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Devotional

Forgiven: Romans 5:8 – “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven and be reconciled to God.(John 3:16-17) To be reconciled to God means that we are brought back into a relationship with God, our creator. You see, our sin separated us from God; our relationship with Him is broken because of our sin.(Isaiah 59:2) So, if it’s broken, it needs to be fixed, right? But, no matter how hard we try, we cannot correct our relationship with God on our own. We cannot do anything to deserve everlasting life in heaven because our sins makes us deserve hell.(Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)

But God, in all of His love and grace and mercy, sent Jesus to die for us as a sacrifice for our sins, washing them all away. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”(2 Corinthians 5:21) And now, with our sins paid for, we have forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus when we accept Him as our Savior and make Him the Lord of our lives.

God orchestrated all of this even though we were sinners. God did not send Jesus to die for our sins after we agreed to follow Him. God showed us His extravagant love even though we were separated from Him, living in our sin. Just for a moment, think of the worst thing you have ever done. Jesus died for us even though you did whatever it is you are thinking about right now. While we were the worst person we could possibly be, God gave us the best of His love. He took all of the filth that we once were and washed it clean.

When you are forgiven, you are a new creation in Jesus. The old you is dead and gone; your old sin life has passed away. You are free to begin your new life living for Jesus who died for your sins. (2 Corinthians 5:15-17)

** I encourage you to use these passages from God’s Word as a resource in your daily life. Don’t let this truth just rest on this tag or on this shirt. Use it! Let it become a part of you, let the scripture be written on your heart and move you to live your life in obedience to God out of love. Dive into God’s Word, spend time with Him in prayer, connect with other believers, live for Jesus who died for your sins and rose again! **

FYI – We have a Bible Study on Facebook.com and invite you to join. New scripture is posted daily. If you don’t have a Facebook Account, then you will need to create one to join the Bible Study. So, if you’re interested, sign into your Facebook Account and search “Facebook Bible Study – yes you can join!”

Philippians 3:7-9 – “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I
consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. ”

Do you love Jesus so much that everything else in your life feels like trash compared to Him? Think about the trashcan in your kitchen, it always has the messiest, grossest, and most stinky trash (or at least ours does, haha). You come home and you’re hit with this stench from across the room and you hang your head as you realize you put last night’s spaghetti scraps and various refrigerator leftovers in the trash but you forgot to take it outside to the dumpster. It’s been rotting all day, and now you have this vile stink filling your house and making you a little dizzy, but you’ve got to take it outside because the smell just gets worse with time. As you move closer, the smell gains strength and your stomach starts churning. When you close up the trash bag, that little puff of air hits you in the face and you gag and almost hurl your lunch as you tie
it up and race outside bag-in-hand hoping it’s not dripping on the floor. That’s some nasty trash!

Is that how you view all your good deeds and material things when you compare them to Jesus and knowing that He died to offer you salvation from your sins? Are you seeking God’s wisdom and striving to grow closer to Him more each day, or are you wasting time building up riches, trying to impress people with what you wear, what you own, or what you’ve accomplished?

Paul was saying that all the stuff in his life that he thought made him a good person (all of his rule-following and “righteous” deeds and all of the high-ranking positions and accomplishments that he achieved) was worthless compared to knowing Jesus. THAT is love and devotion to God.

My prayer is to be so in love with God and so devoted to Him that everything in my life stinks like the kitchen trashcan when compared to Jesus. Will you join me in that prayer? Compared to knowing Jesus, everything else just fades away.

Related Text:
John 17:3
“And this is the real and eternal life: that they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.”

Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.”

Jesus didn’t say “blessed are the peace-lovers”, because everyone enjoys peace. Nor did He say, “blessed are the peaceable who are easy going and never let anything bother them”. Being a peacemaker is different than being a person who doesn’t let anything bother them or someone who enjoys peace. Peacemakers are rare because peace-making is hard work. But it’s worth the effort.

Relationships are always worth restoring. God wants us to value our relationships instead of discarding them every time there’s a problem. Paul wrote, “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

The ability to get along well with other believers is a mark of spiritual maturity. God wants His family to be known for their love of each other. Broken relationships hurt our witness and our testimony to others. Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, was upset with the way the people were separating inside the church and breaking into warring factions. He was shocked that no one had the spiritual maturity to resolve the conflicts peaceably. Where ever you are, as long as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. And, even when it’s difficult, ask for God’s wisdom to become a peacemaker.

Related Text:
1 Corinthians 1:10
“I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”

Romans 12:2
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

If you are wrestling with a certain problem, thinking “If I could just get through this, everything will be alright”, then you may find this as bad news. In all likely hood, when you conquer this particular problem, God will reveal something new that needs to be dealt with. God will always be working on us, aiding us in our journey to spiritual maturity; becoming all that He wants us to be.

Real change doesn’t come through frustration, self-rejection, guilt, or white-knuckled human effort. Real change comes as a result of having our mind renewed daily by the Word of God (that means our daily reading and study of our Bibles). As we agree with God, believing what He says is true, change will occur. We start to think differently, then talk differently, and finally act differently. As plainly as I can say it, when you spend time with God reading your Bible, it will change you.

