God has a special purpose for each and every person that He makes. God blessed Jacob with 12 sons, each with a special purpose. Jacob had been his mother’s favorite child, then Jacob had a favorite wife (Rachel) and now Jacob chose one of his sons, Joseph, the first son of Rachel, as his favorite child.
In James 2:1, we read that Christians should not show favoritism. In Jeremiah 9:23-24, we read that we should not boast in our own wisdom or power or wealth. Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph and Joseph’s dreams about his coming superiority over his brothers, caused division and jealousy between Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s brothers sold him off to some traders on their way to Egypt, where Joseph became a valuable servant in Potiphar’s household.
Eventually Joseph was thrown into prison after being falsely accused of a crime against Potiphar’s wife. Have you ever been falsely accused of something that you didn’t do?
God was always with Joseph, even during his years in prison, giving Joseph favor with the prison leaders. After Joseph correctly interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph was released from prison and became Pharaoh’s “right hand man.”
God gave Joseph wisdom, so that the Egyptians would save up food for seven years because a famine was coming. When the famine came, just as God had said, the Egyptians had food stored up. Guess who came to Egypt to buy food? Joseph’s brothers. Those very same brothers who had sold Joseph off! Yet, Joseph had grace and mercy toward his brothers. Like we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:15, Joseph did not repay “evil for evil,” but he sought to “do good to one another and to everyone.”
Joseph’s life reminds us of Jesus. Jesus had grace, mercy, and love for us while we were still His enemies. Jesus, too, was treated unfairly and falsely accused, yet He repaid evil with good. God worked through both Joseph’s and Jesus’s trials to bring about blessing as a result of painful circumstances.
Today is the perfect day to thank God for working all things together for GOOD for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
Isaac grew up and got married. His wife, Rebekah, had twin sons. They named their sons Esau and Jacob. Before Esau and Jacob were born, God had told Rebekah that her sons would be rivals and that the older son would serve the younger son.
One day when Jacob was on his way to stay with his uncle Laban, he stopped to camp for the night. As he slept, Jacob dreamed of a ladder that reached from earth all the way to heaven. Jacob saw angels of God going up and down that ladder. The Lord, standing at the top of the ladder, repeated to Jacob many of the same promises that He had given to Abraham.
Look at Genesis 28:13-15 and list these promises. God promised to give Jacob and his descendants this land, that Jacob would have countless descendants (as many as the dust of the earth – can you count all the flecks of dust on earth???) and that these descendants would spread to all places on earth. God promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Jacob and his descendants. God promised to be with Jacob, to protect him wherever he went and to bring him back to this very land one day. God promised to never leave him and to be faithful to keep all of his promises.
WOW! Our God is always faithful. He is faithful to keep all His promises. We can trust Him.
God appeared to Jacob from the top of a ladder. God is so holy and perfect that we cannot reach Him by our own human efforts.
Ladders connect us with things that are beyond our human reach. I often need to use a ladder to change a light bulb or to reach a dish kept up in a high cabinet.
Jesus is our spiritual ladder, our way to reach the holy, perfect God. In the beginning of Jesus’s ministry on earth, Jesus told Nathanael, “You will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” (John 1:51 NLT) Our sin has separated us from God, but Jesus, the son of God and the son of Man, came to pay the price for our sin, so we can be reunited with God.
Today is the perfect day to trust in Jesus, the only way to the Father.
As Abram knew God more, his faith grew stronger. God gave Abram a new name, Abraham, which means “Father of many.” This was an unexpected name because Abraham and his wife, Sarah, hadn’t had any children together and they were very old.
At just the right time, as God had promised, Sarah gave birth to a son and they named him Isaac, but one day God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an offering. Even though this was an unthinkable request, Abraham trusted God and prepared to do what God had told him. Abraham built an altar and placed Isaac on it, and at just the right time, God provided a ram to take Isaac’s place on the altar. God often grows our faith as we wait for Him to the very last minute!
