#dailydevotionals | At Water’s Edge

A Well-Taught Tongue

Posted on April 4, 2022 by Betsy

Compassion has gone out of style. Maybe not with you, or your small group, but as a society, we are less compassionate toward the marginalized and more focused on a “Me First” mentality. This attitude prevails from the schoolyard to the seats of government. Bullying is common at all levels of society and often goes unchecked. People say and post things aimed to mock others. Nations turn their backs on struggling nations so that their own resources aren’t compromised.

Thank God for Poland, who has graciously received over two million Ukrainian refugees. England agreed to take 10,000. America will receive 100,000. Frankly, we all can do better. Who will stand up for the tired people?

Isaiah reminds us that God has given us a “well-taught” tongue and we are called to use it as we offer COMPASSION to people who are struggling.

Isaiah 50 (The Message)

The Master, God, has given me
    a well-taught tongue,
So I know how to encourage tired people.
    He wakes me up in the morning,
Wakes me up, opens my ears
    to listen as one ready to take orders.
The Master, God, opened my ears,
    and I didn’t go back to sleep,
    didn’t pull the covers back over my head.

All of us have opportunities every day to alleviate someone’s suffering. A kind word, a smile, a card, or casserole delivered to someone who is sick or isolated can go a long way toward easing someone’s burden for even a brief moment. God is trying to open our ears to the people around us whom we can encourage and lift up.

Isaiah found himself being ridiculed and mocked for his prophetic warnings to the people of Israel. Sometimes doing God’s work entails taking on someone’s anger and rejection. In those cases, Isaiah reminds us to set our faces like flint:

I followed orders,
    stood there and took it while they beat me,
    held steady while they pulled out my beard,
Didn’t dodge their insults,
    faced them as they spit in my face.
And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me,
    so I’m not disgraced.
Therefore I set my face like flint,
    confident that I’ll never regret this.

Have you ever been ridiculed or rejected for doing something good for someone? Never mind. God is our only audience when we walk in his instruction and offer compassion to others.

My champion is right here.
    Let’s take our stand together!
Who dares bring suit against me?
    Let him try!
Look! the Master, God, is right here.
    Who would dare call me guilty?
Look! My accusers are a clothes bin of threadbare
    socks and shirts, fodder for moths!

Look, the Master is RIGHT HERE. Are you being called to serve God by serving others? Don’t listen to the nay-sayers. They soon will flit away to discourage someone else. We are called to serve the Master, God. And when we do, WE receive the blessing.

Street Cred

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Betsy

What are your goals? Do you ever sit and ponder that question? This is a question I ask married couples who come to me for counseling. I try to ascertain the depth of their commitment to each other and to the counseling process. The question often reveals things that forecast the potential outcome of the process.

Many times we get complacent in some of the aspects of our life and stop working toward certain goals. If retirement is your goal, what will you do when you get there? If a promotion is your goal, what will be your next aspiration when you’ve gotten it? We encourage our kids to have goals in sports and schools, but I wonder how many of us encourage them set goals for their married lives and their spiritual lives?

Do you have spiritual goals?

Paul did.

In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul wrote to his friends about his process of becoming a Christ-follower. He began with a long litany of how he got to where he was at that moment. This is an interesting look at Paul’s “street cred,” or street credentials if you will. It almost seems a tad braggadocios, but truly Paul has earned that right!

Philippians 3 (Common English Bible)

⁴though I have good reason to have this kind of confidence. If anyone else has reason to put their confidence in physical advantages, I have even more:

⁵I was circumcised on the eighth day.

I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin.

I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

With respect to observing the Law, I’m a Pharisee.

⁶With respect to devotion to the faith, I harassed the church.

With respect to righteousness under the Law, I’m blameless.

Now Paul shifts his list to a more theological exploration of what the past became in light of his present reality. All of the things he lost in order to follow Christ are now considered “sewer trash,” and all the things he gained have led him to pursuing the goal of the resurrection:

⁷These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ ⁹and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith. ¹⁰The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death ¹¹so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead.

