Author: Kerry

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Luke 10:29

Your Neighbor

Daily Devotion – July 14, 2022

Devotion based on Luke 10:29

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The man who asked this question wanted to inherit eternal life by obeying God’s law. Jesus had just told him that he needed to love his God and his neighbor perfectly. The man knew he would not be able to do that no matter how hard he tried.

But because he wanted to claim he had obeyed all of God’s laws, he asked the question, “And who is my neighbor?” This was an attempt to lower God’s standard and make the law doable. In his mind earning his way into heaven depended on who his neighbor was. He wanted to divide people into neighbors and non-neighbors—those who deserved his love and those who did not.

All of us are born into this world thinking the same thing—that the way to inherit eternal life is through obedience. Yet the only way we could ever do that is by lowering God’s standard for perfection into something more attainable.

However, living like that does not help you earn heaven; it just helps you justify ignoring people God wants you to help. And while it’s logical to think that limiting how many neighbors you have will allow you to keep God’s command, it is not biblical.

According to the Bible, your neighbors are more than just the people who live next to you; they are everyone God puts across your path. There are no restrictions on who your neighbor is.

Christ came to destroy the sinful mindset that focuses on some neighbors to the exclusion of others. He perfectly loved his neighbor when he laid down his life for everyone who has ever lived, is living, or will live. Your eternal life is guaranteed by Jesus.

As a result, there is no need to lower God’s standard. Your neighbor is not an opportunity to earn heaven but an opportunity to love the people Christ already died for. When you focus on that, it transforms you into a neighbor to everyone else.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for earning eternal life for me. Help me to love you by loving my neighbor. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:25-28

Doing Versus Believing

Daily Devotion – July 13, 2022

Devotion based on Luke 10:25-28

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How Jesus responded to this question is interesting. When tested by an expert in God’s Old Testament law, Jesus was not offended. The man’s question was important because it was about eternal life with God.

But his question showed that he thought eternal life was something to be earned: “What needs to be done, Jesus? Give me the divine to-do list!” Jesus answered with a test of his own, “What did God say in his law?”

The expert replied: “Love God above everything and love your neighbor as yourself.” That was a correct answer that sounds very simple. The problem is that it is an impossible way to live.

It probably would not take much time to remember things you have loved more than God. Likewise, you probably don’t need to try very hard to remember times you have loved yourself more than the people around you.

So, if you want to inherit eternal life by your own effort, you are placing yourself under a standard you can never meet. That expert in the law could not do it, and neither can you. No one can. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Jesus was trying to get the man to understand that inheriting eternal life has nothing to do with following God’s laws but everything to do with believing in God’s Son.

Because Jesus was always focused on his mission as our Savior. He not only taught God’s law, he also obeyed it perfectly because we cannot. Every law is complete in Christ, and “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Prayer:
Lord God, forgive me for my lack of love and give me faith in your Son, my Savior. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

Free to Serve

Daily Devotion – July 12, 2022

Devotion based on Galatians 5:1

See series: Devotions

Freedom is easily misunderstood. Many people think that freedom is the ability to do whatever you want, but that is not true freedom. In fact, according to the Bible, true freedom is about freedom from the power and control of sin.

This is why Jesus once said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). While we have the ability to choose one sin over the other, without Jesus we are not free. We are only able to sin. Whether it’s one sin or another doesn’t much matter. We are still slaves to sin.

And slaves cannot free themselves. They need someone else to free them. For us, that “someone” is Jesus. He willingly paid for our freedom with his life.

And because Jesus has freed you from slavery to sin, you are no longer bound to choose between one sin or the other. You are free to do what is pleasing in his sight. You are free to serve him and the people he brings into your life. And that…is true freedom.

Prayer:
Lord, free me from my sinful attitudes so that I may love and serve my neighbor. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Ruth 1:16,17

Your God

Daily Devotion – July 11, 2022

Devotion based on Ruth 1:16,17

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Years before the woman named Ruth made the promise we read in our Bible passage today, her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her husband had left Israel and moved to a foreign country called Moab. While they were there, their two sons married two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. First, Naomi’s husband died, then both her sons.

Now a childless widow, Naomi wanted to return to her home in Israel. She convinced Orpah to go back to her parents, but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi. Why would Ruth leave her home to travel with her mother-in-law to where she had no acquaintances, no family, and no prospects?

