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Isaiah 53:6, Luke 19:10

Finding the way home

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 16, 2025

A young boy about seven years old went to Disneyland with his family. But in the excitement of all the rides accompanied by cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn, he became separated from his family. He was having such a wonderful time that it was long before he realized he was alone and lost. When he discovered his predicament, he at first figured that he could find his way back to his family. But, after a time, it finally hit him, and he didn’t know where he was going or how to get there. He was lost, really lost!

The same has been true for all of us and is still true for many today. The Bible says that “all we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned away from God (our Father), and have gone our own way” (See Isaiah 53:6 and Romans 3:23). Even King David, the man after God’s own heart admits that he too has gone astray. In Psalm 119, in the last of 176 verses, he writes, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” The allurements of “vanity fair” (As John Bunyan puts it in “Pilgrim’s Progress”) sing their siren songs that probe into each of our hearts. The excitement of the world and the dramas and thrills of life have truly distracted us, and very often, it takes a while for us to come to our senses. We may not even know that we’re lost yet because we may still be having a wonderful time, but we are lost all the same. Sooner or later, it’s going to hit us, and we discover we are lost, alone, and don’t know where we are going or how to get there. Like the prodigal son in the pig pen eating pig food, we learn we need to go home.

Two things were necessary for the boy to be reunited with his family: the sinner to be reunited with His Father. First, he had to recognize his condition. Second, someone had to show him where he could find his family. John 16:8 teaches us that the Holy Spirit’s role is to convict us of our lost condition. But God has called each of us believers to show those who are lost the way home. The passage from Isaiah goes on. It says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” We are all in the same boat. It is not a “better than you” situation at all. It’s a “look what I found. I want you to find it too” situation. D. James Kennedy used to say that evangelism is one beggar showing another beggar where he found bread. One of the most comforting passages to lost sinners in the Bible is Luke 19:10. Here, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

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John 3:16, Luke 6:35

Loving Others!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 15, 2025

God’s heart is for the whole world. Everyone has heard John 3:16. It says that God loves the “world” a whole lot. It doesn’t mean the created order of inanimate objects. It means the creative design, his masterpiece of all creation, mankind. He loves the people he has made. He loves all people, and he longs for each and every person to come to faith in His Son, Jesus. Many of you will remember the late Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. It’s now known as “Cru.” He made popular a program of personal evangelism known as the “four spiritual laws.” Do you know them? They are printed in a tract entitled “Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?” The four spiritual laws are: 1. God loves people and has a plan for each person’s life. 2. Because people are sinful and separated from God, they are incapable of knowing God’s love and plan. 3. Only through Christ can people experience God’s love and plan for life. 4. Each individual must accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in order to receive salvation and God’s love.

The first one is truly an essential starting place. God loves you! He could never have expressed it more powerfully than he did on the cross of Calvary. “God Sooooooo loves you” that he sent his one and only begotten son to die for you. He longs to have a relationship with you. He is intimately aware of your comings and goings (as David tells us). It’s almost as if he’s stalking us! Instead of having a negative image, He’s with us wherever we go to protect us and care for us to watch over us. He’s watching, he’s waiting, he’s longing for an opportunity to share His deep love with us.

Because God loves people, we are to love people also. Now, as Jesus pointed out, it’s easy to love those who love us (Luke 6:32). It’s easy to give when we know we’ll get back (6:34). But God loves people who do not love Him, and gives to those who will never even thank Him, let alone give back to Him (6:35). Even God’s enemies have needs that only He can meet. In His mercy, He meets those needs. Do we? When faced with people in genuine need, do we look only at their character and base our response on that alone? Or do we look at their needs and do what we can to meet them? We may question how far Jesus wants us to go in the various situations. But we need never question how far God is willing to go to show mercy. That’s what we need to take literally and imitate practically. The Great Commission is truly about caring deeply for people, just like God does. I have trouble applying this to those who hate me or have done me wrong. I’m sure you are wrestling with that as well. I just try to remember Jesus’ words, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great…”Luke 6:35

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2 Corinthians 5:20, Romans 5:18

A Ministry of Reconciliation

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 14, 2025

God has entrusted us with the message “of reconciliation.” Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” It’s in this passage also that we are called Ambassadors for Christ. We are representatives sent from Christ on a mission of helping to build relationships in order to help others reconcile their differences with God. If you were to read the entire chapter in great detail, you’d find that 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 has three major themes. First, it sets forth the doctrine of reconciliation. That means that God, through the work of Christ, brought a sinner from a state of condemnation to a state of grace. It’s accomplished because of God’s profound love. Romans Chapter 5 illuminates this truth. It reads, “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Reconciliation now means we have peace with God and are at peace with others.

