Read through the Bible in 2 years: Proverbs 24; 1 John 2 and 3
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
– 1 John 2:9-11 ESV
Love is an emotion as well as an action. Love wants for someone’s good while hate wants for someone’s harm. You might say that you love someone while you practice deceit and cunning. You might say that you love someone while turning a deaf ear to their cries for help or even leading them astray. People say all kinds of things in the name is love, but really that love is simply hate wrapped in shiny paper. True love desires for the other person’s health, wholeness, and holiness, even when it hurts. Even when it’s inconvenient. Even when it’s messy.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
– 1 John 2:15-16 ESV
At its very essence, love of the world boils down to love of self. The love of the world is the love of selfish desires: comfort, safety, and pleasure.
Truth be told, my love of the world rarely looks like God’s love of the world, that John 3:16 love, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” My love of the world usually looks a whole lot more like my love of me and my own good, not my neighbor’s good and not my Lord’s good. Father, forgive me.
When my life is full of loving me, there’s no room left to love my Heavenly Father or my neighbor. To truly love my Heavenly Father, I must put His glory and His commands over my own fleeting pleasures. To truly love my neighbor, I have to put his well-being over my own, and that takes Holy Spirit power! I can never do it in my own strength. I must abide faithfully in Him and allow His Word and His Spirit flow through me.
Won’t you pray with me?
Heavenly Father,
We want Your glory and majesty to fill the earth. Make us Your vessels. We want to walk in the light as You are in the light. We want to love our neighbor as ourselves. We want to love others as Christ loved us.
But, Father, we can’t do it on our own.
Please forgive us for how far and how often we have gone astray. We have loved the world and the things in the world, instead of loving You and loving our neighbor. We have loved ourselves and hated our brothers.
We repent of our sins. We turn to You, knowing that You are our only hope in life and death. Thank You for the forgiveness and grace available to us through the blood of Christ. Thank You for Your power and guidance available to us through the Holy Spirit.
We need You every hour. We cry out to You and ask for Your help and we know that You hear us.
Thank You! Thank you! Thank you! By the perfect righteousness of Christ we come to You.
Amen
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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Proverbs 13, John 13
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:34 ESV
When Jesus knew that His hour had come to give up His life and return to his Father, He didn’t look to a bucket list of “Top 100 Things to Do Before You Die.” No, he washed His disciples’ feet. The most important thing to Him before His death was to leave an example of true love for His followers.
He gives them this “new commandment” – a very old commandment actually, but made even more difficult by the addition of “JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.” It’s really, really hard to love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) This takes supernatural power. But to love others sacrificially as Jesus did – washing your friends’ feet, your students’ feet, even your betrayer’s feet – and even to lay down your own life for someone else, this is impossible apart from being born again, having a new will and new power working in you. (Philippians 2:13)
Will you please pray with me for the Lord to give you this strength?
Heavenly Father, I confess to you how hard it is for me to love others as myself, how totally impossible it is for me to love them as you have loved me. Help me to remember that what is impossible for man is possible for God. Nothing is impossible for You. I need You to give me both the strength and the desire!
Help me to remember that You loved me while I was a sinner, your enemy. You ran after me while I was running away from You.Help me to feel – and express – that kind of love for others, even when I don’t feel like it. Help me to pursue others like You pursued me.
Help me to consider others more highly than myself. Help me to serve my family and my friends, people who love me. Help me to serve my children and my students, people who are under my authority. Help me to serve the stranger and alien and even my enemy, remembering that You loved me when I was a stranger and alien and even Your enemy.
I need Your help. Please. In the strong and kind name of Jesus my Savior and Lord, I pray, Amen.
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And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Mark 11:25 ESV
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your grace and mercy and forgiveness. You have forgiven me, not because I deserve it, not because I’ll never do it again, but because of the blood of Jesus shed on my behalf. Help me to trust You more, to trust that You are good and faithful, that You are sovereign Lord over heaven and earth. And as I trust You, help me to forgive others, to lay them once and for all at Your feet, to stop punishing them myself and let Your justice be enough. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Judge and Ruler, I pray. Amen.