Listen to her promise: “Your God will be my God.” When she joined Naomi’s family by marriage, Ruth came to believe in the one true God. Their common faith in the coming Savior motivated Ruth to make this promise, even though it must have hurt to leave her home. Ruth knew that nothing in this world–even the familiar surroundings of her home and family–was worth losing her faith in the one, true God.

The same God Ruth worshiped is our God. He is the one true God. He is the God who came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to rescue us from our sins and the eternal death they deserve. When you are tempted to turn from him to other things that are less important, remember what he was willing to do for you. Then you, like Ruth, will be thankful that he is your God.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, I thank you that you are my God. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
Ruth 1:16

Following God

Daily Devotion – July 10, 2022

Devotion based on Ruth 1:16

See series: Devotions

Following God is not always easy. He never said it would be. Jesus himself insisted that in order to follow him we must daily pick up our cross—whatever that cross might be. It has always been this way. Following God is not easy.

A woman named Ruth discovered this reality. She was not one of God’s people by birth. She was a foreigner from the land of Moab. But she had married an Israelite man and had learned about the Lord from her husband and his family. Then, tragedy struck. Her husband died along with her husband’s brother and father. When Ruth’s mother-in-law decided to go back to Israel, Ruth went with her. It was not easy. She left everyone and everything she knew. But she was determined. You see, Ruth had come to trust in the God of Israel. She could not stay in Moab and worship the false gods found there. It was not easy to leave, but if that was what it took to follow the true God, then that was what Ruth would do.

Thank God that he has forgiven us for the many times we have failed to follow him, times we have gone our own way. Thank him today by following him no matter how difficult the road might be.

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, for perfectly following your Father’s will in my place. Help me bear whatever crosses come my way that I may follow you this day. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out.”
Luke 10:2,3

The Harvest

Daily Devotion – July 9, 2022

Devotion based on Luke 10:2,3

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When I was in grade school and high school, I worked for a couple different dairy farmers as a farmhand. I enjoyed being around the milking cows and their calves. I also enjoyed working out in the fields. In October, we would harvest the corn crop. The farmer would drive the harvester combine in the cornfield. My job was to drive a tractor from the field back to the farm pulling a wagon filled with corn to be unloaded into a corn crib. Eventually the cows would eat the harvested corn. I enjoyed doing my part in the corn harvest.

In today’s Bible reading, Jesus told his disciples that it was time for the harvest. Jesus wasn’t talking about harvesting corn. He meant harvesting the souls of the many people in his day that weren’t trusting in him as this world’s only Savior from sin, death, and hell. Jesus instructed his disciples to take this important matter to the Lord in prayer, asking God to provide the needed spiritual harvesters. Then Jesus said, “Go! I am sending you.” The disciples themselves were the answer to their prayers. They were to go and proclaim the good news of a living Savior to a dying world.

Look around in your family, neighborhood, place of work, or school. Do you see how plentiful the harvest is? All around are the souls of real people who are living and dying in unbelief and sin, tragically becoming part of Satan’s hell harvest even though their sins were paid for by the blood of Jesus. Pray to the Lord to provide the needed spiritual harvesters. And then recognize that Jesus is saying to you, “Go! I am sending you.” You are the answer to your prayer. Jesus harvested you so that you could now be his spiritual combine and harvest others for heaven.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for harvesting my soul by bringing me to faith in you as my personal Savior from my sins. Send out workers, myself included, into your ripe harvest fields. Bless our harvesting efforts to your glory. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

“But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”
Ezekiel 3:8,9

I Think I Can

Daily Devotion – July 8, 2022

Devotion based on Ezekiel 3:8,9

See series: Devotions

“I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!” For nearly one hundred years, parents have encouraged their children to never give up, using the classic children’s book, The Little Engine That Could. With a little optimism and hard work, no mountain is too high to climb.

Yet, what we learn as children doesn’t always translate into adulthood. Why? Perhaps we’ve learned that we have limitations. Optimism doesn’t always equate to realism. Hard work doesn’t always outperform others who work harder. The truth is “putting your mind to it” doesn’t always cut it.

