Virtual Devotions

“But you,” He asked them again, “who do you say I am?”  Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah!” – Mark 8:29 (HSCB)

Dear Friends,

Last night I felt such a rush of emotion when my 12-year old daughter told me she had shared the Gospel with two little children who live across the street from her.  I was proud and happy and excited about it.

She told me the story so innocently and without any pretense.  She said that she asked them if they thought Jesus was the Messiah.  They didn’t know what Messiah meant, so she asked them if they had ever asked Jesus into their hearts.  She said she told them about sin and how Jesus died for the forgiveness of their sins and that is they just asked Jesus to come into their lives, He would.  She said that both children prayed for Jesus to come into their lives and the older child said she would continue to pray.

We all can take a lesson from my daughter.  She was bold to speak out for the Lord.  I believe she did it out of compassion for the two she feared were lost.  She started out by asking a question, not by professing theology, and her presentation of the Gospel was simple and pure, the way it was meant to be.  She didn’t let her limited knowledge of God stop her.  She spoke in faith.

I didn’t ask her what prompted her to raise the question in the first place, but I know that she knows that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the one and only way to heaven and I believe she genuinely was concerned for her little friends salvation.  And now, that she has planted that seed, by the work of the Holy Spirit these two little girls may be saved.

And now it turns to you.  Do you have the child-like faith that will allow you to reach out to someone who may not know Jesus?  Are you willing to risk an adverse response from a friend who may not be saved?  Can you do what my 12-year old daughter did and ask a simple question?  Do you think Jesus is the Messiah?

In Christ,

David

“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” – Ephesians 5:33

Dear Friends,

This weekend, we will be going to the wedding of two close friends.  As I have been reflecting on marriage this week, I can’t help but be concerned about some peoples’ attitude when it comes to marriage.  And I’m not just talking about the bride and groom.  I’m talking about everyone else too.

Very often, when discussing with a parent, family member or close friend the possibility of a son, daughter, sibling or friend getting married, I inevitably hear them say, “I’m not so concerned about who they marry so long as she or he makes him or her happy.”

Happy?  Happy!?  Is that what marriage is all about, one person making the other person happy?   I have to tell you that I don’t think so.  And further, I am concerned that this is the root of the high divorce rate today.

Now, I’m not saying that I don’t want couples to be happy.  That’s foolishness.  But to set the qualification of suitable marriage partners on the perception that the one person makes the other happy is a scheme doomed for failure.  Ask anyone who’s married.  Not every day is a happy day.  So, if someone enters a marriage with the expectation it will make them happy, when the rough times come that’s when they will decide to get out.

This reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the sower.  Someone marrying because they want to be happy is like the seed that falls on shallow soil.  At first it bursts to life, but when the troubles and toils come, it withers and dies because it has no root.

So before anyone gets married, they need to study the soil.  Is it good?  Is it clear of weeds that could choke out the life?  Is it hard not allowing the marriage to take root? Or is it good soil – rich, fertile and ready to make the marriage grow?

In Ephesians, Paul set his expectations for a married couple.  Does the man love the woman?  For that test, I go to 1 Corinthians 13.  Does the woman respect her man?  For the Biblical model of a noble wife, I always turn to Proverbs 31.

God intended marriage to last until death.  Lord willing, that will be a long time.  We need to help others and ourselves understand that marriage is not about someone making someone else happy.  As in all things, it’s about bringing glory to God by being a real-life testimony and reflection of Christ’s loving relationship to his bride, the Church, in good times and in bad.

In Christ,

David

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:27

Dear Friends,

Last weekend, my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting another church while away on our vacation to the beach.  I had met the pastor of this church about a month ago at a conference meeting on church growth and revitalization.  When I learned that his church was in Wilmington, NC, and knowing that my wife has family there, I promised him that we would visit his church on our next trip.

As we were returning from the trip today, my wife asked me what was most memorable about this week’s vacation.  I told her it was the visit to Gregory Congregational UCC.

Why may you ask?  It’s simple.  As a member of the body of Christ, I am disjointed if I am apart from it.  When we visited Gregory, the pastor and the members warmly welcomed us.  The congregation even sang “Happy Birthday” to my wife!  It was as if we were in our own church back in Charlotte.

And that’s the way it should be.  The body of Christ extends far beyond the walls of our individual congregations.  It extends beyond denominational doctrines and international borders.  The true Church, the Invisible Church as it is known, is the one body of Christ that is made up of all believers known by God.  It is the body we belong to through the one baptism by the one Spirit (1 Cor 12:13).

When the writer of Hebrews said that we should “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing”, I am certain he was not speaking of summer vacation.  But the principle is sound.  As believers, we are a part of a body, and that body does not function properly when we are apart from it.  We need to be connected even when we are away from home.

So before you leave for your next vacation, prepare to go to church while away.  Plan ahead so that you have proper clothing (men, this is especially important for you to tell your wife).  Then, stay connected to the body as a vital member.  Better yet, be a heart transplant.

In Christ,

David

“How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word.” – Psalm 119:9

Dear Friends,

How many of us have said, “If I only knew when I was young what I know now, my life would have been so much different”?   Some will say that this statement is a testament for a lifestyle of experimentation.  To become wiser, one must experience more.  After all, how can someone learn without experience?

The answer is simple.  We can learn from the experience of others.  To repeat the mistakes that others have made in the past is foolishness.  Instead, we should look to those who have gone before us in life and learn from them.  And the psalmist, presumably David, points us to the source of those life lessons.

God’s word provides us with a guide for living our lives not as a book of rules to be followed in fear, but as a collection of life experiences, precepts and laws that are intended to lead us to Christ and to help us lead a more holy life.  If we obey God’s word, we don’t have to learn by experiencing the trials and tribulations of life because someone else has already gone before us and shown us which paths are wrong and which are right.

This is why I am so concerned for the things that my children experience, what they watch on TV, what they read and with whom they play.  They don’t need to “experience life” in order to live a fulfilled life.  In fact, I argue that they will live a more fulfilling life if they live a life rooted in God’s word, instead of being rooted in the world.

And this does not only apply to our children, but to us as well.  Just because we are older doesn’t mean we stop learning.  So long as we have life in us, we have the opportunity to make good choices or poor.  Maybe we could have kept our lives pure if we had known the word from the beginning, but now that we have it, we should use it as our guide for the rest of our lives.

In Christ,

David