Converted Jew and Converted Gentile Sinners Have Become One In Christ

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 2:13-22

Converted Jew and converted Gentile, once enemies, now granted to become one body of believers, in Christ.

Once separated by the Jewish legalistic binding power of ceremonial law, we have become one.

The blood of the slain Christ, was the ordained acceptable price for all who believe Christ is able to satisfy the wrath of God for sin. 

A remarkable mystery, coming true by the death and resurrection of Christ.

Our sinful selves are reconciled to God by His Son.

Christ being the Head, converted Jew and Gentile brothers being the body, what a marvelous mystery!

By His indwelling Spirit, we have become the body of Christ.

Hallelujah and Amen!

The Triumphant Shame of the Cross

[Christ did not] offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:25–26)

It is not to be taken for granted that there should be a welcome for sinners in heaven.

God is holy and pure and perfectly just and righteous. Yet the whole story of the Bible is how such a great and holy God can and does welcome dirty, unholy people like you and me into his favor. How can this be?

Hebrews 9:25 says that Christ’s sacrifice for sin was not like the sacrifices of the Jewish high priests. They came into the holy place yearly with animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But these verses say Christ did not enter heaven to “offer himself repeatedly . . . for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 9:26).

If Christ followed the pattern of the priests, then he would have to die yearly. And since the sins to be covered include the sins of Adam and Eve, he would have had to begin his yearly dying at the foundation of the world. But the writer treats this as unthinkable.

Why is this unthinkable? Because it would make the death of the Son of God look weak and ineffective. If it has to be repeated year after year for centuries, where would be the triumph? Where would we see the infinite value of the sacrifice of the Son of God? It would vanish in the shamefulness of a yearly suffering and death.

There was shame in the cross, but it was triumphant shame. “[Jesus despised] the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

This is the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). I pray that no matter how dirty or unholy with sin you are, you will see the light of this glory and believe.

John Piper 

Can you rejoice always?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In Habakkuk’s day, there was an economic recession. There were no cows in the barn, no harvest in the fields. “Yet…” he writes. Oh, how I love that “yet” in verse 18. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Where was his joy? In the Lord, not circumstances.

If circumstances are what gives you your joy, you can’t say “rejoice always,” because circumstances change. You might lose your job, your health, your friends, or your prestige. But Habakkuk said, “Yet will I joy in the God of my salvation.”

There’s one way to find out where you’re getting your joy. If it’s from your job, we can take your job and see if you still have joy. If it’s from your health, if your health fails, see if you still have joy.

ACTION POINT:

The only joy anyone can have is in the Lord, because He never changes. Your joy can be threatened if you get it anywhere else. It’s not wrong to have joy in your health, your job, or your friends. But that kind of joy can be threatened. You need a joy which supersedes earthly things. Psalm 16:11: says, “Thou will show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Only Conscience-Cleanser

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Here we are in the modern age — the age of the Internet, smartphones, space travel, and heart transplants — and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our consciences condemn us and make us feel unacceptable to God. We are alienated from God. And our consciences bear witness.

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to charity, or serve in a soup kitchen, or a hundred forms of penance or self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains and death terrifies.

We know that our conscience is defiled — not with external things like touching a corpse, a dirty diaper, or a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15–23). We are defiled by attitudes like pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear.

The only answer in this modern age, as in every other age, is the blood of Christ. When your conscience rises up and condemns you, where will you turn? Hebrews 9:14 gives you the answer: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

The answer is: Turn to the blood of Christ. Turn to the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give you relief in life, and peace in death.

John Piper 

Too many blessings to list

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If worry is the opposite of faith, then giving thanks is the expression of faith—in fact, the highest expression. You say, “I don’t know if I have as much to thank God for as some other people.” The apostle Paul was in a filthy Philippian jail awaiting possible beheading, when he wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

God has blessed you. You may not think so, because you’re measuring blessings by the barometer of health, wealth, and happiness. Sometimes those are blessings, sometimes they’re not. Some people are cursed with wealth. Some don’t know how to use health. And happiness keeps some people from seeking the Lord.

