He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
TO PONDER
I often worry when an Old Testament verse like this becomes as well known as this one. People tend to recite it and quote it in all sorts of ways and often completely out of context.
Here's the thing, this vers is part of God's response to the people of Israel who were under the impression that God was happy with them because they followed his laws. The only problem was that they had created all sorts of loop holes and work arounds to 'God's law' that while they may have been keeping the 'letter of the law' they had forgotten about the 'spirit' in which the laws were given.
Sometimes we can still be like this today. We can get so caught up in insisting that worship services be conducted in a certain way, with our musical preferences, and traditional liturgical forms. We can complain that a song with the word 'hallelujah' was included in the service during Lent (traditionally this is a big liturgical no-no) but our religious observances are not what God is primarily worried about. What God wants is a people set apart for himself, marked first and foremost, not by his law but by his mercy and grace.
Sure, God's law can be a good way to remind us of how to treat others well and might even restrain some of our more selfish and destructive tendencies, but what they are really all about is forming a people concerned with justice and mercy.
How might your life look different if your main priority today was to act justly and love mercy?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Written on a page like this, it seems that your don't require much of us at all. However the reality of acting with justice - not vengeance - and loving to do mercy instead of seeking compensation is a daily struggle. Please help me to prioritise justice and mercy in all I do today so that others might see something of the difference you have made in my life. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Search me God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. NIV
TO PONDER
This Psalm believed to be penned by David, who was known as “the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Sam 23:1). He prayed to God, knowing that God cared enough to search and know each man and woman.
He knows you and me, He is everywhere with you and me, He created you and me. He knows everything about us. He knows our hearts intimately. He knows the good, the bad and ugly about us. There is nowhere we can go that is outside his care. Through all of this, He loves us unconditionally. It is a time to put self aside and replace it with trust in God and His ways, to take responsibility for our thoughts and actions.
I was thinking after I reread this Psalm, do we have the right to question God when He puts something in our path, waiting for us to take the first step. I went through this questioning and doubting many years ago when the opportunity arose to go overseas to teach, there were so many questions floating around in my mind. I remember pleading with God to really let me know if this was what he wanted me to do. It was a huge step.
Like I mentioned before, He knows you and me. It’s time to open-up and let God be God. He already knows everything about us … so why not listen to that still small voice and start the journey into the way everlasting.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for all the times you have searched me. Thank you, Lord, that you never gave up on me, and that you always lead me in the right direction. I pray that I am open to “hear” that still small voice when it speaks to me in the wilderness. AMEN
Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. NIV
TO PONDER
When I read this verse, it brought back a memory where we hired a boat and went out on the lake. There was our family of six, plus my husband’s mum and dad. We had a wonderful time fishing, until we realised, we had drifted much further than we had intended. Apparently when ‘someone’ had thrown the anchor over, none of us adults paid careful attention. None of us made sure that it was anchored in place.
It’s so true in life also, we tend to do things, not paying real attention … we sometimes listen, but often not to hear but to answer, we see, but not really seeing. Often, we are slowly carried away or drift off course by a situation, we can’t blame the wind or sea if we are not out on the water. So, what or who do we blame?
It may only be a slight shift away from faith and truth. How can we fix this? We are encouraged in this verse, to pay careful attention to what we hear and see, so that we don’t drift away. The truth is that anything worth having or doing takes a level of discipline. We must surrender daily … it takes training to stay on track and to run a race and that training takes discipline.
The Greek word for drift is pararrhueo (in the biblical sense) … the idea of being carried away or to have something (valuable) slip one’s mind. As we age, we often have that senior’s moment where we sometimes forget something important. This is not on purpose, so I encourage you younger readers to bear with us older ones, encourage us, not put us down.
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for being my anchor, reminding me in my struggles and when I start to drift away – that you are always there. Fill me with joy as I trust you in Jesus’ name. Put a fresh wind in my sails. AMEN
Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online
This is why it is said: wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
TO PONDER
In previous verses Paul is encouraging his readers to be more like Christ. He uses ‘light’ for our new life in Christ as a contrast, to “darkness” for our old life in the world, as a metaphor. Whereas, when this verse stands alone, it serves as a reminder that we should wake up to the “light” and truth, loose our complacent outlook and to make a conviction, and turn from sin.
