[Monday's Devotional] - Pretty (Forgetful) Woman

Being far from perfect I often come before the Lord with those immortal Dick Emery words ‘I got it wrong again Dad!’ and of course he is always faithful to forgive.  I’m hoping you too will forgive me as I totally forgot it was my turn to write the devotionals this week, therefore I’m going to re-run my Film Devotionals written in 2009 as they were some of my favourites.  Hopefully, if your memory is anything like mine you won’t remember them!

 

Pretty Woman is the fairytale story of a Hollywood Hooker who meets her Knight in Shining Armour after a lifetime of liaisons with Turkeys in Tinfoil ! 

 

I was challenged by the clip where Richard Gere gives Julia Roberts money to buy some pretty clothes, she walks into an expensive boutique in her ‘work clothes’ and the condescending staff refuse to serve her and leave her feeling humiliated.  What if she had walked into church or our place of work? How would we respond? How would God respond? Thankfully God sees more than outward appearances!

 

In the story of Rahab: Joshua 2:1 “Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, “Go look over the land,” he said, “especially Jerico.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.”

 

I am sure you know this story, in return for hiding the spies Rahab and her entire household escape destruction, there are loads of gems in this great story, but what I love most is how God uses the most unlikely people – and a crimson cord!

 

Many would assume that Rahab, a pagan Canaanite prostitute would never be interested in God yet she was willing to risk evertying she had for a God she barely knew.  We must not judge a person’s interest in God by his or her backgound, lifestye or appearance.  Rahab had faith; she had the kind of faith that takes action and risks. She risked her life; she showed more faith in God than most of the Israelites did in the desert.

 

When it comes to dispensing love and grace, God can be downright promiscuous. In spite of her past, God was not disgusted by her, he knew her worth and God was not finished with her…… Rahab married Salmon, gave birth to a son, Boaz, who married Ruth, (there’s a story with a fairytale ending!) the great-grandmother of King David and we know where that lineage leads, that crimson cord is hanging as a sign of hope and salvation. How unexpected, Jesus Christ, the one who cleanses us from all sin had an ancestor who was a prostitute!

              

Lord, help us to see others through your eyes, Amen.

 

  

Dawn Milward

 

If you don’t know Rahab’s story it can be found here

[Friday's Devotional] - Touch

Touch

 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

 

Finally this week a few thoughts about touch, a sense that brings us into direct contact with the physical world and each other.

 

Gardeners just love to get their hands dirty and feel the texture of the soil.

Bakers delight in rolling up their sleeves and kneading dough.

Carpenters love to feel the texture of the wood.

Pianists revel in the way their fingers caress the ivories.

 

We marvel at the ability of the blind to read Braille.

 

Touch is involved in body language, and is reserved for those in our “inner circle” e.g. family and close friends.  We use it to back up our words.  We want to show love, concern and sympathy.  Sometimes we need that intimacy to clear the air and correct misunderstandings. Depending on the relationship it may be an arm round the shoulder, a hug, holding hands.

 

Jesus has called us to His inner circle. He says:

 

“..I have called you friends, for everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15b [NIV]

 

In the gospels we read of how Jesus rolled up His sleeves and had a hands-on ministry.  He taught and healed and delivered.

 

Jesus longs to touch us, bring more and more healing to us and to reassure us of His closeness. We’re familiar with the song:

 

When I feel the touch of your hand upon my life –

It causes me to sing a song that I love you Lord.

So from deep within my spirit singeth unto you –

You are my King, you are my God and I love you Lord.

 

Jesus’ inner circle is not complete. Coming from a place of intimacy, our mission

is to reach out and touch the world as He did.

 

Finlay Orr – (originally published in 2007)

[Thursday's Devotional] - Smell & Taste

Smell

 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

 

The English word “smell” is unfortunate in that it conveys something unpleasant such as body odour or something unfortunate on the bottom of one’s shoe!  Yet we have a sense of “smell”!  So on the unpleasant side we use “smell”, “stink” and “stench”; while on the pleasant side we use “scent”, “aroma”, “fragrant”, ”bouquet”.

 

Our sense of smell is another wonderful gift!  We can all appreciate a wide variety of scents:

·         Coffee percolating

·         Bacon cooking

·         Peat burning in an open fire

·         Scented, musky roses

 

Smells are so evocative and trigger memories, some happy, some painful.

A sense of smell can give great pleasure; yet it can offer protection also – the smell of smoke warns of fire.  We use the expression “smell a rat” meaning that something doesn’t add up.

 

The Bible is full of references to smells, e.g. Noah’s sacrifice after the flood, and incense –symbolic of prayer - in the temple.

 

In 2 Corinthians 2: 14-16, Paul overdoses on the theme:

…through us God spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus. For we are to God the aroma of Christ. To those who are perishing we are the smell of death; to those who are being saved the fragrance of life

 

Taste

 

Taste buds are a wonderful part of our make-up and enable us to enjoy such a wide range of flavours.  When Jesus was on earth He knew when to feast and when to fast.  When He turned the water into wine at the wedding at Cana, it was commended by the MC!  No dull plonk, only the best!

 

Our taste buds are for our protection also: we know when something is off!!

 

I’ll never forget a Sunday dinner years ago when I was living in Coventry.  My housemate had been beavering away in the kitchen and had come up with a splendid main course.  The rice pudding duly appeared, nice consistency, looked great.  We dished it up, put spoons to mouths, spluttered and went deadly quiet until one of the group said: Ian, did you by any chance put in salt instead of sugar?

 

Psalm 34:8 says: Taste and see that the Lord is good

 

Finlay Orr – (originally published in 2007)

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Hearing

Hearing

 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made…Psalm 139:14

 

My dad’s hearing was very poor when he became elderly. Partly it was a hereditary issue, partly the result of not wearing ear protectors on the farm.  He certainly hadn’t helped his condition with a reluctance to get specialist help.  As a result my conversations with him were sometimes difficult and frustrating.  The best I could do was listen and try to steer the conversation.  There were so many things I’d have liked to talk over with him but he was virtually stone deaf…

 

We can have confidence that our Father in heaven always hears us. In Psalm 62:8 David encourages us to “pour out our hearts to Him”.

 

Jesus said some very odd things about hearing in Mark 4 after telling the story of the sower:

he who has ears to hear let him hear (v9)… hearing they hear not (v12)…

 

We’ve all heard the expression: it goes in one ear and out the other.  What Jesus is saying in Mark is that it’s possible to hear but not to listen.  We know the expression: “his words fell on deaf ears”. It’s a strange thing to say, but we need to learn how to listen. Some firms, in their staff training, offer a course in “active listening”.

Some points:

·         Listening requires concentration, focus and effort and time.

·         Listening may prompt questions like: “what do you mean…?”

·         Listening will be attentive to body language.

·         Listening will shut out distractions.

·         Listening gives respect to the speaker.

 

We all want to be listened to. Floyd McClung (YWAM) told the story of his journey home one Christmas.  He’d had a punishing schedule of teaching, was mentally exhausted and was looking forward to a quiet flight.  He took his seat and began to unwind with a book.  Very soon a dishevelled man who stank of alcohol took the next seat and began talking at Floyd who resented the intrusion.  To cut a long story short, Floyd became an active listener and discovered that this guy’s wife and kids had been killed in a car crash a few Christmases before.  The only way he could handle the pain was to get out of town and drink.  They wept and prayed together.

 

May God give us ears that actively listen.

 

Finlay Orr – (originally published in 2007)

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Sight

Sight

I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Psalm 139:14

What a fantastic gift and so often taken for granted!  We can wonder at the majesty of the mountains and the detail of a snowflake.  We can stand open-mouthed at the magnificence of a rainbow or the extravagance of an autumn sunset.  We can treasure the smiles and laughter of our friends and marvel at the detail of a baby’s fingers and toes.

Yet so few of us are blessed with perfect vision.  I was born with a lazy eye which was corrected in my early years.  Like many people I’m short-sighted, so need to wear glasses or contact lenses in order to sharpen distant images.  Maybe some of you braver souls have had laser treatment!

When Jesus was on earth He received many requests from blind people for the restoration of their sight.  He restored the sight of Bartimaeus, and the man in John 9 who was born blind. Powerful, miraculous ministry!

There is also the story in Mark 8:22-26 where Jesus healed a blind man in two stages.  Stage one resulted in the man “seeing men that look like trees”.  Stage two resulted in clear vision.  I can identify with stage one when I haven’t got my lenses in!

I don’t have any insight into Jesus’ approach in Mark: 8, but I do know that He is concerned for the spiritual eyesight of His people. How often our thinking/theology is blurred and confused because we just can’t see/understand.  How often our praying is vague and ineffective because we just can’t see the will of God.  How often our counselling is wide of the mark because we haven’t seen the heart of the problem.  One of the devil’s prime strategies is to divert God’s people and weary them with fruitless counselling.

In the Old Testament, Samuel was a prophet but was known as a seer - one who could see beyond appearance and into the heart.  In Proverbs we’re exhorted to search for insight, discernment and understanding. In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays that “the eyes of our hearts may be opened”.

A final thought for today:

Gullibility is not a fruit of the Spirit!

Finlay Orr – (originally published in 2007)

[Monday's Devotional] - Created in God's Image

It’s great to be alive, isn’t it! The Bible says that we’re made in God’s image – that there’s a family resemblance - but what exactly does that mean?

 

For now let me suggest two aspects:

 

1. We have been created with personality, attributes that make us human:

·         Will – the ability to choose

·         Language – the ability to communicate

·         Consciousness – awareness of the world around us

·         Self-consciousness – self-awareness

·         Memory – the ability to retain information

·         Reason – the ability to solve problems

·         Emotions – we can feel sad, happy etc.

·         Inquisitiveness – the need to explore our world and ask “why?”

·         Conscience – an innate sense of right and wrong

·         Social disposition – a desire/need to belong

·         Spiritual hunger – a need to relate to our Maker

·         Creativity – writing, painting, sculpture, landscaping, decorating, setting up new projects etc

·         The need/desire to manage resources

 

2. Being made in God’s image also means that we possess senses which enable us to interact with our world and to enjoy it on many levels.  There is so much for our senses to relish in!  The words sentient, sensitive, sensual, sensuous, sensible, all come from the same root.  Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch are all part of the divine imprint.  These are tremendous gifts to be treasured, nurtured and appreciated.

 

This week I want to share some thoughts about the senses, so tomorrow I’ll focus on “sight”. Forgive the pun!!

 

Finlay Orr – (originally published in 2007)

[Friday's Devotional] - Don't trust your Race

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:26-29 [NIV]

 

How do you feel about issues of Race?  Sometimes we can be bound by “institutional racism” whereby we subconsciously have thoughts that we need to challenge in the light of the bible verses above.  We are all children of God, it doesn’t matter if we are Jews or non-Jews (Gentiles) – we are one in Christ Jesus.

 

Recent events including the European elections have raised the issue of nationalism and racism, of the rights to live and work in different countries and the issue of immigration – I find this quote below to be good for dispelling the view of racial superiority:

 

“Your car is German.  Your vodka is Russian.  Your pizza is Italian.  Your kebab is Turkish.  Your democracy is Greek.  Your coffee is Brazilian.  Your movies are American.  Your tea is Tamil.  Your shirt is Indian.  Your oil is Saudi Arabian.  Your electronics are Chinese.  Your numbers Arabic, your letters Latin.  And you complain that your neighbour is an immigrant?  Pull yourself together.”  [Origin unknown, via @angharadm]

 

Action:

Think about your attitudes to race.  Pride in your country is not wrong, and supporting your team in the World Cup is admirable.  Feelings of racial superiority over our neighbours is against the teaching and practice of Jesus.  Do something practical and personal today to counterbalance any subconscious feelings of superiority you may feel towards another child of God. 

 

Prayer:

Lord I want to be obedient to your will – help me to treat others as brothers and sisters regardless of their origins or backgrounds.  Teach me to love everyone you have created in your image as members of one family.  In Jesus name I ask this, Amen.

 

Dave MacLellan

[Thursday's Devotional] - Don't trust your Rank

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable:  ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, “Give this person your seat.” Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better place.” Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests.  For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’  Luke 14: 7-11 [NIV]

 

People are obsessed with comparison, status and rank.  Whether they see themselves as having the “moral high ground” or they feel inadequate in the company of others who appear to have a higher status, intelligence or success.   Is there a “pass mark” for Heaven?  No!  Jesus taught that the heavenly order is rather different from the earthly hierarchy that we might recognise.   The great levelling fact is that we are all sinners - so comparing sins or good deeds is a futile way to go about life.  How do you feel about this?

