Devotions

“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:35-37).

The book of Genesis tells the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18 and 19). We see a stunning example of God’s great mercy as he warned Abraham’s nephew, Lot, of impending doom on the city and provided a path of escape for him and his family. Lot warned his sons-in-law but they thought he was joking, and his wife was filled with indecision and looked back during their escape. But Lot and his daughters ultimately were saved.

“And while he lingered, the [angels] took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city” (Genesis 19:16).

The Bible calls Lot a righteous man (see 2 Peter 2:8-9) and he stands as a type of remnant believer in these last days. As the sins of our society mount toward heaven — sensuality, immorality and ever-bolder evil — America is ripe for destruction. If God’s Church today is righteous, it is only because of the blood of Jesus Christ, and not because of any goodness or morality he has seen in us. His sheer mercy came to us and pulled us out of judgment.

Think about it. When you were saved, the Spirit of God took you by the hand and pulled you out of your sins just as he led Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He set you outside the reach of wickedness and rebellion and brought you out of judgment. All because of his great mercy!

Francis Chan, the well-known author of Crazy Love and many more books, felt called of God to leave his megachurch in a lovely, affluent, suburban Californian town. Stepping out of financial security and comfort, he gathered a small group of believers together in the heart of San Francisco and began doing street ministry. Because he is so distinguished and recognized in Christian circles, he could have put up a few billboards, passed out flyers, and started a church with a few thousand people with little effort. But he did not want people from other churches to leave their churches and come to his — he wanted to win souls to Christ.

Francis Chan left everything behind for the sake of the gospel in order to live the realities of the book of Acts. How many of us have room in our daily lives for true New Testament living? So many are going about normal, adequate, watered-down Christian lives. At least, they think it’s normal because it is all they see around them so it becomes acceptable. To be something other than what they are would be considered abnormal.

Leonard Ravenhill, a renowned British pastor who died a couple of decades ago, said, “Christianity today is so subnormal that if any Christian began to act like a normal New Testament Christian, he would be considered abnormal.” 

It is true, Christianity today is more self-seeking than it has been in prior generations — more consumeristic, more materialistic. “What can I get out of church? What can I get out of God?” People have accepted Christ but they have not allowed him to really change their way of living.

The call of God for his people today is loving but urgent. He wants us to say to him, “I am an empty vessel, Lord. Please fill me and help me to walk in New Testament life. Whatever it costs, whatever it takes, God, I want to win souls.”  

Paul told the Colossians, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14).

There is a reason we are called to live as Christ lived. Because the world will look at our lives, at the way we live, at the things we say and do, and reflect those images onto Jesus. They will see him as they see us. Nothing brings greater disgrace to the cause of Christ than people who claim to know him but live in anger and judgment and arrogance. People who live in sin and hypocrisy within the church.

And the reverse is also true. Nothing brings greater honor to Christ than people who exude a lifestyle of love and compassion and kindness. People who see others as Jesus sees them and treat other people the way that Jesus would treat them. People who live as Christ would live.

Every day you and I have to make that choice. It is already a given that our actions will reflect on Jesus, but what we reflect is a decision we have to make. A decision we make day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Will we choose to live in grace and kindness and mercy? Will we choose forgiveness over retaliation? Or will we live in bitterness and hypocrisy?

What we decide makes all the difference in how the world reacts to God’s message of hope and salvation. We can be sure the world is watching — so choose wisely!

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run.

When you kneel at the cross, you will not hear an easy, soft word — not at first. Even though the cross is the only door to life, you are going to hear about death — death to every sin.

At the cross, you face the crisis of your life and that is what is missing in so many churches today. The preaching of the cross brings about a crisis of sin, of self-will. It will speak to you with loving but firm words about the consequences of continuing in your sin: “Deny yourself. Embrace the death of the cross. Follow me!”

Repentance means more than saying, “Lord, I am wrong.” It also means saying, “Lord, you are right!” It is a place of recognition where you admit, “I cannot continue in my sin and have the Holy Ghost living in me. Lord, you are right about sin bringing death upon me and I realize that if I continue in it, it’s going to destroy my family and me.”

The glorious truth of the gospel is that if we die with Jesus, then we also come into the glory of his resurrection and into newness of life. His cross is our cross, his death is our death, and his resurrection is our resurrection, through our identification and union with him. That is the real cross we bear. Yet, this is the cross that many so-called ministers of the gospel have done away with. The real cross is not about lovely words describing our Savior’s suffering and bleeding on Calvary. No, the true meaning of the cross is that Jesus bled and died to bring our sin-sick souls into glorious liberty and freedom — to break every chain of sin that binds us.

Jesus comes to us and says, “Take my hand and follow me — into my death, my burial, my resurrection. Look at the cross and embrace it. Cling to my victory!” Thank God, you can have Jesus’ victory and power in your life!

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).

This is a great promise of victory over all sin. You cannot produce this victory yourself. You cannot cleanse your own hands or purify your own heart. James is saying, “If you want clean hands and a pure heart — if you want victory over guilt, temptation and every evil pursuer coming against you — you must draw near to God and believe that he is near you.

It all hinges on this! Simply draw near to God and believe that he is near you. If you do this, he will take care of all the enemies in your flesh.

You may ask, “Well, how do I draw near to God?” The answer is a simple, childlike thing. Simply go to the Lord and talk to him — anytime, anywhere, all day long. On the way to work, on the job, everywhere. Talk to him and draw near in full assurance of faith.

A great evangelist, the late Kathryn Kuhlman, used to work seventeen hours a day. I often wondered, “When does she ever have time to shut herself up in her secret closet and pray?” Then I realized that she always seemed to be muttering to herself. She was praying! She prayed as she drove her car, as she rode in elevators, everywhere she went.

One day she told me, “David, the Bible says to pray without ceasing. I talk to the Lord all day because he’s just as real to me as you are. We’re friends.”

Dear saint, God is always there for you, as well. I believe in secret-closet praying, but your secret closet can be anywhere you shut yourself in with him.

Talk to God — practice his nearness — and he will do great things for you. You will know the grip of his hand at all times. Hallelujah!