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Tag: devotion (Page 2 of 6)

Hide The Spies

December 17, 2023 / / 1 Comment

Another example of an unexpected person used by God to save His people is found in Joshua 2. This is the story of a woman who lived a life that did not line up with God’s desire for healthy relationships. She found herself looking for approval and love from any man who came by. She made her living bouncing from man to man. Yet God chose to use her. 

Could you imagine for a minute being Joshua and his men? They go into a town and things get a little dicey. They need help getting away from the people trying to hurt them. Who do they find willing to help them? Rahab! You know the woman who didn’t look like a follower of God by her actions. She’s the one God chose to call for this particular mission – Save my people.

She would even go on to give a pretty good testimony of her faith that God had already delivered things over to the Israelites. She let her faith lead her actions even though her lifestyle to this point didn’t show it. 

When God chose to send His Son to be born in the little town of Bethlehem, he didn’t do what everyone expected. He didn’t send a powerhouse king or a warrior. He sent a child. Not even a rich child. Just a regular lower to middle class child! 

This child would grow up and do more than just hide God’s people from danger like Rahab did. Jesus would grow to win the ultimate victory over our greatest enemy – death. The point of Advent is to put our hearts in the right place to be able to see what God is up to this time of year. He’s giving us time to slow down and prepare for the coming of the unexpected King of kings who looked more like a peasant than royalty. That’s just how God works. Now it’s time to look for the unexpected as we prepare our hearts for Christmas.

Stutterer

December 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Have you ever thought there’s no way I could do that? When we’re met with an obstacle we just are not qualified to tackle, that’s one very common answer. We say it when we’re overwhelmed. We say it when we’re scared. We say it when we lack confidence or focus. We say it when it appears that our resources are just not lined up in the right places. And we’re not alone in thinking this way. 

In Exodus 4, God tells Moses that he will be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The plan would involve Moses going to Pharaoh and telling him that God said Let My people go. Moses simple answer was I don’t think I’ll remember that and I stutter a bit so you should probably pick someone else. 

And it’s not just Moses that has these feelings of inadequacy either. All throughout the Bible, God picks the unexpected people to do his work. This will be our focus the next few days as we continue our journey toward an Unexpected Christmas. 

Moses would end up leading the people out of Egypt but not without consequence. He had his failures but God was able to still work through him. That’s the story of Advent and Christmas. It’s the story of God sending an unexpected person to be the one we need to save us. 

As we journey through this time of year, who are the unexpected people God has placed in your path. Maybe it was a co-worker or a friend at school. Perhaps it was the person who cut you off on the highway making you slow down and avoid an accident just seconds ahead of you. God uses some very unlikely people to accomplish the mission for which he came – the most unexpected of all was Jesus. No one thought he could be the one they were looking for – even his closest friends. 

This season of Advent we celebrate the unexpected person of Jesus not only as a baby in a manger but as God made man. 

It’s Not Supposed To Be That Way

December 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

No one likes to be blindsided. Something coming out of nowhere and knocking you off course is not fun. Maybe it’s an unexpected car repair or a leak in your roof. Maybe it’s a bill you just didn’t see coming or hospital stay you weren’t planning on having to pay. Sometimes these unexpected blindside moments come in confrontations with people that become angry and divisive. They can even be disobedient moments from our children. 

It’s easy in those moments to think It’s not supposed to be this way. That’s probably what was going through the heads of the disciples in Mark 9:31 when Jesus says, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

Wait just a minute! We were just getting in a groove here Jesus. Everything is just starting to work out. We’re starting to click and really understand what you’re about. This is not how it’s supposed to work! Now that all is a guess as to what was going through their minds but if you read the surrounding passages, it’s probably pretty accurate. 

One of the most unexpected parts of the plan for Christmas was that it would all end in this gruesome and horrific death. That’s not the image we’re generally given around Christmas time, but without Good Friday and Easter this season really doesn’t mean a whole lot. 

When Mary and Joseph welcomed their little baby in that tiny town of Bethlehem, they had no idea what he would end up doing. So often we take the Christmas Jesus and hold onto him as if that’s all there is. But the beauty of this story is that it doesn’t go how we expect because God uses unexpected plans to accomplish his perfect outcome. The season of Advent is all about this unexpected plan of God that ends with us getting a new and perfect life. 

Upside Down

December 14, 2023 / / 1 Comment

Have you ever turned upside down so you could see the world from a different perspective? If you stand on your head everything looks kind of odd. People are walking in the air. Your hair falls down in your face. Things are backwards to your eye and it’s sometimes hard to figure out exactly what is going on. 

That’s the image we need as we look at today’s bible verse – upside down. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 

Look all over the Bible and you’ll see it. This should not be seen as an unexpected plan of God, yet we seem surprised every time we run across it. David is the youngest son and he is able to take care of Goliath with one whip of the slingshot. None of the disciples were college graduates, yet Jesus chose them to be his disciples. 

