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Lent Devotions
February 26, 2016: The Cure for Hostility
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you (v. 27).
I remember a Mother Goose rhyme from my childhood:
I do not like thee, Dr. Fell. The reason why I cannot tell. But this I know, and know full well: I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.
That’s hostility. Hostility is the settled state of being enemies. Anger, appropriately expressed and properly handled, can be a sign of good mental health. But there is no health in hostility. Hostility ruins our mental health. I once heard of a psychologist whose first question to every new patient was: “Who is wrong with you?”
Can hostility be cured? Not if we cover it up and pretend it doesn’t exist. Jesus didn’t say, “Pretend you have no enemies.” He said, “Love your enemies.” And how do we do that? “Do good to those who hate you,” said Jesus. Try doing something good for your enemy, and see if you can still feel hostile toward him. “Bless those who curse you,” said Jesus. Find something in your enemy that you can honestly praise, and then see if you can still feel hostile.
“Pray for those who abuse you,” said Jesus. Pray, not once, but persistently. It is not easy to remain hostile toward someone for whom you pray on a daily basis.
Prayer: Help me to love my enemies.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 25, 2016: Rules and People
And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” (v. 9)
Customs, rules, and regulations are necessary and should be obeyed. We must attend church regularly, keep the Lord’s day holy, and observe the speed limits when driving.
But people are more important than regulations. That is the Lord’s teaching in today’s Scripture. The Jews were very good at keeping rules but poor in showing compassion to the needy. They thought it was more important to keep the temple regulations than to feed a starving man. The presence all around them of the hungry, the sick, and the spiritually bankrupt did not particularly bother them as long as no one broke the Sabbath. That same temptation confronts us. We may be so concerned about keeping our worship dignified that we shut out those who need the gospel. Jesus did not win followers by legislating to them about keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Jesus’ approval of David’s action in eating the holy bread despite temple regulations does not mean that we can therefore disregard completely our responsibilities toward worship, the church, or the sacraments. Likewise, his healing the sick and picking grain on the Sabbath do not mean that we can revert to a Sunday “business as usual” policy. The holy things of our religious lives must be safeguarded, but a regulation or tradition must never stand in the way of an opportunity to do good unto someone in need.
Prayer: Lord, give me a heart filled with love.
Today’s devotional was written by the late Pierce Maassen, a pastor in the RCA. It was originally published in 1967. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 24, 2016: Someone Hated
A tax collector named Levi (v. 27).
When Hitler’s armies invaded Norway in 1940, they recruited a Norwegian called Vidkun Quisling to run the country for them. Quisling’s name has now come to mean anyone who turns to his own advantage the chance to betray his own people by collaborating with the enemy.
Levi was just such a collaborator—a Jew collecting taxes on behalf of the Romans who had taken over his country, and benefiting himself in the process. Paradoxically, it was precisely because he was Jewish that patriotic Jews regarded him as a rank outsider. The leper was a sad character; the tax collector was a bad one. Who of God’s people would be prepared to accept such a quisling in their company?
Jesus would. For he knew that if Levi responded to his call, it would mean he had “left everything” that had made him such a bad man. In a word, he would have repented. Restoring the sick to health is one way of describing what Jesus came to do; bringing sinners to repentance is another way—an even more exact and necessary description.
And notice what follows. Levi is the kind of outsider we really would not want to have in our fellowship. But once Jesus brings him in, we may find he is better at outreach than we are!
Prayer: Lord, give me a penitent heart and such an evangelistic vision.
Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 23, 2016: Stop Sitting on Acorns
Some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed (v. 18).
There are two ways to get to the top of a tall oak tree:
1) Roll up your sleeves and start climbing, or 2) Sit on an acorn.
We read about four friends who bring their sick buddy to see Jesus. When the way is blocked because of the crowd, they scramble up onto the roof, tear open a hole, and lower their pal down into Jesus’ lap.
Faith always finds the opening that doubt would never have guessed was there.
These guys don’t sit on acorns. They are industrious, ingenious, and daring. And not too concerned with protocol. Notice that they don’t ask permission. They don’t form a committee to study this matter and give a report at the next congregational meeting. Their sick buddy is going to see Jesus, and that’s that.
Isn’t that a picture of the church at its best—a group of folks who bring the needy to Jesus? And isn’t the church at its best when it emulates the resourcefulness and persistence of these four true-blue friends? If one way is blocked, try another way. If the conventional approach doesn’t work, try the unconventional. Isn’t the church at its best when it is more interested in results than in regulations, more concerned with redemption than with rules, and more interested in people than in property?
Prayer: Use me in your service, Lord.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 22, 2016: Someone Excluded
In a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy (v. 12, KJV).
Within a chapter of his reference to Elisha healing a leper, Jesus is himself doing the same. Although both the sick men were “outsiders,” the point about Naaman in the Old Testament is that he was “outside” primarily because he was foreign. But the point about this man in the Gospel of Luke is that he was “outside” simply because of his leprosy.
Perhaps that is why the wording of verse 12 seems to express shocked surprise. The King James translation sticks closer to Luke’s original than most: “Behold a man full of leprosy,” as if to say, “Will you look at that, a leper! Here, in town?” Like every sufferer from such disease, this man had been shut out from his local community, his home, and his family, to live in wretched isolation. He was not supposed to be in the town. Perhaps he had crept back into it surreptitiously, desperate to find the Jesus he had heard about, the only one he believed capable of healing him.
To everyone else he was an untouchable, literally beyond the pale. But not even this man was beyond the reach of the Savior of the world. None of us is, no matter what our spiritual condition.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you have reached out even to me.
Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 22, 2016: Someone Excluded
In a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy (v. 12, KJV).
Within a chapter of his reference to Elisha healing a leper, Jesus is himself doing the same. Although both the sick men were “outsiders,” the point about Naaman in the Old Testament is that he was “outside” primarily because he was foreign. But the point about this man in the Gospel of Luke is that he was “outside” simply because of his leprosy.
Perhaps that is why the wording of verse 12 seems to express shocked surprise. The King James translation sticks closer to Luke’s original than most: “Behold a man full of leprosy,” as if to say, “Will you look at that, a leper! Here, in town?” Like every sufferer from such disease, this man had been shut out from his local community, his home, and his family, to live in wretched isolation. He was not supposed to be in the town. Perhaps he had crept back into it surreptitiously, desperate to find the Jesus he had heard about, the only one he believed capable of healing him.
To everyone else he was an untouchable, literally beyond the pale. But not even this man was beyond the reach of the Savior of the world. None of us is, no matter what our spiritual condition.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you have reached out even to me.
Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 21, 2016: Let Down the Nets!
What a story! Peter and the others had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught one fish. They were discouraged. A hot meal and a comfortable bed would suit each of them fine. But Jesus tells them to go out into the deep water one more time and let down their nets. Without hesitation, they do it. Peter says, “We really don’t see the point, Jesus, but if you say so, down go the nets!” That’s obedience.
Next came the blessing. Having done what Jesus asked, they received what Jesus promised. They caught so many fish that their boats began to sink. And Peter drops to his knees before Jesus. Here is a picture of worship. Confronted by the power of the Master, Simon sees his own inadequacy. He realizes he is not worthy to be in the presence of the Son of God. But the grace of Jesus reaches out, pulls an obedient Peter to his feet, and commissions him to go forth and “catch men.”
This story is our story. Jesus calls us to “put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (v. 4). There are people around us whom God wants on board his boat—the Church. He commands us to seek them out, to be “fishers of men.” If we obey, God will bless our efforts. We, too, will be awed by the results. So, go forth and “let down the nets.”
Prayer: Jesus, I know someone who needs you. Give me the courage to obey you and go fishing. Amen.
Today’s devotional was written by Anthony Vis, a retired pastor in the RCA. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 20, 2016: Naaman
None of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian (v. 27).
As Jesus burst upon the local scene and quickly became famous throughout Galilee, how proud his neighbors and friends and relations were of him!
But it didn’t last. He saw through their excessive praises to their hard, unbelieving hearts. In the early part of that synagogue service in Nazareth “all spoke well of him.” We can imagine the approving nods, nudges, and whispers around the congregation. They were puzzled by what he said about those verses from Isaiah, but it sounded good. When, however, he turned their attention to an earlier part of their Scriptures, the stories of Elijah and Elisha, their real attitudes were exposed. For their own Bible demonstrated how often God’s blessings had been rejected by his people Israel and given instead to gentile outsiders, like the Sidonian widow who fed Elijah, and the Syrian general Naaman whom Elisha healed. Likewise, Jesus’ own neighbors were in danger of losing out to people they despised.
We too need to beware of enjoying the nice bits of Scripture and rejecting what makes us uncomfortable. But we can also put ourselves in Naaman’s shoes rather than those of the Nazarenes, and be hugely thankful that the gospel’s blessing has come to us, outsiders who had no claim on it.
Prayer: Lord, is my attitude to the good news more like Nazareth’s or like Naaman’s?
Today’s devotional was written by Michael Wilcock, a retired pastor in the Church of England. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 19, 2016: Who Told You About Jesus?
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor (v. 18).
Who told you about Jesus? Somebody did. Maybe a parent sat at your bedside when you were a child and read Bible stories to you and prayed with you. Maybe a college roommate shared her faith with you. Maybe you heard a sermon and you felt the preacher was talking just to you, as though you were the only one in the room. And you were changed. You may not remember the day or the person. But know this: somebody, somewhere, at some time, told you about Jesus.
Whom have you told? I hope you’re not keeping the good news to yourself. You may think that everybody’s already heard, that there’s nobody left to tell. But there are millions who haven’t heard, and many who once heard have forgotten and need to hear it again.
When Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the Isaiah scroll, he said: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news.” Jesus was anointed to preach—to proclaim good news. For two thousand years, people have been telling other people the good news, until finally somebody told you. And now it’s your turn: whom will you tell?
Prayer: Lord, make me a witness.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
February 18, 2016: Teachers Change Lives
He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone (v. 15).
When my son was in elementary school he would come home from school saying, “Mrs. Johnson said…” and he would proceed to relate some insight, some nugget of truth, that his teacher had implanted into his little noggin. Often, this new truth was something I had already told him a hundred times. But I was only his father. Mrs. Johnson was his teacher.
You’d never know it by their salaries, but teachers are powerful. Teachers change lives. They open our eyes to worlds we didn’t know existed—Shakespeare, geometry, music, economics. Is there anyone, anywhere, who hasn’t been affected by a teacher?
The title most often applied to Jesus was rabbi, or “teacher.” Luke says that Jesus began his public ministry by going to the synagogue to teach. Shortly thereafter, Jesus went to Capernaum, and Luke says the crowds were “astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority” (4:32). Jesus was a teacher.
We all need a teacher to teach us, to impart some life-changing truth we don’t know, or did know once but forgot—that God loves us, unreservedly and completely, now and forever.
Prayer: Teach me, Lord, what I need to learn.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
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