Shaking Hands or Saving Lives?

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There was a preacher who kept a painting in his study of a shipwreck. There were sailors in lifeboats reaching out their hands to people floating on debris from the ship. A little boy looked at the painting and asked his daddy, “Are those in the lifeboats trying to save those people or are they just shaking hands?”

I wonder about us. It is all right to have friends; in fact, I encourage you to do that. But are you doing more than just socializing? Wouldn’t it be a shame if all you did was shake the hands of those around you, when you could be serving and showing them the way to God through Jesus Christ?

ACTION POINT:
We don’t pray, live, and witness as if people are dying and going to hell or heaven every day around us. May God have mercy on us. The need of the hour is for men and women to have a servant’s heart.

 

Just Passing Through—Our Real Home Is Waiting

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
God saved you out of this world and sent you back into this world to tell the world that Jesus saves. He is scattering you as precious seed. You are an ambassador upon foreign soil for the King of kings.

You are not only scattered as precious seed, you are also scattered as a persevering saint. You are a foreigner in a land where you march to a different drummer. You don’t settle down in this world. It’s not your home; you’re only passing through.

ACTION POINT:
You ought to pray, “Lord, if I am building a nest, put a thorn in it.” If you dabble and delight in this world, yet your citizenship is in heaven, you’re going to have one foot in the world and one in heaven—just enough religion to make you miserable in the world and just enough of the world to make you miserable in your spiritual life.

The Gnat vs. The Bee

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
James 1:23-24 paints a picture of a man in a hurry. He has a lot on his mind. He takes a casual glance at himself and rushes on. If the Bible is like a mirror, then this man is simply getting a glimpse into the Word and not really applying it to his life.

Most Christians I know today are this kind of Bible student. They are like a gnat bouncing here and there instead of being like a bee and diving in and staying long enough to extract the sweetness.

Contrastingly, the man in verse 25 gazes into the Word. This is someone who delights in God’s Word, who applies God’s Word, who cherishes God’s Word.
Are you like that? Or do you take a passing glance at God’s Word and move on to the next thing on your TO DO list?

ACTION POINT:
Which sounds more like you…the passing glance or the careful gaze?

No Closet Off Limits

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
God tells us to be filled with His Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit of God means first, repentance, then resistance of the devil, and then renewal. It means there’s not one room in your temple where God is off limits. There’s not one closet He doesn’t have a key to. You are filled with the Spirit in your church life, in your business life, in your sex life, in your political life, and in your social life. In the big things and the little things, in your money, in your exercise, in your sleep, in your eating, in your lying down, and in your waking up. You give Jesus the keys to it all. Then when you are filled with the Spirit, there’s no more room for Satan.

ACTION POINT:
If there’s room for Satan, the Spirit is grieved and I am not filled with the Spirit. Repentance, resistance, renewal! Don’t try to repent until you’re honest and face your sin. Don’t try to resist until you’ve repented. And don’t try to be filled until you resist, until you choose against Satan and yield to God’s blessed Holy Spirit.

What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do…

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
One of the signs that you have stopped trusting God is that you cease to function. You simply drop out of life’s activities. You start fretting over this and that; you get distressed over a loss; you get oppressed by the devil. And what do you do? Close up shop, draw the drapes, go to sleep, get up late. Have you ever been that way? Worry will do that to you.

When you worry it is because you are not trusting God. You may say, “I lost my job.” Well, what are you doing? “I’m sitting around the house.” Well, quit it! You have more opportunity to serve God.

ACTION POINT:
Go down to the church and ask them to put you to work. Go to your local mission and volunteer. Mow a neighbor’s yard. Go shopping for an elderly person. Do what you need to do to find a job and when you’re done…do good! Do good because you’re trusting in the Lord.