Happy New Year…Expect more of the same…???
A blessed and happy New Year to all the daily devotion readers and your families!
I have a prediction for 2021.
It will be like 2020.
WHAT!!! Say it isn’t so! I am SO done with 2020 and ready for 2021!
In many ways, so am I. 2021 is before us with many new experiences and opportunities. We will sit down today or soon and plan out what we hope to accomplish, set resolutions to change mindset or behavior, and pray that the challenges of 2020 will NOT follow us into 2021.
I too am optimistic. But not because we have a vaccine, or because it’s not an election year, or because the stock market is ending the year higher than it has ended any previous year (at least at the time of this writing!)
I am optimistic because I/we enter the year with the same, faithful, loving God with whom we entered 2020 with, and 2019, and 2018, and…
I am optimistic because the promises of God that were true last January 1 are the same today…here’s a few.
The calendar changes…we change…situations change…but…God doesn’t change in 2021!
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Seasons change…winter to spring, spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter…they may be cooler or warmer than last year, but the fact that they change testifies that God’s faithfulness hasn’t changed.
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
If I stop and reflect, every day of 2020, I had the compassion and mercy of God shown to me. He promises the same every morning of 2021.
Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
In spite of the social distancing, “zoom” gatherings, and 6 foot spacing, we still are connected to the love of God found in Christ. Nothing will separate us from that in 2021 either!
Romans 8: 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The list could go on…which reminds us whatever events and experiences we have in 2021, we can engage in them with the CONSISTENT, UNCHANGING, promises of God!
May your 2021 be filled with many realizations of the loving and faithful God who has allowed you to enter a New Year!
Apply: What promise of God will you hold on to as you enter 2021?
Prayer:
Help us, O Lord, for now we enter; Upon another year today
In you our hopes and thoughts now center; Renew our courage for the way.
New life, new strength, new happiness We ask of you–oh, hear and bless! AMEN! (Christian Worship 70:1)
ReDiscover Christmas: Love Blows Our Minds!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “ReDiscover Christmas”
Week 4 of 4: “LOVE in our Differences!”
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: ReDiscover LOVE!
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:17-19
There is so much we don’t know about the universe. Google “mysteries of the universe” and you can easily go down a black hole, pun intended, of mind-blowing topics. What goes on in black holes, with gravity so powerful and dense that not even light can escape? What exactly is dark matter and how does it work to hold fast-moving galaxies together? And what about dark energy that seems to be pushing the universe apart, expanding more and more quickly? Incredible imagery from the orbiting Hubble Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and infrared Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed exploding supernovae like the Crab Nebula, as well as thousands of other galaxies across deep space. It seems the more astronomers and physicists discover, the more
there is that we don’t understand. Maybe we never will.
For our God who is infinite and eternal, nothing is impossible. And if He is the Creator of a potentially infinite universe, then love is in and of His entire cosmic work, wherever His presence reaches, without end. Is your mind bending yet? And we think the oceans are deep! This is the same endless love embodied and extended to us in Jesus. Paul says the love of Christ surpasses knowledge. Nothing can contain it. Everything pales in comparison to it: our pains and problems, our complaints and questions, even our very existence and universe. Let’s open our hearts as widely as possible to God’s unfathomable love in this season and always.
Apply: Make a list of as many examples of possible from 2020 in which you have experienced God’s all-consuming love for you…I’m sure it will blow your mind!
(Reprinted with permission from Outreach.com “Advent Reading Plan”)
ReDiscover Christmas: Love Responds
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “ReDiscover Christmas”
Week 4 of 4: “LOVE in our Differences!”
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: ReDiscover LOVE!
We love because he first loved us. —1 John 4:19
The young girl was traveling from her Mexican village to the nearby chapel to visit the Nativity scene. Pepita was upset because she had no money to buy a gift to offer the baby Jesus during the service. But as she walked, she picked a bouquet along the roadside—weeds really. She was discouraged at her lack, but her cousin reminded her that even the most humble gift given in love would be acceptable in God’s eyes. When Pepita brought her offering to the Christ child, her bouquet miraculously transformed into beautiful red flowers, known as cuetlaxochitl—poinsettias.
Our own Christmas tradition of giving and displaying poinsettias comes from Mexico. The first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, brought the plant home in 1828 to study and cultivate it. He began giving them to friends as the lovely red flowers bloomed around Christmas, and a Pennsylvanian botanist soon began growing and selling them as the tradition spread.
