1-Minute Daily Devotion

How Would You Describe God?

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also..." - John 14:7 NAS

A weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article titled, "Re-Defining God," about how so many in our modern world are re-defining who God is. One seminary professor said, "People seek out new gods the way they seek out new products in the marketplace." How would you describe God?

1. The first two of the Ten Commandments say there is but one God and no others. More than anything else, we need to get this right. God gets angry about worshiping false, man-made gods.

2. The best way to define God is through a man--Jesus. He is God's ultimate revelation of Himself.

How do you understand Jesus? The most authoritative word is the Bible. Scripture gives us the complete and full picture of Jesus. Otherwise, it's just somebody's opinion.

So how do you define God? Get to know the Jesus of Scripture. I promise, you will not be disappointed.

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Don't Live In Darkness!

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness." - John 12:46 NIV

Ever thought about what darkness really means? Darkness, as the polar opposite to brightness, is understood to be an absence of visible light. The emotional response to darkness has metaphorical connotations in many cultures.

Have you ever been in a situation where the darkness was so powerful that the light could not overcome it? I remember touring a cave when all the lights were turned off. I couldn't see a thing. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face! And then the guide simply lit a match - one match - and we could see all over the cave, because darkness cannot overcome the light.

Jesus says He is the Light of the world - the embodiment of how to know God and how to live life. You may feel your life is engulfed in darkness. You may feel bewildered at not having discovered the answer to life. Invite Christ into your life and the light will be turned on, no matter how much darkness you've experienced. Life will begin to make sense and you’ll be filled with hope and understanding.

Here's more good news. When you do this, Jesus says we can be a light to others by pointing people who are in the dark to the light - the Light of Christ.

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So You Want To Be Rich?

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"For they that will become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition." - 1 Timothy 6:9 NIV

It's often said that money is the root of all evil. That's not really true. Money isn’t an evil in and of itself. How we use it determines whether money is a positive or negative in our lives.

The Bible makes it clear that the desire to be rich brings many new temptations into your life. What are some of those temptations? Well, it can be the temptation to lie or to steal. It can be the temptation to use and even run over other people, including your own family, to have more wealth. It can be the temptation to defraud other people to have more wealth. This focus to have more and more money can cause one temptation after another and the next thing you know, we can find ourselves doing things we never thought we'd do. We can make life a mess. When wealth becomes our priority, we are not willing to acknowledge that all we think we own is God's and that victory with money—be it a little or a lot—is using His money in a way that pleases Him.

Wealth earned honestly can be a blessing. It can do a lot of good. But the desire to be rich so we can spend it or hoard it for ourselves can cause us to give into all sorts of unhealthy temptations. It’s time for us to put away selfish pursuits, get out from under possessions and rediscover the true meaning of happiness.

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What Would Make The Resurrection A Lie?

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised." - 1 Corinthians 15:13 NIV

There are many theories about what took place at what Christians call the resurrection of Jesus. Did it actually happen? There's the theory that the disciples took the body. Or that someone stole the body. There's even a "swoon" theory that Jesus wasn't really dead when they put Him in the tomb...that he was "out" or drugged when they put Him there and later, He just woke up! There are even more theories, but one question I have to ask you is, "Do you know what would make Christianity worthless?"

Well, if Christ did not rise from the dead and ANY of those other theories were true, Christianity would be built around a big lie. It would mean Jesus was a liar, because He said He would be killed and rise again. It would mean that the Bible is filled with lies, because over and over it writes of Jesus' resurrection. It would mean that of all people on earth, Christians are to be pitied the most, for we have bought into a colossal hoax.

But...if Christ did rise from the dead, it means that when Jesus says He is the Son of God, He is believable. It means there is hope beyond the grave. It means every miracle in the Bible is believable. After all, if a man rises from the dead, what's the big deal about parting the Red Sea or making the lame walk? Christianity rises and falls on the resurrection. No resurrection, and Christianity is worthless. But if He did rise, it means everything.

I believe He did. How about you?

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Bad Things Good People

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

Rabbi Harold Kushner once said this, "There is only one question which really matters: Why do bad things happen to good people?" This question, which all of us ask from time to time, became the title of his best-selling book, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. Sadly, Kushner's book paints a picture of a very small God, although it did help a lot of people going through tough times.

There is a wonderful Bible story that describes a much greater God. It's the story of three Hebrew boys who refused to worship the idols of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. You can find it in the Bible in the book of Daniel, Chapter 3. Even though they were threatened with being thrown in a furnace, they held fast in their devotion to God. Their response, "God can spare us from the fiery furnace; He has that power. But, even if He does not, we'll never serve your gods or bow down to your statue." They chose to trust God even when it made no earthly sense to do so. And God repaid that faith by seeing that they were not harmed by the fires in the furnace.

God will never take us through a time of testing that is too tough for us to deal with. No matter how difficult your trials, you can bank on His promise. No trial is too great for us with the power of God. He will give us a way to endure it, to resist it, or to get through it.

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Be Wise With Your Time

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

”Be careful, then, how you live—not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time.” - Ephesians 5:15-16a NASB

Do you ever struggle with making the most of your time? Feeling like there’s just not enough time in each day? Well, we have to remember we all have the same amount of time: one hundred sixty-eight hours a week, twenty-four hours a day. The key is making the most of our time. This is a spiritual, as well as practical, issue.

Scripture says, “Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time.” So how do you do that? List the top three to five priorities of your life. This list will help you prioritize how you spend your time.

Concentrate on what’s most important, and major on the majors. As you approach each day, write down the most important thing you need to do, commit to do it, then go to the second most important thing and do it.

Effective time management is an important discipline to have, in order to live the successful life. So, get with it before your time runs out.

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Are We Willing?

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.'" - Luke 9:23-26 NIV

I find it interesting that Christ had not yet been crucified when He said, "He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." How do we make sense of that? For a first century Jewish man living in a land occupied by Rome, it would not be unusual to see condemned men carrying their cross to their execution site. He used this image to explain the high expectations He had for His disciples' devotion. He told them what He is telling us now: If you're going to follow Me, you've got to be willing to die for me."

So I ask myself this question, "Bryant, am I willing?" When Jesus gives this challenge, I think about how weak I am. I think about how cowardly, selfish, and sinful I am. And I think about Christian martyrs today, knowing that there is more persecution of Christians going on right now than there has been in all of history. I think about people living in that situation and I wonder, would I be willing to go through torture for Christ? Would I be willing to give my life for Christ? I surely hope so.

If you call yourself a Christian, do you know what you would do?

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