Heavenly Father, Your Word warns us again and again about the importance of having a godly wife. I pray that my son will heed those warnings. Guard his heart from those who want to steal it away from You. Turn his eyes away from worthless things and focus them on Your commands. Help him to treasure Your Words that he will not be tempted to go astray. Give my son divine discernment and patience, that he will be led by Your Spirit around the pitfalls laid by the enemy of our soul who seeks to trap him in his clutches. Guide him to a woman who loves You with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength, that the two of them would be better together than they could be apart, that 1 + 1 would be 3 squared. Make the two of them a cord of three strands that cannot be easily broken with you that center strand of steel that they will both cling to through good times and bad, plenty and want, sickness and health, until their last day on earth. For Your glory and his good I pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen
The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built;
as his country improved, he improved his pillars.
Hosea 10:1 ESV
God has given us every good gift to enjoy. He has blessed us with heat and sunshine and air to breathe. He has given us homes to live in and children to fill them. He has blessed us with abundant food and wealth. He has given us eyes to see, ears to hear, and minds to comprehend. Yet, what do we do with all of these gifts?
Do we enjoy them or neglect them? Do we praise Him or take credit for them?
When was the last time you thanked God for the children sitting around your table or clinging to your legs?
When was the last time you took a leisurely walk outside and thanked God for the blue sky and warm sun?
It seems that the more full our homes and lives become, the less interested we become in the Lord. Why is that?
Why would the Lord bless us with more if it will just turn our hearts away from Him? It is His mercy that keeps us begging for our daily bread. It is His mercy that makes us hunger for the gift of a child. It is His mercy that keeps us dependent on Him for a roof over our head and money in our bank account.
My word for 2024 is “Enough.” Is the Lord enough? YES! He is! Has He given me enough? YES! Yes, He has! My cup overflows with His love and grace and goodness.
Heavenly Father, Help me to be faithful in the little things that You might entrust to me more things. Help me to be thankful for every single little gift, the birds that sing before the sun rises, the wind that blows gently through the trees, the sound of trickling water. Thank You for giving me eyes that see and ears that hear. Thank You for giving me a mind and heart that know You. Thank You. You are enough. You are more than I need. In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed and delivered me. Amen.
If I asked a class of third grade students, “Raise your hand if you love ice cream.” I bet every hand would shoot up. 🙋🏿♀️🙋🏻🙋🏽♂️🙋🏼♀️🙋🙋🏾♂️
But if I then said, “Raise your hand if you love Brussel sprouts,” I’m quite sure I’d get a very different response. Even if I followed it up with words like, “They are really good for you! They’re high in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.” Still, it’s a no. 🙅🏽♂️🙅🏼♀️🙅🏻🙅🏿♂️🙅🏻♀️🙅
It is only logical to love ice cream. It’s sweet and creamy and delicious.🍦😋 But Brussel sprouts … They are more of an acquired taste, suited for a more refined palate. 🥬 😝
I’m afraid that I sometimes think I’m naturally easy to love. I’m afraid sometimes I forget about all my prickly, hard to love spots. I’m afraid I see myself as ice cream, rather than Brussel sprouts.
When God tells the prophet Hosea to go love Gomer, a woman who chases after other men, refusing to remain faithful to her husband, I’m afraid that we all think we’re Hosea, not realizing that we’re actually Gomer. We are that adulteress, that whore, that woman who abandons her true love to pursue idols, and God is Hosea, the faithful One who again and again chases after His bride, pulling her out of the pig slop. 🥴🐖
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10 ESV
Love covers a multitude of sins.
Love is not irritable or resentful or rude.
Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Love forgives.
Love never ends.
Love is steadfast and patient and faithful.
God loved us while we were sinners, and He calls us to go and do likewise.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your steadfast, patient, faithful love toward me. Thank You for pursuing me, though I didn’t deserve it, though I don’t deserve it still. I’m not worthy, but You are. You deserve better. You deserve chocolate, chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream and sprinkles and a cherry on top. And yet You have demonstrated Your love by sending Your own Son to be the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, the substitutionary offering, for my sin. Praise Your Name forevermore. Amen.
