Too Content to Repent?

Please welcome Pastor Jeff Morlock to the Daily Bible Blast team of devotion writers. 

Read Matthew 3:1-11

Here’s that word again - “repent”. Just as we’re about to start a new year with a clean slate, it shows up to ruin our mood. This word we won’t hear anywhere else but in Scripture or at church. This word that John the Baptist screams at the top of his lungs. This word that calls us out and makes us feel guilty. Any chance we can rescue this word from all the negative baggage associated with it, and reclaim its value for ourselves and our world in 2020? 

I think for most of us repentance means saying you’re sorry. Or better, that you’re really, really, sorry and will never do it again – whatever “it” is. And of course, that’s part of what repentance entails. But only a very small part. To repent primarily means to turn around, to start over, to take another direction, to chart a different course. when one’s current course of behavior has caused pain to self, others, or God. 

So, as we reclaim this word for ourselves in the coming year, in what one aspect of your life do you need to repent (change direction) right now? Is there some practice or habit you could begin that might produce more abundant life for you or those around you?

Is there an element of our life together that needs repentance? How might you use your time and energy in the coming year to help bring about change?

Prayer:
Lord, don’t allow me to be too content to repent. Would you give me a soft heart to recognize where and how my actions have caused you sorrow? Would you fill me with your Holy Spirit so that my repentance is empowered by more than weak willpower and quickly broken resolutions? In Jesus' name. Amen.

Divine Appointments

Read 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sometimes, once the holidays are over and the decorations are back in storage, there is a letdown. We did so much to make everything perfect for our families and friends that it is bittersweet to put the tree on the curb, pull down the lights from the house and get back to the routine of daily living. When those blahs descend, it is time to remember the reason for the season just past.

Jesus came to us as a baby and then existed among us as a man, teaching and showing us how to live, how to find peace and how to behave as He wants us to. The days immediately following Christmas could be our time to find joy in the quiet. No shopping required. No cooking and preparing for company. Just you and Jesus and the knowledge of the salvation His birth has provided to all of us.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

So, let us all take a deep breath and settle in for a new year filled with this very promise of eternal life.

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you experience a letdown when Christmas ends? What can you do about it?

2. Can you take time to consider how Mary and Joseph felt after their first Christmas? It might give some perspective.

PRAYER:

Dear Jesus, what a season it has been! Fill my heart with satisfaction and joy for all the wonderful family-time I just experienced. Amen

Judy Webb

Filled With Joy

Read Acts 2:25-28

We prepared. We waited eagerly for His coming. And last week we celebrated His quiet incursion into our time and space. Now again, we anticipate a different kind of celebration: the beginning of a new year.

In today’s passage, Peter addresses the crowds on Pentecost. In his explanation of the events surrounding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit he recalls David’s prophecy about the Messiah’s resurrection (Psalm 16). David’s joy and security was rooted in his confidence that the Lord is and will remain with us, not abandoning us – ever, because even death cannot overcome Him. Standing on the other side of the cross, Peter’s passion and drive was rooted in the same.

Whether we are inclined to face the coming year with apprehension or excitement, fear or enthusiasm, let us always remember this tremendous work of love and redemption that God has done for us, and let it change us.

Let our hearts be joyful; let our spirits be unshaken. Let our praises be heard; let our minds be at peace. Let us walk in His ways and let us be present in His presence.

QUESTIONS:

1. Pentecost coincided with Shavout, the Jewish Feast of Weeks. What do you know about Shavout and how does it enrich the context of the passage?

2. What was the response of Peter’s audience to his message? What is our response? Who do you know that hasn’t heard?

PRAYER:

Father, you made Jesus, this newborn Babe, whom we crucified, Lord and Messiah. Let this fact cut us to the heart and move us. Amen.

Jon Gerckens

God blots out our sin

4 January 

Scripture Reading

Read Psalm 51:1-12 and reflect on the passage.

As a mother of three, I’ve certainly dealt with my fair share of stains. Last year when my son came home from camp, I remember pouring in what felt like a lot of OxiClean! Stubborn stains are unnerving, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced the frustration of realizing that something has been ruined. Forever blemished. Beyond repair.

As a believer, I’m thankful for God’s promise that Christ’s blood “blots out our sins.” He, alone, can take on a stubborn stain. Even a stain that we feel is too big and too bad. He can wash it away and make us clean.

Think for a moment of freshly fallen snow—snow that has nothing in it to taint the color. Pure white. Perfectly clean. Glistening and breath-taking. And now, even though it can be hard to fathom, picture yourself in the same way. Isaiah 51:7 says, “Purify me from my sins and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.”

No doubt, this is a God-sized promise. Jesus has not only the power but the desire, to wash our souls so that we can be white as snow. What an unspeakable gift of hope!

Questions

1.      What are some of the things in your life, past or present, that keep you from fully accepting Christ’s power to cleanse you?

