Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
TO PONDER
The Greek language has several words to describe ‘love’, all the way from the simple affection of friendship to something much, much, deeper. In the above verses the verb used was ‘agapao’ – the commitment of devotion that is directed by the will and can be commanded as a duty. Jesus’ words leave little doubt that to love our Lord above everything and with our whole being is a command.
In Sunday school I can remember we were taught this verse and it always was with the First Commandment – ‘You shall have no other gods’ What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.
When Jesus died on the cross, he bore all our sin and we, with our sinful nature, are no longer abhorrent to God and can approach him in prayer anytime, all the time, knowing he will hear us. When we share our cares and worries with God, we are trusting him and can find peace. When we try to fix things ourselves, we have taken our eyes off God and our issues become our idols. Daily we are faced with situations, and people, that can take our eyes off our God. However, the more we include God in every aspect of our lives the more we learn to love and know him, to entrust our lives to him and the stronger our devotion to him becomes
When God is the sole object of our devotion we want to serve and please him. When we look at how his son Jesus, served his Father while he lived on earth, we see the kind of love we are commanded to show. We see our love of God requires us to love our fellowman and not to discriminate; it demands that we help those in need, care for the helpless and share generously God’s word, telling our stories of how God has blessed us and enriched our lives and how much he loves us, wanting to live in close loving relationship with us. - this is the first and greatest commandment.
PRAYER: God of love, I thank you for my parents, teachers and so many of your faithful children who have explained, taught, and shown by example what wholeheartedly loving you means. I thank you that with the help of the Holy Spirit you continue to help me trust you more completely and talk with you about my joys and sadness and every other issue, knowing you hear me, I praise and thank you for that. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
Then Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
TO PONDER
This event took place six days before the Passover, Mary and Martha were guests at the home where Lazarus was staying, for a celebratory dinner. We have read before that Mary preferred to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen and she loved him in preference to sharing hostessing duties. We do not know Mary’s exact reasons for her action when she poured the expensive oil over Jesus’ feet but in those times, anointing was done to appoint kings and chief priests, to help with healing or also before burial.
She most certainly would be giving thanks to Jesus for restoring her brother, Lazarus, to life. We can perhaps read some symbolism into her actions, anointing Jesus’ feet may have been acknowledging Jesus’ Kingship or High Priestly role. But Jesus himself interprets her actions as anointing him for the task ahead of him, his death.
But then, shock, horror Mary wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair – feet were dirty, washing them a servant’s task. She did this out of love not worrying at all about convention, a few days later Jesus would display his role as a servant by washing the apostles’ feet.
Now what about this expensive oil that caused Judas so much angst? It was called Spikenard, grown in the Himalayas and transported through the East India trade route, the roots and wooly stems were used to extract the fragrant oil, so precious it was sealed in alabaster jars. Mary’s jar would have held about 325mls and it would not have been possible to save any once the jar was opened, but Jesus intervened and said to leave her alone, it was meant for his burial.
How do we stack up against Mary in the devotion Stakes? We can never meet the cost of the Cross, we can never love so completely that we serve Jesus selflessly, we will always be conscious of others who will sneer or criticize our efforts to live a life that shows our love and commitment to God. We will always be tempted to think we haven’t done enough. We might not always spend quality devotion time with God. The answer is in the Cross – we recognize our faults and failures, we acknowledge what was done for us and ask forgiveness and it is given.
PRAYER: Forgiving and loving Father, I thank you for all of your servants that you have gifted to commit your word to be written for everyone to read and learn from. I know that there is a gap sometimes between what I want to do and committing myself wholly to you and what actually happens. I ask that with the help of the Holy Spirit, my devotion to you would grow in all areas of my life and become wholehearted and steadfast. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
TO PONDER
I remember when our children were younger, a couple of occasions where they appeared to experience a similar, though undoubtedly less intense, feeling as Jesus as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed and arrested.
The most vivid memory I have was when Elise and I insisted that a particular Saturday was to be dedicated to tidying up the kids bedrooms and that no other fun weekend things were going to be done until the bedrooms were sufficiently tidy and clean. After a few initial 'niggles' of resistance, and some stern words for both parents, one of our kids, fully devastated at the prospect before them, began crying and having a full meltdown shouting, "I don't want to" at the top of their lungs while at the same time dutifully getting the process of cleaning the room underway. They clearly expressed their desire for another option, but ended up doing their parents will when it was obvious there was no other way.
It made me wonder then, and many time since, how often I act like a child having a tantrum when God asks me to do something I don't want to do or wish could be done another way. I suspect it's more often that I would like to admit. This prayer of Jesus usually puts things into perspective for me. If Jesus can pray this prayer in the face of the pain and suffering of crucifixion, then surely I can pray it and act on it too when I feel God asking me to give the last $20 in my wallet to the person on the street, or when I sense he wants me to serve my neighbours when I know there issues are likely to spill into my life when I do that.
If Jesus can go through what he did to bring about God's will for my sake, then surely a bit of discomfort so that God's will might be done in my or someone else's life is not to hard a thing to accept.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, today I simply pray the words Jesus taught his disciples to pray, "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". May your will also be done in me. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
TO PONDER
Humility can be hard sometimes. In fact, I have to confess that as my two older children enter into their teenage years and start believing that they already know everything, it is increasingly difficult to not want to demonstrate my superior intellect and experience just to take them down a peg and put them back in their place.
The funny thing as I reflect on this thought is that God doesn't do that with us. In Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul tells the Christians in Rome that God allows people to choose to ignore him, to indulge their wrong thinking and sinful desires and to set themselves up as masters of their own destiny. He also mentions the folly and consequences of that approach, but it is an option, and it is one which more and more people seem to be wanting to make for themselves.
There are many ways to define or think about humility, but I think one of the most helpful is to define it as having a correct view of your standing in the order of things. If we can recognise and acknowledge God as 'Lord of All' and stop trying to place ourselves in that position, then many of the problems or challenges that we think we face simply take care of themselves.
Maybe God then lifts us up to some greater position in this life, but maybe for us 'being lifted up in due time' is simply another way to talk about being raised to life in Christ when he comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And won't that be a wonderful day for those who recognise him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, sometimes it is hard not to consider myself as somehow 'better' than others. Sometimes it is easy to forget that I am not master of my own destiny, but that you have plans and a purpose for my life and that the only place I can find fulness of life is in your son Jesus. Please help me to be humble and to remember you are Lord of All, and that includes me. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
TO PONDER
Whether they are in our workplaces or our classrooms, our sports teams or our social groups, we all know these people. The ones who will say yes to your face to stay 'in' with the group or in favour with the boss or teacher, but then when no one else is looking would also be the first one to stick a knife in your back. We might call them 'fake friends' or 'fair weather friends', they only stick around when there is something for them to gain from the situation.
So let me ask you a difficult question, are you a fair weather friend of Jesus? Now I know most of us will immediately say, "No! Of course not!" but I want you to think deeply about this for a moment. Are you only friends with Jesus, do you only follow him because of what you get out of it?
Just sit with that question for a moment. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some significant benefits and promised rewards for those who follow Jesus and put their hope and trust in him as their Lord and Saviour, but is that the only reason you believe? Let me put it this way, if you were convinced that Jesus was the son of God, but that was it - no salvation, no atoning death, no promise of the Holy Spirit or eternal life, would you still follow Jesus just because of who he is?
Jesus is worth following simply because he is Jesus, the son of God and all power and authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to him and he loves us. Fortunately for us, his love for us also means he has invited us to share in his victory, to receive his resurrection life for ourselves and to participate in his mission to bring that life to all the world by proclaiming the good news of his death and resurrection. Only when we accept that invitation completely, both the benefits and the work of participating in his mission, do we really begin to experience now, all that Jesus has for us.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I'm sorry for the times that my relationship with you is completely one-sided. When I expect to receive everything from you but fail to do or offer anything to you. I know your gifts to me are offered freely as gifts of grace and there is no obligation to earn them, but I pray you will help me to show my thanks and gratitude for all you have done as I strive to follow you each day in humble obedience. For you alone are worthy of all glory, honour, and praise. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
TO PONDER
"Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching"... I wonder if you are as challenged by this words as I am at times.
I want to say two things about this today. Firstly, we have numerous sayings and idioms in English that capture the idea of children being like their parents. For example, 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree', or maybe 'like father, like son', or maybe you are more of a 'chip off the old block' as the saying goes. Most of us can't help but reflect something of our human parents, maybe it is something in out looks and appearance, maybe it is some peculiar turns of phrase or language that we have picked up from them, perhaps it is certain beliefs or world views tat we have adopted and behaviours that go along with them. Most of us become like our parents for 2 reasons. Firstly we love them and look up to them when we are young and so we try to emulate them. But secondly, even if we did not think much of our parents, we spend so much time with them, that they can't help rub off on us.
I think Jesus is saying something about this in today's reading. If we really love Jesus, then we will want to spend time with him and to emulate him, to do things the way he does them and try to do the things he tells us (obey his teaching). When obedience or submission come from our love and high regard of another person, it does not feel like a burden to follow in their footsteps and to put into practice the things they teach us, it happens almost naturally as we are drawn deeper into our relationship with them.
That's what Jesus is inviting us to discover for ourselves. To love him more deeply and to trust him more completely so that our lives and will begin to align with his more naturally as we are drawn deeper into his love for us.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, Thank you for demonstrating your love for us through your suffering and death. Thank you for demonstrating your victory over sin and death for us through your resurrection. Please help me to love you more deeply and learn to obey you more completely so that others might see you more clearly. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
TO PONDER
I love the way God's word always turns human wisdom on it's head.
Most of us think of submission as a sign of weakness, yet here, God tells us that when we submit to him, we will have the strength to resist the devil, and that in fact, the devil will 'flee from us'
As a fan of fantasy and epic adventure stories, I often had a mental picture in my head as I grew up, of myself dressed in the armour of God doing battle against hoards of demons until they turned and fled. The problem being, that victory in these kinds of spiritual battles is not won by taking the fight to the devil but in submitting to the will of the Father. He does not want you to be snatched away from him, so the key is to submit to him, draw closer to him. Understand what God wants from you, your love, devotion and submission, and you can be confident that whatever trials and temptations you might face, he will see you through it.
You're not scary or strong enough to fight all the battles that come your way on your own, so 'give up the fight' and let God do battle for you, then you will see the devil flee.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that in your death and resurrection, I can now have assurance of your victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. Help me to live today confident in that knowledge and turn to you and to submit to your ways not only when things get tough, but also in times of joy and celebration. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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
Most of you know I used to be a middle school maths and science teacher. One thing that both mathematicians and scientists have in common is their love for observable and repeatable patterns. The reason these are so fascinating, and from my perspective, almost addictive, is that they offer us what I think is the closest thing to being able to see into the future.
Now those of you who never appreciated maths or perhaps even science the way I did, and still do, will probably think I'm being a bit ridiculous at this point but bear with me. If you can identify a regular and repeating pattern, then you can usually guess, with a decent level of certainty, what the next occurrence in the sequence is going to be. It is literally like being able to tell the future (admittedly in a very limited capacity). And of course, unexpected events can change or disrupt even the most regular and dependable of patterns.
This is kind of what Jesus did. When Jesus came to earth to live, die, and be raised to life again, he disrupted the previously established pattern of the world. No longer did people have to remain separated from God and have their standing with him mediated by a high priest who offered blood sacrifices for their sins in the temple. No longer was God only claiming the people of Israel as his own, but he was inviting all of creation to be reconciled to himself through Jesus. No longer was death the end, but resurrection and eternal life had been won.
Many people rejected the new paradigm. They had found something comfortable in the old pattern. Some had found a way to use it to their advantage and gain power and position for themselves over others. Some simply found the ew way to challenging to even consider. Some found that the cost of adopting this new paradigm and pattern that Jesus had established was just too big for them. And yet, once you see the way things are now because of Jesus, you can't simply ignore it. It's too beautiful. It's like one of those beautiful repeating fractal images where no matter how much time you take to explore it's patterns and beauty, there is always another level to discover.
So don't let your mind simply be conformed to the boring and obvious patterns of this world. Submit your mind to Jesus, let him upgrade your programming so you can identify the new pattern of resurrection life he has established for you and you will find his will good and pleasing.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Help me each day to reject the unhelpful and distracting patterns of this world and help me to see more clearly the pattern of your will for me and my life. Help me to walk in that each day, in Jesus name, Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
TO PONDER
When I first read this verse, I could not help but hear my father's often repeated words to me as a young boy when I stupidly followed the negative suggestions or influences of my friends, "And if they told you to jump off a cliff, I suppose you'd do that too?"
I got the point he was trying to make, Just because all your friends are doing it, doesn't make it a wise choice. For the most part, this has been pretty good advice for life. My biggest issue with it though is when it comes to Jesus.
Sometimes I feel like the man in our verse for today. I have said the same thing to Jesus, "I want to go wherever you lead me Jesus, Let's go!". Sometimes that's easy. However, at other times it's like Jesus is asking me to jump off that proverbial cliff. At times like that, other voices like those of my father, pop back into my head and suddenly my commitment to following Jesus wherever he leads me, seems to shrink and sometimes even vanishes altogether.
The problem is that the same logic doesn't apply, because the things Jesus asks his disciples to do don't line up with what the world considered to be wisdom. Love one another as I have loved you. Serve one another as I have served you. Humble yourselves and lift others up. This is not the way of the world even today.
A number of our friends and family were very concerned about Elise and my decision to give up both of our permanent full time teaching jobs in Canberra, to move to Adelaide to study at Australian Lutheran College with no work lined up for Elise so that I could study to become a pastor. In the eyes of the world and certainly from a financial perspective, that decision was the equivalent of jumping off a cliff. But we were convinced that it's what Jesus was asking us to do, so we did it, and I have to tell you, we have been blessed in so many ways as we pursued that adventure together with Jesus.
So let me finish today's thought with a variation of the same question my dad use to ask me, "If Jesus told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please help me to grow in the courage to put all of my life in your hands, so that when you ask me to make a difficult choice or do something hard, trusting you is my first and most natural response. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle