What merits your stamp of approval to others?
25 Mar 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Joshua 14
Joshua 15
Luke 4:33-44
And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife” (Joshua 15:16).
What merits your stamp of approval to others?
Caleb is an exceptional man. His peers die in the wilderness while he and Joshua enter Canaan. What makes the difference? The writer of Hebrews speaking about the former group reveals, “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). Caleb recounts God’s blessing on his life. He says, “So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God’” (Joshua 14:9). Caleb applies God’s same standard for his daughter’s marriage. He desires a man of faith, which will be shown by that man’s actions to claim the Promised Land.
Employment Point: Apply God’s standard of faith to give your stamp of approval.
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Reflections
As a member in the missions team, we are mindful to select individuals who are man of faith to be participants of our mission trips. As such, we tend to speak to each one of them at large to just find out more and what they think of missions.
In the interview process, we met a variety of people and they want to come for missions for different reasons. So we need to kind of suss out the ones who truly have the missions heart. One who really wants to serve and not to be serve. Who are willing to be humbled, to be adaptable, to be flexible, to help and encourage one another. No other agenda, no personal priorities, no complaints, just a servant heart willing to be part of the body of Christ.
“(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest from war.”
Joshua 14:15 NIV
- Joshua was called by the Lord to fulfil his unfinished agenda. He united the whole of Israelites by taking control of the lands that the Lord promised them and he did it with ease.
““Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!””Luke 4:35-36 NIV
- His words have power and so do us. What we speak carries weight and we ought to be mindful as well not to utter curses against ourselves.
- Sometimes in the slip of the tongue, we may say things like “we are always so unlucky” or “why am I so stupid”, etc. indirectly we are cursing ourselves. Please do not do that anymore or even say things like that as a joke.
- We are sons and daughters of the Most High. Always remember that. We are treasured, loved and beautifully made by His hands, each and every one of us. No one or even ourselves can call us unworthy.
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The Most Delicate Mission on Earth
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
March 25
The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him. — John 3:29
Goodness and purity should never attract attention to themselves; they should be magnets that draw attention to Jesus Christ. If my holiness isn’t drawing people to him, it isn’t holiness of the right order; it’s an influence that will spark misplaced affection and lead souls astray. A talented and virtuous preacher may be an obstacle if, instead of preaching Jesus Christ, he preaches only what Jesus Christ has done for him. People will come away saying, “That preacher has a fine character!” when they should be coming away with Jesus himself. If my face is growing brighter while Jesus’s fades, I’m not being a true friend of the bridegroom (John 3:30).
In order to maintain a loyal friendship with Jesus, we have to be careful with our moral and vital relationship to him—more careful than we are with anything else, even our obedience to God. Sometimes, the only thing we need to do is maintain this vital connection. Occasionally, when we are faced with a crisis, we have to seek knowledge of God’s will so that we can act in obedience. But most of life doesn’t require this kind of conscious obedience; it requires the maintenance of this relationship, our friendship with the bridegroom.
Beware of allowing anything to come between you and Jesus Christ. Too often, Christian work provides the perfect excuse for breaking our soul’s concentration on him. Instead of being friends of the bridegroom, we may end up working against him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.
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Reflections
By our actions and our speech, we reveal who we are to the people around us. If we were to ask someone to write our eulogy, what would they say?
As we reflect deeper, especially in this season of Lent, may we seek the Holy Spirit to search our souls. To give us a mirror so that we can see clearly what we are doing, whether what we say or do bring glory to Him.
I believe this devotional is meant to draw the attention to Jesus in our thoughts, words and deeds. It is never about us and all about Him. If, in the process, we are going on and on about how much work we have done, how much we have served, how so called pious we are, we would probably have missed the whole point.
I remember a friend’s wedding where I am the MC and also the bridesmaid. My initial thought was to dress up nicely to be presentable. However, someone came and told me it looked as if I was the bride. Like I stole the limelight away from the bride. I feel so bad. And went to the bride to apologise to her as it was never my intention. This reminded me that we can just look presentable for a wedding but no need to overdo it.