2.      What is one step that you can take today to begin experiencing this freedom?

  

Prayer

Father, help us offer you each and every area of our hearts, so that you may have your way. Cleanse us and make us pure. Amen.

—Sarah Schweisthal

Given

January 1 

This next year, we have the ability to make changes in our lives with resolutions that we can fulfill on our own.  But with Jesus, we have the ability to experience relationship with the only One who can make all things new.

As we begin the New Year, many people have their sights set on newness. We are simply programmed with the assumption that life can and should be different. The Bible gives us a clear account for why this is—we live in a fallen world that cries out for newness, for restoration. So as we enter the New Year, it is great to pursue the hope that comes with our resolutions, but our ultimate hope will come in trusting in our God who came into the world in order to make all things new.

Scriptures for today, Isaiah 9:6-7 and Revelation 21:1-5a, which invites us to look at the ability we have to experience a relationship with the only One who can make things new.

Take time to reflect together on the passage. Read the passage a second time if needed. If you’d like some help in drawing out reflections, share answers to these questions: With the start of a brand-new year, where does the Kingdom of God need to break into your life in new ways? What are things in your life that need forgiveness? Newness? Hope?

Knowing that God is with you, what are ways that you need to grow your relationship with Him?

God’s promise of making everything new is not just a future promise but an everyday promise. How can you live into that promise every day, what little steps can you honestly make that will let you be made new in Christ?

After giving time to reflection, offer up a simple prayer to God. If you aren’t sure what to pray, consider something like this: “Jesus, thank you for coming to dwell

Here are some other ways you can put your faith into practice with this week’s focus of “Given.”

For Adults

As you go through your week, what things need to be made new in your life? Pray that you can give that to God to be made new through Him.

With the promise of everything that is yet to come from God, who in your everyday life could use a new view of Jesus? Start to pray how God can use you to share who He is. Pray every time you think of that person that God would work on their heart.

For Teens

What in your life seems old, tired, or needs to be made new? As you come across those things in your week, stop and pray in that moment to give those things to God and that He would make them new.

For Kids

Take advantage of the time you’ll spend this week doing chores around the house. Weave a faith conversation into the simple act of cleaning up the kitchen or your child’s bedroom. Have your child take mental note of the mess before you begin. When you’re done cleaning, reflect on how the room is new again. How can it be used because of that newness? What are the things that Jesus makes new for people?

—Brittany Timm & David White

Torn Between Two Worlds

1 Corinthians 10:19-22 Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?

Each day we make decisions critical to our witness. As Christians, we still sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We often fall short by living in two worlds; our Spiritual world and our secular world. We must make the choice every day to keep close to God so we don't fall short.

Some of us lead two lives by trying to follow both Christ and the crowd. It doesn't work; we will falter when we attempt to keep up two separate identities. This sort of living destroys our testimony. We can't survive living in two worlds.

One way to overcome this is to begin each day with pray and God's Word. Putting on the Armor of God provides a new understanding, a strong defense as we enter the world - as we enter our workplace.

Read from Ephesians 6 often. Bolster your immune system with a healthy dose of truth so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (Ephesians 6:11)

Consider memorizing these lines so you can bring them to mind as temptation presents itself. This might be a great way to usher in the New Year.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Psalm 126 -- LORD restored the fortunes of Zion

This Psalm is about the joy the people felt when they were released from Babylonian captivity.  They were ecstatic, as only prisoners who once were chained to a foreign land, could be.  They were filled with joy upon their return home, after years of being forced to live in a strange land; to put down roots in soil that was not their own.

Psalm 126:6 (MSG)
"So those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing." 

At some point in each of our lives, there is the experience of captivity; a season when our strongholds have a strong hold on us.  What is it that troubles you?  What has you chained to the past, longing for tomorrow's reprieve?  This year of 2012 is coming to a close and we are fast approaching the time when we prepare to turn over that new leaf.  While every day is an opportunity for new beginnings in God's eyes, for some reason the first of the year is the ultimate date we humans set aside to begin anew.

God's ability to restore life is beyond our understanding. Forests burn down and are able to grow back. Broken bones heal. Even grief is not a permanent condition. Our tears can be seeds that will grow into a harvest of joy because God is able to bring good out of tragedy. When burdened by sorrow, know that your times of grief will end and that you will again find joy. We must be patient as we wait. God's great harvest of joy is coming!  --Life Application Study Bible.

Which part of the above quote from Life Application Study Bible applies to you; to your life?  Is your life a mess, are you grieving a loss, are your prayers for God to restore your finances?  Now is the time to begin praying, to seek God's Word for you each day.  He will restore your life and it will be even better than you ever dreamed.  So, what is your resolution for the new year?  What do you plan to do differently?  Better?  More often?

Read Psalm 126 here

Listen to Psalm 126 here