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12/7/21: Love Always Perseveres - 'Love Always...' Series

Hello everyone! I hope you've been staying warm in this chilly winter weather.

Please open with a word of prayer.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV) - "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

We're finally at the end of the four-part 'Love Always' series. As expected, we're going to go over what 'love always perseveres' means, but we're also going to explore how each of these are interconnected and culminate to what 'love' really looks like.

The original word in Greek for 'perseveres' is hypomenō (ὑπομένω), which suggests the idea of 'remaining' and 'enduring'. Love does not fall short, it is not fleeting or temporary, nor does it have any limits. This love remains until the end, and as God Himself is the Beginning and End (Revelations 22:13), His love is everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3). This sort of enduring love has been evident since the Old Testament — the entirety of Psalm 136 repeats the refrain, 'His love endures forever'. In this case, the Hebrew word for 'love' is chesed (חסד), which is often more directly translated to 'lovingkindness'. This chesed reflects the covenant faithfulness and love that God has continually shown His people throughout the entire Old Testament, starting with Him making the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12.

In the New Testament, Jesus set a beautiful example of this enduring love throughout His entire life, but especially on the day that He died. He loved his disciples by washing their feet, sharing a meal with them, and praying over them up to the final hours before His arrest (John 13:2-17). He continued to love them and took on their burden of sin even after they abandoned and denied Him (Mark 14:50, Luke 22:54-62). His love and forgiveness for all mankind endured when He was on the cross (Luke 23:34, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 12:2), and His love for us remained until the very end (John 13:1).

If you haven't noticed already, all of these verbs (protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres) are very similar in the way that they emphasize a love that lasts. It stands firm and shields against any trial, eagerly embraces those who are close and far, trusts one another and God in joyous anticipation, and endures through all storms of life. To sum it all up, Paul strategically places the word 'always' (which in Greek is panta, πάντα, which also translates to 'all things') before each verb. This repeated emphasis on the word panta shows how this beautiful agape love, founded in Jesus and now displayed through His Church by the power of the Spirit, is not bound by time. God's agape love is inexhaustible, unlimited, and can never be shaken.

Romans 8:35-39: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

'For your sake we face death all day long;    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But we aren't just to receive God's love and do nothing with it. The whole point of Paul writing these words in this letter is to point out how the Corinthians were not showing this love to one another. Paul starts off chapter 13 by pointing to how the greatest spiritual gift we possess through the Spirit is the gift of this agape love; any other gift we may be blessed with, whether it be prophecy, teaching, or material possessions (discussed in chapter 12), serve no use or purpose if there is no love (verses 1-4). Paul is reminding us that, in all we do, we are to love one another with the same agape love that Christ has shown us.

This past Sunday, our speaker FeiLung spoke on how we can holistically love one another, drawing from the example set by the church in Antioch in Acts 11:19-30. Holistical love is not simply a ministry defined by the words preached or specific actions done (although that is not to draw away from the effectiveness of the organization of church ministry groups), but rather, holistical love is fulfilled through a lifestyle. The early believers lived in constant fellowship with one another, caring for each other's physical and spiritual needs, and encouraged one another even in the midst of persecution (Acts 2:42-47, 11:22-24). They cared for the entire wellbeing of others (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually), and shared all areas of their lives as one body. They loved fearlessly and boldly, holding no reservations or limitations, just as Jesus has done for us.

When was the last time we have loved one another in this way? If I had to be honest, I recently haven't  been loving the people around me in the ways that I should. I'm quick to get frustrated and impatient, I haven't treated those around me in a very gentle manner (especially to my family members), and because I get so caught up in what I need to do, I fail to recognize the greater needs of the people around me that God is calling me to take care of first. Last week, I was so caught up in finishing an assignment that I nearly forgot to bring medicine for a friend who wasn't feeling well, and I neglected to pray for and with her as she is struggling mentally and emotionally. I'm still learning how to see loving those around me not as a chore that I can check off my to-do list, but rather as an expression of my enduring, sacrificial love for them. And I'm still learning to love not just through individual actions, but for love to be the very purpose and reason I live.

As you pray to close, rest in God's amazing, powerful, and unconditional love for you, and reflect on how you can live out this protective, trusting, hopeful, and persevering love as an active lifestyle this week.

Love for all of you,

Joyce

How Great is Your Love - Phil Wickham

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12/1/21: Love Always Hopes - ‘Love Always...’ Series

Hello everyone! I hope you had a restful Thanksgiving holiday and a good start to the week. This week I'll be wrapping up my four-part 'Love Always' series. Before you begin, please take some time to step away from the screen, to rest in God's presence, and to pray.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV) - “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Previously, I've covered the meanings behind the words 'protects' and 'trusts'. Today, I'll be taking a deeper dive into what 'love always hopes' means.

Just about every other common modern English translation of this verse that I could find uses the English word 'hope'. But Biblical hope isn't simply waiting for something to happen, such as 'hoping' you got a good grade on that exam. The original Greek word is elpizo, which directly means 'to hope or wait for salvation with joy and full confidence' (based on the Blue Letter Bible definition). Paul uses elpizo again in chapter 15, which describes Christ and His resurrection as the very Cornerstone on which we build our faith upon (1 Cor 15:12-20). There's a sense of anticipation and expectancy for deliverance to come. We see how love has expressed and can express hope in three different ways:

First of all, we see throughout Israel's (and our) history that God hoped in His people. The number of times Israel failed God throughout the Old Testament is countless — yet God never stopped loving them, and always hoped for their return to Him. As a holy, just, and pure God, He doled out punishment where it was due (for example, when He exiled them - Jeremiah 7), but that was never the final word. Out of His grace and lovingkindness, God always sought after His own people and faithfully provided deliverance when they would call upon Him (Psalm 91), and to this day He continues to patiently wait for all to come to Him in repentance and in faith that Christ is their Savior and Lord (2 Peter 3:9).

We also see how God's people have placed their hope in Him as their faithful, good, and loving Savior. Their hope in God not only provided a 'positive', brighter outlook for their future, because that's not all there is to Biblical hope — they were also able to rejoice and praise Him, even in the midst of their circumstances. The psalmist of Psalm 42:5 expresses his undying and joyful hope in God as his faithful Savior:

Perhaps most importantly to our faith, we can trust that Christ has given us and also is our living hope. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "...In his great mercy, [God the Father] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." Jesus' death and resurrection has provided the means for our salvation, not on our own works, but purely on this sacrificial act of Jesus' love and grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). We can live in eager expectation of our salvation 'with joy and full confidence' through our living, resurrected Savior (1 Tim 1:1).

