He arose, and came to his father

Daily Light Devotions - June 11 - Morning


He arose, and came to his father.

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  1

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 2

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  3

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  4
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1 Luke 15:20;
2 Psalm 103:8-13;
3 Rom 8:15,16;
4 Eph 2:13,19

As Christ forgave you, so also do ye

Daily Light Devotions - June 10 - Evening


As Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  1

"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"  2

Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'  3

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." 4

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  5

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 6

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  7
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1 Col 3:13;
2 Luke 7:41,42;
3 Matt 18:32,33;
4 Mark 11:25,26;
5 Col 3:12,13;
6 Matt 18:21,22;
7 Col 3:14

The younger son ... took his journey

Daily Light Devotions - June 10 - Morning


The younger son ... took his journey ...

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 1

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 2

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  3

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  4

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  5
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1 Luke 15:13;
2 1 Cor 6:11;
3 Eph 2:3-6;
4 1 John 4:10;
5 Rom 5:8,10

The triumphing of the wicked is short

Daily Light Devotions - June 9 - Evening


The triumphing of the wicked is short.

that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? 1

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." 2

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness." 3

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,  4

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 5

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  6

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  7

The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. 8

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 9

and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 10
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1 Job 20:5;
2 Gen 3:15;
3 Luke 22:53;
4 Heb 2:14;
5 Col 2:15;
6 1 Pet 5:8,9;
7 James 4:7;
8 Psalm 37:12,13;
9 Rom 16:20;
10 Rev 20:10

Never man spake like this man

Daily Light Devotions - June 9 - Morning


Never man spake like this man.

The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!"  1

You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. 2

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 3

His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 4

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  5

for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. 6

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  7

and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,  8

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 9

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  10
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1 John 7:46;
2 Psalm 45:2;
3 Isa 50:4;
4 Sol 5:16;
5 Luke 4:22;
6 Matt 7:29;
7 Col 3:16;
8 Eph 6:17;
9 Heb 4:12;
10 2 Cor 10:4,5

Why reason ye these things in your hearts

Daily Light Devotions - June 8 - Evening


Why reason ye these things in your hearts.

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts?  1

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 2

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'? 3

And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes."  4

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  5

He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"  6

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  7

But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?  8

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  9
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1 Mark 2:8;
2 Rom 4:19,20;
3 Mark 2:9;
4 Mark 9:23;
5 Matt 28:18;
6 Mark 4:40;
7 Matt 6:26;
8 Matt 16:8,9;
9 Phil 4:19

The LORD made all that he did to prosper

Daily Light Devotions - June 8 - Morning


The LORD made all that he did to prosper ...

His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.  1

A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. 2

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 3

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." 4

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 5

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. 6

"Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'  7

"Is not the LORD your God with you? And has he not given you peace on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people.  8
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1 Gen 39:3;
2 Psalm 128:1,2;
3 Psalm 37:3,4;
4 Josh 1:9;
5 Matt 6:33;
6 2 Ch 26:5;
7 Deut 8:11,17;
8 1Ch 22:18

When people look like Satan

Jonathan Parnell from "When People Look Like Satan": Sin is not a thing we can just sweep under the rug. It's not a little this or that. Oh no. Sin is most fundamentally our acting like Satan instead of reflecting the glory of God.

Christ came chiefly for this reason

"Christ came chiefly for this reason: that we might learn how much God loves us, and might learn this to the end that we begin to glow with love of him by whom we were first loved, and so might love our neighbor at the bidding and after the example of him who made himself our neighbor by loving us." — Augustine, quoted by Gary A. Parrett and S. Steve Kang in Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 61

(HT: Of First Importance)

Jesus is the True Israel

Justin Taylor: Jesus is the true Israel, and the church becomes the Israel of God as it unites to True Israel. The same is true for ethnic Israel, whom God has not abandoned. But their only hope is to be united with Jesus, the ultimate suffering servant.

"For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." (2 Cor. 1:20)

Read his entire post here.

Is there really hope in a world like this?

Excerpt from Tim Challies talking about fiction in the latest Connected Kingdom Podcast (audio):

I have heard it said that the purpose of fiction is to ask questions while the purpose of nonfiction is to answer them. That may be an over-simplification, but maybe it is not too far off the mark. At least that has been my experience of fiction. Fiction introduces ideas and evokes feelings and arouses emotion. These feelings demand answers or make us long for them. There are many questions I have been asked in fiction that I’ve had to go to the world of nonfiction to answer.

Cormac McCarthy’s novels ask if there is hope even in a world like this one, a world of darkness and depravity. John Piper has rightly said that Cormac McCarthy is to the American literary canon what the book of Judges is to the biblical canon. McCarthy portrays the darkness of humanity and asks us if there is hope even here. It doesn’t offer answers—just questions, questions brought about by deep feelings of pain or revulsion or sadness. Answers must be found elsewhere. ...

I am convinced that to truly enjoy fiction we need to have a knowledge of what is true and fixed and unchanging, which is to say, we need to know the Bible. So many questions are asked in the pages of books that can only be answered in the pages of The Book. The Bible interprets and refines and answers. It gives hope where fiction is hopeless, it gives light where fiction is dark, it gives joy where fiction is depressing. Fiction gives us stories of the world as it is or the world as someone images it; an author takes his experiences and hopes and desires and dreams and wraps them in a story. The Bible takes that story and makes sense of it. It tells us why the world is this way, why this author’s experience of the world has been so painful, why there is still hope even in a world like this.

Wise words on good and bad tweeting

Ray Ortlund on the "intended effect of a successful tweet":

• A failed tweet displays Self.
• A successful tweet displays Christ.
• Who cares about the details of my daily life? I hardly care myself.
• But I think we can all agree on this: we must decrease, but he must increase.
• What I aim at in using the media is another person being able to click in and click out quickly, with maximum benefit to their souls.
• Everyone is so busy. But everyone matters.
• I want to ask little of them, and add much to them.
• I am there to serve, not to demand or impress, by giving them more of Jesus.

(HT: Justin Taylor)