Hope Comes when Someone Cares: Valued!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Hope Comes when Someone Cares”.
People want to be valued.
Most of the time it doesn’t have to be much. A small gift. A note of appreciation. Asking a person for help because they have a skill set that you don’t have. Referring a person’s work to another. Expressing a positive review.
But sometimes the ultimate test for how much we value another person is if we are willing to give up our life for that individual. At times we hear stories like this one:
It was winter time when I was 10; my father and I were walking across the ice covering the canal across from his house, I believe we were going for lunch. Before I realized what was going on, the ice broke from under us, and after some time of struggling to stay afloat, someone had finally noticed us in the water, encircled with ice. The guy threw an extension cord out to us, my dad told me to grab hold of it, and he pushed hard on me to get me up on the ice so the guy could pull me to shore. As he pushed up on me, I looked back to see his face disappear under the water. That was the last time I ever saw him.
The ultimate expression of value is a willingness to give up our life for another. That’s a big deal. That’s a big expression of love.
But that’s what separates Jesus from others. He was willing to give up his life for his sheep. No matter how big the danger was or how challenging it was to face, he doesn’t run but embraces death, even death on the cross.
John 10: 15 says, “…and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Perhaps we take this statement for granted, especially if you have been a Christian for many years. It seems pretty “neutral” to say, “Jesus died for me.” We perhaps don’t have the same emotional and memory connection if you were the child who’s last memory of your father was seeing his face disappear under the frigid water not to appear again.
He died so I could live…eternally.
Many stories of survival at the cost of another’s life leads the one who was saved to dedicate their life to the one who saved him or her. In essence, they are so appreciative of the value they were given that someone was willing to give up their life, they in turn desire to show value to the one who died for them by living their life fully to honor them. Same is true for our relationship with Christ. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
If you are every wondering if someone cares, look no further than the cross. For Jesus’ death on the cross shows you personally how much God values you, he had his Son die for you. When we understand the value God has placed on us, we can in turn share that value with others.
Apply: Give someone hope today…let them know how valuable they are to you and to God!
Prayer: Lord thank you for caring so much for me that you would give up your life for me. AMEN.
Hope Comes when Someone Cares
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Hope Comes when Someone Cares”.
Rarely does someone say it.
Often they just show it.
And we can see it and feel it.
What are they communicating? They don’t care.
We all want to have someone care about us. It hurts when we feel like someone doesn’t care. It hurts even more when they show us they don’t care.
We want someone to care.
Jesus knew there would be people who didn’t care. He said this in John 10:12-13
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
The hired hand is only in it for a paycheck. When danger comes he thinks, “These sheep aren’t worth enough for me to put my life on the line for them.” Bottom line? The hired hand cares more about himself than he does about the sheep. We and everyone else wants to be cared for. Because we have that need we seek out someone who cares. But then we get burned because they were only caring long enough to get what they want.
We expect imperfect people to care for us in a perfect way. Some will come close, but now one will care like Jesus. That’s why we need the Good Shepherd. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
We’ll see this week how Jesus cares for us as the Good shepherd. But perhaps the question to start the week is this, “Who are the shepherds I am relying on to care for me?” I pray everyone of you has a special someone in your life that truly cares. But there may be someone or someone we think cares but is only setting us up to be used and disappointed. It’s these situations that Jesus reminds us that he is the Good Shepherd and he cares.
Apply: When it feels like “no one cares” remember to turn to Jesus. Perhaps this week every day read through Psalm 23.
Prayer: Jesus thank you for being my Good Shepherd and caring for me like no one else can. AMEN.
Secure Relationship: Forgiveness
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Hope Comes with Secure Relationships”.
Everyone needs forgiveness.
Everyone.
But here’s the challenge:
- I know everyone needs forgiveness, but I’m not willing to forgive the people that wronged me.
- I know everyone needs forgiveness…but hesitate to admit I do.
Our own pride gets in the way of our relationship with others. Even in our marriages, we want our spouse to forgive us and move on, but when we are wronged, we are more willing to remember and bring up the wrong at an appropriate time. We know how amazing it is when our spouse forgives us for wrong that we have done, yet we forget to return the gift when we are wronged.
Perhaps its because we struggle in our own hearts to recognize and admit our sin.
The Apostle John was inspired by God’s Spirit to write this truth:
1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Everyone needs forgiveness because everyone is sinful. Everyone. You and me included.
Sin breaks the security of a relationship between us and God and us and others. Yet forgiveness is a powerful restoring act that God is willing to give to us. John continues in verse 9.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Forgiveness is given for EVERY sin.
Every one.
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus has been applied to your account as a gift of God’s grace. God willingly gave up the right to punish you for your sins by punishing Jesus for us. As a result, we are credited with the perfection Jesus obtained and the payment Jesus gave on the cross. God no longer treats us as our sins deserve.
So we don’t have to treat others as their sin deserves.
Consider this,
1 John 2:2 Jesus Christ, the Righteous One is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
If Jesus did this for the world, he did it for me. If he did it for me, I can pass that on to others.
