does this person or that person die tragically? So why did Donald Trump become president in 2016? Your choice? Joe Biden in 2020? Your choice? We all assume that you are doing things so they work out for the agenda we have, but we can be so myopic and not see the big picture. What if we need to sink into a morally defunct liberal pit in order to hit bottom and have true revival? What if your intention is for us to go down further before we can come back to you with true humility, reverence and worship? Or, what if you are calling us to lead that revival right now before it’s too late? What if we miss our window that is slowly closing? Will it close forever?

Father, I’m all over the place this morning, and I don’t know that I’ve come to many conclusions except to say that I will put my trust in you. I will not be afraid. I will believe that you will put the right people in my life who will, on your behalf, teach me, comfort me, and love me. They might not be the people I expect. They might not be the people I miss and long for. But I believe you will be there with me regardless of how things turn out. In the case of Joanna above, she didn’t know that Jesus, the man she was supporting, would need to die, to sink down and literally go to the bottom first, before he would be victorious. I’m sure the crucifixion was disappointing, devastating, and disillusioning to her. Help me to accept the realities around me with my faith in you keeping me from being disappointed, devastated, or disillusioned.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 20, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 7:48,50

19 Sep

48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 7:48,50

Dear God, I want to follow up on yesterday’s prayer and stay focused on this woman for a bit. Let’s assume she wasn’t paying attention to what Jesus was saying to Simon the Pharisee. She was just focused on her sorrow and shame as she anointed, washed, cried over, and kissed Jesus’s feet. If that’s true, in the midst of her shame, what she heard was, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

So how does that land for her in that moment? How does she hear that?

  • Forgiven: Has she ever felt forgiven by you before? Could all of the sacrifices at the Temple make up for what she has done? I’m going to go back to Jenny from Forrest Gump. Forrest is not Jesus, but in the scene where he asks her to marry him he has forgiven anything she might have ever done. He holds nothing–absolutely nothing–against her. But what’s her response? “You don’t want to marry me.” She’s implying, “You don’t know everything you are forgiving or will have to forgive in the future if you marry me. I will be bad for you.” I wonder if this woman carried that kind of shame around. “God, you don’t want to forgive me. There’s too much that I have done, and there’s still a lot more for me to do.” But then she hears about Jesus. She believes he’s from you. Interestingly, at least in that moment, she was not looking for a king to conquer and to kill the Romans for here. I would guess that she just needs release from her shame and goes to Jesus for proximity to you. I don’t even know that she expected forgiveness from that interaction. But she got it.
  • Faith: She believed Jesus was who he said he was. I have no idea how she got into Simon’s house. I don’t know if she barged in past the other guests. I don’t know if she was weeping as she walked in. Did she have her head down? Did she crawl? But somehow she had intelligence on where Jesus was in that moment and she believed in who he was enough to endure the scorn of others to get there. In fact, her faith in Jesus being the Messiah was unique in that home. Simon was there to question Jesus, not worship him. I don’t know if he came to faith later, but in that moment, the person with faith was the sinner. But she was also the most desperate and had the least to lose in that room. It is really too bad we need to hit bottom and come to the end of ourselves before we are willing to come to you in faith. It makes me think of Jairus. He was probably a lot like Simon, but then his daughter was dying. He was at the end of himself. All he had left was desperate faith. For this woman, she was the one who was wasted and spiritually dead.
  • Go in peace: I wonder what her life looked like after that. Sure, Jesus had forgiven her, but that didn’t change the people who knew her and knew of her. What was her path to societal redemption like? Did Jesus’s followers now accept her willingly? Did she join the traveling party? I hope she was able to live into the new life that Jesus offered her in that moment. We don’t know that she did. But it makes me think about what our role as the church is in helping people like her. She needed Jesus’s followers to accept his forgiveness of her and apply it to her as well. She needed them to help her rise up. There are plenty of people in our community who need the same thing.

