John 15:1-11
On Sundays there will be no written devotional as the reading for that day also serves as the sermon text for Shades Valley Community Church. If you would like to listen to this morning’s sermon on John 15:1-11 you may do so by clicking here.
Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (click here)
And [God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land…
And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:3, 5-7, and 10)
Reflection
I discipline my children… because I love them.
I want what is best for them and all too often they choose paths and actions that lead away from the best. So, I discipline. I correct. I point them back toward the path of blessing. I point them back to what is best.
Hopefully the day will come for them when they will be old enough to recognize the love which lies behind all my discipline. Perhaps when they have children of their own… then they will realize what it is like to discipline out of love. In my own life, with each passing year, the discipline my parents administered in my life looks wiser and wiser and more loving and more loving.
Is this not true in an even greater way with the Lord… our heavenly Father?
He is the perfect Father. Therefore, he disciplines perfectly and for the perfect purpose. His discipline is always aimed at the best.
I’m certain that as the Israelites hungered in the wilderness they questioned whether or not God loved them at all. Perhaps he had saved them out of Egypt just to let them die in the desert! Such sentiments sound like my own children… “You had me just to discipline me! You don’t love me, or you wouldn’t discipline me!”
Yet we know the opposite is true. And thus, it is with the Lord.
He let the Israelites hunger in the wilderness so that they might learn to feast upon that which is best… the very word of God. He disciplined them that they might learn to walk in his way which was leading toward a good, promised land. The end result of all the Lord’s discipline would be his people dwelling in the land that was best, blessing the Lord for disciplining them away from other paths! In the end, they would see that God was guiding them home to himself… he was loving them!
And he is loving us!
All the Lord’s discipline in our life serves a loving purpose… he is leading us home to himself! He is our promised portion forever. He is what is best! And on the day we finally have him in full… we will bless him for every ounce of discipline he used to guide us all the way home to him.
Hebrews 12:6 and 11, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives… For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.
Deuteronomy 7:9–14 (click here)
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. (Deuteronomy 7:9-11)
Reflection
God is the faithful, covenant keeping God. Yet he punishes covenant breakers. So, we must be covenant keepers. There is just one problem…
…we do not do that! Not a single one of us!
We are covenant breakers! All you have to do is look at the most basic summary of the Mosaic covenant, the Ten Commandments, to figure out really quickly that we have all been unfaithful to the Lord in some way. And, even if we somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that we are perfect according to the law… none of us have kept the greatest commandment to love the Lord our God with every ounce of our being!
So, what are we to do? What can we do?
The simple answer is nothing.
We cannot DO anything. We cannot fix what we have broken. We cannot un-break the covenant. We need someone to faithfully keep the covenant in our place! Yet God alone is a faithful covenant keeper. How can he keep it for us?
God took on flesh… Jesus Christ… God incarnate… our covenant keeper!
By faith we are united to Christ and his covenant keeping becomes our covenant keeping, and the destruction we deserved his taken care of by his cross!
All the blessings God promised to those who keep his covenant, including the eradication of death itself, are ours in Christ, and the day is coming when we will experience every single one of them! All God’s promises are yes and amen in Christ!
God is the faithful, covenant keeping God!
He does that! For every single one of us!
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.
The Joy of Glory 