As
believers, we’re supposed to imitate Jesus. That might seem impossible
to us. After all, He was the Son of God! In fact, God the Father even
attested several times, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17). How can we possibly live up to that?
Thankfully,
God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He knows we’re still learning.
Just like a parent who rejoices over a baby’s first steps, so our
heavenly Father delights in our steps as we seek to walk with Him. The
goal is growth. Once a toddler walks, the parents’ delight shifts to
more mature achievements. As long as we keep growing in our faith, we
will never cease learning new ways to please our Father. He loves us and
patiently cheers us on at each new level.
What’s important to
the Lord is our heart. Amidst all our frailties, failures, and
temptations, God sees our inmost thoughts and motivations. He knows how
much we love Him and desire to obey. Even in our stumbling, He helps us
up and encourages us with His Word.
If you’re prone to
perfectionism, give yourself grace and time to grow. That’s what the
Father does, so learn to see yourself through His eyes. He’s waiting—not
to berate your efforts but to help you develop into the person He
designed you to be.
In
verse 7 of today’s passage, Paul wrote, “See that you also excel in
this grace of giving” (NIV). Let’s look at some people in the Bible who
were examples of this kind of generosity.
In Mark 12:41-44,
Jesus praised the poor widow for her sacrificial giving. Contrasting
her with those who gave out of their surplus, He said, “She, out of her
poverty, put in all she owned” (vv. 44). When we trust the Lord with our
finances as this woman did, then no matter how little or how much we
have, we’ll excel at the grace of giving.
A sacrificial mindset
can be found in the early church, too. Those new believers eagerly sold
their possessions and property to meet the needs around them. (See Acts 2:45.) Because of their generosity, God blessed them with glad hearts, favor from people, and increasing numbers.
The
Macedonian churches from today’s passage also understood the importance
of giving. Even though these believers were very poor, Paul says “their
overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich
generosity.” He even says they considered it a privilege to share in
this way (vv. 2, 4 NIV).
God expects us to give, and to do so cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). In His grace, He’s provided biblical role models to help us learn how. What’s one way you can become a more giving person?
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To get the most out of this devotion, set aside time to read the scriptures referenced throughout.
Sometimes
God calls us to participate in His mission in unusual or even confusing
ways. These situations might ask us to step outside of our normal
manner of doing things and take a risk, give sacrificially,
inconvenience ourselves, or even suffer for the sake of others. Have you
ever felt called to go beyond your routine to do something
extraordinary?
For some Christians, this might look like
answering a call to move overseas and share the gospel with unreached
people groups. For others, it could mean giving more than usual to help
their church or community meet a need. Or perhaps it involves taking a
risk to support and come alongside someone who is struggling. Not all of
us are called to make big, overt gestures. But we all can try to listen
with courage, trusting God to guide us in how we use His gifts—whatever
that may look like.
Think about it
• Can
you remember a time when God asked you to take a step that made you
uncomfortable or even fearful? How did you deal with it?
• First
Corinthians 16:13 (NIV) says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the
faith; be courageous; be strong.” What would it look like to listen to
God with courage?
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MLB until they required the VAX to continue working for them.
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We
all get burned out at some point or another. Perhaps difficult
circumstances have led to discouragement. Or maybe you keep going but
feel as if you’re just going through the motions—there’s no joy, no
fruit. Paul told Timothy to “kindle afresh the gift of God which is in
you” (2 Tim. 1:6). So how do we do that?
Refill: Get on your knees before the Lord and ask Him to fill you again. Examine your life, repent of any sins, and submit to Him.
Refocus:
Nothing dims the flame like fixing your eyes on the problem. Whenever
we focus on obstacles, they grow larger. But when we shift our eyes to
Christ, He becomes bigger than any difficulty we face.
Reject: When we’re down, the Devil whispers his lies into our mind: You can’t do this. No one appreciates you. Why not call it quits? We need to recognize all discouraging thoughts as coming from him—and reject them.
Retreat: Get away with the Lord—free from distractions—to rekindle your relationship with Him.
After
going through all these steps, you will have renewed enthusiasm and
commitment. Hard circumstances may remain, but you’ll be equipped to
handle them because you won’t be handling them alone.
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Yesterday we looked at two reasons we might miss God’s will. John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit teaches us all things. So why do we sometimes have trouble understanding His plan?
We make decisions according to emotions. When life gets hard, our instinct is to move away from the source of pain—but in reality, we need to move closer to Jesus. When we figure He couldn’t possibly want us to feel this way, we’re more prone to take action and hope that we’re in His will. But then we’re actually focusing on ourselves instead of God’s plan.
We focus only on the immediate. Many
times we come to God troubled about the choices we or our loved ones
are facing. We do not see how this situation could possibly be His will.
Our short-term focus prevents us from seeing the Lord’s long-term
purposes.
We conduct a superficial search. We
can treat finding God’s will like a checklist: “Read. Pray Serve. Give.”
But that can result in neglecting to give God the time and stillness
needed for us to hear from Him (Psalm 46:10). More than simply investing time with the Lord, listening without distraction is also essential.
How
much Bible study is required to find out what God wants for us? What
amount of prayer? The answer is simple: whatever it takes to hear from
Him. He will always answer His children.
