Friday, March 18, 2016

1 Timothy 2:7 – The Christian Consumer

Daily Devotional Bible Verse
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7ESV)
Our lives today have become pretty easy. We don’t know what it means to wait for something anymore. If you want food, simply go to a fast food joint. If you want a new record, click a link on your computer instead of waiting in line at a record store. If you want to know what a friend is doing, text them instead of calling or check out their facebook/twitter page. We have became a people who consume food, entertainment, news, and so on.
Unfortunately we have brought this into the church as well. We go to church because we know we can consume a great worship experience. We don’t have to do anything on our part because the lights are set low, the music is excellently performed, and we don’t have to think about the Bible because we are told precisely what to believe. This can foster a consumerist mentality in the body of Christ.
The consumerist mentality not only deals with our experience at church, but our personal experience as we read the Bible individually. We have a study Bible which gives us the answer right away, or we are one click away from a Bible site to explain to us the meaning of a given text. Or even the daily devotion in the email every morning (yes we know). These are not bad resources, but can cause us to be dependent on them instead of God.
Paul is giving instructions to Timothy. Some of these instructions were hard to understand and Paul didn’t want Timothy to just depend on him. Instead, he knew Timothy should depend on God and the Holy Spirit that was dwelling in Him. We must be careful that we don’t become a simple consumer, but learn to think over what we have read and ask God to give us understanding. There tends to be much greater joy in God’s word when we think and pray over it than just read what others have said of it.
Do you put forth effort in the hard work of study and praise, or do you rely solely on others?

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Genesis 16:2 – Obsessing Over Promises and Not God

Daily Devotional Bible Verse
And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 16:2 ESV)
From Ryan,
A good friend of mine adopted a boy who has been through some traumatic events in his life. He is a great kid and is full of life. One of his quirks, however, is that he becomes obsessed with things; it might be as simple as a card game or video game. Once, our families were together at a local minor league baseball game, and everyone was having a good time. A player randomly threw a ball to my friend’s son and he became completely obsessed with getting another one. He no longer cared about baseball, who won, or his friends around him. He just yelled for a ball every time a player had one by the bench, and he would race to beat the other kids for foul balls. He became obsessed with getting another ball and forgot why he was at the game in the first place. He was upset when we left because he didn’t get another ball.
I was reading today’s verse and the story I just told came to my mind. Abraham had been promised by God that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Unfortunately, he and his wife were getting old and didn’t have any kids yet, so how could this promise from God ever come to pass?
Instead of trusting in God and His promise, they grew impatient when He didn’t fulfill His promise in the time they expected Him. They decided to make things happen themselves because they didn’t believe could happen any other way. This caused much pain and hurt in their family as you continue to read the rest of the story. Of course, God does eventually & miraculously fulfill His promise and they have a child (Genesis 21:1-2).
Have you become so obsessed with a promise from God that you forget to actually trust Him for it? Instead of relying on God, are your thoughts and time so consumed with chasing this promise that you forget everything else around you, even God?
Remember that God’s promises to us through His word and Spirit are meant to bring us closer to Him through trust and reliance. Take comfort in that truth, and spend some time today praying for patience, strength and grace.