Here is the kicker. Paul had completely given his life to Christ, but he still had goals. He still pursued Christ. He still pursued the prize of God’s upward call. He was reaching, learning, growing, and striving to put the past behind him and reach for the things ahead of him:

¹²It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. ¹³Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. ¹⁴The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus.

Are you letting things in your past hold you back? Is God telling you to let go?

Do you continue to have spiritual goals, or has a complacent attitude taken over?

It is never too late to reach for Christ. It is never too late to change. It is never too late to walk away from the old things and vigorously pursue a new life.

So sign up for that Bible study! Get sober! Go on the mission trip! Grow your bangs out! Volunteer to help with the youth! You are never too young or too old, and as long as you’re still breathing, it’s never too late.

Way-Maker

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Betsy

I begin this devotional by confessing that I struggle with claustrophobia. It has gotten noticeably worse as I have aged. Mine manifests itself in a fear of being trapped, rather than a fear of small spaces. This became very evident on a trip to Paris several years ago when I descended to the basement level of a charming restaurant in search of a ladies’ room. The restroom ended up being dark and tiny, as those places tend to be, but that was fine … right up until the point when I tried to leave and discovered that the door handle wouldn’t move. It was amazing how the room grew smaller and smaller, like the time that Luke, Leia, and Hans got trapped in the trash compactor in Star Wars. I swear I saw the dark tiled walls closing in around me.

I had walked down three passages to find this place, so I knew its remote location was not in my favor. As the reality of my entrapment became more and more evident, panic took over and I found myself banging on the door and yelling in broken French (maybe it was Spanish?) for someone to come save me. Eventually a waiter came by and began to yell instructions (in French, of course … not helpful) to stop yanking on the door handle so that he could fix it. He used a screw driver to get the door open, making me think that this had happened before. I emerged exhausted, sweaty, and very grateful to see the annoyed, eye-rolling waiter.

Have you ever found yourself in a horrible situation where you could not find a way out? A relationship, a job, a marriage, a terminal illness, an addiction, a family situation … we can get stuck in situations where we don’t think there is any way to escape. Like people on a crowded elevator stuck between floors, we feel paralyzed by circumstances beyond our control and lose sight of which way is up or down. Hopelessness and panic easily set in when you can’t find your way out of a bad scenario. I have been there and I imagine you have, too.

Several of my friends are stuck between floors right now. One is newly divorced and one is newly widowed. One is dealing with a son’s addition. They all feel trapped in their sadness and are having a hard time imagining that life will feel better.

It will.

God is the great way-maker, and he desires to “un-stick” us when we feel hopeless.

Isaiah 53 (Common English Bible)

The Lord says—who makes a way in the sea
    and a path in the mighty waters,
¹⁷    who brings out chariot and horse,
    army and battalion;
    they will lie down together and will not rise;
    they will be extinguished, extinguished like a wick.

Isaiah recounts the time when God brought Israel out of slavery and hardship in Egypt through the Red Sea to the Promised Land. Pharaoh’s army was in strong pursuit, but God caused its chariots, horses, and battalions to get stuck in the mud. God extinguished Israel’s pursuers as easily as one extinguishes a candle wick. He will do that for you as well.

¹⁸Don’t remember the prior things;
    don’t ponder ancient history.
¹⁹Look! I’m doing a new thing;
    now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it?
I’m making a way in the desert,
    paths in the wilderness.

This is the best and the hardest part of the teaching today. God’s instruction is to not remember the prior things, and to stop dwelling on ancient history so that you can focus on the new thing he is doing. When we are stuck, the “prior things” are all we can see. When those things bring up feelings of fear, anguish, and despair, God desires for us to wait and watch him make a way in the desert of our hopelessness.

²⁰The beasts of the field,
        the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,
    because I have put water in the desert
    and streams in the wilderness
    to give water to my people,
    my chosen ones,
²¹    this people whom I formed for myself,
        who will recount my praise.

God is our great way-maker. No matter what the circumstance, he works to free us from our situation so that we can find the streams of hope in the desert of life. He will work to open up the snare that is caught around your ankle so that you can walk in freedom toward a new and different future.

