Category Archives: Daily Devotion

Let Your Light Shine

Lent

March 16, 2023

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
   Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

I invite you to recall or learn a song from my childhood that seems directly related to this scripture.

This little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine
Oh, this little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine

This little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine, all the time, let it shine

All around the neighborhood
I’m going to let it shine
All around the neighborhood
I’m going to let it shine
All around the neighborhood
I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine, all the time, let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I’m going to let it shine
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I’m going to let it shine
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine, all the time, let it shine*.

Prayer: Lord, help us to know what is pleasing to you and to make it happen. Amen.

This Little Light of Mine by Harry Dixon Loes, see at https://allnurseryrhymes.com/this-little-light-of-mine/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Worldview

Lent

March 15, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
   He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
   he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
   for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
   I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff—
   they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   my whole life long.

I memorized Psalm 23 when I was a child from the King James version of the Bible. It remains etched in my mind in that format. Grammar rules have changed, and even the meaning of the words has been realigned. I still prefer “and will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” over “my whole life long.” My bias has nothing to do with my concept of life after death. It has to do with the level of my commitment. I do not like the idea of setting a cutoff time for my commitment. It is also not as poetic. I would have left the word “long” off.

I do, however, recognize that times changes, so I have a grammar/spell checker on my computer because grammar is particularly different from when I was in grade school. We use a lot more commas now, for one thing. I do like the change to using the word “they” instead of she or he as the pronoun to correspond to the person.

It is not just grammar or spelling that we need to adjust.  Worldviews change over time. When we read something written 2000 years ago, we must consider the worldview of that time and place and sift out the context of the writing, which is eternal and as meaningful to us today as it was to Abraham or Sharah.

Prayer: Lord, help us to do our best to present ourselves to God as approved by him, workers who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15.) Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

For What Are We Made?

Lent

March 14, 2023

Scripture Reading:

1 Samuel 16:1-13

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. –1 Samuel 16:6-13

The Hebrew word heart used above is the translation of the Hebrew word “lebab” which has a broader, more encompassing meaning than people in the modern area might consider in describing the word heart. Lebad describes the entire person, including mind, will, and heart*.  We might today think of David as being a person with the right stuff to get the job done; perhaps we would see him as wise, tenacious, and caring about people.

The Bible indicates that God searches for the right person to do a job and then sends the Spirit of the Lord to come upon that person and guide their work—Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, and even David’s great-grandmother, Ruth. And while we may never make the annals of history like these examples, I believe God calls us all to do jobs that only we can do and provides the spirit’s support to make it happen, if we open our hearts to God’s service.

Prayer: Lord, help us claim our job and work to perfect our delivery of it with the help of your Spirit. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3824.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

A Time to be Intentional

Lent

March 13, 2023

Scripture Reading:

1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. –Samuel 16:1-5

When I read the above scripture, Matthew 10:16 popped into my mind: ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Reading and understanding the people with whom we work is key to progress regarding whatever our goal may be. I  once had a supervisor who never wanted to be blamed for any mistake. Sometimes, things go wrong, and in most instances, there is a conflation of reasons for the mistakes. My co-workers and I had observed our supervisor’s behavior and shared experiences of being called into her office where nothing got done until we took responsibility for the problem, whether we had much to do with the negative outcome or not. Once she became relieved of any fault, she could be very helpful in devising a plan to correct the fallout. So, most of her staff developed the habit of starting conversations with her regarding addressing a problem by immediately saying something like, “I don’t know how I let this happen.” Doing that markedly shortened the time spent trying to address the situation.

There is indeed a time, as Ecclesiastes 3:6-8 says,

    to search and a time to give up
    to keep and a time to throw away,
    to tear and a time to mend,
    to be silent and a time to speak,
    to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Being wise about how we approach people and situations may make all the difference in the world regarding positive outcomes.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to be wise as well as loving and peaceful. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Called to Serve

Lent

March 12, 2023

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.’—John 4:31-38

We sometimes forget that when we accepted Christ as our Leader, we signed on as a laborer in his vineyard. We are called to do the work needed to bring to fruition the Kingdom of God, the Beloved Community, throughout our world. We are called to be moral people, but that just describes how we are to live and work, not rest on our laurels.

Prayer: Lord, help us to find our calling and groom our ability to fulfill it as we work toward the Beloved Community. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Guided by Love and Grace

Lent

March 11, 2023

Scripture Reading:

John 4:5-42

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’ –John 4:16-26

The Jews anticipated the coming of the Messiah. In Jewish eschatology, the term mashiach, or “Messiah”, refers specifically to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who is expected to save the Jewish nation, and will be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age*. Similarly, in Christian theology, Messías [is] literally, “the anointed one,” referring to Jesus as the Christ – supremely empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish all of the divine plan**.

The Messiah is a leader worth following. The Messiah, or Christ in Greek, has a plan for our lives built on love, enabled by grace. We were created to participate in establishing God’s divine plan for building the beloved community where we work together as one sharing our diverse talents and skills to create a world where everyone has enough and where are welcomed for who they are as God created each of us in God’s image and recognized us each as good. Working together, we enable each person to be fully the person God created them to be.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for guiding us with your love and your grace. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_in_Judaism#:~:text=In%20Jewish%20eschatology%2C%20the%20term,people%20during%20the%20Messianic%20Age.

