Identify: Who Will You Be?
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1)
Happy New Year! No, you're not reading a retreaded devo from last January. I just think the "back to school" season is an even bigger new beginning for students than January 1. It's a blank sheet of paper waiting to be filled up. You could do or be anything you want this year.
The only thing holding us back is this: We're still us, right? We didn't necessarily get way smarter, faster, tougher, or cooler over the summer. Aren't we doomed to repeat the version of ourselves we presented to the world last time? In Colossians 3, Paul says, "nope." At least, that's what he says to Christians.
Believers have this superpower we don't talk about much. Because of the Holy Spirit, we can say "no" to sin, "yes" to powerful new choices, and we can become wildly different people. In fact, we can exchange our identity for a brand new one. Starting right now.
How? Step one is found in verse one above: Make a new goal. Forget aiming for a certain GPA or spot on the team or rank in the social food chain. Paul says to aim to live in the identity of Jesus Christ Himself. And that means setting your life in the direction of heaven. More tomorrow.
Think: Do you get pumped about all the potential in a new school year -- or do you dread it? What have you decided to do differently this year? Would you like to be as much like Jesus as possible by the time the year ends?
Pray: Ask God to help you to set the whole direction of your life toward Jesus and heaven. And then ask Him to overwhelm you with the desire to keep moving that way.
Do: If you've got a few minutes, let Paul's description of Jesus true identity in Colossians 1:15-19 blow your mind.
The Ten: Don’t Crave Your Neighbor’s Stuff
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17)
The final commandment in The Ten is this: Don't covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. The dictionary tells me that covet means to "wish, long, or crave" for something that belongs to someone else -- in an envying or jealous way.
I wonder if this is the hardest command of them all. Watch some pre-schoolers playing, and you'll see coveting in action almost immediately. It doesn't matter how cool the toy I have is -- it's that you have something I don't and you seem to be enjoying it. And even if I get it away from you, I'll be happy only until you pick up something else and make it look fun.
God hates our coveting, though, because we are essentially saying this when we covet what someone else has: "God, the good gifts you have given to me are lame! You have not provided for me adequately. I refuse to be content until I have the same thing, relationship, car, parents, or iPhone that she has.
Here's the best advice I've heard about coveting: Use gratitude to train yourself to like what you have, and use love to train yourself to be happy for what other's have.
Think: Are you most likely to covet the things of people you like or people you don't? Why? In your own words, how is indulging our tendency to covet insulting to the God who provides for us?
Pray: Ask God to help you to like -- and say "thanks" for -- what you have. Ask Him to help you to be truly happy for people who have good things that you don't.
Do: Without looking at anything, try to list all ten commandments in order. Peek once to refresh your memory, then try again (if needed).
The Ten: The Big Ones
"You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:13-16)
Can you believe that's four whole verses up there? Commandments numbers six through nine are so simple and straightforward. And they're probably the easiest to keep, right? I mean, you don't usually just have a bad day and kill someone. Or sleep with someone's spouse. Or steal a car. Or lie in court about your neighbor.
Nope. Those are the biggies, the ones that most good Israelites could put on their list of "bad things I've never done."
Then Jesus showed up and took an eraser to their lists. He said those biggies start as real sin in the secret places of the heart. To tune your mind to lust, He said, is heart adultery. To hate a person, John wrote, is to be a murderer. We've all learned how to steal a digital thing or two from the anonymous privacy of our computers. And lying in court is only a public version of lying to our parents.
None of us is really innocent, even of all the biggies. Part of the point of the Law was to convince us all that we can't keep that Law, that we are not good enough on our own for God. We needed Jesus to keep them all for us. And we thank God He did, then died to pay for all the ones we broke.
Think: Do you have a list of sins you are proud not to have committed? Is there any real honor in having broken some of God's Law and not other parts of it?
Pray: Ask God to help you not to kill, hate, lust, commit adultery, steal (anything ever), or lie (for any reason). Thank Him that Jesus died for all your sins and that you've been forgiven for them through faith and by His grace.
Do: Read Galatians 3 to hear what Paul has to say about the difference between living by faith in Christ and living under the Law of Moses.
The Ten: Honor the ‘Rents
"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)
For some reason, nearly every teenager I've ever met has gone through a season (short or long or endless) of thinking this command from God is on the "optional" list. I know I spent a semester to two feeling that way. It's not optional, of course. In fact, it gets repeated word for word in Ephesians 6:1-3. God takes "honor your parents" extremely seriously.
One problem is we don't really know what "honor" means. We understand when we're obeying and disobeying -- and we know that's wrong, even when we choose to do it, anyway. But honor means to treat someone as if they are worthy of respect. It means, in a way, to act as if they outrank you.
