“When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.”” Mark 8:12 NLT
Why does Jesus say He won’t give any more miraculous signs when, in today’s reading alone, He heals 3 people and feeds 4000?
Motive.
In each of the healings, someone who cares begs for His help for someone else. The miraculous feeding was out of compassion for the crowd.
The call for the miraculous sign was from insincere religious leaders who were just looking for a way to discredit Jesus.
Jesus healed and fed people out of a heart of compassion, not to showcase his power.
I don’t think it’s bad to want to show how miraculously powerful Jesus is.
But I believe that Jesus would rather have us heal and provide for people out of a heart of compassion,
rather than spectacle, even if we give all the credit to Jesus.
Have you ever been a part of bringing Jesus’ healing to people? What was your motivation? What were the results?
“Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.” Psalms 72:1 NLT
On this Father’s Day, I thought we could take a look at one of the most famous father/son relationships in the Bible; that of David and Solomon.
This Psalm is credited to Solomon though I almost wonder if it was started by David and finished by Solomon.
Regardless of the authorship of this verse, it was certainly true of both.
David had already survived the betrayal of an unrighteous son and saw in Solomon the qualities needed to rule Israel.He nurtured those qualities and set things up for Solomon to take the throne.
That doesn’t mean David hated his other children. He was crushed when Absalom died. I’m sure he wanted the best for each of them.
But he also saw that Solomon was uniquely qualified to rule and nurtured that ability in him.
I have four kiddos.
Each one is unique.
I try to encourage each of them to follow the unique path that each has according to their callings, talents, and desires.
That is taking them in four different directions.
But, hopefully, each of those four directions is the right one for each of them.
How did your parents help give you direction in life? What do you do to help guide your kids (if you have kids)?
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NLT
This week I was talking with an acquisition editor for a company that puts out devotional books. He said they were looking for devotions for men.
Like the car nut that I am, I suggested a classic car-based devotional.
He didn’t think it would fly.
That couldn’t stop me from trying my hand at one.
Don’t worry, I won’t do this for the next 30 Saturdays. But let me know if you like it:
In the early 1960’s, British company AC Cars teamed up with Ford to produce a lightweight sports car with V8 power. The result was a very fast car that could handle the corners of European Racing.
Racing team owner Carroll Shelby brought them to the US, beefed the chassis up and fit them with a huge 427 cubic inch engine for racing. Unfortunately, he could not build enough to officially race, but they would have been a formidable force on the track.
Today, original Shelby Cobras sell for over a million dollars. Even replicas like the one shown can go for $100.000.
As believers, God has already fitted us with the incredible power of the Holy Spirit.
Often, we carry around the heavy baggage of sin, distractions, and discouragement. It’s like we have the Cobra engine in the huge Ford Galaxy.
That extra weight greatly hinders what the Holy Spirit can do through us.
The result is a comfortable but ineffective life.
If we were to strip away the weight of sin, distraction, and discouragement, just imagine what the Lord could do with us.
Then, we could truly run the race to win.
What weighs down your life? What are you doing to shed that extra weight?
““Shout to Judah, and broadcast to Jerusalem! Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land: ‘Run for your lives! Flee to the fortified cities!’” Jeremiah 4:5 NLT
Our college newspaper was called “The Jeremiad” because they always printed bad news.
And that’s what Jeremiah was best known for.
How would you like it if God asked you to got tell a country that they were about to be invaded because of their sin. Not the most fun job assignment.
I am at a writer’s conference this week.
Sometimes writers feel like Jeremiah, called by God to bring news that some might not be excited to hear.
It’s easy for writers to get discouraged when we run into roadblocks to publication. When the calling is clear, we work past that discouragement and persevere until the right door opens.
I write this not to solicit sympathy (though I wouldn’t mind some prayer that the right doors be opened for my Wil Clarey series).
I am confident in God’s calling for my writing and know the right doors will open at the right time.