As followers of Christ living in our present age, we can express hope in our love for one another as God's people. We draw from Christ as our source of hope (Romans 13:15), and we can love our brother and sister by eagerly and confidently hoping in their growing faith and spiritual maturity. But having hope in one another doesn't simply mean that we hope God works in their hearts and leave it at that (although, we should be reminded that it is God's Spirit who changes and transforms, not our own efforts) — rather, it demands our active partaking in walking alongside our fellow believer. We may (and should) hold one another accountable to sin, which may very well include direct confrontation and rebuke (Matthew 8:15-17, Galatians 6:1-2), but we are called to not give up on one another, for love (and therefore hope) covers a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20). We are not to condemn them, and not to let anything of this world separate our love for one another, just as there is now no condemnation for us in Jesus, and now we can never be separated from Christ's love for us (Romans 8:1, 37-39). Rather, we are to build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), to teach one another in line with what Scripture says (Colossians 3:16), and to consistently be in fellowship with one another in prayer, worship, and care (Acts 2:42-47), all while "[submitting] to one another out of reverence for Christ" out of our love for each other as a unified body under Him (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 1:22).

Now, I'm not very fond of the word "potential". I secretly despised it when people would say I had "potential", because it felt more as if people perceived me based on what they expected me to be, not who I truly was. And when I didn't live up to their expectations, both in the present and in the foreseeable future, I thought I would be considered a failure. Perhaps it was based heavily on my own perceptions and insecurities, and perhaps it is true to an extent. But this semester, my discipler at Cru exemplified what it truly looks like to "hope" in one another, without setting an unreachable standard or expectation of 'who I was supposed to be'. She encourages and builds me up, teaches me the Word of God, and has formed a loving friendship built on prayer and trust, all while expressing her hope in my spiritual growth and maturity as not only a student leader for Cru, but also as a fellow sister in Christ. She actively walks alongside me as I continue on my spiritual walk, despite my shortcomings and failures. She continues to eagerly and joyously hope that my salvation in Christ is revealed through my testimony and life as a follower of Christ.

What does hoping in Jesus as our living hope look like in your life right now? How has a fellow brother/sister expressed their love by hoping in you, and how can you hope in your fellow brother/sister as an expression of your love for them?

Take some time to pray through these questions before ending.

Joyce

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11/19/21: Psalm 107: Merchants on Mighty Waters (Part 3)

Hello!

We're at the final part in this series of Psalm 107. Previously, we looked into the testimonies of those who were wanderers in the desert, prisoners in darkness, and fools suffering affliction. I'd encourage you to read part 1 and 2 if you missed them!

Part 1: https://cpdevos.tumblr.com/post/662947956374323200/092121-psalm-107-wanderers-in-the-desert-part

Part 2: https://cpdevos.tumblr.com/post/665659569679253504/102021-psalm-107-prisoners-in-darkness-fools Pray to begin.

MERCHANTS ON MIGHTY WATERS

23 Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.24 They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep.25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away.27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end.28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.30 They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.

Let's take a moment to think about who God is. He's powerful. He spoke the world into existence. He breathed breath and life into our lungs. There is no one greater than our God. There's no one that can understand the intricacies of God's nature and design; no one that can perfectly govern and sustain the world like our God... if you read the rest of this chapter, we see more of how God's sovereignty is displayed.

We can't physically see God, but we can surely see His works all around us. What's something that God's done in your life that just amazes you? For me, it's how God made me a new person when I decided to follow Him (not overnight, but I wish). He gave me my best friends who love and accept me as I am. He brought my parents and relatives to Christ. And I'm amazed that God keeps drawing me in to know and love Him deeper. He reveals His kindness to me, His faithfulness, His gentle voice.

But God's sovereign control over our lives doesn't always go in ways that we expect. Things like losing a close family member, being redistricted to a different school, or getting injured, we see how little control we have over our lives. God has total sovereign control. Is this something you fear? The merchants feared. They were overwhelmed, restless, and lacked peace. They were out of options and at their wits' end, when they realized they had no control to save themselves. Only after coming to complete exhaustion did they cry out to God in their trouble.

It's ok to fear. Although we often place our fears in the wrong areas. We fear our circumstances, when we should really be fearing and revering God, who has absolute control. His good and perfect will is something we can trust, even when our situations overwhelm us.

When life overwhelms us, and we feel like we're in a never-ending storm, the God of peace might just be trying to tell us to find rest in Him. If even the winds and waves obey his command to "be still", so can we. God's voice becomes more clear in the stillness. Ask for the wisdom to evaluate whether the things that overwhelm you serve a purpose in glorifying God. If they do, then you know you can let go of those fears. If they don't, then you know what you should really be letting go of.

Learn to give every area of your life to God's sovereign control.

Pray to close.

We've seen in this series how God can direct the lost, free those bound to sin, heal wounded souls, and calm the restless. Whatever your testimony of how God is present in your life, rejoice! We would be lost otherwise! Let us give thanks and exalt Him. His goodness to us will naturally bring us to act on it, by sharing and spreading His love to others. We live to share our testimony. If you want to share any thoughts or questions from this series, please reach out to me!

Kristen

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11/8/21: Desiring God’s Word

Hi everyone! Please pray to begin. Today’s passage comes from James 1:19-25.

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

How do we respond to Scripture? 1 John 2:5 says that “Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” Someone who isn’t interested in the Word of God isn’t interested in listening to God. Do we love opening up our Bibles every day to do devos? Do we desire God’s Word and take every opportunity to hear, read, and apply it? Today, Pastor Kenneth talked about the fact that sometimes, we spend so much more energy watching a football game, or hanging out with friends, than coming to church and worshipping. But when we do truly listen to God, we will be changed from the inside out and want to be more like Him, getting rid of the “moral filth” and “humbly accepting the word planted in you.”

Desiring God’s Word doesn’t only come in the form of listening. James continues this passage with an analogy. To understand what James is explaining, there’s some context behind the mirrors of James’ time. The mirrors we have today are clear and show a perfect reflection of the person who is staring into it. But, in James’ day, mirrors were usually made of bronze or copper, pounded and flattened by a hammer, and polished  -- but they still reflected an imperfect image. For someone to really see their reflection, they would have to take a closer look in examining themselves. What James is showing in these verses is that a listener of God’s word is like a man who goes to the mirror and examines himself. He should take time to carefully examine his reflection, because that is the only way he can get a true image of what he looks like. However, he turns away without caring for his appearance and forgets what he looks like.

