Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR MARCH 30TH​

Busybodies​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: 2 THESSALONIANS 3:10-15

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-11

Notice that it is not, if any cannot work, but if any will not work. People who cannot work because there is no work, also need our help. Paul is not talking about such conditions. But there are always a few who could work, but are deliberately keeping away from it because they have found it is easier to beg, or to rip off someone with a clever story.

A man came by not long ago and asked one of our elders for money. The elder gave him a small amount, and watched him as he went to the next church down the line, and then headed for the next one. This particular elder did not think that was right. He confronted the man, saying, Look, I gave you money in good faith because I thought you needed it, but here you are now going to the next church, and you probably plan to go right on down the line. He told him that was an action that was not acceptable.

The reason the apostle says to take this drastic action — to let them starve if they are not really willing to work — is because he wanted to prevent something worse. He says people who will not work become busybodies, i.e. meddlers, people who concern themselves with other people's affairs. Such people try to get involved with things they have no business getting involved with, and go around generally stirring up trouble. Those who will not work, if they are not busy, become busybodies! This is the point Paul is making.

What is it about working that the apostle (and the Lord himself) sees as so valuable, that he would take all this time to deal with it? Work is divinely intended to give us a sense of self-worth. When you are working, you feel like you are accomplishing something. When you are laid off and unable to work, you feel out of sorts and unable to function as you were intended. It is psychologically upsetting to be without work. This is a testimony to the fact that God made us to work. Work, therefore, is not a curse. It is a very valuable thing because it gives us a sense of meaning for our lives.

As a young man in the '30s, living in the heart of the Great Depression, I knew of thousands of men like myself who were out of work. There was no work to be found anywhere. The government came up with a solution that, as I look back upon it, was a marvelous help. They created, under Franklin D.Roosevelt, the Civilian Conservation Corps. Camps, rather like military camps, were built for young people, mostly young men, where they were fed and clothed but were also given regular work to do. It was simple work. They built reservoirs and dams around the country and helped the farmers with their crops. They were paid a minimum amount of money, but I can testify, having seen it in the case of several of my friends, that they were saved from a sense of worthlessness by the work they were given.

Grant me discernment, Lord, to know when to help someone and when to encourage them to work, knowing that in the end this will help them the most.

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Life Application​

Is there a way you can elevate the dignity of someone by helping them find meaningful work?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR MARCH 31ST​

The Lord of Peace​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: 2 THESSALONIANS 3:16-18

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
2 Thessalonians 3:16-18

The promise of God is that, no matter what our problem is, we can have peace in solving it! At times I have had to say to someone, I will be glad to help you, but you have another problem that has to be solved first, and that is your lack of peace. You are a believer, but you are not at peace, and you will never solve the other problem until you learn how to have peace.

When they were caught up in storms in the Sea of Galilee, Jesus told the disciples, Fear not, for I am with you (Matthew 8:24-26). I am in control, he was saying. This boat is not going to sink. The Lord of the ocean is in it. Do not be afraid. I am not going to stop the storm, but I will see you through it.

The Lord of peace himself is with you! We have the right to take from him a peaceful mind and attitude, and remind ourselves that he is with us and will help us work this out. Then you can come at the problem with a quite different attitude.

In closing, as he does in so many of his letters, he says, I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. Paul apparently had trouble with bad eyes. Many feel that his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7) was poor eyesight. Thus, when he wrote letters he usually dictated them to one of the men who traveled with him. But when he came to the close of his letters, he would take the pen and, as he tells us in another place, write with large letters these words, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. That, he says, is the mark of authenticity in his letters.

It is more than that. It is also the mark that these letters are the very Word of God itself. The apostle everywhere stated that the doctrines he taught, the facts he imparted, the advice and counsel he gave, was not his own. It was God himself speaking through the man. Even in that early day people were imitating that, writing letters supposedly from Paul and signing his name to them. But when he wrote with large letters the words, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, that, he said, is the mark of genuineness; no one can imitate this. When you get a letter like that, says Paul, you know it is written by me.

The apostle has made his appeal to us to keep working, to occupy until the Lord comes, to face the problems of life, and to handle them all with the sense that the Lord of peace himself will give us peace in all ways and at all times. What better benediction could we ask!

I confess, Lord, that all too often I react to problems filled with worry and fear, missing out entirely on your peace. Teach me to surrender to you, the Lord of peace! Thank you that you are in control and will work for my good.

