Devotionals

In 2009 I took a group of young people to the United States to do a serve the poor area of the Red Hook District in New York City. That week we will be spreading God’s love to marginalized people in the poorest neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York City. This neighborhood was famed for prostitution, crime, drugs and gangs. It was not going to be easy. We knew there would be several tests ahead, but little did we realize that our greatest test would happen even before we got to Brooklyn.

Tribulation means intense difficulty or pressure exerting such force on the one or thing its acting upon, causing excruciating sorrow or pain. This doesn’t sound appealing and in fact it’s something we all want to stay as far away from as possible. Yet this is how Paul says we must enter into the kingdom of God.

I used to think deception meant stark departure from conventional truth, such as denying Christ, living in immorality and a wholesale, willful departure from God’s word by professing believers. Though this is not incorrect, deception is actually very subtle and it often comes in quite unexpectedly, and before we know it, we might have found ourselves in full blown error in our beliefs or practices.

Everyone is talking about the Coronavirus, escalating restrictive measures, and the changing landscape that confronts us these days. At this time, we are all in this both sinner and saint, and it seems there is nothing God’s people can do other than observe. Yet the Bible speaks clearly about the fact that we have hope in the midst of any and everything that we can ever go through, up to and including death.

Thousands of years earlier, another commemorative event was to be initiated in the death of our Lord. Hours prior to his sacrificial death, Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room, sharing some parting words. For shortly thereafter he would be nailed to a cross, and his blood spilt red will serve to remind his followers that the sacrifice made for them was very costly.

Jesus chose twelve, and these twelve chose others, who chose others, and so forth. Jesus passed it on, so did the apostles, so did Paul and Timothy, and that is what we saw happening in the first churches that sprung up at the inception of the church. Paul would appoint elders to lead the church that God started in a new city and then he would move on to the next and do it all over again.

The metaphor of the journey speaks volumes to me in terms of parenting. See when I traveled to Florida with my family, I realized that it was a journey, a long one. There are different people traveling along the same highway but not everyone is at the same point, indeed some have gone farther than others.

I wonder what it took for Timothy to be ready to go on the mission field. If we knew what it took for Timothy to go, then we may be able to emulate that, so we can also be a kind of Timothy, a willing disciple moldable in the hands of our God.

Sometimes we see another person doing something that seems fun, or exciting, or novel, and all of a sudden our lives seem boring. We feel discontent. The fear of missing out can cause us to seek experiences. Sometimes good ones, but many times it causes us to seek experiences that aren’t helpful, or in line with God’s will.

All it took was for Peter to take his eyes off Christ, and focus on the problem at hand, the stormy waves, and then immediately he began to sink. In today’s environment, problems abound, yet God is telling us not to fear, but to believe (Luke 8:50).