In verse 25, James gives the opposite example, explaining that a person who examines God’s Word and remains in it will not only listen to the Word but apply it in their lives. The doer of the Word desires God’s Word and uses it as the basis for living. The word ‘intently’ suggests that the person is looking at it deeply, studying it in order to see what God’s law actually says, so that they can see their character, compare it to God’s word, and change their life to be more like it. We are all made in the image of God, but need His Word to be able to truly live out our lives as followers.

Application question: Look at your reflection in a mirror. Is it reflecting the image of God or the image of the world? How can we grow our relationship to look more like Jesus? How can we desire God’s Word more?

Pray to close!

Maria

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11/4/21: Be Quiet Before Him

Good afternoon! I hope you've been staying dry and warm in the chilly weather recently.

For this week, I'm going to be taking a break from my 'Love Always' series, because I thought this topic would be a little more fitting for those of us in the midst of a busy season (especially for us college students). But before we officially begin, please pray before diving into the Word of God.

John 10:27 (ESV) - "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

Think back on the prayer that you prayed before you started reading, and let me ask you: what did you pray for? What was the first thing you told God? Did you first go to Him about the stressful deadline you have to make tonight? Did you complain to Him about the situation you're facing at home? Did you get distracted from the notification that popped up on your phone? Did you even pray before reading?

I don't mean to condemn you if you did any of those things (including not praying), because to be very honest, I am guilty of all the things listed above. And you very well could have not done any of those things, and could have actually and sincerely prayed for God to reveal Himself through His Word. But my reason for pointing this out is that it's so much easier (for me at least) to lay down my concerns and worries before even considering who I am praying to. I forget that I am talking to and in the presence of the Lord Almighty, who deserves our full attention, all of our praise, and our whole hearts, and who desires not only for us to speak to Him, but also for Him to speak to us.

That isn't to say we can't lift our worries up to Him in prayer — if anything, He invites us to cast our anxieties and burdens on Him (Psalm 55:22). And not only can we lay them down at His feet, but we can find refuge and strength in Him. Read what this psalmist has to say:

Psalm 62:5-8 (ESV)

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

      for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

      my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

On God rests my salvation and my glory;

     my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 

Trust in him at all times, O people;

      pour out your heart before him;

      God is a refuge for us.

God is our mighty rock, hope, salvation, fortress, glory, and refuge (and that is just found from these few verses!). He invites us to run to Him for protection and security, and for us to refresh and renew our strength in Him. But He doesn't want our prayers to simply be a one-way conversation — He desires to speak to us too. Looking back at the verse I put in the beginning (John 10:27), we see how God's heart yearns for us, as His sheep, to have a personal relationship with Him, as our Shepherd. This intimacy involves us knowing His voice, and hearing what He has to say.

Yet this starts with our active, humble will to listen, which I admit is an area I struggle in. If we are to hear God's voice, we first have to choose to quiet our voices, to still our hearts, and to wait in silence as He speaks. As we enter the sacred and personal time that we have with Him, we must set aside the other voices we hear, whether they be external or internal, and make the conscious decision to focus on hearing His voice by muting everything else. It is only when we fully tune our ears to hear His voice that we can then fully and obediently respond to His call.

Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You in silence. We still have our questions, our doubts, our fears, our worries, and we know You invite us to cast them onto You, and we praise and thank You that You take our burdens when we lay them at the foot of the cross. But we also acknowledge that we cannot hear Your voice until we are quiet before You. I pray You reveal yourself to us through Your Word, Your people, Your Spirit, and Your creation, and I pray that we hear Your voice above all other voices that seem to overwhelm Yours. We trust that You are true, You are good, You are faithful, and You will continue to be. It isn't easy for us to come before You in silent anticipation, but I pray You humble our hearts, quiet our souls, and allow us to rest in Your presence as You speak over us. We love You and we cling onto You ever more dearly.

James 1:19 (ESV) - "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;"

As you close, whether in personal prayer or meditation or even if you're moving onto the next thing, I'd like you to take some time to listen to this song: Quiet (Stripped) by Elevation Worship

Joyce

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10/22/21: The Valley of the Shadow of Death

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great week! Maybe even have something cool going on this weekend? It's cool if you don't either though haha but let's get into the Word together! Pray first to reset your heart and mind to focus on God and His Word.

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Just last week at Bible study we were talking about the whole chapter of Psalm 23, but one new thing really stuck out to me in verse 4 (but feel free to read the whole chapter too!). This is a very familiar passage for many of us, and I personally have read this lots of times. Just goes to show though that God always has something for us to learn from His Word! In this verse we were talking about what the "valley of the shadow of death" really means. What's the significance of the use of "shadow" instead of just saying the valley of death?

Picture this (it's a basic analogy but bear with me pls), you're walking on the side of the road, like on the shoulder, and there are cars passing by. As long as you stay on the shoulder and the cars stay in their lanes you'll be fine. However, the shadow of the car may be "hitting" you, but it has no effect right?

So just like that, we don't walk through the valley of death, which can harm us, but we walk through the shadow of death instead. Because of our sin, we should be walking through the valley of death, but Jesus has taken that upon Himself and walked through the valley of death for us. So now, while we still walk in the shadow of death, it can't harm us, because Jesus has paid the price of death already. So even though in this world we still walk through valleys (trials, suffering, stress, sin, low points of our life, etc.), it ultimately can't hurt us because Jesus has the ultimate victory over death and we are safe with Him for eternity.

I think this was just such a great reminder for me, that like John 16:33 says, "These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” So even though this life is not going to be trouble-free, or easy in any way, we have nothing to fear, because Jesus has overcome it all! Jesus even says that He can provide peace for us in the midst of all the craziness of this world. What a great God we can love and serve! He has been merciful to us in taking on the valley of death for us, and He has been gracious to us in providing peace for us in the midst of any circumstance.

So yeah, I just thought that was something really cool that I hadn't thought of before! Again, definitely feel free to read the rest of the chapter, and feel free to share any thoughts you had on it! But just to conclude, let's encourage one another with this message of hope we have in Christ even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, because He has walked through the valley of death for us already.

Pray to close, 

DanDan

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10/20/21: Psalm 107: Prisoners in Darkness | Fools in Affliction (Part 2)

Hey everyone!

To recap from Part 1, we looked at one kind of transformation God can do in one's life. The Wanderers in the Desert were people who were lost in their ways of living, never finding satisfaction in the things of this world. After they cried out to God, God gave them direction and satisfied their spiritual desires and needs.

