Daily Devotional

Friday, August 12, 2022

Look at Peter's response to the rich young ruler’s dilemma (remember the rich young ruler went away sad because he had a lot of riches and didn’t want to give them up). Luke 18:28 “Peter said, ‘Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.’” We've left everything for You, Jesus! We even left our homes and family for You! 

Luke 18:29 “And He said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.’” Jesus told Peter not to worry. Those who have given up life’s closest relationships, greatest responsibilities, and strongest commitments to follow Jesus have a reward coming. The family of believers will be more important, more numerous, and more meaningful than a follower’s family of origin. God has a reward for those who see Jesus as even more important than their earthly relationships. 

When I was first saved, I was so taken up with Jesus that the last thing I wanted to do was miss an opportunity to worship Him. Life was no longer about the good things I was doing. It was now all about Jesus. It literally was all about Sundays. The truth is, we really don’t give up anything, because whatever we give up – Jesus gives back to us, multiplied over and over. 

Verse 30 tells us that there are two parts to this reward. The first part is the blessings that come in this life and the second part of the disciples’ reward is eternal life. So there is a quality of life beginning here on earth with Jesus as Lord and extending through to the eternal Kingdom.

Do you remember the Pharisee who said, “I thank God I’m not like this tax collector. I fast, I pray, I tithe. I do good things; this tax collector is not liked by anybody. He does bad things.” The Pharisee was boasting of the good things he does and yet the tax collector simply humbled himself in the presence of the Lord. He didn’t make any claims of goodness, he didn’t boast of his accomplishments. He merely asked for mercy. Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’”

This answers the rich young ruler’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Give yourself away. What’s C.S. Lewis’ famous statement about humility? “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less.” CS Lewis. The rich young ruler could not stop thinking about himself; therefore he could not give away the things that defined who he was.

When we focus on ourselves then we put most of our hopes on our own goodness. Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The Pharisee who boasted of his own goodness did not go to his house justified but the humble man did. It’s not about our goodness; it’s about our humility. It’s thinking more about Jesus than us. Can you imagine the problems we could get over in life, if we stopped thinking so much about us and just focus on Jesus!  END

Thursday, August 11, 2022

As we continued to talk, my friend went on to say, “The very fact that I remembered the advice my grandmother gave our family spoke to this issue. She was illuminating Christ even though we thought she didn’t understand. In reality, we were blind to spiritual truths. She spoke very clear, just like Jesus did to his disciples, but the truth of what she was saying was hidden from us. The truth of the Gospel had not yet been revealed to us. We could not comprehend the spiritual truths.”        

The whole issue of good vs evil is what the rich young ruler was also struggling with. Luke 18:18-20 "A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”

This almost sounds like bad theology on Jesus’ part, doesn't it? The young ruler asked Jesus about getting saved and Jesus tells him to obey the law. So was Jesus preaching a gospel of works? He tells him to obey the commandments as His response to the ruler’s inquiry of how to inherit eternal life. He didn’t tell him he had to surrender his heart to Him – or did He? 

When the ruler tells Jesus that he has already obeyed the commandments Jesus gives him some further advice. Luke 18:22 “When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ’One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”

So was Jesus telling him that he had to give his money away before he could be saved? I don’t believe that was it at all. That would be contrary to salvation by grace. Jesus was in essence saying, “The things we treasure the most must be given up if we are going to inherit salvation.” The rich young ruler’s money was the essence of his being. Basically Jesus was telling him to give away the thing he treasured the most, his money, which represented his heart. “Where your treasure is – there will your heart be.” The only way to inherit eternal life is through giving God your heart, and your heart is represented by the loves of your life. 

Once again quoting my friend, “My grandma told us to get rid of our race car because it was not right to put it before God. You’d have to understand our situation a little better to grasp what that meant. In our little town my dad’s business was well known. Our race car was well known. We were known as the German car guys. He was a BMW dealer but Volkswagens were our main business. That’s why he named his business the Old Volks Home. To tell us to get rid of our race car was the same as asking us to give away our heart, our identity.

So if I was the one going to Jesus asking what I must do to inherit eternal life he might have said to me, “sell your race car,” and I would have gone away sad because that car was my whole world. That race car was my heart. However, that is what happened. Shortly after I was saved, I told my family that I would not be racing anymore because the races were always on Sundays, and Sunday was the day, we worshipped the Lord.”

Continued tomorrow

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The term "enabler" fits here. Many times our good intentions enable a person’s lost condition.

I remember Rees Howell's testimony of how he got saved. He was from the country of Wales, but had traveled to America for a visit. While here he got deathly ill. As he was lying on a hospital bed, nearly dead, he surrendered his life to Christ. 

