SLOW DOWN AND LIVE

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

Slow Down and Live

Read:  Psalm 1

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law

he meditates day and night.  Psalm 1:2

Many of our New Year’s resolutions may actually accelerate our pace of life instead of helping us to slow down.  In a quest for greater productivity and efficiency, we over schedule our days, then rush through meals, drive impatiently, and wonder why the joy of living eludes us.

Carol Odell,  who writes a business advice column, says that slowing down can positively affect our lives at work and at home.  She believes that rushing can cloud our judgment and cause us to overlook important things and valuable people.  Carol encourages everyone to slow down, and even suggests the radical idea of welcoming red traffic lights and using the waiting time to meditate.

In Psalm 1 there is no hint of a frenzied pace.  It describes a person who enjoys the blessing of God.  Instead of thinking and acting like those who rarely consider spiritual matters, “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (v.2).  The result is a fruitful life and well-nourished soul (v.30).

Isaiah wrote, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).  Just for today, try thinking about that verse whenever you have to wait.  Isn’t it time for all of us to slow down and live?                                              DCM

If you’re working hard to make a living,

Never taking time to smell the roses,

Now’s the time to heed the Bible’s wisdom:

Find true joy before your life’s day closes -Hess.

Come apart and rest a while or you may just plain come apart!

-Havner

EVERY MOMENT MATTERS

Every Moment Matters

Read: Philippians 1:12–24
Bible in a Year: Esther 1–2; Acts 5:1–21

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.—Philippians 1:21

When I met Ada, she had outlived her entire group of friends and family and was living in a nursing home. “It’s the hardest part of getting old,” she told me, “watching everyone else move on and leave you behind.” One day I asked Ada what kept her interest and how she spent her time. She answered me with a Scripture passage from the apostle Paul (Philippians 1:21): “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Then she said, “While I’m still around, I have work to do. On my good days, I get to talk to the people here about Jesus; on the hard days, I can still pray.”

Significantly, Paul wrote Philippians while in prison. And he acknowledged a reality many Christians understand as they face their mortality: Even though heaven seems so inviting, the time we have left on Earth matters to God.

Like Paul, Ada recognized that every breath she took was an opportunity to serve and glorify God. So Ada spent her days loving others and introducing them to her Savior.

Even in our darkest moments, Christians can hold on to the promise of permanent joy in the company of God. And while we live, we enjoy relationship with Him. He fills all our moments with significance. —Randy Kilgore

Lord, grant me the strength to serve You with every breath I take, so that every moment of my remaining days matters to Your Kingdom.

Study more at christianuniversity.org/courses/spiritual-life-basics.

When God comes to call us home, may He find us serving Him.

INSIGHT: How can you use the days God has given you to love and serve others?

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REMEMBERING

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

Remembering

Read:  Psalm 103:1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not

all His benefits.  Psalm 103:2

Some days we awaken with aching joints and dull spirits and wonder how we can shake off our lethargy and make it through the day.

Here’s an idea:  Like David, try lifting up your thanks to God. Use mind and memory to rekindle thankfulness for all God’s benefits” (Psalm 103:2).  Gratefulness will lead to joy.

Thank God for His forgiveness.  He “forgives all your iniquities” (v.3), and “has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

Thank Him for healing your diseases (v.3).  God uses infirmity and disorders to draw you more deeply into His love and care.  And, one day when your Lord comes for you, He will heal all of your diseases.

Thank Him for redeeming your life from destruction (v.4). This is more than rescue from a premature death.  It is redemption from death itself.

Thank Him for crowning your life “with lovingkindness and tender mercies” (v.4).

Thank the One who satisfies your desires (v.5).  He is your satisfaction.  Each day, He renews your strength and vigor.  Then your spirit can rise up and soar like the eagle.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (v.2).   DHR

Give me a spirit of thankfulness, Lord,

For numberless blessings given;

Blessings that daily come to me

Like dewdrops falling from heaven.  -Dawe

Gratitude is the memory of a glad heart.

IMPAIRED JUDGMENT

Impaired Judgment

Read: Matthew 7:1–6
Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 12–13; Acts 4:23–37

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.—Matthew 7:1

I’ve been quick to judge anyone I saw walking in the street while staring at a phone. How could they be so oblivious to the cars about to hit them? I’ve told myself. Don’t they care about their own safety? But one day, while crossing the entrance to an alleyway, I was so engrossed in a text message, that I missed seeing a car at my left. Thankfully, the driver saw me and came to an abrupt stop. But I felt ashamed. All of my self-righteous finger-pointing came back to haunt me. I had judged others, only to do the same thing myself.

My hypocrisy is the kind of thinking that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount: “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). I had a huge “plank”—a blind spot through which I judged others with my own impaired judgment.

“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,” Jesus also said (7:2). Recalling the disgusted look on the driver’s face that day, after having to make an abrupt stop when I walked in front of the car, I’m reminded of the disgusted looks I gave others engrossed in their phones.

