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BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Pamela Crim | Daily Devotional for Women
Devotionals do not have to be boring … we make them fun, applicable and powerful each and every day. Pamela will get you fired up for life and lather the love of Jesus on you … and make you giggle.
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- 2 days ago20 min
2203 Loved By the Maker
Jesus says we will be known by our love, and our love is to make Him known. But let me ask you a question: Who is the hardest person for you to love? Oh, I know exactly who it is. It’s someone you live with. Someone you work with. Someone in every one of your circles. It’s YOU. You are the person you are hardest on. You know every flaw, every failure, every awkward quirk, every stupid thing you’ve ever said, and every way you think you should be doing better. And because you spend a whole lot of time with you, you’ve become really good at criticizing you. I’m a fan of long-distance relationships. Our time together is short and sweet. It is savored and precious, then you go home. I don’t have to deal with your quirky self on the daily, and let me tell you, girl, you are quirky! You’ve got some weird things you do. Some of y’all label stuff, then alphabetize it. Some of y’all can’t sit and keep your hands still. Some of y’all eat really loud. And some of y’all come up with the craziest cockamamie ideas that no one understands. Oh wait. That’s me. It’s cute for a short amount of time, but then it’s best if we have some space. And that’s the problem. Wherever you go, THERE YOU ARE! You can’t get space from you. You intimately know your struggles. You have to put up with your own darn quirkiness twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You had a front-row seat to every one of your failures. You don’t even like the sound of your own voice. And let’s not talk about looking in the mirror or seeing yourself in photos. Oh mercy. It’s a real issue. Do you have a hard time loving you? Let’s make this real clear: this is a problem. You will be known by your love, and your love is to make Him known, but you refuse to fully love the one person you can simply never get away from: YOU. I promise you this: you hating you is not an honorable representation of your Creator. You may cover it up as humility, but at its core, it’s hateful. You’re hateful toward you. And you being hateful toward you doesn’t make a single soul say, “Wow, I just gotta know what that girl is doing! I gotta know about the One who helps her hate herself so well. I just gotta know where she gets this deep critical spirit for herself, because I really want some of that too.” Nobody ever says that. In fact, what if your self-hatred is actually telling the world something about your God that isn’t true? Imagine something you own now that you really love. Maybe you love your Roomba. Maybe it’s your Sleep Number bed. How about your Lululemon workout pants? Or your Stanley cup, your Dyson hair dryer, your UGG winter boots, your jacked-up Jeep, your fancy Tesla, or your Dawn Dishwashing Spray (because that stuff is pure magic and gets a three-month-old stain out of your favorite shirt.) You have something you love. Now imagine that product you love started telling you all about how much it disliked itself. What if your UGG boots constantly told you how truly ugly they were? Because let’s face it, those boots are ugly. You know that’s why they’re called UGG, right? Ugg-ly! If every step you took in your UGG boots came with a little voice saying, “I’m so ugly. I hate how I look. I don’t deserve to be worn,” you would eventually start believing there was something wrong with them. ****And there’s certainly something wrong with whoever made those boots, because boots aren’t supposed to talk about how ugly they are. What if your Roomba roamed around on your floors, vacuuming up all that dog hair like she always does, but she started incessantly talking about her clumsiness and her tendency to bump into things? “Oh my gosh, I can never just get from the kitchen to the bedroom without running into everything. I always get stuck under the couch. Gosh, why do I do that? I hate that about my Roomba self. I’m always just wandering around lost, and then I start running low and run out of energy. I just can’t do it all.” If your Roomba started talking like this, you would think the insanely rich creator of the Roomba wasn’t so great after all. Dude, what you made hates itself! Here’s your ah-ha moment: Could that be your representation of God? “Oh, God is sooooo good. He is sooooo faithful. I loveeeeeee God, but I just can’t love me. I’m just messed up. I’m flawed. I’m never good enough. I’m unworthy. But everybody, you should really love the One who personally designed me. He’s great!” Do you see what you’re doing when you are unloving towa
- 3 days ago18 min
2202 Already, But Not Yet
