Author: Jennifer Armstrong

Today’s reading:  Isaiah 56-59, Psalm 70, 1 Corinthians 16

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

As Paul was closing out his first letter to the Church at Corinth, he challenged them with instructions on what to do while they awaited his next visit:

• Be on their guard against spiritual dangers
• Stand firm in their faith
• Be courageous
• Be strong
• Do everything in love

Not only were these instructions meant for first century Christfollowers waiting for Paul’s next visit, they are also meant to guide our behavior as we await for Christ’s return.  In this list of five, which one is the hardest for you?

The older I get and the more divisive this country gets I must admit it is sometimes hard for me to consistently do everything in love.  It isn’t like I usually go around being rude or hateful to others, but being loving in all things requires a different level of intentionality all the time.  Even when I’m tired or frustrated, doing everything in love means I am consistently patient, humble, forgiving, and unselfish.  How do I know this?  Paul devoted the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 to a complete description of what it looks like when we love others like Jesus loves us.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

Love always…protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.

Doing everything in love means this is how I need to show up all the time.

Today’s reading:  Song of Solomon 7-8, Psalm 127, 2 Thessalonians 2

Salvation that comes from trusting Christ – which is the message we preach – is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart” (Romans 10:8 – Life Application Study Bible, Tyndale House Publishers).

This passage in Romans is Paul quoting Moses’ words to the Israelite people in Deuteronomy 30:14, where he was asking them to return to God. I chose to reference the Life Application Bible version above because of its clarity.  God’s people in the Old Testament had a destructive pattern of turning away from God and worshipping idols.  When things got really bad, they came crawling back and pleaded with God to turn his favor toward them again.  Same story, different names, throughout the entire Old Testament.  God was faithful and kept his promises every time.  The context of this verse Romans was a little different.  Here, Paul was telling believers that salvation through Jesus Christ was attainable.  It was attainable for both Jews and Gentiles back then.  It is attainable for us today.  But is it really close at hand?  Is it really on our lips and in our hearts?

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in the church. My Dad was a pastor and my Mom was a Sunday School teacher.  Not just your average Sunday School teacher though, she had a very distinct role.  She was the memory verse lady.  Her specialty was Middler Worship – 3^rd and 4^th graders.  I remember my Mom leading Middler Worship in the basement of our old church building at 1705 Towanda Avenue for years and years.  When I read Romans 10:8, I can hear my Mom leading the weekly memory verse saying, “We are going to hide God’s word in our heart.  When we need it, he’s going to help us remember it.”

My Mom was right. Spending time in God’s word, and memorizing key messages from it, is the recipe for keeping the message close at hand, on our lips and in our hearts.  As we close out 2023 and look toward 2024, can you commit to staying in God’s word and keeping his message close at hand, on your lips and in your heart?  It takes intentionality, so plan ahead.  After eight years of writing this blog, I can attest it is worthwhile.  My life has been changed.

Today’s reading:  Job 21-23. Psalm 101, Revelation 16

Revelation 16 describes seven angels coming out of the presence of God with instructions to pour out their “container”, often referred to as a bowl or vial, full of God’s wrath on the wicked and the followers of the Antichrist.  These are the most severe judgments the world has ever experienced, as they represent God’s final and complete judgment on the earth.

• First bowl (vs. 16:2) – Horrible sores on those with the mark of the beast
• Second bowl (vs. 16:3) – Everything in the sea dies
• Third bowl (vv. 16:4-7) – All waters turn to blood
• Fourth bowl (vv. 16:8-9) – The sun burns and scorches people
• Fifth bowl (vv. 16:10-11) – Complete darkness over Antichrist’s kingdom
• Sixth bowl (vv. 16:12-16) – The Euphrates dries up, the kings of the East come, and the scene is set for the battle of Armageddon
• Seventh bowl (vv. 16:17-21) – A great earthquake, cities of nations fall, a huge hailstorm occurs

By this point, the tribulation is almost complete and there is no more opportunity for unbelievers to repent.  Sound scary?  It does to me.  While no one knows the hour or the day, we know the end is coming.  How do you make sure you aren’t the target of these judgments?  Don’t delay.  Put your faith in Jesus Christ today.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

 

Today’s reading:  Nehemiah 4-6, Revelation 6

The Old Testament book of Nehemiah tells about the third return of God’s people to Jerusalem after they had been in captivity.  While the temple had been restored many years earlier, the wall around the city was not rebuilt until Nehemiah tackled the project.  He was a great leader.  Despite threats, ridicule and slander from his enemies as well as conflict and discouragement from his own workers.  Nehemiah pressed on.  Through his careful planning, problem-solving, teamwork and perseverance, the wall that had been in shambles for 70 years was rebuilt in just 52 days.  Protection and beauty was restored to God’s holy city.

The most important characteristic that set Nehemiah apart as a leader was that he was connected to God.  Every time he encountered an issue or problem, Nehemiah stopped and talked to God before he took action.  A few examples from today’s assigned reading:

• After being ridiculed by Tobiah and Sanballat, Nehemiah expressed his anger to God and prayed for justice to be served.

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders (Nehemiah 4:4-5).

• In the face of enemy threats, Nehemiah prayed for God for protection.

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:9).

• Nehemiah put his trust in God while asking for strength to endure.

They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”  But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands” (Nehemiah 6:9).

Whether you are tackling transformational projects or maintaining the status quo, whether you are managing others or serving as a personal contributor, God can use you to accomplish great things.  Like Nehemiah, stay connected to him.