 

Action:

Are you worried about your comparative position amongst your peers?  Do you ever give in to the temptation to become proud or arrogant?  Ask God to show you how much he loves you and do something today to encourage or uplift someone who is struggling today.  Be humble and “take the lowest place” the next time you are “seated at the table” with others.

 

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you that although we are all sinners who have no right of access to you - yet you sent your son to pay for our wrongdoing and thus have graciously allowed us access to your kingdom.  Help me to be humble in the face of this amazing truth and to be grateful to you for evermore.  Amen.

 

 

Dave MacLellan

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Don't trust in your Reputation

“I see right through your work. You have a reputation for vigour and zest, but you’re dead, stone-dead.

“Up on your feet! Take a deep breath! Maybe there’s life in you yet. But I wouldn’t know it by looking at your busywork; nothing of God’s work has been completed. Your condition is desperate. Think of the gift you once had in your hands, the Message you heard with your ears—grasp it again and turn back to God.

“If you pull the covers back over your head and sleep on, oblivious to God, I’ll return when you least expect it, break into your life like a thief in the night.

Revelation 3: 1b-3 [The Message]

 

What is your reputation like?  Are you resting on a good reputation or struggling to improve a damaged one?  The church in Sardis appears to have been resting on its reputation.  A good reputation is a treasure of high value - but it is not a guarantee of future performance or salvation. We are busy doing our “busywork” but how much of God’s work have we completed?

 

Action:

Consider how your reputation compares to the way God sees you.  If you have a good reputation, can you do something to complete one small part of God’s work today?  Evaluate the gifts you have been given and take stock of how you are using them.  If you are a teacher, teach a valuable lesson; if there is someone in your family or neighbourhood who needs help, set aside some time to do something or say something that makes a difference to them – it doesn’t matter if nobody knows about it, in fact that is the best way.

 

Prayer:

Lord, open my eyes to see the needs of those around me.  Help me to build a reputation based on the gifts you have given me.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Dave MacLellan

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Don't put your trust in Riches

Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost.  Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life.  Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone.  Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have.  This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like.  1 Timothy 6: 16-19 [CEV]

Are you rich?  As David Long said last month, comparatively, it is likely that if you are reading this you are richer and more blessed with wealth than most in this world. How would you feel if you lost all your worldly savings and possessions?  Whether you have a positive or negative balance in your bank account, God has blessed you with everything you need to live life and enjoy it.

 

Action:

Examine your richness.  How generous are you with what you are blessed to have around you?  Do you have an opportunity today to share something with someone less rich (in whatever manner) than you?  Ask God to show you one way you can share the riches that don’t belong to you with those who you are surrounded with today.

 

Prayer:

Lord, help me to hold lightly to the trappings of my life.  Help me to do good deeds and to help everyone I can.  Show me the richness that comes from giving away something that is dear to me today.

 

 

Dave MacLellan

 

[Monday's Devotional] - Don't put your trust in Religion

“The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses.  So obey everything they teach you, but don’t do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.

They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help.  Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels for everyone to see.  They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the meeting places.  And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.”   Matthew 23: 2-7 [CEV]

Are you religious?  People used to ask me that, and I would say yes - perhaps it is a discussion starter which needs a little further explanation.  Religion has a bad name in the 21st Century.  Religion and Education, Religion and Politics, Religion and Global Business…..

 

There was a specific problem in the time of Jesus - the Pharisees and teachers of the law were saying one thing and doing another.  Easily done, and I have been a card-carrying member of that club on too many occasions.  But God is not impressed by this, he cuts through to the core with a discernment we can only imagine.

 

Action: 

Examine your heart - are you living up to the things you know to be true?  Are you in a position of leadership or teaching?  Is your Religion an expression of your heart or are you acting out a routine that is far from an outward expression of your inner faith? Take a step towards being more faithful and less religious today.  Show your religion by your actions, your spending and your kindness today.

 

Prayer:

Lord, examine my heart and undertake any surgery necessary to restore it to the way it ought to be.  Help me to guard against hypocrisy, pride and showiness.  Make me humble and purify my core today.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Dave MacLellan

[Friday's Devotional] - Waiting

‘I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth; a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord’.  Psalm 40:1-3 [NIV]

Do you find waiting hard?  Would you say you are a patient person?  Have you asked God for something, but have had no response yet?

Psalm 40 reassures us that God does hear us when we cry out to Him, especially when we are desperate.  Sometimes God allows us to go to that place of desperation so that our cries to Him are heartfelt and real.  Then God lifts us up and gives us that hope and security that we have been longing for.

Yet God goes above and beyond this security, He changes us, He changes our hearts so that we can give Him praise and thanksgiving.

So if you are waiting on God today, rest assured that He has a new song to give to you. Trust in Him and give Him your praise and stand secure on His rock.

Father God, thank you that your desire for me is to trust you and patiently wait for you.  Thank you that you are always there to help me.  May my heart be filled with praise so that I can live in the fullness of your love.  Amen

Heidi Timms

[Thursday's Devotional] - A Safe Shelter

‘One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in His temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock’.  Psalm 27:4-5 [NIV]

 

Do you feel you live in God’s presence every day?  Are there days when you feel a million miles away from God?

 

We all experience times when we find it hard to gaze upon God’s beauty.  Maybe we are in physical pain or emotional turmoil.  Yet Psalm 27 gives us a real hope and place of security, where we can be looked after and sheltered in those difficult times.

 

What a comforting thought that God is there for us, we only need to seek Him and He will reveal His beauty to us.  He will look after us and give us the assurance of His security and presence.  What is there to fear?  This is the safest place that we can take our heart, mind, body and soul.  God is the one who can protect us, mend us, heal us and bring us His joy.

 

Will you seek Him with all your heart today and be amazed by His beauty?

 

Father God, I seek you with all my heart today and may your beauty shine upon me.  May I know your place of safety and security and recognise your presence in my life and my life in your presence. Amen

 

Heidi Timms

[Wednesday's Devotional] - Striving for the goal

‘Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus’.  Philippians 3:13-14 [NIV]

 

Are you competitive?  Do you like to win?  Do you get grumpy if you lose?

 

Well the good news is that God is offering the best prize we could ever imagine – a lifetime and beyond with Him.  And it’s a prize for EVERYONE!  Wow!

 

Can we really comprehend what this means?  If we could catch a glimpse of our prize, would we be filled with such passion and fight that nothing would stop us from reaching the goal of being with our heavenly Father?

 

God doesn’t want us to be caught up in the past, or in a state of ‘grumpiness’ for losing but He does long for us to catch a glimpse of who He is.  He wants to free us from the past, to realise we are forgiven, and to forgive.  He wants us to turn our eyes heavenwards and start pressing on, in obedience, to the best reward ever – freedom in Christ!

 

Father God, please forgive me for not always seeing the treasures that you have for me.  Help me to let go of the past and look to the hope of the future in you.  Ignite in me a passion for your name and a desire to get closer to you.  Amen

 

Heidi Timms

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Testing

‘Search me O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thought.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’.  Psalm 139:23-24 [NIV]

 

Are you a worrier?  Do you easily feel anxious?  Why in Psalm 139 would David ask God to search for all the anxieties of his heart?

 

God knows us better than we know ourselves but He also wants us to know ourselves and what makes us anxious.  If we are able to acknowledge our worries then it is the beginning of then being able to let go of them and give them to God.

 

It is sometimes hard to give God our worries, but all He wants to do is lift the burdens from our shoulders, so that we can experience His love and peace in our hearts.  Our problems might not disappear but we can trust that God will look after us and help us through.

 

Father God, I ask that you would help me to give you all my worries and anxieties.  May I really know your love and peace throughout today and may you hold my tender heart in your loving hands. Amen

 

Heidi Timms

[Monday's Devotional] - Perseverance

‘We rejoice in the hope of glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us’.  Romans 5: 2b-5 [NIV]

 

Do you ever feel like giving up?  Are you just fed up with your lot?  Are you struggling with life?

 

This week we are going to look at God’s promises through the Bible.  Don’t give up because God loves YOU and He wants you to know His love and care right now.