I remember playing a game at a party, two truths and a lie. Back when I was younger, we used to think it was great fun to see how much our friends knew about us. So, taking the plunge in a completely different culture and situation, I introduced this in my English class back here in Australia, with a diverse group of students. The students got into the swing of it. It was interesting to learn that to lie, was accepted in some of their cultures. We need to realise that we are not following a culture, but the light and truth of Christ as Paul encourages us to do.
Let’s ask ourselves, do we live a lie daily? Do we tell ourselves we are travelling in the “light” or are we just getting by on the fringe of both “light” and “darkness” where we can’t find the balance of where truth starts and the lies end?
We need to encourage each other to be careful how we live – do we make the most of every opportunity to “wake up” and walk in the light and truth, to be wise and not unwise?
A quote from Charles H Spurgeon is ‘To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark – that is faith.’
There’s a Sunday school song that says “This little light of mine, this little light of mine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” Why not let His light shine on your life.
PRAYER: I pray Lord that there is a light in my life that shines through for others to see. Lord as others come into your light, I pray that someone is there to offer encouragement and lead them further. Help me Lord to make every opportunity to walk beside others, count. AMEN
Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NIV
TO PONDER
Paul wrote Romans whilst he was out on one of his missions. The verses today tell us that God's love triumphs over everything. Remember, it was through Paul’s personal life where he had been continually persecuted and suffered, that he still could claim that God’s love is unwavering. Even though we aren’t spared earthly suffering, His love is still with us. The love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord … what an amazing, unbelievable journey one can take, when we have faith and trust to obey and to learn to live, walk, accept, to believe in Him and His love.
Life’s hard when we’ve been beaten down. There’s no doubt that we’ve all been through periods where a family member, partner or a friend has let us down, or put us down, where we’ve felt unlovable for some mundane reason, real or imagined, misunderstood, disrespected, unwanted, abandoned, worthless … where we’ve struggled with doubts of self-worth. Sometimes, we ask why, and never seem to get an answer. Why? Are we listening to the wrong voice?
How do you usually handle this, do you go to a friend to help solve it, or do you go to God in prayer?
None of the things listed in the above passage can separate you or me from the love of God, the love of God in Jesus Christ can overcome all the above … His word says, He will never leave you or forsake you. His love endures forever. Remember, in your struggles, God says “you didn’t choose me, I chose you.”
My encouragement to you today is, get up, get dressed and face the new day walking in God’s love for He has chosen you!
This message is unmistakeable … God’s love triumphs.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the unconditional love that you’ve shown to me over my journey through life, in the doubts, and insecurities. Help me Lord, to remember that you are a safe place, where you’ve kept me from so much heartache and hurt. Thank you that you’ve travelled with me throughout all the seasons of my life. Thankyou Lord for the promise that you will keep me going forward. I know you will never leave me nor forsake me. I lift up those going astray, that they hear your voice encouraging them to come to you with open hearts and open minds, and help them to learn to live and accept this conditional love. AMEN
Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God be for us, who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, won’t God who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
TO PONDER
In today’s reading, we are told that God is on the side of believers. With Him, walking closely with us, who can be against us? We just have to follow Him to wherever He leads. We are encouraged to not waste time looking back to where we’ve come from or what we did. Look forward to where He is taking us. Just a little reminder “remember Lot’s wife”.
We are also told of God’s ultimate sacrifice. He did not spare his Son; He allowed him to be sacrificed for you and me. Jesus didn’t deserve to be treated like this, he did no wrong, but He stood in for us, for our sins! These verses should encourage us to seek Him. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. It’s an opportunity to let go of our doubts, insecurities and the complacency we walk in daily, and make a real conviction, to follow Him wherever he leads us. After all, He gave His life, willingly, for us. What are we willing to give up to serve God?