But what if they don't deserve respect? What if, in fact, they deserve exactly the opposite of respect because they haven't been good to you or others? Yeah, God doesn't mention that. He doesn't give us any way out of the command. He just says, "Honor them," meaning, "Be respectful, kind, gracious, forgiving, honest, and decent to them."
It's a hard thing to do sometimes. But God wants us to trust Him enough to do the hard things He tells us to do even when we don't get why, even when it costs us something, even when it hurts. Honoring them is one way we honor Him.
Think: On a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being hardest), how hard is it for you to honor your parents, lately? What makes it hard? Why does it matter that we do it, anyway?
Pray: Ask God to help you to trust Him enough to honor your parents.
Do: Ask a parent or two how they think you're doing at honoring them. Then ask how they think they did at honoring their own parents. Be ready for an interesting conversation.
The Ten: A Day Off
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11)
Of the Ten Commandments, this one about the Sabbath is the only one, more or less, not explicitly restated in some way for New Testament Christians. If it were, the church would not have moved its primary day of group worship to Sunday and none of us would do any work on Saturdays.
Does that mean the commandment doesn't matter? Of course not. Each of God's Top Ten in Exodus 20 were important to Him and, therefore, important for Israel. God cares about the Sabbath. In fact, Jesus said that the Sabbath was created for us. It is a gift. Like all of the commands, God meant this one for Israel's good.
The word Sabbath means "rest," and we all need rest. God chose to rest after His work of creation. In that creation, He designed us to function best with a day of rest each week, as well. We're not meant to go 24/7 without a break. We're built to follow His pattern of 6 + 1 -- and for that one to involve focused worship of the Creator.
Ever since Jesus showed up, people have been debating about what, exactly, are the rules of the Sabbath. But our Christian freedom from the law of Moses doesn't mean we have to give up the benefits of the Sabbath command in some form or another. We can still enjoy a day off each week for God's glory and our own good.
Think: Do you or your family intentionally find a way to enjoy a day of rest each week? If not, what would it take for you to do so? What would it cost you? How would it benefit you and/or God?
Pray: Ask God to help you know how you should practice keeping a "day of rest and worship" each week.
Do: Ask some of the Christians you know and respect if, how, and why they practice a day of "Sabbath rest" each week.
The Ten: His Name Matters
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." (Exodus 20:7)
Before our son was born, my wife and I talked about all the different names we could give to him. Some of them were funny. Some were unusual. Some were traditional. We settled on Samuel, and now we can't imagine him with any other name. His name and his identity are connected. He is Sam. Sam he is.
God takes His own name very seriously. Throughout Scripture, He makes a huge deal about it. He is connected to His name, especially Yaweh, in a sense that goes beyond the connection we have to our own names. It is His identity, His reputation, and it carries His power.
So this command is a warning: If you disrespect God's name, you disrespect Him. How would you do that? You could borrow its power for lying ("I swear by God's name I didn't cheat on the test!") or -- in the ancient world, especially -- for certain ungodly spells or rituals.
But the most common way to misuse His name now is to use it as if it doesn't matter, at all, by cussing with it, joking with it, or "damning" people or things with it (even if you don't really mean it). The third commandment tells us that God takes that personally.
Think: Have you noticed yourself or other Christians using God's or Jesus' name disrespectfully? Why do you think so many of us seem to be okay with that?
Pray: Ask God to help you to never use His name inappropriately or disrespectfully.
Do: Notice how many times you hear people use God's or Jesus' names for swearing in the next few days.
The Ten: American Idols?
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)
The first two commandments tell us a lot about the ancient world -- and about God. During that era, it was normal for families, towns, and nations to pledge allegiance to a whole playlist of gods. In return for your worship (ceremonies, sacrifices, rituals), the hope was that those gods would pay you back with good crops, military victories, and lots of babies -- and keep bad things from happening to you.
God's commands told the Israelites that He wanted to be their one and only. He wanted them to turn to just one source for supernatural protection and blessing: Him. Period. That's it. No other gods. No man-made idols. He wanted all their hopes and fears focused on Him.
Too easy? No "house gods" in your joint? Wait: Paul later described something else as idol worship -- greed. (See Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5.) Greed could be defined as "making a goal out of getting more than you need." These commands just got a lot harder.
Think: Do we really believe God is the only source of everything we need and want? Do we put more effort into worshipping Him or serving jobs and relationships we think will "pay off" in more predictable ways?
Pray: Ask God to help you to notice if you've made an idol out of anything in your life. Ask Him to help you not to be greedy and to turn to Him for help with everything you need, want, and fear.
Do: Make a quick list: What, specifically, are the contestants and fans of shows like "American Idol" in danger of worshipping if they don't set all of their hopes on God?
