The Most Liberating Discovery

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1)

No one had ever taught me that God is glorified by our joy in him — that joy in God is the very thing that makes our praise an honor to God, and not hypocrisy.

But Jonathan Edwards said it so clearly and powerfully:

God glorifies himself towards the creatures also [in] two ways: (1) by appearing to . . . their understanding; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. . . . God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . .

[W]hen those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it. . . . He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

This was a stunning discovery for me. I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship. Indeed the very essence of worship — being glad in the glories of God.

We have a name for those who speak their praises of God when they have no pleasure in what they praise. We call them hypocrites. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me’” (Matthew 15:7–8). This fact — that authentic praise means consummate pleasure and that the highest end of man is to drink deeply of this pleasure for God’s glory — was perhaps the most liberating discovery I have ever made.

John Piper 

What is God’s secret motive?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Satan is a clever liar. In fact, many of his lies sound like the truth. Jesus Himself said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

He plays with our minds to confuse us, lying about the biggest subject of all – God. If he can deceive and distort your idea of God, then he has you in everything else.

Satan doesn’t deny the existence of God; he’s too clever for that. But he wants you to think of God as cruel, harsh and severe, filling your mind with negative thoughts, seeing God as some a cosmic killjoy.

The opposite is true.

Every time God says, 'Thou shalt not,” He's just saying, “Don't hurt yourself.” Every time God says, “Thou shalt,” He's saying, “Help yourself to happiness.”

Poet Ralph W. Seager has written in “The Extravagance of God,”

“More sky than man can see, 

More seas than man can sail, 

More sun than he can bear to watch, 

More stars than he can scale, 

More breath than he can breathe, 

More yield than he can sow, 

More grace than he can comprehend, 

More love than he can know.”

ACTION POINT:

If it will make you healthy, happy, holy, or wholesome, God says, “Help yourself, My child. I love you.” Meditate on these verses today: “The Lord thy God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk up rightly” (Psalm 84:11). “God giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Make War with Unbelief

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

John Piper 

Do these things embarrass you?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Psalm 25:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever been in a conversation where the name of Jesus is brought up and somebody wants to change the subject? It’s just like switching channels on a TV. And some of them claim to be Christians. They don't want to carry a Bible in public. They're embarrassed to talk about the Lord. Some people get embarrassed in a restaurant if you bow your head and mention Jesus as you ask His blessing. They rub their eyebrows or forehead when you pray.

Have you ever asked yourself why they’re ashamed? I think it is because they don’t know what they’re missing in Jesus. You see, salvation is a wonderful gift. God sent His Son to die for us. He rose from the grave for us. He ascended into heaven for us. He’s coming again for us! How can we be ashamed of this?

ACTION POINT:

Next time you go to a restaurant, let your prayer of blessing turn into an evangelistic opportunity with your unsaved friend.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Brokenness Made Beautiful

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:11-22

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. - Colossians 2:6-15

18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

22 Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.'

24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'

26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness." - Acts 3:18-26

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. - Romans 7:24-25

Our Good Is His Glory

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

John Piper 

When will you stop trying?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

John G. Patton was a Bible translator in the South Sea Islands. While translating, he came to the word “believe” and searched for a word that the native people could truly understand. He wanted something that meant commitment and trust, but he couldn’t think of a word. Then one day, a messenger rushed into Mr. Patton’s room out of breath. Needing to rest, he flung himself into a big chair and leaned back in complete relaxation. Patton asked the native for a word to describe what he did when he sat down and completely trusted in the chair to hold him so he could relax. That’s the word Patton used for “believe.”

When a person quits trying and begins to trust the Lord Jesus, that’s “belief.”

ACTION POINT:

Who have you been sharing Christ with that hasn’t yet been saved? Ask God to give you a word that will break through the barriers and bring salvation to this person.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Power of a Superior Promise

I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:45, my translation)

An essential element of joy is freedom. None of us would be happy if we were not free from what we hate and free for what we love.

And where do we find true freedom? Psalm 119:45 says, “I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts.”

The picture is one of open spaces. The word frees us from smallness of mind. “God gave Solomon . . . breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29). The word frees us from threatening confinements. “He brought me out into a broad place” (Psalm 18:19).

Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The freedom he has in mind is freedom from the slavery of sin (John 8:34). Or, to put it positively, it is freedom for holiness.

The promises of God’s grace provide the power that makes the demands of God’s holiness an experience of freedom rather than fear and confinement. Peter described the freeing power of God’s promises like this: “Through [his precious and very great promises] you become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4).

In other words, when we trust the promises of God, we sever the root of corruption and sinful desire by the power of a superior promise.

How crucial is the word that breaks the power of counterfeit pleasures! And how vigilant we should be to light our paths and load our hearts with the word of God!

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

John Piper 

Will you ever be good enough?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Titus 3:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We’ve got to quit trying to be saved by doing good things or being a moral person or even by keeping the Ten Commandments.

If you extracted from every person on earth the very best character traits and put them all into one person, that one would still have to bow before God and cry out for mercy to be saved.

The law says “if.” The gospel says “therefore.” 

The law says you must earn salvation. The gospel says salvation is a gift. 

The law demands holiness. The gospel provides holiness.

The law says do. The gospel says done. 

The law says run, but it doesn’t give us legs. 

The gospel says fly, and it gives us wings of grace.

Oh, thank God for the gospel. Romans 8:3 tells us that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Christ did. By dying for sinful man, He brought us light and life and immortality in the gospel.

ACTION POINT:

Dear friend, if you want to be saved, you're going to have to stop trying and start trusting. Romans 10:4 makes it clear that Jesus Christ means the end of the struggle for righteousness-by-the-Law for everyone who believes in Him. Cast yourself upon Him totally and completely—upon Him and Him alone.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

By the Blood of the Eternal Covenant

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. - Hebrews 13:20-21

Christ died for you!

His blood is the eternal covenant!

There is no other way to God's mercy and forgiveness but through the blood of His Son!

His blood washes your sin away and that is the only acceptable way to God!

You can not be good enough!

You can not buy your way to forgiveness!

If you want to be forgiven, fall before Christ, admit your sin, admit you are in need of a Savior, repent, and be thankful that Christ was obedient to His Father's command!

Be obedient to God!

24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

25 For David says concerning him, "'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 

26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 

27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.  - Acts 2:24-27

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. - John 10:11

11 Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, 

12 who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,  - Isaiah 63:11-12

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people."

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. - Hebrews 10:26-34

11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 

12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.  - Zechariah 9:11-12

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.  - Isaiah 54:10

Live Confident in God’s Sovereign Power

The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe . . . (Ephesians 1:19)

The omnipotence of God means eternal, unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God no matter what happens on this earth. And that confidence is the source and power of radical obedience to the call of God.

Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that God Almighty is your refuge — all day, every day, in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life?

If we believed this, if we really let this truth of God’s omnipotence get hold of us, what a difference it would make in our personal lives and in our ministries! How humble and powerful we would become for the saving purposes of God!

The omnipotence of God means refuge for the people of God. And when you really believe that your refuge is the omnipotence of God Almighty, there is a joy and a freedom and a power that spills over in a life of radical obedience to Jesus Christ.

The omnipotence of God means reverence, recompense, and refuge for his covenant people.

I invite you to accept the terms of his covenant of grace: Turn from sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ; and the omnipotence of God Almighty will be the reverence of your soul, the recompense of your enemies, and the refuge of your life — forever.

John Piper 

Are you needy or greedy?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

After this manner therefore, pray ye: ”Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…” Matthew 6:9-11

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you see the order? First comes God’s name, God's kingdom, God's will, and then our need. If you don't get that priority straight, you'll never have power in prayer.

God is not a bellhop, running around Heaven to meet your needs. Prayer is not a place where man gets his will done in Heaven. Prayer is the way God gets His will done on earth.

“Our daily bread” is important because we must have bread to live. It’s also symbolic of any need you may have. This verse can also be translated, “Give us this day bread sufficient for us.” God will “supply all our need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). God will meet our need, not our greed.

ACTION POINT:

These days it seems almost everyone is struggling with financial problems. 

Are you having financial woes? Do you know someone who is? Share with them the Good News of God’s provision and faithfulness. You may be asking, “What good can possibly come from my financial problems?” They are wonderful opportunities to trust your Heavenly Father for your daily bread. Who is more secure? The man who has a warehouse full of stale bread or the man whose father is a rich baker? Which had you rather have? God delights to meet your need.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Life Hangs on the Word of God

He said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:46–47)

The word of God is not a trifle; it is a matter of life and death. If you treat the Scriptures as a trifle or as empty words, you forfeit life.

Even our physical life depends on God’s word, because by his word we were created (Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3), and “he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).

And our spiritual life begins by the word of God: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18). “You have been born again . . . through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

Not only do we begin to live by God’s word, but we also go on living by God’s word: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).

So our physical life is created and upheld by the word of God, and our spiritual life is quickened and sustained by the word of God. How many stories could be gathered to bear witness to the life-giving power of the word of God!

Indeed, the Bible is “no empty word for you” — it is your life! The foundation of all joy is life. Nothing is more fundamental than sheer existence — our creation and our preservation.

All this is owing to the word of God’s power. By that same power, he has spoken in Scripture for the creation and sustenance of our spiritual life. Therefore, the Bible is no empty word, but is your very life — the foundation and kindling of your joy!

John Piper 

Can you fast-track your harvest?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

. . . the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. James 5:7b

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Sometimes the things that count the most seem to take the longest to get here.

Some giant sequoias in California are 300 feet tall. That’s the height of a 30 story building! Yet each one began with the smallest of seeds that grew and matured since before the time of Christ! That’s a long time.

You may say you’re going to serve God, and then you start to do something for Him. But when you don’t reap a harvest immediately, you get discouraged. Don’t try to hurry the harvest. In due season, you will reap.

ACTION POINT:

Have you shared Christ with people and yet they haven’t been saved? Look at Isaiah 55:11—“So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” 

And Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Receive His encouragement today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus’s Pursuit of Joy

[Look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Does the example of Jesus contradict the principle of Christian Hedonism? Namely, that love is the way of joy and that one should choose it for that very reason, lest one be found begrudging obedience to the Almighty or chafing under the privilege of being a channel of grace or belittling the promised reward.

Hebrews 12:2 seems to say fairly clearly that Jesus did not contradict this principle.

The greatest labor of love that ever happened was possible because Jesus pursued the greatest imaginable joy, namely, the joy of being exalted to God’s right hand in the assembly of a redeemed people: “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross!”

In saying this, the writer means to give Jesus as another example, along with the saints of Hebrews 11, of those who are so eager for and confident in the joy God offers that they reject the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) and choose ill-treatment in order to be aligned with God’s will.

It is not unbiblical, therefore, to say that at least part of what sustained Christ in the dark hours of Gethsemane was the hope of joy beyond the cross. This does not diminish the reality and greatness of his love for us, because the joy in which he hoped was the joy of leading many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

His joy is in our redemption, which redounds to God’s glory. We share the joy with Jesus and God gets the glory.

John Piper 

Have you thanked God for your problems?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Before I was afflicted, I went astray. Now I have kept Thy word…. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes. Psalm 119:67, 71

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The worst thing that could happen to sinful people would be to live in a perfect environment.

Think about it: If God had left Adam in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden, Adam wouldn’t have known he had the fatal infection of sin, and he would not have sought the remedy for sin, which he found in the shedding of blood.

If affliction causes me to learn, then I’ve got to thank God for it. You see, what are God’s priorities for me? Health? Wealth? Service? Usefulness? Not necessarily. God’s plan for me is to be like Jesus.

Problems are designed not to crush us, but to crowd us to Christ who provided the remedy for sin by shedding His blood on the cross. The problem of sin is real and terrible, but it brings with it the possibility that we can be forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

If affliction causes you to be like Jesus, if you learn through it and are made mature through it, then you can thank God for it. The goal of God for my life is to become like Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

When was the last time you thanked God for the problems in your life? Think of them as vehicles that drive you to the heart of your Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Hope for the Worst of Sinners

"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” (Exodus 33:19)

Moses needed hope that God really could have mercy on a stiff-necked people who had just committed idolatry and scorned the God who brought them out of Egypt.