​

Life Application​

Are you frantically seeking a solution to life's inevitable problems, assuming that THEN you will experience the peace of God? Could this be why you are going through this trial, so that you will seek first the Lord of peace?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 1ST​

What Is The Home?​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 13

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

As we let our mind run through the teaching of the word of God, it must become immediately evident that the basic quality of a home is love. A home without love is no home at all; it's just a place to live, a place to change your clothes and catch a bite to eat, and get ready for the next outing. But homes are places where love reigns, otherwise they're not homes.

It begins with the love of a man and his wife for each other. When I stand at a wedding altar and join together two people who are beginning a home, it is obvious they love each other. You can see it in their faces as they exchange vows. This is the true beginning of a home, and as children come along in homes, that love broadens out to include every single child.

But in many homes today, love is gone. Each party in the home is concerned with their own interests and has forgotten that the basic ingredient essential to home life is to be concerned with each other's interests instead. Many homes exist on the basis of trying to preserve order, if nothing else. I think of the man with a military background who would get his family up every morning and line them up and give them orders for the day. He would give them out and say, Any questions? And for the most part no one dared ask any questions. But after several long years of this, finally his eight year old boy raised his hand. The father said to him, All right, what do you want to know? The boy said, How do you get out of this outfit? You can't blame him for asking that!

The problem with many homes is that they think there is love, but it's only self concern. Love is a misunderstood quality. Unfortunately, under the perverted impact of much of Hollywood's production we have a false concept of love. We think that love is sort of a warm feeling, but love is acceptance and self-giving. This is why Christians have the greatest possibility for a happy home — Christians are continually experiencing this kind of love from God. He accepts us, doesn't he? He loves us, he doesn't get sarcastic with us, nor treat us with disdain. He loves us even though our behavior doesn't meet with his approval.

Love is making time to be with one another, talk to one another, and share one another's interests. Otherwise, how can love be self-giving? Self-giving requires time, and in our modern homes this is one of the major problems. There's so little time to be together. If the home begins to suffer in this respect, then time must be made to be together in order that love may have its healing effect. We need to talk and share and work together, and the happiest homes are always homes where a family makes the effort to be together and to share together. This doesn't come by demanding time, it comes by giving time. As you begin this in your home, it makes it easier for the rest in the home to share as well. So love is the first ingredient of an ideal home.

Father, thank you for the privilege of having a home where I belong, a place of love which calls to mind the dearest memories of my life because there I was loved. I pray that my home will be a place where love dwells.

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Life Application​

What can I do to nurture a climate of sacrificial love in my home?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 2ND​

A Home is Built on Truth​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: PROVERBS 24:3-4

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.
Proverbs 24:3

A very important quality of a home is truth. The basic element of happiness is honesty. And that's why hypocrisy, deceit, and lying are all great enemies of the home and ultimately will destroy a home if permitted to continue. Our homes ought to be places where we look at life as it really is.

The society in which we live is based upon certain fundamental concepts that are false. The philosophy of life which we pick up from the world today is based upon lies. We have to learn that they are lies. We don't learn that at school; much of school is based upon a lie, though not all of it. Education is the search for truth. But nonetheless, the basic concepts are lies and we must learn this. The world around us is continually trying to squeeze us into its mold, and that mold is based upon an illusion. The function of the home, under God, is to expose this fantasy, to unveil its falseness and set the record straight. The home can be very effective in this regard.

The home should be the place where fuzzy values are set straight, false outlooks are corrected, and shoddy practices are exposed. But instead of using our homes to expose falsehood and set values straight, we often allow the world's lies right into the home with no effort at correction. Television and the internet are a couple of ways this happens. I don't mean that we should throw them out. Rather than turning off a program that you feel offensive, I suggest that you show it to your family and help them to see what is wrong with it as you go along. One of the great problems in this respect is the tendency on the part of Christians to overprotect children from exposure to the way the world is, and therefore they have no basis for correction.

If the home is the place of truth, then responsibility for education along this line rests with the home, not with the schools. The ultimate responsibility for unveiling falsehood lies with the home, not with the school. If we can change the school, fine, let's do it, but if it can't be done it still remains the parent's responsibility.

With regard to truth, the Bible plays a tremendous part because in this book we have truth undiluted. Here we see things exactly as they are. The great value of this book is that it's continually tearing away the veil from some alluring thing that looks good but on the inside is wrong. Scripture is the only thing that speaks the truth in every situation and as such, belongs in the center of the home. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. That is, I am the absolute unsullied representation of things as they really are, as God is the ultimate reality. I am the ultimate expression of all that He is. Therefore Paul says in Colossians: In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). This is why the Bible must be central in our home, not in some mechanical way of reading, but in genuinely laying hold of its values and putting them to work in the home. The purpose of truth is to set us free. Jesus said, You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). And if the Son shall make you free, it will be a superlative freedom. You shall be free indeed.

Father, thank you for this gift of truth as seen in Jesus and the Scriptures. Make my home a place where truth reigns. Amen.

​

Life Application​

What am I doing to protect my family from falsehood and establish us on the foundation of God's truth?


Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 3RD​

The Need for Struggle​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 5:1-5

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame…
Romans 5:3-5a

Struggle is necessary for a solid home. One of the most deadly enemies of a successful home is the attitude that parents often take, which is I don't want my children to go through what I had to go through. I'm going to make things easy for them, I'm going to let them have things that I never had. But it is far better to endure hardship than it is to make life so easy that there is no struggle at all, for nothing destroys character like the absence of struggle in human life. I am convinced that the major source of weakness in our Christian homes is the desire of parents to keep children from making mistakes. We think that if we can keep them from making mistakes until they are grown up, they won't make any mistakes at all, but this is a fallacy. What happens is that they grow up and they have no defenses at all with which to meet the temptations to make mistakes, and they make them all around, every day, and they have no way of overcoming them.

The glory of the way of our Lord's treatment of the disciples is to see how he let them make mistakes and experience difficulty. Do you remember that he said to Peter one day, Peter, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat (Luke 22:31). Evidently he had granted permission for Satan to sift Peter, tempt him and test him. And He said, I pray for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. He stood by, figuratively, with his arms folded and let Peter go down into the crushing mill of temptation and experience that awful pressure until he denied his Lord and cursed and swore and fled into the night. But when he came back, he came back repentant and ready to listen.

What is discipline? It's programmed struggle. An athlete disciplines himself by setting up certain obstacles and opposing to his body certain forces, struggling against odds, that he might discipline his body and make it therefore more effective. That's what discipline is. Therefore a parent that withholds discipline, wise, loving discipline from his child, is destroying that child, weakening him, tearing away his foundation and making it impossible for him to grow in strength. Character is only built by struggle. Scripture says that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope, and hope doesn't make ashamed. That is, when you come to the end of the process, there is something to be proud of, something to be glad over, and that's what tribulation is for. Struggle is part of life, and although it needs to be controlled in the home it ought definitely to be introduced in order to develop character. And therefore one expression of love will be wise discipline.

Thank you, Lord, for how you have allowed me to experience struggle and failure through it in order to grow deeper in my walk with you. Grant me the wisdom to allow you to do that same work in the lives of my loved ones.

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Life Application​

Do I let my loves ones make mistakes and experience the consequences?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 4TH​

Sharing Life Together​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:18-20

The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:18

The first thing clear from this passage is that woman was made to be man's companion. We know today that one of the most shattering emotions of which human beings are capable is that of loneliness. When God pronounced a sentence of not good upon man's condition, it was the interjection of the first negative element in the story of creation. Up to now everything had been pronounced good, and on the sixth day of creation God said that everything he had done was very good. But now we read that it was not good for man to be alone, indicating that it never was God's intention for man to be alone, that from the very beginning he intended to make two sexes in the making of man.

For a human to exist, whether man or woman, in loneliness there always is a shattering threat to the happiness and welfare of that individual. Loneliness is one of the greatest causes of suicide in this country, and it is undoubtedly the most widespread source of human misery in the world today. Yet it is a perfectly human experience. Each of us has felt at times the need for human companionship. God made us that way. We need one another. God knows that we need one another, and he provides others for us. It is clear from this passage that the chief, although not the sole, answer to the loneliness of man is the making of woman; man and woman together in marriage. One of the primary purposes of marriage is to provide companionship, a sharing of life together.

The second intent expressed here on the part of God was that woman should be a helper to man, someone to share not only his life as a companion but his work and responsibilities as well. This has been true from the very beginning of man's existence: men and women designed to work together. Perhaps there is nothing more destructive to marriage than the attitude that exists in many homes, which regards the man as having his area of responsibility, such as his office, his work, etc., and the woman having hers, the home, the children, etc., and there is little or no sharing together in these areas. It is always a destructive element in any home or marriage for either mate to feel that they have a private realm to the exclusion of the other. The man has nothing much to say around the home; the woman has nothing to do with her husband's work. This is terribly wrong. God made woman to be a helper to man and to share with him a mutual concern and responsibility, though necessarily they might have different assignments because of the nature of their work.