Today, we're going to look at the next two kinds of testimonies. Pray to begin.

PRISONERS IN DARKNESS

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

FOOLS IN AFFLICTION

17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. 18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. 21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.

Take note of any parallels you see between these two passages!

It's interesting how in both these situations, the prisoners and the fools were suffering because of their sin and their rebellious ways. Is suffering always a result of specific sins? I don't believe so. Sin has tainted the world since Adam and Eve and we now live in an imperfect and broken world. We are bound to face suffering in this life, resulting from our own sin, from the sins of others, and from an imperfect world where there are diseases, deaths, and catastrophes. God never intended for us to face suffering. God longs to save us from it, especially the kind of suffering that keeps us in sin and separates us further from God. And God has all the power, mercy, and love to accomplish this. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).

But what does it take for us to realize we need God to save us? For the fools suffering affliction, it took being near death for them to realize they needed to repent for healing. For the prisoners in darkness, it took God subjecting them into further difficulties for them to realize they needed to repent for deliverance. What kind of suffering comes to mind in your life? Is it certain sins that you are longing to be free from? God can break those chains. Is it those around you who may be causing you pain? God is the God of peace and justice. Is it physical/mental health that you are struggling with? God sends forth His Word to bring healing.

Take heart. Your suffering will not last. Bring it to God. He is already working out a way for healing to come. In fact, healing and redemption has already come. Jesus paid the cost! Now the Holy Spirit resides in each of us. God is our strength. He is enough to help us endure this imperfect and broken world. Now, we are called to suffer for Christ and take up our own cross to follow Him.

Pray to close.

Kristen

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10/13/21: busy bees → real rest

Hi everyone! Let's pray this prayer together before we start: "Lord, I pray that this time I spend with you right now is focused and fruitful. Help me to calm my heart and mind amidst all my commitments this week."

Luke 10:38-42

At the Home of Martha and Mary

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I remember studying this passage in the past and wondering why Jesus was more pleased with Mary's lack of contribution than Martha's hard work. I relate so much with Martha’s exasperation - how could Jesus just let Mary sit there when there was so much to prepare?

Unfortunately, the world we live in values busy schedules. It seems like there is a direct correlation between work and success. We all go through life piling on classes, clubs, sports, jobs, and internships. And, I tend to actually feel validation from productivity and checking off completed tasks. In fact, busyness can sometimes feel like I’m compensating for the quality of work - if I overload my schedule, then there’s a viable explanation for the inevitable failure. However, that’s simply not a healthy way to live.

Jesus urges us, like he urges Martha, to cease being so worried and upset. We should be more like Mary - attentive and listening to the Lord’s teachings. There are so many distractions in life and one by one, the commitments steal away minutes and hours and days that we could be spending with God. Personal devotional time with God is so important, on top of spiritual rest!

Over quarantine, I listened to a sermon series about practicing the Sabbath. The pastor shared how he and his family take time every Saturday night to practice the Sabbath. One of their rules is that they cannot use any electronics for that entire time period. This aids in casting away distractions and focusing on the time with family and their time with God. They also light candles and recite a blessing in Hebrew before dinner. While not using any devices might seem difficult, it seems like a solid foundation for a time of spiritual rest.

Finally, I urge everyone to look around and search for the Jesus around us. I find myself simply thanking God for His creation because nothing can compare to the sheer power and magnitude of his works. These thoughts about the gift and the joys of life on this earth make me happy! Though the present may seem so busy and the future so uncertain, taking time for spiritual rest renews and recenters our souls.

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10/7/21: Love Always Trusts - ‘Love Always…’ Series

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve been having a good week so far. Please pray to begin.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV) - “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

In my last devo, I started the devo series on this verse, and I covered the meaning of ‘love always protects’. This week, we’re focusing on the second verb — ‘love always trusts’.

The word is already somewhat self-explanatory, so I won’t go too deep into explaining the definition. But I do want to point out that the word in the original language (Greek) is pisteuo, which literally means ‘to believe’ or ‘to place your faith in’. Other translations of this verse translate this to “believes all things” (ESV and NASB) or “never loses faith” (NLT). This word has been used many times throughout the New Testament (Matthew 8:13, John 6:47, Galatians 3:21-22, 2 Timothy 1:12, James 2:23), and its usage reflects how our trust is an expression of love.

What Paul means is that when we love in a Godly manner, our love is ready to trust the beloved. There’s no second-guessing on whether or not the person should be loved. Love is unconditional, and is simply given, without any pre-requisite or requirement. We are quick to love others not because of what they do, but because God was and is quick to love us first. Love is His very own nature, and God never hesitates to graciously extend us with His unconditional love.

I’m not telling us to be irresponsible. Many times, we are hesitant to love quickly because we see it as naivety or gullibility, but that is because we do not harbor a love founded on Christ’s love; instead, we see ‘love’ as loving by our ‘gut feelings’. Worldly love and attachment is often built on emotion, and is born out of seeing the other through rose-colored lenses — yet this worldly love leads to hurt and pain, which only results in fear. True love is not grounded in any emotion or feeling, as those are fleeting and temporary. Rather, love is an active sacrifice and choice to put the other above yourself. True love casts out any fear (1 John 4:18).

So we aren’t called to love based on emotion, and we also are called to be faithful stewards of God’s money and time (and any of our other God-given gifts) when we love others (1 Peter 4:10). But what are we called to practically do?

What this verse is really calling us to do is to love those who seem ‘unlovable’, and to do so in an eager embrace. Within the past couple years, the American Church has become increasingly divided on political ideologies, spiritual issues and theologies, social stances, socioeconomic statuses, cultural values, etc. Yet, instead of coming together in love under Christ, we draw strict boundaries between us, distancing ourselves from and deeming ourselves more righteous than ‘the other’.

In our college campus ministry Roots, we’ve been studying a book (Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth by Thaddeus J. Williams) that discusses the Biblical understanding and worldview of social justice, and something I’ve had to come to terms with is loving and being united with other brothers and sisters who may think differently of us. For instance, if I had to be very honest, I get frustrated with those who argue that wearing masks or getting the COVID vaccine is against their rights as American citizens. I’m not excusing their behavior, but neither am I excusing my attitude towards them. The author of the book writes: “we are all equally loved siblings under the same all-loving Father” (Williams, 48). We are not called to be a Church of uniformity, but rather of unity of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, ideas, and personalities (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). And when our focus is on being united as one body under Christ as the Head, we can then display His love as we meet the needs of those around us.