None of us is perfect. But sometimes I forget that in my haste to judge others. We’re all in need of God’s grace. —Linda Washington

Heavenly Father, please help me be quicker to console or encourage, and slower to judge someone else.

Be slow to judge others.

INSIGHT: In today’s reading we see our Lord’s condemnation of a judgmental attitude. It’s remarkable how we can have a perfectionistic attitude toward others yet ignore the glaring faults we possess. The Pharisees of Jesus day were scathing in their attack on the sins of others while seemingly unaware of their own faults. In seeing the pretense of these hypocrites, Jesus gave a series of rebukes such as: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).

The Greek word hypocrite means “he that wears the mask” and was used of actors in plays. The private lives of hypocrites do not match the image they project for public view. The Christian walk should lead to greater integrity and transparency. To avoid hypocrisy, it’s essential that we confess our sin and rely on the Spirit to help us live holy lives (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; 1 John 1:9).

In what ways can you become more gracious in your response to the behavior of others? Dennis Fisher

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IMPAIRED VISION

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

Impaired Vision

Read:  1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Now we see in a mirror, dimly.

1 Corinthians 13:12

When I was a child, I had to wear glasses.  Interestingly, my vision improved, and from high school until age forty I didn’t need them.  Prior to that landmark age, my vision was better than 20/20.  Now, because of the natural degeneration of the eyes, I wear bifocals.  Without glasses, my visions is impaired.

About our “spiritual vision” the apostle Paul said, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).  The word dimly (enigma in Greek) implies that our current spiritual perceptions in our earthly state are impaired, at best.

In the ancient world, they didn’t have the clear glass mirrors we have today.  Instead, mirrors were made of polished metal and provided a reflection that was dim and distorted.  What was seen in a mirror was only an imperfect representations of what would be clear if it could be seen directly.

If you have questions about what God is doing in your life, continue to trust Him and to seek clarity through prayer andHis Word.

For now, our understanding is limited (1 Corinthians 13:9).  Our current spiritual vision is impaired, but in eternity we will see clearly.  We will see Jesus “face to face.”                                                         DF

We now see Jesus in the Bible, but the, face to face. 

BLESSING IN THE MESS

Blessing in the Mess

Read: Genesis 28:10–22
Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 10–11; Acts 4:1–22

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.—Philippians 1:6

I got myself into this mess, so I’d better get myself out, I sometimes find myself thinking. Although I believe in a God of grace, I’m still prone to act as if His help is available only when I deserve it.

God’s first encounter with Jacob is a beautiful illustration of how untrue this is.

Jacob had spent a lifetime trying to alter his destiny. He’d been born second at a time when firstborn sons typically received their father’s blessing—believed to guarantee future prosperity.

So Jacob decided to do whatever it would take to get his father’s blessing anyway. Eventually, he succeeded—through deceit—obtaining the blessing intended for his brother (Genesis 27:19-29).

But the price was a divided family, as Jacob fled from his furious brother (vv. 41-43). As night descended (28:11), Jacob must have felt as far from a life of blessing as ever.

But it was there, leaving behind a trail of deception, that Jacob met God. God showed him he didn’t need desperate schemes to be blessed; he already was. His destiny—a purpose far greater than material prosperity (v. 14)—was held securely by the One who would never leave him (v. 15).

It was a lesson Jacob would spend his whole life learning.

And so will we. No matter how many regrets we carry or how distant God seems, He is still there—gently guiding us out of our mess into His blessing. —Monica Brands

Lord, so often we feel trapped by our mistakes, thinking there’s no future left for us. Remind us that you are the God of Jacob, the God who will never give up on Your purposes for us.

God never gives up on His love and purposes for our lives.

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DOES GOD FORGET?

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

Does God Forget?

Read:  Hebrews 8:6-13

Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Hebrews 8:12

God longs to forgive sinners!  But in the minds of many people, this thought seems too good to be true. Countless sermons have been preached to convince guilt-ridden individuals that it is true.  Many of these sermons emphasize that God not only forgives the sinner but also forgets the sin.  I’ve often said it myself, never doubting its soundness.

Then one Sunday I heard a sermon that revolutionized my thinking.  The speaker caught my attention when he said, “The idea that God forgets my sins isn’t very reassuring to me.  After all, what if He suddenly remembered?  In any case, only imperfection can forget, and God is perfect.”

As I was questioning the biblical basis for such statements, the pastor read Hebrews 8:12, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  Then he said, “God doesn’t say He’ll forget our sins-He says He’ll remember them no more!  His promise not to remember them ever again is stronger than saying He’ll forget them.  Now that reassures me!”

Do you worry that there are certain sins you’ll be punished for someday?  Because Christ died for all our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3), God promises to forgive us and never bring up our sin again (Psalm 103:12).              JY

God, whose every way is perfect, 

Said in justice and in grace

That our sins He’ll not remember,

And our fears He will erase. -Hess.

To enjoy the future, accept God’s forgiveness for the past.