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
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Jeremiah 12:4 (NIV)
“How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.”
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.
Obviously, I described some of the worst sins in our society and their ripple effects. But how about smaller areas of corruption? A few months ago I was made aware how expensive construction in NYC is; I firmly believe that contributing to this cost are so called “expedition fees” that one has to pay in order to get permits issued in a timely manner. Well, those fees eventually make their way down to every person working or living in the city by driving up mortgages, rent, and taxes. My wife constantly laments the unnecessarily high cost of healthcare citing a variety of factors, including pharmaceutical kickbacks, bogus legal liability claims, uninsured patients, etc. Here’s the point: we live in a society, and like it or not, what we do— somehow and to varying degrees—impacts others. Corruption in one area trickles down to many areas of society.
Jeremiah saw this truth in today’s passage, when he asked the Lord how long the land would lie parched as a result of wickedness in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, one of the common punishments God doled out for apostasy was to withhold rain and curse the land (Lev 26:18-20; Deut 28:23-24; Hag 1:8-11; etc.); in essence, the king’s idolatry made life miserable for every citizen. As a New Covenant believer, I’d be hard pressed to attribute natural disasters to God’s judgment, but I would say that many (if not all) of the difficulties in our society are related to someone’s (or everyone’s) sinfulness and corruption.
Here’s the take home: do your part. We’ll never eliminate corruption on this side of heaven, but let’s not contribute to it; don’t let it beat you into participating with it. Be a light; act as honestly as you can, train others to do the same, and trust our God to right all wrongs in His time.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please give me the courage and faith to act with integrity at all times. Let me be the salt and light You called me to be, and give me a heart to pray for our leaders and our society. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Ezekiel 21
Lunch Break Study
Read Hebrews 10:19-25: Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Questions to Consider
- Before encouraging us to action, the writer of Hebrews gives us motivation for doing so in vv. 19-21. What are they?
- Starting in v. 22 we are told to do three things (“let us…”). What are they?
- How can you apply one or all of these to your life today?
Notes
- Our motivation for Christian action is that we can now have direct access to and draw right into the heart of the Most High God, because Jesus shed His blood for us. We no longer have to stand behind a curtain, nor do we need a priest to intercede for us.
- Therefore, we are told to draw near to God (v. 22), hope for a future kingdom (v. 32), and encourage and meet with one another in fellowship (vv. 24-25).
- Application question.
Evening Reflection
Today, I wanted you to consider what makes you different as a believer. Is it the way you live your life with integrity and holiness? Is it that you know and have a deep personal relationship with the Triune God, or that you genuinely hope and live as a citizen of another land? Or perhaps, you love the family of God deeply. Take a moment and ask the Lord to speak into your life about how you represent Him in this world.
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.
Science writer Robert Lee Hotz found that “talking about ourselves—whether in a personal conversation or social media— triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money.” In fact research showed how self-disclosure could in some cases be even be more rewarding than the latter two. In other words, even science shows how much we love talking about ourselves because we want to be known. It is no wonder that social media platforms, such as Instagram, have become so successful, because they serve as personalized galleries of our accomplishments for others to see.
No parent wishes to see their children suffer. But every parent knows that there are moments in which suffering is necessary for growing—especially when it comes to disobedience. As parents, it takes a great amount of patience and love to allow children to face the consequences of their actions. It seems even after many warnings, children always want to learn the hard way. And as children we hate our parents because of this, but we learn to appreciate these moments later in life as growth lessons for us.