As you close out in prayer, I want you to reflect on this question: who is God calling you to love in full trust and eagerness this week?

Pieces by Bethel Worship (Amanda Cook)

Joyce

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09/24/21: Breaking Out of Our Christian Bubbles

Hey everyone! I hope all of your weeks have gone well and that you can enjoy the weekend! Please pray to begin and calm your mind to listen to what God is speaking to you.

Matthew 28:18-2018 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We're all probably very familiar with the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers. It is pretty straightforward, Jesus commands us (v. 19) to go out into the world and make disciples everywhere. And v. 18 reminds us that Jesus has all authority to give us this command. We know what we're supposed to do, but it's a lot harder to live it out each day. For many of us, me included, it can be uncomfortable or awkward to talk about our faith with nonbelievers. It just feels so much nicer to be with our other Christian friends at church, fellowship, Bible study or small group. We feel a connection with them, which is a good thing! God wants us to live in community with other believers. However, we are not meant to only live in this "Christian bubble". It is a very important part of our life, but we are also meant to go out into the world and live out and preach the Gospel. Jesus Himself gave us this commandment.

As more in person things have begun, we are moving back out into the world and its influences. We are not supposed to be like the world and follows its temptations and desires, but we still live with it around us. That sometimes makes it easy to feel like we don't want to corrupt ourselves, so we just keep to ourselves until we make it back to "safety" in our bubble. I certainly feel like this a lot, especially as an introvert. It's a hard balance to be in the world and yet reach out to it. We extend our hand with the Gospel while also trying to not get sucked into the world's influences. So what are we to do?

Look at the second half of verse 20. Jesus is always with us, and He loves us so much more than we can ever grasp. He doesn't give us an impossible task to do on our own, but He empowers us to follow His will. We also have each other, to support one another in fulfilling the Great Commission. This can look like doing outreach programs with church or our fellowships, going together with Christian friends to talk with non-Christian friends, handing out Gospel pamphlets together, going to service projects and talking with the people we serve, and many more things! We all have the same command, so we should work together on it, and remember that we have the power of Jesus with us.

I think then an important action step to take then is to pray for our hearts in fulfilling the Great Commission. Pray for us to rely on God, for our heart attitude, and for us to have unity as the "big church" to be a light to this world. Additionally, we need to just go out and do it. I'm gonna try to challenge myself to do it this semester, and I encourage you to as well! So while it is important to make sure we are having fellowship with other believers, we also need to sometimes break out of that bubble and go out into the world to live and preach the Gospel.

Pray to close, praying for yourself, for each other, and for God's empowerment to live out His will. Have a great weekend!

DanDan

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09/21/21: Psalm 107: Wanderers in the Desert (Part 1)

Hi everyone!

Thank yourself for taking this time to spend with God in His Word. Know that God hears you, seeks after you, and loves you.

Take a brief moment to reflect. What were you like before accepting Jesus into your life? What were your priorities, motivations, behaviors, beliefs?

Now think about how you are now, having accepted Jesus into your life.

Pray to thank God for giving you truth and life, and ask for an open heart to receive from God today.

Your story and testimony of how God transformed you is a miracle! You have been redeemed from the ruler of this Earth, Satan, who has power over those who continue to live in sin. Not that we who have been saved don't sin anymore, but that having accepted Jesus as our Savior, we are set free from the bondage of sin and are continually being sanctified and made righteous and holy. God has chosen you to be His child and to be His hands and feet in this world in order to bring truth and life to others around you. You are the salt and light of this world.

Psalm 107 goes through four different kinds of testimonies of those who have been redeemed. Let's see just how powerful anyone's story of redemption is, and take a deep dive into the first kind: wanderers in the desert.

WANDERERS IN THE DESERT

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Picture you're in a desert: flat, dry land all around you. No water, no food, no shelter, no shade. Just endless, blazing, hot sun and sand all around you. You're lost. You don't know which direction to go. You're walking up and down and in circles trying to get to any sort of destination to settle. You don't even know what to look for or where to start.

I think of these people as lost, hopeless, feeling like they're slowly dying and fading away because they have found no purpose in life. They are hungry and thirsty in their souls. Nothing seems to satisfy them, so they wander in circles, chasing after nothing that satisfies.

THEN, they turned to the Lord. They cried out to God in their trouble, and He saved them. He led them to the right destination. He gave them purpose and truth. They were once lost, but are now found. He fed them with the bread of life and the living water: Jesus. They are now satisfied with good things that will last for eternity.

Reflection:

- Do you feel lost? Do you feel like you're just going through the motions, in an endless, meaningless cycle? Are you not satisfied with the things you are pursuing?

- Take a break from your wandering! Ask God for deliverance! Throw away any expectations you have for God and for your life and just humbly ask God for Him alone.

My testimony: I feel this far too often. God, what am I doing? I've become complacent and comfortable with my life. I keep seeking after things that will temporarily make me happy. I've become selfish with my time. I put God on the sidelines and wonder why I'm still lost and feeling hopeless.

But when I humble myself, stop myself in my wandering, realize the ways I have been living, and go to God for help, He shows me the way. The Holy Spirit becomes clearer in me as I see what to change in my habits. I ask for God's love to overflow in me and to pour out into others – and God gives me people to practice loving. I ask for more clarity and direction in my future – and God places me at a starting place that will lead me in the right direction. I ask God to set me free from sin and to renew me – and God reveals more areas where I am selfish and sinful, so that I can learn to turn from them.

God is good and I give thanks. God is loving and answers my prayers in ways that I don't expect. He knows me better than I know myself. He knows my greatest sins and my deepest needs. He satisfies me when I call out to Him. He is constantly working, even when I fail and turn back to my old habits. God is faithful to redeem me over and over.

Pray to close.

Stay tuned for part 2!

Kristen

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9/15/21: Psalm 77

Hey everyone! We are now truly into the school year and it's already shaping up to be a wild ride, but before you move to your next class, or start your next assignment, remember you opened this email for a reason. Take a second, breathe, then start.

