Do you still marvel that God became like us so that we could become like Him?
7 May 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
1 Kings 14
1 Kings 15
John 1:1-28
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Do you still marvel that God became like us so that we could become like Him?
Jesus took on flesh so that He could become “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Paul marvels and calls this a mystery, which biblically means a sacred secret that was once unknown but now has been revealed. He writes, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Relying upon Jesus’ finished work transfers an individual from darkness into the kingdom of light. John states, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
Employment Point: Believe on Jesus’ finished work and marvel at the incarnation.
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Reflections
“At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people.”1 Kings 14:1-2 NIV
- A human disguise may be able to deceive other people but it cannot deceive God. He sees the unseen and He knows our hearts. Therefore even when we have thoughts like these, remember Jeroboam. Even when Ahijah cannot see, the Lord has already told her who is coming and has pronounced Jeroboam’s fate through her.
“Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.”1 Kings 14:7-9 NIV
- Indeed, the Lord has told Jeroboam that he will rule Israel and be given the whole land, provided he keep His commands and follow Him with all his heart. However, we saw how Jeroboam did not follow and instead did all the reverse of what He was told.
“And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.””
1 Kings 14:15-16 NIV
- Israel suffered because of this men and what he caused them to do and turned their back against the Lord. This was not supposed to happen but because he led the people astray, disaster fell on Israel.
- It is good reminder that we have to pray for God-fearing leaders to lead all the countries lest they lead them to destruction and death.
“Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.”1 Kings 14:22-24 NIV
- Rehoboam, the other son of Solomon who became king of Judah was not much different from Jeroboam. Both did evil and worship other Gods. We can imagine how angry the Lord is with them.
- On the other hand, it also made me think. Solomon is the wisest men on earth and yet his sons who rule after him followed not his wisdom but all his bad ways. It’s sad actually..
- Praying that my son will eventually turned out to be a God-fearing child.
In 1 Kings 15, Abijah, son of Rehoboam was mentioned as he took over Rehoboam as king. But he was the same as Rehoboam and did evil. However, because of David’s faithfulness and all the good that he had done during his time, the Lord preserved his line. Asa, Abijah’s son, succeeded him as king of Judah made right all the wrongs that his father did, as we read in “He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.”1 Kings 15:12-14 NIV
In the same chapter, it also mentioned how Baasha killed Nadab (Jeroboam’s son who took over as king of Israel) and killed the whole family of Jeroboam, as prophesied by Ahijah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Reading all these just made me feel sad. Israel begins all good but was destroyed by the rulers who failed to listen and obey the Lord’s commandments. If only they had followed, perhaps their situation would not be as bad as now.
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”John 1:4 NIV
- Where true light is not shone by an external source but shines from within a person that is even brighter than all the light we can see. And that light that guides us even in our darkest paths. The light is God. We live by his words as he dwells with us, He becomes our flesh as we are made his children.
“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”John 1:18 NIV
- and we who are called children of God, also knows of Jesus, the son of God. We who know Him also know the Father, for they are one and as we are also one with God.
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Building for Eternity
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
May 07
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? — Luke 14:28
In Luke 14:26–33, our Lord isn’t referring to a cost we need to plan for; he’s referring to a cost he planned for, for our sake. What did it cost Jesus to redeem the world? Thirty years in Nazareth; three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred; the deep, unfathomable agony in Gethsemane; and, finally, the onslaught at Calvary—the pivot upon which the whole of time and eternity turns. Jesus Christ planned for this cost, so that in the final reckoning no one could say of him, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish” (v. 30).
Have you anticipated the cost of discipleship? Jesus states the cost clearly: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother … such a person cannot be my disciple” (v. 26). The only people the Lord will use in his mighty building projects are those who have been entirely remade by him: men and women who love him personally, passionately, and devotedly, above any of their closest family or friends on earth. His conditions are stern, but they are glorious.
Everything we build will be inspected by God. Will he find that we have built something of our own on the foundation of Jesus, something for our selfish gain? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when many people are striving mightily to work for God—and therein lies the trap. We can never work for God. We can only give ourselves to Jesus and let him take us over for his work. We have no right to dictate to our Lord where we will be placed or what we will do.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.
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Reflections
“Have you anticipated the cost of discipleship? Jesus states the cost clearly: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother … such a person cannot be my disciple” (v. 26).” -
I think for me this is rather ironic. I hated by mother first then came to know the Lord, and learnt to love her instead. Throughout the process, He taught me what it is like to see things from His point of view.
That cost includes being humbled and the must to surrender all control to Him. Otherwise things will not be able to flow. This cost involves true sacrifice. We cannot love when we don’t sacrifice anything for someone we love. That is perhaps not counted as love at all. If you remember how much Jesus sacrificed out of His love for us, you will understand what this cost means. It costs Him His life. How can we afford such love? How can we give such love?
In the process, in fact we learn why Matthew 6:33 is important. Because in all things, we are to seek Him first, put Him first and focus on Him first. When we do that, then the rest of the things will flow on its own. That is the cost we will have to bear, giving Him the priority, giving Him our first fruits and allowing Him to drive all our purposes and our life.
The cost also includes decisions that will no longer be made by us but by Him, since we are surrendered like a raw material to Him to use us as He wishes. The cost is also our time and effort wherever He places us to be, either to work, to volunteer, to serve, etc. We will have to abide in this special calling since we said yes to Him, to allow ourselves to be bent, burnt, shaped and sometimes destroyed to be remade.
Let’s pray:
Father, we just want to thank You for the blood of Jesus that has redeemed us from our sins and also cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank You Lord, that You did not mind us being sinners, know that we may fail and yet still use us to accomplish Your great works. Father, help us to come to You and relying on You solely for all Your guidance and provision, Your direction and Your peace, in order to fulfil the tasks or challenges that You called us to answer. Thank You for the opportunity to serve You, as well as for Your people. In Jesus’s name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻
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