Devotions

De·vo·tions: an act of religious observance or prayer, especially when private. Often used in the plural. Posts in this category pertain to my observations and commentary regarding Bible study and devotions.

2009Fri02Jan

OYB 2009: 02 January

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Today´s Reading:

Genesis 3:1-4:26 ◊ Matthew 2:13-3:6 ◊ Psalm 2:1-12 ◊ Proverbs 1:7-9

God's Promises - OT:

And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

God spoke these words to the Serpent (Satan) after Adam and Eve sinned, prompted by the Serpent's deception. With these words, God is foretelling the coming and redeeming work of the Messiah: His promise of man's salvation.

One Year Bible Blog

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today, which asks:

What is your reaction to reading about The Fall in Genesis today? Is it painful to read about The Fall after reading about The Creation yesterday? If Satan was able to deceive Adam & Eve back then, do you think he still deceives people today? What is our remedy from the lies and deception Satan might throw our way? Do you believe reading and studying God's Word on a daily basis might be one remedy? What are some other remedies? (prayer, going to church, being in a small community group with others, etc.?) Do you believe Jesus has saved us from The Fall? Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?

My reaction to the fall is that it was inevitable, and that I am grateful that God instituted His plan for salvation even from the very beginning. It isn't terribly painful to read about the fall after reading yesterday about the perfection of creation, because, except for man, creation was not made in God's image. Creation even before the Fall was but a glimpse of what eternity will be like. That we now live in a fallen world is merely a further reminder of that for which we hope.

Satan absolutely deceives people still today. The best - and only - remedy was given to us in yesterday's reading: delight in and meditation upon God's Law. All else springs from this foundation. It is not the action of studying God's Word (or anything else, such as prayer, church attendance, relationships, etc.), but rather an attitude of desire to please God and to follow His Law that enables us to master the sin that crouches at the door.

2009Thu01Jan

OYB 2009: 01 January

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Today´s Reading:

Genesis 1:1-2:25 ◊ Matthew 1:1-2:12 ◊ Psalm 1:1-6 ◊ Proverbs 1:1-6

God's Promises - OT:

¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ 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."

Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)

Not all of God's promises seem pleasing to us. For example, the very first promise made by God introduces man to the concept of morality and the consequences for acting outside of God's established moral law.

God gives man every good and perfect thing to meet his every need, but this man who was created as a physically mature adult came into being also as a spiritually immature infant. In the midst of this perfect setting, God presents man with a choice, in order both to begin his moral training and also to demonstrate that man cannot meet God's moral standard on his own.

Adam does not understand the consequence of violating this first boundary given by God. He believes God to be referring to physical death, while in reality God is referring to spiritual death. This misunderstanding facilitates Adam's later deception.

God's Promises - NT:

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:20-21 (NIV)

The promise given here is delivered by an angel of the Lord to Joseph, but it is God's promise to man that Jesus was to be the Christ (Messiah: the Anointed One), God come to earth as man (Emmanuel), to save man from sin (Jesus).

God's Promises - Psalms/Proverbs:

¹ Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

What a beautiful promise to us! When we delight not in sin but in God's law - when we meditate not on the things of the world, but on God's law - God promises that we will be strong, fruitful, healthy, and prosperous in all that we do.

It is as if each one of us is presented with that same choice given to Adam in the garden: delight in God's law, and enjoy the fruits of our fellowship with God and the right to eat from the tree of life; or delight in the world, and suffer the consequences of broken fellowship with God. (The passage goes on further to promise that this latter choice will not prevail, and that those who make the latter choice will suffer for it.)

But even in our fallen state, we still have this promise of strength, fruitfulness, health, and prosperity when we delight in and meditate upon God's Law. Note that these verses do not say "follow God's Law perfectly" (for we are unable to do so), but rather to delight in and meditate on God's Law. God is concerned primarily with our heart: our attitude, our willingness to subject our free will to the desire to be obedient to God.

One Year Bible Blog

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2008Sun06Apr

Boundaries and Stress Relief

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At this weekend's church service, the pastor started a new series on stress relief. This week's message was titled "Breathing Room" and focused on identifying, establishing, and maintaining healthy boundaries in our relationships. The message borrowed heavily from Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries series, including some video messages available on their website.

The message covered a lot of ground, but initially addressed the concept of boundaries and having a compliant or controlling nature - that is, those who have a compliant nature tend to allow their boundaries to be tresspassed by others and those who have a controlling nature tend to tresspass others' boundaries. As the pastor began discussing these concepts, I was reminded of Steven Covey's principle of our Circles of Influence Concern. I thought that concept analogous to what the pastor was explaining, with influence and concern on one hand, and responsibility and authority on the other.

Here's what I mean:

Each one of us has some amount of responsibility, which can be envisioned much like Covey's Circle of Concern. For this example, we can treat this Circle of Responsibility as a fixed area - that is to say, at any given point in time, our area or amount of responsibility is a fixed, or unchanging, quantity.

Each of us also exerts some amount of authority, which can be envisioned much like Covey's Circle of Influence. Unlike our Circle of Responsibility, our Circle of Authority is variable. We choose the extent to which we exert our authority.