Are you stuck right now? Ask God to come and unlock your chains. Our great Way-Maker is able and ready.

New Creations

Posted on March 25, 2022 by Betsy

How many times in your life have you “made yourself over”? I have lost count. I have been a blond. I’ve been a brunette. I’ve been 20 pounds heavier and 20 pounds lighter. I’ve been a yankee and a southern girl. I’ve been a student and a teacher. The list goes on. I think it is only human to try to make ourselves over in some image that has captured our attention. The popularity of make-over shows on television supports this theory. Don’t we just love the big reveal, when the work of experts has brought out a new and better version of the person, house, or restaurant?

God is in the make-over business. In fact, he has been trying to make-over humanity for thousands of years. The trouble is that God’s standard for beauty is so much different than ours. We look at superficial things like weight and appearance, while God only concerns himself with the heart.

2 Corinthians 5 (Common English Bible)

¹⁶So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. ¹⁷So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!

You are a new creation in Christ! That statement brings all the hope and promise of a changed life, a changed attitude, and a changed heart. God desires us to be clean and whole through the application of the shed blood of the atonement. You can apply all the eyeliner and lipstick you want, but you will never achieve the change that giving your life to Jesus brings.

¹⁸All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

Our transformation comes through our reconciliation to God through the cross. We are made one with the One who dismisses our sins and makes us become something new. There is no better “look” than that!

²⁰So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” ²¹God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.

When you undergo a physical change, people notice and comment. What would it take for them to notice a spiritual change in you as well? Christ offers to change your inward appearance so that your outward appearance … notably your actions and deeds … match up with the new you. So don’t just go and tell. Go, and show.

The Sluice Box

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Betsy

A few years ago, we took our grandchildren to a place called Dinosaur World. The day was highlighted by a stop at a gem-finding place. It was one of those venues where you purchase a bag of dirt and pour it into a tilted sluice box. Water runs through the box and washes away the dirt to reveal the hidden gems. Rose quartz, red jasper, amethysts, and other beautiful stones emerged with each washing. The kids were thrilled with their new treasure!

We are like that in a way. Every time we go before the Lord to confess our sins, we are washed in the sluice box of his forgiveness. The beauty of our potential is revealed through repentance. We emerge from this experience as humbled, forgiven people who reflect the light of Jesus in every sparkling facet.

Today’s psalm uses a powerful image of God as the Rock of our salvation. It is fitting. In the bag of rocks at the gemstone place, each gem is a small piece that was broken off from a bigger rock. To realize that God is our Rock is to acknowledge that he is our stronghold, our place of origin, and our constant source of strength and rescue. We are but small pieces, made in his image.

We are invited to come before our Rock with joyful shouts and singing:

Psalm 95 (New King James Version)

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
²Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

God’s greatness is our hope. Everything in heaven and on earth is his.

³For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
⁴In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
⁵The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.

There is nothing for us to do but bow down and worship.

⁶Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
⁷For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

Do you need to present yourself before the Rock and find his salvation once again? Are you feeling broken, separated, small, or fragile? Do you need forgiveness to wash over you like the running water in a sluice box?

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. In HIS hand is everything we need to make it through one more day.

The Rock of Our Salvation by Kathy Schumacher

Lent is Not a Diet

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Betsy

I read an article somewhere recently that stated “Lent is not a diet.” The writer went on to discuss how we sometimes use Lent to correct poor eating habits, focus on exercising more, and try to lose weight by giving up or fasting from the things that caused us to gain it over the winter. As a colleague mentioned in his sermon, Lent comes just in time for “beach body preparation.”

Boy, when you combine a typical winter with a pandemic, you can end up with a lot to “give up!”

But of course the focus of Lent is to fast from something that is distracting you from God. Many people have given up social media. Some have pledged to stop arguing with their spouse. Others gave up Netflix or the news channels. What have you given up?