Today’s reading:  Zechariah 2-5, Psalm 93, 1 John 3

Do you ever feel like you are turning into one of your parents?  B.J. and I were at the store last weekend debating which wheat flour to buy for the dessert he was making.  I picked up a 5# bag that was on sale for $3.99.  He promptly traded it for a 2# bag that was $6.99.  I called him Karen (his Mom’s name) and giggled as we headed toward the checkout.

Truth be known, being called Karen Armstrong isn’t really a bad thing.  She is a kind and compassionate Mom who loves her family and loves Jesus.  And…the Fig Newtons B.J. made with the expensive flower were fantastic. Nonetheless we had few good laughs.

In my Bible, the heading for 1 John 3 is Living as Children of God.  We are referred to as Children of God, or members of God’s family, several times in the New Testament.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2

If we can’t help it, but naturally turn into our earthly parents as we age, can the same be said for turning into our Heavenly Father?  I think the answer is it depends.  As humans, our natural tendency is to act like those with whom we spend the most time.  So, if we want to look like Jesus, we need to spend a lot of time with him.

 

Today’s reading:  Ezekiel 40-42, John 14

Saturday before last (Oct. 21), my sixteen year old daughter announced she had scheduled a campus tour at the University of Tennessee.  I was encouraged that she was thinking about college and had taken the initiative to make plans, until…I figured out she set the tour for this (past) Friday…a mere six days away.  Ugh, that was pretty quick. While it didn’t give me a lot of time to plan, I didn’t want to squelch her momentum, so I re-arranged my calendar and found a way to make it work.

I’ve made the drive from Bloomington to Knoxville five or six times in my life, so I was comfortable that I knew the way.  We headed out on Thursday afternoon about 1pm.  Turns out I’d forgotten a few things since I last made the drive in 1991 – you lose an hour on the way, the tricky interchange is in Louisville not in Lexington, and the Smoky Mountains are between Lexington and Knoxville not between Knoxville and Johnson City.  I thought I knew the way, but in reality I had forgotten some of the most important details.  Thank goodness for GPS.

In John 14, our text for today, Jesus’ was forecasting his death and eventual return to Heaven.  His disciples, however, weren’t tracking with him.  These men had given up everything to follow Jesus, but they didn’t know the way to where he was now talking about going.  Notice that Jesus’ response was not directions on where they needed to go, rather who they needed to follow, who they needed to trust.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:5-6).

Jesus was and is still the way.  The reality is we don’t need all the details on where we are going and how we’re going to get there, we just need to keep our trust firmly placed in Jesus.  Stay close to him and he will guide your path.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4JQi4dgvg

Today’s reading:  Ezekiel 10-12, Psalm 83, John 4

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

Israel had sinned and God’s punishment had come.  God used the fall of Jerusalem and his people’s exile to Babylon to draw his people back from their sinful ways.  In chapter 11, the prophet Ezekiel reminded them that, in addition to the nation being responsible for sin, each individual was also personally accountable to God.

Today, we are also accountable to God for the choices we make.  When we turn from sin and let God work in our lives, he will replace our selfish hearts of stone with ones that are tender, receptive and responsive to his leading.  This is what Ezekiel 11:19 calls an “undivided heart”.  A new heart with new motives, focused entirely on the truth and light of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let there be no doubt I am the God of all Creation
God of glory and the God of love
And I have called you out, out of the many nations
To be my people so let me your God

Your heart of stone I will remove, I’ll put a heart of flesh inside of you
One I can touch, one I can move, and one that beats in time with the truth (Rich Mullins, 1896).

 

Today’s reading:  Jeremiah 38, 39, 52 and 1 Peter 2

For in Scripture it says:

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for (1 Peter 2:6-8).

Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation, the linchpin, the entire basis of the Christian faith.  Without his death, burial and resurrection, there is no salvation.  Fortunately for us, his invitation is offered to all people.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Despite Jesus offering an invitation to all, some people do not believe he is who he says he is.  Many refuse to put their faith in him.  1 Peter Verse 8 tells us that Jesus, in response to this unbelief, is the stone that actually causes some people to stumble and fall.  In other words, unbelievers bring God’s judgment upon themselves by stumbling over and rejecting the one person with the power to save them.

The most important decision a person can ever make is to put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Don’t delay and miss out on the gift of eternal life.  No one is guaranteed another day!

 

Today’s reading:  Jeremiah 5-7, 2 Corinthians 10

In 1997, I joined Caterpillar as a cost accountant at the transmission factory.  I knew absolutely nothing about manufacturing heavy equipment, but was eager to learn.  So like I would do with any new job, I began by familiarizing myself with the organization structure starting with the operations teams – Assembly, Case & Cover, Ring Gears, Bevel Gears, Miscellaneous Gears and Heat Treat.  Heat treat?  What in the world was that?  (I remember secretly thinking to myself.)  It didn’t take me long to learn that heat treat was the process of heating and cooling the iron.  This scientific (and very expensive process) greatly increased the strength of gears, thereby increasing the overall quality and reliability of the drivetrain.

God, the author and perfecter of human life, uses similar methods to increase our faith and improve the quality of our lives if we choose to put our faith in him.  When a precious metal is refined by fire, impurities are burned away.  In our lives, God uses trials and suffering to purify our hearts.  Ultimately, this results in us becoming more like Christ.

The genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).

Jeremiah 6, our scripture for today, talks about God’s attempts to refine the hearts of his people in the Old Testament.  Despite the prophet Jeremiah’s repeated attempts, however, they refused to turn from their sinful ways and submit to God.

“I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways. They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out. They are called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them” (Jeremiah 6:27-30).

Unfortunately we know those who turn away from God and instead choose a life of sin are eternally doomed.  Our job as Christfollowers is to share with them the good news of God’s saving grace.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).