Consider the following diagrams:

Authority-Responsibility Balance Diagrams

The first diagram represents balanced boundaries: the circles of responsibility and authority encompass the same area. Such a person exerts his authority commensurately with his area of responsibility.
The second diagram represents compliant character: the circle of authority encompasses a lesser area than the circle of responsibility. Such a person allows others to exert their authority within his own area of responsibility.
The third diagram represents controlling character: the circle of authority encompasses a greater area than the circle of responsibility. Such a person exerts his authority beyond his own area of responsibility and into others' areas of responsibility.

It is important to realize that these boundaries do not exist in a vacuum. A controlling character cannot exert authority outside of his area of responsibility in the absence of a compliant character into whose area of responsibility he can exert that authority - and vice versa. In other words, these concepts are meaningless outside of the context of relationship. Likewise, it is the relationship between two people that experiences stress as a result of such a trespass of boundaries:

Relational Stress Caused by Boundary Trespass

The stress exists in the overlap of the controlling character's authority and the compliant character's area of responsibility.

Herein lies the point, for those experiencing stress induced by lack of healthy relational boundaries: identify either compliant or controlling character - or both - in your relationships, and then make the necessary changes to ensure that you are exerting your authority in balance with your responsibility.

As Pastor Ron emphasized in the sermon this morning, learning to exert authority is often as simple as learning when to say "yes" and when to say "no" with respect to the expenditure of your time, effort, and resources. Discipline yourself to establish healthy boundaries in your relationships by balancing your area of responsibility with the exertion of your authority, and you will find that those relationships will be come much less stressful, and much healthier themselves.

2007Mon21May

OYB May 21

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 29-31
NT: John 11:55-57, John 12:1-12
Ps: Psalm 118:1-18
Pr: Proverbs 15:24-26

Gospel Thread - OT:

No direct gospel references in today's OT reading.

Gospel Thread - NT:

¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" ¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, ¹⁵ "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt." ¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

John 12:13-16 (NIV)

Per the NIV footnotes, see Psalm 118:25-26 and Zechariah 9:9.

Gospel Thread - Psalms/Proverbs:

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Psalm 118:14 (NIV)

This chapter will more directly relate to Messiah as it continues.

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Sun20May

OYB May 20

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 26-28
NT: John 11:1-54
Ps: Psalm 117
Pr: Proverbs 15:22-23

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Sat19May

OYB May 19

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 24-25
NT: John 10:22-42
Ps: Psalm 116
Pr: Proverbs 15:20-21

Gospel Thread - OT, NT, Psalms/Proverbs:

There are some gospel references in today's readings, but I am too exhausted to type them today...

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Fri18May

OYB May 18

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 22-23
NT: John 10:1-21
Ps: Psalm 115
Pr: Proverbs 15:18-19

Gospel Thread - OT:

No direct gospel reference in today's OT reading.

Gospel Thread - NT:

¹⁴ "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

John 10:14-18 (NIV)

Jesus' metaphor speaks for itself.

Gospel Thread - Psalms/Proverbs:

No direct gospel reference in today's Psalms/Proverbs reading.

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Thu17May

OYB May 17

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 20-21
NT: John 9
Ps: Psalm 113-114
Pr: Proverbs 15:15-17

Gospel Thread - OT:

No direct gospel reference in today's OT reading.

Gospel Thread - NT:

⁴ "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

John 9:4-5 (NIV)

Gospel Thread - Psalms/Proverbs:

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

Psalm 113:3 (NIV)

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Wed16May

OYB May 16

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 18:5-30, I Samuel 19
NT: John 8:31-59
Ps: Psalm 112
Pr: Proverbs 15:12-14

Gospel Thread - OT:

No direct gospel reference in today's OT reading.

Gospel Thread - NT:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

John 8:56 (NIV)

Abraham knew that God's Promise to him would be completed and perfected in a coming Messiah. That Abraham "saw" Jesus' day means, in part, that Abraham had faith in that Messiah - evidenced by his gladness. Indeed, Jesus is that Messiah - the fulfillment of God's Promise and the perfection of His Law; the means of our redemption and the source of our salvation.

Gospel Thread - Psalms/Proverbs:

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

Psalm 112:4 (NIV)

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.

2007Tue15May

OYB May 15

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Today´s reading:
OT: I Samuel 17, I Samuel 18:1-4
NT: John 8:21-30
Ps: Psalm 111
Pr: Proverbs 15:11

Gospel Thread - OT:

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

I Samuel 17:45-47 (NIV)

This response reveals David's character, and demonstrates why he - rather than Saul - is the type of person God would choose to be king of His people and the type of person God considers to be after His own heart. David demonstrates utmost faith in and reliance upon God, and desires to glorify God for the outcome of his circumstance. This faith is saving faith: understanding and confession that God provides the one and only way.

Gospel Thread - NT:

But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

John 8:23 (NIV)

Jesus was not just a "good man" or a prophet. As C.S. Lewis explains so succinctly in Mere Christianity, Jesus leaves no option available other than that he was a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord that He claimed to be. He cannot be a "good man" and a liar, just as he cannot be a prophet and a lunatic. He left the choice concerning him with no other options in order to force us either to accept him, or to reject him - he left no room for middle ground, for a non-decision.

Gospel Thread - Psalms/Proverbs:

He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name.

Psalm 111:9 (NIV)

The One Year Bible Blog´s comments for today.