The AMI Devotional Blogs from June 25-July 1 are written by Phillip Chen, college pastor at Church of Southland. Philip, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, is currently studying at Talbot School of Theology. He is married to Esther.
Devotional Thoughts for This Morning
“Being a Prophetic Voice”
Jeremiah 15:10 (ESV)
Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.
I strongly dislike confrontation; not only that, I’m just not good at it. Sometimes when I need to rebuke someone or point out an area that they need to improve on, I stress out while planning out what I’m going to say. Of course it may sound good in my head—until, the actual confrontation happens. Then, for some reason, all of the things I’ve prepared escape my mind, and I talk about everything but what I need to say, until I’ve thoroughly confused the person. I definitely have to grow in this area. Yet some people are naturally good at it: for example, my wife can rebuke people with a smile on her face, and they actually leave feeling convicted and loved.
Whether you’re good at it or not, there are times where we need to confront people— particularly convictions that God has placed on our hearts. After all, we are His mouthpieces. Whether it’s sharing the gospel with someone we’re nervous about sharing with, or having a difficult conversation about sin in people’s lives, we know that we must be faithful to the word that the Lord has put on our lips. But it’s definitely not easy.
I used to think about how amazing it must be to be a prophet, since they get to be the direct mouthpiece of God; not only that, they had the ability to do miraculous things (because the power of God was so present in their lives). And then I realized that most of the prophets actually had a very difficult time. They had to say hard things to people that no one wanted to say and were probably hated by many. They were definitely not the popular ones—many of them lived very tragic lives. Jeremiah (known as the “weeping prophet”) probably cried so many tears over the nation of Judah because he knew what was coming for this nation but also because the whole land hated him. In fact, in the middle of this conversation with God, he cries out in agony because the whole nation is angry at him for prophesying destruction upon their nation. How difficult it must have been to be a prophet in a time of rampant sin, prophesying that God’s judgment was coming!
Yet God gave Jeremiah the grace to speak the difficult words that needed to be said—despite a whole nation against him. God has also given each of us specific words that need to be said. In the midst of difficult conversations, and the truth we must speak from our convictions, He gives us the grace to do so. May we live prophetic lives, speaking forth the word of God through our lips with grace and truth.
Prayer: Father God, I pray that You would help me to speak Your truth with wisdom and grace. In times when I need to have difficult conversations with someone, strengthen me and give me the courage to speak forth Your truth. Give me a love for people and a tenderness in my words to lead people closer to You rather than further away from You. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Ezekiel 34
Lunch Break Study
Read Colossians 4:2-6 (ESV): Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Question to Consider
- What is Paul’s prayer request?
- What are some ways salt would be used, and why do you think Paul uses this analogy of being “seasoned with salt”?
- When you have a conviction from the Lord to confront someone, how do you approach it?
Notes
- That he would have opportunities to share about Jesus. Even though he is in prison on account of the gospel, his prayer is that God would use and strengthen him to be faithful in speaking forth the good news of Jesus. He also asks the believers in Colossae to pray that he would be clear in his speech so that people would understand the mystery of Christ.
- Salt was used to bring greater taste to bland foods, it was used to preserve foods that would spoil easily, and in some instances, it was used as a means of healing. With that, our speech ought to bring greater taste (edifying), it ought to preserve this decaying world, and it definitely must be a means of healing. Our words are so powerful and ought to be used to build up rather than to destroy.
- Personal response.
Evening Reflection
James 3 talks about the power of the tongue – it has the power to do great things (to build up or destroy people). Think about the words that came out of your mouth today. How did you use these words? Did you speak forth the love of God? Or did you use it to hurt others? Spend some time reflecting before the Lord and ask Him to fine tune your tongue to be used as an instrument for His glory.
The birth of my daughter was an incredibly joyous season, and yet it was also an incredibly tiring season. A new semester of seminary had just begun, and through the midst of classes I had to learn how to be a dad. I have to admit that it was not easy for me to wake up late at night to hear my daughter crying and try to put her back to sleep. She has a pretty loud cry too, so listening to non-stop screaming even as I was holding her was torturous for me. When I reflected upon it later on, I realized how much it weighed on me because it was something that I couldn’t fix right away. She was a real human being and not some robot or machine in which I could find an error and correct it. My patience over the course of weeks and months wore thin. Her cries wore me out. I thought I was a patient man, willing to forgive her for keeping me up at night, but I realized I am definitely not as patient as I thought.
