DAILY DEVOTIONAL
July 11 - 16
“God Promises Spiritual Growth”
Monday, July 11 Psalm 92:1-15
“You have made me strong”
The psalms were used by the Israelites as their primary worship texts. However, Psalm 92 is the only psalm that mentions the Sabbath (which for the Jews is on Saturday). This may seem odd, for we are inclined to assume that the Sabbath would be the main day for worship in the temple as Sunday is the main day for Christian church worship, but the parallel does not really hold. Worship was being offered in the temple every day, and there was not much difference about the worship offered on the Sabbath.
The main point about the Sabbath was that it be a day of stopping work, and of course most Israelites lived too far away from the temple to be able to go there each week. They would take part in worship in the temple and come across the psalms there only on festivals and special occasions. But when they worshipped at home on the Sabbath, Psalm 92 would certainly be one of the psalms they used. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, and the psalmist invites us to offer up our prayers of gratitude to the Lord.
I thank you, Father, for all that you have done to strengthen my faith. Amen.
Tuesday, July 12 2 Corinthians 3:16-18
“As the Spirit works within us, we become more and more like him”
Paul always preached a liberating gospel – those who were “in Christ” (Paul’s favorite description of a Christian) were free from the penalty and power of sin in their lives, and ultimately would be free from its very presence. In the resurrection they were free from the fear of death and in the circle of God’s love they were secure from anything that could happen to remove them from God. Within the church they had been made free – free to minister in unselfish ways to one another.
One aspect of our liberation from sin’s power is our freedom to become more and more like Christ. By the power of the Spirit we are experiencing in a progressive sense more and more of this freedom to obey God, and as a result we are being changed into God’s own image by becoming obedient to his will. To be in the image of God is to manifest his “likeness” by acting in accordance with his commands. This moral transformation of God’s people marks the reality of their being “in Christ.”
Work in me, Holy Spirit, that I may become more like Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, July 13 Ephesians 4:14-16
“That we may grow up in all things into Christ”
Spiritual growth is the dynamic movement of our lives as we become more like Christ. We have been “born again” to be like Christ, but a long path of growth stretches out before us. Paul contrasts the process of spiritual growth with its opposite which is infantile gullibility. There is a sense in which our faith is to be childlike, but this does not rob Paul’s metaphor of its meaning. The metaphor of children is clear in relation to its opposite, mature adulthood. The Christian is to grow out of a flighty, unsettled, easy to fool temperament into maturity.
Paul mixes metaphors by adding to the child the image of a boat bobbing up and down, veering here and there, controlled and tossed about by changing and erratic winds. Young children tend to believe everything they are told, and rudderless boats, or boats without someone at the helm, tend to go wherever the wind takes them. Christians are to be more mature, wiser, and more perceptive in order to recognize and withstand the “cunning craftiness” of those who would deceive us. Of course this is possible only as our minds and hearts are growing in Christ.
As I read your word, Lord, give me wisdom to live like you. Amen.
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
July 11 - 16
“God Promises Spiritual Growth”
Thursday, July 14 Philippians 1:3-6
“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it”
One of Paul’s reasons for joyful thankfulness to God is his confidence that God will complete the good work he has begun in the Philippian believers. This work, which has to do with their salvation, will not be complete until Christ returns. It is a work that God alone accomplishes, but the notion that it is not yet complete shows that it involves a progressive transformation of the lives of believers. The “good work” of salvation, then, includes God’s gift to believers both of the desire and the ability to do good works.
It is the presence of good works that provides evidence of real belief – evidence that God has begun and will complete the work of salvation in the person who displays them. While we as Christians do the good work that God has planned for us to do, it is God who is the effective power behind this work. God in his grace has taken hold of us and is at work in us to produce a life consistent with that of Christ. It is only because of this grace that we can with confidence know that we will one day take hold of eternal life.
Continue to work in me, Lord, for you have saved me from my sin. Amen.
Friday, July 15 Colossians 2:6-7
“Grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth”
The Colossians recognize that Jesus is the Lord, not a divine hero or a lesser household god. Since they are bound to him as Lord, they are also bound to be obedient to him. Jesus requires that their conduct be consistent with his lordship. Being in Christ, therefore, transforms the way Christians live. They must be careful to reject the enticing alternatives to Jesus as Lord offered in their culture, which would divert them from their sole allegiance to Christ.
Paul lists four characteristics of what it means “to live in obedience to the Lord.” First, Paul declares that what believers have been taught has effectively “rooted” them in the faith. Next, Paul moves to a building being constructed in Christ. While the root serves as a plant’s foundation, “being built” implies that believers are still under construction and not yet a finished product. The third characteristic, “strengthened in the faith,” implies that God will continue to grow them in their faith. Fourthly, they will “overflow with thankfulness.” God’s actions in the lives of Christians should evoke overwhelming thanksgiving.
I praise you, Lord, for how you are growing me in faith. Amen.
Saturday, July 16 2 Peter 1:3-8
“The more you grow, the more productive you will become”
Peter outlines the progression of growing in our faith. Begin with a vital faith in Jesus Christ and then add virtue, knowledge, self-control, determination, goodness, brotherly kindness and love. If we make these things ours and they abound, says Peter, they will keep us from being unproductive. None of us want to be unproductive in our Christian lives. To be unproductive is to be useless or idle. The best defense against such a useless life is to be actively following Jesus Christ as Lord and diligently growing in our faith.
Growth in faith leads to being fruitful for Christ. Jesus gave instructions to Peter and to all of us concerning the life of bearing fruit when he said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). The secret of fruit-bearing is to abide in Christ and to allow him to abide in us. Peter encourages us to follow Jesus aggressively by diligently growing in our faith; then we will never be useless Christians but Christians who are bearing fruit.
I will grow in faith, Lord, so I can be useful and produce fruit for you. Amen.