Father, first, forgive me. I’d like to say that I’m not as bad as she was, but is that true. Have I not grieved you and hurt myself and others through my sin? I need your forgiveness. Even in this moment. Please forgive me. Please help me to go in peace. Help me to live into the life you have for me to live. Help me to take that forgiveness and apply it to others. Help me to help others to rise up. Oh, Lord, thank you. I worship you as my God. I am here to serve you. “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 19, 2024 in Luke

 

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Luke 7:36-38

18 Sep

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

Luke 7:36-38

Dear God, we often read this story–okay, I often read this story and kind of skip over the woman. What she was experiencing in her life in that moment. What she felt compelled to do. Why she did what she did. I skip to the judgmentalism of the Pharisees, but when I read the story this morning, I just stopped with her. What her week had been like. What she thought when she heard Jesus was around. What drove her to bring her expensive perfume, enter that home, and just break down, literally, at his feet.

The movie Forrest Gump is interesting for so many reasons, but this story reminds me of Jenny, Forrest’s life-long love. So damaged. Acting out in so many ways. I watch “reaction videos” on YouTube of young people watching old movies for the first time, and I would say nine out of ten of them are always mad at Jenny for how she acts and treats Forrest. But the other one or two out of ten harken back to the trauma from her childhood and give her empathy. To use the phrase a lot of us know, they are curious and not judgmental.

There are people I love whom it would be amazing for them to find themselves at your feet like this woman. They have childhood trauma. And they have acted out for decades. What would it be like for them if they were able to come to the foot of your cross, pour our their most precious earthly possessions that have not brought them the peace they sought, and then worship you? Accepting your forgiveness? Accepting your healing?

Then there is me. Is there anything I’m holding back? Am I holding back any possessions? Am I holding back any repentance? That is something for me to really consider today. Holy Spirit, speak to me this morning. Help me to see if there is anything I am denying you, and, in turn, denying myself of you. And help me to also see the people in my life who are like this woman. Help me to love them well. Help me to guide them to the foot of your cross.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2024 in Luke

 

“Come to the Table” by Michael Card

17 Sep

Come to the table and savor the sight
The wine and the bread that was broken
And all have been welcomed to come if they might
Accept as their own these two tokens

The bread is His body, the wine is the blood
And the one who provides them is true
He freely offers, we freely receive
To accept and believe Him is all we must do

Come to the table and taste of the glory
And savor the sorrow, He’s dying tomorrow
The hand that is breaking the bread
Soon will be broken

And here at the table, sit those who have loved You
One is a traitor and one will deny
But He’s lived His life for them all
And for all be crucified

Come to the table He’s prepared for you
The bread of forgiveness, the wine of release
Come to the table and sit down beside Him
The Savior wants you to join in the feast

Come to the table and see in His eyes
The love that the Father has spoken
And know you are welcome, whatever your crime
Though every commandment you’ve broken

For He’s come to love you and not to condemn
And He offers a pardon of peace
If you’ll come to the table, you’ll feel in your heart
The greatest forgiveness, the greatest release

Come to the table and taste of the glory
And savor the sorrow, He’s dying tomorrow
The hand that is breaking the bread
Soon will be broken

And here at the table, sit those who have loved You
One is a traitor and one will deny
But He’s lived his life for them all
And for all be crucified

Come to the table He’s prepared for you
The bread of forgiveness, the wine of release
Come to the table and sit down beside Him
The Savior wants you to join in the feast

Come to the table He’s prepared for you
The bread of forgiveness, the wine of release
Come to the table and sit down beside Him
The Savior wants you to join in the feast

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Michael Card / Niles A. Borop III

Dear God, I’ve kind of had the “glums” over the last day or so, and I don’t have a great reason for it outside of my normal sorrows. So, as I sat down this morning I wondered what I needed to do in this time with you to really tap into you. The answer that came back to me was “worship.” I need a song that I would love to have running around my head all day. One that will draw me to you. One that will remind me of your love and forgiveness. One that I can carry to others.

I then took my phone and started to roll through the songs on my Christian play list, and while there were a lot that would fit the bill, I came across this one from Michael Card. It’s catchy from a tune standpoint. It’s upbeat. And it speaks truth. It reminds me of Jesus’s love, teaching, sacrifice, and power.

As I sit here and think about the Last Supper, I cannot help but think again about the controversial Olympic sketch during the opening ceremony that appeared to mock this precious event. And when I think of this, I think of my disappointment in the church’s response to this event. And maybe I’m wrong, but why oh why didn’t the church come out and love the people who did that? Just like me, those people need your love. They need to be reminded that this event was as much out of your love for them as it was for me. Even if they were mocking, it was a reminder of the power of that moment–your last meal with your disciples before you gave everything for all of us. It was a moment that was on the precipice of history’s pivotal moment. “Savor the sorrow. He’s dying tomorrow.”