Let me tell you what blessings we have: “Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits…” (Psalm 68:19). God has loaded your wagon. How often? Daily! “It is of the LORD’S mercies we’re not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Every day you wake up to blessings. Thank Him for simple blessings like good, clean water. Enough food. Shelter. We are so blessed.

ACTION POINT:

I’ve noticed un-thankful people are never happy people. They’re filled with bitterness, fear, negativism, selfishness and self-pity. Refuse to worry, but carry everything to God in prayer. Rejoice in the presence of the Lord, leaning upon His power and provision. Rest in the peace of the Lord. Do everything with thanksgiving.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Root of Ingratitude

Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

When gratitude springs up in the human heart toward God, he is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing. He is acknowledged as giver and benefactor and therefore as glorious.

But when gratitude does not spring up in our hearts at God’s great goodness to us, it probably means that we don’t want to pay him a compliment; we don’t want to magnify him as our benefactor.

And there is a very good reason that human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God.

At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God’s mercy. We are children asleep in heaven’s stroller.

The natural person, apart from saving grace, hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of his glory by giving it all to God.

Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God as he ought, but only himself.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Jesus did not come to minister to those who insist they are well. He demands something great: that we admit we are not great. This is bad news to the arrogant, but words of honey to those who have given up their charade of self-sufficiency and are seeking God.

John Piper 

A relationship for eternity

BIBLE MEDITATION:

He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. John 14:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A little boy fell out of bed and was crying. His mother came, picked him up, and said, “Honey, what’s wrong? How did you fall out of bed?” He said, “Well, I guess I went to sleep too close to where I got in.”

I think there are a lot of people who have done exactly that. They get into Christ and somehow they just seem to go to sleep right there. They say, “I’m saved and that’s it.” But friend, that’s not it. It’s just the beginning of a relationship that will last through all eternity.

ACTION POINT:

God wants to move you further into a knowledge of Himself. I don’t know about you, but I’m not satisfied with the status quo of my life. I want to go deep into the heart of Jesus. I desire the same for you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Magnify God

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30)

There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is.

When David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean, “I will make a small God look bigger than he is.” He means, “I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.”

We are not called to be microscopes. We are called to be telescopes. Christians are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

That’s why we exist, why we were saved, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.

This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what you haven’t seen or what you quickly forget.

Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart!” (Ephesians 1:18), and we preach to our souls, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2).

John Piper 

Be prepared for battle

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Having your conversation [behavior] honest among the Gentiles [unsaved]: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12                                       

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The unsaved love to bad-mouth the church, and if you're a Bible believer, they especially love to lampoon and ridicule you. You must live a righteous, godly life—nothing in your heart and life of what the Bible calls here “fleshly lust.” Renounce that. Abstain from everything that’s wrong. Then embrace everything that’s right.

Since the fall of man, certain things war against our souls. The word “war” here isn’t the idea of hand-to-hand combat, but of a strategy, a conspiracy born in hell, my dear friend, that wars against your soul, the soul of your family, the soul of your church, and the soul of this nation.

We are at war with unseen forces from the very pit of hell. Peter warned the church, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Be prepared for the battle. You must be absolutely and totally clean. I’m not talking sinless. None of us are. But to the best of your knowledge, there’s no unconfessed, unrepented of, willful sin in your life. A child of God ought to be as clean as the driven snow.

ACTION POINT:

Be mindful every day to live such a godly, clean, righteous, honest, forthright life, that even those who hate you will have to grudgingly admit there’s a difference about you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Prays for Us

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)

It says that Christ is able to save to the uttermost — forever — since he always lives to make intercession for us. In other words, he would not be able to save us forever if he did not go on interceding for us forever.

This means our salvation is as secure as Christ’s priesthood is indestructible. This is why we needed a priest so much greater than any human priest. Christ’s deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us.