But God’s calling comes in many shapes and in many ways.
If you have heard God’s call on your life, know that if God is in it, nothing can stop it. Don’t give up when it gets tough.
Keep doing what you need to fulfill your end of God’s calling and wait for God to open the right doors, even if you are called is to tell a whole nation to repent.
What has God called you to? What do you need to do to prepare for it?
“And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” 1 Corinthians 15:19 NLT
This is my least favorite verse of today’s reading.
But it kept coming back to me as I dwelt on today’s reading.
Why?
I believe it is also the most misunderstood verse in today’s reading.
I’ve heard people use it to say that if the Christian life isn’t miserable, you’re not living it right.
Balderdash.
Paul and the church in that time and region were heavily persecuted. If they rejected Jesus, they would escape that persecution.
That wasn’t an option.
But the joy that awaited them in heaven was worth every moment of pain.
And the joy in that hope and in fellowship with Jesus and fellow believers made their present difficulties bearable.
For most of us, the difficulties of this life pale in comparison to what Paul and the early church had to endure.
But for those who are overwhelmed with the troubles of this world – there is hope, there is help, and there is life.
How has that hope brought you through tough times? If you are in a tough time, have you reached out to God and to fellow believers for help and hope? If not, what’s stopping you?
“Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”” 1 Samuel 7:12 NLT
My last two years of high school, I attended Ebenezer United Methodist Church way up in the back hills of Spring Valley, VA.
If I’m honest, there’s a lot that the UM denomination teaches now that I cannot fully agree with.
But that little church out in the country helped lay a firm foundation of faith for me.
• They helped me understand the power of worship. • They helped me find the power of the Holy Spirit. • They helped cultivate in me a thirst for God’s Word. • My Sunday school teacher helped me know how to be a man after God’s own heart.
While we should not dwell on the past, it is good to have those monuments in our lives that continue to encourage us in our relationships with Jesus.
Ebenezer Church is one of those “stones of help” in my life.
What “stones of help” can you look back on? How do they affect your life today?
“About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hirah.” Genesis 38:1 NLT
This story is all kinds of messed up.
First Judah moves away from his family. Makes you wonder why he would do that.
Next, Hirah, presumably a pagan, appears to be a close friend of Judah. Judah lives with him. His association with Judah lasts from before Judah got married until after Judah’s sons had grown up. He was close enough that Judah trusted him to retrieve his identification from what they thought was a prostitute.
By the end of the story, Hirah seems to be subservient to Judah.
When Tamar is found to be pregnant, Judah is the one whom people turn to for judgement. That shows he has kept his sin hidden.
To his credit, when he finds out the truth, Judah judges himself rather than Tamar.
The takeaway?
Two things: • Be sure that your sin will find you in the end. • When it does, own up to it.
I’ll let you add your questions to today’s devotion as it has been a long day of driving and visiting with family for me. Thank you for your indulgence.
“Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.” Psalms 71:18 NLT
That, my friends, is what it’s all about.
Okay, for me it might be called the next next generation. While it’s true that my youngest is still in high school for one more year, this fall will mark 43 years since I started serving in next generation ministry.
Why.
Years ago, I heard that some 85% of adult followers of Jesus started following Jesus at under the age of 18.
I don’t know what the current figure is, but I know it is vitally important to plant the seeds of faith at an early age.
For me, my earliest memory was in church. True, I was crying for my mommy in the nursery, but it shows that I started hearing about Jesus pretty much from birth.
While I didn’t fully understand the things I learned in Sunday School, they helped bring me to the point where 13-year-old me knew I should decide one way or another what I would believe.
People who felt called to serve and love the next generation through camp ministry and leading our church’s youth group convinced me that Jesus was real through the way they cared about me and others.
I don’t know where I would be without them.
In what ways have you invested in the next generation? What can you do now to sow seeds of faith to those who need them?
Walk in the Light 