Category: Devotionals

Who Do You Trust and Fear?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

As Christianity is marginalized more and more, there will be stands we have to make. Whether we stand for the Lord or man will determine who we trust and fear.

A Contemporary Issue

The sanctity of marriage is a hot button issue in our country right now. Those not on the bandwagon of gay marriage are quickly labeled as bigots and haters; their participation in the public arena is limited; and they are pressured by their friends, family, employers, and the media to embrace and celebrate the sexual revolution.

As the pressure mounts, those desiring to please others and continue to have public influence will eventually evolve on the issue. Those who evolve on the issue show who they fear, man not God. They fear what man thinks of them, what man can take from them, and what man can do to them.

However, those who can’t or won’t acquiesce their beliefs show who they fear, that is the Lord. Those who rightly fear God will find themselves being marginalized. While the marginalization of Christians may limit the jobs we can hold, the businesses we can run, and the public influence we have, we need not fear because the Lord will care for us.

The Truth

Knowing the marginalization of Christianity is coming, and is indeed already here, we need to decide right now who we are going to fear and who we are going to trust.

If we cave to societal pressures, by fearing and placing our trust in man, we may find ourselves exalted and praised. We may experience all the benefits this world can offer. However, at some point you can bet things will not work out like we thought. Man always lets us down. They never stick to their word.

However, if we continue to fear and trust the Lord, we can be confident we will never be let down, and we will experience eternal life because the Lord always sticks to His Word. He doesn’t sway and shift with the cultural breeze. He doesn’t bend his knee to Caesar. He is unmovable, unshakeable, unbendable. He is who He is today and tomorrow. The Lord doesn’t change, which means the Lord can be trusted.

Who will you trust and fear? God or man?

Questions for Reflection

  1. Have you felt pressure lately to go along with society instead of God? If so, how did you deal with it?
  2. Do you believe Christians are being marginalized in our country?

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Life is About God

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, QuotesLeave a comment

At its very roots, life is about God. Whether you shake your fist at him, consider him so distant that his existence is irrelevant, or tremble before him because you feel that you are under his judgment, the reality is this:

the basic questions of life and the fundamental issues of the human heart are about God.

Life is about knowing him or avoiding him. It is about spiritual allegiances. Whom will you trust in the midst of pain? Whom will you worship?

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you realize all of life is about God?
  2. How are you responding to God?

Resources

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Edward T. Welch, Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, 46.

The Hope of the After-Life

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

Clouds

Our Life on this earth comes to an end at some point. We know that from experience, and Paul tells us that in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5.

An Offering of Hope and Comfort

While that is true — that our life does come to an end on this earth at some point — Paul also tells us something else in those two chapters. Something that should give us hope and comfort, especially when we are mourning and grieving the loss of a loved one.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that:

“An eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison [is being prepared for us]” (2 Cor. 4:17c)

Then down in verse 1 of chapter 5 Paul tells us that,

“We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens [waiting for us]” (1 Cor. 5:1)

What Wonderful Promises

How great is it to know that this world isn’t the end for us. There is life after death, eternal life, life for the Christian that is beyond comparison. Life that the best day you have ever had doesn’t even compare.

Right now I want you to picture the best day you have ever had in your life. When you have that picture in your mind, know that day was just a slice, a sliver, a blip on the radar compared to the life the Christian will experience for all eternity.

Question for Reflection

  1. As a Christian, how do the promises found in God’s Word concerning life after death encourage you to live now?

A Continual Reformation

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, QuotesLeave a comment

Fundamentally, Reformed theology is theology founded on and fashioned by God’s Word.

For it is God’s Word that forms our theology, and it is we who are reformed by that theology as we constantly return to God’s Word every day and in every generation.

At its core, this is what the sixteenth-century Reformation was all about, and it’s what being Reformed is all about – confessing and practicing what God’s Word teaches.

The Reformation isn’t over, nor will it ever be over, because reformation – God’s word and God’s Spirit reforming His church – will never end.

God’s Word is always powerful and God’s Spirit is always working to renew our minds, transform our hearts, and change our lives. Therefore, the people of God, the church, will be always “being reformed” according to the unchanging Word of God, not according to our ever-changing culture.

Question for Reflection

  1. Is God’s Word or the culture changing you?

Resources

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TableTalk Magazine, January 2015, The True Reformers, Burk Parsons

Who are We in Christ? – Part 3

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Evangelism4 Comments

Jesus on the Cross

Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians while in Ephesus after he heard of some issues plaguing the church. The issues Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians are the same issues we deal with today, which is why this is such a good book for the modern day church to study.

However, before Paul dives into the issues, he reminds the Corinthians, and subsequently us, of who we are in Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul writes:

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” (1 Cor. 1:2)

Based on 1 Corinthians 1:2, the second thing we learn is that:

(3) Those who are in Christ are Saints

In the middle of verse 2, Paul says that we are:

“called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Cor. 1:2c)

Paul doesn’t beat around the bush. He flat out says that we are all called to be Saints.

What does it mean to be saint?

The Catholic Church doesn’t have the market cornered on saints. A Saint is someone who is set apart to live for God. Since all Christians are set apart to live for God, all Christians are saints.

Saints because sin no longer holds us back

We are all saints — we all can live for God — because sin no longer holds us back.

When I was in college, I had a passion for rock climbing. We had a nice climbing wall in our Rec Center at the University of Georgia, and we lived within a few hours drive of the best climbing in the Southeast. Needless to say I climbed all the time.

I remember one day I was climbing on a route in Tennessee at Foster Falls. A route that was a too advanced for me, but one I attempted anyways. While working the route, I hurt my shoulder. Not real bad, but I hurt it. Instead of resting my shoulder for a week or so, I decided to climb the next day. When I did, the small shoulder injury I had turned into a major shoulder injury. One that kept me from climbing for a long time.

Just as my shoulder injury once held me back from climbing, our sin once held us back from living for God. No matter how hard we tried, before we turned our lives over to Jesus, we couldn’t live a life that pleased God. It was impossible because our sin held us back.

Set free to live for God

When we became Christians, however, Jesus sets us free from sin, so that now we are able to live for God. That is exactly what God expects from us. He expects us to live for Him, to desire to and strive to become more and more like Christ each and everyday. Which is possible because we are saints who have been freed from the grip of sin.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you think of yourself as a saint?
  2. Do you believe you can live a holy life?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Who Are We In Christ?

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The Reformer’s Cry

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, QuotesLeave a comment

Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda, secundum verbum Dei – The church reformed and always being reformed according to God’s Word.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you realize God’s Word and Spirit are always reforming His church by renewing, transforming, and changing us?

Resources

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