The AMI QT Devotionals from February 27-March 5 are provided by Pastor Yohan Lee who serves at Radiance Christian Church in San Francisco.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Presentation Matters
1 Cor. 6:19-20:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
I am generally not strong with presentation, nor do I much care about it. So when I give presents, they will often come in the retailer’s bag where I purchased it (sometimes with the receipt still in it). When I cook dinner, it will generally have a bachelor’s meal look to it (think Denny’s, not fine dining). As a practical person, I’ll give myself the excuse that I’m more concerned with the quality of the gift, taste of the meal, or heart of the man than I am with the externals.
That being said, sometimes presentation makes a difference, doesn’t it? I have heard rumors that there’s a magic turquoise-colored box that can make women euphoric: It doesn’t even matter if the jewelry inside is of any quality whatsoever, you could put a rock in this box, but the simple sight of it will make the woman in your life weep, laugh, blush, and sing, all at the same.
Now, in all seriousness, I didn’t get my wife’s engagement ring at Tiffany’s, but I got it online. But, from the moment I clicked “purchase,” I was so worried that I had either been ripped off or that whatever I just bought was going to look horrible. But when it came after two agonizing weeks, I cannot express how relieved I was, simply because it came in this fancy cherry box. Maybe I thought that if the manufacturer went through the trouble of packaging it well, something even more valuable must be inside. It makes little sense I know, but the presentation made all the difference in this case.
In the Christian life, we emphasize the heart of a person above the externals (e.g. jars of clay in 1 Cor. 4 or cleaning the inside of the cup in Matt. 23); however, as I read today’s passage, I realize sometimes the external presentation is important as well. Believers have the Holy Spirit living inside of them, and our bodies are called the external “temple” (v.19), so we see that to mean that in some sense, external presentation is also important. Question: What kind of package are you presenting for the world to see? Do people get a sense that because your manufacturer spent so much time on presentation that something of immeasurable value must be on the inside? Or to put it another way, “a good tree bears good fruit” (Matt 7:17). What type of fruit are you bearing in your life?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You first and foremost that of all the places in the universe You could dwell in, You have chosen to dwell in my heart. Help my external behavior to start to match the internal truth of my being. I surrender my body to be Your temple. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Revelation 16
My oldest son has a unique gift: he can watch anything—and I mean anything—on television. Obviously, he has his favorites—like cartoons and all things related to Star Wars—but I could be watching a home improvement show, nature show, sitcom, drama, he’ll come, sit on the couch, and watch attentatively with me. I kid you not, after the election, I watched lots of news, and he was all over that as well. You know where he gets this gift? From his old man. You see, I understand my son because he is just like me—I too can watch anything on TV. The other day I was watching Avatar, and my wife looked at me, laughed and asked, “Why are you watching that stupid movie? You hate it.” (Sorry, if you liked that movie, but she’s right, I do hate it.) I had no good explanation, so I think I said, “Because it’s on.” Perhaps there is something in our DNA that is attracted to the movements, flickering lights and sounds of the TV, but we are like moths drawn to the flame.
When I was living in Philadelphia, to save money on rent, let’s just say that I didn’t live in the cleanest of places—that is, I’ve had my share of cockroaches. Now, if you’ve ever had roaches in your place, then you’ve probably learned the phenomenon of being “afraid of the lights”: it’s when you enter a room and turn on the lights and see several cockroaches scurry away to hide, you become a little disturbed and you almost don’t want to turn on the lights again. You’ve become afraid of the lights. Many will overcome this by turning on the lights before physically entering the room. Almost everyone I know thinks that roaches are disgusting, ugly, vile creatures, and when we see one, our instinct is to kill it immediately.