Similarly, when Jesus is the main character, we ought to just be the sidekicks that brings focus back to Him. The focus should not and cannot be on us. That would be so wrong. And I think especially for leaders, this is even more so. That when they lead, they need to balance between a good shepherd and being a good steward. They play dual roles and sometimes, that is really hard to balance.
So don’t forget to pray for your leaders that the Lord guard their hearts against pride and temptations and that they be able to stay close to the Lord and be faithful servants.
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Lent devotion Day 36/53
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 25
WEEK 5: WEDNESDAY
Another story about a master going away and coming back to see how the staff have been doing in his absence. Just as Jesus seems to have told several parables about farmers sowing seed (as in chapter 13), so here again, and even more in Luke's gospel, we have a further twist on a now familiar theme. But how would Jesus' first hearers have understood it?
For Jesus' first hearers, a story about a master and his servants, and about the servants being given responsibilities in the master's absence, would without a doubt have been understood in terms of God and Israel. God was the master, Israel the servant; and God had left Israel with responsibilities, with tasks to perform. This takes us right back to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus picked up some of the great prophetic themes of the Old Testament and declared 'you are the light of the world . . . the salt of the earth'. God had called Israel to be the means of carrying forward his great project to rescue and renew the whole creation. God had given Israel the means to do this: the Land, the Temple, the Law, the great structure of family life. Sooner or later, according to the prophets, God would return to see what his people had been doing with these gifts.
Jesus' charge against his contemporaries, repeated in one form or another throughout the gospels, was that they had failed in this God-given responsibility. They were like the third servant in the story, who, given the chance to shine, buried the talent in the ground. The result, as with the wicked tenants in chapter 21, the ungrateful guests in chapter 22 and the wicked slave in chapter 24, is that those who fail in their calling are writing themselves out of the picture. Privileges and vocations carry responsibilities; to avoid them is to forfeit the privilege or the vocation.
That seems to me to be the main, original thrust of this parable. But, to be sure, we can read it, and the church has read it for many years, in a secondary sense to do with Jesus' own calling of his followers, his gift to each of us which is to be used for his service. John Henry Newman, the great nineteenth- century writer and eventually cardinal, used to say that each of us has been put here with a particular purpose and calling which only we can do. Our task is to find out what that is and to do it. That remains true whether the purpose is playing the trumpet, cooking meals, planting trees, performing heart transplants or even preaching sermons. Sometimes, of course, it's a struggle to discover what our calling is.
Sometimes people are quite clear about their particular gifts but have no opportunity to exercise them. But each of us is called to exercise the primary, underlying gifts of living as a wise, loving human being, celebrating God's love, forgiving, praying, seeking justice, acting prudently and courageously, waiting patiently for God's will to be done. If we are trustworthy with these gifts at least, God will be ready with his answer: Well done, good and trustworthy servant. To hear those words from an earthly master would bring a glow of satisfaction. To hear them from the Lord of love will be greater than the greatest delight we can imagine.
TODAY
Lord of all gifts, help us to use to your glory the things you have entrusted to us.
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““At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’”
Matthew 25:6 NIV
- it is so sudden. It sounded like a fire broke out. Do you have what it means to put out a fire? Are you ready for that?
““But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.”Matthew 25:10 NIV
““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”Matthew 25:13 NIV
- there is a time for everything and He has given us enough time to prepare. But are we using our time wisely in prep of the time to come or are we just sitting around doing nothing? There will be a time too, that all is too late. The door, will be shut. Would you want to be left out?
Let’s pray:
Father help me to remember that if we are called by Your will to embark on a certain journey, we will be thoroughly equipped for Your every good works and that You will always be with us. Help us to persevere through the seasons and place our focus on You alone. Help us to remain faithful even in the small things that You have asked us to do. Let us not to be complacent, wicked or lazy and continue to humble ourselves and seek You first. To God to the glory! 🙌🏻✝️
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