The Ten: Why These Commands Matter
"And God spoke all these words: 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:1-3)
Why are the Ten Commandments so important to Christians? After all, they are the first part of the Law of Moses, and Jesus fulfilled that Law. Believers in Jesus are saved by grace, not by keeping the "ten words" of God to the Israelites.
But wait! Think about this for a minute. Is the New Testament "Christian" God different from the God of Israel? Not at all. God is God, and He does not change. More: Nine of the big ten in Exodus 20 are completely restated and reinforced by the inspired writers of the New Testament.
Maybe most importantly: God came before His chosen people and gave them these ten commands as the introduction to everything else He would tell them to do. These ten rules for living tells us an enormous amount about what our God is like, what He values, what He wants from us.
Number 1: He want to be your only god. (More tomorrow.)
Think: What value do you place on the Ten Commandments? Can you put too much emphasis on them? Can you put too little?
Pray: Thank God for giving these ten words to His people Israel and for revealing them to you. Ask Him to help you to never put any kind of god -- or anything else -- in His place in your life.
Do: Read through Exodus 20:1-21 to get ready to think about the Ten Commandments this week.
His Love is Stronger
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
Are you a list-maker? Do you love to itemize and bullet-point your way through homework assignments, top tens, and potential dates? The apostle Paul was a serious list-maker; you can see it all the way through his writing in the New Testament. And today's two verses might be my favorite of all his lists. (It would, at least, make the top three.)
Even better: His list is the Word of God. It is absolutely and unalterably true. These are, in fact, the things which canNOT separate us from the love of God that we experience through Jesus. The list could almost be summed up as "everything in all the universes combined."
Bottom line: There is nothing left for us to be afraid of. There is nothing left to worry about stealing us away from God's forever love for us. Nothing spiritual. Nothing physical. Nothing inside of us. Nothing outside of us. Nothing bigger. Nothing smaller. Nothing now. Nothing then.
God's love for us is stronger than all of it. As people in Christ, we will not ever be unloved, rejected, unwelcome, or turned away. He is now and will always be our Father.
Think: If you've ever worried that your salvation was not secure, that God's love for you could be lost, what did you think might somehow steal it away? Is that thing covered by Paul's list?
Pray: Thank God that nothing will ever separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Do: Write today's verse as a list wherever you normally write lists and find a way to look it over a few times during the next week.
Who Will Separate?
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' " (Romans 8:35-37)
Greeting cards and love songs have sucked all of the meaning out of words like "love" and "forever." We toss them around too easily and forget what they really mean. No matter how romantically it is delivered, very few of us really believe the phrase, "I will never stop loving you."
Paul wasn't being romantic. He wasn't writing a pop hit or a Valentine's Day card from Jesus. He was stating cold, hard fact: Jesus will not ever -- no never -- stop loving anyone who is in Christ, a Jesus-follower, a Christian.
The promise wasn't that nothing bad would ever happen. Just the opposite: Terrible things will happen in this life. Death. Torture. Disease. Hunger. No, the promise was that there is power -- eternal, life-giving power to keep trusting God -- that comes with the endless, unconditional, superglue love of Christ.
No matter how bad it gets, His love will give you the power to keep hoping, to keep believing and waiting and living for the Day.
Think: What's the value of being loved by the Son of God forever? Why does it matter?
Pray: Thank God that nothing will ever separate you from the love of Christ. Thank Him that you will be "more than a conquerer" through the One who loves you.
Do: Look up the word "conquer" in a dictionary and write down one of the definitions. Think about what it means to be more than a conqueror in terrible times.
Case Closed
"Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:33-34)
I've got a good friend right now waiting for a judge to make a decision that could change his whole life. The judge has to decide if my friend is telling the truth or if the other person is. He is listening to the accusations and defenses from both sides. What's at stake could impact my friend's life for years and years to come.
Paul is using the metaphor of a court of law here at the end of Romans 8. We were the ones on trial for our sin, and we know we've done things that someone could use to get us condemned. We have sinned. We were guilty.
But Paul wants us to hear loud and clear that the judge has already declared us NOT guilty. He already condemned Jesus to serve our sentence, to pay the price. Jesus has already died for us. The trial, conviction, and sentencing phases have all ended. The case is complete.
Even if the enemy comes back to accuse us of more sin, God has already ruled. And Jesus stands nearby, continually making the case for us: "I paid for that sin. And that one. You already ruled, Father. The case is over. The defendant is forgiven."
Think: Do you ever feel like you are the one accusing yourself to God, convinced that your sins are too big to be forgiven? Why is that attitude prideful? How does it make less of the price Jesus paid for our sin?