Often, during my time overseas, I called on this scripture … lots. This was because, where I was and who I was associating with were those in the underground church in Vietnam, who were continually being watched and persecuted. I was warned to tread carefully. Just before I arrived, the Superintendent of the AOG, had been put under house arrest, yet again. I worked alongside them to help set up our first English Learning Centre.
Once we started enrolments and officially opened the school for classes, I learnt that there would be ‘plants’ sent along to the classes to ‘see’ what was going on. You could usually tell who they were by their ‘attitude’ and the khaki socks they wore (no joke). So along with “if God be for me who can be against me” and a smile on my face, I’d march into that room, do the roll call, noticing those that could be one of the ‘visitors’, and trusted and believed that God had it all under control. It became a standard joke around the centre with my Vietnamese staff and myself … only two today!
Always under surveillance, even whilst attending an expat church (which kept getting shut down and moving), or where I was volunteering each morning at an orphanage for special needs children run by Nuns … the Sisters’ would give me a thumbs up every now and then to say someone had come to question. “If God be for me, who could be against me?” This was my daily mantra, along with many other scriptures.
I claimed the promise that God had made before I had left Australia, that He would never leave me, nor forsake me. Have you ever known, once you had taken the first step, that you were on the right path? Well, I just knew that He was with me every step of that journey and I was exactly where he wanted me. We truly are a blessed people.
PRAYER: Precious God, thank you for giving your Son to stand in for us all. Thank you for giving me the wisdom to know that you were walking every step of that journey with me, and for that I am eternally grateful, just knowing you would never let me down. Thank you that you gave me the strength to step out in faith to take that first step to go and do the job you had for me to do. AMEN
Today's devotion written by Noeline Brock, LifeWay Online
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
TO PONDER
The word Paul uses here for “love” is the Greek word “agape”. Whereas we have the one word “love” with many meanings, Greek, and other languages, have many different words. When we look at the English meanings of the word “love”, we love our food, meaning we get pleasure out of eating our food. We love our pets, often meaning we get a lot of companionship from our pets. We love going on holidays, meaning we enjoy the experiences we have when on holidays. Even when we say we love another person, we may mean that we enjoy spending time with that person and doing things together with that person. All of these ways of loving are perfectly good for us, but they are quite different from the word “agape”. If you consider the “loves” we looked at above, they generally refer to how we benefit from the objects of our love. “Agape” love on the other hand is self-sacrificing and focused on the object of the love. It is not a response to a positive emotional feeling in us.
Agape love is the love God has for us. In our natural state we are repugnant to God, because we fall so far from his standards. But His “agape’ love for us was so strong that Jesus happily took on the role of cleansing us and making us acceptable to God. It cost Jesus much suffering and then death to bring this cleansing about.
Since we have been cleansed by Jesus and now have God living in us through Holy Spirit, God is now teaching us how to live this same “agape” love in our relationships with one another. It won’t come naturally. It is a growing, transforming process produced by Holy Spirit living is us.
Paul says it requires growth in “knowledge and depth of insight”. The Message translation is “You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush”. So we don’t love with “agape” love based on our feelings or attraction to another person. Loving with “agape” love may mean sacrifice on our part; it might include dealing with people who we are not attracted to at all, and even repulsed by; it may include being rejected by the person and possible even attacked in some way.
Now I have to say that God doesn’t want us to be masochists. This is where the “knowledge and depth of insight” comes in. God doesn’t want us to go anywhere that He hasn’t already been working. As we grow in knowing our ‘agape” loving God working in our own lives, we will learn how to hear His voice and His invitations on where He want us to live out his ‘agape” love to others. From a start, we know that this does include our own families. As we go beyond our families, how we express “agape” love really needs to be guided by God – to fit in with what He is doing in people’s lives.
Remember that Jesus didn’t heal every person in Palestine during His three years of ministry. He was guided to whom to minister to by His Father. In the same way, we need to spend time in prayer to our Heavenly Father for His guidance in how to express our “agape” love to people He has already prepared for our engagement.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for wanting to include us in being Your hands, feet and voice of Your “agape” love to other people. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit living in us to guide us in the way to express that “agape” love to the people You bring into our lives. Please take away my fears and insecurities and grow me in learning to hear and to respond to Your guidance. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
TO PONDER
I really like the Message version of verses 1 and 2 of Romans 12: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
God’s free gift to us is not paradise on an island by ourselves, immersed in playing one‑person computer games, or having an infinite supply of piña coladas, or whatever activity we enjoy doing by ourselves.