I can only imagine how excited Abraham was to see that ram. Abraham had trusted God and God kept His promises to Abraham.
Just like God provided a ram to die in Isaac’s place, God provided Jesus to die in our place. In Romans 6:23, we read that “The wages of sin is death.” This means that our sinful deeds deserve death. We earn death by our sin. But Romans 6:23 goes on to say, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for our sin with His death. Jesus is called “The Lamb of God,” because He was the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin. We can receive eternal life and forgiveness of our sin when we trust in Jesus Christ to be our Lord.
Thank you, God, for providing Jesus to take my place and to pay for my sins.
Have you ever had to move to a new town? We did. We had to leave our house, our friends and our family when we moved to a new state 5 ½ hours away. Moving can be a scary experience. You have to leave behind what you’re used to and go to a new, unknown place full of new, unknown people
About 4000 years ago God told a man named Abram to go to a new place, but He didn’t even tell him exactly where to go! God told Abram to go to a place that He would show him, and Abram trusted and obeyed God.
Look again in Genesis 12 and see what God promised Abram He would do in this new land.
God promised to make Abram a great nation, to bless Abram, to make Abram’s name great, to bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed Abram. God promised that all of the families of earth would be blessed because of Abram.
WOW! That’s a lot of promises! Abram obeyed God because he trusted God. He believed that God would keep his promises. Abram had faith like Noah.
How about you? Do you trust God? Are you willing to obey whatever God tells you because you believe His words? God has graciously given us the Bible, so we can know Him and know how to obey Him. Do you read your Bible? Reading the Bible is how you, too, can know and trust God.
Remember that promise that God made that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abram. Matthew 1:1 tells us how that happened. Matthew 1:1 tells us about the family tree of Jesus. Can you find Abram’s name there? Abram had a lot of descendants, but the most important one was Jesus, the Savior of the world.
All the families of the world have been blessed through Abram because Jesus came to earth. Every single person who trusts in Jesus for salvation can receive forgiveness and a place in heaven with Him. Have you received Jesus’s gift of salvation and forgiveness? You can trust Him today!
About a thousand years after God created Adam, Noah was born. Noah was the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of Adam, but people back then lived a long, long time. Adam had only died about a hundred years before Noah was born, because Adam lived for over 900 years!
By the time Noah was born, everyone on earth had turned against God. Everyone’s hearts had grown wicked, but Noah remained faithful to God. Noah was different than the people around him. Noah obeyed God even when no one else did.
God knew that Noah would obey, so He gave Noah a very big job. God told Noah to build a huge boat called an ark, because God was going to send a flood to cover the whole earth. God told Noah exactly how to build the ark and Noah did it just as he was told.
God is faithful to His promises and the flood came just as He said. Before the flood came, God sent many animals to get on the ark to be saved. Anyone who trusted God could have been saved by entering the ark, but Noah and his family were the only people who got on board.
After the waters went down, God sent a rainbow as a sign of His promise to never flood the earth again. Ever since then, whenever we see a rainbow, we can be reminded of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises.
Do you know what the greatest promise is that God ever made … and kept? God promised hundreds of years before Jesus was born that He would send a Savior into the world to save His people – and God did, just as He said. In fact, that promised Son was a descendent of that faithful man, Noah. We can trust God to always keep His promises because He is always faithful and trustworthy. He is faithful to keep His promises to both the faithful and the wicked.
Jesus is the greatest gift we can ever receive. Have you trusted in Jesus to save you?
Have you ever made tried to make a painting or a batch of cookies, only to have something happen that messed up those plans? Have you ever spent hours designing and building the perfect fort out of blankets and chairs, or the perfect Lego creation, only to have your dog or your little brother break it to pieces an hour later?
We want our plans and our creations to work out perfectly, don’t we? But that doesn’t always happen.
We have seen how God perfectly designed and created the world around us. Adam and Eve were the first two people God created to enjoy his beautiful world. God designed the garden to provide perfectly for all their needs. God placed a special tree in the garden called the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of any tree in the garden except for this one tree. God wanted Adam and Eve to trust and obey Him.
Satan, disguised as a serpent, tempted Eve to disobey God. Rather than trusting God’s goodness and honesty, Eve chose to believe the serpent’s lies. Both Adam and Eve ate from the tree that God had told them not to eat from. They made a choice to disobey God, to sin against their good and loving God.
A perfect world became a broken world and every single person since then has been born a sinner.
God taught Adam and Eve that sin is costly. Their sin separated them from their loving Father and one day it would cost God’s Son, Jesus, His very life. That act of love by Jesus on the cross provided forgiveness for Adam and Eve’s sin, as well as for your sin and mine, but God wants us to trust and obey Him, like He wanted Adam and Eve to trust and obey Him.
Do you believe that God is always good and true? Do you believe in Jesus as your Savior?
Thank God today for sending Jesus to earth to die for our sins and to be resurrected to eternal life.
On this first day of advent, let’s think back to the very beginning, when God created everything. God created everything by the power of His voice. God created light. God created land and water, animals and man. God created all of this out of nothing, simply by His spoken word.
God created all of this in only six days. Think of how long it takes for a baby to grow in his mother’s womb. Think of how long it takes to build a house. Think of how long it takes for a tree to grow tall. Yet, God created the world and everything in it in only six days with only His spoken word.
God created the world that mankind would know how wise and good and powerful He is. The Heavens indeed declare the glory of God, but so do the incredible creatures that God made. The beauty of flowers and butterflies, giraffes and elephants and pandas, declares the glories of God.
God had a plan for everything He made. God’s marvelous creation all works together. The air, the water, the soil and the sun all work together to sustain life on our planet. Plants and animals, too, work together in an incredible way – again giving glory to God.
God had a plan for everything He made, but His greatest plan of all was His plan to meet our deepest need by sending his son, Jesus. Even before the creation of the world, God planned to send Jesus to earth one day. Almighty Jesus humbled Himself willingly, leaving heaven to be born as a helpful baby. And at the perfect time, Jesus came to earth to live a perfect life, performing countless miracles in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses, proving His power and divinity. Our good Savior died on the cross for our sins, and was raised back to life to live again for eternity. The beauty of creation all around us reminds us of the beauty of our creator’s plan for us.
God wants YOU to know His son, Jesus. Remember … Christmas is all about JESUS!!
I’m on Day 6 of a 40 Day Facebook fast. I’m using a devotional by Wendy Speake called “The 40-Day Social Media Fast.” Today’s devotional was entitled, “A Few Good Friends” and it hit me right between the eyes.
I spent most of my teenage years as an outsider. As a brainiac and an atheist, though I wanted to fit in, I didn’t.
As an adult and born again follower of Jesus, I never want others to feel left out, like I was.
I cast my net wide.
I love everyone.
I invite everyone.
Any age, any skin color, any religion, any economic level, whatever – I love you all.
I love to greet the new people who wander nervously into church. I love to seek out the person sitting in the corner at a party. I love to make the newcomer and the outsider feel appreciated and valued.
8 or 80, male or female, made up or beat up, I want to be your friend.
The struggle for me is that love isn’t always reciprocated, even in the family of Christ. Sometimes I’m too serious, too friendly, too deep, too religious, too loud, too … whatever. And it still hurts me more deeply than I wish it did. 😰
I love getting likes and shares on my FB feed (and my blog). I purposely share some fun family photos and silly memes on my Facebook feed, just so people don’t think I’m too “religious” or too “deep.”
The most personal things I write, which are usually both deep and religious, don’t garner nearly so many likes or shares, but I keep on writing them because that’s how God made me. I think these writings are some of the works that God has prepared for me to do, that God has uniquely designed me to write. (Ephesians 2:10)
Thanks to each of you for being on this journey with me. Whether you’re one of my 3 special friends or whether we’ve never even met, I love you and I want you to know Jesus.
Your love or disdain for me does not change my value in my Father’s eyes. Whether you like my post or not, Jesus likes me. In fact, Jesus died for me, and His approval is all that really matters. ❤
“We don’t need everyone to like us, love us, invite us, or include us. In God’s economy, two or three faithful friends make for great wealth.”
A month ago my oldest daughter called over a video call. I was in the middle of a phone call, so I didn’t answer. She sent me a text that she wanted to show us the pumpkins that she and her husband had carved. Later, when I still hadn’t called back, she video called again!
I was back in my bedroom. When Emily asked what the rest of the family was doing, I was suspicious. Hmm… I got everyone together on the couch to see the pumpkins. My husband got up to go to the kitchen for something and I urged him to come back, because Emily had something to show us.
Yay!!! My little pumpkin is carrying a pumpkin of her own!
I was overjoyed. God is so good! So, so good! What a blessing!
Our parents are overjoyed, too! Emily told my husband’s parents by dressing her dog in a bandana that reads, “My parents are getting me a human.”
To tell my parents, she got a copy of “Imogen’s Antlers” (a family favorite children picture book) and told them, “You’ll need to read this to your great grandchild.” Fun! Fun!
In the midst of the chaos and confusion of COVID-19, “social distancing” and the presidential election, a child has been given. God has created a new life. He has made me a grandma and I couldn’t be happier.
Thank You, Father, for this new life. Carry Emily as she carries this little one. Give Roger strength and wisdom to lead and serve his growing family. Bless this child with a hunger for Your Word and fill him with your love. You are so good. We praise Your name. You are the giver of every good gift. Amen
This is my lesson for this week. May it bless many and bear fruit to the glory of Jesus.
I am the younger of two children. I have only one sister. She is older than me. Her name is Kristan.
Growing up, I was always competing with Kristan. I never felt like I was as good as her. She was a quiet girl who didn’t cause much trouble. I always thought she was prettier than me. She was taller than me – and she still is. She was an excellent piano player while I struggled through my piano lessons.
Because I felt like she was better than me in so many ways, I tried to be better than her in other ways. I showed off by being talkative, friendly, outspoken, and loud. I earned awards in science fairs and debate competitions. I went to a special school for the top students in my city, yet I still felt like I was in her shadow.
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever compared yourself to someone else and felt like you weren’t as good, as smart, or as pretty as them?
Last week we talked about what people like to share on social media like WeChat and Facebook.
I think one reason why people like sharing on social media is because they want people to praise them. We all want people to think we’re smart, beautiful, kind, and good. We all want people’s praise.
Now that I am an adult, I still find myself comparing my strengths to others’ weaknesses. I like to share the highlights of my week when my family did something special. I don’t share the moments when I got mad at my husband. I don’t share when my house was a mess and I served frozen pizzas for dinner. I don’t share when I spent 2 hours scrolling mindlessly through Facebook. I want to show the good things my kids or my husband or I did. I still want so much for people to praise and value me. This is still a struggle for me.
How about you?
I want to show you a short video of a young man with Down Syndrome speaking at a meeting for some American government leaders. While you’re watching this video, I want you to think about how you feel watching this young man and how you would feel if he was your son.
If you were this young man’s mom, would you be proud to call him your son? Why? Why not?
Now let’s think about our own families. If you had a son, would you value him more if he was the top student in his Chinese class? What if he won a track meet or an English competition? What would he have to do to make you proud?
What about God? What does God value? What makes God proud? To find an answer, let’s consider the story of the shepherd boy David who grew up to be the King of Israel. The first king of Israel, King Saul, had disobeyed God and God was looking for a new man to be king of Israel. God sent His prophet Samuel to a man named Jesse to find a new king from one of Jesse’s sons. When Jesse’s first son arrived, Samuel thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed,” but Samuel was wrong.
“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT)
Let’s try reciting this verse together. First, you can listen to me say it. Then, we will say it together. Finally, I’d like a few sisters to try it by themselves.
God had chosen Jesse’s youngest son who was out in the field caring for the sheep. As we are told in Acts 13:22, God had chosen David, the son of Jesse, because he was a man after God’s own heart who would do everything God wanted him to do.
Does that mean that David never sinned? Does that mean that David never broke God’s laws? No, it doesn’t. In fact, David committed adultery with a married woman and had her husband killed. Yet, David was repentant over his sin. David grieved over his sin and turned to God for forgiveness. David held fast to God and had faith in God even when life was very hard.
So, what exactly is in a man’s heart which makes God value him?
What do you think, sisters? What makes a person worthy to be called God’s child?
God created each and every person in His very own image. Every single person ever made was created in the image of God – no matter their skin color, no matter their wealth, no matter their intelligence or ability level, no matter how much money they have. Every single person has value in the sight of God because every single person is created in the image of God.
But not everyone is God’s child.
Jesus “came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn–not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” (John 1:10-13)
The only thing that can make you God’s child is faith, faith in Jesus Christ, the only Son of our Heavenly Father God. This alone is what makes you worthy. Faith is the greatest value.
And even this faith is a gift, as we read in Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
As you trust in God, then He will strengthen you and guide you to do great things for Him. He will change you, grow you and make you more like His Son as you trust in Him.
Like I once worked so hard to be better than my sister, when I became a Christian, I worked so hard to earn God’s love. But I was wrong. There was nothing I could do to deserve God’s love.
“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24) 耶和华这样说：“智慧人不可夸耀自己的智慧，勇士不可夸耀自己的勇力，财主不可夸耀自己的财富。 夸口的却要因了解我，认识我而夸口；认识我是耶和华，我在地上施行慈爱、 公正、公义；因为我喜悦这些事。”这是耶和华的宣告。
Let’s try reciting this verse together. First, you can listen to me say it. Then, we will say it together. Finally, I’d like a few sisters to try it by themselves.
God delights in steadfast love, justice and righteousness. Yes, He does. And He wants us to do these things, too, but He wants us to do them by faith. He wants us to obey Him by faith.
Jesus chose the intellectual Paul, a Jewish Pharisee and a persecutor of Christians, to share the good news of salvation with the lost. But Jesus also chose four common fishermen like Peter to spread the gospel. Does Jesus love the intellectual Paul more than simple Peter? No.
As Paul wrote in the beginning of his letter to the church in Corinth,
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
Do you think if your child got better grades or your husband had a better job, then God would love you more?
Do you think that if you were prettier or smarter or richer, then God would love you?
What if you memorized more Bible verses or prayed more or went to church more often, then would you be worthy of God’s love?
What if you gave all you owned to the poor or gave up your life as a martyr for Christ, then would you finally be valuable to God? (See 1 Corinthians 13 for more on this!)
Look at these pictures of my husband and my son in our backyard. My husband is much taller than my son when you look at them up close, but when you compare either of them to the height of the trees, they are both so tiny.
We may like to compare ourselves to one other, but when we compare ourselves to God, then we see how short we truly are. None of us are perfectly good, wise or holy. Only God. God loves you because He is God. He is your Creator, and He wants to be your Father. There is nothing you can say or do or think to make yourself worthy of His love.
In your own power, you are unworthy and undeserving, but in Christ Jesus you have infinite worth.
I don’t know whether you need to hear this because you need to be reminded not to show favoritism to your children or your coworkers or your friends, or because you need the reminder that you can’t earn God’s love, but I know that you need to hear this.
When you place your trust in Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. When God looks at you, He sees His Son, Jesus Christ, in your heart. Jesus Christ is who makes you worthy and valuable, completely worthy and infinitely valuable, and Jesus Christ is the truly the only one truly worthy of praise.
Let me encourage you to share this good news with someone else this week.
Teach What is Good 
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