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By Yodit Kifle Smith "For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son..." John 3:16 John 3:16 is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible. Why? Because it’s one of the greatest examples of God’s most known attribute: His love. Scripture tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). And we love to talk about His love. It’s reassuring. It’s compassionate. It’s merciful. It’s gracious. It’s steadfast. It’s faithful. It’s giving. And the list goes on. However, when we talk about God’s love, we hardly ever hear messages that help us understand why God’s love is profound. Why it’s unlike any other. Perhaps it’s because it gets into a part of God that we are uncomfortable talking about: His wrath and judgement. We think speaking of His wrath and judgement villainizes God as if those two things couldn’t co-exist with His love. God is love. But Scripture doesn’t say God is wrath. However, His wrath is a function of His Holiness (Isaiah 43:15). God can’t be in the midst of sin (Deuteronomy 23:14) which is why His love towards us proves to be amazing because in order for us to be reconciled to Him and know His love, His wrath had to be satisfied (Romans 5:9). Here’s what we have to rehearse more in our lives as believers. When we read that “God loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life: (John 3:16), He wasn’t sending His Son to have this fun-filled adventure or vacation here on Earth. He sent His Son to die. Why? Because God is Holy. God’s holiness couldn’t allow sinful people to be in right standing with Him. Sin demanded death. This is why in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, priests would have to make sacrifices each year as an atonement for their sins and the sins of the people so God’s presence could continue being with them (Hebrews 10:11). Now in the new covenant of Christ, when we remember and celebrate the death of Christ, we aren’t celebrating just the act of death, we are also rejoicing in that fact that we sinful and undeserving people received God’s grace instead of His wrath- a wrath that we deserved for choosing sin over our Creator. For exchanging His glory for sin. How? Because of Jesus- the only one blameless and perfect stood condemned. Not us. Jesus took on God's wrath. Not us. Jesus was judged. Not us—so that when we believe, we will be saved (John 3:15). We will be forgiven (Ephesians 1:7) We will be reconciled (2 Cor.5:18). We will be redeemed (Galatians 3:13). We will be free from the bondage of sin (Galatians 2:20). We will be in God’s love (Jude 1:21). So, you want to know how much God loves you? look at the cross and see the sacrifice that had to take place so you can know and live in His love. (Romans 3:25) You want to know how much God hates sin? Look at the cross and let it remind you that God is Holy and His wrath had to be satisfied in Christ for us to be in Christ. God’s deep love for us doesn't exist without His deep hate of sin—the very thing that separates His images bearers from Him. And His deep hate of sin doesn't exist without someone taking our place to die and bear His wrath so we could be free to be in His love. This is amazing love. Sisters, rejoice! In Christ, we are no longer under the wrath of God but are secure in His love. On that glorious day, we will stand before Jesus as our Savior and not our Judge because we believe. We don't have to be afraid of talking to people about God's wrath because it gives us an amazing opportunity to talk about His love. So, may this give us a heart to tell others about Christ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Isaiah 43:15 Deuteronomy 23:14 John 3:16 1 John 4:8 Romans 3:25 Romans 5:9 John 5:22-30 Galatians 3:13 Galatians 2:20 Jude 1:21 Ephesians 1:7 2 Corinthians 5:18 Hebrews 9-10 Questions to Reflect on:
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By Brittany Jean-Louis (WITHIN Devotional Writer) "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) We are in the fourth quarter of the year. We have put in the work for the past three quarters and let’s be honest, some of the work has been hard. We have persevered and now here we are. Who’s tired? Who has or is currently experiencing burn out? Burn out is real, even for Christians. It can be burn out from our work, our families or our personal ministries. So, what exactly is burn out? It is when we push ourselves to the limit and we have nothing more to give to our responsibilities. When burn out occurs we can: lose sense of our Godly purpose, create/harbor resentment toward God and others, have a desire to give up or have feelings of hopelessness and even loneliness. Being a Christian does not make us exempt from burn out, yet what makes us different from the world is how we manage burn out. There is a higher level of instruction for us to receive rest for our souls. The Bible instructs us on multiple occasions to come to our Savior when we are tired and need a refill. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. A yoke can be defined as a harness used by oxen and other animals to ease the work of carrying a large load. The word yoke was also culturally used to describe submission. When Jesus says, “my yoke is easy,” He is encouraging us to submit to Him in every way. “Easy,” in this Scripture can be described as good opposed to simple. Jesus wants us to know that we are submitting to something good. He is good and has good intentions toward us. His intention is to see us through hard times with identifying Him as the source that will refresh our lives. Furthermore, He is letting us know that submission isn’t this harsh dictatorship, yet a partnership. The Scripture goes on to say that you will find rest through submission. He is saying I am gentle and humble; therefore, we should not be afraid of His leadership. What a beautiful partnership to be able to lay our burdens down in the presence of our Savior who cares for us. He cares about our stuff. I Peter 5:7 says “Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” The things that we worry about, the things that we fuss over and the things that cause us burn out, are the very things He wants us to give to Him. Think about this, God did not design us to have the capacity to carry heavy loads. If we had this ability, we would not need for him to sustain us and we wouldn’t see Him as the only source for everything we need. We are again instructed in Psalms 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” So, how do we manage burn out? We get back to a place of desiring our Father. If sin is causing burn out, repent. If lack of boundaries is causing burn out, become comfortable with saying “no.” If time management is an issue, become a better steward of your time. These things can sever us from the One that can restore us. When these things cause burn out, we can become separated from our Savior which can make it hard to hear Him, experience His presence and receive direction from the parts of our lives that are confusing or uncertain. We must remain disciples of Christ no matter what pressures we are under in life and remember this verse: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint" Isaiah 40:28-31. “God, we thank you for this time of fellowship. We know that every time we come to you and lay at your feet that you see our hearts. You see our minds, our thoughts. We thank you for “seeing us” -seeing beyond the surface and penetrating to the depths of our souls and hearts. Lord, deliver us from burn out. Help us to prioritize what you want us to prioritize. What you see as important Lord, make it important to us. Structure our thoughts. Structure our time. Structure our days. Let us lay aside every weight as you increase our desire for you. The desire that will burn in us forever. In Jesus name Amen.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Psalm 55:22 Isaiah 40:28-31 Matthew 11:28-30 1 Peter 5:7 Questions to Reflect on:
By Brittney Robinson Smith (WITHIN Devotional Writer)
Can you look over difficulties in your life and see you were growing the whole time? Until recently, I couldn’t. I was so distracted by the messiness of growth that I missed the forest for the trees, so to speak. I was too close to the process to see what God was doing. Like Peter in John 13:1-7, we don’t always have the benefit of understanding what God is doing from the start. That gift is often gained as we go. In that passage of scripture, Jesus began to wash Peter’s feet, but when Peter refused. Jesus replied, What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this. Jesus leveling with our issues can make us want to hide, but growth means God exposing our need for His grace. So when God starts exposing you to you, don’t be afraid. During this time, it may seem like all you notice are the bad things about yourself, but ask God for a different view. When I started getting constructive about the negative things I saw in myself instead of beating myself up about them, I was able to notice God inviting me to grow. Here are some signs God may be inviting you to grow too. 1.You start challenging patterns of thinking. There were times in my life where I didn’t do much confronting myself. I really didn’t know I needed to or how to. Let me tell you, it takes a ton of honesty. Be honest with yourself about where you are and where you want to be. Don’t just tell yourself what you’ve always rehearsed internally. Don’t just tell yourself what you’ve always heard other people say. Be honest with God about how you really feel about situations in your life. And do that again and again. 2.You feel neglected. God is growing His people, but sometimes growth feels like neglect. Consider how God made seeds to grow. They grow when they are planted which means they cannot be touched or physically manipulated by the harvesters. They pretty much get left alone, isolated, but we know what the seed doesn’t know. Things are happening above and around to nurture it. Remember, your growth is controlled and orchestrated by God too. 3.Growing pains The second definition Google gives for “growing pains” is; the difficulties experienced in the early stages of an enterprise. Simply put, if you’re facing any difficulties in your life, your health, your emotions, your faith, your job, relationships. It is an invitation for you to grow through it. Resist the temptation to be discouraged in the face of difficulties, as if you’re getting this whole life thing wrong. Finally, I’ll leave you with this, invitations require a response. When we say yes to God’s invitation to grow, we are saying yes to working toward who God has planned for us to be. It’s not always easy to see who we’re becoming, but I trust she will be whole. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Romans 8:1-2 Revelation 3:19 Hebrews 12:11-13 Galatians 6:7-9 Questions to Reflect on:
By Laura Hardin (WITHIN Devotional Writer)
“Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the Lord’s declaration of the Lord of Armies” (Haggai 2:4). I thought work was an effect of the fall—a laughable admission for a twenty-two year old college student who would depend on her degree to get a decent job after graduation. I needed my college mentor to graciously come alongside me with her Bible opened to Genesis. She walked me through the first few chapters, asking me to note when Adam first worked. We saw that the Lord gave both Adam and Eve a big job right from the beginning. He told them to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens and every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). And before we saw God giving humans work to do, we saw God working masterfully himself as he created the world. Even now he masterfully holds all things together by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). Work is part of who God is. As his image bearers, we work because he works. As we consider the work before us this week, let us remember that apart from Christ, we can do no real good (John 15:5). Sin corrupts our work, swinging our hearts from not wanting to lift a finger for his name to wanting to do all the things for our own glory. Let us also remember that Christ Jesus is a masterful worker too. He masterfully completed the work of our salvation—diligently serving God the Father every single moment of his life, pouring himself out on the cross, and rising from the dead in everlasting glory. And he masterfully redeems the work of every person who trusts and obeys him. Because he did the work of saving us, we can now work for his glory. Our work has been redeemed. No matter how small or how great, how mundane or how remarkable, our work has eternal value. I bet it doesn’t feel that way. We work in a world devastated by sin. We have this sinful nature that tempts us to orient everything we do around our own desires. We have an enemy who schemes against our faith as we are going about our Christan lives. By the looks of things, the odds are stacked against us. And that’s precisely why we must call the following four words to mind when we’re tempted to give up, “God is with you.” It sounds too simple but these are the same words our Lord spoke over and over to his people when calling them to a task too mighty for them. He spoke them to:
God is with you when you stand alone after service, resisting the temptation to bolt or solely associate with good friends. He pours love into your heart for people who are not like you. He uses you to stir up his holy work in the community. He blesses you to serve. God is with you as you head into the office, as you chat with a neighbor, as you engage with another mom on the playground or sit in a class that is kicking everyone’s butt. His spirit fills. His spirit compels. He gives courage to open your mouth and speak words seasoned with grace and truth. God is with us and his presence empowers faithfulness. Blessed be his name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. Passages to read/memorize/meditate: Philippians 2:12-13 Colossians 3:17,23 1 Peter 2:9 Haggai Questions to Reflect on: 1. Consider all you plan to do this week alongside the priorities outlined in the Bible. In what ways do your priorities align and/or misalign with God’s priorities? 2. As you look ahead to the day or week ahead, how can you keep the reality of God’s immediate presence before you? 3. How does the knowledge of God being with you strengthen you for the work at hand? |
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