One year I gave up complaining. I didn’t have much to say for six weeks, much to my husband’s delight. We laugh about now, but I have to confess that it was a STRUGGLE. It was a good exercise in learning how much complaining I do on a regular basis. What an eye-opener!

So yes, Lent is not a diet … but today’s Scripture calls us to consider that we have made our “stomach our god” and we can easily become too focused on filling ourselves up with earthly things:

Philippians 3 (Common English Bible)

¹⁷Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me and watch those who live this way—you can use us as models. ¹⁸As I have told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross. ¹⁹Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things.

Paul boldly challenges us to imitate him in his righteousness (if not his humility). He makes the clear point that we are enemies of the cross if we continue to pursue earthly wealth, status, achievements, etc. at the sake of the cross-life, which calls us to a life of sacrifice, obedience, and service.

²⁰Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹He will transform our humble bodies so that they are like his glorious body, by the power that also makes him able to subject all things to himself.

Our citizenship is in heaven! Ponder that for a moment. That means that the “rules” for our lives here are the same rules God establishes for those who live in the heavenly realm. This passage makes us question our motivations. Are we too focused on earthly things?

Stand firm in the Lord

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord.

Paul encourages us to stand firm in the Lord. We can forsake the pulls and pushes of secular life and keep our hearts in tune with God. Where is God calling you to change? Are you using this time of giving something up for Lent to fill the void with Jesus? What are you learning?

Paul reminds us in this Lenten season and in our Lenten disciplines to stand firm. You belong to the kingdom in heaven!

Act like it.

Help Me, Jesus

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Betsy

Several years ago I experienced a “Help me, Jesus” moment that I will never forget. My youngest daughter was home from college for the summer and she worked long shifts at a local department store. Jamie had just gotten home from a double shift and we immediately got into our pajamas for a “girl’s night.” Since our dog Georgia is also a girl, we took her out to the dock so that she could swim in our canal and we could skip walking her in the heat.

She is a yellow lab and a strong swimmer. We have two docks, a ladder, and a dog ramp at the far end of the long dock. As Georgia swam and Jamie and I chatted in comfy chairs on the dock about our dinner and movie choices, I noticed that Georgia seemed to be disoriented and getting tired. Our large boat was tied up alongside the larger dock and this seemed to be suddenly confusing to her. Sure enough, she grew frantic out in the middle of the canal and could not seem to find her way back.

I was terrified.

We were able to call her over to the side of the dock where she was floundering, which unfortunately was on the opposite side where the dog ramp was located. By this time, she was very fatigued and panicky. We had a quick conversation and realized that one of us needed to get in the water to push her out while the other one pulled her up on the dock.

Did I mention that this dog weighs over 100 pounds?

So Jamie jumped in the water and I crouched down on the dock and reached over and grabbed Georgia’s collar. She panicked and we struggled. It was a pure “help me, Jesus” moment, which I said out loud several times. At one point, both Jamie and Georgia’s heads went under water and I knew in an instant that I might have to choose which one to save.

Thankfully we are able to push-pull her out of the water, and the three of us laid on the dock for a very long time just dripping, panting, and trembling.

So much for a relaxing girl’s night!

Our Scripture today reminds us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved:

Romans 10 (Common English Bible)

⁸But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the message of faith that we preach). ⁹Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul is deliberate in laying this out as a two-part invitation. We are invited to embrace both sides of this coin. Faith is on one side; witness is on the other. Heart is coupled with mouth. The message must be both believed and proclaimed.

¹⁰Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. ¹¹The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame.¹²There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him.

Yesterday, a friend posted on Facebook that her cousin has beaten pancreatic cancer, which typically has a 9% chance of survival. She started her post with this:

”When you have the privilege of witnessing a miracle and seeing God’s mercy … you have to tell others.”

Amen, Julie. You have to tell others.

This makes me wonder how many times we believe with our hearts but fail to profess with our mouths. Does that speak to you today?

¹³All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.

The Lord saves all who call on him. How did God save you? Go out and tell the world!

