Are you close to God?

 19 Feb 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One

Readings:

Numbers 1

Numbers 2

Mark 3:1-21

Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach (Mark 3:14). 

Are you close to God?

God desires intimacy with His people. He arranges the encampment around the tabernacle, which makes Him central to Israel. Moses writes, “Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard” (Numbers 2:2). The Lord chooses Israel to fellowship with Him and as a light to the nations. Jesus also calls His apostles to Himself. Mark pens, “And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted” (Mark 3:13). The verb “called” occurs in the middle voice and shows Jesus picking them for His purpose. We should pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus since He calls us to Himself. Like Paul, let’s say, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). 

Employment Point: Stay close to God and faithfully proclaim His Word.

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Reflections

“Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.”Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• this is a reminder for me not to be stubborn. When I know what I ought to do, or when I have to do the right things, I have to be obedient to do what is good, whenever I was called.
• Here they know the answer very well but they just refuse to answer. It is quite similar to us ignoring His commands or failing to obey due to our reluctance. Not our will but His be done.

“Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.””Mark‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• The impure spirits knew at once who is Lord. They fell down before Him. They fully recognised not just the higher power that is before them but they also fully submit to His authority and all these are shown in their outward expression of reverence for the Lord.
• Often times, I find myself not having the same kind of reverence. Even the enemy does it better than me. It is such a sobering thought and also reminder to me. We recognise who He is but do we show the kind of actions that portray our love or reverence for Him?

The Lord chose us and He yearns for a personal relationship with us. We are being called children of God because He had already chosen us to be one. We are called into the family. Are we building the relationship with our family members?

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The Initiative against Drudgery

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

February 19

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. — Isaiah 60:1

Drudgery—that hard, dull, seemingly unimportant work that no one wants to do—is one of the finest tests of character there is. Drudge work is utterly lowly and grubby. It requires us to get our hands dirty. It requires us to make an effort when we feel no motivation or divine inspiration. With drudgery, we have to take the first step as if there were no God. It’s no use waiting for God to help us: he will not. But the second we arise, we find he is there.

Whenever we come into contact with drudgery, we know immediately whether or not we are spiritually real. In the book of John, we see Jesus—God incarnate, the highest and holiest of beings—doing the lowliest kind of work: washing feet. “No servant is greater than his master,” he tells the disciples (13:16). Jesus brings himself down to the level of a servant, yet the moment he begins performing his lowly task, the work is transfigured. God’s light shines upon it, and it stops being lowly and becomes divine. Whenever we allow God to do a thing through us, he always transfigures it into something divine, just as he took on human flesh and transfigured it.

Every person who has the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them is a divine temple for our Lord. Keep this in mind whenever you’re faced with drudgery. If you arise and shine, no matter the task, the glory of the Lord will rise with you.

Leviticus 25; Mark 1:23-45

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6).

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Reflections

One may perhaps find that mundane work has no special meaning. You may ask how can it be divine?

I remember a time when we are preparing the operating theatre for the next case. The surgeon is rushing, the nurse outside wants to bring the patient in. Yet, only one person is preparing the whole place for the next case. Turnover time is not defined as it is soonest possible. The faster the turnover, the earlier the surgery can start.

So while all of us were just standing there doing nothing except watching that one guy work-clear all the rubbish and change a new liner. Clear all the linen and change liner. Prepare and wipe down the table and lay the liner for the next patient. It’s not a 5min job as there are usually a lot of things to clear. One nurse started to help out the poor Operating Theatre (OT) Technician without saying a word. Another nurse went up to her and asked, why are you doing this? These are the OTT’s job? Her answer is rather sobering. 

We are a team. So we should help one another. We are just standing there and waiting. Why not make ourselves useful and in that case, we will be able to turn around cases in a much faster way. 

Her simple act of helping spread across all the theatres. So everyone chipped in, including the surgeons (who usually don’t even want to touch those things). She only told them factually, if you help turn over the OT together we will be able to it faster. So from then on, most of the surgeons after they degown, will also help to clear away rubbish so that the turnover is quick and without delay.

