Daily Devotion for October 12, 2017
Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Gordon Mote, a wonderful baritone singer and pianist, was born blind.
I stood in the courtroom, the judge turned my way -
It looks like you're guilty now what do you say?
I spoke up, Your Honor, I have no defense;
But that's when mercy walked in.
Refrain:
Mercy walked in and pleaded my case,
Called to the stand God's saving grace.
The blood was presented that covered my sin,
Forgiven when mercy walked in.
I stood there and wondered how could this be,
That someone so guilty had just been set free.
My chains were broken I felt born again,
the moment that mercy walked in.
The blood was presented that covered my sin,
Forgiven when mercy walked in.
Music and Lyrics by Charles Bosarge and Philip Johnson
Prayer for Morning
Today is a blessed beautiful day and I praise God for allowing me another day to be on this earth. I ask Lord that you touch those whose hearts have turned cold and no longer care. I pray that they see your way is the greater way. Thank you Lord.
Prayer for Grace and Strength
Lord God, I pray that you will fill my heart with the blessing of your Holy Spirit. Grant me this day the strength to be temperate in all things, diligent in my duties, and patient under my afflictions. Direct me in all my ways. Give me grace to be just and upright in all my dealings; quiet and peaceable; full of compassion; and ready to do good to all people, according to my abilities and opportunities. For the sake of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Freedom from Depression and Fear
O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and I feel my weakness and helplessness, give me the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. Help me to have perfect trust in Your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry me, for, living close to You, I shall see Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things.
Meditation
[Perfect trust.]
Benediction
Into your hands, O Lord, Jesus Christ, my God, I commend my spirit. Bless me and all those who pray in faith of You this day; save us and grant unto us everlasting life.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.
~ Maya Angelou
1 Corinthians 4:8-14 (ESV)
The Scum of the World
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.
When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Notes on the Scripture
hen we read this passage, in which Paul seems to get a little carried away, it is important to remember what Paul is arguing for. It sounds like he is doing what he just warned the reader not to do — boasting about how abased he is, in God’s service.
I cannot resist an old Jewish joke about this: during a Sabbath service a rabbi is seized by a sudden wave of guilt, prostrates himself and cries out, “God, before you I am nothing!”
The cantor is so moved by this demonstration of piety that he throws himself to the floor beside the rabbi and cries, “God, before you I am nothing!” Watching this scene unfold from his seat in the first row, the synagogue’s janitor runs up, flops down in the aisle and cries, “God, before you I am nothing!”
The rabbi nudges the cantor and whispers, “So look who thinks he’s nothing!”
Anyway, if it sounds like Paul is boasting about his piety, he is. There’s no way to read this other than Paul is offering himself (and others like him) as an example, to contrast against the behavior of the Christians in Corinth. But he says he does not do it to shame them, but to admonish them, and we must believe in his sincerity.
At several points, lines of right and wrong behavior are difficult to draw from the New Testament. The line between boasting about one’s own actions and using one’s life as an example of piety is, at best, thought provoking.
Similarly, the line between refusing to judge others and admonishing a brother or sister who has fallen into clear sin, and the line between a duty of forgiving others and suggestions that sinners be excluded from the company of Christians, are difficult to follow in the New Testament. It is a challenge, sometimes, not to find them confusing or even contradictory. We will study these problems more in the next few chapters.
But who are we to criticize Paul, if he offers himself as an example of a person who is reviled and persecuted for Christ? He is not in Corinth, where he might simply lead by silent example. He feels he must convey, to the wayward church such a long way off, that there are people who practice what they preach. If we feel feel critical of him, while sitting in our comfortable residence with breakfast in our stomachs, let us look to the beam in our own eye.