The Ash Wednesday Storm

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Betsy

In 1962, a stretch of five hundred miles on the East Coast was battered by a horrific Nor’easter that resulted in 40 deaths and over $500 million dollars in damage (in today’s dollars). The storm resulted in the destruction of Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, Ocean City’s famous boardwalk, and thousands of coastal homes, roads, bridges, and businesses. This storm is known to this day as one of the ten worst storms of the 20th Century.

The storm arrived without warning on Ash Wednesday and lingered for three days. Here on the Outer Banks, heroism and sacrifice resulted in no loss of life. Brave men and women worked tirelessly for days rowing small skiffs around their neighborhoods to take people who had been stranded on their rooftops to safety. Over 60 buildings were destroyed and 1,300 structures were heavily damaged. The southern part of Hatteras Island was cut off as the storm created a new water inlet, and food had to be ferried to the residents until the inlet could be filled. Winds of 70 mph battered homes and businesses all along the Banks, and waves up to 30 feet were recorded.

Today is Ash Wednesday, and we recall the devastating effects of the clouds and thick darkness as we read Joel’s warning of a storm of a different type:

Joel 2 (Common English Bible)

Blow the horn in Zion;
    give a shout on my holy mountain!
Let all the people of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is near—
²    a day of darkness and no light,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Joel is one of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament. He warned of the devastation that continued apostasy and disobedience to God’s law would bring to the people of Israel. The day of the Lord would be a day of reckoning, bringing a blackness of punishment for the corporate sin of the nation.

Like blackness spread out upon the mountains,
    a great and powerful army comes,
        unlike any that has ever come before them,
        or will come after them in centuries ahead.

But much like the Ash Wednesday Storm, help is on the way. There is a Rescuer who will brave the high seas and strong winds to fetch you off the roof of your home. Will you be wise enough to get into his boat?

Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your hearts,
        with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow;
¹³tear your hearts
        and not your clothing.
    Return to the Lord your God,
        for he is merciful and compassionate,
        very patient, full of faithful love,
            and ready to forgive.

Lent begins today, and of all the things that Lent is, it is truly a season of rescue from the storm. God invites us into the safe harbor of repentance and forgiveness, where we will find his mercy, compassion, patience, and love.

God invites us to return to him.

¹⁴Who knows whether he will have a change of heart
    and leave a blessing behind him,
    a grain offering and a drink offering
            for the Lord your God?

Ash Wednesday should come in like a storm. It should blow us out of our complacency and flood us with clarity. It should level the idols we have erected on our shores and raze our temples of self-sufficiency and arrogance. It should linger long enough to erode all of our wantonness and allow a righteous wind to take its place. It should create inlets that cut us off from our sin.

A holy Lent involves returning to God with repentant hearts and spending time in prayer, study, fasting, self-denial, worship, and service. God offers us the blessing of renewal in this stormy season. Will you come aboard?

Save yourself!

Darkening Skys by Michelle Robertson

Wilderness Days

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Betsy

We come together this morning on the precipice of yet another Lent. Lent is a forty-day season of preparation for the celebration of Easter. During this time, we are called to reflect, repent, examine our souls, and take God’s call to discipleship very, very seriously.

If I’m honest, there have been seasons in my life where I have been wearied by Lent. The call to fast from things that distract me from God has sometimes felt like a call to abstain from joy. Even the music for Lent is written in a minor key! Of course Lent isn’t a call to abstain from joy, as we all know, but it still has a spirit of solemness and silence which needs to be respected. Lent appeals to the Eeyores among us. I, unfortunately, am a Tigger.

Lent is an invitation to return to the practices of worship, prayer, self-examination, repentance, fasting, Scripture study, and service. Each of these things are designed to draw us closer to Jesus’ heart, where our joy is made complete.

We start this journey on Ash Wednesday, and so today we get ready by remembering a forty-day period where Jesus experienced a wilderness of temptation as he was challenged by Satan:

Luke 4 (The Message)

4 ^1-2Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.