 

In Romans, Paul assures us of the hope that we can have in God.  He urges us to ‘rejoice’ in our sufferings because the end result brings us hope and strength of character.

 

But how can we be happy when life gets tough?  When we feel weak and helpless?

 

We can simply come to God and reach out to His hands, where He will scoop us up and hold us.  He will not disappoint and if we open up our hearts He will pour out His love through His Holy Spirit.  Will you give it a go?

 

Father God, you know there are times when I feel like giving up because my suffering feels like too much to bear.  Please would you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, rescue me and assure me of the hope of your glory. Amen

 

Heidi Timms

[Friday's Devotional] - A Sacrificial Head

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9: 24 [NIV]

 

Suppose a tiny seed had a will of its own and decided to save itself by refusing to be buried. It would remain alone.  It would save itself but would not save others.  When it decided to be buried and die, then the result would be a golden harvest.  Take a mother: she goes down into the valley of the shadow of death to bring a child into the world.  When the child becomes ill, a loving mother forgets herself and spends her strength to give everything she has to the child.

 

The spirit of self-giving is the most beautiful thing in life.  Through it life rises to the highest level.  Pascal, the great French Christian and philosopher said:

 

"The extent of the elevation of an animal and of course any free moral agent, can be infallibly measured by the degree to which sacrificial love for others controls that being."

 

Here is a law by which life may be evaluated and judged.  When the sacrificial spirit is absent from life, that life is of the lowest kind; where it is perfectly embodied, that life is highest on the scale of being.  Is this law to be found in God also?  I believe it is.  If this law holds true on earth but is reversed in relation to God, then laws are meaningless and the universe is without a Head. Then the highest in mankind would be better than God.  But such is not the case.  God is not a disappointment.  The cross shouts out to all who will hear that the universe has a sacrificial Head.

 

O Father, how could I know that there is an unseen cross lying in Your heart unless You had shown me by the outer cross raised up on Calvary?  Such revelation is almost too much for me to comprehend.  Yet it is true.  My gratitude will just not go into words.  Amen.

 

Selwyn Hughes edited by Dave MacLellan

[Thursday's Devotional] - One Faith, One Lord

My dear friends, I really wanted to write you about God’s saving power at work in our lives. But instead, I must write and ask you to defend the faith that God has once for all given to his people. Jude 1: 3 [CEV]

 

What makes the Christian faith different from every other faith?  Prince Charles, next in line to the British throne, has let it be known that if and when he becomes king he would like to be regarded as Defender of all faiths rather than Defender of the faith - the Christian faith. Living now as we do in a multi-faith rather than a Christian society, he said, it is important that this shift be reflected in the duties of the monarch.  No Christian would want to deny any individual or group the right to follow or practice the faith of their choice, but we must be careful that tolerance of other religions does not cause us to fall into the trap of thinking that Christianity is just one religion among many.  Decidedly, it is not.  Christianity is in a category all by itself.  If that belief opens us up to the charge of arrogance, then so be it.

 

Recently, I heard a religious commentator say on television that one religion is as good as another.  One religion as good as another?  How utterly absurd!  It sounds broadminded but actually it is the judgment of ignorance.  No one would ever make that statement if they understood the purpose of Christ's coming to this world, His atoning death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection.  We are not unmindful of the spiritual glow which comes from other lamps, but our claim for Jesus is the claim He made for Himself - He alone is the Light of the world, and thus utterly indispensable to salvation.

 

O Father, help me comprehend even more fully and clearly the truths of the faith into which, by Your grace, You have brought me.  I cannot live by opinions, I must live by convictions. May Your truths become my convictions.  In Christ's Name I pray.  Amen.

 

Selwyn Hughes edited by Dave MacLellan

[Wednesday's Devotional] - The True and The False

" ...our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"  2 Timothy 1:10b [NIV]

 

Several of the world's religions, when faced with the perplexing issue of Christ's return from the dead, explain it in terms of reincarnation.  A proponent of one of the Eastern religions says: "Christ's resurrection was really a reincarnation - another soul in another body."  I once heard a Christian minister declare that Paul's reference to Christ as the firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18) was a clear allusion to reincarnation. There is no doubt that our Lord came from a virgin womb and a virgin tomb, but the body that emerged from the sepulchre was not fashioned in the tomb as it had been when He was an infant in Mary's womb.  The body was the same one as before.

 

Others try to explain Christ's resurrection as living on in the recollection of others. "To live in the minds and hearts of those we love," goes a well-known saying often heard at funerals, "is not to die."  It has to be acknowledged that some live so vibrantly that it is hard to think of them as dead even after one has attended their funeral.  But when we talk about Christ's resurrection, we are not saying He survives in our memories.  Recollection is not resurrection.  The body which died upon the cross and was laid in the cool tomb on the evening of the first Good Friday was miraculously infused with life once again early in the morning of the first Easter Day.  It is as literal and as factual as that.  This - nothing less and nothing else - is what we mean by the resurrection of our Lord from the dead.

 

Father, I am so thankful that in bringing Your Son back to life You brought 'life and immortality to light' through the gospel.  I know this to be true for in You there cannot be such a thing as death. Life is so sure - as sure as You are.  Amen.

 

Selwyn Hughes edited by Dave MacLellan

[Tuesday's Devotional] - No Change, No Conversion

"Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia." Romans 16: 1-16 [NIV]

 

A word which the gospel associates with salvation is the word "conversion."  Salvation is the offer of divine forgiveness and the gift of eternal life; conversion is the way we enter into that experience and receive the gift.  The word "conversion" means to turn about or change one's direction.  Though other religions talk about spiritual conversion, the experience they speak of bears no relation whatsoever to the thought in the mind of Jesus when He said:

 

"Except ye be converted ... ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven"
Matthew 18:3 [KJV]

 

We divide people into races, classes, sexes, nationalities, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, but Jesus divided men and women into just two classes - the converted and the unconverted.  Apparently, to Him, no other distinctions mattered.  If you are converted, you are in the kingdom; and if you are not converted, you are not in the kingdom.  There are no exceptions.  Listen to the words once again: "Except ye be converted ... ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." I think it sad that the NIV translation of the Bible doesn't use the words "except" or "converted" in Matthew 18:3.  It simply says: "unless you change and become like little children." The truth is still there, but in my opinion the words used are not as picturesque or as powerful.  Conversion can be explained like this: it is the change, gradual or sudden, by which one passes from the kingdom of self to the kingdom of God. And if there is no change, there is no conversion.

 

O God, I am thankful that amidst all the awakenings and new experiences I can enter into in this life, You are eager to give me the supreme awakening - spiritual conversion.  May multitudes enter into it today.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

Selwyn Hughes edited by Dave MacLellan

[Monday's Devotional] - Good Man or God Man?

This week we are going to be reading the words of Selwyn Hughes (1928-2006) who was a Welsh-born minister, famous for writing the bible notes “Every Day with Jesus” as well as several books and was the founder of CWR (Crusade for World Revival). 

 

"Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" John 8:46  [NIV]

 

Jesus publicly made the challenge:  "Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?"  Here we are face to face with a kind of person who had not been seen since Adam in his pre-fallen condition - a man without sin.  The disciples had shared every kind of experience with Him that mortals can share, had seen Him at all hours of day and night, had seen Him tired, hungry and disappointed, scorned, abused and hunted to death, had ridden with Him on a wave of popularity and hidden with Him from inquisitive miracle-mongers, yet they certainly could find no fault in Him.

 

It is quite possible to know too much about some people.  A gardener who was employed by a minister was asked why he did not come to hear him preach.  Half in jest but half in earnest he replied: "I know too much about him."  But none of the disciples ever said that concerning Jesus.  They saw no flaw in Him.  Moreover, not only were His intimates unable to discover sin in Him; He had no awareness of it in Himself.  He lived intimately with God His Father, but the holiness of God did not rebuke Him.  It didn't because it couldn't.  He was sinless, spotless, perfect.  If it be granted that Jesus was a good man, and if it be granted that a good man is ready always to tell the truth, are we not constrained by His own words to believe that He was something more than a good man?  He is much much more than a good man; He is the God-Man.

 

O Jesus, my Saviour and my God, when I think of how You, the sinless One, took on Yourself my sins and bore them all away, I feel it must be too good to be true. But yet I know it is too good not to be true. Thank You, my Father.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

Selwyn Hughes edited by Dave MacLellan