When we look at the Heavenly Family, we see three persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit, so committed in their relationships with one another, that they are seen as a single unity. The gift Jesus has bought for us is to be a member of this family, and that means being part of the unity that exists in this family. Now, we may struggle to get our minds around this, but we see glimpses of this in some of our relationships here on earth, most likely in the marriages of two people who are fully committed to the welfare of each other.
Paul mentions in this passage that the society around us is not likely to be a healthy example of how to live as God’s children. Its tendency is to be about looking after ourselves, although we do often see amazing acts of love and compassion. But the example of outwardly focused love we are called to want to emulate is the life of Jesus when He lived on this earth. He was never concerned about His own welfare, but always focused on His Father’s will for Him and the needs of the people around Him. So, as Paul says, the transformation God wants to achieve in us is brought about by the work of God in us – through the work of Holy Spirit. Our response is to surrender ourselves to that work of Holy Spirit, and welcome His transforming work in our personalities and priorities.
Then our relationships with our families, friends and others will also be transformed, not because we are trying harder, but because our thinking, attitudes and priorities have been changed to align with God’s plan for us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I give You all that I am and have, so that You can transform me to live the life You always planned for me to live. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
TO PONDER
I love James. This is not one of the sons of Zebedee, brother of the apostle John, but the brother of Jesus. We understand that he struggled to accept who Jesus was until after Jesus’s death and resurrection. He became leader of the church in Jerusalem. His letter is about practical, living Christianity.
I know that some of you reading this may not have a Lutheran background, so you may not relate to this, and it is generally no longer true. But my upbringing in the Lutheran church, quite some decades ago, was all about knowledge. We went to Sunday School and heard the Bible stories and learned Bible verses and the catechism. But we didn’t talk about living in the security of a loving relationship with God. When we spent a year in Confirmation classes, we went into the catechism in greater depth. This is a very valuable document and I don’t want to belittle its importance, but the way it was taught was the teacher would ask a question and then teach the student what the correct answer was. It was very easy to be all about head knowledge. The practical aspect of living out the answers was never mentioned – or if it was, it had so little impact on me that I don’t remember it.
The impact on me was that later on, as a young adult, I didn’t have many answers to the challenges I faced in my relationships with others, and I had a very distorted view of what my relationship with God was supposed to be.
Thankfully, the Christian training of our children has developed a lot since then, and we have learned how important the way we adults live our lives in our relationships with others, including children, has a huge impact on our children growing to understand that being a child of God is not about being good, but in trusting God’s unconditional love for them.
James’s advice is not to stop listening to God’s word to us, and only be busy doing stuff. He wants us to apply what we hear from God’s word to our daily lives. For example, when we read that God has forgiven our failures and mistakes, do we still let ourselves be loaded down with a sense of guilt and failure, or do we rather thank God for the forgiveness and the promise of Holy Spirit, and get going again trusting Holy Spirit to teach us how to respond with God’s love when we face similar situations.
Or, when you face challenges in life, is your first response, “O God, why have you let this happen to me”, or rather, do you remember God’s promise to always be with us and respond, “OK, God, You have identified something in my life You need to deal with, so although I might not always enjoy what You are about to do, I will willing go with you on this journey, knowing that It will grow me in my relationship with you.”
As we grow in our relationship with the Heavenly Family, it will change how we read our bibles and listen to God’s revelations to us. Yes, we will still enjoy growing in our head knowledge, but we will also seek to understand how God wants to be actively involved in our lives for us to be a reflection of God’s love to those we interact with each day.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I so much want to grow in living as Your child, sharing Your love with all those I meet each day. Thank You for the bible which helps us to know who You are and how You want to be involved in our lives, but also that You are there, through Your Spirit, in all my activities of each day guiding me in living out what I have learned from Your word to us. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping