At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
TO PONDER
Where is home for you?
I have had this conversation quite often lately with various people and realised I don’t have a “home” after living in 3 different countries, in well over 30 separate houses/apartments, and I am a citizen of 2 nations. Returning to Australia almost 10 years ago, after 17 years abroad I found I had not returned home.
Today’s verses are from a story about leaving, returning, heartbreak, faithfulness, and redemption.
Naomi had moved to Moab, an enemy kingdom, with her husband and their 2 sons due to famine, They settled in Moab with the sons even marrying local ladies, against the commands of both the Israeli and Moabite religions.
Naomi’s husband died leaving her a widow and then 10 years later both sons also died leaving their wives as widows and Naomi without the needed support of male family. Naomi decided to return to her homeland and encouraged her two widowed daughters-in-law to return to their families to and to find new husbands.
This is where Ruth stood against societal norms, religion, perhaps “common-sense”, and the strong advice of Naomi in an incredible act of loyalty and faithfulness, refusing to abandon her mother-in-law, committing to move to a strange land (where she found redemption).
Ruth the Moabite, the widowed outsider who chose faithfulness, is one of the 5 women recorded in the Genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5 including a prostitute, the abandoned, the foreigner, the unwanted, and the unwed mother.
We find in the story of Ruth and confirmed within the genealogy in Matthew 1, home is where you find a grace filled, faithful community where the outsider, the outcast, the forgotten, the abandoned, the sinner are welcomed into community.
PRAYER: Faithful God, I thank you for your unreasonable love and for that love you demonstrated to me even while I was still an outsider help me show your faithfulness, love and grace to everyone around me , Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
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.
TO PONDER
In my family, I am child number two of four. So, I have one older brother who is about 14 months older than me. No big deal but he is also smarter than me, is more outgoing than me, is funnier than me, and… well you get the point!
My childhood was frustrating, our disagreements would start off small and would inevitably escalate to battles of Biblical proportions, just short of Cain and Abel (me being Cain). Due to his intelligence, quick-wit, and his early grasp of sarcasm my choice of repartee was violence.
Our brotherly discord was so legendary that friends would leave our sleepovers and refuse to return, ever.
Today’s verse is contained within a letter Paul is writing to the Philippian church from prison, he begins the letter giving thanks to God for them and their willingness to share the Good News about Christ within this Roman colony.
Paul continues then to share the results of his own sharing of the Gospel in prison before he switches to the brotherly discord evident within the Philippian church. The jealousy, selfishness, and factions hidden within the church family in danger of ruining the message being shared.
Paul reminds them to conduct themselves worthy of the love and grace they carry as representatives of Christ’s gospel message together.
As the church, the body of Christ, citizens of heaven we should fight using the weapons of love and grace both within our church community and to our neighbours in the world. Lead with the love and grace Jesus has shown to us.
PRAYER: Almighty Jesus, I thank you for showing me your love through grace even when I was at odds with you, I ask you to empower me to demonstrate that to my church, and my neighbours, in your name, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
TO PONDER
“Life is not a spectator sport.” is a favourite saying of mine which I recently discovered was from a quote credited to Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player to play in the U.S. Major League Baseball. The full quote is “Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.”
Today’s verse is from a letter to the Corinthian church from Paul encouraging them to practice “Good Order” in church gatherings (worship). Paul was addressing issues within the local church where some people were claiming special privileges over other believers. The passage is often (if not usually) used to support the authority of leaders within the church.
I think, rather than saying good order in the church is to go to church and listen to the pastor, watch him do it all, Paul is saying to the Corinthian church “Church is not a spectator sport!”, or to put it a different way; everybody has a role to play within church.
I’m sure we already know that church is not somewhere we go but who we are as a community of Jesus followers but do we consider when we gather together as the church, if we pick our seat in the grandstand to watch or do we gather to fulfil our important, one of a kind, role within the church?
Let me finish with a question, is it church if you only sit in the grandstand?
PRAYER: Jesus you are the head of the church, your church, and I thank you that I have an important role for me to play within that church, within my church. I ask for your forgiveness for the times I have become a spectator instead of an active part, use me. Amen.
Today's devotions written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
TO PONDER
The roar of the crowd, the euphoria of the gathered supporters, somehow takes the NFL game to another level, I suspect it would even help me enjoy an AFL game if I ever attended one, and someone sat with me explaining what was going on.
Being part of community connected by a common cause, shared hopes and dreams, amplifies the human experience exponentially.
In today’s verse the disciples of Jesus we together in their regular gathering place, expectantly waiting, waiting for something, something their community was hoping for, something they were eager for… Waiting for something…
They had spent many hours in this place, hours of celebration, hours of fear, hours of confusion, and hours and hours of mourning but today was different. Today they were waiting because the risen Messiah had told them to, their risen Messiah had told them to wait, the last time they had seen Him before he was ‘taken up before their very eyes’ Jesus had commanded them to wait together for the gift the Father had promised them.
Like most things Jesus had told the disciples the reasons, the meaning was not always obvious which made their waiting and hoping filled with uncertainty but they still waited filled with hope and trust which grew exponentially to expectation of something life changing.
And then suddenly their expectations were surpassed, suddenly over 400 years of waiting expectantly for God’s promise was answered, suddenly God transcended their waiting when He answered.
When we are together in one place waiting in our hopes, dreams and imaginings God is there with us (Ephesians 3:20, Matthew 18:19-20) and lives are changed.
PRAYER: Almighty Father, I give you praise and thanks for all your gifts and promises, I wait expectantly with my church community for everything you have prepared for us in Jesus name. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
TO PONDER
Did you see the controversial 2024 Olympic opening ceremony? I didn’t actually watch it live myself, but I woke to photos of the “offensive” duplication of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous artwork of the last supper. I was not offended…
Today’s verse is from a letter, God’s prophet Jeremiah addressed to God’s people who were in “exile”; which is a nicer way of saying they were captives, stolen, trafficked, or kidnapped. They had been taken prisoner by the enemy King Nebuchadnezzar and were being held captive in Babylon.
Jeremiah told this stolen generation to seek the prosperity and blessing of the people and place they were being held captive. They were to pray and work for the prosperity of Babylon because in so doing, they also would benefit from the blessing and prosperity.
…I woke up the morning after the Olympics opening ceremony to a picture of “sinners” sitting at a representation off what has been called the table of Christ and thought “that’s right, sinners are invited to His table”. Everyone sitting with Jesus at the last supper was a sinner, invited to the table.
I do understand the offence and the outrage felt by people and don’t want to minimise those feelings, but as what the apostle Paul calls “citizens of heaven” (Philippians 3:20) living as an exiled foreigner in this fallen world, I want to seek God’s peace and prosperity for all the sinners who are invited to the table of Christ.
PRAYER: Almighty God, I realise I do not need to stick up for you, I do not need to be offended for you and shout my offence towards this fallen world but rather you have called me to show your love and grace to everyone around me, inviting other sinners to your table of prosperity. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
TO PONDER
I'm not sure there is much for me to add to the verse for today. So instead, before you end your devotional time in prayer today, I'd invite you to write down, or call to mind, some of the promises you know God has made to you, as one of his children, that have sustained you through suffering and struggles in the past.
Let those promises wash over you and remind you of the hope you have in Christ Jesus.
And if you are facing a struggle or suffering something difficult at the moment, perhaps remember the words of the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 5:3-5, "we rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.
Whatever this week has brought to your life, whether joy or struggle, good times or bad, remember the hope you have in Jesus and live a life of hope. This is our comfort in struggle and suffering - the life preserving, and hope giving, promises of God.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, may you always be my comfort in suffering and may your promises always preserve my life and my hope. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering."
TO PONDER
One of the biggest criticisms of God that you tend to hear out there in the world today is, "How can a God who is supposed to be loving allow such suffering?"
It's a good question, and not one that I'm sure I have a very good answer to. However, I think there is one assumption behind that statement which is inaccurate and which today's verse directly addresses is that God might not even be concerned about human suffering.
Here in Exodus, we encounter a God who discloses to us his own concern about the suffering of his people. A concern which stirred Him into action, through Moses, to rescue his people. In fact, many theologians talk about Moses as a messianic foreshadowing of Jesus and the deliverance and freedom that Jesus would deliver to God's people. And that's the point I want to draw to your attention today. God has done something about human suffering, his answer was, and is, Jesus.
Jesus, who suffered death in our place so that we could live, and live in relationship with God the Father. Maybe we still experience struggles and suffering in this life, but through Jesus death and resurrection, God has opened up a means for us to join him in eternity where He has promised there will be no more tears or suffering or pain.
Our suffering may not be over yet, but you had better believe God cares and has done something about it.
PRAYER: Lord God, you don't need me to defend you, but help me to be ready to explain what you have done about it, to those who have come to mistakenly believe, that you don't care about the suffering of people. Help me to share how knowing you and your promise of an end to all suffering, helps me to deal with the suffering I see around me. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
TO PONDER
I don't know about you, but I know that I am sometimes guilty of forgetting that Jesus encountered struggle. Even Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane asked God to change the plan. "Surely Father, there has to be some other way, can't you figure this out so I don't have to do this?... Yet not my will but yours be done." Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place, disobedience to the will of the Father on the one hand, death on the other. Sure looks like a struggle to me.
God gets your struggles, he understands them. In Jesus, he experienced the human desire to protect your own life, your reputation, your comfort, your wellbeing, and yet even in the midst of that human desire to control all those things, Jesus still trusted the plans and the will of God the Father to bring all things together for the good of those who loved him.
While we might experience struggles like the disciples did, struggling to exert some control over their bodies to stay awake, we can rest assured that our God knows what it is like to struggle with the big stuff because we see Jesus living it in this part of his story. Jesus invites each of us to join him in our struggle, to submit our prayers and requests to God, but then also to join him in submitting to God's will, regardless of whether it is what we want or not, trusting that with God, it will always work out in the end.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it is amazing that in the midst of your struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane, you were able to submit completely to the Father's will knowing full well what that meant for you, but more importantly, what it meant for me. Help me to remember that I can also struggle with what the task you have for me to do, but please help me also, to ultimately trust you and surrender myself to your will and plans for me. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
TO PONDER
Have a look at the whole of Genesis 32 if you are not familiar with the rest of this story, it's one of my favourites. But if your short on time, here's the short version...
Jacob has been away since fleeing from his brother Esau's wrath after 'stealing' Esau's birthright and blessing from their father, Isaac. Esau, by the way, was a much more physically imposing and threatening figure that Jacob. But now that he has amassed some of his own wealth and a household of his own to hide behind, Jacob is on his way to make amends with his brother. However, the night before they reunite, Jacob encounters a man who engages him in a wrestle on the banks of a river.
They wrestle all night, and as day begins to break, the strange visitor recognises that he is not going to overpower Jacob and so somehow deliberately injure Jacob hip or groin. Jacob refuses to release the man until he receive a blessing, at which point the man pronounces a blessing over Jacob and gives him the name Israel, "because he has struggled with God and humans and has overcome."
I often wonder why Jacob wrestled with God, or rather, why God came as this mysterious man and wrestled with Jacob. Jacob had already received a blessing and the inheritance from his Father, the covenant promises of God had already been passed to him. I suspect though that Jacob's own deception and rogue like behaviour, may have caused him to doubt his standing in the eyes of God, and so he needed assurance.
Sometimes I know I am my own biggest hurdle or struggle when it comes to trusting God and struggling or wrestling with his promises. "How can God love someone like me?" is a question many Christians struggle with or stumble over at one time or another. However, just on look at the cross of Christ should be enough to snap us out of it. Why would Jesus allow himself to be hung and killed on a cross if not out of love for those who would be saved through faith in Him?
Jacob's wrestle with God left him changed, God loves you too much to leave you where you are and wants to change you too. Engage with him, wrestle with him, but all the time trust and be assured that he loves you and is for you, even if you end up feeling like you have been kicked in the groin.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, so often I fail to see how you are at work. One look at the nightly news and I see violence and destruction, natural disasters, famine and disease. I take a look at my own life and only manage to see the ways I have not lived up to your perfect standard and plan for my life. So I simply pry that you would sustain me as I continue to wrestle with you and what it means to be one of your children in this fallen world of sin. In Jesus Name, Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.