God’s plan almost always involves using things in ways we would not normally expect. Even the extended Christmas story shows us this and we often miss it. Shortly after Jesus is born Mary and Joseph present him in the temple. When they do they have to offer a sacrifice. There are two different options for the sacrifice. You were to bring the offering of a lamb for sacrifice in this ritual, but they couldn’t afford that. So God made an option for those who were less well off, a pair of turtle doves or a pair of pigeons. 

You see God would bring the greatest demonstration of riches into the world and drop it in the lives of a poverty stricken couple. Mary and Joseph didn’t have a lot of extra. Yet God showed them his amazing grace and love and flipped the script for them. He didn’t require them to have everything together before he chose them. And he doesn’t do that for us either. Instead he chooses those of us who are less than kind of people in the world. He chooses the weak, poor, and outsiders and comes right to where they are. 

The story of Christmas is the story of God welcoming those who no one else would welcome and making them part of the family…just like He did with you and me. 

I Got It

December 13, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Some days I miss the cartoons from when I was growing up. You know the kind I’m talking about. Not nearly the animation technology we have today, but we didn’t really care. They were often corny but we all got it. I can remember the symbol in those cartoons for when someone had an idea, one of those moments when the light goes on. 

As we prepare for Christmas we often fill our lives with artificial lights. We put them on our tree and string them around our house. We light them as candles in our windows. We even have things that shimmer and reflect the light around it. I’m a sucker for all things Christmas. I love the tree and lights and fire crackling in the fireplace. These are just part of the season to me. But they can’t replace the real light we all need this time of year. 

There’s a story in Joshua 24 that deals with the darkness of the world taking over the hearts of God’s people. They were confused who they should follow. They got distracted by all the shiny things around them. The glamour and light of popularity and fame, money and power were all the rage. But Joshua calls them back again with one of those lightbulb moments. 

Choose this day who you will serve…but for me and my house we will serve the Lord.This is Joshua’s call to the people to come back to following God in verses 14-15. 

As we approach the day that all of these lights point us toward, we can’t lose focus. We have to remember that all these extra lights of the season can’t replace the real light we have in Jesus. The meaning of this whole time of year is found in the light that would come into a darkened world. That light wouldn’t come in fancy things or lots of money. It would come in a towel wrapped baby. In a manger for a bed. It would come in the most unexpected plan you could ever imagine and that’s what made it the perfect plan!

O Little Town of Bethlehem…

December 12, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Kings are born in palaces right? Important people have homes and are cared for in hospitals. They have all the right things at all the right times. They don’t have to sleep on the streets. They generally aren’t considered part of the lower class economically. But this is really the story of Christmas. 

Near the end of the Old Testament is a promise that shows where Jesus would be born. It’s from Micah 5:2 – But you, O Bethlehem Ephratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Whoa talk an about unexpected plan! Micah says that the promise you’re waiting for is going to come from a tiny little town in a nearly no name place on the map? What in the world is that about anyway! 

There’s a lot in this unexpected plan that really makes the Christmas story so powerful. Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David, so it was fitting that Jesus would come from there. But the problem was Bethlehem wasn’t the place where the ruling party lived. This caused some heartache for the first century Jewish crowd. It’s why they didn’t recognize him. He was born in the right place historically, but in that moment it sure didn’t look right. 

If we dig a little more into the name of the town, we can find even more wonder during this Christmas season. Bethlehem comes from two different words. “Beth” meaning house, and “lehem” meaning bread. So the name of the town was house of bread. Did you get that? House of bread. 

Jesus would say later in his ministry that he is the Bread of Life. And then he gives bread and wine from the Passover meal with his disciples as he gives communion the first time. And that bread he calls his body. From this little house of bread town that didn’t mean much the rest of the world, God would bring the bread of life into the world. His entire life would redefine who we are and how we live. 

O little town of Bethlehem you truly are an unexpected place in God’s unexpected plan. 

Men Plan, God Laughs

December 11, 2023 / / 0 Comments

A good friend of mine taught me this line, and I use it probably far too often. Now don’t get all bent out of shape with the idea of God laughing at our plans. I’m sure he’s not sinisterly laughing at our miserable and often pathetic strategies for accomplishing greatness. Although he really should but that’s not the point. 

There’s a passage from Isaiah 55 that says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways, declares the LORD. You don’t say? I never realized that my greatest attempts at thinking like God generally leave me missing something pretty significant. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm there, here’s your sign – I was joking. 

The story of Christmas was a pretty unexpected plan for those first century Jewish followers of God. They were ready and waiting for the greatest king to ever walk on the earth. They wanted this new king to bring them power and stability. They wanted a king who would wipe out the enemy and set up a perfect kingdom where they were always on top. It seemed they wanted someone more like the incredible hulk than the son of a carpenter. 

Could you imagine what that must have been like? Expecting a massively powerful king to come and save you and all of your family and friends only to find out he was a handyman from a no name town? Add to it this would be king was going to die as an accused criminal. How in the world is this the king we are looking for? 