Such a mundane task of doing something that was deemed to be lowly eventually became something that is vital for efficiency and speed. Let us not overlook mundane or lowly tasks and be the one who lend the helping hand.

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Lent devotion Day 2/53

taken from YouVersion, Lent for Everyone

Lent for Everyone is a devotional created and written by N.T. (Tom) Wright. For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel of Matthew, plus a reflection by Wright. These readings have grown out of a project encouraging Lent reading in Northern England. This is the second in a three-volume series based on the Revised Common Lectionary of the Church of England.

Today’s reading:

Matthew 3

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

When a couple get married, there is so much to learn. Not so much the immediate and obvious things — favourite foods, musical tastes, good ideas for holidays, and so on. There are deeper things that make each one of us mysterious and deeply special. The rich store of memories and mental associations. The older family history: stories told and retold, sorrows quietly aching in the background, tales of an exotic cousin here, a tragic uncle there, an aunt who wrote books or a great- grandfather who was cheated in business. Such stories shape our imaginations. They condition our reactions to new situations. When you join someone else's family it takes time to learn how all this works for them. Often you can only make sense of what someone says or does up front if you get in touch with the older, deeper stories that shaped them from their earliest days.

Matthew, writing his gospel, wants to help his readers to learn the great stories of the family into which they have come through their faith in Jesus Christ. Many of his readers were probably Jewish already. That made some things easier, others harder. He is telling the story of what happened within living memory — here, the story of John the Baptist getting people ready for Jesus — but he is also helping them to get in touch with the older, deeper stories of God's ancient people. Like all early Christian writers, Matthew is eager to explain how what has happened in and through Jesus is what the ancient stories had been pointing to all along.

He's already begun to do this in the first two chapters. There's the great long family tree right at the start, of course. But there are also the times when he has pointed back to the ancient scriptures to explain the meaning of the events he's describing. Now he takes this to a new level. He picks up one of the most famous prophecies in the Old Testament, and declares that it came true in and through John the Baptist.

The prophecy in question summed up the longing and the praying of Israel over the previous five hundred years. Israel had been overrun by foreign armies. The Temple had been destroyed. God himself, they believed, had abandoned his people because of their wickedness, and had left them to their fate. Even when the Jews returned from Babylon and rebuilt the Temple, there was a lingering, uneasy sense that there was more to come, that all was not yet well. So they told the story like this: one day God will come back to rescue us. He'll come back and take charge of the whole world, and everything will be right at last. The God in heaven will be king of the earth! That's what we're waiting for.

So when John the Baptist suddenly appeared, down near the river Jordan, telling people that 'heaven' was going to take charge on earth (that's what 'the kingdom of heaven' means), it's not surprising that everyone set off to find out what was going on. John was plunging people into the Jordan. He was re-enacting the far-off moment when the ancient Israelites first entered their Promised Land. This is it! This is what we've been waiting for! Sharp-eyed people, then and later, said: This is the man the prophet spoke about. He is the 'voice in the wilderness', getting people ready for God to come back.

If we grasp nothing more than this, Matthew would have done half his job. But there are two other things going on here which also shape the way he's going to tell the rest of his story. First, lots of people coming to John have to be warned not to take God for granted. They may be Abraham's children physically, but God is doing a new thing. He is reshaping Abraham's family: sharp judgment on the one hand, an open invitation on the other. 'God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones!' This isn't the way many of them had been telling the story. It must have come as a shock.

TODAY

Gracious Lord, as your heavenly rule extends on earth, help us to know your story and live as your family.

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What Wright has written reminds me being a child of God and understanding how the family operates takes time. We cannot expect to be transformed by the snap of the finger. There is learning, adapting that needs to take place. Give time and also space to everyone for this to happen.

Let’s pray:

Lord help us to learn that being close to you does not necessarily mean that we need to take on big projects or shoulder heavy responsibilities. Even the small or mundane tasks can shine Your light on others or even inspire others with Your love. Help us Lord to give grace to all who are still work-in-progresses, for none of us are perfect people. Grant us grace too O Lord, as we humbly seek You and follow You, getting to know You better each day. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen 🙏🏻