But thankfully, when it comes to proclaiming God’s truths, we aren’t dependent on our own strength or stamina. The very Word we have the privilege to proclaim is the same Word that fuels us with a resiliency and determination. God promises to make us “unyielding” and our “foreheads like the hardest stone.” That doesn’t mean we won’t tire while doing the work of the Lord. But it does mean with God’s help: we will endure. With God’s strength, we can run our race with perseverance and not be afraid or terrified of any enemy because God’s Word endures forever. With God’s strength, know that your toil will never be in vain.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, use your Word to provide me with stamina to be your faithful witness. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel.”
Ezekiel 3:4,5

Your Mission

Daily Devotion – July 7, 2022

Devotion based on Ezekiel 3:4,5

See series: Devotions

It’s been said that the worst thing in golf would be to hit a hole-in-one but not having witnesses. Or getting engaged and no one answers the phone to listen to your good news. When we have good news, we want to share it. Sometimes, we cannot help but share it. What if you didn’t have anybody with whom to share the good news about Jesus?

Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t isolate his messengers on an island. God sent the prophet Ezekiel, for example, to the people of Israel. What about you? Have you identified your audience? They are there. It may be intimidating to reach out to your audience but thank God you have audience.

Not only do you have an audience, but God has also uniquely equipped you to reach out to them. Sometimes we think mission work is only done among people that are different than us—a different culture, a different race, or those who speak a different language. But look around. Not every mission field has to be to people with an obscure or strange language. Your mission field may be the people you eat lunch with at work. They may be in your neighborhood or home. What an opportunity!

But what should I say to the audience that God has planted in my midst? The Lord says, “Speak my words to them.” You don’t need to make things up. You don’t need to apologize or argue. Simply speak the Word of God. God’s richest blessings as you reach out to your personal audience with the sweet message of God’s Word.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see the audience that you have planted around me. Give me the courage to speak your Word to them and bless the message. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
Ezekiel 3:3

A Messenger

Daily Devotion – July 6, 2022

Devotion based on Ezekiel 3:3

See series: Devotions

Do you remember the kid in kindergarten who put everything into his mouth, including paper? Were you that kid? It seemed a rather silly thing to do, even for a five-year-old. Imagine how silly it would seem for a grown adult to eat a piece of paper!

And yet, that’s exactly what God asked the prophet, Ezekiel, to do in a vision. “Eat this scroll . . . fill your stomach with it.” How strange. What was God’s point? His point was that, to be his messenger, the Lord first wants his messengers to be fed. Feed before lead.

There are at least two reasons for God’s command. One, it’s out of concern for his listeners. One of the buzzwords in church-life today is “authentic.” People aren’t looking for a “do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do” messenger. If it’s not “real” for you, they will likely have little to no interest in finding out if the message of the gospel can be of interest to them.

But it’s not just for the sake of the potential audience. It’s also for the benefit of the messenger. When digesting God’s Word with ourselves as the audience in mind, we soon realize the good news about Jesus isn’t just meant for others. It’s meant for you and me.

Whether it’s God’s righteous law or healing gospel, God’s Word will be sweet to the messenger because we know it’s his Word, which will always accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. Savor the sweetness of God’s Word.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, I often read the Bible as an academic exercise or another thing on my to-do list. Help me to savor the sweetness of every word. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.
Ezekiel 2:9,10

Speechless

Daily Devotion – July 5, 2022

Devotion based on Ezekiel 2:9,10

See series: Devotions

Your friend just lost her child in a tragic car accident. You’re meeting for coffee and on the way, you think, ‘I don’t know what to say.’

Many situations may leave us speechless. It’s one thing to be speechless when trying to comfort a friend. It’s a whole other thing to feel speechless when talking to someone about spiritual matters. It can be intimidating. We may feel pressure knowing that we have the opportunity to speak words that can have an eternal effect. We may feel ill-equipped. ‘What if I say the wrong thing? What if I don’t know an answer to one of their questions?’

Before you buckle under the pressure, take comfort in a truth that God shared with one of his spokespeople, Ezekiel. When Ezekiel was commissioned to talk about spiritual matters, he could have easily said, “I don’t know what to say.” What made it worse, was that Ezekiel was being sent to people that were rebellious, obstinate, and stubborn. Yet, he could take comfort knowing that the words he would share were not his words, but God’s. “I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me.”

Knowing that the Word was coming from God’s hand to his mouth, Ezekiel could go forward in confidence. And so can you. As you encounter opportunities to speak God’s Word, know that it’s precisely that—God’s Word, not yours. His Word cuts to the heart and binds up the broken-hearted. His Word is effective. His Word is filled with power.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, take my lips and let them be, filled with messages from Thee. Amen.

Daily Devotions are brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.