My Favorite Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

FINDING MOMENTS of REFUGE in the PRESENCE of GOD by David Jeremiah


SEPTEMBER 2
EMPTYING THE NEST

GENESIS 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.


As our kids become older, we notice that we are losing control, little by little. That’s what parenting is all about: the gradual losing of control. That’s when we find out how well we’ve done.

Ultimately all of us must say good-bye to our kids. Yet sometimes I find myself thinking angry thoughts about the process of emptying the nest. It just doesn’t seem fair to invest twenty prime years—the best years of my life—in four kids, only to see them walk away one by one and leave me for their own lives.

Whose idea was this anyway?

Let me answer that question from Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The Bible makes it clear that this whole leaving thing was God’s idea. As sad as we sometimes feel, as much as we grieve, as often as dread sneaks into our lives when our kids move into their high school years, we need to remember this: The empty nest was God’s idea.

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR SEPTEMBER 3RD


Suppressing the Truth

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20


Here we see the cause of the wrath of God. The apostle explains that it is the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness that causes God's wrath. The tragic aspect of life is caused by the attitudes men have and the subsequent actions that follow. Notice the order of this — godlessness and then wickedness. It is the godless attitude that produces the wicked actions, and that is why the wrath of God is being revealed constantly from heaven against man. What is godlessness? Godlessness isn't necessarily atheism, the belief that God doesn't exist. Godlessness is acting as though he doesn't exist. It doesn't necessarily deny that there is a God, but it never takes any account of him; it doesn't expect him to be active.

As a result of godlessness, there is unrighteousness or wickedness, selfish and hurtful acts of men toward one another. Why do we act selfishly? Why do we hurt each other? Because we disregard God, and expect there will be no consequences. That is Paul's analysis. By means of these hurtful and selfish acts, the truth is suppressed.

Here we are in a world in which truth from God is breaking out all around us, but we are busy covering it up, hiding it, suppressing it, keeping it from being prominent and dominant in our thinking. The reason life has turned tragic in so many cases is because the world is deprived of the truth that is necessary for life and liberty and freedom and godliness, and it is hidden by men and suppressed by them. The nature of the truth that is suppressed is the existence of a God of eternal power and majesty.

How has God made truth plain? The Scripture says that God has revealed himself to man. Truth is not a vague, invisible, difficult thing to comprehend; it is clearly seen. God himself has insured that. How? The Scriptures say, It is seen in that which is made, i.e., creation. From the creation of the world it is visible; i.e., it has been always and everywhere present. There is no one who is left out — all can read this revelation of God if they want to do so. This argument from creation's design and order has never been rebutted. Those who disregard God cannot explain it because truth about God is breaking out everywhere around us.

Thus, says the Scripture, people are without excuse. No one who really wants to find God need miss him.

Father, help me not to suppress the truth, but to bow before you as both my Creator and Redeemer.

Life Application
Blatant suppression of Truth in the public square is undeniable. What about our lives? Are we suppressing God's Truth by neglecting to know and obey the revelation of Truth in His Word?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

Then you might want to take a look at this sermon because this is where the daily devotion above comes from.

The Tragic Sense of LifeSERIES: FROM GUILT TO GLORY -- EXPLAINED DECEMBER 14, 1975AUTHOR: RAY C. STEDMAN

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR SEPTEMBER 5TH

Sinful Morality

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Romans 2:1
Here Paul talks about those who pass judgment on others. The apostle makes two points about these people. First, he says that these people know the difference between right and wrong; otherwise they would not presume to be judging. Paul's second point about these people is that they are guilty because they are doing the same things themselves. The judges are as guilty as the ones they have in the dock.