The second major theme is important for us because it’s a profound dissertation on the purpose of the Church. You see, we are a body of believers made up of Gentiles and Jews. The reconciliation has happened through our reconciliation with God through Christ. There’s no more male, female, rich, poor, slave, free, Scythian, Barbarian, etc. All the old barriers of race, nationalism, tribalism, sexism, pride, prejudice, clericalism (the elevation of clergy over laity as in the Old Testament priesthood)—all these barriers should be gone from God’s family. We’re all the same, and we’ve been reconciled into one Body known as the body of Christ. Now the significant point I want to make is the point I believe Paul is attempting to communicate to the battling believers in Corinth. He wants us to know that the Church is the primary agent for God’s reconciliation in the world today.

When A. B. Davidson (1831–1902), later becoming an outstanding Old Testament scholar, was a young man, he lived in rented quarters in a strange city. Not wanting to spend his nights at home alone, He used to walk the streets in the evening. Sometimes, through an un-curtained window, he would see a family sitting around the table or the fire in happy fellowship. Being away from home for so long it often brought deep feelings of being left out and loneliness. One evening, the father noticed him outside the window, walked over, and drew the curtains shut. Davidson said that he felt wounded, shut out, and lonely in the dark. This should never happen in the family of God. It should never happen in the local church. Men may put up barriers, but Christians never should. Again, Paul said, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:20

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Romans 5:10-11

The Joys of Reconciliation!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 13, 2025

We have been given the Ministry of Reconciliation. I’m sure you, as you read this, are aware of past or even present relationships that need to be reconciled. Some of us even live under the constant pain of a relationship that will never be reconciled because of the hardness of the heart of someone who will not, or maybe cannot, forgive. There are even those who have harmed us deeply and will not acknowledge that hurt or repent from their action and, therefore, remain alienated. These are the relationships that break our hearts and cause us to lose sleep at night. Paul warns the Romans about this problem and acknowledges that living in peace with all people is not often possible. He tells the Romans, “As far as it is in your power, live at peace with all people” (see Romans 12:18).

The message of Paul to unbelievers is that God loves people and has sent his Son into the world to reconcile them to himself. One of the saddest stories in English literature is the one of the relationship of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) to her father. He so strongly disapproved of her marriage to Robert Frost (1812–89) that he disowned her. Elizabeth wrote many love letters to her father, asking for reconciliation. He never once replied. After ten years of letter writing, Elizabeth received two packages from her father in the mail. She opened them hopefully. To her dismay and heartbreak, the packages contained all of her letters to him, the unbroken seals indicating that not one of them had ever been opened or read! Today, those love letters are among the most beautiful in classical English literature. Had her father opened and read only a few of them, reconciliation might have been effected. The incarnation and cross of Jesus Christ is God’s love letter of reconciliation to the human race. Paul’s lesson is clearly expressed elsewhere when he wrote, “We beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). It is pure misery to be alienated from a loved one.

Hopefully, you will also remember times when reconciliation was established with an alienated friend or relative. It’s a time of great joy and peace. This is what Paul was referring to in the book of Romans when he talked about our reconciliation in Chapter 5. In verses 10 and 11, he says, “We are reconciled,” but goes on to say, “More than that…” What he means by “more” is what comes in connection with reconciliation. The “more” he is referring to is: “More than that, we also rejoice through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” The joy of reconciliation is joy in God. John Piper argues that it’s not only “the removal of enmity” that’s effected by reconciliation; “it’s the arrival of joy.” That’s dramatically illustrated for us in the story of the prodigal son. Luke tells us that the father said, “We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!” Luke 15:32

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Hosea 6:6

Love is the Greatest!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 12, 2025

When we talk about worship, we don’t want to neglect the fact that it always involves our offerings. The offerings we make to God, however, are not offerings of obligation but offerings of love. Our gifts and sacrifices are expressions of our deep love and “worth-ship” of God. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I know I better give my wife a gift. But she doesn’t want my gifts that are motivated out of “ought, must, or should.” She wants my gifts motivated by my love. Gifts given in order to get some specific benefit or to prevent some kind of negative consequences are not the kind of gifts that are really pleasing to my wife, nor to God. She doesn’t want chocolate, flowers, candy, or teddy bears. She wants my love. That’s exactly what God says to us regarding our worship. Hosea 6:6 reads, “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.”

