Do You Want Another Chance?

BIBLE MEDITATION

Therefore He says, “Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:14-16

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

We stand on the threshold of a new year. And if you’re like I am, you make resolutions that go in one ear and out the other.

We determine we’re going to do this or that or not do this or that. And then at the end of the year, we look back and see we’ve failed to some degree to keep our resolution(s).

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t resolve again, by the grace of God, because I have wonderful, wonderful news for you. The God we serve is the God of grace, the God of forgiveness, and the God of beginning again. Don’t forget it. He’s the God of a new start. He’s the God of the second chance.

ACTION POINT

God’s two great gifts to you are Jesus and TIME. God has given you time to work, time to serve, time to love, time to laugh, time to labor. But like any gift, how you use it is really up to you. See this day and every day as a gift from God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Death Rehearsal

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life. And 11:59 pm on December 31 is like the moment of my death.

The 365 days of the year are like a miniature lifetime. And these final hours are like the last days in the hospital after the doctor has told me that the end is very near. And in these last hours, the lifetime of this year passes before my eyes, and I face the inevitable question: Did I live it well? Will Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, say “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)?

I feel very fortunate that this is the way my year ends. And I pray that the year’s end might have the same significance for you.

The reason I feel fortunate is that it is a great advantage to have a trial run at my own dying. It is a great benefit to rehearse once a year in preparation for the last scene of your life. It is a great benefit because the morning of January 1 will find most of us still alive, at the brink of a whole new lifetime, able to start fresh all over again.

The great thing about rehearsals is that they show you where your weaknesses are, where your preparation was faulty; and they leave you time to change before the real play in front of a real audience.

I suppose for some of you the thought of dying is so morbid, so gloomy, so fraught with grief and pain that you do your best to keep it out of your minds, especially during holidays. I think that is unwise and that you do yourself a great disservice. I have found that there are few things more revolutionizing for my life than a periodic pondering of my own death.

How do you get a heart of wisdom so as to know how best to live? The psalmist answers:

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. . . . So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5–6, 12)

Numbering your days simply means remembering that your life is short and your dying will be soon. Great wisdom — great, life-revolutionizing wisdom — comes from periodically pondering these things.

The criterion of success, that Paul used to measure his life, was whether he had kept the faith. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Let this be our test at year’s end.

And if we discover that we did not keep the faith this past year, then we can be glad, as I am, that this year-end death is (probably) only a rehearsal, and a whole life of potential faith-keeping lies before us in the next year.

John Piper 

Bible Study

"O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!  - Psalm 39:4

1 "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. 

2 He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. 

3 And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? 

4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. 

5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,  - Job 14:1-5

20 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 

21 For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? 

22 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? 

23 One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, 

24 his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. 

25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. 

26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.  - Job 21:20-26

But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?  - Job 14:10

Jesus Will Calm You

BIBLE MEDITATION

“For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” Psalm 116:8

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I believe the holidays are the loneliest time of the year. Everywhere, people are told they're supposed to be happy and they realize they're not. They see everybody else acting happy, and they feel so lonely.

Yes, believers can experience loneliness. Death, divorce, desertion—even travel can make you lonely. Success can make you lonely. You often hear “It's lonely at the top.” Old age makes you lonely. You can be lonely in a big crowd. You can be lonely in a mall. Loneliness is one of the chief maladies of our age, but Jesus promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

What I am saying, my dear friend, is that when I am discouraged, His presence sees me through. When I am lonely, His presence cheers me up. And when I am worried, His presence calms me down.

ACTION POINT

When you are tempted—and you will be tempted this coming year—His presence will help you out. Begin now to practice the presence of the Lord as you enter this new year.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Outfitted and Empowered

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, 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 shed the blood of the eternal covenant. By this successful redemption, he obtained the blessing of his own resurrection from the dead. That is even clearer in Greek than it is in English, and here it’s clear enough: “God . . . brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus . . . by the blood of the eternal covenant.” This Jesus — raised by the blood of the covenant — is now our living Lord and Shepherd.

And because of all that, God does two things:

he equips us with everything good that we may do his will, and

he works in us that which is pleasing in his sight.

The “eternal covenant,” secured by the blood of Christ, is the new covenant. And the new covenant promise is this: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). Therefore, the blood of this covenant not only secures God’s equipping us to do his will, but also secures God working in us to make that equipping successful.

The will of God is not just written on stone or paper as a means of grace. It is worked in us. And the effect is: We feel and think and act in ways more pleasing to God.

We are still commanded to use the equipment he gives: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” But more importantly we are told why: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

If we are able to please God — if we do his good pleasure — it is because the blood-bought grace of God has moved from mere equipping to omnipotent transforming.

John Piper 

Bible Study

36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 

38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. - Hebrews 10:36-39

35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. - Romans 11:35-36

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. - Philippians 2:13-17

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. - 1 Peter 5:10

Scars Waiting for You

BIBLE MEDITATION

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples, therefore, said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

John 20:24-25

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

At Bethlehem, a bright star pointed the way to Jesus. But there’s a darker side to Christmas. Consider the scars of the Lord Jesus. They’re not incidental. They’re so fundamental that Jesus carried those scars with Him to Heaven.

Think about it: the only man-made things in Heaven are the scars of Jesus Christ. When He returned to Heaven, He took some souvenirs of His visit with him…the scars in His hands and side, keeping them as a lasting memorial through all eternity.

When Jesus comes again, one of the ways we’ll know Him is by the scars on His hands and feet. Zechariah 13:6 says, “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’”

ACTION POINT

Imagine our risen Savior on the throne of His glory. See in His hands the print of the nails, because He bears them for all eternity. See those nail-scarred hands reaching to you right now. Put your hand in that hand and say, “Save me, Lord Jesus. Thank You that You came to earth as a man and suffered in order to save me.” Pray it and mean it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers