June 2001 Daily Devotionals

Friday 1 June

Matthew 16:2-4 "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."

Saturday 2 June

Matthew 16:6 "Be careful," "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Sunday 3 June

Matthew 16:8-11 "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Monday 4 June

Matthew 16:13,15,17 "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" "But what about you?" "Who do you say I am?" "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

Tuesday 5 June

Matthew 16:18-19 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Wednesday 6 June

Matthew 16:23 "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Thursday 7 June

Matthew 16:24 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Friday 8 June

Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Saturday 9 June

Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Sunday 10 June

Matthew 16:27-28 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Monday 11 June

Matthew 17:9 "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Tuesday 12 June

Matthew 17:11-12 "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

Wednesday 13 June

Matthew 17:17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me."

Thursday 14 July

"Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid" (Isaiah 12:2)

Fear is perhaps the oldest instinct, and the most universal. It has a legitimate role to play in the preservation of life, and as a motivating engine in times of emergency. Yet, for all that, fear itself can be terribly destructive. Rampant fear, cripples and destroys. Some who are well, are afraid they will get sick. Others, being sick, are afraid they will get well and so have to take up their responsibilities once more. There are those who are afraid of growing old; of losing their youthful beauty. Some are afraid of relationships, afraid of love. Others worry they will lose love. One man is anxious because he thinks he may lose his job. But someone else is anxious because he might have to go to work. A woman is in nervous disarray because she thinks her husband is going to lose all the family’s money. Another man is sick with fear because he thinks he is about to lose his good reputation.

Clearly, fear is a spoiler of human life. Perhaps the greatest boon that anyone could bring to the human race, would be to devise a way to banish fear. For this reason, the Bible, and the religious perspective that it presents, deserves serious consideration. Here are some practical proposals that come from Scripture.

1. Things we fear, usually don’t last long. ‘Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning’ (Psalm 30:5). In the midst of his many worries, Abraham Lincoln used to say, ‘ This too, shall pass.’

Once in Persia reigned a king

Who upon his signet ring

Graved a maxim true and wise,

Which, if held before the eyes,

Gave him wisdom at a glance,

Fit for every change and chance.

Solemn words, and these are they:

"Even this shall pass away.’"

2. It is well to remember also, that fear and worry are useless. Jesus spoke about this when he said: ‘Who by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?’ (Matthew 6:27). Many are desperately afraid of the future. Yet Jesus wisely advised us to limit our concerns to the responsibilities of the present. ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’ (Matthew 6:34).
3. Related to the previous thought, is the simple fact that men and women allow themselves to be terrorized by things that never happen. For this reason, the best cure for anxiety is trust in the providence of God. The gospel of Jesus reveals a God who is kind, good, merciful and loving. He answers our longing for surety, not so much by removing the cause of our fear, but by being with us in all the circumstances of our life. He spreads a table for us ‘in the presence of our enemies.’

When Paul was desperate for God to excise a problem from his life, the received reply was: ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ To believe that existence is not a chance affair; that we are God’s creatures, and that we are the objects of an infinite love, is to possess the key to dealing with fear. ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear’ (1 John 4:18).

In 1583, in a stormy sea, the Golden Hind, commanded by Sir Walter Raleigh, drew along side another ship, the Squirrel, captained by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The Squirrel was foundering, and Raleigh shouted out across the waves for Gilbert to leave his ship and come aboard. But Gilbert refused, calling back: ‘Heaven is as near by sea as by land.’ Soon after, the Squirrel sank, and Gilbert with it.

‘Heaven is as near by sea as by land.’ This is similar to Paul’s assertion, that ‘Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord’ (Romans 14:8). ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31).

May your fears retreat before God, in whom you trust.

Friday 15 July

"Return his cloak to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God"

(Deuteronomy 24:13)

In Israel, and in the patriarchal age, life was seen as a succession of relationships. Each relationship bore its own claims on conduct. For example, a coat, taken as security by a money lender, was to be given back by sundown, so that the poor man would not have to sleep in the cold. Adherence to this expectation was considered to be Righteousness.

Another extraordinary example of Righteousness occurs in Genesis when Er, the son of Judah dies, leaving Tamar widowed. Judah instructs her to go home to her father’s house and wait till another of his sons, Shelah, is old enough; then he can be her husband.

Time passes and Shelah is grown but Judah fails to keep his promise to give Shelah to Tamar. So, taking matters into her own hands, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and waits for Judah to come by. Judah fails to recognize her and she successfully seduces him – becoming pregnant. When the community realises that Tamar is pregnant, Judah threatens to put her to death, but she reveals that Judah is the father of her child. Judah then makes the astonishing confession: "She is more righteous than I, since I would not give her my son Shellac’ (Genesis 38:26).

Tamar was more righteous than her father-in-law, even though she prostituted herself, because she was more faithful to the claim of family relationships which called for her to raise up an heir for her dead husband.

When catastrophe come to Job and his family, his friends accused him of unrighteousness. "You stripped men of their clothes, leaving them naked. You gave no water to the weary. You withheld food from the hungry" (Job 22:5-8). But Job strenuously asserts his righteousness. "I have not rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune. I have always welcomed the traveller in my house. No stranger passing my dwelling has ever spent the night in the street" (Job 29 and 31).

Righteousness, in Old Testament times, consisted in the honouring of certain obligations that were expected in human relationships. Of interest among the many kinds of relationship, was the relation to the stranger. The appearance of a stranger at one’s gate brought into play a number of expected behaviours. The relationship was recognised when the stranger was taken in, fed and sheltered for the night.

Righteousness was predicated on relationships. Righteousness was sociological. This element of righteousness is always in danger of being lost. There is a tendency among all who would be godly, to reconstitute righteousness in a way that robs it of its sociological component. Jesus railed against the spiritual leaders of his nation because they had managed to be righteous without having to care about anyone but themselves. They had achieved a gutted righteousness that enabled them to be religious without being responsible.

The relational nature of righteousness is mostly plainly set forth in the gospel, when God "declares his righteousness." By means of this self-same declaration, God lays hold of us. For he is just (righteous) and the justifier (one who declares righteous) those who have faith in Jesus.

May God deliver us from a weak, private righteousness, which is without passion or brotherly love.

Tuesday 19 June

Matthew 17:20

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Wednesday 20 June

Matthew 17:22-23

"The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life."

Thursday 21 June

Matthew 17:25-27

"What do you think, Simon?" "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes — from their own sons or from others?" "Then the sons are exempt," "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

Friday 22 June

Matthew 18:3

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Saturday 23 June

Matthew 18:4-6

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Sunday 24 June

Matthew 18:7-9

"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Monday 25 June

Matthew 18:10

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Tuesday 26 June

Matthew 18:12-14

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Wednesday 27 June

Matthew 18:15-17

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Thursday 28 June

Matthew 18:18

"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Friday 29 June

Matthew 18:19-20

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Saturday 30 June

Matthew 18:23-35

"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."