Today we’re living in the middle of a story that’s already promised an eternal ending, but we’re not there yet. We’re here – in the middle. In the middle of real life with real problems, real threats, real pain. Every day we are closer and closer to what is promised, but we’re not there yet. Within our Bibles is a story which so sweetly shows us our Jesus standing with us in our real life. He’s not just standing by in Heaven awaiting your arrival at the end of this life – no, he’s right here beside you, walking this out. Let’s read a familiar story with a new perspective. Jesus had a friend named Lazarus. Lazarus was sick, so his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent a message for Jesus to come. But, by the time Jesus gets there, Lazaraus is already dead. In fact, he had been in his grave for four days. Jesus meets with Lazarus’ sisters in their grief. John 11: 32-44, “When Mary saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. ‘Where have you put him?’ he asked them. They told him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ THEN JESUS WEPT. The people who were standing nearby said, ‘See how much he loved him!’ But some said, ‘This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?’ Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. ‘Roll the stone aside,’ Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, ‘Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.’ Jesus respond, ‘Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?’ So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.’ Then Jesus shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, ‘Unwrap him and let him go!'” Question – Did Jesus go there that day knowing Lazarus was dead? Yes. Did Jesus already plan to heal him, even in death? Absolutely. Did Jesus already know how he was going to turn their weeping into sheer joy when he brought life back to this dead body? Yes! So, why did he still weep? Answer – because Jesus was still walking through every moment with them. He allowed himself to feel the pain, to know the loss, even while fully knowing the way he was going to work it all out. He already had a plan, but in the ‘not yet’ of the plan, he wept too. And my friends, that’s where we are – We’re living in the ‘not yet’, but never forget there is a already a plan. A plan which God promises is good. A plan where God will take every intended harm and use it for good. A plan which ends with an eternal paradise spent with Jesus. Why do some prayers feel unanswered? Why do good things get taken away? Why do we go through loss? Jesus stood at Lazarus’ tomb, with tears running down his face. He KNEW death wasn’t the ending, but he still entered into the pain. He stood there with his friends as they ached, as they grieved. It was already done, already made good in the hands of the Father, already answered, already healed, already restored – BUT NOT YET. Your prayers have already been answered – but today you’re in the not yet. God already holds those answers for you and he’s so lovingly guiding your every step on the path to those answers. You’re simply on the journey there. The things that have been taken away, the losses you’ve experienced – God holds them so perfectly, not in punishment, but in His hands. He is not standing at a distance watching you suffer, waiting for you to finally make it to the other side. He is right here in the middle of it with you. He knows what you don’t know. He sees what you cannot see. He knows what is coming when all you can see is what has already happened. Every broken thing will be made whole again. The battle has already been won. Today, you hold on to the promise. Already … but not yet. And sometimes the miracle isn’t that God keeps us from the tomb. Sometimes, like Lazarus, we find ourselves standing in the middle of something that looks completely dead. We don’t understand why He didn’t come sooner. We don’t understand why He allowed it. We don’t understand why the stone is still there. But Je
- 4 days ago21 min
2201 Parable of the Friend In Need
Did you know in Jesus’ time of walking this earth and preparing his disciples to spread the gospel and reach the ends of the world with his offer of salvation, he never once taught them how to preach. He didn’t teach them how to organize a mission. He taught them this one thing … HOW TO PRAY. In teaching how to pray, we learn how to surrender to the Father, how to grow in trust, how to ask for his healing, seek his will, and follow his plan. All from the power of prayer. If Jesus puts this level of importance on prayer, we should too! He even gives us a way to pray – not a magic formula, but a guide for approaching our Holy God as our Father in Heaven. “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ‘ ” Immediately after Jesus shared this prayer example with his disciples, he followed it up with a parable showing HOW TO APPROACH GOD. As we now hear this story from Jesus, remember that’s what we’re learning. This is how we approach God in prayer. Luke 11: 5-10: Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.'” Again, what is Jesus teaching us through this story? HOW TO APPROACH GOD. This story can be confusing if you focus on the reluctant sleepy friend who doesn’t want to answer the door. That’s not the focus. The focus is on the man beating on the door at midnight asking. Asking is the point. The man knocking is not worried about being a nuisance. He’s not worried about being rejected. His need outweighs his embarrassment. Why do we hesitate to ask God, thinking he might be annoyed by us. We tell ourselves God has so many other more important things to deal with that he can’t possibly have time for our prayers too. Girl – God doesn’t fit in your little box! He’s not limited, he’s not overwhelmed, he’s not stressed, and he’s not annoyed. He created you to need him – Now admit that you do – CONSTANTLY! Do other people have bigger things they’re dealing with – Perhaps. But this isn’t a competition for the one with the most urgent crisis and the winner receives God’s help. This is an invitation to bring your needs to the Father and be personally attended to every single time. The man knocking on the door was asking for bread to share with his house guest – it wasn’t a life or death situation, yet he asked. And because he asked, he returned home with bread to share that night. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus would use an example like that? It wasn’t a mother beating on the door of a doctor begging for help for her dying child. It wasn’t a desperate plea for a bucket of water as their house was on fire. It wasn’t a midnight run for safety. It was a midnight run for bread to feed a guest – like a late night trip to the Walmart for a welcome snack to put on the table. THIS IS THE EXAMPLE JESUS USES FOR PRAYER. Yes, you should ask God for help with what you’re dealing with. Yes, you should ask God to provide for that. Yes, you should ask God to intervene when the situation feels impossible. But don’t wait until your life is falling apart to talk to God. Don’t wait until you’re starving to come knocking – Knock when you only need a little bread for a guest. That’s a little deal. But if you have a big deal, you can still come knocking! Just realize you didn’t have to wait until the need got so big – you could have asked all along. Ask him about the big things AND the little things. Ask him for wisdom about the decision you’re making. Ask him to help you know what to say in that conversation. Ask him to give you patience with that person who is driving you absolutely bananas. Ask him to provide what you need, even when what you need seems small and i
- 5 days ago22 min
2200 Parable of the Good Samaritan
One day while Jesus is teaching, an expert in religious law asks a question – “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life.” Today we think of eternal life solely as life after death – heaven. But this word ‘eternal’ was used as a particular QUALITY of life that comes from God. Eternal life was a life that could be had living right here and right now when living God’s way. This man was asking Jesus, how do I get God’s quality of life? How do I live better? The answer was, “you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind – AND – Love your neighbor as yourself”. And then Jesus is asked an important question – WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? It’s an honest question. If I’m going to follow Jesus’ instructions to love my neighbor as myself, I first need to understand who my neighbor is – then I need to understand what it would mean to love them as myself. And that’s where our next parable comes in. To explain who our neighbor is and how we are supposed to love them, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10: 30-37: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” So here we have a Jewish man who is attacked and left dying beside the road. The locals see him and walk by. They’re not only locals, but one is a priest and one is a temple assistant – they literally work for God – but they pass by the man in desperate need and don’t get involved. Then comes a “despised Samaritan”. To really understand this story, you have to understand why he would have been despised. A Samaritan was from the region of Samaria. Samaritans and Jews had a long history of hostility. They had deep religious and cultural differences, and there was tremendous prejudice and mistrust between them. They didn’t associate with one another the way you might expect neighbors to. So when Jesus tells a story about a Jewish man in need and makes a Samaritan the one who stops to help him, there is serious shock factor. The most unlikely one was the neighbor. The outsider was the neighbor. The one who was different and disliked was the neighbor. The one kept at a distance was the neighbor. And the people who saw the need, crossed to the other side of the road, and kept walking? They were not acting like neighbors. Remember, the original question was, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus turns that question completely upside down. The question isn’t simply, “Who qualifies to receive my love?” The better question is, “Am I willing to become a neighbor to the person in front of me?” And that brings us right back to the command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” My friends, how many times are we failing to love our neighbors as ourselves? And is it because we don’t know how to first love ourselves? Nope. That’s cheap. Don’t settle for that answer. This isn’t a self-love message. Quite honestly, most of us are so totally selfish, so completely wrapped up in our own feelings and desires that we only think of ourselves. Here’s the truth – you know how to care about yourself. You know how to make sure you have food to eat. You know how to protect yourself. You know how to make sure you’re comfortable. You know how to avoid things that inconvenience you. We really don’t have a problem loving ourselves. We have a unique way of making everything about ourselves. We take the command of loving others as ourselves and twist it into a self-love lesson on putting ourselves first so we can then love others better. Don’t twist this. Jesus is simply telling us to take that same concern we naturally have for ourselves and extend it outward. Loving our neighbor as ourself is having the same concern for others as we do for ourselves.