This means we should not talk about our salvation in static terms the way we often do — as if I did something once in an act of decision, and Christ did something once when he died and rose again, and that’s all there is to it. That’s not all there is to it.

This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is essential to our salvation.

We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and his prayers are answered because he prays perfectly on the basis of his perfect sacrifice.

John Piper 

A meeting with God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek . Hebrews 6:19-20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Today we have a new place to meet God one-on-one. In the Old Testament, that place was the Temple, and that temple had three parts: the outer court, the inner court, and the innermost court called the “Holy of Holies.” No ordinary person—only the high priest—could go in there, and he only once a year. God filled that inner sanctum with His presence.

The high priest, and only the high priest, would enter the Holy of Holies, lifting up a corner of the heavy veil and slipping under. Then he would make atonement for the people by sprinkling blood upon the Mercy Seat. If anyone went in without the blood, he met sudden death.

But when Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain, all that changed. The heavy veil of the temple was torn in two at Jesus’ death, and it was torn from top to bottom so no one would think a human being had done it. By His death, Jesus was saying that no more animal sacrifices were necessary. Now, every believer can enter the Holy of Holies.

ACTION POINT:

Today we have a new “Holy of Holies.” Have you been there today? Meet with God in the inner sanctum of your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Glorify God by Giving Thanks

It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:15)

Gratitude to God is a joyful emotion. We have a sense of joyful indebtedness for his grace. So in a sense in the very emotion of gratitude, we are still the beneficiaries. But by its very nature, gratitude glorifies the giver. When we feel thankful, we acknowledge our need and God’s beneficence, God’s fullness, the riches of his glory.

Just like I humble myself and exalt the server in the restaurant when I say, “Thank you,” so I humble myself and exalt God when I feel gratitude to him. The difference, of course, is that I really am infinitely in debt to God for his grace, and everything he does for me is free and undeserved.

But the point is that gratitude glorifies the giver. It glorifies God. And this is Paul’s final goal in all his labors. Yes, his labors are for the sake of the church — the good of the church. But the church is not the highest goal. Listen again: “It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” All for your sake — for the glory of God!

The wonderful thing about the gospel is that the response it requires from us for God’s glory is also the response that is most natural and joyful; namely, thankfulness for grace. God’s all-supplying glory in giving and our humble gladness in receiving are not in competition. Joyful thankfulness glorifies God.

A life that gives glory to God for his grace and a life of deepest gladness are the same life. And what makes them one is thankfulness.

John Piper 

Do you have a difficult boss?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Colossians 3:22

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you work for a difficult person?

“Yes! That slave driver, penny pincher, that bully!”

Well, let’s see what the Bible says about that slave driver:

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward [harsh]” (1 Peter 2:18).

“You mean I’m supposed to submit to that two-legged devil?”

That’s right. And you are to serve him/her.

ACTION POINT:

You can shut the mouth of criticism and bring that one to Jesus Christ when you practice the mightiest force upon the face of the earth—submission through obedience.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Hold Fast to Your Hope

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17–18)

Why does the writer of Hebrews encourage us to hold fast to our hope? If the final enjoyment of our hope was obtained and irrevocably secured by the blood of Jesus, then why does God tell us to hold fast?

The answer is this:

What Christ bought for us when he died was not the freedom from having to hold fast, but the enabling power to hold fast.

What he bought was not the nullification of our wills as though we didn’t have to hold fast, but the empowering transformation of our wills so that we want to hold fast.

What he bought was not the canceling of the commandment to hold fast, but the fulfillment of the commandment to hold fast.

What he bought was not the end of exhortation, but the triumph of exhortation.

He died so that you would do exactly what Paul did in Philippians 3:12, “I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” It is not foolishness, it is the gospel, to tell a sinner to do what Christ alone can enable him to do; namely, hope in God.

So, I exhort you with all my heart: Reach out and take hold of that for which you have been taken hold of by Christ. Hold it fast with all your might — which is his might. His blood-bought gift of your obedience.

John Piper 

Always be ready to give an answer

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. 1 Peter 3:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your faith. In seminary, we call this “apologetics.” Contrary to what you might think, this does not mean you are to apologize for your faith! Instead, “apologetics” comes from the Greek word that means “to give a defense, as in front of a judge.”

Can you defend your faith? It is not enough for you to demonstrate your faith; you must also defend your faith. If you ran into someone who was dying, and he asked you to share your faith with him, could you? You need to be ready.

ACTION POINT:

You need to also be reasonable. You need to study God’s Word and know what it says about salvation, sin, heaven, and hell. Are you ready? If not, get ready today. There’s no better time.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When God Swears by God

Since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” (Hebrews 6:13–14)

There is one Person whose worth and honor and dignity and preciousness and greatness and beauty and reputation is more than all other values combined — ten thousand times more — namely, God himself. So, when God takes an oath, he swears by himself.

If he could have gone higher, he would have gone higher. Why? To give you strong encouragement in your hope. What God is saying in swearing by himself is that it is as impossible that he will break his word of promise to bless us as it is that he will ever despise himself.

God is the greatest value in the universe. There is nothing more valuable or wonderful than God. So, God swears by God. And in doing that he says, “I mean for you to have as much confidence in me as it is possible to have.” For if more were possible, Hebrews 6:13 says, he would have given us that. “Since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.”

Now this is our God, the God who is reaching as high as he can reach to inspire your unshakable hope in him. So, flee to God for refuge. Turn from all the superficial, self-defeating hopes of the world, and put your hope in God. There is nothing and no one like God as a refuge and a rock of hope.

John Piper 

How to wake up your community

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Why is love so important?

First, because it is the greatest virtue. Love supersedes faith and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Second, because it is the greatest command. Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37).

Third, love is the greatest testimony. What is really going to make your community wake up and believe that your church is really the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? The size of your building? The way your lawn looks? The signage at the street? No. The way you love God and show love to others.

ACTION POINT:

Nothing can motivate a lost sinner like the heartfelt love of Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Key to Spiritual Maturity

Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Now, this is amazing. Don’t miss it. It could save you years of wasted living.

What this verse is saying is that if you want to become mature and understand and appreciate the more solid teachings of the word, then the rich, nutritional, precious milk of God’s gospel promises must transform your moral senses — your spiritual mind — so that you can discern between good and evil.

Or, let me put it another way. Getting ready to feast on all God’s word is not first an intellectual challenge; it is first a moral challenge. If you want to eat the solid food of the word, you must exercise your spiritual senses so as to develop a mind that discerns between good and evil. This is a moral challenge, not just intellectual.

The startling truth is that, if you stumble over understanding Melchizedek in Genesis and Hebrews, it may be because you watch questionable TV programs. If you stumble over the doctrine of election, it may be because you still use some shady business practices. If you stumble over the God-centered work of Christ on the cross, it may be because you love money and spend too much and give too little.

The pathway to maturity and to solid biblical food is not first becoming an intelligent person, but becoming an obedient person. What you do with alcohol and sex and money and leisure and food and computers, and the way you treat other people, has more to do with your capacity for solid food than where you go to school or what books you read.

This is so important because in our highly technological society we are prone to think that education — especially intellectual education — is the key to maturity. There are many Ph.D.’s who choke in their spiritual immaturity on the things of God. And there are many less-educated saints who are deeply mature and can feed with pleasure and profit on the deepest things of God’s word.

John Piper 

Are You Enduring Today Just to Get to Tomorrow?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I read some research by psychologist William Morriston who reported that 94% of the 3,000 persons he surveyed were enduring today in order to get to tomorrow.

Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps you are one of those.

Tomorrow, you’re going on vacation. Tomorrow, you’re going to get the house cleaned. Tomorrow, you’re going to start your diet. Tomorrow, you’re going to balance your checkbook. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.

