Posts

Showing posts from July 15, 2018

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 22, 2018 Sunday HOPE ANYWAY Dave Branon My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.  Psalm 119:50 Psalm 34:15–18 Psalms 31–32; Acts 23:16–35 Among the hundreds of articles I’ve written for  Our Daily Bread  since 1988, a few stick in my mind. One such article is from the mid-1990s when I told of a time our three girls were away at camp or on mission trips, so six-year-old Steve and I had some guy time. As we were enjoying an excursion to the airport, Steve turned to me and said, “It’s not as much fun without Melissa,” his eight-year-old sister and sidekick. Neither of us knew then how poignant those words would turn out to be. Life indeed has not been “as much fun” for the years since Mell died in a car accident as a teenager. The passage of time may dull the ache, but nothing takes the pain away completely. Time cannot heal that wound. But here’s something that can help: listening to, meditating on, and savoring the s...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 21, 2018 Saturday SHELTER FROM THE STORM James Banks But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter.  Psalm 73:28 NLT James 1:12–18 Psalms 29–30; Acts 23:1–15 When I lived in Oklahoma I had a friend who “chased” tornados. John tracked the storms carefully through radio contact with other chasers and local radar, trying to keep a safe distance while observing their destructive paths so he could report sudden changes to people in harm’s way. One day a funnel cloud changed course so abruptly John found himself in grave danger. Fortunately, he found shelter and was spared. John’s experience that afternoon makes me think of another destructive path: sin in our lives. The Bible tells us, “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14–15). ...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 20, 2018 Friday HOME SWEET HOME Keila Ochoa I am going there to prepare a place for you.  John 14:2 John 14:1–14 Psalms 26–28; Acts 22 “Why do we have to leave our home and move?” my son asked. It’s difficult to explain what a home is, especially to a five-year-old. We were leaving a house, but not our home, in the sense that home is where our loved ones are. It’s the place where we long to return after a long trip or after a full day’s work. When Jesus was in the upper room just hours before He died, He told His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). The disciples were uncertain of their future because Jesus had predicted His death. But Jesus reassured them of His presence and reminded them they would see Him again. He told them, “My Father’s house has many rooms . . . . I am going there to prepare a place for you” (v. 2). He could have used other words to describe heaven. However, He chose words that describe not an uncomfortabl...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 19, 2018 Thursday THROUGH THE CROSS Anne Cetas [Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:39 2 Corinthians 4:8–18 Psalms 23–25; Acts 21:18–40 My coworker Tom keeps an 8″ by 12″ glass cross on his desk. His friend Phil, who like Tom is a cancer survivor, gave it to him to help him look at everything “through the cross.” The glass cross is a constant reminder of God’s love and good purposes for him. That’s a challenging idea for all believers in Jesus, especially during difficult times. It’s much easier to focus on our problems than on God’s love. The apostle Paul’s life was certainly an example of having a cross-shaped perspective. He described himself in times of suffering as being “persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:9). He believed that in the hard times, God is at work, “achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fi...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 18, 2018 Wednesday WHAT’S YOUR PASSION? Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  Psalm 20:7 Psalm 20:6–9 Psalms 20–22; Acts 21:1–17 One of the tellers at my bank has a photograph of a Shelby Cobra roadster on his window. (The Cobra is a high-performance automobile built by the Ford Motor Company.) One day, while transacting business at the bank, I asked him if that was his car. “No,” he replied, “that’s my passion, my reason to get up every morning and go to work. I’m going to own one someday.” I understand this young man’s passion. A friend of mine owned a Cobra, and I drove it on one occasion! It’s a mean machine! But a Cobra, like everything else in this world, isn’t worth living for. Those who trust in things apart from God “are brought to their knees and fall,” according to the psalmist (Psalm 20:8). That’s because we were made for God and nothing else will do—a truth we validat...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 17, 2017 Tuesday I JUST CAN’T DO IT Tim Gustafson The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  Galatians 3:24 nkjv 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 Psalms 18–19; Acts 20:17–38 “I just can’t do it!” lamented the dejected student. On the page he could see only small print, difficult ideas, and an unforgiving deadline. He needed the help of his teacher. We might experience similar despair when we read Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Anger is as bad as murder (v. 22). Lust equals adultery (v. 28). And if we dare think we can live up to these standards, we bump into this: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48). “The Sermon on the Mount produces despair,” says Oswald Chambers. But he saw this as good, because at “the point of despair we are willing to come to [Jesus] as paupers to receive from Him.” In the counterintuitive way God so often works, those who know th...

ODB

Image
OUR DAILY BREAD July 16, 2918 Monday NO CO-SIGNER REQUIRED Kirsten Holmberg People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said.  Hebrews 6:16 Hebrews 6:13–20 Psalms 16–17; Acts 20:1–16 When a person without a long history of paying his or her bills on time wants to obtain a loan to purchase a home or car, lenders are often reluctant to take the financial risk. Without a track record, that person’s promise to repay what he borrows is insufficient for the bank. The would-be borrower usually resorts to finding someone who does have a history of making good on their debts, asking them to put their name on the loan too. The co-signer’s promise assures the lender the loan will be repaid. When someone makes a promise to us—whether for financial, marital, or other reasons—we expect them to keep it. We want to know that God will keep His promises too. When He promised Abraham that He would bless him and give him “many descendants” (Hebrews 6:14; se...