God with Us – Emmanuel
By Yulius Darmawan, Indonesia At every phase of our lives, we are bound to face challenges. God uses these experiences to shape our character and the process could be quite painful and unpleasant. Quite often, it is discouraging. Sometimes, it may even seem like God has abandoned us. King David is a man like us. [...]
ODB: Eye Level to a Bulldog
December 22, 2010
READ: Isaiah 42:1-7
I, the Lord, have called You . . . to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. —Isaiah 42:6-7
My son and his wife have a 120- pound American bulldog with a powerful body and fearsome face. Yet until we became friends, “Buddy” wasn’t sure he could trust me. As long as I was on my feet, he’d keep his distance and wouldn’t look me in the eye. Then one day I learned that if I’d get down on the ground, the mood of Buddy’s big-jowled face would change. Sensing I was no longer a threat, he’d playfully come running like a freight train, pounce on me with his big feet, and want me to scratch his muscular neck.
Maybe what Buddy needed from me is a glimmer of what our God gave us by coming down to our level and living among us in the person of Christ. From the day that our first parents sinned and hid from the presence of the Lord, our tendency has been to be afraid of coming to a high and holy God on His terms (John 3:20).
So, as Isaiah predicted, God showed how low He was willing to go to bring us to Himself. By adopting the form of a lowly servant, our Creator lived and died to disarm our wrongs. Even now He is coaxing us from the cover of our spiritual darkness (Isa. 42:7) to call us friends (John 15:15). How can we still be afraid to trust Him?
- Mart De Haan
The high and holy One became the meek and lowly One.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)
Loading ...ODJ: compassionate anger
He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts (v.5).
READ: Mark 3:1-6
Some things make me angry. Newspaper columnists who belittle life-long marriage; radio hosts who rile against refugees; the big glossy advertisements for brothels in my local newspaper; climate-change proponents who label their critics ”deniers” to silence them; climate-change critics who label their opponents “alarmists” for the same reason. Yes, some things make me angry.
Jesus became angry (John 2:13-17;11:33). One Sabbath He was preaching in a synagogue when a number of His critics were present. In a provocative move, Jesus called to a man with a crippled hand and had him stand in front of the group. “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath,” Jesus asked, eyeing His critics, “or is it a day for doing evil?” (Mark 3:4). Silence. “Is this a day” (we can imagine Him speaking louder now), “to save life or to destroy it?” Still silence.
God made the Sabbath as a time for rest and renewal (Exodus 20:8), but by Jesus’ day the religious leaders had made its strict observance a sign of one’s righteousness. No work was to be done on the Sabbath, including, in the Pharisees’ eyes, the healing of crippled men. And Jesus was angry about that—angry at the Pharisees’ hard hearts.
But, astonishingly, we find Jesus being “deeply saddened” by them too (Mark 3:5). His anger at evil wasn’t accompanied by hatred for its perpetrators, but by sadness, grief, compassion.
I ask myself, to what degree do I feel compassion for that columnist, radio host, or brothel owner? Do I feel sad about that angry driver or climate-change critic? I’m not sure how much of my anger is the least bit righteous, let alone combined with compassion.
To feel anger is human. To feel compassionate anger is divine. I want to be more like Jesus. —Sheridan Voysey
Think of someone who made you angry recently. How can you show compassion to that person? If Jesus is the embodiment of God, how might Mark 3:1-6 help us understand God’s wrath?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Giving this Christmas: What is the Real Meaning of Christmas?
Submitted by Mariah Manuel, 17, Sri Lanka Also listen to: Words To Live By—Daniel’s Story
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: Parallel Universes
December 21, 2010
READ: Luke 2:1-7
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men! —Luke 2:14
Every so often I catch myself wondering about the whole grand scheme of faith. I stand in an airport, for example, watching important-looking people in business suits, briefcases clutched to their sides, as they pause at an espresso bar before scurrying off to another concourse. Do any of them ever think about God? I wonder.