- 6 days ago22 min
2199 Parable of the Pharisee and Sinful Woman
Sometimes, to understand the meaning of a story Jesus told, you have to back up and understand the entire scene. For today’s parable, we can’t just jump into the story without looking at what happened right before it. The situation leading up to the parable is actually the key to understanding why Jesus told it in the first place. So, before we get to the story, let’s back up a little. What was happening? Who was Jesus talking to? What had just unfolded? And what was Jesus trying to teach them? Luke 7:36–50 has four parts: the setting, the problem, the parable, and the point. And when you put all four pieces together, you see that Jesus wasn’t simply telling a story about a sinful woman and a judgmental Pharisee. He was exposing something much deeper – the condition of the human heart. Let’s start with the setting. Jesus has been invited to dinner at the home of a Pharisee named Simon. While they are eating, a woman with a reputation for being sinful enters the room. In fact, scripture calls her a “certain immoral woman”. She brings an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, stands behind Jesus, and begins to weep. Her tears fall onto His feet, and she wipes them with her hair. Then she kisses His feet and pours the perfume over them. Can you imagine the scene? This woman walks into a room where she knows she is not exactly welcome, and she goes straight to Jesus. She isn’t concerned about what everyone else thinks. She isn’t trying to defend herself or explain her past. She simply comes to Jesus with a heart full of something – love, gratitude, repentance, desperation. And she pours it all out at His feet. But the Pharisee is watching. Here’s the problem: Instead of seeing a woman who has come to Jesus, the Pharisee sees a woman who doesn’t belong in the room. It says, “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘if this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!'” He has elevated himself to be better than this woman. Not only that, he is critical of her worship. What comes next you can’t miss. Verse 40, “Then JESUS ANSWERED HIS THOUGHTS. ‘Simon,’ he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.'” Notice the Simon hadn’t spoken a word about this woman, he had only been thinking these thoughts. But Jesus KNEW his thoughts and he addressed them. My friends, it really isn’t just about what you say, it is what you think and how you feel in your heart. Jesus knows – and he has something to say about it! Now, the parable, verses 41 & 42: “Then Jesus told him a story. ‘A man loaned money to two people – 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.’ ‘That’s right,’ Jesus said. Now, the point: Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins – and they are many – have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.’ Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ———— Want to dig deeper with me? This immoral woman with a reputation is believed to perhaps be Mary Magdalene, who was likely a prostitute. It took so much courage for her to show up at a Pharisee’s house where she knew she would be judged. But absolutely nothing could stop her love for Jesus. When the Pharisee saw her, all he could see was her sin. And while Jesus was fully aware of her sin, he saw her love, her repentance and her devotion. There’s a saying that Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin – God knows your sin but calls you by your name. What a reminder for our hearts – how are we calling people? Is it all about what they’ve done, or can we remember WHO they really are? Who they were created to be. How God sees them. Jesus knew this woman. He saw her heart, just as he saw the Pharisee’s heart. Why did she love Jesus so much? Well, think about this perspective for a moment – this likely wasn’t their first encounter. Before th
- 1 weeks ago19 min
2198 Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
Luke 13: 6-9, “Then Jesus told this story: ‘A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.'” This is a story about grace. But this is also a story about final chances. My friend, don’t waste God’s grace – you do have a role in this. Your role is fruit. God expects fruit. Just as a fig tree is expected to produce figs, as daughters of a good good Father, we are expected to grow good things in our lives. As girls who have received mercy, we are expected to be merciful. As girls who have been blessed, we are expected to become a blessing. Fruit is evidence of who you are and what you carry. Who you are is a girl who has been chosen and set apart by God. As a follower of Jesus, what you carry is the Holy Spirit. Yes, the same power that created the entire universe now lives within you, prompting you and willing you to do good things. His Spirit inside of us naturally grows good fruit in our lives called the fruits of the Holy Spirit: Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If these fruits are not growing in your life, there’s a problem. Just as it would be a problem for a fig tree not to grow figs, there’s a problem when you’re not growing in these good things. So, what’s the problem here? God wants to give you time to help you grow. The owner is right to expect fruit. The whole purpose of having an orchard or a vineyard is for the fruit. He’s not ridiculous or demanding – he’s righteous. And he’ even patient. Notice Jesus tells the story and says the owner had waited three years, but there hadn’t been a single fig grow on this tree. Three years. Three full seasons with nothing growing. The owner had been patient, but there was still no fruit. And the owner notices. Think of the owner as God – think of that fig tree as you. God sees you. He knows precisely where you are – afterall honey, he planted you. He is the one who gave you life. He chose you. And it was all for a purpose. You are here in his garden for the purpose of growing and producing goodness. Peace should be growing in your life. Patience should be multiplying. Kindness should be increasing. Faithfulness should be seen in you. Gentleness should be covering you. And self-control should be growing more and more. But if you’re not – God is asking why? He’s been watching and waiting. Graciously giving you more time. Three years, Jesus says. Three full seasons with nothing growing. Why is that? So, the gardener gets involved personally. Who is this gardener? Think of him as Jesus. Jesus takes a personal interest in you. He says, “Give her another chance. I’ll give her special attention.” Imagine that for a moment – Jesus is personally involved in caring for you so that you grow and produce goodness in your life. Jesus interceeds for us – he speaks to the Father for us. He asks for more time to be allotted for us. Looking back, I see years I’ve wasted. Years I was self-absorbed in selfish pursuits and producing a whole lot of nothing good in my life. Years when my priorities were so out of alignment that the Holy Spirit had no space to grow anything in me. And yet, Jesus personally attended to me. He patiently worked with me. He gave me chance after chance, until finally I began to grow as I was created to. Can you see how patient God has been with you? Can you see the work Jesus has done for you personally? Can you see the seasons of stupidity Jesus has walked through with you, never giving up? Imagine the times Jesus must have interceeded for you – “Father, I know she doesn’t look like it right now, but with a little more time and care, she’s going to grow. Her fruit is coming. Let me work with her.” You and I have been covered in grace and mercy. For all the times we didn’t get it right, we were given another chance. For all the times we didn’t show up the way we were supposed to, we were given grace. For all the times we were trying to be something we were never created to be, we were gently reminded who we really are. But remember this, mercy doesn’t eliminate accountability. The gardener asks for more time for this struggling tree, but with time the tree is still expected to produce fruit. The tree isn’t offered this precious spac
- 1 weeks ago19 min
2197 Parable of the Patch and the Wineskins
The Bible can be confusing – It can also be so powerful it will radically change your life. There are some books in the Old Testament you can flip to that seem so rigid and so impossible, that a life following God is unattainable. Then there are books in the New Testament filled with overflowing mercy and grace that perfectly cover your every imperfection. So which is it – rigid and impossible, or, mercy and grace? Actually, I believe it’s both. It’s old and it’s new. It’s what we could never live up to, so it’s what Jesus died for. It’s what was expected of us, and what was done for us. There are many pages of my Bible in the Old Testament where I’ve written in bold letters across the print “JESUS”. The first 15 chapters of the book of Leviticus were specific instructions given to Moses from God to redeem his people and make them holy. There’s procedures for the burnt offering, procedures for the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, contaminations and purifications and discharges. This was the Old Covenant with God for an unholy people. Countless things they had to do, ceremonies and offerings with elaborate steps to make them good enough for a Holy God. And guess what … we couldn’t do it. The truth is, we could never make ourselves holy. We could never get it right and keep it right. And for THIS, we have JESUS!!!!!!!! So, on these pages of procedures and offerings I have written JESUS. Not to cancel God’s requirements, but to remind myself that Jesus fulfilled all of those requirements for me. THE OFFERING HAS BEEN MADE FOR ME. When I needed an offering to cover my sin, Jesus made the offering of his life for me. When I need an offering for my guilt, Jesus made the offering with his blood. Ephesians 1: 4-7 tells me that God loves me and chooses me in Jesus to be made HOLY without fault in his eyes. Praise God for his glorious grace he pours out on us who belong to Jesus. He purchased MY FREEDOM with the blood of Jesus and forgives my sins. And with this, the Old Covenant was fulfilled and we are given a New Covenant with Jesus. We’re not living trying to patch up the old, we’re dwelling in the new, covered in the new, free in the new! It was a very hard concept for everyone to understand in the days of Jesus. All they had known for every generation before them was rules and regulations and offerings trying to make them good enough for God. But Jesus comes as God in the flesh and says, “Now we’re doing something NEW!” To help them understand, Jesus tells 2 stories about the old and the new. First, the story of the patch. Mark 2: 21, “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.” Clothing in Jesus’ day was all wool and linen – both of them shrink when washed. You would intentionally make something larger than needed because as you washed it, you knew it was going to get smaller and smaller. So what would happen if you got a hole in your linen robe that’s been washed 100 times and you patched it with a brand new piece of linen cloth? Well, it would make a real mess! You can’t make something old right again with something new. You either have to start over with something totally new – or cut a patch of linen from old