Pray: Thank God for justifying you. Thank Him that Jesus is at His right hand interceding for you.
Do: Next time you see a court case on TV, remember that God has already declared you forgiven.
God is For You
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32)
How can God love me after all the gross stuff I've done? And He's got to know how much I want to do even grosser stuff, right? Can He really look past all of that? And if He does love me so much, why did that terrible thing just happen? Couldn't He have stopped it? Is He punishing me? Is He mad at me? And if He has a plan for my life, why don't I have a clue what to do next?
Those are all important questions, but Paul wants us to set them aside long enough to understand one bottom-line answer:
God is for you. And He proved it when He traded Jesus' life for yours.
God is for you, and He will give you everything you need -- and much, much more. You can trust Him.
Think: Are you completely convinced that God is for you? Are you convinced that He will give you everything you need and many things you really really want?
Pray: Thank God that He is for you and will graciously give you all things. Ask Him to help you to be more and more convinced of that.
Do: Write down three of your hardest questions about your relationship with God, then write down this statement under each of them: "God is for me."
God Wrote You In
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30)
I've got a request: If these verses makes you feel inclined to jump into a debate about predestination and election and free will, don't. Set the point/counterpoint aside this time and try to think about the implications of what Paul is saying in the context of this passage. He wants us to feel comforted, reassured, shocked by God's involvement in our lives since before we were born.
As Christians, we are the children of God. We have a share in the riches of eternity. Our life now includes pain, suffering, groaning, but we are also buoyed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. God is with us, listening to us, and He is at work in all things -- even the hard things -- for our good. Our future with Him is secure.
How do we know? Because, mysteriously, long before we showed up God had already planned for us to follow the path of Jesus all the way to its conclusion in eternity. We will be like Christ. God is doing it, has done it, and He will not stop. Our hope is in exactly the right place when our hope is in being with God forever.
Think: Are you comforted by realizing that God is at work in you right now and that He will absolutely finish what He has started? What is the value of being called by God to follow the path of Jesus?
Pray: Thank God that, as a Christian, His plan for you started before you could mess it up and doesn't end until you are like Jesus.
Do: Look forward to being glorified with Jesus for eternity.
In All Things
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
It's too easy to use this verse as a force field we put up to keep ourselves from feeling other people's pain. "I'm sorry that happened to you, but it's good to know that God has a purpose for it. It will all make sense in the end. Call me!"
But Paul didn't write it in a Hallmark sympathy card. He wrote it immediately after admitting that even Christians still groan on this planet in frustration and pain. He wrote it after acknowledging that we don't yet have what we're hoping for. He wrote it after showing that God's Spirit groans with us, making our case to God because we just don't have the words.
Then he explains his reasons for confidence in the God who lets him hurt for now: The God who loves us is up to something bigger than this temporary agony. He is working -- even in the hard things -- for the good of people who love Him, people He has called to participate in His plan for the universe.
In a sense, our painful circumstances matter because God is working in them; our suffering fits somewhere. It is not pointless. It is not anonymous. It is not overlooked. It's part of the story He is telling.
Think: Do you ever get tired of people quoting this verse when terrible things happen? Do you believe it, that God really is working through your hard circumstances to do good for those who love Him and are called to serve His purpose?
Pray: Thank God that in all things He does, in fact, work for the good of those who love Him and are called for His purpose.
Do: Make a quick list of some of the hard things in your life. Think about how they fit into this promise.
The Spirit Groans
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Romans 8:26)
We ended last's weeks devo's on a kind of down -- but honest -- note: We will experience frustration and pain until the Day that we finally stand in God's presence in eternity. For now, we wait and hope.
But we do not wait alone. And we do not struggle on in our own puny weakness. Nothing is the same as it was before we knew Jesus. We'll keep reading Romans 8 this week and notice how God has turned our lives inside out, how He provides everything we need as we look forward to the Day.
For starters, the Spirit talks to the Father for us. All of creation groans. We groan. And the Spirit groans for us, making the case for us, making up for the fact that we don't know the words or how to say them. It's as if God has installed Himself in our hearts to send Himself messages from us about exactly what we need. (Kind of.)
Think: Have you ever felt frustrated because you didn't know how to pray, what to say to God about your circumstances? Does knowing that the Spirit intercedes for us in those moments help?
Pray: Thank God that the Spirit intercedes for you with groans that words can't express, even when you don't how to pray.
Do: Pay attention to your prayers this week and believe that when you run out of the right words the Spirit is communicating exactly the right things to God.
Waiting for the Day
"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Romans 8:24-25)
Now comes the hard part. Let's say that you have bought into Paul's argument: Our only hope of ever experiencing true satisfaction, ultimate completeness, is to be with God in person. We have the promise of that. We have been made God's children. But we're still waiting for the end of the story, "the redemption of our bodies."