Whenever moral people, those who pride themselves on a degree of righteousness and a standard of ethics, read a statement like this, they are taken by surprise. What do you mean? How could this be? I will use myself as an example, simply because I am such an excellent example of what the rest of us are like. I see three ways by which I try to elude the fact that I am guilty of the things that I accuse others of doing:

First, I am congenitally blind toward many of my own faults. I do not see that I am doing the same things that others are doing, and yet other people can see that I am. We all have these blind spots. One of the greatest lies of our age is the idea that we can know ourselves. We often argue, Don't you think I know myself? The answer is, No, you do not know yourself. You are blind to much of your own life. There can be areas that are very hurtful and sinful that you are not aware of.

I caught myself the other day saying to someone, Relax! Take it easy! It was only afterward that I heard my own voice and realized that I was not relaxed, and I was not taking it easy myself. Have you ever lectured your children on the sin of procrastination? Then did you barely get your income tax report in on time, or not get it in at all? How blind we are! We are congenitally blind toward many of our own faults. We are indeed guilty of doing the very things we accuse others of doing.

A second way we try to elude the fact that we are guilty of the very things we accuse others of doing is by conveniently forgetting what we have done that is wrong. We may have been aware of our sin at the time, but somehow we just assume that God is going to forget it. We do not have to acknowledge it in any way — he will just forget it. As the sin fades from our memory, we think it fades from his, as well. Consider our thought life. In the Sermon on the Mount we learn that if we hold a feeling of animosity and hatred against someone, then we are guilty of murder, just as though we had taken a knife and plunged it into that person's breast. We think these things will go unnoticed, but God sees them in our heart. He sees all the actions that we conveniently have forgotten. We, who condemn these things in others, find ourselves guilty of the same things. Isn't it remarkable that when others mistreat us we always think it is most serious and requires immediate correction. But when we mistreat others, we say to them. You're making so much out of a little thing!

The third way we try to elude the fact that we are guilty of the very things we accuse others of doing is by cleverly renaming things. Other people lie and cheat; we simply stretch the truth a little. Others betray; we simply are protecting our rights. Others steal; we borrow. Others have prejudices; we have convictions. Others murder and kill; we exploit and ruin. Others rape; we pollute. We cry, Those people ought to be stoned! Jesus says, He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone, (John 8:7). Yes, we are all guilty of the same things we accuse others of doing.

Father, thank you that you are the God of truth. You do not deceive, you do not delude; you tell the blunt, stark, naked truth, that I might know exactly what I am, and what I can do about it. Save me, Lord, from the folly of trying to protect and rationalize and justify these areas of evil in my life. Grant me the grace to confess and be forgiven.

Life Application
What three personal considerations do we need to take seriously before judging the sins of others? Are we open and honest to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the instruction of the Word regarding our personal sins of heart and mind?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR SEPTEMBER 7TH

Total Wipeout
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3:19-20
When you read this terrible description of the human race as God sees it, it is almost impossible for us to believe that God is not going to say, Enough! Wipe them out! If all he sees is wretchedness, misery, evil, deceit, hypocrisy, vulgarity, profanity, slander, and all these evil things that are in every heart — every one without exception — our natural instinct is to say, Then God doesn't want us. But the amazing thing is that across this kind of verse he writes, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, (John 3:16a KJV). God did not send the Law to destroy us (and this is very important); he sent the Law to keep us from false hope.

The worst thing that can happen is to be going down a road to an important destination and think you are on the right track and spend all the time necessary to get there only to discover that the road peters out into nothingness. You find you have been on the wrong track and it is too late to go back. That was what was happening. So God, in his loving kindness, has given us the Law to keep us from taking a false path. Though the Law condemns us, it is that very condemnation that makes us willing to listen, so that we find the right path.

Paul says the Law does three things to us: First, it stops our mouth: We have nothing to say. You can always tell someone is close to becoming a Christian when they shut up and stop arguing back. Self-righteous people are always saying, But — but this — but I — yes, but I do this — and I do that. They are always arguing. But when they see the true meaning of the Law, their mouth is shut.

Second, Paul says, The whole world is held accountable to God. That makes us realize there is no easy way, no way by which death suddenly is going to dissolve all things into everlasting darkness, forever forgotten. The whole world has to stand before God. Hebrews puts it so starkly, It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27 KJV).