Had they stopped observing the feasts and Sabbaths?
They had forsaken Him by making Him one god on a buffet of gods. They had forsaken Him by worshipping both Him and Baal. They had forsaken Him by offering themselves to other lovers in addition to the Lord God.
Friends, we can have a dozen coworkers, a dozen children, and a dozen friends, but we can only have ONE husband and he can only have ONE bride.
A good husband refuses to share his bride with other men, and our good God refuses to share His bride with other gods.
It is not enough for us to make God the biggest god in our life, or the most valuable idol that we have. He can’t be our “favorite” husband. He wants to be our ONLY husband. He wants ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He wants to be our everything. He is either Lord of all or He’s not Lord at all.
God despises adultery of all forms, especially adultery toward Him. God wants our whole heart. He is a jealous God. He will not share His glory with another.
Exodus 34:14 ESV — (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV — For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Isaiah 42:8 ESV — I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
Heavenly Father, You are a good husband who loves His bride and refuses to share her with another. I pray that we would be a loving bride, rejecting all other things who vie for our attention. I pray that You would be the apple of our eye, the center of our attention, the singular focus of our lives. In the Name of Jesus Christ, our redeemer, Amen.
Have you ever gone to a corn maze (or a sorghum maze if you’re in the south)? I’ve taken my kids a few times and discovered I really don’t like them. I hate how easily one wrong turn can lead you down the wrong path, forcing you into another wrong turn and another, until you finally find yourself at a dead-end where you then have to try retracing your steps to get back where you were 30 minutes ago. I’m just not a fan. How about you?
In reading 2 Samuel 11, I couldn’t shake how many times someone could have made a different choice and changed the whole course of events. Chapter 11 begins with the words, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”
What if David simply had gone to battle instead of staying home?
Then David “arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of his home late in the afternoon.”
What if David had been commanding his armies or counseling his people?
What if David had spent the afternoon in prayer and Bible study?
So often in life it’s how we spend our leisure time that really trips us up!
When we’re worn out, worn down, and trying to relax, what do we do? What do we turn to? Food, Facebook, or the phone? Sex, shopping, or scrolling? How differently things could’ve been in David’s life if he’d spent his afternoon differently.
Then David sees a beautiful woman bathing.
Accidentally seeing someone bathing is not a sin, but what if this wasn’t the first time David had gone up to his roof and noticed Bathsheba.
Had David made an intentional choice to go up on his roof, hoping that he would see Bathsheba?
And what about Bathsheba? Was it really just an accident that she was bathing in the afternoon in such a place that the king who lived nearby would see here?
We don’t know, but how different things could’ve been if Bathsheba had bathed somewhere else or had been more careful to shield herself from David’s view.
And then David sent a messenger to find out more about the woman, and he is told that she is the wife of one of his mighty men, Uriah the Hittite.
Why did David send someone to find out more about her? Was he planning to take her as another wife or maybe a concubine?
But then, I wonder, how did David not know who she was? Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah, one of his chosen mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8-9) the daughter of Eliam, also one of David’s chosen mighty men, (2 Samuel 23:34) the granddaughter of Ahithophel, one of David’s chief counselors (2 Samuel 23:34, 2 Samuel 15:12), and she lived near enough to David’s home that he can see her clearly from his roof. Did he really not know who that bathing woman was?
What if David had never inquired of her? David had more than enough wives already. Surely he didn’t need to find out anything about this beautiful young woman.
Next David sends someone to take Bathsheba to his palace and she becomes pregnant.
What if the messenger had refused to help David?
What if Bathsheba had refused to come, preferring shame, imprisonment, or even death to breaking her marital vows?
What if she had fled like Joseph had when Potiphar’s wife tried to get him to lie with her and he ended up in prison? (Genesis 39)
By the way, this phrase, “David sent messengers and took her,” reminded me of 1 Samuel 8 when the Lord warned the Israelites through the prophet Samuel about the troubles that a king would bring upon them. This same Hebrew word for “take” is used again and again in 1 Samuel 8. The king will take their sons and their daughter, their fields and their grain, their servants and their donkeys. And here, David, the king, has taken even the wife of one of his most valuable warriors.