Until then, we will live with the pain and groaning of life on a fallen planet -- even with the peace, joy, and comfort provided by God's Spirit -- while we wait for that Day to finally get here.
Paul says we "wait for it patiently." Sometimes, though, we lose patience, don't we? We flirt with other things to hope in, good and bad things that might promise satisfaction sooner, easier, cheaper (like sexual immorality, personal achievement, laughter, money, etc.). But they all let us down eventually.
Then we're back to this: "Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:13)
Think: Are you waiting patiently with your hope set fully on that Day? What false hopes are most likely to attract and distract you from the one true hope?
Pray: Ask God to help you to set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Do: Make a quick list of false hopes that have disappointed you by leaving you empty because you expected too much of them.
Hoping for What We Don’t Have
"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" (Romans 8:24)
Somebody said, "Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope." Hope isn't optional. Human beings cannot exist without it.
So the question is, what are we putting our hope in? Paul this week has revealed that his hope -- a Christian's hope -- is for one thing and one thing only: the day of the Lord, the day when the "sons of God will be revealed," the day everything will be put back the way it was meant to be from the beginning.
Until that day, we live on hope. Careful: We don't live on wishes. We don't live on maybes. Hope is all about being confident that something will happen. We know our Father will come and get us.
Until then, we'll live with joy and groaning, peace and pain, and keep hoping in the day we will see our "Abba" face to face.
Think: How would you define this kind of hope in your own words? Why can't we just exist without something to hope in? What happens when we try?
Pray: Thank God for giving you the hope of an eternity with Him as your Father. Ask Him to help you to live for that hope.
Do: Read how hope fits into the definition of faith given in Hebrews 11:1.
Why Does Life Still Hurt?
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:22-23)
Huge idea here: Christians aren't complete. Sometimes we mislead people, I think, when we talk about the God-shaped hole inside of each of us. We imply that when someone becomes a Christian, that hole gets filled up and we never feel empty again.
I don't think that's true. Paul here clearly says that we Christians "groan inwardly" -- just like the frustrated creation all around us that is experiencing intense pain similar to a woman giving birth. That doesn't sound to me like people who are always perfectly satisfied in this life.
It is true that God has saved us, that our God-shaped hole has been filled with His Spirit as a deposit, as a source of comfort, joy, hope, love, and peace. It's true that we have access to a whole new level of happiness as we live in God's will. But it is also true that we will never be fully complete and satisfied until we are with God in person, face to face.
That's what Paul means when he mentions the "redemption of our bodies." We were created to be with God, and we will be fully complete when He wipes every tear from our eyes and declares that His dwelling is now with us forever.
Think: Have you ever thought there was something wrong with you as a Christian because you still feel something like an inner "groaning," like something is missing? Does this passage help you to understand that groaning won't be all the way gone until we are all the way home with our Father?
Pray: Thank God that one day you will be with Him in person forever and the groaning will stop.
Do: Read about that moment in Revelation 21:1-5.
Creation Frustrated
"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:19-21)
"Meaningless, meaningless." That's how Solomon described his view of life "under the sun" over and over again in the book of Ecclesiastes. And he's not the only one to feel that way. All of creation feels that frustration, that sense that the world is broken, than something is missing, that true satisfaction is just out of reach.
It's not creation's fault. God did it. When He cursed Adam and Eve, His curse extended to the creation they were to subdue and manage. The whole created world started to experience pain, obstacle, disease, decay, and death as part of His judgement.
The good news -- literally -- is that all of this meaninglessness will end. When Christ returns, all of God's children will be revealed as GOD'S CHILDREN. The creation can't wait. That will be its independence day, too. God's kids and God's world will finally be free.
Think: What would you imagine are some of the ways the creation experiences frustration? What would it look like for creation to be free from those frustrations?
Pray: Thank God that one day you will experience the freedom of being one of the children of God -- and that creation will be freed on that day, too.
Do: Think about this idea as you listen to ideas -- pro and con -- about environmentalism.
Suffering v. Glory: No Contest
Everybody suffers. Or hurts. Or struggles. You can use whatever word you want, but the experience of pain -- physical and emotional -- is universal.
Jesus suffered for our sins on the cross, but He also suffered through all the painful parts of living a regular human life -- just as we do.
Does the fact that everybody suffers in life make it okay? Does the fact that death and mourning and sorrow and pain are normal make that okay? We're going to see this week that it does not.
Here's the deal, though: As great as the pain of this life is, it won't even be worth talking about once you step over the threshold of heaven and take your place there as a child of the King. The glory of that eternal moment, we're promised, will make the enormous pain of this short life meaningless by comparison.
