Inconvenient Discipleship

 

Read Mark 8:34-38

 

The king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

- Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

 

The Christian ministry where I work serves those in need by giving food and clothing and meeting other basic needs. One Saturday as my husband and I were on our way to a business associate’s company picnic, my cell phone rang.

 

One of my clients told me, weeping, that she had absolutely nothing to feed her children. My first reaction was, This is my day off, and I want to enjoy it with my husband. But then the Lord reminded me I am a Christian all the time, not just when it is convenient. I jotted down the woman’s address, and we headed to the food pantry. We also stopped by our house to get some meat for the family. When we arrived at the client’s home, two of her children ran out to greet us with loving hugs. As we brought sacks of groceries into the kitchen, the young mother stood crying and gave both of us a thank-you hug as well. Sometimes I am tempted not to respond to a call from God that is inconvenient or unpleasant. But then the Lord reminds me to take up my cross and follow Jesus — 24/7.

 

The Author - Lissa Stressman Smith (Michigan, USA) - from the Upper Room

 

Thought for the Day - Become a volunteer at a local food pantry, or make regular contributions to that ministry.

Prayer

Dear Lord, help us to follow you whenever and wherever you call us. Fill us with overflowing love for those in need. Amen.

 

Prayer focus - People who are hungry

 

 

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” -Ecclesiastes 11:5

Church?

No  this is the Living Bible:  

 His name is Tim. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.   He is brilliant, kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.  Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.  

 

One day Tim decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Tim starts down the aisle looking for a seat.
  The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything.   Tim gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he  realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.   By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick. 

  About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Tim.  

Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit - a godly man, very elegant, very dignified, and very courtly.  He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do.  How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?   It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy.   The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane.  All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing.  The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.  

 

And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor.  With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Tim and worships with him so he won't be alone.   Everyone chokes up with emotion.  When the minister gains control, he says,   'What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.'    'Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!' 

 I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today.   To guide you and protect you as you go along your way.   His love is always with you, His promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares, you know He will see us through.  

Life-Giving Water

4:7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
4:8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that You, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, You have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do You get that living water?
4:12 Are You greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"
4:13 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
4:14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."4:15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."  John 4:7-15

It is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

- 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NRSV)
 

During my college days I was zealous in my studies and my attempts to find work. Yet my spirit felt hungry and dry. While believing that being employed by a first-rate company would bring me happiness, I also had other questions: What is the purpose of my existence? What meaning is there in my giving myself to this work? Life is limited to one time; therefore, I wanted to devote my life to something with real value. I knew there should be something more important for me to learn, and I have always sought that true teaching. Then I encountered the words of Jesus in the Bible. Jesus offered me water that satisfies my spiritual thirst and became “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Before, I had seen God as distant from me.

Now, I have a very close relationship, like a father and daughter. Now that nagging uneasiness is gone. My heart is content. I worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23), and I am enveloped in God’s love. I give heartfelt thanks to God who shines in my heart and displaces the darkness of the world with the light of Christ.

 

The Author - Sachie Yoshimoto (Tokyo, Japan) - from the Upper Room

 

Thought for the Day - Only God can satisfy our spiritual thirst and give us eternal life.

Prayer

O God, thank you for salvation. Deliver us from spiritual hunger and thirst as we worship you in spirit and truth. Amen.

Prayer focus - Those searching for meaning and inner peace

Mothers

 
 The Wife of Noble Character] A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:” -Proverbs 31:10, 27-28

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Unknown       

          As is the mother, so is her daughter.
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Ezekiel 16:4

          Men are what their mothers made them.
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Ralph Waldo Emerson

     

 We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves.
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Henry Ward Beecher

Dear Lord, it's such a hectic day

With little time to stop and pray

For life's been anything but calm

Since You called on me to be a mom

Running errands, matching socks

Building dreams with building blocks

Cooking, cleaning, and finding shoes

And other stuff that children lose

Fitting lids on bottled bugs

Wiping tears and giving hugs

A stack of last weeks mail to read

So where's the quiet time I need?

Yet when I steal a minute, Lord

Just at the sink or ironing board

To ask the blessings of Your grace

I see then, in my small one's face

That you have blessed me

All the while

And I stop to kiss

That precious smile

A PRAYER for YOUNG MOTHERS

Our heavenly Father, we thank thee for the gift of motherhood.
Help us as young mothers to seek thy guidance for our children.
Grant us wisdom, strength, patience, faith and love.
Create in us the willingness to dedicate ourselves and our children to Thee.
In the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Run A Little

 

               Read Mark 2:1-12

[The Lord said to Joshua,] “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

- Joshua 1:9 (NRSV)

 

 

When our son was around six years old, he would sometimes stop as we made our way home from our shop, saying, “Dad, I’m too tired to walk.” I would answer, “Then you can run a little.” That was one of those typical illogical answers that a child sometimes gets from an adult. To be honest, I said it in order to distract him. But to my surprise he restored his energy by changing pace, and he was not tired anymore.

 

We all can sometimes lose our energy simply because we get stuck at a certain pace. We form our lives in certain routines, doing business as usual. That’s why I admire the paralytic in this story from Mark’s Gospel. When Jesus told him to stand up and walk, he had the courage to do so. Jesus asked him not only to change pace but to do something he certainly was not used to doing.

 Persevering in the faith requires us to be willing to listen to God’s voice calling us to change our routines, to do something we have not done before, and to enter areas we could never have imagined. Such a change of pace takes courage. But “the one who calls you is faithful” and will give us the grace we need to change (1 Thess. 5:24).

 

The Author - Hans Vaxby (Moscow, Russia) - from the Upper Room

 

 

Thought for the Day - Reach out of your box today

Prayer

Trustworthy God, help us be so still that we can hear your voice, and give us the courage to change pace, to move where you call us. Amen.

Prayer focus - Those struggling with God’s call

The kingdom of heaven

20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went.
20:5 When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same.
20:6 And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?'
20:7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'
20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.'

20:9 When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'
20:13 But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?

20:14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last."    Matthew 20:1-16

The reward is the same whether we believe in God for 5 minutes or for a life time - Eternal Life!

Beyond Comparison

The landowner said, “Are you envious because I am generous?”

- Matthew 20:15 (NRSV)

 

In our reading for today, Jesus tells of a man who hired different workers at different times of the day: morning, noon, and evening. When it was time for the workers to receive the wages promised to them, those who had worked all day were upset that those who came later were paid just as much as they. The employer told them he had done no wrong, that he paid each one what he had promised. 

 

 

 

So what caused these all-day workers to be upset? They compared their situations to someone else’s. If they had not compared, they would not have been dissatisfied. Sometimes, looking at others’ lives, I become dissatisfied because theirs look richer and fuller than mine. Maybe they have the kinds of relationships that I long for. Or maybe they have luxuries that seem unattainable to me. When we compare ourselves to someone else, we may end up feeling better than that person, which can fill us with pride; or we may end up feeling worse, which can fill us with insecurity and jealousy.

The parable we read today teaches us that focusing on what others have or do not have leaves us feeling empty. If we focus instead on the goodness of God and how trustworthy and wonderful God is, we will find that the spiritual life offers riches beyond comparison.

 

The Author  - Kimberly Long (Texas, USA) - from the Upper Room

 

Thought for the Day - Looking to God makes us spiritually rich.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, help us to trust that you will sustain us. Amen.

Prayer focus - To let go of jealousy

Exercise Your Faith

 

 

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:5-6

1:3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
1:4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.
1:5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,
1:6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,
1:7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.
1:8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 For anyone who lacks these things is nearsighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins.
1:10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.
1:11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.  2 Peter 1:3-11

A number of years ago, I had a heart attack. My doctors performed a bypass operation and then prescribed medication and an exercise regimen. They also suggested I participate in a cardiac rehabilitation program. After a few weeks the doctors told me to continue an exercise program. They also told me that with regular exercise and proper care, I could expect to have good health. As I thought about what the doctors had prescribed for me — medication and exercise —

I realized that I need regular “exercise” to maintain my spiritual health as well. The apostle Peter was afraid that recently converted Christians would return to their old ways and stumble in their discipleship. Often, we too can lose enthusiasm for our faith and fall back to our old, lethargic ways. When such times come upon us, the Bible can be a valuable resource to hold us steady and reorient us to the way of Christ. Having a program of daily devotions, such as reading The Upper Room and studying the Bible, can keep us from stumbling and move us on toward the abundant life Jesus promised.

 

The Author - Edwin C. Wentz (Pennsylvania, USA) - from the Upper Room

 

Thought for the Day - God gives us the strength we need — one day at a time.

Prayer

Dear Lord, we yearn for the determination to pursue what is necessary to strengthen us in our journey. Amen.

Prayer focus - Those in cardiac rehabilitation programs