Satan didn’t need to work hard to pull some This is not the king you’re looking for Jedi mind games on them. Who would have thought to do things in this way? An unassuming son of a carpenter would be the one – who would have come up with that? 

Working the unexpected is what God does. And that’s what Christmas is all about. God’s unexpected plan to save the world. 

How Did You Get Here?

December 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The Christmas season brings with it several parties and celebrations. We have family and friends, coworkers, special teams of people with whom we work, bosses, teammates and the list goes one. Each one of those has a special list of invitees. We wouldn’t invite our boss to a family gathering. Or a friend from college to a party with our coworkers. 

When someone shows up that’s not invited it generally brings with it a hiccup in the plans. But what happens when the wrong person is invited to the party? You can’t undo the invite. That just isn’t right. Or perhaps the better question to ask is who says they’re the wrong person? 

In the book of Acts we meet a man named Saul. He’s a bit of a nasty one. He’s even worse than the Grinch if we’re being honest. He didn’t steal kids stockings. He would beat people for a living. But in Acts 9 we find Jesus meeting Saul on the road and inviting him to a party. Ok so it’s not a party with gifts or special platters of food. It’s not really a party but more of a movement. 

Jesus invited Saul to change his name and join his team. When Paul switched to the Jesus Team, he wasn’t really liked at first. He was kind of like the not so nice boss walking into your family Christmas. Who wants him there!? Simply put, Jesus wanted him there. 

Jesus has a tendency to include some pretty sketchy people into his life. Shortly after he was born, the Bible includes a group of traveling fortune tellers that we call Magi as some of his famous visitors. But why would they be there? It was about who they weren’t and what they brought. You see they weren’t Jewish people which reminds us that he came for an unexpecting people that no one would have considered. And they brought some gifts with pretty cool meanings. Gold was the gift for kings. Frankincense was the perfume used in temple that reminded of God’s presence kind of like the prophets would remind us of God’s presence in various situations. And myrrh was the oil used to anoint the priests. By welcoming this unexpecting group of travelers he was reminding us that he would be the perfect prophet, priest and king. 

And all this by using unexpecting people. Imagine what he can do with us! 

All Hail The Queen!

December 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Imagine a girl with no right to the throne marrying into a royal family and being coronated as the queen of a massive empire. Add to it a little twist for good measure! This is kind of how God works you know. This story is the one of Esther in the Old Testament. You can skim the book of Esther to get the whole story, but here’s the twist. Esther is a Jewish woman who ends up marrying a king of an empire that would very quickly turn against the Jews. Yikes! 

But wait there’s another twist in the plot. Who says the Bible isn’t fun? Esther ends up finding out about the plot to harm all of her family and friends, and she shows up at just the right time to essentially save the day. This is actually our verse for today’s devotion. It comes from Esther 4:14 and it reads for such a time as this. You’re going to have to read the rest of this section to see the whole story. Trust me it’s worth it! Essentially this verse is a reminder that God put Esther in the role she was in for that particular day and purpose. 

Now turn a couple hundred pages in your bibles to the gospel accounts. There you find another moment in time. This time it isn’t a young Jewish girl becoming queen. It’s actually a middle aged carpenter. He was ready to marry this girl from town. They had the details worked out. And then the news came. She was pregnant and it wasn’t his baby. How could this be! Why is this happening to me – he must have thought. 

Why? For such a time as this. Joseph wasn’t going to save the world or even a massive people group. But he was going to save Mary and the child she was carrying. He decided, after a little angelic convincing, to let the engagement continue. They ended up getting married and Jesus was born. 

Just like in the story of Esther, if this unexpecting Joseph wasn’t willing to follow God’s call the story would have ended much differently. 

In Their Fields

December 8, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As we continue through the Christmas story we come face to face with the shepherds. You know the crew that were surprised by the angels while they were out minding their own business. Unexpecting is putting it mildly! They were shocked! 

There are actually two stores in the Bible where unexpecting shepherds are confronted with a message from God. The first one is in Exodus 3 where Moses is taking care of some sheep for his father-in-law. While he’s out making sure they have good pasture to feed and clean water to drink, he notices something that doesn’t look right. A bush is on fire but it’s not burning up. As he gets closer the bush talks to him “Moses, Moses”. (Exodus 3:4) That’s it. That’s all it took. Well there’s more to the story as you unpack Exodus 3 but all it took for Moses to realize what was happening was for the bush to call his name. It was God with a special message for an unexpecting shepherd. 

That message was that God was going to save his people. He was going to bring his people out of slavery and into a new life of freedom like they couldn’t even imagine. 

Fast forward to the shepherds tending their flocks in Luke 2, you know the Christmas story shepherds. Yeah they saw something strange as well! This time, however, it wasn’t a talking bush calling their name. It was an angel followed by a bunch of them! Totally got their attention. Their message was kind of similar to the one Moses heard. 

There was a baby born who was going to free the people. Except this freedom isn’t from Egyptian dictators. It was a freedom from the power of sin. An unexpecting Moses and some unexpecting shepherds hear the same message. God is about saving his people, and we are the very people he came to save. 

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