Think: Do you tend to think of hard times in this life as normal? What do you imagine the glory of living for eternity as a child of God will be like?
Pray: Thank God that your current sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed in you as God's child.
Do: Read Colossians 3:1-4 and try to practice it today.
God’s Kids
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:16-17)There are still places -- maybe your town is one of them -- where belonging to the right family has its benefits. To have that name brings with it status, privileges, and often a whole lot of money. To be from the wrong family, the wrong part of town, means you're not getting in certain doors. You'll have to make your own way the hard way.
Romans is written into a world that understood the value of belonging to the right family. Far more so than now, even, you were likely to carry your family's status with you for your entire life.
What family could have more status -- then and now -- than the family of the God of the universe? What name could open more doors than His? What family fortune could ever be larger than God's family fortune? And as His children we have a share in it -- right along with Jesus!
(Tune in tomorrow to hear about the suffering.)
Think: Do you sense that God's Spirit is testifying with yours that you are God's child? Are you comfortable with the idea of belonging in His family? Do you feel any security in knowing that you are a co-heir with Christ to God's unmeasurable, eternal glory?
Pray: Thank God that as a Christian you have been included in His family and promised a share in your family's eternal glory.
Do: Two or three times this week, try to bring up in conversation (at church, at home, wherever) that you are in God's family.
Call Him Father
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' " (Romans 8:15)What does it mean to you to be God's child, to be able to legitimately call Him your father? Too often, Christianity is presented as a contract between a person and God: "Just sign here, here, and here, and all your sins will be forgiven and you can go to heaven when you die."
It's much more personal to God than that. He's not selling something we need. He's not looking for buyers. He's looking for children. He has given us the "Spirit of sonship," which could also be read as the "Spirit of adoption." He's looking to fill His family with lost kids by making them His kids.
Aside from Jesus, God has no biological children. Some of us may have grown up in the church nursery, but we were not born into God's family just by being born. We had to be adopted to become a child of God. And once we were in the family, He gave us the right to call Him "daddy."
Think: What does it mean to you to know that God is your Father, that He has adopted you into His family? What is the value of that? Can Christianity work without the idea of God as Father?
Pray: Thank God for giving you the spirit of adoption and inviting you to call Him "Abba, Father."
Do: Read this great quote from J.I. Packer's book Knowing God:
If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. "Father" is the Christian name for God. … Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption. (pp. 201—202)
Why We Sin: We Skip the Chicken Exit
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)Have you seen this? One of the amusement parks I used to go to had this enormous roller coaster. It was so popular, you could stand in line for an hour or more just waiting to get on the thing. And if you were nervous about the ride and the screaming and the upside-downness and the throwing up, you spent that whole time in line just getting more and more scared.
At the very end of the line, though, just before you got on the ride, they had a little gate called a "chicken exit." It was the way to get out if you just couldn't do it. You had to swallow your pride -- and I never did it -- but it was there.
Today's verse is a powerful promise that God always provides a "chicken exit" when we're tempted to sin. Except it would be better to call it a "courage exit." It's a way out of the line leading toward the sin you've been contemplating before you actually get on the ride. It's a gate, an escape, provided by the Creator of all things as a one-last chance gift to avoid the painful consequences of sin.
Next time, man up and take the chicken exit. The ride isn't worth what it costs.
Think: Have you ever experienced an unexpected "way out" of a sin that you were prepared to go through with? What does it mean to you that God promises not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear?
Pray: Thank God that you will never face a temptation that is stronger than you are in His power. Ask Him for the courage and faith to take His "way out" of temptation when you see it.
Do: This verse can be fascinating to talk about with a group of close Christian friends. Next time you're hanging out, bring up this promise from God that He provides a way out of temptation and ask if anyone has ever seen this happen. You might be surprised.
Why We Sin: We Forget Shame
"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:7-8)"We're naked!" That's the response of the first couple after committing the first human sin. They took the bite expecting to find wisdom, knowledge, something God had been keeping from them. Instead, they found shame. They hoped for freedom and power and instead found themselves running in fear.
The sting of the serpent's tempting lies was hidden in the truthful part of what he'd said. Their eyes were opened. They did learn about good and evil -- by doing evil. But they did not become like God. Instead, they became much less than they had been: innocent, closely connected to their creator, shameless.
I think everyone reading these words has felt the shame of being caught in sin -- or even of thinking about being caught in sin. It's a sick, sinking feeling. It's a trapped feeling. You want to hide, get away, escape, just like Eve and Adam tried to do. You want to be away from God instead of close to the one who made you, the source of your life, healing, and hope.