Christians share an odd belief in parallel universes. One universe consists of glass and steel and wool clothes and leather briefcases and the smell of freshly ground coffee. The other consists of angels and spiritual forces and somewhere-out-there places called heaven and hell. We palpably inhabit the material world; it takes faith to consider oneself a citizen of the other, invisible world.
Christmas turns the tables and hints at the struggle involved when the Lord of both worlds descends to live by the rules of the one. In Bethlehem, the two worlds came together, realigned. What Jesus went on to accomplish on planet Earth made it possible for God someday to resolve all disharmonies in both worlds. No wonder a choir of angels broke out in spontaneous song, disturbing not only a few shepherds but the entire universe (Luke 2:13-14).
- Philip Yancey
The key word of Christmas is “Immanuel”— God with us!
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: sellout
You have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight (v.20).
READ: 1 Kings 21:1-29
Anthony Marshall conned his mother out of millions before she died at age 105 in 2007. Her money, advancing age, and struggle with Alzheimer’s disease made her an attractive target. Marshall’s mother was Brooke Astor—famous New York City socialite and keeper of the vast Astor family fortune. Ironically, her senior-citizen son was already wildly wealthy, and yet he conspired with his lawyer to ratchet up his inheritance!
Marshall’s actions confirm what the Bible says: “Human desire is never satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20). But greed is not always about acquiring more money. It’s about wanting more of something than what we need.
King Ahab wanted more land (1 Kings 21:2). He suffered from a greedy fixation on a vineyard next to his palace. Problem was, the property-owner (Naboth) wasn’t selling. So Ahab went home and pouted until his wife appealed to his sense of entitlement, his status, and his ability to have anything he wanted (v.7). Acting like greed incarnate, Jezebel urged Ahab toward self-indulgence, rather than self-control.
Jezebel then hired two thugs to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king. As a result, the villagers stoned Naboth to death, and Ahab “immediately went down . . . to claim [the property]” (v.16). He never questioned Jezebel’s means for procuring the vineyard. Greed says it’s OK to trample people to get what we want.
Although we may not see it, God does. He does not want us to follow Ahab’s example and become sellouts to greed (v.20). To avoid this, the Bible advises us to “be satisfied with what [we] have” (Hebrews 13:5). Contented living guards us against self-indulgence and a willingness to hurt others to acquire our heart’s desire. It allows us to want only what we need, instead of needing what we want. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt
How do you respond when someone you know has what you want? How would you complete this sentence: You can never have enough __________. Why?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Seeing at Christmas
By Herbert Vander Lugt Wise men still seek Jesus. READ: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 God . . . commanded light to shine out of darkness. —2 Corinthians 4:6 During the Christmas season of 1879, an agnostic reporter in Boston saw three little girls standing in front of a store window full of toys. One of [...]
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...
ODB: Significant Surrender
December 20, 2010
READ: Luke 1:26-38
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. —1 Peter 5:6
Throughout history, Mary the mother of Jesus has been held in high esteem. And rightly so! She was singled out by God to deliver the long-awaited Messiah.
But before we get lost in the significance of her life, let’s take a look at what it meant for her to surrender to the assignment. Living in a small backwater Galilean village where everyone knew everyone else’s business, she would have to live with the perceived shame of her premarital pregnancy. Explaining to her mother the visits of the angel and the Holy Spirit probably didn’t calm things down. To say nothing of the devastating interruption that her pregnancy would bring to her plans to marry Joseph. And while we are thinking about Joseph, what would she tell him? Would he believe her?
In light of these personal ramifications, her response to the angel who told her the news about her role as Jesus’ mother is amazing: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV). Her words remind us that a life of significance is most often preceded by a heart eager to surrender to God’s will regardless of the cost.
What significant experience does God have in store for you? It starts with surrender to Him.
- Joe Stowell
Surrender to God precedes His significant work in your life.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Why Should Santa Get All the Attention?
By Tracy Phua, 23, Singapore As I walked into a mall one evening, I noticed a sign that signaled the arrival of a Christmas tradition loved by both kids and shopping malls alike. The signage announced that good ol’ jolly Santa Claus is coming to town and to this particular mall! It got me thinking [...]
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