I didn’t realize it until this winter that I don’t like travelling to other countries—especially if I can’t speak the language. Don’t get me wrong, I like visiting new places and experiencing new cultures, but what I hate is not knowing if I’m have been taken advantage of when it comes to money. I always feel like the souvenir vendor is overcharging me, the cab driver got me for like five times what he charges locals, or that I paid for beef but what I really got was squirrel—basically, I hate getting taken advantage of. Now my wife, who has to deal with my poutiness after I make a bad deal, will often try to cheer me up with things like, “You would’ve paid more for that in the States,” or “Think of that guy, he probably has a family, and you just made his week.” That silly talk never brings me any comfort since money is only about 25% of the issue. The rest of the issue is that when I have been taken advantage of—I feel powerless and stupid. I imagine the guy who just ripped me off bragging to his friend, “See that chump over there? I just traded him these five ‘magic’ beans for his last cow and he gave me $100. Americans are so stupid! Hahaha.”
Perhaps because I am Asian, I have high expectations for my oldest child. I realize that I am being a bit unfair to Simon, my oldest, but oftentimes he will get yelled at for doing something that his younger siblings wouldn’t be scolded for. I often hold him accountable and am unsympathetic when he allows his brother to get into his stuff and makes a mess of it. For example, the other day, Simon comes running to me in fury: “Look what Jonny did to my Lego set that took me a week to build!” I responded, “Who left it on the ground for him to get at? If you value your stuff and don’t want your siblings to wreck it, put them away where they can’t reach them.” Truthfully, I don’t know if this is the best parenting—I’m just trying my best.
I’d say football is probably the ultimate team sport; and if you are an avid football fan like me, you might have noticed that Terrell Owens (T.O.), for the second year in a row, did not get voted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On paper, this is an outrage; T.O. ranks 2nd and 3rd in all-time yardage and touchdowns, respectively, by a receiver in football history. One could make an intelligent argument that T.O. is one of the five greatest receivers in football history. In the end, I have no doubt that he’ll eventually get into the Hall of Fame, but for now, voters are making a statement: you can’t act like a selfish, ornery child for most of your career and expect to be immediately granted football’s highest honor.
Like many women who are approaching middle-age, my wife loves the movie Dirty Dancing (I don’t know if my wife will be too happy that I classified her as “approaching middle-age,” but I’m rolling with it). In fact, around my birthday she suggested that we go watch the 30th anniversary of the film as it was released in select theaters for one weekend only! Obviously, I was not too thrilled at the prospects of being trapped in a movie theater filled with middle-aged women watching Dirty Dancing on my birthday. Anyway, if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s got a pretty classic plot: idealistic, innocent, nice girl, nicknamed Baby (Jennifer Grey) falls for bad boy dance instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze). Yes, I did just write “bad boy dance instructor”!
After my parents’ divorce when I was 9 years old, I quickly had to grow up and take on adult responsibilities, such as caring for my little brother, comforting my depressed mother, and figuring out ways to reduce the utility bills. With many years of carrying these burdens, I really enjoyed the freedom I experienced after graduating high school and leaving home. I would play and stay out late, but I also became very involved in church and ministry, investing a lot of time into my younger sisters. I enjoyed this lifestyle so much that the idea of marriage and having a man to take care of was not appealing to me. I wanted to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, with whomever I wanted. For the next 20 years, I went into and out of many relationships. And, in my explanation to others as to why I broke up with my boyfriend/fiancé, I used the noble excuse of, “Oh, I wanted to have more impact for the Kingdom of God. I need my freedom to give more time to the church and to my sisters. Marriage will reduce my impact because I would have to worry about my husband and domestic responsibilities.”
Today’s AMI Devotional is written by Jane Oak, who serves at Tapestry Church, Los Angeles. Jane, an immigration lawyer, and her husband Harry were married in 2015.
In the X-Men universe, one of the main protagonists, Professor Xavier, has telepathic powers through mutation and lives to help fellow mutants. By using his machine Cerebro, Xavier can enhance his telepathic powers to locate and communicate with mutants in distress. However, in the movie X2, both human and mutant antagonists, William Stryker and Magneto, attempt to use Cerebro to kill all mutants and humans respectively. Thankfully, the X-Men come to the rescue and the crisis is averted.