The original legend of Pepita reminds us of human love’s humble response to God’s love. “We love because he first loved us.” When we are able to receive God’s love, in all of its unconditional fullness, we are able to be vulnerable, accepted, and unashamed. We are aware there is nothing we can do to deserve this love. We understand our frailty and our smallness. There is nothing we can give to impress God, but all He wants is us.
There is freedom in this realization, freedom to receive His love and to offer it back. There is even freedom to pass this love on to others, as John continues to write in 1 John 4. Our love is not an obligation or a duty we must grit our teeth and force. It is a renewing fountain continually flowing from the source of love Himself. Let’s drink deeply from the true source of love this Christmas and rediscover its refreshing flow.
Apply: Do you feel loved? How can you remind yourself throughout the day of God’s unfailing, never-ending love for you?
(Reprinted with permission from Outreach.com “Advent Reading Plan”)
ReDiscover Christmas: Love Your Enemies
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “ReDiscover Christmas”
Week 4 of 4: “LOVE in our Differences!”
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: ReDiscover LOVE!
You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. —Matthew 5:43-44
From a distance, the priest thought it must be roadkill left by wild animals. But as he drew closer, he heard humanlike moaning, and he could tell it was a man’s bloodied body. Robbers had done this, stealing all the man had and leaving him to die. The priest moved as far away as he could. “He’s almost dead anyway,” he thought. “I don’t have time for this.” He hurried on. The next man who passed reacted similarly. “I can’t get involved with this unclean mess,” thought the priestly assistant as he veered around the scene of the crime. The third man who eventually came along was a Samaritan who immediately stopped. After some first aid, he lifted the victim onto his donkey and transported him into the city. He treated the man’s wounds all day and night, then paid the innkeeper to continue. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?” asked Jesus. “The one who had mercy on him,” the expert in the law replied (Luke 10:36-37).
Did you ever notice the man trying to prove a point to Jesus couldn’t even bring himself to say the word Samaritan? That’s because the Jews hated the Samaritans.
The prejudice went back thousands of years in their shared ancestry when the tribes of Jacob split. Talk about a grudge! The groups had fought battles and disagreed about worshiping God (the Samaritans had their own temple, as if the Jews would have let them in at Jerusalem anyway).
But when Jesus told a story to illustrate God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself, He flipped the religious teachings on their head. The hated Samaritan lived out God’s love. He loved his enemy. He pleased God. And as Jesus taught, God’s love and salvation are for everyone, enemies included. There is freedom in loving others, even those we don’t like.
Apply: Who do you have trouble loving? How can you reach out to them with love this week?
(Reprinted with permission from Outreach.com “Advent Reading Plan”)
ReDiscover Christmas: Love for One Another
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “ReDiscover Christmas”
Week 4 of 4: “LOVE in our Differences!”
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: ReDiscover LOVE!
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. —John 13:34-35
Harley Davidson riders are known by their leathers. Surfers are known for their board shorts. Gangs identify by their colors. You can spot a Las Vegas Raiders fan by the black and silver skulls. A cheese hat? You’re loyal to the Green Bay Packers. You knew Groucho Marx by his glasses and bushy mustache. Abraham Lincoln’s top hat was a dead giveaway. Early punk-rockers were recognizable by their three-foot mohawks. Flannel was the ‘90s mark of grunge rockers. Handlebar mustaches now reveal a hipster. Braided beards and ruthlessness? Pirates. Reggae and dreadlocks often reveal a Jamaican, mon. Brazilians are known for their expressive warmth.
What are Christians known for? Jesus said it should be our love for other people. Early on, the church shone with Christlike love as believers shared all they had to care for each other’s needs. When pandemics hit Roman cities, Christ followers chose to tend to the sick even while the persecuting Romans fled. But there have been clear collective blunders, like invading countries and killing innocent women and children during the Crusades.
So how are we doing now? Are our churches known for who we’re trying to keep out or who we are welcoming in? Are we known by our service or our self-preservation? Our willingness to listen or our quickness to shout down? Our devotion to our political party or our devotion to Jesus? Does our encouragement or criticism come through louder? Are we marked by anger or grace? Outrage or compassion? Are we recognized by our expressions of Christ’s love or our indignation about what others call the holiday?
Are we too busy to show love and kindness in our daily interactions? Let’s let everyone know we are Jesus’s disciples this Christmas by our love for others.
Apply: What do others know you for? What can you do to put Jesus’s love into action?
(Reprinted with permission from Outreach.com “Advent Reading Plan”)