The only problem is…tomorrow never arrives. When it gets here, it is today. And today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

ACTION POINT:

It is always today. Act accordingly!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Gravity of Gratitude

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful . . . (2 Timothy 3:1–2)

Notice how ingratitude goes with pride, abuse, and insubordination.

In another place Paul says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking . . . but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4). So, it seems that gratitude, thankfulness, is the opposite of ugliness and violence.

The reason this is so is that the feeling of gratitude is a humble feeling, not a proud one. It is other-exalting, not self-exalting. And it is glad-hearted, not angry or bitter. Bitter thankfulness is a contradiction in terms.

The key to unlocking a heart of thankfulness and overcoming bitterness and ugliness and disrespect and violence is a strong belief in God, the Creator and Sustainer and Provider and Hope-giver. If we do not believe we are deeply indebted to God for all we have and hope to have, then the very spring of gratitude has gone dry.

So, I conclude that the rise of violence and sacrilege and ugliness and insubordination in the last times is a God-issue. The basic issue is a failure to feel gratitude at the upper levels of our dependence.

When the high spring of gratitude to God fails at the top of the mountain, soon all the pools of thankfulness begin to dry up further down the mountain. And when gratitude goes, the sovereignty of the self condones more and more corruption for its pleasure.

Pray for a great awakening of humble gratitude.

John Piper 

Can you choose to be happy?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. Psalm 7:17

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Did you know that happiness is a choice?

A man said to a beggar one day, “Good day my friend.”

The beggar answered, “Well, thank you, but I never have a bad one.”

The man responded, “Well, may God give you a happy life, my friend.”

And the beggar replied, “I thank God that I am never unhappy.”

The man was speechless. And the beggar continued, “When I have plenty to eat, I thank God. When I am hungry, I thank God. If it is God’s will for me to endure this, then whatever is God’s will for me makes me happy.”

He chose to be happy.

ACTION POINT:

What do you want? Do you want to be happy? Then choose to be happy today no matter your circumstances…by praising God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Five Reasons Death Is Gain

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

How is it “gain” to die?

1) Our spirits will be made perfect (Hebrews 12:22–23).

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

There will be no more sin in us. We will be done with the inner war and the heartrending disappointments of offending the Lord who loved us and gave himself for us.

2) We will be relieved of the pain of this world (Luke 16:24–25).

The joy of the resurrection will not yet be ours, but the joy of freedom from pain will be. Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and the rich man to show the great reversal that is coming at death.

“[The rich man] called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.’”

3) We will be given profound rest in our souls (Revelation 6:9–11).

There will be a serenity beneath the eye and care of God that surpasses anything we have known here on the softest summer evening by the most peaceful lake at our most happy moments.

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer.

4) We will experience a deep at-homeness (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

The whole human race is homesick for God, without knowing it. When we go home to Christ, there will be a contentment beyond any sense of security and peace we have ever known.

5) We will be with Christ (Philippians 1:21–23).

Christ is a more wonderful person than anyone on earth. He is wiser, stronger, and kinder than anyone you enjoy spending time with. He is endlessly interesting. He knows exactly what to do and what to say at every moment to make his guests as glad as they can possibly be. He overflows in love and with infinite insight into how to use that love to make his loved ones feel loved. Therefore Paul said,

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

John Piper 

You’ll be stronger, not weaker

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

What does Paul mean in this verse when he says he “takes pleasure” in all of these difficult circumstances? He’s saying that…

If his money were taken, he would end up with greater riches. His weakness becomes his strength.

When Paul was isolated and placed in solitary confinement, then Jesus was near. His weakness became his strength.

If they beat him and he hurt, then Paul had the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. His weakness became his strength.

If his body became crippled and he was no longer able to lean upon the arm of flesh, then Paul had to lean on the Everlasting Arms.

Paul took pleasure in these things, because their result was to make him stronger in the Lord.

ACTION POINT:

God is waiting to make you strong. There is power in our suffering. Suffering is not going to hurt you; it is going to strengthen you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers