Crosswalk.com--The Devotional

[Judy Harder]

Sifted
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31-32

Every so often, I'm overcome with the urge. I tromp my way into the kitchen, raid my wife's Pinterest boards, and load up the most ridiculously awesome dessert I can find (as long as it has ingredients I can pronounce). Why? I have no idea, but cooking is an itch that has to be scratched every so often. And if I'm going to cook, then let it be dessert (or something grilled, but dessert works better year round).

Now, I'm not the most faithful of recipe followers. I never measure vanilla extract; I eschew mixer etiquette (like the speed really matters); and I don't sift flour. In fact, I'm convinced that a sifter was invented by kitchen accessory companies as a way to squeeze more money out of wannabe chefs: "Sure, your flour is fluffy, but is it sifted fluffy?"

Okay, okay... a real chef, which I am not, will tell you the importance of sifting. They'll go into a long spiel about why it makes the dish better. They're right, I'm sure, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to go through with the process. I'd rather live my fantasy about why sifting flour isn't important because it makes the dessert easier.

In fact, that's exactly the same reaction I have with my life being sifted. I much prefer the easy, slapdash method of getting to where God wants me to be. My desire is that He take me from messed up to fixed in the rough areas of my life without having to go through the tough work of restoration. Throw in the fix, and I'm good to go.

But it doesn't work that way, and there's a good reason why: being sifted leaves a mark that instant fixes don't. We need the scars to remind us.

Notice how Jesus explains this to Peter. First, He tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift the disciple. Asked... as in requesting permission from God to test Peter. Second, Satan gets permission. Jesus doesn't say the request was denied. He says only that He prayed for Peter's faith not to fail. In other words, Jesus holds the disciple together, but He doesn't stop the testing. Finally, it's only after the sifting and restoration that Peter can strengthen his brothers.

That's the key here. Peter gets sifted (through his denial of Jesus), but because he's sifted, he can restore his brothers. His faith gets a huge boost, and the post-sifting Peter becomes a rock-steady man of God (couldn't resist the pun).

Intersecting Faith & Life: Sifting stinks, and we'd all prefer that God would just snap His mighty fingers and make us the man or woman He wants us to be. But if He did, we would miss the blessing that comes from being refined in the fire. Yes, I said "blessing," a big, fat blessing—even if it doesn't feel that way at the time.

For Further Reading

Luke 22

John 21

[Judy Harder]

Dentists and Coca-Cola
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." – Genesis 4:7

I really like drinking Coca-Cola. The habit started when I went overseas my junior year of college. None of us could drink the water because we might get parasites, so I ended up drinking Coke with most of my meals. I thought I'd kick the habit once I got back to the United States, but if anything it only made my addiction worse. I suddenly became aware of how easy it was to find a nice, cold Coke.

They were so cheap and so accessible that I barely needed an excuse to buy one. Sure, I knew drinking too much was bad for me, but I figured as long as I exercised and brushed my teeth there wasn't any harm in having one a day. Then I had my dentist appointment. I think most people would agree that going to the dentist would not be the highlight of their week. Well, imagine going to the dentist and being told you have three cavities that will require fillings. Sure, on the upside I did get to chat with a cute receptionist, but when the dentist began jabbing around in my mouth trying to find a good place to inject the Novocain, it dawned on me that maybe I should start watching how much I drank.

All joking aside, I think sin works in the same fashion. Each day we are tempted, and it's remarkably easy to find an excuse to justify our behavior. We tell ourselves it's not that bad, that as long as we read our Bible and go to church we'll be balancing the scales, but that's not how it works. Sin will slowly corrode your character until one day you'll find yourself with a serious problem. Because of the cross, we have received the grace of Jesus and are now free from sin, but the battle is not over.

Every day we will be tempted, and every day Jesus will call us to turn from sin and live a life according to his word. There cannot be any compromises with sin; it will only devour us.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Take a moment to consider where you are being tempted.