Father, thank you for loving me. Thank you for this sacrifice. Please help me to be sensitive to every person I meet today. I’ll come across staff, volunteers, patients, people from outside agencies, and friends. Not to mention my wife. Help me to carry you with me and to them today. Give me the words to speak in every situation that will minister to them. For your glory, Lord. My utmost for your highest.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 17, 2024 in Hymns and Songs

 

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James 3:13

16 Sep

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 

James 3:13

Dear God, I was thinking about this while I was in church yesterday. The New Testament reading was from James, and I was thinking about how James gets a bad rap because some accuse him of being “works-based.” But I tend to see it more like the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is raising the bar and setting a high standard, but he isn’t saying that we have to do those things for our redemption and justification before you. He is saying that we should be doing those things out of our relationship with you and growing into being more and more like you. And they are for our good.

I was reading more of The Year of Living Biblically last night (I know, I’m a slow reader and I haven’t been making much progress lately), and A.J. Jacobs finally got to the New Testament. What surprised me was how nervous he was about it. He is culturally Jewish, so I think there is a natural thought he grew up with that Jesus is dangerous. He is a false prophet and not the Messiah. And he has spend the first eight or nine months being so dogmatic about the commands of the Old Testament, he is now trying to figure out how he will unravel some of it and replace it with Jesus. I have a feeling this might be my favorite part of the book. Watching someone come to you with fresh eyes. Feeling you out. Truly and thoughtfully exploring the difference between what he has spent the better part of a year experiencing and now the unexpected twist you added to the equation 2,000 years ago.

Father, I don’t love others because I have to. It’s because I get to. I don’t avoid temptation because I have to. It’s because I get to. And the closer I get to you the more…well, the words of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” fit pretty well. 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

Help me, Father, to remember to turn my eyes upon you today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2024 in James, Uncategorized

 

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Mark 8:27-38

15 Sep

27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”

29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:27-38

Dear God, as I read this passage this morning, I was wondering about how close Peter was and yet how far. He knew Jesus was the Messiah, but he didn’t know how to define Messiah. His Messiah would conquer. That’s what he thought he was signing up for. Yes, we are going to fish for men, but we are gathering them together so that Israel will be great again. Yes, they will be devout Jews in this new era. Yes, they will be closer to God, but with Jesus here, it’s just about “go time.” So he defines him as the Messiah, but he puts his own definition on what Messiah means.

Then Jesus starts teaching them the real definition of Messiah, but Peter isn’t having it. I don’t know the exact words of Peter’s rebuke, but after Jesus begins to “teach” them that the Messiah must suffer greatly, be rejected by the Jewish leadership, and be killed, he decides that Jesus is teaching the wrong thing. It’s Jesus who does not understand what Messiah means.

In “The Grand Inquisitor” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the grand inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition makes the same mistake Peter makes. Here’s a summary from Wikipedia:

In a long diatribe directed at Jesus Himself, who has returned to Earth in Seville at the height of the Inquisition, the Grand Inquisitor defends the following ideas: only the principles of the devil can lead to mankind’s unification; give man bread, control his conscience, and rule the world; Jesus limited himself to a small group of chosen ones, while the Catholic Church improved on his work and addresses all people; the church rules the world in the name of God, but with the devil’s principles; Jesus was mistaken in holding man in high esteem. Jesus remains silent throughout the Inquisitor’s speech.

Father, help me to not repeat Peter’s mistake. Help me to really know how you defined Messiah. In fact, let me take a shot at defining Messiah now. How did you define it compared with how Peter defined it. I think my definition is somewhere along the lines of, “A piece of God that came to earth to teach us directly who God intended us to be and how to act, and then offer himself as a sacrifice so that we might be rightly related to God and, through that relationship with God live out what Jesus taught. In the process, we invite everyone we can to join us. That’s the Good news. Help me live that today.

I pray this in Jesus the Messiah and your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 15, 2024 in Mark

 

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Philippians 1:27-2:4

14 Sep

27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.