Today on the Matt Walsh Show, Target has suffered massive losses as
conservatives boycott over their literally satanic Pride campaign. We
are succeeding in making "pride" toxic for brands. But how did it get to
this point? And where do we go from here? We'll answer those questions
today. Also, Ron DeSantis crashes the servers at Twitter during his
campaign launch event.
A new report shows how google searches related to
sexual orientation and gender identity have risen 1300 percent since
2004. And a Republican state senator in Louisiana single handedly kills a
bill that would have banned the castration and mutilation of children.
Turns out that he gets a lot of donations from Big Pharma. Must be a
coincidence.
WASHINGTON (May 23, 2023)
- Howard University track & field program sends more than a dozen
Bison to Jacksonville, Fla., to compete in the NCAA East Preliminary
Round. The four-day event (May 24-27) will take place on the campus of
the University of North Florida.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Tickets for the 2023 NCAA East Preliminary Round are available
here.
Bison Nation can also follow all the action via ESPN+ and/or
live results.
MEET PREVIEW
Thursday (May 18),
the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) unveiled its
Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships
First Round Preliminaries where HU led the Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference (MEAC) with more than a dozen Bison.
Overall, HU saw a
program-best 16 Bison on the qualifier list, including 11
student-athletes competing individually. Furthermore, The Mecca is the
only institution in the league with a relay squad making the
cut (men's 4x100 and women's 4x400).
MEN
Four Bison are competing in the 110-meter hurdles, led by graduate
Dylan Beard (Baltimore). Entering the meet, he has the second-fastest time in the nation (13.29).
Seniors Jermanie Byrd (Miami Gardens, Fla.) and
Kameron Davis (Miami) and junior Zachary Hawkins (Lithonia, Ga.) joins Beard in the event.
Senior sprinter Ashton Daniel
(Athens, Ga.) represents HU in the 200-meter dash after posting a
qualifying time of 20.71 at the MEAC Outdoor Championships (May 9-11).
Howard’s 4x100 relay squad looks to keep its season alive after running a school record 40.00 in Norfolk, Va.
In the field, second-year Bison
Chase Drewery (Waldorf, Md.) takes part in the triple jump after leaping 15.43 meters at the conference championships.
WOMEN
All-American senior Jessica Wright (Durham, N.C.) and junior
Darci Khan (Stockbridge, Ga.) headline the women’s side.
Wright looks to make the National round for second straight year in the 400-meter hurdles, producing a 55.81 time (4th in the country) at the Tom Jones Memorial (April 14-15). Freshman
Aniya Woodruff (Harrisburn, N.C.) joins Wright in the event, clocking in at 58.37 (MEAC Outdoor Championships).
Khan enters the week
with the nation’s ninth-fastest mark in the 100-meter hurdles,
recording a 12.96 time at the Texas Relays (March 29-April 1). Fellow
classmate
Kaya-Rae Dunbar (Burtonsville, Md.) will also compete in the race after posting a 13.40 mark at the conference championships.
Second-year Bison sprinter
Tiffani-Rae Pittman (Bowie, Md.) represents HU in the 100-meter (11.45; Texas Relays) and 200-meter dashes (23.29; MEAC Outdoor Championships).
This year’s 4x400 relay squad looks to get back to the National level, running a 3:31.24 mark in Austin.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Qualifiers from the
meet will advance to the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field
Championships, which will be held June 7-10 in Austin, Texas.
If
you follow Jesus, you have likely heard the phrase “God’s will.” It’s
often mentioned in the context of His having a will for each believer—or
of our doing His will, walking in His will, and the like. If we love
the Lord, then certainly we want to obey Him (John 14:15). But let’s take a look at some of the reasons we might miss His plan for our life.
Handling God’s Word Improperly. When
our days become jam-packed with commitments and activities, it’s easy
to have trouble maintaining a steady intake of Scripture. Without
spending time in God’s Word, we tend to forget what matters to Him. Then
there are times that some of us will incorrectly use Scripture to
support decisions we’ve already made. Or, when God’s Word does not match
what we want, we might ignore it and do things our way.
Picking the Wrong Guide. When
making decisions, we sometimes rely too heavily on other people’s
opinions. We think that the easiest and quickest way to get answers is
to ask fellow Christians—or even unbelievers who seem “wise.”
Making
Scripture your daily companion is the best way not to miss God’s plan.
Be prepared to spend time reading and listening while the Spirit teaches
you what God’s will is for your life.
There’s
a lot about the kingdom of heaven that doesn’t make sense to our
earthly way of thinking. For example, today’s passage says, “Whoever
slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also” (v. 39).
Who wants to do that? And while we learned yesterday that God loves us,
we also saw there’s nothing we can do to earn or deserve His love. In
fact, we’re now going to see how to extend that love to others.
There’s
a lot of talk about rights these days, but instead of focusing on
ourselves, we should do what Jesus did—lay down our rights so we can
take up the cause of a holy kingdom. In short, instead of focusing on
ourselves, we should be more concerned about showing God’s love to those
around us—even to those who are doing wrong. Keep in mind that Jesus
said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you … For if
you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax
collectors, do they not do the same?” (vv. 44-46).
Before
assuming that Jesus’ capacity for forgiveness and love is out of reach
for mere human beings, remember: His Holy Spirit dwells in believers. As
a result, God’s love works through us. You can’t lose when you show
others the boundless care and compassion of the Lord.
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