" I cry aloud to God,    aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;    my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan;    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4 You hold my eyelids open;    I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old,    the years long ago. 6 I said,[a] “Let me remember my song in the night;    let me meditate in my heart.”    Then my spirit made a diligent search: 7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,    and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?    Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah 10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,    to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”[b] 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;    yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work,    and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy.    What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders;    you have made known your might among the peoples." - Psalm 70:1-14

It's easy to forget what happiness and goodness feel like in the middle of our troubles. It's instinctive, because all of our attention has now focused in on our worries. Sometimes, the trials we face feel like they can just overwhelm us, and our greatest desire is for God to just deliver us from the pain. Yet there are so many times when God chooses not to. He leaves us in our situation, and in our humanity we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing that other people say really makes a difference, especially when they don't understand the magnitude of our distress. Just as the psalmist wrote, those are the times that appear as impossible hurdles to climb over, and he moans and faints at his burdens. But then he questions. Is God still good? Is He still gracious and compassionate? And in response to his anguish he recounts the ways the Lord has shown His might and presence to His people. Suffering is an inherent human experience, but by studying this passage, we can see how to handle that suffering. Feelings can be deceiving; we can feel that God has deserted us, and we can question His character of kindness, but once we know the truth, we can combat those feelings with the fact that God has never abandoned His people. Even when no one can comfort us, we can be comforted by the history of Scripture, that God has never failed and that He is holy and good and wonderful. This passage equips us to handle any and everything by anchoring the peace in our lives to the peace found in God. The foundation of God is stronger than anything we could ever build on the sand. Even though the psalmist was hurting, even though emotionally he thought God had left him or that God was not true to His character or that God was absent from his life he remembered the truth, and he clung to the truth. The truth that our God is a good God, where our pain is the last thing He wants. And so, it's okay to have questions, and it's okay to feel all the things we experience in troubles, but it's not okay to forget who God is. We absolutely must look back to look forward. Look back to every joy God has gifted you and to your friends and family, and reflect on God's deliverance of His people from Egypt and from foreign nations and from Israel's internal struggles. Only by familiarizing ourselves with Scripture and our own experiences do we stand a chance at dissolving the illusion of defeat. Pray to close. Jamie

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09/11/21: Fruit of the Spirit

Hi everyone! Please pray to begin.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23.

We’ve probably all heard this verse before, but I want to dive more into each of these qualities today! There are a lot of verses (and questions) to this devo, but I mostly just want us all to reflect on the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit. Let’s get right into it:

Love - “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” 1 John 4:7. Biblical love is a choice and not a feeling, and is dependent on the giver’s character, not emotion. How have I been loving?

Joy - “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13. Worldly joy cannot last because it is based on physical circumstances. However, the joy of the Lord that we get from trusting in Him is established in our eternal circumstances and relationship with Him. How have I been joyful?

Peace - “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and afraid.” John 14:27. In a world that does not offer much peace, we can embrace God’s peace by:

rejoicing in God

bringing our worries, fears, and concerns to God in prayer

reading God’s word for truth

How have I been peaceful?

Patience - “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2. Patience is hard in our fast-paced culture. But patient people display endurance and perseverance even when it’s hard, because of the Holy Spirit living in us. How have I been patient?

Kindness and Goodness - “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with kindness, compassion…” Colossians 3:12. Kindness and goodness are closely related! Together, they present someone who generously demonstrates goodness in action as a reflection of God’s kindness and goodness to us (in our salvation!) How have I been kind and good?

Faithfulness - “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart’” Proverbs 3:3-4. Faithfulness as Christ followers is consistent and continued submission and obedience to God. How have I been faithful?

Gentleness - “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Philippians 4:5. Gentleness is grace of the soul! It is strength under control, not weakness as the world may perceive it to be. How have I been gentle?

Self-control - “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” Titus 2:11-12. Self-control is a discipline that God grows in us when we continually choose to die to our sin and live in Him. Christ offers us freedom and strength in our weakness. How have I been displaying self-control?

Something I noticed as I was writing this devo, and maybe you’ve noticed, is that a lot of these verses bring in multiple qualities of the fruit together. This is because as we grow closer to God, our lives should display more of all the fruit. One should not be neglected for another. But I think for us, especially me as I’ve been writing this devo, we struggle with one (or more) in particular.

What aspect of the fruit do I need to work on?

For me, writing the “peace” part of this devo stood out to me. I sometimes don’t believe that Jesus can grant me peace and try to do everything on my own. If I’m stressed about school, I’ll try to get all my work done so that it no longer is there to stress me out and give me a lack of peace. I’ll try to fix my struggles with peace through working harder, which is ironic! Instead, the verse from John reminds me to seek peace from God, as the only peace that can truly change our hearts.

This has been a long devo, but I hope you reflect on the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit and spend some time thinking and praying about the qualities you would like to see better reflected in yourself. If you’re comfortable, respond to this email, or you can respond to just me, and share a little about your thoughts!

Maria

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9/9/21: Love Always Protects - ‘Love Always...' Series

Hello CPdevos! We are back, and we are so excited to dive deeper into the Word of God this semester!

Before you begin reading, please remember to quiet your heart, and pray that the Word and the Holy Spirit may speak to you today.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV) - “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

This already famous verse is a small piece of the even more famous ‘love’ passage (1 Corinthians 13:1-6), which explores the different definitions and attributes of God’s perfect, holy love (His agape love) within a Biblical context. But I find that I often overlook this section, simply because when I first learned it, I was maybe around 4-5 years old, and frankly I didn’t understand what all those words really meant at that time. Even today, I may have a general grasp of the words themselves, but what do they mean within the Bible?

This leads us back to the main focus of this devo: I’ll (attempt to) go through a mini-series on 1 Corinthians 13:7, and for each devo I’ll be breaking down each of the ‘love always…’ words. Since this is the first devo of the series, today we’ll be focusing on the word ‘protects’.

A little more background on this word: the original phrase in Greek is stegei (στέγει), which means ‘to cover over’. The word is mostly used in relation to the concept of a roof-covering (stego, στέγω), and when we think of a roof, it quite literally ‘covers’ our heads, and it endures in order to protect. Other English translations use the words/phrases ‘bears’ (ESV), ‘keeps every confidence’ (NASB), or ‘never gives up’ (NLT). Most commentators have broken down the word to mean that 1) God’s love (literally) protects us, and 2) God’s love covers all sin.

God displays His love by protecting His people. He led the Isralites by a pillar of cloud/fire and into the Promised Land (Exodus 13:21-22, Deuteronomy 31:6). The psalmists praised God for defending those who are weak and in need (Psalm 12:5, Psalm 68:5), and for providing refuge for those who call on His name (Psalm 41:6, Psalm 91:14). In the New Testament, Paul reassures that we will not be overwhelmed or defeated by temptation and persecution as long as we stay faithful to Him (1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 2 Thessalonians 3:3). God has displayed His love and graciousness through His protection of His people in the Bible, and we can trust that He is faithful and will fulfill His promises to protect us out of His agape love.