cloth to fix the old hole. What is Jesus telling the people here? He’s telling them he didn’t come to patch up the Old Covenant between God and his people. He didn’t come to patch up where they continually fell short of God’s requirements. Once he fulfilled the law, he was giving them something brand new! A New Covenant. And what is this New Covenant between us and God? It is total forgiveness. Jesus shed his blood on the cross to pay for all human sins once and for all. It’s a transformed heart. In this new covenant, God places his Holy Spirit inside his believers, changing our hearts to help us live according to his will. It’s living by grace, realizing salvation is a free gift received through faith, not something we could earn by following strict rules. And finally, it’s direct relationship. We no longer require a mediator to speak on our behalf in the Temple – we can have a relationship with God through Jesus. This was a radical shift for everyone hearing Jesus. What? We’re not patching up the old law that we keep failing at? You’re telling us you’re offering something totally new? Something we could never earn. Something that makes us forever good enough?!!!!! So Jesus tells a follow up story to paint the picture further. Mark 2:22, “And no one puts new wine in
- 1 weeks ago19 min
2196 Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders
Matthew 7: 24-27, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is build on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Jesus tells a simple story, but its message is anything but simple. Two people build two houses. One builds on rock. The other builds on sand. Both houses look fine when the sun is shining. Both appear strong. But everything changes when the storm comes. The rain pours. The floodwaters rise. The winds beat against both houses. And suddenly, the difference between the two builders becomes obvious. On the coast of Southern California are gorgeous homes built along the cliff of the Pacific Ocean. Their views are priceless – but the homes are now worthless. Why? Because they’re literally falling into the ocean. The sandy cliffs are crumbling with each storm that comes through. They’re for sale but no one will buy them. Why is that? Because they’re now a huge liability and inevitably doomed. One home fell into the ocean and the owners were fined $100,000 per day until the mess was cleaned up. You know what this tells us – building your home on the wrong foundation is entirely too costly! We can’t afford that, my friends! One of my favorite retreat houses was a mansion in Cape Cod. It was absolutely stunning, sitting on a peninsula all by itself with views for miles of water from every window in the house. We were the last people to get to stay in that mansion because the sandy bluff it was built on collapsed. The entire house was torn down knowing it wouldn’t survive the next storm. Who would build a house on land like that? Oh girl, when you’re focused on that view, it’s easy to be fooled. That makes me question – what would fool me? Success has fooled me in the past. Looks have fooled me in the past. Money has fooled me several times. I’ve been a fool building great things on the sand more than once – have you? It all has a real special way of crumbling and leaving a massive mess. Jesus says the wise builder is the person who listens to His teaching and follows it. The foolish builder is the person who hears His teaching but doesn’t obey it. Did you catch that? The difference isn’t who heard Jesus. They both heard Him. The difference was what they did with what they heard. That makes this parable intensely personal. You and I are the builders and we’re choosing our foundations today. Will what we are doing today last – or will it be another mess to clean up when it crumbles? It’s possible to know God’s Word without building your life on it. We can hear a sermon, highlight a verse, and even agree with everything Jesus says – and then walk away and live according to our own wisdom and our own feelings. We can get fooled by the views and build on the sand. Jesus says that’s foolish. This is huge – make a note – Information isn’t the foundation. Obedience is. (Let’s make sure you really get that – information is not your foundation. Information will not save you. Obedience is. Hearing about Jesus is not enough. Knowing his word isn’t enough. You have to do something with this!) Maybe you know Jesus says to forgive, but you’re still holding tightly to that hurt. Maybe you know He tells you not to worry, but anxiety is still controlling your thoughts. Maybe you know He tells you to love your enemies, but you’ve decided someone is the exception. Maybe you know He tells you to trust Him, but you’re desperately trying to control an outcome He never asked you to control. You know what He says. But are you building your life on it? Jesus is our solid rock. Psalm 18:2 says, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior.” When Jesus is our foundation, we have something solid beneath us when everything around us begins to shake. (And shake it will.) Notice something very important about Jesus’ story: Both houses experienced the storm. The house on the rock wasn’t protected from the rain. The flood still rose. The wind still beat against it. Following Jesus doesn’t mean you’ll never have a storm. You will. I seemed to miss that truth early in my journey with Jesus. I was shocked when our business fell apart. I was absolutely shocked when we couldn’t pay the bills. I couldn’t understand why we weren’t protected from those hardships. Somewhere along the way, I had formed an expectation that i
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