Then David asks Joab to bring Uriah back home, hoping that Uriah would spend some time with his wife, so no one would find out how she had become pregnant.
Like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden after they had taken the forbidden fruit, David chose to hide his sin.
Maybe David was afraid of hurting his friend, Uriah.
Maybe David was afraid of losing his position as king.
Maybe David was simply afraid of losing face.
What if David had come clean at this point and repented of his sin?
What if David had brought Uriah home so that he could confess his sin to him and seek his forgiveness?
Proverbs 28:13 ESV says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Think of how differently this story would’ve ended if David had confessed his sin and sought mercy from Uriah and Bathsheba.
Next when Uriah refuses to go home to be with his wife, then David tells Joab to “set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die.” (11:15) and Uriah was killed in battle.
What if Joab had refused to be a party to this?
People might say, “Joab HAD to obey the king,” like they say that Bathsheba had to obey the king.
Don’t believe those lies. You DON’T have to do it. You don’t. Sure, you might get in trouble. Yes, you might face some embarrassment or other consequences, even severe, or life-threatening consequences, but no one ever has to choose sin.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3) because they refused to bow down to the king’s golden idol.
Daniel was thrown into a den of lions (Daniel 6) because he refused to stop praying.
God will always provide a way of escape (even if it’s death) that you may be able to withstand temptation. Read 1 Corinthians 10 for more on this.
David’s sin hurt lots of other people: Uriah, Bathsheba, the child Bathsheba bore, not to mention David’s other wives and David’s other children, as well as Joab and the Israelite army and the list goes on and on. But so does ours.
When we lie or cheat or boast or complain, we hurt other people.
When we think malicious thoughts about others and make plans in our minds to hurt them, we are hurting them as well as ourselves and others. We have got to remember that those people were made in the image of God and when we put our desires above them, it hurts them and it hurts God.
David knew that what he was doing was wrong. David knew the Ten Commandments. He knew it was sin to covet his neighbor’s wife and commit adultery, but he did it and then tried to cover it up. He knew God had said DO NOT MURDER. That’s why he had Joab arrange the murder for him.
Your sin might not look like David’s sin. Maybe you will never get another man’s wife pregnant or have anybody killed, but your sin separates you from God just as much as David’s sin did.
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Mark 7:21-23
God was displeased with David’s sin, and God is displeased with our sin, too. God made a way for David to be saved, and God made a way for us to be saved, too.
As we will read tomorrow, David’s innocent son died, but so did God’s. God sent His own Son in the flesh, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, to be born as a human baby, to live a perfect and sinless life and to die on the cross to pay the punishment that our sins deserve. And He promises to us eternal, abundant, new life in Christ – AS SOON AS we trust in Him His Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, to be our ever-present help, our ever-present counselor … and for all eternity to dwell in heaven with Him.
David needed to repent, to turn away from his sins, and so do we. The only way we can do that is to place our trust in the Lord and seek Him for strength to overcome temptation moment by moment and day by day. David fell because he had stopped seeking God; his eyes were on earth instead of on heaven.
Let’s pray and ask God to help us to resist the devil and submit to Him.
Heavenly Father, I need Your help. I can’t do it on my own. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak. Help me to trust You moment by moment. Help me to be so careful how I spend my leisure time. Help me to get the rest I need so I can be strong in the moment of temptation. Help me to resist the devil and submit to You. Help me to see that way of escape that You will provide for me each and every time. Help me to be in Your Word day after day, remembering that it is my weapon to fight against the devil. Help me to hold up that shield of faith so I can extinguish all the flaming darts that the evil one throws my way. Help me to fasten the belt of truth firmly around my waist and strap the breastplate of righteousness tightly to my chest. Give me the strength and courage I need to stand firm and fight this battle, so that I will not bring shame to Your name. I love You, Lord. You are worth the fight. Death is not the worst thing. Denying You whether in word or deed is. Help me, Lord, for the glory of Your Name. Amen.
Have you ever been mad at someone, not just for a few minutes, but for hours or days? Have you ever allowed your anger to stew like a 8-pound chuck roast left in a crockpot to bubble all day, causing a seed of bitterness to take root deep in your heart?