Further Reading

John 8:34

[Judy Harder]

Give Me Fruit, or Give Me Death
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

For the last several years, my wife and I have dabbled in gardening. I say "dabbled" because each year has brought more frustration than juicy cucumbers. First, we realized the importance of finding a spot that gets enough sunlight. Then, we discovered the joys of unfit or exhausted soils. Most recently, we've found how much deer like to nibble on just-about-to-bloom plants.

Master gardeners we are not. All those visions of vegetables and fruits dancing in our freezer have met the brown reality of stunted corn and shriveled peas.

You see, we come at this with some serious deficiencies. Namely, we have no idea what we're doing. Everything we've learned about clays and fertilizer and propping up pumpkin vines has come from a book I picked up at Tractor Supply and various YouTube videos. We've cut back the weeds on our ignorance page by page because neither of our families really did much in the way of horticulture (unless you count cutting the grass).

But that doesn't mean we've been completely unsuccessful. In fact, every time we pick something from our garden that's actually edible, it's pretty much a party. "We have beans. Who wants to do the bean dance?" I have no shame when it comes to herbal success.

Perhaps that's because my spiritual growth has come pretty much the same way. Everything I've learned about God, salvation, faith, and love has come from the Bible I picked up in 2003 (and all the others since then) and the examples of Christians I've met along the way. I stumbled along for years, trying to figure out my newfound freedom in Christ, trying to grasp what it means to be an effective ambassador for Him.

Over and over, I kept trying to make things grow. I'd rush to this fad for spiritual success, dig into this surefire method to overcome my sin nature, and pluck up whatever Christian book that had the answers. Surely the next one would help me be fruitful. Surely this pastor/writer/author/blogger has the best answers for how I can really do what God wants.

The whole time, I missed what Paul said to the Philippians: "the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ." The fruit comes from Him. God prepared the works for us (Ephesians 2:10), and He provides the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). Those other sources of wisdom are fine, but they were never any substitute for Christ being formed in me (Galatians 4:19).

It takes time (and will take much, much more), but I wouldn't trade it for all the juicy cucumbers and plump peaches in the world, even the ones in my own little garden.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Being fruitful takes time. It's easy to think that some expert has the answer you need to get where you want to be, to overcome the challenges you face. But they probably don't. While most of those books and conferences can be useful, they're no substitute for good, old fashioned growth in Christ. Time, prayer, and Word—there's no getting around how much we need them. They produce the true "organic" fruit.

[Judy Harder]

Is Satan Spamming You?
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship The Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"
Matthew 4:10

"This stock is about to take off!" ... "You won't believe this Miracle Pill!" ... "Hello, I am a Nigerian Prince" ... These are only a few of the emails that have ended up in my spam folder. We've all received them, those obnoxious messages that try to trick you into sending money or personal information to some unknown source. All spam email follows the same design. First, they open up by preying on a person's fear, insecurity, or general discontent. After that, they propose a simple solution, an easy win for the reader, which convinces the reader to put their trust in something very untrustworthy.

Thankfully, most computers now come with software to filter out the phony emails. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for everyday life. I've found Satan often uses the same tactics as these spam mails whenever he wants to attack a human being. First, he takes advantage of your worry, your self-image, or something else in your life. Then he offers you something that might fix the problem, but in truth, only makes things worse. These temptations will always be present in life, but Jesus offers us a powerful reassurance in Matthew 6 that equips us to defend ourselves.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these." Matthew 6:25-29

Many people have taken this verse to mean that as long as we trust in God, nothing bad will happen. Not so. We live in a fallen world, and bad things are always going to happen. What this verse does promise is that no matter what we face in life, God will always be there. Sometimes in the healing we desperately prayed for, other times in the shoulder we cry on.

Whatever roads our lives take, Christ is there to provide for us. Don't allow Satan to fool you with the offer of an easy fix, don't let fear and despair dictate your actions. God is there, and he will help you.

Intersecting Faith and Life: As a Christian, you are not alone in your struggles. Find support in a small group or an accountability partner.   