The AMI Devotional Blogs from June 25-July 1 are written by Phillip Chen, college pastor at Church of Southland. Philip, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, is currently studying at Talbot School of Theology. He is married to Esther.
Hollywood movies are typically characterized by a happy ending, where all loose ends are tied up, the villains are destroyed, and the hero or heroine of the film is victorious—usually, life is good again after a season of conflict. We are used to the harmonious and joyful end. This passage in Jeremiah 15 can be hard to read if we treat it as a stand alone text, because it is a clear description of the coming destruction of Judah. There is no happy end here. However, if we read this with the understanding that this is not the ending, but rather a chapter in the ongoing saga of Israel’s covenant relationship with the Lord, then we can understand the nature of God.
During orientation week of my last job, I was given the opportunity to take a work-personality test. Through the results of this test, I was able to better understand how I tend to work, collaborate with others, lead, follow, etc. It was informative. I appreciated how the test recognized the complexity of our personalities, but it also made me think how differently we can think and behave in different departments of our lives. Depending on our position, seniority, comfort level, etc. it is not difficult to adjust to how we put ourselves forward and interact with others.
Summer is finally here, and there are probably some of us who are hoping to shed some winter weight and become more healthy and fit. There are many ways to get there. One option is to go on a crash diet, where we restrict ourselves of food, and exercise without proper nutrition. But most of us may already know this option is neither sustainable nor even healthy. The other option is to start a lifestyle change and adopt better eating and exercise habits. This results in improved health and fitness. The resolve to become healthier, or grow in any aspect of our lives, is great. However, we see here that it’s important not only to want to grow, but also to know the right way to do it.
One of the easiest ways to test the authenticity of gold jewelry is to burn it. Using a lighter, you can gently hold a small flame under your piece of jewelry. If your jewelry burns black, it is fake or at least partially so; but if your jewelry does not turn black but burns brightly, congratulations—it’s real, pure gold.
In my teenage years, I had a habit of saying “I hate” this or that. “I hate mayonnaise.” “Ugh, I hate this song.” Even if it only irked me a little bit, I would express that I hated it in front of others. Seeing this, my mom told me something in passing that stuck with me. She told that there was never really a good enough reason to say “I hate…” out loud. Her words made me re-assess how I speak. Even if I did hate something, I could choose to stay silent or say something more thoughtful and constructive, instead.
In a 2015 Ted Talk called “A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit,” psychiatrist Judson Brewer talks about the relationship between mindfulness and habit. Research shows that a habit is formed when a specific behavior makes us feel good and so our brains remember it. A habit, such as snacking or smoking, is reinforced when our brains realize we are feeling bad, so we use the behavior to feel good again. Think about the way we flip open our laptops as soon as we get home or eat junk food when we’re stressed. It isn’t surprising that research supports that we aren’t very mindful or aware of what we do, better yet, why we do them.
Last November, I ran a half-marathon for the first (and probably last) time in my life. For training, I ran at least three times a week for about two months; so by the time the race came around, I felt confident enough—even excited. I’m an idealist at heart, so although my practice runs were never fun, I thought the actual race would be exhilarating. After running the 13.2 miles, I can safely say that long-distance runs are physically strenuous every time you do them.
In my Introductory Greek class, we learned the Greek alphabet during the first week of school. I remember quickly memorizing all 24 letters and then moving on to homework that was actually due. When exam time came along, our T.A. told us to make sure we knew the Greek alphabet, and I happily checked it off the list of things I didn’t need to study because I already knew them. We got our exams and, lo and behold, the last question wrote, “Spell out the entire Greek alphabet.” To no one’s surprise, I could not answer the question and lost out on ten very much needed extra credit points. I left the exam recalling my T.A.’s words and wondering why I just didn’t spend five extra minutes brushing up on the alphabet…