Finally, the Law reveals very clearly what sin is. What does the Law want of us? Jesus said that all the Law is summed up in one word: Love. All the Law asks us to do is to act in love. All these things the Law states are simply loving ways of acting. When we face ourselves before the Law, we have to confess that many, many times we fail in love. That is what the Law wants us to see, because, then, when all else fails, we are ready to listen to what follows.

Father, thank you for loving me enough to shut up all other ways — to block them out and tell me they are wrong and they do not lead anywhere — so that I give up trying to make myself good enough to belong to you. Help me to take the only way that has ever been provided, a righteousness that is given to me, which I never earned, but which is mine because I believe the Lord Jesus.

Life Application
What are three essential purposes of the Law? Since the 'greatest of these is love', what is the prime example of love? Can we generate that quality of love? What is the sole source available to us?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR SEPTEMBER 9TH

No Boasting
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Romans 3:27-30
Paul raises and answers three simple questions to show us the natural results of this tremendous acceptance that God gives us in Jesus Christ. First, Who can boast? No one, absolutely no one. How can you boast when everyone receives the gift of grace without any merit on his part? This means that any ground for self-righteousness is done away with, and this is why the ugliest sin among Christians is self-righteousness. When we begin to look down on people who are involved in homosexuality, or greed, or gambling, or whatever — when we begin to think that we are better than they are — then we have denied what God has done for us. All boasting must be excluded. There are no grounds for anybody to say, Well, at least I've never done that. The only ground of acceptance is the gift of grace.

Next is Paul's second question: Is anyone excluded from grace, Jew or Gentile? The answer is NO!, God has no most-favored-nation; they are all alike before him. Paul argues, Is God the God of Jews only? Then there must be two Gods — one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. But that cannot be; there is only one God; God is one. Therefore he is equally the God of the Gentiles and the God of the Jews, because both must come on exactly the same ground. This is the wonderful thing about the gospel. All mankind is leveled; no one can stand on any other basis than the work of Jesus Christ.

Paul's third question is, Does this cancel out the Law or set it aside? Do we no longer need the Law? His answer is, No, it fulfills the Law. The righteousness which the Law demands is the very righteousness that is given to us in Christ. So if we have it as a gift, we no longer need to fear the Law, because the demands of the Law are met. But it is not something for which we can take any credit; indeed, whenever we act in unrighteousness after this, the Law comes in again to do its work of showing us what is wrong. That is all the Law is good for. It shows us what is wrong. But now instead of condemning us, all the hurt and injury accomplished by our sin is relieved again by the grace of God, the forgiveness of God.

Receiving God's forgiveness is not something we do only once; it is something we do repeatedly. It is the basis on which we live, constantly taking fresh forgiveness from the hand of God. John's letter puts it this way: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 KJV) That is God's gift, and we need all the time to take it afresh from the hand of God. When we find ourselves slipping into self-righteousness, when we find ourselves looking down our noses, when we find ourselves filled with pride and acting in arrogance, being critical and calloused and caustic and sarcastic toward one another, or feeling bitter and resentful — and all these things are yet possible to us — our relationship to a holy God is not affected, if we acknowledge that we sinned. We can come back, and God's love is still there. He still accepts us and highly values us.

That is what God's gift of righteousness means to us. It is wonderful good news indeed, that we never need fear. The God of ultimate holiness, the God who lives in holy light, whom we cannot begin to approach, has accepted us in the Beloved, and we stand on the same ground of worth that he himself has.

Heavenly Father, these words are so remarkable, I can hardly believe them. I pray that I may live on this basis, and thus find the ground of forgiving others, and being tenderhearted and loving toward others, knowing that I already have that gift myself, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Life Application
Do we view self-righteousness as an egregious denial of God's undeserved assignment of His righteousness to us? How then should we think and act toward others? What is the basic and prevailing purpose for the Law?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.