ODB: Rearview Mirror Reflections
December 31, 2010
READ: Psalm 111
For You, Lord, have made me glad . . . ; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. —Psalm 92:4
I’ve always thought that you can see the hand of God best in the rearview mirror. Looking back, it’s easier to understand why He placed us in the home that He did; why He brought certain people and circumstances into and out of our lives; why He permitted difficulties and pain; why He took us to different places and put us in various jobs and careers.
In my own life, I get a lot of clarity (though not perfect clarity—that’s heaven’s joy!) about the wise and loving ways of God as I reflect on the ways He has managed my journey by “the works of [His] hands” (Ps. 92:4). With the psalmist, it makes me glad and strikes a note of joy in my heart to see how often God has assisted, directed, and managed the outcomes so faithfully (Ps. 111).
Looking ahead, though, is not always so clear. Have you ever had that lost feeling when the road ahead seems twisted, foggy, and scary? Before you move into next year, stop and look in the rearview mirror of the year gone by, and joyfully realize that God meant it when He said, “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear’ ” (Heb. 13:5-6).
With the promise of God’s presence and help in mind, you can move ahead into 2011 with utmost confidence.
- Joe Stowell
God’s guidance in the past gives courage for the future.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...ODJ: the right thing
It is the right thing for you to do (v.8).
READ: Philemon
Gjyste Vjerdha was busy working her nightly, graveyard-shift cleaning job at a restaurant with her 22-year-old son, Gentjan. As she tidied up a restroom, Gjyste found some women’s rings worth thousands of dollars. The thought of keeping the treasures might have crossed her mind, but she chose to do the right thing and take the jewelry to her manager. Later that day, the rings were returned to a woman who had accidentally left them in the restroom. Gentjan said, “You get so many things by hard work; you don’t need to steal or take from someone else.”
The apostle Paul once made an appeal to his friend Philemon who had likely experienced some theft by a man named Onesimus (Philemon 1:18). During a stay in prison, Onesimus had become a believer in Jesus through Paul’s ministry (v.10).
Paul wanted Philemon to welcome back this young man who had once been Philemon’s slave—a pilfering one at that! The apostle wrote that to warmly receive the changed man would be “the right thing for you to do” (v.8). It was right, for Philemon’s forgiveness would reflect what Jesus Himself had taught and modeled.
As believers in Christ, when we do the right thing, the word gets around and others can see the beauty of real faith (v.5). When we’re forgiving, generous (v.6), loving, and kind (v.10), our actions reveal a right way of living for Jesus’ sake (v.20).
Today you might come across something that doesn’t belong to you. You might be confronted with the opportunity to forgive someone who has offended you. Each moment of your life presents a simple question: Will you do the right thing?
Doing what’s right is a reflection of real faith in Jesus. Choose, for His sake, to do what you know is right today. —Tom Felten
What issue are you wrestling with that’s calling for you to do the right thing for Jesus’ sake? Why is it essential that we strive to do what is right in this life?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
1 Cor 1:30 says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: Life is Like Riding a Bicycle
December 30, 2010
READ: Hebrews 11:32-40
All these . . . obtained a good testimony through faith. —Hebrews 11:39
In a letter to his son Eduard, Albert Einstein gave this advice: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” The great physicist’s advice is wise and practical.
This wise counsel can apply to the Christian life. Many believers by faith keep moving ahead through painful and trying circumstances. But when they experience a personal moral failure, they lose their balance and fall. Their regret and feeling of unworthiness of God’s forgiveness may then keep them down and they no longer move ahead in their spiritual life.
The Bible gives us many examples of those who have experienced serious personal failure. Abraham lied to Pharaoh about his wife, Sarah (Gen. 12:11-17). Jacob deceived his father to acquire Esau’s blessing (Gen. 27:18-29). Moses disobeyed God by striking the rock instead of speaking to it (Num. 20:7-12). Despite their failures, we are told: “all these . . . obtained a good testimony through faith” (Heb. 11:39).
These biblical characters are lifted up as examples because after they fell, they turned back to God and began to follow Him again. Have you lost your spiritual balance through a sinful choice, which is keeping you down? Repent and follow the God of second chances once again.
- Dennis Fisher
Our God is a God of second chances.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: upside down
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength (v.25).
READ: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
My friend’s sister is due to give birth, and no one is happy about it. Her baby has Trisomy 18, a fatal disease that will likely claim the infant just minutes after she is born. It seems fiendishly upside down that the baby is alive as long as she remains within her mother, but the moment she is born she will begin to die. Cutting the umbilical cord is not her liberating path to life, but a death sentence. What should be a day of joy will commence a season of mourning.
This situation would be entirely hopeless if not for Jesus. He has reversed this tragically twisted scenario with an equally ironic moment that leads in the opposite direction. Just as this baby’s birth is really a death, so Jesus’ death conceals the power of life.
God may have never appeared weaker than when Jesus hung on the cross, naked and broken and bearing the guilt of the world. But this moment of weakness was actually God’s greatest triumph, for Jesus took death with Him into the depths, and when He arose He left death in the dust. Death died in the death of Christ.
Martin Luther observed that it takes faith to believe this “theology of the cross.” Most people take a commonsense view of the world, believing that what they see is what they get. But we who interpret life through the lens of the cross learn to raise a fist of defiance at death.
It may seem that death has won, for it has taken our loved ones from us. But Jesus’ death and resurrection assure us that death does not have the last word, for the grave where we say goodbye is resurrection ground.
(My friend’s niece was born—and died—days after I wrote this devo. Her parents named her Hope.) —Mike Wittmer
Why was Hope the perfect name for this baby girl? Can you think of other counterintuitive truths of the Christian faith, where reality is not as it appears?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
How Do I Know What God’s Will Is For My Life?
By Rev Paul Baxendale As youth, we often wonder about our future and the path to take. We pray that God will reveal His plans to us concerning our education, vocation, relationships, and so on. And after taking that step of faith, we still find ourselves laden with a lot of questions. We wonder if [...]
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...How Do I Know What God’s Will Is For My Life?
By Rev Paul Baxendale As youth, we often wonder about our future and the path to take. We pray that God will reveal His plans to us concerning our education, vocation, relationships, and so on. And after taking that step of faith, we still find ourselves laden with a lot of questions. We wonder if [...]
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: Common Standards
December 29, 2010
READ: Deuteronomy 4:1-10
What great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments? —Deuteronomy 4:8
In the frenzied early days of the Internet, Web developers were making up their own rules. The result was confusion. Among the problems was that what looked good on one computer was unreadable on another. This caused developers to refer to the Internet as the wild, wild Web, an allusion to the days of the wild, wild West in the US when law and order were pretty much nonexistent. To bring order out of chaos, Web developers started calling for others to agree on common standards.
Their plea reminds us of why it was important for the Israelites to have laws to live by when they left Egypt (Deut. 4:1). Without them, there would be anarchy. With them, however, they would have a system that was so superior that it would demonstrate to other nations the greatness of their God (v.8).
Today, to bring order out of the chaos of our sinful, selfish world, believers submit to the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), who Himself is the fulfillment of the law (Matt. 5:17). When we submit to the standard established by Christ and love others as God loves us, we will live in peace with one another and thus provide a witness to the world of how great God is.
- Julie Ackerman Link
The world will know by our love for God and others that He is great.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
