Devotional Thoughts for Today
“Thy Loving Kindness”
Jeremiah 12:14-17
This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
The other day I was at a playground with my five-year old twins. They had just received some bubbles as a goodbye present from their preschool teacher and were eager to take these puppies out for a ride. As they started blowing bubbles, a crowd of children began to gather around them hoping to pop some bubbles. (For the life of me, I don’t understand why children have this rabid love for bubbles.) Anyway, one of these kids was a girl who was probably about three years old and, not being satisfied with merely popping bubbles, she wanted to be the bubble maker—so she tried to take the bubble wand from my daughter’s hand. Now, this is where parenting gets kind of awkward, because my daughter Abbie is just looking at this girl like, “Back up, I’m bigger than you. You can’t have my bubbles, and if my dad weren’t right there, I’d hammer you.” Meanwhile, this other girl is kind of throwing a fit, and her dad seemed to not really know how to handle her when she gets this way. So I suggest, “Abbie, maybe you can let that little girl have a turn. Let her blow bubbles two times.” I kid you not, Abbie looks at me like I sold her to a band of gypsies or something; I could tell she was thinking something like, “Dad, I thought I was your daughter! Why are you being so nice to her?” For whatever reason my kindness to this other girl, felt like meanness to my daughter.
Oftentimes when I read the OT, I feel like the other nations like the Philistines, or the Edomites, or the Amorites, or in this case, the Babylonians, are like extras or worse, villains in a movie where God and his people are supposed to be stars. Who cares what happens to the extras, and we certainly don’t hope for good outcomes for the villains, right? But I forget that these surrounding nations were filled with real people, also made in the image of God. And so sometimes, when I read passages like today’s, I’m like my daughter, I look at the Lord’s kindness to these pagan nations and think, “Why are you being so nice to them? Why are you promising to restore them and give them a chance? The Hebrews are your people.” In other words, I mistake his kindness to them as meanness to us.
When Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt 5:44), who do you think of? Perhaps it’s Islamic terrorists, especially in the Middle-east. Perhaps Communist regimes in China or North Korea. Maybe it’s not that extreme, perhaps it’s that selfish co-worker who’s willing to throw everyone under the bus so that he doesn’t look bad in any situation, or your next-door neighbor who always calls the city on you if small group is going too long or too late, or the car mechanic who you felt like just ripped you off? I don’t know, but let me ask you this: If the Lord showed kindness to them, would it feel like meanness to you?
Prayer: Lord this morning, I want to pray for ____________; he/she has been making life difficult for me. I pray that you would enter their life and bless them. Also help me to see people the way you see them.
Bible Reading for Today: Ezekiel 24
Our church family lost a dear sister a couple of weeks ago. Massiel was 26 years old and had been coming to Remnant for several years before I got here. To my understanding, she had eaten a sandwich which contained a nut she was allergic to. While in the ambulance, she went into cardiac arrest and lost oxygen to her brain for several minutes. For over a week, Massiel was in a coma, until doctors determined her brain had sustained too much damage to sustain life. And so with family and loved ones by her side, support was withdrawn, and we said goodbye to our sister until that joyous day when we will meet her again in our Father’s house.
I generally don’t believe in the idea of “victimless crimes.” Wikipedia defines victimless crime as “an illegal act that typically either directly involves only the perpetrator, or occurs between consenting adults; because it is consensual in nature, there is arguably no true victim.” Examples typically include drug abuse, gambling, and prostitution. Yet, anyone who’s had a loved one involved in a drug, gambling, or sex addiction can tell you how damaging they are for the individuals directly involved. We also know that the further you go up the “food chains” of these crime syndicates, we start talking about truly sinister actions like human trafficking and murder.
I think I count as a relatively big sports fan. Unfortunately, my favorite team (da Bears) have been an absolute dumpster fire for the past five seasons. Since the 2012 season, we’re now on our fourth head coach (meaning, we’ve fired three in six years!). Now, while I generally hate seeing people lose their jobs, I knew it was time for the last two to go. In sports, you realize a coach has “lost the team” when the players stop playing hard or give effort: In football, players will miss tackles or won’t get up quickly after getting blocked; in basketball, defenders will get beat off the dribble or give up uncontested layups and jumpers; in baseball, base runners won’t run out ground balls, etc. In other words, the players just go through the motions of competing without actually putting their hearts into it.
When it comes to evangelism, there tends to be two approaches. One is the direct method, where you just ask anyone, “Do you know Jesus?” In its most extreme form, you’ll see street preachers telling passersby that they are doomed to an eternity of torture in hell. Perhaps in reaction to the aggression and negative perception of the stereotypical street preacher, the other method of “friendship evangelism” has gotten more and more popular and is how most Christians choose to “evangelize” today. Perhaps you’re familiar with this method; you basically try your best to be the most loving, most patient, most honest person on the planet (i.e. you try to be like Jesus), then you wait and pray for that eventual day when your friend will ask you why you’re so “different” from everybody else. Of course, your answer will be “Jesus,” which will open the door to a wonderful conversation about faith and the Gospel.
are times when my children get hurt, and instead of feeling sorrow, I get angry. A classic example of something that happens almost weekly in my home is when my five-year old starts jumping on the arms of our couch. Like a little monkey, he goes from one couch to another, having a grand old time, until boom! He slips and bangs his head against the floor. So he comes to me, and he’s crying, rubbing his head, seeking comfort. Now instead of giving him a hug or rubbing his dome, what do I do? Well, if I’m in an annoyed mood, I might give him a Korean timeout (one where he sits on his knees holding his arms in the air). It’s kind of cute seeing little kids try to do the Korean timeout.
The AMI QT Devotionals from June 11 to 17 are provided by Pastor Yohan Lee of Remnant Church, New York City. Yohan graduated from University of Pennsylvania and Cairn University, where he studied theology. He is married to Mandie, and they have four adorable children.
Several years ago, I watched a recording of a parenting seminar given at the Church of Southland by John Rosemond. One of Rosemond’s big things was that parents need to be firm—meaning, give directions only once, and punish severely and overwhelmingly when they aren’t obeyed. Rosemond, humorously, compares kids to degenerate gamblers—they’re willing to play “slots” with their obedience/punishment, even if they only win on rare occasions. So in practice, you tell your child once to clean up his toys, then you walk away; upon your return, if the toys aren’t cleaned up, you punish the child huge (example given was three weeks of going to bed right after supper, so you’d have to be willing to cancel all events that occur after dinner time—no sports games, music lessons, parties, etc.). The idea being that once a child has tasted such a torturous punishment, he will think twice about disobeying again.
Desperation is usually seen as a bad thing. Whether in an interview, or on a first date, it’s often looked down upon as a repulsive quality. It can cause a person to act outside of their normal character and even take extreme measures. For this reason, the world teaches us to never show our desperation as it can reek of pity and weakness. Yet, here in this passage, we see how the desperate faith of a father leads him to Jesus. And from this account, we are reminded an important aspect about faith.
If you were to ask me in college what my future plans were, I could’ve offered you my 5 year, 10 year, and maybe even my 15 year plans; and each plan had milestones to track my progress.
In Your God is too Small, J.B. Philips describes the inadequate conceptions Christians have of God. Here are a few that he mentions: resident policeman—God has simply become a moral conscience that tells us what’s good and bad for us; parental hangover—God is a projection of our relationship with our parents; and grand old man—God is an old man much like our grandpa who is irrelevant and distant to us. Philips notes how these misconceptions unconsciously affect not only the way we see God, but also how we respond to Him. In summary, these misconceptions have made our God too small.