In retrospect, he said that if he had not traveled to America, he doubts that he would ever have surrendered his life to Christ. because his mom (back in the UK) would have never allowed him to suffer to the point of surrender. He said that out of her heart of mercy, she would have made him as comfortable as possible and he would never have been forced to come to grips with the condition of his soul. All mercy (100% mercy, 24/7) corrupts.    

So from that perspective, there are things that may happen to us that we might consider evil. But if they bring us to a deeper relationship with Christ, they are actually good. The Bible says that correcting a child is good for them because of what it keeps them from later in life. I realize that we live in a society where some people believe they have better insight into raising their children than God our Creator has, but that’s because they just don’t fully trust God, and subsequently could be leading their own children down the wrong path by not submitting to His wisdom. In that case their “good alternative action” might be considered evil.

The bottom line is this: this life is not the bottom line. The next life is the bottom line - and if we do anything to keep people from Christ in this life, then they will pay a great price in the next life. 

Again, quoting my pastor friend, “I remember a long time ago (1971-72) my brother Doug, with my dad’s help, built a racecar. When it was finished we would take it to various race tracks around our region, (South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska and Colorado). I remember taking it to the eastern side of South Dakota to a big track in the Sioux Falls area. My Grandparents lived about two hours away from the track so we spent the night with them and then drove to the track the next day, Sunday.

I was very surprised when my Grandmother expressed her disapproval of us going to the race on Sunday. She said that it was not good for us to put racing before God. We then explained to our “un-enlightened” Grandmother that this race car has brought our family together. We were all together as a family, my mom, my dad, my brothers, (you would have to have understood my past for this to make sense. We were not a close family prior to that. We didn’t do things together at all.) When we left the next day and were traveling to the track – we all commented on how Grandma just didn’t understand what this racecar was doing to help our family. In our estimation of things – family being together was good. But in my born-again Grandma’s estimation, putting family before God is evil, because just being close as a family is not going to get anyone to heaven.”

So our definition of good is "anything that illumines Christ;" while "evil" is "that which diminishes the light of Christ." My friend’s family was still thinking goodness and a high quality of life were all that was needed to please God. The problem is that "there is no one good except God." My friend went on to say, “We were much like the Pharisees. We were comparing ourselves to others and feeling pretty proud of the fact that as a family we were growing close to each other. We were not like those families who did nothing together, who didn’t really love each other, or didn’t want to be with each other. We were good!”  

Luke 18:31, 34 “Then He (Jesus) Then He (Jesus) took the twelve aside and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished…’ 34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said."

Continued tomorrow

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

The Pharisee stated the three areas of sacrifice in the New Testament:

1. First of all he was praying. That’s the first area of sacrifice. However, he was praying and boasting about himself, so that diminishes the whole purpose of prayer.
2. Then he talked about how often he fasts. That is the second area of sacrifice. And when you fast, just to be seen of men, then there is very little spiritual value in what you are doing. 
3. He then brags of his tithing, which is the third area - but he talks of it as though he should be looked upon with favor for returning to God a portion of the money God gave him in the first place. Isn’t it interesting how we can brag about how much of God’s money we give back to him?!

Our human nature often seeks approval for doing the very things necessary for our spiritual existence. We would like just a little recognition of how much we pray, fast, and give - yet without doing those things, we would die spiritually. It’s almost like wanting recognition for the fact that we eat and sleep every day. “Hey Lord, I ate again today and last night I slept. That should be worth something shouldn’t it?!” Think of the Pharisees: they did good things – but did that make them good?  

Consider what Paul said about himself in Philippians 3:4-6, “If anyone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” Paul the Apostle followed the law to the letter. He was faultless in legalistic righteousness. His life was filled with good works – but did that make him good? No it didn’t! If it had, then he would not have needed the Damascus road experience. Paul needed to surrender his life to Christ before any of his righteous acts would be considered good. 

So here is my question: if good works do not make us good, what are we? The answer to that is evil. Without Christ in us, our state or condition is still that of fallen, evil man. Even a person whose life is filled with good works can be evil – if their actions do nothing to lead others to Christ. There are many parents who are good at what they do – they feed their families, they shelter them, they provide for them. Yet if they are not leading their own family to a deeper relationship with Christ then all of their good works will be counted as evil.

This kind of evil is not as obvious as other kinds. It’s not the same as the person who deliberately has the intention of harming someone. Everyone understands that kind of evil – what I am talking about is that of not doing the good we should do. Good works also have the potential of keeping people in their sins if indeed the good that we do makes a person feel comfortable in their lost condition.  

So, by this definition, “good” is anything that illuminates Christ and “evil” is anything that diminishes the light of Christ. So you could have the most perfect parents who are adamant about keeping the mores of our culture, but whose every action is evil in God’s eyes because they do nothing to enlighten their children to the love of Christ – even though they are loving and kind themselves.

Continued tomorrow