Tag: gifts

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Mark Devotionals

Where our power comes from

Mark

After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive [the demon] out?”

And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29)

The disciples were embarrassed. Many times before they had cast demons out of people. But this time, they couldn’t. Why not?

I think it was because after casting so many demons out, they were starting to think that their power to do so came from within themselves.

Oh, maybe they didn’t actually say so, but their attitudes and actions showed it.

Frustration that the demon wouldn’t leave. And a failure to come to God in prayer.

Often times, the more we do ministry, the more our confidence grows. We start thinking, “I can do this!”

But what is our confidence in?

In ourselves? In our gifts?

Or in God?

If we put our confidence in ourselves and our gifts, things may go well for a while. But in the end, we’ll face frustration and failure just like the disciples did.

Remember where your power comes from. As Jesus said, without him, we can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

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2 Samuel Devotionals

Always eligible for grace

2 Samuel

As I read the part about Mephibosheth in this passage, his words to David struck me.

Apparently, Mephibosheth’s servant had wrongfully accused him of turning on David when David was fleeing for his life from Absalom.

But after offering his defense, and knowing he couldn’t prove his servant’s lies, he basically told David to do as he saw best, saying,

For my grandfather’s entire family deserves death from my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table.

So what further right do I have to keep on making appeals to the king? (2 Samuel 19:28)

Those words are striking to me.

We too deserved nothing but death from God because of our sins. And yet, God has welcomed us into his house, not just as servants, but as sons and daughters, and one day we will dine at his table in glory.

But let us always remember that when bad things happen to us, whether through our own fault or not, we always have the right to keep coming to our King and making our appeals to him.

Why? Because he is not just our King, but our loving Father. And he never tires of seeing us or hearing our requests.

As Paul said,

He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? (Romans 8:32)

This doesn’t mean of course, that God will grant us everything we ask. After all, sometimes we ask for “snakes and rocks” thinking they are “fish and bread.” And God only gives us good gifts.

But we are always eligible to receive his grace and to come to him with our requests.

So as the writer of Hebrews says,

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Categories
Romans

But don’t we need to go out?

Romans

I suppose I should address an objection that people might make concerning my last blog.

I said that one reason Christian fellowship is necessary is that we need each other. We all have a role to play in the body of Christ, and that we have a responsibility to use our gifts to minister to each other.

Some might object, “But shouldn’t we be using our gifts to bless the world, not just the church?”

Yes, we should.

But remember that many of the gifts we are given are meant first and foremost for the church.

Paul in Ephesians, for example says,

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)

Why did Christ do this?

To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

Think about evangelists for a moment.

If there is one gifting that is used to be outside of the church, it’s that one.

But Paul specifically tells us that one of the main purposes of the evangelist is to prepare God’s people for works of service.

As well as preaching the gospel, evangelists help encourage other believers to share their faith too. They show other believers how it is possible to make a difference in the lives of their unbelieving friends.

And as each of these people Paul lists use their gifts, we all grow up in unity in the faith and become mature.

“Okay, Bruce,” you may say, “but my gifting is not from that list.”

It doesn’t matter. Paul goes on to say,

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Again, we see that everyone in the church, every supporting ligament, every part, needs to do its work that we may all build each other up and become mature.

That’s why Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:10,

As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:10)

So yes, using our gifts to touch the world is vital. But we also need to use them within the church.

Remember what Jesus told his disciples:

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Notice that the way that people will know we are Christ’s disciples is by the way we treat each other.

And if we are loving and serving one another, people will see a difference in the followers of Christ, and that’s what will attract them to Him.

But if we are fighting amongst ourselves, living selfishly, and with an attitude of pride, they’ll rightfully ask, “So what’s the difference? Christians are just like us.”

How about you? Are you loving God’s people? Or are you avoiding them? Are you serving God’s people?

Or are you withholding the gifts God has given you from them?

Categories
Acts

A gift

Acts

One of the things that people have a hard time understanding about Christianity is that all that we have is a gift from God. All that we have, and our very lives are gifts from God.

And of course, salvation is the greatest gift of all, as God saves us from our sin and comes to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit.