But what so often happens is that we become complacent with our lives and routines. We become a run-down version of our formers selves, cracking under the pressure of our daily responsibilities. Often, the first thing that get’s squeezed out of our day is time with God. Then, before we know it, we have no joy, no peace, we begin to feel hopeless, and we wonder what’s happened to us. We think, act, and live no differently than the people around us who don’t know Jesus. GET BACK INTO HIS WORD!

Related Text:
Deuteronomy 11:18-20
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”

SATURATE YOUR LIFE WITH THE HOLY SCRIPTURES FROM GOD’S WORD

Philippians 4:4-9
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

We’ve got to step outside of our self deception, we’ve got to quit lying to ourselves when we read scripture. If you’re anything like me, (and there’s a huge possibility that you’re nothing like me) when I read scripture, I’m way too quick to say, “yea, I do that” without really stopping fully to inspect myself and my habits and ask myself if I really am doing what the scripture says. (follow me so far?)

I think that when I read my Bible and I’m quick to say “yea, I do that”, what I really mean is “yea, I’d really like to do that”. But it seems like too often I don’t take the time to apply it to my life. I check off my Christian box for the day, but don’t always make the truth of the scripture a reality. I wish I did.

I felt this way when I read today’s Bible verses. I read about rejoicing always and praying continually and thought, “well, I do that”. But I don’t. Not always and continually. There are a couple of days in a row, or even weeks in a row where I have done it before, but always is always and continually is continually. So, no breaks right!?

I don’t curse God, so I’m not saying that I do the opposite of rejoicing. But I don’t rejoice in the Lord always, and there are times where worries take the place of prayers. I get tired of the hassle at work, I feel overwhelmed by responsibilities, sometimes it feels easy to sleep in – spiritually speaking.

My prayer this morning is that I find a way to celebrate God all the time, every day, no matter what. No matter my stress level, no matter how tough work gets, no matter how sleepy I am, no matter if it’s raining and the dog gets mud all over the carpet, no matter anything. I want my rejoicing and praise and worship of God to mold my worries into prayers. I want to seek God with all of my energy. I don’t ever want to give up. I want God to work His most excellent harmonies in me!

So there it is. If none of this makes sense to you or if you can’t connect with these scenarios, then I guess this was just my time of confession and prayer before God. But if you can relate to some of this stuff today, then hit me up and we can start sharing ideas, helping with accountability, rejoicing together, always praising our God and praying about anything and everything, all the time!

Related Text:
Psalm 62:5-6
“Rest in God alone, my soul,
for my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I will not be shaken.”

1 Corinthians 9:19-27
“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.”

Paul was meeting people where they were in their lives. He was taking the Gospel of Jesus out to the people, and not waiting on the people to clean up and come to him.

Serving others will look different in each of our lives; we won’t all serve God or serve others in the same way. God has made us all different and we have been given different gifts, talents, abilities, and passions. However, we must be careful not to use this as an excuse to keep putting off service, or we’ll end up never serving God at all. It’s easy to say that we are just waiting see what our ability is, and then later we will use it to serve God. Basically, it’s super easy to keep putting off serving God with our lives.

But that’s what Jesus has called us to do. It’s not all going to look the same, but Jesus told all of His followers to leave their own lives behind, and live for Him. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “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.”

Related Text:
Romans 12:9-21
Luke 9:23-24
Hebrews 12:1-3
John 15:12-14
1 John 3:16

Mark 16:15 – And then he told them, “Go into all the world and
preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” (NLT) Folks, it doesn’t get any more
simple and straight forward than that. Everyone. Everywhere. Direct from Jesus Himself.

When you look up this verse in the Bible, you’ll notice it is written in red. That’s the signal to the reader that Jesus is talking, so we better listen up.

Hang with me for a bit and let’s discover the story that leads up to this awesome commandment from our Savior. In Mark 15, Jesus was sentenced to death at His trial before Pilate, who was the governor. He was also mocked by the guards, beaten, crucified on a cross, and buried in a tomb. All this in chapter 15. THEN, in Mark 16, we are told of the glorious resurrection of Jesus! A few ladies went to the tomb and found it open with no Jesus inside, just an angel who told them the great news that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Then in 16:14, Jesus appears to the remaining 11 disciples while they were eating together (there aren’t 12 disciples because Judas killed himself after he betrayed Jesus).

Jesus pops in on this disciple reunion and reveals to them, and to us, the commandment that will change history. He tells them to go everywhere and to tell everyone His story. Tell people everywhere about God, about Jesus, and about His sacrifice once for all for the forgiveness of sins, everyone’s sins. Put yourself in the position of the disciples at this time.

They just saw their leader killed on a cross. They had given up their lives to follow Him, and now they are all but running scared, trying to figure out what to do next with their leader dead. They sit down to eat together, and there He is, Jesus, alive! HE IS RISEN! They are His disciples, His followers. He met with them and gave them this commandment, to go tell everyone everywhere about Him. Jesus is speaking to all of His disciples, all of His followers, all Christians. This means He is speaking to you and me.