To give Moses the hope and confidence he needed, God said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, “My choices do not depend on the degree of evil or good in man but solely upon my free, sovereign will. Therefore no one can say he is too evil to be shown grace.” That would imply God is not free, and election is not unconditional.

The doctrine of unconditional election is the great doctrine of hope for the worst of sinners. It means that when it comes to being a candidate for grace, your background has nothing to do with God’s choice. That’s good news.

If you have not been born again and brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ, do not sink into hopelessness thinking that the excessive rottenness or hardness of your past life is an insurmountable obstacle to God’s gracious work in your life. God loves to magnify the freedom of his grace by saving the worst of sinners.

Turn from your sin; call upon the Lord. Even in this daily devotion, that you are reading or hearing, he is being gracious to you, and giving you strong encouragement to come to him for mercy.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

John Piper 

You've got a problem? Congratulations!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

. . . the God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build. . .” Nehemiah 2:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you have any problems today? You do? Well, I just have one word for you: “Congratulations!”

I don’t want to sound flippant, but I’m very serious. Nehemiah faced a problem with overwhelming odds: While in exile in Persia, he learned that his home city—the city of God, Jerusalem—was laid waste. All her walls were destroyed. And God was calling him to return home and rebuild the city.

You see, a problem really is an opportunity in disguise. You need to learn that God wants you to see your problems as potentialities and your adversaries as opportunities.

As men and women of faith, we need to stop seeing a difficulty in every opportunity, and start asking God to show us the opportunity in every difficulty. We serve a great God. And someone has well said that prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is laying hold of his willingness. Find a promise in the Word of God and then stand upon it.

ACTION POINT:

Think of a problem you are struggling through today. Now, get on your knees. Ask God to show you the opportunity hidden away in your struggle that will bring Him glory.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Let Goods and Kindred Go

Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Hebrews 10:32–35)

The Christians in Hebrews 10:32–35 have earned the right to teach us about costly love.

The situation appears to be this: In the early days of their conversion, some of them were imprisoned for their faith. The others were confronted with a difficult choice: Shall we go underground and stay “safe,” or shall we visit our brothers and sisters in prison and risk our lives and property? They chose the way of love and accepted the cost.

“For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.”

But were they losers? No. They lost property and gained joy! They joyfully accepted the loss.

In one sense, they denied themselves. It was real and costly. But in another sense, they did not. They chose the way of joy. Evidently, these Christians were motivated for prison ministry the same way the Macedonians (of 2 Corinthians 8:1–9) were motivated to relieve the poor. Their joy in God overflowed in love for others.

They looked at their own lives and said, “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (see Psalm 63:3).

They looked at all their possessions and said, “We have a possession in heaven that is better and lasts longer than any of this” (see Hebrews 10:34).

Then they looked at each other and said — perhaps sang — something like Martin Luther’s great hymn:

Let goods and kindred go

This mortal life also

The body they may kill

God’s truth abideth still

His kingdom is forever

John Piper 

If someone had a flat tire, could you fix it?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Remember the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37? He was on a journey but stopped and helped a bruised and broken man. He didn’t make excuses saying, “It’s none of my business.” It was a golden moment, and he took it.

All around us are people who are bruised and bleeding, people who need the compassion of Christ. We need to say, “This is an opportunity, and I'm going to take it right now.” We need to see their pain as a golden opportunity to serve them in the name of Jesus.

The chief enemy to kindness is busyness. We have our priorities, our jobs, our duties, our responsibilities, and we’re too busy. But if we’re too busy to be kind, we’re too busy. You can't do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it may be too late. As you have opportunity, let's do good.

ACTION POINT:

What’s on your schedule for today? If someone had a flat tire, could you fix it? If someone called and needed a ride to the hospital, could you take them? Clear the way for Jesus, my friend.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ammunition Against Anxiety

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

One of the things we are thankful for when we let our requests be known to God is his promises. These are the ammunition in the cannon that cuts down the unbelief that produces worry. So here’s how I fight.

When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise of Isaiah 55:11. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

When I am anxious about the welfare of those I love, I battle unbelief with the promise that if I, being evil, know how to give good things to my children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

And I fight to maintain my spiritual equilibrium with the reminder that everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for Christ’s sake, shall “receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29–30).

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

And I take the promise with trembling: “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

John Piper