ODJ: on whose terms?
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and He answered me” (vv.1-2). READ: Jonah 2:1-10 Let’s consider a couple of hit songs from country singer Carrie Underwood. In “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” she sings about a young mother [...]
ODB: nowhere tickets
November 30, 2009
READ: John 14:1-6
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. —Acts 4:12
We kept getting tickets to nowhere. We had finished a missions trip to Jamaica and were trying to get home. However, our airline was having problems, and no matter what our tickets said, we couldn’t leave Montego Bay. Over and over we heard, “Your flight has been canceled.” Even though we had purchased our tickets in good faith, the airline could not back up its promise to transport us to the US. We had to stay an extra day before boarding a plane that could take us home.
Imagine thinking that you are headed for heaven, but discovering that your ticket is no good. It can happen. If you trust the wrong plan, you will get to the gate of eternity but be denied entrance into heaven to live with God forever.
The apostle Peter said there is salvation in no one else but Jesus (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The only ticket to heaven goes to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as payment for their sin.
Some offer other ways. But those tickets are worthless. To make sure you’re going to heaven, trust Jesus. He’s the only way. — Dave Branon
Jesus took my place on the cross and gave me a place in heaven.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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Loading ...The Virtual Mission Field
By Chaz Oswald, Michigan The Internet has been woven into the fabric of daily life. The modern man conducts a host of activities online—from information seeking to information sharing; from Internet gaming to online shopping; from making new friends to sharing of videos, photographs, and thoughts. The World Wide Web could be accessed virtually anywhere [...]
(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: made in God’s image
God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them (v.27).
READ: Genesis 1:24-28
My wife, Merryn, and I once visited a large market in Sydney. On that day a man was cutting out small silhouettes of people’s faces from black cardstock. He would complete one in two minutes for two dollars. We gave him the money and his shiny scissors went to work, his eyes darting between us and his handiwork. Within two minutes he handed us our silhouette.
Seeing our profiles was a strange experience. Mr. Scissorhands had certainly captured our characteristics, but some features weren’t quite right. My chin was a little pointy and my nose a bit too round—and so was Merryn’s. Our eyes lifted off the card and to our scissor-clutching friend’s face. Sure enough, that’s where we found in the flesh those false features. With pointy chin and rounded nose, the grinning artist had “snipped” us in his own image!
“Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us,” the famous record of origins states (Genesis 1:26). We are the portraits, God is the original. Reason, emotions, creativity, speech, plus the responsibility to “reign over the fish . . . the birds . . . the livestock” (v.26) all originate from our being made in God’s likeness. This immense honor (Psalm 8:3-8) makes all humans worthy of dignity and respect. Even after the fall, when sin marred our image, it wasn’t completely lost (Genesis 9:6). This explains why murder is out of the question, and why even cursing another person is wrong (James 3:9-10).
Divine features are reflected in everyone you see. The image may be scarred through neglect, distorted by greed, and smeared by selfishness, but it is there. And one day, for those willing, it will be fully restored—transformed into the image of Jesus, the true and complete image of God (Colossians 1:15).
—Sheridan Voysey
How might seeing others as God’s image-bearers help you to treat them with respect? How might the truth of our destiny (conformed to the image of Jesus) help you reach out to those around you?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: the galatia church
November 29, 2009
READ: Galatians 3:1-12
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? —Galatians 3:3
I was driving through the countryside when I spotted a church building whose name surprised me. It said, “The Galatia Church.” The name caught my attention because I was certain no one would choose to name a church this unless it was a geographic necessity.
A study of the biblical book of Galatians reveals that it is Paul’s most fiery letter—criticizing the people for legalism, self-effort, and the exchange of grace for a different gospel. Galatia was not exactly the kind of church that you would see as an example to be followed.
This is true because the Galatians were trying to please God through their own efforts rather than by reliance on Him. Paul’s charge against them was this: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (3:3).
Just as we cannot earn a relationship with God by our works, neither can we develop spiritually through our own strength. Paul’s reminder to the Galatians (and us) is this: Dependence on God through the work of the Spirit in our lives is at the core of our walk with Christ.
If we think we can become like Jesus by our own efforts, we are, like the Galatians, fooling ourselves. — Bill Crowder
The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s power supply.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODJ: seasons
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven (v.1).
READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Great Migration is considered one of the grandest spectacles in the natural world. More than two million mammals participate in this annual parade. The seasonal conditions of the Serengeti, a vast East Africa ecosystem that spreads from Tanzania’s plains to Kenya’s Masai Mara, establishes the timing of the event.
Leading the procession are the zebras, usually about 200,000 in number. The striped beauties are followed by the main attraction, about one-and-a half million wildebeests. And bringing up the rear are nearly 500,000 Thomson’s gazelles.
The Great Migration is a brilliant display of God’s creativity and His execution of perfectly timed seasons in the lives of all things, including four-legged herbivores.
Seasons were created by God in the beginning, when He said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth” (Genesis 1:14-15).
The psalmist acknowledged that it was God who “made the moon to mark the seasons” and ordained when the sun would set (Psalm 104:19). And Daniel chimed in with: “[God] controls the course of world events” (2:21).
Regarding the precision of the seasons on earth, God Himself asks us: “Can you direct the movement of the stars—binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?” (Job 38:31-33).
Today, reflect on the seasons of life you’ve journeyed through thus far and thank God for His perfect timing. —Roxanne Robbins
What season of life has God brought you through? How have you experienced the perfection of His will?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: delivering the dirt
November 28, 2009
READ: Proverbs 26:20-28
Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. —Proverbs 26:20
Christian industrialist and inventor R. G. LeTourneau is known for his enormous earth-moving machines. One of his products was known simply by the name, “Model G.” A prospective buyer, hoping to stump a salesman, asked, “What does the ‘G’ stand for?”