How did that effect your relationship with that person? How was your attitude toward them? Did that bitterness ever make it hard for you to think kind thoughts or speak kind words about them?
Now, how about your feelings toward God? Have you ever been mad at God for days or weeks? Have you ever felt like He didn’t treat you or a loved one the way He should’ve? Did you ever let that anger plant a seed, no matter how small, of contempt toward God?
How did that effect your relationship with or your attitude toward God? Did it make it hard for you to meet with Him or submit to His commands?
In my life, I’ve noticed that often my bitterness toward a person is intimately tied to my disappointment with God.
Maybe a friend, a parent, a sibling or even a spouse has hurt you deeply. They’ve let you down. They’ve attacked you and disappointed you. They’ve done you wrong. Maybe it’s substance abuse or pornography. Maybe it’s lying and deceit. Maybe it’s an emotional or physical affair. Maybe it’s a lack of regard for your thoughts and feelings.
How has that relationship with a human being effected your relationship with God?
How have your feelings toward a person effected your feelings toward God?
In today’s passage in 2 Samuel 6, we read about Michal, King Saul’s daughter and David’s first wife, who despised David in her heart when she witnessed his joy before the Lord. Michal had been hurt again and again by David, a man she had loved. David had taken other wives and then had allowed her to be sent away, only to be brought back after she’d married another man. I don’t know that Michal ever trusted in God. In fact, Michal may have been a pagan idol-worshipper, but we do know that it grieved her deeply to see David dancing with reckless abandon in the presence of God and all the house of Israel. Click here to read through an overview of Michal’s life in the scriptures.
Thinking through Michal’s response to David’s joyful worship, I asked myself these two questions:
When have my feelings of disappointment toward a fellow human being resulted in me treating them with disdain and contempt rather than love and forgiveness?
When have my feelings of disappointment with my Heavenly Father resulted in me turning my back on Him rather than turning my face toward His open arms?
Heavenly Father, Your ways are certainly not our ways. You are always holy and righteous and good, and we are not. You have told us what You require of us, yet we have disobeyed You again and again. We have shunned Your scriptures. We have mocked Your Words and Your workers. We have treated Your Creation and Your commands with contempt. We have blamed You for circumstances that we have brought upon ourselves. We have turned our backs to You instead of our faces. Please, Father, forgive us. Remove the root of bitterness from our hearts, bitterness toward our fellow sinful man and bitterness toward You, our perfect Father. Renew a right spirit in us. Give us a new heart, a new mind, and a new soul. Strengthen us to love others as You have loved us. Help us to love You, our Lord and God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help us to cast all our cares upon You and to trust that You care for us. Help us to fully believe that You are at work, working all things together for good for those who love You and have been called according to Your purposes, bringing beauty out of the ashes of our lives. In the Name of Jesus Christ who died in my place I pray. Amen.
Thursday night, our family read the seventh advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with Luke 7. If you don’t have your own copy, you can order your own a Kindle version instantly, while you wait for the paper copy to arrive.
I’m really loving this “mash up” of the advent devotional with the daily reading in Luke. We’re all having fun finding connection points.
How was Joseph able to forgive his brothers after they had perpetrated such great sin against him? I think the answer might be found in Luke 7.
“Then turning toward the woman [Jesus] said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””
– Luke 7:44-50 ESV
So long as I think my sins aren’t really that bad, it’s hard to forgive other people. But when I recognize how much God has forgiven me, then I’m able to love God and love others. And if I think that God is mean to allow such terrible things into my life, then I will be bitter toward Him and toward others as well. But if I think that God is the master weaver, creating a masterpiece of my life, then I will humbly accept whatever others do to me and keep praising Him through it all.
Heavenly Father, I know that You are good. I trust You. Help me to love others with the love that You have poured out lavishly on me. Help me to remember how MUCH I have been forgiven, how GREAT my sins are and have been. Help me to be so busy working on getting the log out of my own eye that I don’t dwell so much on the splinter in my brother’s. I love You, Lord. Help me to love You more!
Teach What is Good 
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