The AMI QT devotionals from Jan. 1-15 are provided by Pastor Ryun Chang (Ph.D.) who is the AMI Teaching Pastor. He and Insil have been married for 28+ years and they have three children: Christy (teacher), Joshua (grad student) and Justin (college freshman). They live in Philadelphia.
Editor’s Note:
- First, the AMI devotions over the next several months will be on Acts.
- Second, this year we are sharing a little bit more about our writers.
- Third, the AMI QT blog, consisting of five parts, is not short, but each section is there for a reason. But if it feels too much, then read just the morning devotional and prayer. Also, note that you can arrange 2 or 3 related lunch break studies and use it to lead a small Bible study at work or school. The QT files can be sent to you on demand (Cryun2@yahoo.com).
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Acts 1:1-1[1]
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.
Luke 1:1-3
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account . . .
Thomas Sowell never knew his father who died before his birth; he grew up in the South, where his encounters with Caucasians were so rare that “he did not know that blond was a hair color.” After dropping out of high school, it seemed very unlikely that he would one day become a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author of 30 books.
Luke the Gospel writer was just as unlikely to have become one of the authors who penned the bestselling book of all time. In fact, he is the only Gentile among the forty whose writing was included. Furthermore, he is the second leading contributor to the New Testament after Paul: the Gospel of Luke and Acts combine for fifty-two chapters.
So, just how improbable was his success? First, as a non-Jew, Luke was an unlikely candidate to tell the gospel story that originated from Jewish Scripture and culture. Second, unlike John and Matthew, he wasn’t an eyewitness to the events he described. Third, as for his training, Luke was a physician (Col. 4:10), not groomed to be a writer. Also, it’s also possible that Luke was even a slave, since according to Commentator William Barclay, “even doctors and teachers . . . were slaves” in the Roman Empire.
When given a challenge or difficult task, the first thing we often say is, “I can’t; it’s too hard.” The outcome of Sowell and Luke’s life suggests otherwise. While hard work (Prov. 14:23) and determination (24:16) led to Sowell’s rise, Luke presents an additional component: God equips and empowers those who obey His call. In that context, we can proclaim, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).
In 2016, for what challenging task will you trust God: a new business, degree program, or even forgiveness? Whatever it is, do all things in obedience to God’s general will, clearly spelled out in the Scripture: for instance, eschew greed (Col. 3:5), selfish ambition (Phil. 2:3) and bitterness (Heb. 12:15). As you do so, God will strengthen you to succeed in and for Him. May this year be like no other year!
Prayer
Father, as the New Year commences, I praise You for all that happened in 2015—both good and bad—and thank You in advance for a wonderful journey of faith that the new year will bring. Help me never to forget how unlikely it was for You to save me; but You did because of your immense love. May I live for You the fullest in 2016. Amen.
[1] All scriptures are cited from the NIV unless otherwise noted.
Bible Reading for Today: 1 Peter 1
Lunch Break Study
Read 2 Kings 5:1-3: Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
John 6:8-9: Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Question to Consider
- What ties the Jewish servant girl in Syria and the boy together?
- What feeling or thought needs to be overcome in order to live like these individuals?
- Close your eyes and ask the Lord as to what hurtful past event can be redeemed to help others?
Notes
- From the human standpoint, they weren’t very impressive people, who certainly didn’t possess anything worthwhile. But what little they had was used by God to leave a tremendous spiritual legacy: without the information provided by the servant girl, there would be no story of Naaman, mentioned even in the gospel (Lk. 4:27); without the boy’s lunch, there is no feeding of the 5,000 depicted in all four gospels.
- We need to stop focusing on what we lack, thereby turning them into excuses that justifies our inaction, but offer what we do have (even simple but correct knowledge and a few dollars) to help those in need.
- As for me, getting a terrible SAT score and then being suspended from college for poor grades have helped me encourage young people who don’t have it all together. Praise God!
Evening Reflection
As we complete the first day of the year, did you help anyone today? Maybe you’ve had no such opportunity, or perhaps you did but failed to reach out. Why didn’t you? Have some fun tomorrow by reaching out to someone with what little you may have: May the Lord surprise you by multiplying your little effort with an amazing outcome both for you and others.
With the end of the year quickly approaching, many of us have already begun making resolutions. Whether it’s to hit the gym or do more for our careers, we’re all eager to make good on our new commitments. But I want to encourage you to slow down, because too many of us are quick to plan out our lives on our own. We only seem to invite God to bless our new plans rather than to shape them. But this shouldn’t surprise us. We live in a time where the self is king. It is the self who possesses all authority to determine its own path; and to suggest otherwise is an affront to the unspoken laws of our culture. For this reason, we’ve grown accustomed to planning our lives however we see fit. But the psalmist shows us a better way.
Growing up, there was no one I idolized more than Michael Jordan, who played with a certain type of artistry that separated him from the rest. This made him arguably the greatest basketball player of all time (sorry, Kobe fans!). One reason for his success was his otherworldly work ethic. Although he was naturally gifted, he practiced as if he had to earn every ounce of it. And this obsession made it apparent to everyone that he lived for basketball. But here’s the depressing part: according to an ESPN article, even with all the accolades and success, Michael Jordan still remains dissatisfied and restless about his life. What he believed would one day bring him fulfillment failed to deliver—and now at the age of 52, he’s still searching. In other words, the idol he set up for himself had only brought profound disappointment.
In my early 20’s, I was going through a very difficult season while dealing with depression. Although I was attending church, I wasn’t necessarily looking for God. Instead, I sought comfort in all the wrong places; in fact, I rebelled against God in every way imaginable. But one Sunday, I found myself at a prayer meeting and God met me in a way that left no part of me untouched. And for the first time in many years I felt whole again. This was the beginning of a journey that continues even to this day. You see, this is a picture of grace—God’s undeserved favor bestowed upon someone who not only didn’t deserve it but wasn’t even looking for it!
The conclusion of a nationwide survey conducted in the early 2000’s by sociologist Christian Smith, who attempted to gauge the spiritual DNA of Americans, was unsettling: Most Americans believed in what he coined as moralistic therapeutic deism, meaning the goal of life is to feel good about oneself and that God exists to serve us. This shouldn’t surprise us since we live in a time when church services aim to entertain rather than to challenge; it’s more about keeping people in the pews happy, rather than challenging them to follow Christ regardless of the cost. Consequently, we’ve produced consumers, not disciples. So then, why did God save us?
Leprosy causes the loss of all physical sensations, including pain. Even an open wound, infected and full of puss, doesn’t hurt; if left untreated, it will disfigure the entire body, limb by limb. At the risk of offending some, many evangelicals suffer from spiritual leprosy. Living in this world that is becoming increasingly militant against God’s truth, we feel no tension, no indignation, and certainly no desire to fight back (that is, not with the weapons of this world).
Let’s be honest: We say God’s word is the most important source of truth for us, but do our core beliefs and values really reflect that? In the church we say, “Yes, that is a sin,” but as soon as we are out the door, we become politically correct. We sing these great songs about the greatness of God, but are we really all that different from the world? Are we not as selfish, insecure, and pleasure-driven as those who do not confess Christ?
Every year, TV advertisements seem to be funnier and cleverer during the holiday season. However, this is also the season for my least favorite ad, the animal cruelty commercial with the forlorn animals. While I don’t disagree with its necessity, I find myself annoyed every time it comes on because my mood is ruined –the heaviness is not what I am looking for during my Christmas programming.
When I was in school, my friends and I enjoyed some go-to study spots. But, just as typical irresponsible teenagers might, we left the clean-up responsibilities to others. Eventually, school administrators, fed up with the amount of clean-up needed, locked us out. The rest of the school year, wherever we went, we had to take more ownership for our presence and take greater care in picking up after ourselves. As Christians, we are frequently reminded that the Earth is not our home, as we should be pilgrims yearning for Heaven. However, we often use this as an excuse to leave the world’s chaos for someone else to deal with. Many of us are not interested in leaving this earth better than we found it: we don’t want to clean a place physically, or we don’t think we have the patience and time to restore someone in our community. Instead of tangling ourselves in the hard work of this world, it seems easier to live a quiet life before ending at Heaven. It should amaze and move us that God, beautiful and holy, came with a completely opposite intent. Though He could have lived in comfort with a blind eye to the world, He dwelt among the broken and sick, spending His life healing, restoring, and redeeming the world. Such was the importance of His work that, before returning to Heaven, He charged us to continue it and gave us access to the Spirit so we could have God’s presence and power. As we usher in Christmas this year, let us fix our eyes on our Savior, whose example should stir in us a desire to take part in God’s work of healing and restoring this Earth. May we yearn to live lives that echo the footsteps and the humility of our Lord, who did not come to earth to be served as a king, but came to serve.
What do you tend to do when you’ve messed up? We see movies that show the man insincerely buying flowers and chocolates in hopes of making up with his significant other—and we are baffled at his naiveté, thinking, Surely, he doesn’t think that forgiveness can be bought! Gifts (without sincere repentance) cannot appease broken relationships. We get that, but surprisingly, humans think that this works towards God. Subconsciously, this is what many of us do as we approach God, falling into the lie that we are allowed to continue with sin in our lives as long as we are attending church, giving tithes, serving and going on mission trips. We use these “acts of worship” to barter with God to justify sin. Yet God is not interested in those “acts of worship” if a repentant heart does not accompany them.