today’s conversation
The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old. – Proverbs 20:29 NLT How do you think youth should best utilized their strength?
ODJ: the new normal
Let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. . . . It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you (vv.1-2).
READ: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Life. You grow up, go to school, get a job and get married, have 2.4 kids, buy a house, save for retirement, and enjoy an occasional vacation and dinner out. Along the way you learn the rules. It takes money to get what you want, and that requires skill, preparation, and befriending the right people. If you play it smart—with timely moves—you can forge a career replete with promotions and a retirement right on schedule. And then you die, leaving a surprisingly sizable inheritance to your heirs. That’s life—the same for you as for everybody—as far as the eye can see.
But what if we aren’t limited to our sight, but can hear a Word from God that teaches us a different way to live? Paul said that “faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good news about Christ” (Romans 10:17). This Good News is that “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The good news is the great game changer. Jesus entered our world, died on the cross, and rose again to defeat sin, death, and Satan. After His resurrection, He was seen in a variety of places by hundreds of witnesses (vv.5-8). Due to Jesus’ world-changing words and existence, life as we know it has turned upside down. The rules have changed.
Here’s our new life: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39); “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35); “Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3); and when we return—and Christ’s resurrection means that we will return—“those who are humble . . . will inherit the whole earth” (Matthew 5:5). —Mike Wittmer
Which story are you living out: the good news or “what you see is what you get”? How might living the good news change your attitude, decisions, or actions today?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...ODB: the power of praise
April 5, 2010
READ: Isaiah 61:1-3
The Lord has anointed Me . . . to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. —Isaiah 61:1,3
Praise is powerful! When Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne was troubled with a coldness of heart toward the things of the Lord, he would sing the praises of God until he felt revived in his spirit. Those in his household were often able to tell what hour he awoke because he began the day with a psalm of praise.
One day, while he was trying to prepare his heart for preaching, he wrote in his journal: “Is it the desire of my heart to be made altogether holy? . . . Lord, You know all things . . . . I’ve felt so much deadness and grief that I cannot grieve for this deadness. Toward evening I revived. Got a calm spirit through [singing psalms] and prayer.” McCheyne had been uplifted by praising God.
Perhaps you feel as if you are mired in what John Bunyan called the “slough of despond.” Lift a song of praise to the Lord. The psalmist said, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever” (89:1). When we do that, the praise will flow not only from our lips but also from our heart. The Lord delights to give “the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:3).
Yes, “it is good to sing praises to our God”—at all times (Ps. 147:1). — Paul Van Gorder
If you find yourself wearing a spirit of heaviness, try on a garment of praise.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