Further Reading

Zephaniah 3:17

[Judy Harder]

Go Ahead. Shine.
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life" Philippians 2:14-16a

The quick burning desire to be an astronomer came during year 3 of my college experience. That was after philosopher, writer (the first time), and English professor, but before anthropologist, high school teacher, and writer (the second time). You can't blame a guy for wanting to wring every cent out of his scholarships.

So, in year 3, I became convinced that I would study space because... well... because I loved planets and stuff. With the same gusto that had carried me through my philosophy phase, I charged into star charts and calculated orbits with fury and fine-tipped lead pencils. I pored over research on black holes and quasars and stared intently into the night sky trying to figure out how in the world someone could think that a certain cluster of stars could look anything like a person or a goat or whatever.

Then, reality hit in the way of astrophysics. The funny thing about studying the stars is that you have to be able to calculate distances, luminosity, parallaxes, and more fancy terms. I could crunch equations just fine, but that doesn't mean I found it more satisfying than, say, ripping off a bandage from my legs.

Before I came to know Christ, all that nadir gazing did produce one substantial result in me: deep, deep emptiness. You can't help but feel how small you are when you peer into the infinite-seeming inkiness of space. The more you see how incomprehensibly expansive everything really is, the more you feel speck-like in the cosmic order. The weight of eternity came crushing in on me.

And in that darkness, I needed light. This "crooked and depraved" man groped about for anything that would shine, some embers of hope. Not finding them in philosophy or books or even astronomy, the pressure just got worse. I kept feeling my way through the darkness into whatever classes the university offered, but through each of my potential career paths, I found nothing that could illuminate the road around me.

Of course, I wouldn't have put it in those terms back then. At that point, I just knew something was messed up, and I couldn't figure out what. I needed the "word of life." But I didn't know I needed it, and I didn't know where to find it.

Intersecting Faith & Life: That's where we come in as Christians. People like the old me don't always even know what gnaws at them. Some have so subverted the pain that it plays out in pursuits of passion: They mute it with noise, clutter, medicine, or flesh. They prefer to find ways to ignore the crushing weight.

And then they see the stars. At least, they should see the stars. I don't necessarily mean the stars in the night, since city lights drown them out for most of us now days. I mean, they need to see the stars around them who shine through their Jesus-emulating behavior. That light has the power to both expose their blindness and help them see.

So, shine. People like the old me are counting on it.

For Further Reading

Philippians 2

Matthew 5

[Judy Harder]

What is True Spirituality?
by Alex Crain, Editor, Christianity.com

"When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate."
Genesis 3:6 NASB

It seems clear to me that the root of all human sin is unbelief. Doubt. I've heard people argue that the most basic sin is pride, and well, I suppose that's somewhere lurking on the other side of the coin. But if we start at the beginning of the bible, the Genesis 3 account shows that Eve first doubted God. That was her sin. After her unbelief came the outward act of disobedience.

Francis Schaeffer, commenting on this, said: "By her doubting she called God a liar. Eve doubted... mankind in revolt doubts God" (chapter seven, True Spirituality).

On the contrary, the person who is at peace with God does not doubt Him. Rather, he/she trusts God. Schaeffer says this is the simplest way to describe true spirituality: it is believing God.

But it is more than just believing God at one isolated point in life. It is believing God and having ongoing belief in Him. There must be moment-by-moment personal communion with Him.

God created us to be relational, not mechanical. Healthy relationships depend on good communication. But communication is an always-in-flux, moment-by-moment kind of thing. That is why all our mechanical efforts at the Christian life fail. It's not about reading a set number of chapters of the Bible each day. It's not about praying for so long.

No. What is needed first, and what inspires trust is, throughout the day, seeing before us the most basic teachings of the Bible:

God exists and He is personal.

God is holy and sin will be judged, but Christ's atonement removes the guilt of sinners.

We are saved from condemnation by the finished work of Christ, and we are brought into a proper relationship with God in a personal way.

We are joined to Christ spiritually.

We can enjoy communication with the Creator on the basis of what Christ has done. (1 John 1:5)

These truths don't change, regardless of how I feel at any given moment.

The rediscovery of believing God and these truths moment-by-moment is what lifted Francis Schaeffer out of a long, dark season and re-energized his life.

In our lives, what generally causes us to distrust Christ and run elsewhere is that we often think that we have a better way. We think that, somehow, God really doesn't have our best interests at heart. Like Eve, we think that God is withholding something good from us.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The rediscovery of believing God and these truths moment-by-moment is what lifted Francis Schaeffer out of a long, dark season and re-energized his life. If you've come to see that God doesn't deserve our suspicion, seek His aid to maintain this moment-by-moment walk of faith with Him. 

For Further Study: Isaiah 30:15 "Thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, 'In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.'"

For more, read Romans 6:1 and 1 John 1:5

[Judy Harder]

The Forgotten Vital Organ
by Katherine Britton

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21

I have decided that many, many medical textbooks are wrong. Each and every one of them has actually left out a vital organ. Yes, they've remembered the heart and the brain and even that strange thing called a pancreas (I know it's important, I just forget why sometimes). But look through the books all you want, and you'll find not one mention of the most obvious vital organ of all: the tongue.

Then again, I myself often choose to ignore the importance of the tongue. I'd rather not believe it has "the power of life and death." I'd like to pretend my tongue is more like an appendix or a gall bladder - easy to forget about because it's not that important - but that's just not the case. Snapping at my family when I'm tired, nagging, and complaining all release a poison from my tongue that works its way through my whole being (James 3:6). Not only that, I infect others with my attitudes and motivations. I begin to spread a disease.

Contrast that with the "words of the wise," as Proverbs says many times. Their words heal and strengthen as they spread encouragement, wisdom, peace, and the Gospel message. Oh, and - get this - the wise actually use their tongues less than other people. The more powerful the tongue, the less it needs to be used. It's like the heart of a well-trained athlete - when someone is really in shape, the beats per minute actually decrease as the heart becomes more and more efficient. In the same way, why don't I condition my tongue to speak fewer words with more meaning?

In Genesis 1, God spoke into the darkness, and there was light. Those "mere words" created something from nothing, showing the power of speaking out. My pastor in college told us that this verse had meaning for us, too, since we are created in God's image. We are meant to speak out and bring light from the darkness as He did. That's the power of the tongue in a crazy world. The question is whether we choose to speak light or just add to the darkness.

That little muscle called the tongue holds the power of life and death. That's no small matter. So let's be careful how we exercise it.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Grab a concordance and look up the words "mouth" and "tongue." The reference lists are extensive. It gets even bigger if you include the words "speak" and words." Then, take a seven day challenge to "tame the tongue" in just one way. Perhaps try encouraging instead of complaining. Even taming just that one area is like trying to control a wildfire (James 3:5). Don't get discouraged, but take each opportunity to thank God for the "new song" that He has given you to sing (Psalm 40:3).

Further Reading

Christians and Cussin'
Prayer or Gossip?
The Tongue: Life or Death in Our Marriage?

[Judy Harder]

Sex, God, and a Lasting Love
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. – Proverbs 31:10

We live in a culture obsessed with sex, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. From the moment we get up in the morning, to the second we fall back asleep, we are bombarded with images and slogans designed to generate our physical desires. Like many Christians, I grew up listening to sermons about the sin of premarital sex. Over and over I heard pastors talk about the sanctity of marriage, the spread of diseases through casual encounters, the risks of unwanted pregnancies, etc. While I took these warnings to heart and stayed celibate, another part of me was too embarrassed to admit that I just didn't get it.

To me, most of the sermons just sounded like fear-mongering. As long as both people were careful and consenting adults, was it really that bad? For a long time I chose to ignore my questions, hoping the answers would eventually just come to me, and ironically enough, they did. I was working part-time at an amusement park with a bunch of other teens when I overheard a co-worker boasting about a girl he'd hooked up with the previous week. I was beginning to tune him out when a realization suddenly struck me.

