ODJ: a transforming vision
November 17, 2009
READ: Hosea 4:1-3
Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land” (v.1).
Where there is no vision, the people perish,” states the well-known proverb (29:18 KJV). Or, as the New Living Translation puts it: “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.” In this most simple of statements lies a profound spiritual truth. When we lose sight of God’s revealed wisdom, we experience moral decay. Like the Israelites with their golden idol, we descend into “revelry” (Exodus 32:1-6). Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, we spiral into injustice (Jeremiah 7:5-10). The cry of the Old Testament prophets was always twofold: God’s people have lost their vision of Him, and as a result they are “running wild” to the point of destruction.
This was the situation in Hosea’s day. There was no knowledge of God left in the land of Israel (4:1), for the priests and the people had lost their vision of God and His truth (vv.6,9). The city was now filled with murder, theft, and prostitution (vv.2,13). The wealthy were oppressing the poor (Amos 8:4-6). Hosea sums up the situation this way: “Your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away” (4:3).
Again, when we lose our vision of God and His revealed truth, we experience moral decay. I see this principle at work in my own life. When I lose sight of God through selfishness, busyness, or forgetfulness, I begin to lose control of temptation, worry, and sin. My love for my neighbor diminishes and my concern for the poor declines. The reason is clear: God is our model and His nature is our guide. His holiness fuels our holiness; His love motivates our love; His faithfulness inspires our faithfulness. We become what we worship.
Today, let’s ponder Jesus, who gave us the ultimate vision of God (Heb. 1:3). He longs to make us “into His glorious image” (2 Cor. 3:18). —Sheridan Voysey
Do any of the temptations you’re facing or sins you’re wrestling with reflect a deficiency in your understanding of God? How should you imitate God today?
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Loading ...ODB: two mites
November 17, 2009
READ: Mark 12:41-44
She out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. —Mark 12:44
Jesus sat in the temple near the treasury and watched as people walked by and deposited their gifts for the temple (Mark 12). Some made a show of it, perhaps so others could see how much they had given. Just then a poor woman came by and threw in two “mites.”
A mite was the least valuable coin in circulation. Thus the widow’s gift was very small, amounting to nothing in most folk’s eyes. But our Lord saw what others did not see. She had given “all that she had” (Mark 12:44). The widow wasn’t trying to draw attention to herself. She was simply doing what she was able to do. And Jesus noticed!
We mustn’t forget that our Lord sees all that we do, though it may seem very small. It may be nothing more than showing a cheerful countenance in difficult times or an unnoticed act of love and kindness to someone who happens to pass by. It may be a brief, silent prayer for a neighbor in need.
Jesus said, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. . . . But when you do a charitable deed, . . . may [it] be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (Matt. 6:1-4). — David H. Roper
God looks at the heart, not the hand; the giver, not the gift.
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