This passage in Hosea was one of Jesus’ favorite passages. He quoted it several times. He frequently challenged the professing religious people of his day to reexamine their motives. They insisted on ritualistic, formalized religious expressions as the fulfillment of the covenantal relationship between God and people. Jesus sent them away by quoting Hosea 6:6 saying, “go and learn what this means, I want your love, not your offerings.” I remember the old Tom Jones song from the 1960s; The lyrics went something like this: I awakened this morning, I was filled with despair. All my dreams turned to ashes, and now they are gone. And I looked at my life. It was barren and bare. Without Love, I had nothing at all. Without Love, I had nothing. Without Love, I had nothing at all. I had conquered the world. But what then did I have? Without Love, I had nothing at all.”

We can do all kinds of good service. We can give all kinds of good things, but it all amounts to nothing apart from the only acceptable motivation, Love. That’s what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. He wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing.” It’s not about the gift or the sacrifice. It’s about the motive. What I say doesn’t matter without love. What I do doesn’t matter without love. What I believe doesn’t matter without love. According to the Apostle Paul, the three most important things are faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these three things is love. Love is the essential ingredient of worship

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Matthew 4:10

Worship is a Must!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 11, 2025

In the Gospel of John, we are given three essentials. They are the “musts” of his Gospel. The first must is in Chapter 3 when he was speaking to Nicodemus. He said, “You MUST be born again.” A meaningful, satisfying relationship with God begins with the new birth. A time of spiritual renewal during which we place our confidence not in the flesh but in God and what He accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary.  I want to insist that this is the basis for the monergistic view of salvation. Jesus does it all. We just accept it as a free gift by faith. Jesus paid it all. Most religions hold a synergistic view, arguing that we must contribute something to the salvation experience. That’s not salvation by faith alone. The second must is in verse 3:14, Jesus Himself said, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so the son of Man MUST be lifted up.” Jesus is the center of our confidence. It’s all about Him. The charge of born-again believers is to always lift up Jesus.  When we contribute to our own salvation, we take some credit, and all of it belongs to Jesus. The third must come in Chapter 4 when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well and said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him MUST worship in spirit and truth.”

The “must” of worship is in spirit, not in the Holy Spirit. The definite article is missing in Greek. It was time, Jesus said that as a result of His death and resurrection, the place of worship is no longer a physical temple, but rather it would be in man’s spirit. I believe we are Trinitarian beings just like God. We have a body, a soul, and a spirit. Worship must take part in man’s inner parts, his core of existence, that is, his spirit. Many people consider themselves to have worshipped because they’ve been to the right place at the right time. In Jesus’ day, the right place was Jerusalem for the Jews and Samaria for the Samaritans. We often are confused as well and think that the right place is in a church building. If we have occupied a seat, have sung a song, or have listened to a sermon, then we have worshipped. Hopefully, those things are aids to our worship, but they are not worship in and of themselves. Our soul life or feelings are not the true source of worship either. The soul is often referred to as the seat of our emotions. Emotions can be stirred by true worship. Tears may swell up in our eyes, and joy might flood our hearts, but unfortunately, it is possible for these things to happen without true worship.

True worship only occurs when our spirit attunes to God, for God Himself is spirit. William Barclay has written on this point, “The true, the genuine worship is when man, through his spirit, attains to friendship and intimacy with God. True and genuine worship is not to come to a certain place; it is not to go through a certain ritual or liturgy; it is not even bringing certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.” This cannot be done if we hold on to any credit for our salvation. True worship can only happen when we attribute everything to Jesus. Satan would have us believe we contribute something. We do not! Matthew uses the word “only” to explain that truth when Jesus has to confront Satan. He said, ““Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’” Matthew 4:10

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John 4:24

Worship in Truth!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 10, 2025

Jesus told the woman at the well that worship in “spirit” was essential. But he also said it was to be “in truth.” What does it mean to worship “in truth.” I think there are several components to the answer to that question that come to my mind. There are probably many more. But first, it means that when we approach God and draw near to Him, we must do it honestly and wholeheartedly. In Matthew 15, Jesus spoke about the wrong kind of worshippers whom he said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. … They worship me in vain.” It’s easy to pretend to worship as we look around at others with us or evaluate everything that is going on rather than honestly opening our lives to Him. That surely can’t be worship “in truth.”

Second, to worship “in truth,” we must do it on the basis of the biblical revelation. In the passage I quoted above, when Jesus told about those whose worship was “in vain,” he went on to explain further that vain worship involved substituting rules taught by man (Matthew 15:8f). Jesus said in John 17:17 that God’s Word “is truth.” So, if we are to worship in “truth,” it must be in accord with Scripture. During the spiritual revival of the Reformation, the altars in many churches were replaced with pulpits. It was to reestablish the prominence of God’s Word in “worship.” The Pulpit became the symbol of the centrality of the Bible. John Calvin carried this idea to physical extremes. The pulpits were placed so that every line of the architecture would carry the gaze of the worshiper to the Book that alone contains the way of salvation and the principles for a God-honoring life. A physical pulpit was not in Jesus’ mind, but the centrality of the Scriptures certainly was, as is clear from His words, “God’s Word is Truth.” Thus, if we are to worship in truth, the Scriptures must be central to our experience.

I would also offer a third observation. To worship in truth is to worship God “Christocentrically.” He made it clear that no one can “come to the Father” except through Him (John 14:6). If worship is man’s attempt to draw near to God, to be “true,” it must come through Jesus. I remember the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, where all worship took place. From its construction, the approach to God is illustrated. The altar, which is the sacrifice for sin, is the first step. Thus, the cross, the sacrifice that paid for all our sins, is the first step in approaching God. Then comes the laver, which is a picture of cleansing. The incense represents our prayers. Behind it all stretches out the great veil dividing the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. This was the veil that was torn in half when Jesus died on the cross. This is where the blood of the sacrifice made atonement for our sins and opens the way for all to enter to receive the great mercy of God revealed through Christ by his death on the cross for our sins. There is no other way to draw near to God. There is no other way to worship God in “truth.” John tells us that Jesus said, “I am the truth…” John 14:6

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Isaiah 62:2

A New Name!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 9, 2025

In Colorado, there is a town named “No Name.” I was wondering what it might be like to live without a name. For a believer, we not only have a name, we have a new name! Everything belongs to God. I belong to God. You belong to God. My three grandsons belong to God. One of them had something he wanted to say to me. That’s what he said. “I’ve got something to say to you, Papa.” He had the most serious look on his face, I said “what is it Zeke?” with as straight a face as I could manage. He said, “Just because something has somebody’s name on it doesn’t mean it belongs to them.” I don’t know where he came up with that idea, but I suspect he’s been taking things that belong to his big brother and has been arguing that he has the right to do that. I tried to teach him that when you see something with someone’s name on it, you can be pretty sure that it does belong to them. I advised him to leave those things alone. You and I, all of us, have God’s name on us. Through our faith in Christ, we get a new name! It’s our new identity. We’ve been born again into a new family, adopted, and changed our name. We now belong to Christ. That’s exactly what “Christian” really means.

As those who belong to God, we’ve moved into a new home. The Psalmist puts it in various terms, but I like it when he sings about God being our “dwelling place.” We read in Psalm 91:9-11, “Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Belonging to God guarantees His protection. Since I have God’s name on me, no one else better mess around with me. God has a whole army of angels, The Heavenly Host, who are ready to go to war for me!

Max Lucado expresses this truth beautifully. He writes, “It would be enough if God just cleansed your name, but he does more. He gives you his name. It would be enough if God just set you free, but he does more. He takes you home … God adopted you simply because he wanted to. You were in his goodwill and pleasure. Knowing full well the trouble you would be and the price he would pay, he signed his name next to yours, changed your name to his, and took you home. Your Abba adopted you and became your father.” Isaiah wrote, “And you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.” Isaiah 62:2

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