When we realize God’s full and complete forgiveness, we can, with God’s help, forgive as we have been forgiven.
Everyone?
Everyone.
Apply: Is there someone who has wronged you in your life? Ask the Lord for power to forgive that person. (Remember forgiving doesn’t mean you will not remember the act, or that the relationship returns to normal…it does mean you give up the right to get even, removing the barrier that sin caused in your relationship. God willing, the relationship can be made secure once again.)
Prayer: Father, forgive us for all our sins. Every one of them. Amen.
Well everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations
Savior, he can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
Hillsong “Mighty to Save”
Secure Relationships: Honesty
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Hope Comes with Secure Relationships”.
“I’m telling you the honest truth.”
“Let me be honest with you…”
“Honestly, it’s the best I have to offer.”
Only…when it’s not.
Don’t you hate that when someone tells you the “honest truth” only to find out it’s an honest lie? “Honesty is the best policy,” but we don’t always encounter people who are honest. It breaks trust and certainly doesn’t build a secure relationship.
Jesus said, “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one (Matthew 5:34-37).”
Jesus teaching on swearing reminds us to build a character of honesty. If we have to swear to validate what we are saying, it probably means we have a deeper problem…we often don’t tell the truth. If we regularly practice honesty in our relationships, people will trust our “Yes” or “No” as the honest truth.
We live in a culture of media and interactions that are willing to twist the truth to fit a narrative. Snippets of information fail to communicate the whole story, thus concealing the truth. We can’t fix all of that in one devotion, but God wants to work on our hearts. So let’s let him. Here’s three ways to provide honesty in your relationships.
First, find your source of truth in God and his Word. So much around us fails to pass the truth test. The only way to know the truth is go to the source of all truth. Titus 1:2 reminds us that God will never lie to us: “…a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,…”
Second, be honest with yourself. John wrote in 1 John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We must allow God’s truth to first work in our own hearts and lives. Remember Satan is the Father of Lies and loves to deceive us into believing lies as truth, starting in our own hearts.
Third, speak the truth in love. The Apostle Paul writes, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ (Ephesians 4:15) We speak the truth with a heart of love and a goal for people to see Jesus. As truth of Jesus’ words grow in our heart and lives, we have opportunity to lovingly proclaim that truth.
Relationships are strained by a lack of honesty and truth. As children of God we have the source of truth to be filled with and that same truth to share in love with others. Let God’s honest truth be what builds honesty in all of your relationships.
Apply: Is there some aspect of life that you are avoiding God speaking truth into it? Why not a) seek truth for that aspect of life and b) try putting it into practice to see the blessing God brings from it!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for always presenting the truth to me. Sometimes I don’t like it, but I need it. Thank you for opening my mind and heart to the truth, for your truth enables me to be honest in all my relationships. AMEN.
Secure Relationships: Authentic
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Hope Comes with Secure Relationships”.
The real deal is a big deal.
We live a world of “knock offs.” I remember years ago traveling to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of the California/Mexico border. At that time it was an easy trip across the border and back. A few dollars would go along way to buy a few trinkets. Along the streets were various shops of vendors selling their wares. One was selling watches. A Gucci watch for $15 dollars. Wow! What a deal!
Nope. Just a cheap knock off. It had the name, but the inner working and the “gold” plating made it look good on the outside, but it was not the real deal.
People can be this way too. With social media we can portray to the world the image we want them to see. We create the perception and story others have of us…or at least we try.
Perhaps because we are afraid at what might happen if people really found out who we were and what we are like.
It’s easy to “put on a front” for a short period of time. But when someone gets to know us, they will see the real deal. It’s disconcerting when the “real deal” is different than what has been presented to us. It is securing when the person we get to know is truly the same as was presented to us.
Christians have an opportunity to make an impact by being authentic. Sure, we are tempted to put on our “Sunday best” and then “let it loose” the rest of the week. The Apostle John said this,
1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
An authentic presentation of ourselves and authentic relationship with others starts with an authentic relationship with Jesus. We need connection to Jesus to purify us inside and out. Sin loves to hide inside and as much as we try, we can’t always hide it on the outside. But Jesus loves to come into our hearts and lives and expose sin and replace it with his forgiveness and the power of the Spirit.
The reason? So we can walk in the light, just as Jesus walks in the light.
Jesus is authentic. Who he is as true God and true man, the Savior and servant of all is truly who he is. He doesn’t change or fool us into thinking he is one thing and then presenting another. In Jesus there is no sin and evil. In him there is justice and love. In him there is forgiveness and grace.
When this permeates our hearts and minds, it takes over and all of us become influenced by and a reflection of Jesus to others.
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? To always reflect Jesus to others so when people see us, they see Jesus.
I think so. I pray God helps me to do just that.
Apply: What “part of you” do you try to hide from others because you are afraid of their reaction if they would find out. Perhaps spend time in prayer to ask God to align even that part of us to his light and his way.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for being authentic – the real deal, our God, our Savior, our Light. AMEN.