Daily Devotions

G'Day everyone,

 

I hope all of you are doing well, and finding light and hope during this Christmas season. I wanted to write today about taking in the 'Bread' of God, also called God's Word. I hope that everyone who visits my blog has a good way to daily take in God's Word. Of course, the best way to do this is to be in a formal Bible study with other believers, with Applications and illustrations to help you grow as a Christian. But if you are like me, there are some days when there are only a few minutes, and this is where a good Devotional can be invaluable. There are some very popular Devotionals like Oswald Chambers' 'My Utmost for His Highest', Thomas Kempis' 'Imitation of Christ', or Spurgeon's 'Morning and Evening'. But my favorite was a gift from my Father, Martin Luther's 'Faith Alone'. Luther is so wonderful at providing depth of thought packed into a few paragraphs, which makes him a valuable part of my daily Bible reading.

 

Let me give a quick example of a couple of days of Martin Luther's Devotional style in 'Faith Alone'. Here are two days entries from this past week:

 

December 10 – EVERYDAY MIRACLES.

    Psalm 111:2 – The Lord's deeds are spectacular. They should be studied by all who enjoy them.

    Luther: What the Lord does is spectacular. But in this passage, the psalmist points out that only a few devout people who notice what God has done. Most people don't praise God or thank him. They never say "The Lord's deeds are spectacular." Though they are completely surrounded by his gifts, they have gotten used to them. They take advantage of what God has given them, rooting around in God's gifts like a hog in a bag of feed. They say "what's so special about the fact that the sun shines, fire gives warmth, the ocean provides fish, the earth yields grain, cows have calves, women give birth to children, and hens lay eggs? These things happen every day!"

    Is something insignificant just because it happens every day? If the sun wouldn't shine for ten days, suddenly it would be a great thing when it began shining again. If fire only existed in one place on the earth, I think it would be more precious than gold or silver. If there were only one well in the world, I would imagine that a drop of water would be worth more than a thousand dollars.

    God showers people with rich and wonderful blessings. But how ungrateful and blind people are! They don't recognize these blessings as amazing miracles from God, so they don't admire them, give thanks for them, or act happy about them. However, if a clown can walk on a tightrope or train monkeys, people are ready to admire and praise him for it. The psalmist points out that the Lord's deeds are spectacular, but these deeds are appreciated in the eyes of God's faithful followers.

 

Tom's note – ok, did you like that one? It made me thing of the blessing of Meggan giving birth to baby Noah, and what a "spectacular" event that really is. With Peggy and I having gone through many miscarriages, the miracle of a child being born is very much appreciated by me. But Martin Luther does a great job of helping us to see that there is so much more around us that can also be described as "spectacular". Give praise to our "spectacular" God! Here is the second Devotion:

 

December 12 – THE WORD IS GOD

John 1:1-3 – In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was already with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him.

    Luther: John wrote about the majesty and divine nature of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a profound way. John said that Christ, in his divine essence, is the Word of the eternal Father. If the Word existed from the beginning before anything was created, then it must follow that this Word is God. We can easily draw this conclusion: Whatever had its existence before the creation of the world must be God because only the Creator can exist separate from creation. Everything that exists is either Creator or creation – either God or creature. Through John, the Holy Spirit stated that "In the beginning the Word already existed" and "Everything came into existence through him". For this reason, we can never think of the Word as something created. The Word is eternal. No one can deny or disprove the conclusion that this Word is God.

    This passage establishes that Christ is God. On the basis of this fact, we believe and know with certainty that Mary gave birth to our Lord and Savior and that he is true and natural God, born in eternity by the Father. This is why he can't be considered an angel. Instead, he is the Lord and Creator of angels and of all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (Colossians 1:16).

    Now, we know that Holy Scripture is God's Word and will last forever (1 Peter 1:25). Scripture clearly states that the Word existed in the beginning before anything was created and that the Word made everything. So, it follows that believers can't hold any other opinion or come to any other conclusion. The Word was not created or made, but already existed from eternity. (Martin Luther, 'Faith Alone' (World Bible Publishers, Inc.))

 

Tom's note – Martin Luther was obviously trained as a lawyer. I know this because as he shows in this passage with his crystal clear use of logic. My final application is that everyone should have a Devotional that challenges them, makes them think, and makes us love our God and His Word all the more. So go out and get a good Devotional and take in His Word.