**https://biblehub.com/greek/3323.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Reconciliation

Lent

March 10, 2023

Scripture Reading Romans 5:1-11

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. –Romans: 5:6-11

My spring Bible Study Group is studying Genesis*. In a video accompanying the study, a Jewish scholar discussed the scene in the garden when Adam and Eve, after disobeying the rule that they could not eat from the tree of good and evil, realized they were naked and began to clothe themselves. He said the Jewish view of that story was that upon discovering they were naked, they had to clothe themselves in doing good deeds to reconcile their failure to follow God’s commandments. I like that interpretation. Firstly, it does not deliver the message that there is something bad about the human body. Secondly, from the very start of life, humans were given the opportunities to find reconciliation with God when we have strayed from doing what is right.

Of course, if you read further into the scripture, we see God kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden and yoking them with hard work and painful birth. What do we make of that? Being reconciled with God frees us to restore justice wherever we can. The pain we may have caused others does not go away merely because we recognize our mistakes. I love the story of John Newton, the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace. He was involved in the slave trade when a killer storm struck the slave ship he was sailing and threatened to kill all aboard. He prayed as a last resort for God to save his life and committed himself to give up the slave trade and serve God fully, which he did. He, indeed, did dedicate his life to Christ’s work. Telling of his reconciliation in his hymn alone has opened the door to God’s Grace for millions worldwide.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for making us whole through your gift of grace. Amen

Invitation to Genesis, A Short-Term Disciple Bible Study, Abingdon Press.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Justified and Graced

Lent

March 9, 2023

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. –Romans 5:1-5

Justified, as used above, means to be made right cleared of all charges through our faith relationship with God. I love the phrase God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. We live, breathe, and have our being (Acts 17:28) with that presence in our lives. We waste much grace when we do not maintain a close relationship with the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts.

My paternal grandmother practiced praying without ceasing. She married and had six children with her first husband, of which the only son died when he was nine. Two years after the boy’s death, her husband was killed in a storm, leaving her to raise those five little girls alone. She remarried a few years later and had three more children, including my father. That couple had been together for about ten years when he died from sepsis. The next year the stock market crashed, starting the Great Depression, and finding my grandmother with a houseful of pre-teens and teenagers living amid the Dust Bowl. Her faith guided her through those times. I was five when she died, but I remember her as a loving woman whom you would never have guessed had dealt with such challenges.

We all need to recognize and relate to God’s presence in all aspects of our lives by always keeping that conversation with God open.

Prayer:
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith, on heaven’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground**. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/1344.htm

Refrain from the hymn I’m Pressing on the Upward Way by Johnson Oatman, Jr. See at https://hymnary.org/text/im_pressing_on_the_upward_way

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Make Us One

March 8, 2023

Lent

Scripture Reading: Psalm 95
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.’
Therefore in my anger I swore,
   ‘They shall not enter my rest.’—Psalm 95:6-11

I must say my first reaction to this scripture was that I know exactly how you feel, God. I am so tired of what I consider to be hot-button issues drowning out the more important needs in our society. But I do not know how God feels. I cannot image God looking down on God’s creation and seeing people like me thinking we are righteous in our beliefs, while at the same time, God’s children with opposing views think we are the ones who have lost our way. Evil divides us by the simplest of things, such as the grayness of what is right and what is wrong. Where is the oneness Jesus called for in his final prayer for his disciples?  Why are we letting the evil one divide us?

All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. John 17:10-11

Prayer:  Lord, make us whole; make us one. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Dehumanizing Humans

Lent

March 7, 2023

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

The problem with slavery is that it is designed to rob people of self-sufficiency. The slave spends their life trying to survive under the oversight of a master puppeteer pulling their strings until they submit to their master’s desire. I believe that innately humans know there is something very wrong with that, but if it is the only thing slaves know from birth, it is very hard to transition to be the person they were created to be. The exiles from Egypt were ready to return to slavery (Numbers 14:1–4) when they first faced self-determination.

While we may not have actual slavery in America, we do have a caste system that may be as bad, whereby people must learn and practice their place or suffer the consequences. For example, we cannot solve our “border problem” because it is financially more rewarding for businesses to “hire”  undocumented refugees fleeing danger. These businesses escape paying a minimum wage, providing workers comp, and providing Social Security or Medicare benefits for the undocumented. Our policing of such work practices is not directed at the businesses as much as at the undocumented. Fines placed on businesses are the cost of doing business if they get caught. The undocumented are deported back to face again the challenges they tried to escape.  I have wondered how quickly this problem would be solved if the business owners went to jail for their illegal acts and the undocumented were allowed to apply for legal entrance. If they qualified, they would be allowed to stay and work. There is a shortage of workers in some areas that immigrants could fill. The other people who are impacted by this system are US citizens who do the type of work for which the undocumented are being used but are not hired because they would cost more.

Prayer: Lord, help us see beyond our culturally judgmental viewpoints and recognize the potential in all people. Amen.

*For more insight into this situation, read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.