“I guess the G stands for gossip,” was the salesman’s quick reply. “Because, like gossip, this machine moves a lot of dirt, and moves it fast!”
The Proverbs have a lot to say about gossip: Those who gossip are untrustworthy (11:13) and should be avoided (20:19). Gossip separates the closest of friends (16:28) and keeps relational strife boiling (18:8). It pours fuel on the coals of conflict, feeding the flames of hurt and misunderstanding (26:21-22).
The Hebrew word for “gossip” or “talebearing” actually means “whispering that is damaging.” We fool ourselves into thinking that those juicy, whispered comments here and there are harmless. But gossip leaves behind a wide swath of destruction and is never a victimless crime. Someone is always hurt. So here’s a word to the wise: “Where there is no talebearer, strife ceases” (Prov. 26:20). Let’s leave the dirt-moving to big machines. Put the shovels away and revel in the joy of gossip-free relationships! — Joe Stowell
Destroy gossip by ignoring it.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODJ: startled
From His appearance, one would scarcely know He was a man (v.14).
READ: Isaiah 52:13-15
No matter which country you visit, when places of power come into view, you generally find what you would expect: foreboding architecture, opulent surroundings, symbols of strength and prowess. Whether it’s the Kremlin, the Pentagon, or Red Square, governments exert massive expense and energy to send the visible message that they are powerful and ought to be feared. It’s the same for those who hold positions of power. Rarely do we see a leader on the world’s stage appearing disheveled or out of control. Image is power says common wisdom.
Into this reality (which was no less true in AD 30 than in AD 2009), entered Jesus: the carpenter, the man from the backwater town of Nazareth, the one who would come to be known as the suffering Servant (Isaiah 52). There was absolutely nothing about Jesus’ family connections, educational pedigree, or life station that commanded respect or projected the image of worldly power.
No wonder, then, that the prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus would “startle many nations” (v.15). The nations of the world (and their leaders) would be flabbergasted at the prospect of such an unassuming, unbecoming man holding any claim to be the King of kings. It makes sense that the mighty and the powerful would “stand speechless in His presence” (v.15).
I’ve come to believe that God’s movement in His world will most always startle us. We see so little. We understand so little. Truthfully, we hope for so little. We are so little. We need a God larger than ourselves, far larger than what we could imagine. A God who will come and redeem us in ways we could never have dreamed.
But herein lies our true hope. When God comes to us in His way, we “understand what [we] had not [even] heard about” (v.15). —Winn Collier
How has God startled you? Where is God overturning what you expect (or even demand)?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: loved well
November 27, 2009
READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
That you . . . may be able to comprehend . . . what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ. —Ephesians 3:17-19
We were gathered with family for Thanksgiving dinner when someone asked if each person would share what he or she was thankful for. One by one we talked. Three-year-old Joshua was thankful for “music,” and Nathan, aged 4, for “horses.” We were all silenced, though, when Stephen (who was soon to turn 5) answered, “I’m thankful that Jesus loves me so well.” In his simple faith, he understood and was grateful for the love of Jesus for him personally. He told us that Jesus showed His love by dying on a cross.
The apostle Paul wanted the believers in the church at Ephesus to understand how well God loved them, and that was his prayer: “That [they would] be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ” (Eph. 3:17-19). He prayed that they would be rooted and grounded in that love.
To ground ourselves in God’s love, it would be helpful to review these verses frequently or even memorize them. We can also take a few minutes each day to thank the Lord for the specific ways He shows His love to us. This will help us to grow in our belief and be thankful—as Stephen is—that Jesus loves us “so well.” — Anne Cetas
To renew your love for Christ, review Christ’s love for you.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: provision
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshiped the Lord, the Eternal God (21:33).
READ: Genesis 21:22-33, 23:1-18
Four years ago, Egypt was at the top of our list of dream vacations. Scheduling conflicts, however, left Egypt on our wish list as we chose another destination. We still hope to visit Egypt one day. I especially would like to see the Valley of the Kings, a series of tombs tunneled in the rugged and harsh mountainside. Having held their secrets for more than 3,000 years, the tombs’ discovery in 1881 revealed a wealth of knowledge about Egypt’s earlier dynasties.
While in captivity in Egypt, ancient Israel kept hope alive partly because of a tomb in Canaan (Genesis 50:24-25). Scripture tells us of two covenant transactions Abraham made while living in the land. Securing water for his livestock, Abraham dug a well and gave Abimelech seven lambs “to show [his] agreement” that the well belonged to Abraham (21:30). The second occurred when Abraham bought land for a burial plot after his wife Sarah’s death. In the agreement, a plot of land at Machpelah became Abraham’s possession (23:17-18).
A stranger in the land, Abraham was able to water his flocks and bury his dead as God had promised. Having been told of the captivity of later generations (Genesis 15:13), Abraham possessed by faith what would eventually belong in reality to his descendants. Centuries later, Joshua would lead Israel back to the Promised Land according to what God had spoken: “Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you” (Joshua 1:3).
Beginning with a well and a tomb in Canaan, the promises of God have become manifest in Christ. No visible well is required because the life He provides causes us to “never be thirsty again” (John 4:14-15), and a tomb becomes a promise because “anyone who believes in [Him] will live, even after dying” (John 11:25). —Regina Franklin
How does the life of Christ in you make your life a spiritual “promised land”? What are the specific promises you are waiting for God to fulfill? What are the manmade “wells” or “tombs” that keep you from seeing God’s promises?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
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