God displays His love by ‘covering’ all of our sin. (Proverbs 10:12, 1 Peter 4:8). The English word ‘bear’ can be a little misleading in that it seems as if God is ‘putting up’ with our sin and corruption, when in fact His love does not ignore or excuse evil. Instead, God has taken the measures to atone for our sin, and He ‘covers’ us with His love and grace by dying on the cross so that we may be cleansed of sin (Romans 5:8). God is patient in waiting for us to come to Him in repentance, and He desires to forgive and restore us (2 Peter 3:9). Even though God displays His wrath and judgment against sin, His love still endures forever because that is His very character (Psalm 136, Lamentations 3:22-23).

So what is our takeaway? First of all, praise God for His amazing love, as well as for His protective desire and nature! We can lean on Him to be our constant Rock and Refuge, and we can find forgiveness through His abounding love and mercy.  

Secondly, how can we reflect God’s love in our own lives? I think literally protecting our loved ones, whether it be from physical or mental/emotional harm, can come a little more naturally to us compared to enduring the wrong that has been done to us. But this week, I want us to particularly focus on what it looks like to ‘bear all things’. This aspect of love as 'bearing' is something new I learned while writing this devo, and to be honest, I feel very far from being able to display God's enduring, protective love. But we cannot love on our own; rather, we love others because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19), and we can lean on the Holy Spirit and draw from God's enduring love, even when our own, limited 'love' wants to quit (especially on those we find difficult to love). So this week, I want us to focus on: how can we mirror Christ’s patient, forgiving heart to those around us? How can we reflect a love that protects?

“O beloved, you will never be tempted, and taunted, and tried as [Christ] was; yet in your own shorter measure may you possess that love which can silently bear all things for the elect's sake and for Christ's sake, that the multitude of the redeemed may be accomplished, and that Christ through you may see of the travail of his soul.” - Charles Spurgeon

Please pray to close.

Joyce

[cpdevos]

6/6/21: Don’t Fear Suffering

Hey what's up everyone! I know it's been a minute, but I hope everyone's enjoying the weather while you're on break, or if you're not, that you'll hang on until the weekend. As usual, before reading spend some time praying and reflecting before diving in.

I figure that I'll keep this one short again, mostly because it's a pretty simple topic, but also because this might be more beneficial in individual reflection, rather than someone telling you how to think.  

Philippians 1:29 "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him."

Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by mankind, 

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem."

Everyone suffers from something, and everyone handles that suffering differently. Some people get tougher, some isolate, and others are inclined to just give up, among other reactions. However, the thing that can universally be understood in suffering is that it's a terrible feeling. No one truly, without wisdom, would ever seek or desire suffering. It goes against everything we understand about this world, and is something that we try to avoid at all costs, even run from. Suffering also looks different for everyone, and God's plan in our lives doesn't always imply the same amount or type of suffering as other people do. It could be as significant as the loss of a loved one, the weight of academic responsibilities, or even familial conflict. Suffering is shapeless, and yet always unpleasant no matter the person.

So with that being said, I think it's easy to have some misconceptions about suffering. We associate suffering with negative connotations, and group it together with "things I don't want to go through ever again", and yet scripture says that we are to suffer for Him. Being a Christian entails suffering! It sounds contrary to the type of Good News we might want to hear, but it's important for us to understand that suffering is an important act that God can use. We might not necessarily enjoy it, but the fact of the matter is that God uses our suffering for His glory. Suffering is a powerful thing; through it, we can grow stronger in our trust in Jesus to deliver us, and if we endure hardship well, we can act as a lighthouse to the world when they witness our lives. If you still harbor doubts about the purpose of our suffering, the best thing we can look to is Jesus. Even God's perfect son, who out of all people should've been without suffering, was made to face the ultimate steps of suffering. Jesus' suffering is the reason we can believe, and if He'd chosen to fall into temptation and to escape it, we would've been lost in this world forever. Suffering can be made into a beautiful thing made by God. But the question is, do you believe that?

Do you believe that your suffering has a purpose? Do you believe that suffering can yield the amazing fruit of the Spirit? Do you get hope and strength from the fact that Jesus, our perfect model, also suffered and overcame it?

If so, great. Keep staying strong through the trials, and reflect on what it's done for your life. But if not, take some time to look at what suffering you go through, and how you approach it.

Jamie

[cpdevos]

5/29/21: What Are You Striving For?

Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing well! Hopefully this weekend can be restful for you!

Please pray to begin, try to quiet your heart and remove distractions so that God can speak to you more clearly.

Philippians 3 (NIV)

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Verse 12 is one of my favorite verses. Whenever I read it, I am reminded that even a strong Christian like Paul recognizes that he still has room to grow in his faith and has something to strive for. With all that he had done in his life to serve God, he still had more room for growth in his journey of faith. The ultimate prize he was seeking was eternal life with God in heaven. He set his eyes not upon things of this world, but on God and heaven.

One commentary I was reading noted that it takes great strength to recognize one's weakness. Paul did not become cocky because of all he had achieved in his life, including the things that he had done to serve Christ, but instead he acknowledges his imperfection. He reaches toward Christ for his ultimate satisfaction, not anything else. Paul uses strong words of forgetting and straining. We need to leave behind the distractions of this world and strive for our future with God. 

This message is always a good reminder for any Christian with any level of maturity. None of us have finished our journey of faith. We all need to continue to seek God throughout our life and find satisfaction in Him. He is our ultimate prize, and He is what we strive for in life. 

It's important to check our heart and make sure we are seeking the right things in life. I think a practical application is to do the heart check whenever we pray, asking God to align our focus. I know that's something I need to work on. Another way may be to have accountability partners. We're not alone in our spiritual journey, and helping to encourage one another in our faith is an important part of fellowship. Let's help one another to strive for more.

Hopefully you enjoyed having a shorter devo :)

Please pray to close,

DanDan

[cpdevos]

5/22/21: Loving My Enemy? Gross >:{

Hi everyone!

Happy Saturday, hope that you are all enjoying this great weather and have some very exciting summer plans for the coming months, now that (hopefully) everyone’s getting vaccinated!

So yesterday I was applying to some scholarships, which required me to find a Computer Science professor who could “comment on the quality of academic work”, and I was in a pickle. If you don’t know, the class sizes for Computer Science at my college are around 100-200 students, and the professors usually don’t know who you are unless you sit in the front row and constantly answer questions, or always go to their office hours. Unfortunately, I did not do any of these things, and online classes had only exacerbated this problem further. So, in the end, I just emailed some of my professors, hoping at least one would agree to be a reference for a student they had never met.

