Quick Devotions

Unless you’ve totally buried your head in the sand, the growing unrest, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty in society hasn’t escaped your notice. Nightly the news, social media, and alternative media sources carry the headlines about unrest, protest, violence, death, and war. For so long, many have tried to dismiss the growing lawlessness as just more visible because of our 24/7 connected world instead of accepting the fact that entire societies are descending into a seeming dark abyss.

In Matthew 24, a chapter rich in prophetic promises of Jesus concerning the events leading up to the end of human history, we find this promise: And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12 ESV) As a student of the Scripture and a devoted follower of Jesus, I watch the events unfolding in the world around me through a Biblical lens. More than once lately I have found myself growing hardened against the heart wrenching reality of where society is heading because of the influx of images, videos, and information about world events. I wonder if you can relate?

As Christ followers, especially in the west, I believe we are at a crossroads where a defining choice must be made. We can allow the events unfolding in our world to stoke fear, hate, anger, and bitterness, or we can respond in a countercultural but Biblical way. We can allow the actions of lost, broken people to make us hardened and cold, or we can fix our eyes on Jesus and humbly ask God for help living as bright lights in an ever darkening world. We can complain, worry, get anxious, and even want to get even, or we can share the incredible love of Christ with a world that needs the hope of the Gospel now more than ever.

As I thought about this devotion, I felt a great need to challenge myself and those who love Jesus. We can either talk about the love of Christ, or we can actually allow His love to infuse our thoughts, words, and actions. The enemy is content to allow us to become a tool he uses to perform his dastardly work (see John 10:10), or we can live in the abundant life and freedom of Christ. The question remains… in an ever more polarized, divided, hate filled world, how can we guard our hearts against growing cold? Here are a few practical, Biblical tips I hope will help as we eagerly await the coming of our King.

• Abide in Christ (see John 15:4-5) – We desperately need to intentionally, regularly, and expectantly spend time with Jesus. We need to spend time in His Word, time in private worship, and time in intentional prayer.
• Fix our eyes on Jesus (see Hebrews 12:1-2) – A.W. Tozer famously remarked: “Anything that keeps me from my Bible is my enemy, no matter how harmless it might seem.” We need to limit (or even eliminate) our time consuming things that fill us with worry, anxiety, and fear. Instead, let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
• Come to Jesus for rest (see Matthew 11:28, Hebrews 4:16, and 1 Peter 5:7) – As time progresses, every true follower of Jesus must humbly draw near to Christ as they seek the rest, peace, joy, and contentment that only Jesus can give. When we draw near, we should expect God to keep His promises to give us rest for our souls, mercy and grace to help us in our time of need, and His care to help us with our anxieties.
• Get plugged in to a Biblical, Christ centered church (see Hebrews 10:24-25) – Each of us desperately needs to be plugged into a local, Biblical, Christ centered church. None of us are called to be “lone ranger Christians.” The Church is a source of strength, encouragement, and accountability that all of us need to grow and mature as believers. If we aren’t in Church, we are walking in sin and opposition to the Word of God.

As you walk away from this devotion, I want to challenge you: Do you feel yourself growing cold? If so, as Christ followers we can confess and turn from our sin (see 1 John 1:9). May God give you grace and strength to recognize the condition of your heart and the times in which we live. Know that today my prayer is that God would bless, strengthen, and convict each of us so we can continue walking in Christ love and power as a beautiful testimony to a world that desperately needs the hope that only Jesus can give.

Growing up as a young business professional, often I had mentors and managers share this feedback: It isn’t what you said, it is how you said it. So often I have watched as Gospel conversations, interactions about Jesus, and Biblical messages have failed to launch not because of the content but because of the context. As Christ followers, we often allow the discussion to be derailed by our own attitude or how we proclaim the hope of Jesus so we never really get to the why.

Over the past several years, I have been so blessed to serve in full time ministry. As I serve as a pastor, I have learned more in the few short years I’ve been serving in this capacity then I did for the years before. I can remember sometime ago watching a move in theaters with my wife on a Saturday night. The movie, a deeply disturbing look at the horrors of child sex trafficking, left me angry, disgusted, and heartbroken.

That night I couldn’t sleep as the thoughts of that ongoing tragedy echoed in my mind. The next morning as I stood before the congregation, I was angry as I preached and taught. After that day and the loving conviction of the Lord, I decided to do everything possible to avoid ever preaching with an angry heart or mind. The reason I think that is so important is simple: What I felt led to say got lost in how I said it. Can you relate?

Here in the US, society has grown more polarized, divided, and hostile than I can ever remember. It seems like so many people are shouting, but no one is really listening. James 1:19 comes to mind: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Too often, our enemy gets us into a place of stress, anxiety, and panic as we get whirled into a frenzy where we speak quickly, emotionally, and often do so much harm to our witness as Christ followers. Today I want to challenge you with the theme I am often challenged with: Listen more. Speak less. Engage prayerfully and carefully, with joy, respect, kindness, and love (see 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and 1 Peter 3:15).

Now, back to the thought: Often, it isn’t what you say but how you say it that can make all the difference. I’d like to remind you of a breathtaking Biblical truth. In Christ, you and I have this call: Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14). That is an incredibly comprehensive, and profoundly simple to understand, command. I don’t think there is any question of God’s intent through the Scripture. We are to be a people who are known by our love for Christ and our love for others (see John 13:34-35). The only question that remains is… what is love?

Let me stop you for a moment. The love we are called to is not worldly love. We don’t have to guess or wonder what this type of love should look like, the Scripture tells us. One commentator said that Biblical love is the “decision to compassionately, righteously, and responsibly seek the wellbeing of another.”  For me, the Scripture puts it even more plainly: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

So, what is the application? The words we speak, the posts we posts, the texts we send, the content we share, the way we interact, the way we serve and engage, even the way we proclaim the hope of Jesus, should all be done in Biblical love. If not, don’t be surprised when people don’t really care what you have to say because of the way you said it. Even if what we said is rejected or hostility is the response, let us still respond in Christ’s love.

I want to end this blog post with a thought: Jesus should be our example here. As I read the Gospels, I watch Jesus engaging with people who were hostile to His testimony and the truth He proclaimed. I see Him engaging with lost religious people, prostitutes, tax collectors, outcasts, rejects, and the worst society had to offer. Yet, I see a calm, determined, passionate, profound, incredible, beautiful love, compassion, and grace as He shared the life saving, life transforming truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now, the call is up to you and me as true followers of Jesus to go out and live, serve, and proclaim the hope of Jesus just like Him.

P.S: If you are reading this blog post and you aren’t a follower of Christ, but you’ve experienced someone failing to live out the teachings of Jesus, please look to Jesus. He alone has the power to save, transform, and set you free. No matter how much His servants might fail, He never will. Please visit https://myemanuel.com/i-am-ready to learn more about the hope of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.