When we truly understand the grace that we have received from God, it changes our whole view of life as we start to understand his love for us and how much we truly are blessed no matter our circumstances.

In this story, Simon the Sorcerer never grasped this. Before Phillip came, he had everything he could have wanted, power and fame.

His powers, if real, were most certainly not from God, but because of them, he boasted that he was someone great and people believed him.

Then came Phillip, an ordinary man except for one thing. He was filled with the Spirit of God.

And apparently the signs and wonders he performed far outstripped anything that Simon could do. As a result, the people turned from Simon, listened to Phillip, and eventually turned to the Lord.

It’s hard to say whether Simon’s conversion was genuine or not. It’s possible that it was, but his later actions seem to indicate otherwise.

Whether it was genuine or not, it’s clear that he did not truly understand the concept of grace. That it is a gift received and cannot be paid for or earned.

And so when Simon saw the people receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit when Peter and John laid hands on them, he wanted the ability to bestow the Spirit on others and offered to pay Peter and John for it.

But Peter said,

May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.

Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin. (Acts 8:20-23)

What happens when we fail to understand the grace of God?

We think of ourselves too highly.

We think that somehow we deserve the things that God has given us. And when we don’t have the same things that others have, we become jealous and bitter.

Simon was certainly that way. Before Phillip came, he was a somebody. But now with Phillip, Peter, and John there, he was a nobody. And he wanted to be a somebody again.

He was bitter at his loss of stature and jealous of what Phillip, Peter, and John had. And that’s why he tried to buy the gift of God. Not for God’s glory, but for his own.

But while some of us may think of ourselves too highly, others of us have the reverse problem.

We think of ourselves too lowly.

We think that we are so bad, even God cannot save us. Or we think we are so unworthy, that God would never think to give us any good gifts.

If Simon was an actual believer, it’s possible that he swung from one end of the pendulum to the other. That after Peter’s harsh rebuke, he felt his unworthiness to the point where he felt he couldn’t even approach God to ask for forgiveness. Instead, he asked Peter to pray for him.

But the writer of Hebrews tells us,

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

None of us deserves God’s grace. So let us not take pride in what we have received nor be jealous of what God has graciously given others.

On the other hand, let us also remember that God delights in giving good gifts to those who are his children, though none of us are worthy to receive anything from him.

That’s what grace is all about.

Categories
Proverbs

Lazy

When I was a kid, I could be very lazy, particularly about my schoolwork.

I remember nearly missing out on my fourth-grade school trip to the Big Island in Hawaii because I wasn’t doing my schoolwork.

I also got in trouble in fifth grade, and again in seventh grade for not doing my schoolwork. After that, I finally learned my lesson.

But for some strange reason, I still have nightmares about going to university, and having a test that I’m totally not ready for.

Oftentimes it’s a class that I skipped going to all year, and now I’m facing the final exam. (This never happened, by the way!)

Anyway, throughout the Proverbs, not just in these passages, we find warnings against being lazy.

Time and again, Solomon mocks the lazy person saying things like,

The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he will not even bring it back to his mouth! (Proverbs 19:24)

Or,

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!”
or, “I will be murdered in the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13)

He also makes some rather obvious observations such as,

Laziness brings on deep sleep,
and the shiftless man goes hungry. (Proverbs 19:15)

Or again (after a particularly graphic story of something he saw),

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest —
and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:33–34)

But perhaps the verse that strikes me the most is found in chapter 21, verses 25–26.

The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him,
because his hands refuse to work.

All day long he craves for more,
but the righteous give without sparing. (Proverbs 21:25–26)

God wants us to be a blessing to others. But not only does laziness destroy us, it also prevents us from being a channel of blessing that God can use.

By our laziness, we waste the gifts that he has given us to touch others’ lives. And God will hold us accountable for that. We see that in Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30).

How about you? Are you wasting the gifts that God has given you, from such gifts as a brain to think and hands to work, to the talents and spiritual gifts God has given you?

Let us not be lazy, but let us use our gifts to the fullest, not only blessing ourselves, but blessing those around us as well.