One professor responded very rudely to my email request, and I was livid. So I sent a very passive aggressive email in response, making sure to keep it all wrapped up under a fake layer of politeness. It made me feel better at the thought of me making him as angry as he made me.

Now stop.

Was I justified in doing this?

It’s funny, because the response I get varies from person to person. Most of my non-Christian friends would say, “Yeah, he deserved it for being a rude prick.” But many of you may be thinking, “That wasn’t very Christian of you Joanna. Why aren’t you showing patience and forgiveness to this professor?” And probably we were all thinking of what Jesus says:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. . . If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (Matthew 5:43-46)

The Bible is filled with stories of mercy and forgiveness. David chooses not to take Saul’s life when Saul is hunting him down. Esau and Jacob reconcile years after Jacob steals Esau’s blessing. And of course Jesus forgave all of us of our sins, which nailed him to the cross. Whenever I read of these unbelievable acts of grace and mercy, and then look at my life, where I am constantly plagued with bouts of petty annoyances, I feel a bit ashamed and a little disheartened. The people in the Bible seem to give up their beef too easily, as if it was not a big deal at all. The best example of this I can think of is the story of Joseph.

For anyone who hasn’t read the story of Joseph, I would encourage you to read it in Genesis 37-50 before reading the rest of this devo, just so you know what’s going on and because I’m going to spoil the ending.

The basic gist of the story is Joseph’s ten older brothers hate him and sell him off as a slave to Egypt. But then through God’s plan, Joseph ends up becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt. A famine occurs throughout the land and Joseph runs into his brothers again when they come to Egypt to buy grain. At first, Joseph pretends he doesn't know them and accuses them of being spies. Then he puts them to the test, hiding a silver cup in his brother Benjamin’s sack and accusing Benjamin of theft, demanding that Benjamin become his slave. Judah then steps forward, volunteering to take Benjamin’s place and -- HOORAY HOORAY, Joseph reveals himself and all is fine and dandy. They’re all one happy family and Joseph even says to them,

“Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you” (Genesis 45:5)

I read somewhere that Joseph is one of the people in the Bible where nothing bad is mentioned about him. So, a common interpretation of Joseph’s reunion with his brothers is that he had already forgiven them when he saw them. He was just testing them to see if they had changed, and when the brothers passed the test with flying colors, Joseph then revealed himself, with no hard feelings at all.

Rereading the story of Joseph, I found it hard to believe that Joseph could forgive his brothers so easily for what they did. Yes it had been more than a decade since he had been sold into slavery, but just imagine if you were in his shoes. Just imagine one night, your siblings try to murder you. MURDER YOU. But then they decide that it pays better if they sold you off as a slave instead. That would’ve hurt, wouldn’t it? Just the thought that your family wants you dead, sells you off without a second thought, not caring if you would die being abused as the slave of some house.

Look at it from this light. What would have happened if the brothers had not passed the “test” that Joseph set in front of them, when Benjamin was accused of stealing Joseph’s cup?

“Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” (Genesis 44:17)

It is made abundantly clear that Joseph has a soft spot for his brother Benjamin, whom they shared a mother with. When Joseph sees Benjamin for the first time, he begins to weep. And during the meal they were given, Benjamin’s meal is five times as much as anyone else’s.

So what would have happened if, after the cup incident, the other brothers had said, “Well, at least we’re alright. Benjamin can stay with you, good day”? Then they would have left, and I assume Joseph would then reveal himself to Benjamin, and it would be a happy reunion between just the two of them. So, from my interpretation (feel free to disagree with me if you want), it seemed like it was never Joseph’s initial intention to reveal himself to all his brothers. His actions seem geared towards trying to keep Benjamin in Egypt, and to get rid of the other 10.

Rereading the story of Joseph, I felt that he still had not forgiven his brothers when they showed up in Egypt. It explains why Joseph chose not to reveal himself at once, why he treated them so harshly, accusing them of being spies and kept them locked up in prison for three days. He was still bitter about what they did, and when he put the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack, Joseph expected his brothers to do what they did to him. Turn their backs and abandon Benjamin.

But that makes Judah’s plea to him all the more powerful. I’m going to put it here (feel free to skip over it if you don’t want to read all of it), just because it’s so beautiful the way it is written. I get a bit teary-eyed everytime I read it.

“Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

“Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.

“Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

“Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’

“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’

“Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”(Genesis 44: 32-34)

And that is when Joseph breaks. The very next verse says that he “could no longer control himself,” and that’s when he reveals himself to his brothers and weeps aloud for all to hear.

Of course, this might not be what was actually going on within Joseph’s head, it’s just my own interpretation. I like thinking about this story this way though. Joseph seems less of a godly saint, someone who is unattainably good and holy. Rather, he seems just like me, someone struggling with the concept of loving your enemies. He probably struggled with the thought of forgiving his brothers while he was in Egypt, how could he after the unforgivable thing they had done to him? And when he sees them again, hears their voices, all the old, bitter pain wells up to the surface, and he feels the old, burning anger within him, that pain that had always plagued him over the years.

But what’s so amazing about this story is how God was able to take this whole thing and turn it on its head. How God was able to open Joseph’s eyes with Judah’s words, to let him see how his brothers had changed over the years, that they were no longer the monsters that he thought they were. And in that moment, Joseph lets go. He lets go of that bitterness that he had been holding on for so long, and he welcomes his brothers, his enemies, with open arms. And he sees that,

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20)

Loving our enemies will never be easy, it’s not just an over and done with thing. I can’t just say “Okay, I will stop hating this person,” and everything is fine. Everything is not fine, especially if the person who has hurt you never says sorry, or isn’t even aware that they did anything wrong. If someone has wronged you, the world tells you that you are completely justified to hate them for the rest of their lives, or until they apologize to you. But God tells you to do something radical, something completely counterintuitive to everything your mind is telling you to.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44 KJV)

If Jesus can do it, if Joseph can do it, we could do it too. Lay aside the bitterness, even if it takes months, years, decades to finally let go of that hate for your enemy. God is the one guiding us.

Love you all!

Joanna :)

P.S: Sorry this devo is super long, if you made it all the way to the bottom, I’m quite impressed. Most people probably don’t read this far, or even read the devos haha. If you’ve gotten this far, I would love to hear your thoughts about this passage. Also this isn’t really relevant but did you know that it takes 364 licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop? Crazy right? Pls drop any fun facts or good puns