2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Philippians 1:27-2:4

Dear God, just a side note here really quickly before I get started. Bible translations do matter. I first read this passage this morning in the NIV that was updated a few years ago from the original NIV. In that, Chapter 2 does not start with questions in the NIV. It starts with, “Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then…” It was the “Therefore” that sent me back to chapter 1 to see what Paul was “therefore-ing.” If it hadn’t been there, I’d have probably just started there at chapter 2. I’m grateful I saw it. We are sometimes disserved by the chapter and verse designations because they artificially split thoughts the original author didn’t intend. It would be interesting to have a version of the Bible that just had verse numbers but no chapters. We’d end up with some huge verse numbers but it would change how we read the Bible.

With all that said, the translation we read does make a difference. Almost no one in the world is reading scripture in the author’s native tongue. We are all getting someone else’s translation. Frankly, there is so much opportunity built into the system I use to learn from scripture to misinterpret and get bad teaching, and that’s not even counting my own inability to read scripture or lack of education to know what they are really saying. It’s a flawed process. My prayer this morning is that it will somehow be redeemed through you.

With that said, what is Paul encouraging the Philippians to do here? What is the reminder to me? What are the directives he is giving to us as individuals as we join together as your Church:

  • For all of us to contending (The NLT uses “fighting” but the NIV uses “contending.” Interesting.) as one for the Good News.
  • If you do it right I/we won’t be frightened by those who oppose me/us.
  • Our unity will be a sign to them that we are right–their path leads to destruction and ours leads to life through Jesus.
  • Our path will lead to suffering.
  • Jesus unites us.
  • Jesus’s love comforts us.
  • The Holy Spirit gives us fellowship.
  • God gives us tenderness and compassion.
  • Be likeminded and united through the Spirit with my fellow believers.
    • Same love
    • Same purpose
    • Same selflessness
    • Same self sacrifice
    • Same humility that elevates others over ourselves
    • Same interest in looking after others

Father, I’m kind of there on some of these, but I have not come close to accomplishing this list as an individual, and it seems that the vast majority of our American churches are not here as well. We are afraid of a culture that fights against us. But we don’t approach that fear through you. We grasp on to idols that we think will give us power. Politicians. School boards. Judges. Those are the idols that will win the day for us. At least, that’s what we think. The dirty little secret of those idols is that they will be here today and gone tomorrow. those idols are not worthy of our love or our enemy’s love. If we use them, they will not persuade one enemy, but they will harden their hearts. No, the only thing that will persuade our enemy is the love of our God. If we live our lives as Paul directed here. So help me to do that today. Oh, Lord, help me to live that life today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 14, 2024 in Philippians

 

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1 Peter 3:8-9

13 Sep

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.

1 Peter 3:8-9

Dear God, my wife and I were talking over breakfast this morning about some hurts in our lives and how we have responded to them. How we have healed and are still healing from them. Part of it is what Peter is talking about here. Not just forgiveness, but sympathizing with the person who hurt me. Loving them. Being tenderhearted towards them. Being humble myself. Don’t retaliate in action or in words, but care for them instead. Bless them instead.

And it’s not only for their sake. It’s for my sake too. It’s for my wife’s sake. We need to do these things so we can be healthy. Some of the most unhappy people I know are those who do not follow what Peter is teaching here. What Jesus taught Peter. That’s one reason I don’t understand the image a lot of people have of the Jesus of Revelation coming to just lay waste to people. As if you’ve been holding back your anger all this time and just stuffing it down. As if you’re waiting to explode on us. No, that’s not you. The blood on Jesus in Revelation is his own blood. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That includes Revelation. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. That includes Genesis to Revelation. You long for us. And if you are calling us to treat those who are bad to us in this way, how much more do you do that yourself?

Father, thank you for the freedom to turn loose of my hate. Thank you that you have given me so much love that I don’t feel like I have to conserve my own love for myself, but I can share it with others. Yes, sometimes I fail. Sometimes I return an insult with an insult. Sometimes I return mockery with mockery. I’m sorry for those times. I’m grateful those times are fewer and fewer in my life. But continue to purify my heart. I offer it and all of my rights to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 13, 2024 in 1 Peter

 
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