All nations, tribes, peoples and tongues

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Revelation 7:1-17

TO CHEW ON: “After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!’” Revelation 7:9-10


We have an annual missions emphasis month in our church, which in years past opened with a flag parade. As I watched people march in carrying the national flags from around the world, I invariably got a choke in my throat and tears in my eyes. The verse above always came to mind.

Despite what critics say about Christianity being a religion for only certain races or nations of people (and the rest should hold to their traditional beliefs and customs as a birthright for them and an anthropological curiosity for us), faith in Christ is available for and has been found and claimed by at least some citizens of almost all countries on all earth’s continents. Here John sees this multinational crowd in heaven, praising God and Jesus.

When he asks from where they come, an elder answers, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.” An end note in my Bible explains about “come out”:

“Literally ‘ones coming out’ a present participle, expressing a continuous and repeated action, not a once-for-all action. This is not a post-consummation picture. Therefore, tribulation is to some degree taking place throughout the entire church age. The great tribulation describes the acceleration and intensification of troublesome times as this age comes to an end, climaxing in the Rapture and Second coming”- Earl Wesley Morey, in the commentary on Revelation, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1827.

[The word tribulation used here (thlipsis) is the same one Jesus used to describe our lot on earth in John 16:33. It means pressure, oppression, stress, anguish, tribulation, adversity, affliction, crushing, squashing, squeezing, distress.] 

Though those of us living in free societies may label our treatment by those opposed to Christ as tribulation, books like Tortured for Christ and Kabul 24 give us instances of real tribulation in graphic color. It’s happening right now, and all around the world.

The amazing thing about the tribulation victims pictured in Revelation 7 is that they not only come through such an experience with their faith intact, but full of praise to God. When I hear or read about people living through tribulation, I often ask myself, how would I do? The persevering  power of the gospel illustrated here fills me with hope!  

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Canada where I have freedom to believe and worship according to my conscience. Please be with those who are suffering tribulation now. Help them to have the courage to persevere and hold onto their faith.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 

The saintly reaction

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 6:17-36

TO CHEW ON: "But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil." Luke 6:35


She (let's call her Joan) was on her way to do an errand and decided to stop en-route at a drive-through to pick up a coffee. The lineup merged from two different streams and the order of the cars was a bit confused. As Joan inched forward she saw another car angling for the opening in the line, and was about to wave the driver in when the woman rolled down her window and released a string of expletives, then did it again when Joan smiled and waved at her.

On getting to the order station, Joan put in a request before ordering her coffee: "Please, whatever that woman ahead is having, I'll pay for it."

The irate driver didn't accept Joan's offer. Though in her brief conversation with the waitress at the delivery window,  on discovering Joan's offer, she expressed deep embarrassment.

Joan, reflecting on the incident (in a blog post which I haven't been able to find again after reading it once), said, in effect, "What surprised me was the honest love and compassion I felt for this woman." She was encouraged by the unexpected progress in her ability, this once at least, to love someone who had been hateful to her.

I'm challenged by Jesus' words to be that way—to love everyone and be completely open-handed with my stuff. We have an awesome, perfect, holy model in God the Father, lived out by Jesus His Son. Let's set our minds on being like Him, on blessing all whose lives we touch, one day at a time—today—with the love and generosity of our Father, no matter how they treat us.

PRAYER: Dear God, my instincts to defend myself and hang onto my things is strong. Please grow in me the grace of giving love and being generous with my things to all, especially the undeserving. Amen.

MORE: All-Saints Day

Today the church celebrates all the saints, past and present.  The liturgy for the day begins with this collect:

"Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Saints?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 1:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their and ours." 1 Corinthians 1:2

I'm on holidays at the moment so this won't be a full-fledged, complete, thought-through devotion, just a question to myself, and you:

What does it mean to be a saint on a Saturday in January of 2011?

The study notes in my Bible say about this passage:

"As believers we are made righteous and holy in Jesus alone. Corinthians tells us that having been sanctified, we are called to live holy lives. Holy living requires that we rely fully on the Lord's wisdom and not the wisdom of the world. We are able to understand and discern God's ways by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, the Spirit empowers us to live as God's people, holy and set apart to Him." - "Pursuing Holiness," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1606

I need that: the Lord's wisdom and Holy Spirit empowering. For already some of today's plans have gone awry and I hear the self-voice in my head saying: "You deserve to be in a snit!" I'd say that's of the world, and definitely not wise even by its standards!

PRAYER: Dear God, I need Your Spirit's wisdom and power to live out, in today's thoughts and actions, the fact of my sainthood. Amen

MORE: Practical sainthood

"The real test of the saint is not preaching the gospel, but washing disciples' feet, that is, doing the things that do not count in the actual estimate of men but count everything in the estimate of God....Paul focuses Jesus Christ's idea of a New Testament saint in his life, viz., not one who proclaims the Gospel merely, but one who becomes broken bread and poured out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for other lives." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, February 25th reading.

Note: If you read these devotions online, you may have noticed that the Bible verse now pops up in a little box when you hover your mouse over the reference of the verses that aren't linked to BibleGateway.  I've installed a new widget called RefTagger which makes that happen! 

The only problem is, the widget doesn't work its magic in the email version of the post. And neither does it work if the verse is already linked. 

Because more people read these devotions by email than online, I will continue to link verses. If you want to see the unlinked verses display (without looking them up) you'll need to view the post online (at http://www.otherfood-devos.com).