The point of remembering that feeling isn't to keep feeling guilty for sin God has already forgiven. The point of remembering is to a) want really badly not to feel it again and b) be really glad that God has forgiven you because of Jesus.
Think: Do you think shame can sometimes be an appropriate thing to feel? Why do you think some people want to tell us that feeling ashamed is always a bad thing? How do you avoid wallowing in false guilt for sins that God has already forgiven?
Pray: Thank God for forgiving all of your sin through your faith in Jesus, including the sins you felt most ashamed of. Ask Him to help you to keep from wanting to go back to the sins that made you feel that way in the first place.
Do: Read what Paul wrote about sin, sorrow, repentance, and regret in 2 Corinthians 7:10.
Why We Sin: Because She Did
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6)We've been tracking with Eve's temptation all week, but why did Adam sin? Why did he eat from the one tree out of all those others in the paradise garden of Eden that God put on the "no" list? And if he was there with Eve the whole time listening in on her conversation with the serpent, why didn't he say anything?
Much has been made of The Silence of Adam in this tragic moment, and there are warnings here for men about our role as husbands and spiritual leaders. But there's a wider warning for all of us followers about why we sin. We sin because someone else did.
It's a human tendency. We designate certain people in our lives to do our thinking and feeling for us. We refuse to take responsibility for our own choices. If she does it, then I'm doing it, too. If he says "no," I'm out. Honestly, it's much easier to delegate all of our spiritual decisions to other people, which is probably why so many lazy Christians live that way.
But we don't get any credit with God for farming out our conscience; we still face the consequences for our sinful choices.
Think: How much more likely are you to make a sinful choice if your closest friend makes that choice first? What can you do to make sure that you're not mindlessly following anyone else's choices to disobey God?
Pray: Ask God to help you to follow Him more closely than you follow anyone else, especially when it comes to choices about obeying Him.
Do: Read Jesus' harsh words for those who use their influence to lead children into sin in Matthew 18:5-6.
Why We Sin: It Looks Good!
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6)Even when you know it's coming, this verse still hurts. Up until this moment, Eve and then Adam could have turned back, could have decided to trust God instead of the lie forming in their own hears.
Did you noticed the two motives we're given for Eve's choice to disobey God?
One, the fruit looked good. I like this quote from David Paul Tripp: "Sin lives in a costume; that's why it's so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party."
Second, she believed there was a good for her that didn't come from God. She decided that forbidden fruit held some benefit (wisdom!) that could not be found on the path of God, in obedience to Him. But no such good exists. The only truly good things in life come from Him -- or don't come, at all.
Think: How often have you chosen sin because the package it was wrapped in looked so good? How often have you believed that some good thing was waiting for you outside of the will of God? How can we avoid falling into these traps again?
Pray: Ask God to help you to see through the costume beauty of sin to the ugliness underneath. Ask also that He will help you to be convinced that no good thing exists for you outside of His will.
Do: Read James' take on the birth of sin and God's gifts of goodness in James 1:13-18.
Why We Sin: The “God Can’t Be Trusted” Lie
" 'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' " (Genesis 3:4-5)Once he has lured Eve into a conversation about God's command, the serpent becomes more bold, directly challenging the truthfulness of God's words. God said to Adam, "You WILL surely die." The serpent said, "You will NOT surely die."
The choice to give into temptation and sin often involves doubts about God's character. Does He really love me? Is He really powerful? Is it possible He's just wrong? If you or a friend or the Liar can talk you into questioning God's goodness, love, or power, you're much more likely to take the next step into testing God by disobeying Him.
With the germ of doubt about God's rightness planted in Eve's mind, the serpent challenged God's motives: "He knows this experience will liberate you and make you like Him. He wants to keep that power -- knowing good and evil -- for Himself." Translation: God is selfish, and He doesn't love you.
Satan and his followers have been telling the same lie ever since.
Think: Have you ever justified sin by questioning God's goodness, love, or power? Have you ever used painful circumstances in your life to convince yourself God didn't deserve your obedience if He would allow that bad thing to happen to you? What's wrong with that thinking?
Pray: Ask God to help you to be absolutely convinced of His integrity, His power, and His love for you proven in the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin and the promise of eternity with Him.
Do: People challenge God's goodness, power, and love all the time these days. Listen for those challenges in your world this week.
Why We Sin: Don’t Touch!
"The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." ' " (Genesis 3:2-3)Eve's answer to the serpent's obvious lie about God's command brings us to Day 2 of our clue-mining for reasons why we humans are so easy to tempt, so ready to fall into sin. And Eve's answer seems pretty good. She sets the record straight on what God really said -- until you look a little closer.