This is the difference between me and Jesus. I can guarantee that after forty days of not eating, I wouldn’t just be hungry … I would be hangry. I love how Peterson calls this time ”forty wilderness days and nights.” Just as Jesus was in a physical wilderness, he was in an emotional-support wilderness as well. There were no friends to listen to him, no disciples to offer comfort, no followers who would come along to mop his brow, and no one to bring him food. Have you ever been there? With no one nearby to console you, talk you through a rough time, hold your hand, or offer a tissue until you felt better? If you have experienced that, you know how Jesus felt. Just think of it: Jesus chose these wilderness days for our sake.

³The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”

⁴Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.”

This is a striking reminder of why we need to be in God’s word every day. Jesus rebuked the Devil with Scripture. You can, too … if you know it.

^5-7For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.”

⁸Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”

If you could distill the purpose of Lent into one sentence, it might just be verse 8. Lent is a time to return to serving God with “absolute single-heartedness.”

^9-11For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?”

¹²“Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’”

¹³That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity.

And of course that opportunity came on the night that Jesus gathered his friends in the Upper Room and one of them betrayed him. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. For now, may we commit to making this a holy, transformative, and significant Lent season by giving God our single-hearted attention, obedience, and love.

Pray for Your Enemies

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Betsy

Before we get to today’s Scripture, which ironically commands us to pray for our enemies, we need to pause for a moment to pray for Ukraine. Waking up yesterday to the realization that we are watching a war in Europe begin was a shock. We sat stunned as we witnessed the merciless invasion of the peaceful people of Ukraine by Putin’s armies. Europe hasn’t seen an invasion of this scope since Hitler took over Poland in 1939 … and he didn’t stop there. Never in my lifetime did I think I would see what may end up being a Third World War. But I never expected to live through two years of a global pandemic, either.

And so we join our hearts with brothers and sisters in the British Methodist Church, who published this prayer yesterday on social media. As a European denomination, this situation is much closer to them than it is to us. All of Europe trembles today.

I pray for all people all around the world this morning. I pray for bold Russians who risk arrest to protest by the thousands in Russian cities. I pray for the orphans in Ukraine who, even as we sip our coffee, are hunkered down in dirty subway tunnels. I pray for peace.

If you are tired of worrying about all of this and want to do something practical, please consider donating to the orphanage. I have friends who have traveled for years to do mission work there, and this is a legitimate cause with a legitimate and urgent need: https://www.fathers-care.org

And now to our devotional.

Do Good

Think of someone who has really, really hurt you. Someone who has wronged you so wrongly that you want to wrong them back with a vengeance. We all have people on that list. From the girl who gossiped about you in Middle School and made your life miserable, to someone who has abused you on some level, it is natural and normal to have enemies. I have them. I know you do, too.

What does the Bible say about how to treat our enemies? Get ready for the bitter pill:

Luke 6 (Common English Bible)

²⁷“But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. ³¹Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.

Lawdy. Of all the teachings of Jesus, this may be one of the hardest ones to swallow. I confess that I would so much prefer to salt the wounds left by my enemies by recalling ad nauseam EVERY INSTANCE OF HURT they inflicted on me. Over, and over, and over. And then I want to hit back. But Jesus calls us to a higher response. Jesus commands us to love them. Jesus commands us to do good to people who have hurt us. Jesus calls us to a response that reflects the way we wish they had treated us.

Is Jesus asking for the impossible?

³²“If you love those who love you, why should you be commended? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended? Even sinners do that. ³⁴If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, why should you be commended? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back in full. ³⁵Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have a great reward. You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful and wicked people.

Yes, this calling is hard. But he states his case beautifully. Should you be commended for only showing grace to the people who love you? Will you get a pat on the back for being good to those who are good to you? Nope. That is the easy way out. Being good to your enemies takes a lot more work. But when you do, you are acting just like Jesus.

³⁶Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.

And there it is. Being God-followers means we have to respond like God … with kindness and compassion, even to the ungrateful and wicked people.

³⁷“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”

I don’t know about you, but in the end, I would much rather be like Jesus than my enemy. Lord, bring on that good portion to us! And may we bring it to others in your name and for your sake.

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Stand firm in the Lord

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