He didn't care about this girl; and odds were she didn't care about him either. They didn't know each other's hopes and fears, or the character traits that defined their identities. They had both just used each other for their own gratification. To each other, they were both a disposable pleasure.

But look now at how the first marriage is described in Genesis 2,

"So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." – Genesis 2:21

God created sex, physical intimacy, to be a lasting love. Its purpose was to be the greatest connection between two people who knew one another, loved one another, and were loved in return. What our world offers in comparison is nothing more than a cheap knock-off. Be careful to guard your hearts and minds, and don't allow lust to gain a foothold in your life. Remember, God made us to be more than a disposable pleasure.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Consider your own heart and mind, are you pursing a lasting relationship?   

Further Reading

Song of Solomon 7:1-13

[Judy Harder]

The Level Ground
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Culture Editor

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23

I've always felt parables are the best resource anyone has for studying the gospel. The stories Jesus used to teach his followers are timeless and many Christians, including myself, are prone to forgetting their lessons. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is one such lesson,     

"And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week ; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner !' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." – Luke 18:9-14

Reading this section of scripture, I tried to picture what this story would look like if it was played out on a modern stage. The Pharisee would look the model Christian: He grew up in a Christian home, attended youth group as a teen, participated in a dozen missions trips, as an adult he runs a respectable business, and has a godly wife and three well behaved children. And the tax collector, who would he be? I tried to come up with a fictional description, but instead something else happened. I started seeing the faces of all the Christians who had ever been honest with me about their struggles.

Friends who had struggles with addiction, others who had confessed to adultery, I saw myself confiding in them about my own sins and realized, in that moment, we are all tax collectors. As Romans 3:23 says, we have all fallen short of God's glory. The moment we start to believe ourselves saved by our own worth is the day we become Pharisees. It's an old moral, I know, but sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones we think we already know.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Who do you most resemble, the Pharisee or the Tax collector?

Further Reading 

Matthew 7:1-3

[Judy Harder]

Will They Know Us By Our Love?
by Debbie Holloway, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and it not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

These two passages are arguably the most famous Bible verses about love. Love is a concept promoted
by Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims. It is a thing acknowledged by atheists and agnostics.
Something every man, woman, and child strives to obtain every day. Love is something we all know
about and all desire. But so often it seems to be the most difficult thing for us to practice.

As Christians, we have no excuse for not knowing what love is. 1st Corinthians chapter 13 tells us in no
uncertain terms. And Christ tells us in John 13 that the world will know that we belong to Jesus if we
practice this love. But how often do we truly think of those two scriptures as one command? How often
do we piece together the "how?" and the "what?" of love in our own lives?

The ramifications of doing so present a clearly defined, but difficult life. If we combine 1 st Corinthians 13
and John 13, what would our lives look like? How would people come to recognize Christians?

Well, they would know us by our patience. They would know that we are Christians by our
contentment, modesty, and humility. They would recognize us, for we would not be rude. We would
seek the best for others, be difficult to make angry, and refuse to keep count of how many times we've
been hurt. They would know us because evil makes us sad, and truth makes us happy. They would
know us because we protect the defenseless and we do not live in suspicion of others.

They would know us by our hope. They would know us by our perseverance.

That is what love looks like. Those should be the marks of Christ's disciples.

Oftentimes when the world hears "Christian" – they do not think of this love. They think Patriotic. They
think of rules. They think of stingy, bad-tippers, who blindly vote Republican and will judge you if you
drink beer or use four-letter words. And that might not be fair. That might not be you. But it's still your
responsibility to change what the world thinks of Christians. It's still your responsibility to demonstrate
that radical love Paul described to the Corinthians.

Because then, one by one, people might start to know Jesus a little better. Because then, one by one, we
could really reach the world with this radical, biblical, Christ-like love.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Find one relationship or duty in your life that lacks love. And change it.

Further reading

1 John 1:5

Romans 13:8