Eve added a phrase to the command: "You must not touch it." How did she come up with that? Why did she "improve" on God's order not to eat the fruit with a further directive not to touch it? We don't know, but it seems reasonable, right? Why touch a fruit you must never eat? It's not a bad thing to stay a step back from the edge. It was probably a really good idea not to touch the fruit, but it wasn't God's command.
The problem with adding to God's Words is that it's another lie. God gives us commands as a gift; what He tells us to do (or not do) reveals His best intention for us. His directions reveal His character. To add to them distorts our understanding of Him -- and it's our (wrong) perception of His character that we often end up rebelling against.
So, first the snake lied to Eve about God's command -- and then Eve lied to herself about it.
Think: Have you ever noticed anyone in your life adding extra rules to what God has actually commanded in Scripture? Do you ever do that yourself? How can you keep those man-made rules from distorting your understanding of who God really is?
Pray: Thank God for the commands He has given to you in His Word. Ask Him to help you to keep from adding anything to His commands, even with good intentions.
Do: Read what Paul said about religious man-made rules in Colossians 2:20-23.
Why We Sin: Did God Really Say?
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?' "(Genesis 3:1)For the next week or so, we're going to live in the excruciating moments leading up to the first sinful human action ever. What we'll be looking for are clues to why we're all such natural born suckers when it comes to sin and temptation -- why we're so easy to lie to, so willing to participate with the Liar in our own destruction.
Here's the first clue: The Liar invites us into a conversation with temptation with an obvious lie. (He's a liar, remember.) Of course, God did not say Adam and Eve couldn't eat from any of the trees -- and, of course, Eve knew that. Here's what God did say: "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (2:16-17)
This would be like starting a temptation about sex with, "Did God really say you should never hold hands with someone?" Or starting a temptation to disobey your parents with, "Did God really say you have to obey every adult who tells you to do something?" Our response is likely to be quick, corrective, and curious. And before you know it, we're in a dangerous conversation about exactly where the line of sin is.
Think: Have you ever been lured into unhelpful thinking by your reaction to an obvious distortion of the truth? What can we do to make sure we're not being deceived when confronted with a big idea about God's Word that is obviously wrong?
Pray: Ask God to help you to overcome temptation to sin. Ask Him to help you to be aware and careful when someone uses an obvious lie to get you engaged in thinking about a sin that tempts you.
Do: As we work through Eve's temptation this week, notice in your own life what kinds of temptation are most effective at tripping you up.
More Every Day?
"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)We've spent this last week looking at a snapshot of what the early New Testament church was like. We've seen what it meant to these brand new Christians to "do church." It's helpful to notice what church was like for them, because they were the first ones to be the church (at least in the way we think of it), and they received all their instructions directly from Jesus' apostles.
I'm sure there are things you like -- and don't -- about your own church. I'd guess the Christians in your church are like these first "churchies" in some ways and not in others. Every church could learn from their commitment to and enjoyment of each other -- all while following after Jesus.
The last thing we notice in today's verse is that people were being saved and joining them every single day. What if that happened in your church? Would people be surprised, excited, confused, upset? Is it something your community is hoping for?
God wants to bring people into relationship with Him through Jesus. And He can do that through your local church. Do you expect that He will? Have you asked Him to help make it happen?
Think: Would you guess that someone gets saved every day through the ministries or relationships of people in your church? Is that a realistic goal? What expectations do you think most of the people in your church have for seeing new people become Christians and become part of your church family?
Pray: Thank God that He is active in working through the church to reach out to lost people right now. Ask Him to help your church to be a place where people get saved and grow in Christ.
Do: Ask your youth leader or someone else in leadership in your church what they expect or hope for in terms of new people getting saved and becoming part of your church family.
So Happy Together?
"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." (Acts 2:46-47)A few more things about these first New Testament churchies:
They hung out every day. They met at the temple courts and went to each others' houses. They just liked spending time together. Remember, they had something in common -- they were all excited about belonging to God through faith in Jesus.
They did a lot of eating, both for what we call "the Lord's Supper" and for, you know, lunch and snacks and dinner. Eating together was a big part of being a (big) family together. When you have a choice, you tend to eat with the people you care most about.
They were happy, with "glad and sincere hearts."
They praised God together -- and probably not just during the "worship service."
Everyone liked them. At first, these new Christians were popular in the community. And why not? Who doesn't like to be around glad, sincere people that love to spend time together eating and praising God? It's no wonder they enjoyed the "favor of all the people" for a while.
Think: Would you say that the Christians in your church like to hang out together more than once or twice a week? Like to eat together? Are mostly glad and sincere? Praise God together? Are well-liked in your community?
Pray: Ask God to help you to help to enjoy being connected to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do: Make a point to notice during this next week how much time you spend with other Christian, how much you enjoy it, and how that impacts those outside of the church.