He died for everyone so that believers will live for Him. Let nothing stop you from obeying this commandment given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go read Matthew 28:16-20, Matthew 22:36-40, Acts 1:7-9, and 2 Corinthians 5:15.

There are challenges, obstacles, tight spots, rough patches, hard times, and even sufferings that we will all experience at some point in our lives. Being a follower of Jesus in no way guarantees us that life will be easy. In fact, Jesus told us in John 15:20 that the people who persecuted Him will also persecute us, His followers.

Go look for yourself. Do a word search at Biblegateway.com for “suffer”, or “persecute”, “hate” or “trouble”. You’ll quickly find that the sinful nature of the world is opposed to God and His son Jesus, and His followers. If you are a Christian, then guess what, the world is opposed to you too.

HOWEVER, that’s no excuse to throw in the towel and quit. The Bible is also full of promises that God will be our strength, that He will be our defender, our fortress, and our rock! Those are powerful words. We are told that God will supply strength, love, patience, joy, and that He is our Hope. Now go search “strength”, “joy”, “love”, “refuge”, “fortress”, and “hope”.

Take a look at the encouragement we get in James 1:2-4. “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (MSG)

Remain in God when things get tough! The NIV says to consider it pure joy when we go through trials, because our faith get’s a spiritual workout and we will come out stronger.

Keep reading down in James 1:12. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

No matter what kind of choke hold this world has you in, stay strong, never tap out, never give up. Keep your trust in God and look to Him for wisdom, strength, and joy!  No matter how much your body SCREAMS for you to give up, or give into temptation, or find a different answer apart from God, never lose sight of Him who gave His life for you.

Psalm 9:9-10
9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know Your name trust in You
because You have not abandoned
those who seek You, LORD.

Psalm 61:1-4
1 God, hear my cry;
pay attention to my prayer.
2 I call to You from the ends of the earth
when my heart is without strength.
Lead me to a rock that is high above me,
3 for You have been a refuge for me,
a strong tower in the face of the enemy.
4 I will live in Your tent forever
and take refuge under the shelter of Your wings

Psalm 119:114
114 You are my shelter and my shield;
I put my hope in Your word.

Jeremiah 16:19-21
19 LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in a time of distress,
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, and they will say,
“Our fathers inherited only lies,
worthless idols of no benefit at all.”
20 Can one make gods for himself?
But they are not gods.
21 “Therefore, I am about to inform them,
and this time I will make them know
My power and My might;
then they will know that My name is Yahweh.”

These verses are great to return to when you feel lonely, hurt, or scared (which could be pretty often). It’s exciting to know that God promises to comfort you in times of trouble. It is thrilling to be able to trust in God who will be our unbreakable fortress when everything else is crashing down on us!

A typical action we take during tough times is to run to friends. This can be both good and bad (depending on the friends, ha). Fiends can provide comfort and direction, but they also have a history of sometimes making things worse or even abandoning us when we need them most.

BUT GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE US! He’s consistent, mightier, has more wisdom, more power, and He is able to provide us with hope and strength for our specific hurt.

Let these verses remind us to run to God and rest in Him. Seek Him as our refuge, as the place we go when nothing is going good. As a bunch of messed up sinners (just like the Israelites in the OT) we so often run to anything but God to fix our pain and problems. We try to be Mr. Fix-It, but we use tools like money, excuses, alcohol, food, shopping sprees, drugs, sex, and advice from the most ridiculous places. I encourage you, that if you ever find yourself in those situations where things are bad, worse, or terrible, RUN to God. Go against everything your sinful body craves to try to fix the problem, and jump up into the lap of your heavenly father!

Real quick, let’s return to the idea of friends. As Christians, as believers in the One True God, God Most High, and followers of Jesus our Savior, let us be used by God in the lives of our friends who are going through pain and problems. Let us not make things worse or turn our back and abandon our friends in their times of great need. Let God use us to help our friends up into His lap!

Related Text:
2 Samuel 22:3 & 31
Psalm 46, Psalm 59:16-17, Psalm 71, Psalm 9

Mark 12:29-31
29 “This is the most important,” Jesus answered:
Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, The Lord is One. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
31 “The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

John 13:34-35
34 “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 5:43-46
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

Colossians 3:14
Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity.

The secret to trying to change enemies, friends, parents, teachers, and even little brothers and sisters is to make attempts to love them just as Jesus showed examples of love in the Bible, and just as Jesus has loved you.

People can’t ignore it, they can’t stay the same when they are drenched with the type of love Jesus was giving away, showing to people He encountered. Love will change them.

Here’s the catch! We are sinners. (duh, I know right) It is very hard for us as humans to continue to show love to people who don’t accept it or who throw our attempts right back in our face. BUT we are not told to love people just once, like giving them just one shot. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are told by our Savior to love the “unlovable”. So don’t quit! Never give up. And when you get tired and weary, just think of all the Jesus has done for you starting with His sacrifice on the cross.

Related Text:
Galatians 5:22-23
1 Peter 4:7-8
1 John 4:17-21