Thank you, Lord, for recognizing my deep need for companionship. Help me to express deep companionship with my spouse, if married, and other brothers and sisters in Christ, if not.

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Life Application​

Am I aware of my need for human companionship? Who has God brought into my life to meet this deepest need? How can I show appreciation to them?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 5TH​

The Making of a Woman​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:18-20

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
Genesis 2:19-20

Here we have what logicians call a non sequitur, something that apparently has no relationship to that which has gone before; it does not seem to follow. In verse 18, God says that he intends to make a woman as a helper for Adam. Then we read of how the Lord brought every beast and bird to him to see what he would name them. How does that follow God's intent to make a helper to man? There must be a connection here. God gave Adam a project to work out before he was ready for marriage. Doubtless it was in order to show him that his wife was to be quite different from the animals. Many men have not learned that yet, but it is clear that this was the intent of God in setting man upon this search.

What did he learn as he examined the animals? Perhaps he learned first that woman is not to be a mere beast of burden, as so often she has become in the history of the race since. There are societies where women are treated exactly like animals, where the price of a woman is approximately the price of a cow. But this is a violation of what Adam learned in the beginning. Adam did not find in the animals a helper fit for him. Eve, when she appeared, was quite different. Therefore woman is not to be treated as a slave, there to do all the work in a household.

Adam also learned in his search that woman is not to be for the producing of children. Obviously it is women who bear children, but they are not to be like the animals who bear progeny as almost their sole reason for existence. Women are not to be like that. Again, one of the most destructive ideas that has been spread among mankind has been this teaching that the first and primary reason for marriage is the production of children. The Bible does not reflect that at all.

Third, Adam learned in his search that woman is not a thing outside himself to be used as he sees fit and then disposed of, as man uses animals. The woman was to be a helper fit for him, corresponding to him. Many view a woman as nothing more than a disposable plaything for man — you use them like you would a Kleenex and then toss them away. But this passage contradicts that. Woman is to be a helper and a companion, fit for man, corresponding exactly to his needs, constantly able to adjust to the changes that come in him. She is therefore not to be treated as some mere disposable thing. That gives us a look at the intent of God in making woman.

Thank you, Lord, for your wisdom in creating male and female in your image. Forgive me for sometimes failing to see that your plan is good and that you made woman as an essential complement to man. Amen.

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Life Application​

Do I recognize the wisdom of God in creating humanity as two distinct and complementary genders to reflect his image?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 6TH​

Boy Meets Girl​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:21-25

The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:23-24

What a scene that must have been! Here is the first of a long series of Boy Meets Girl stories. Out of this condensed account of this encounter, there emerge four factors that are essential to marriage. The first is that marriage is to involve a complete oneness. The two are to be one. Adam's first reaction, when he saw his wife, was of her being one with him. This is strengthened when it says, and they shall become one flesh. It is not without reason that this has become part of the marriage service, this recognition of unity. As someone has well said, the one word above all that makes marriage successful is ours. Things belong to us. Thus, as the New Testament so wisely points out, the man who hurts his wife is hurting himself. He may not feel it directly, but down the line the result of it will show in his life, because she is genuinely sharing one life with him. They become one flesh.

The second thing that is brought out here is the Biblical principle of headship, which is developed at much greater length in the New Testament. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Paul enlarges on this in his letter to Timothy, to point out that man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. It is the man who is ultimately responsible before God for the character of the home. It is the man who must exercise leadership in determining the direction in which the home should go, and must therefore answer for that leadership before God. The woman's responsibility is to acknowledge this leadership. One of the most serious threats to marriage today is that men are abdicating the role of leadership in the home, leaving it up to the wife to raise the children. They are refusing to be fathers to their children and husbands to their wives, wanting rather to be sons to another mother and to have their own needs ministered to.

Then the third factor indicated here which characterizes true marriage is permanence. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. This is a strong word. In the Hebrew text it is the word dabag, which means to adhere firmly, as if with glue. In the days of Henry Ford and the Model T, someone asked him to what formula he attributed his successful marriage. He said, The same formula as the making of a successful car: stick to one model. A husband is to cleave to his wife. He forsakes all others and adheres to her. Whatever she may be like, he is to hold to her, stay with her, and she with him. Marriage is a permanent thing.

As always, Father, I feel the searching quality of your word as it exposes to me my weakness. But it sets before me also great possibilities as I submit myself to the wisdom reflected in your word. Grant to me now a submissive heart and restored confidence in you. Amen.

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Life Application​

Have I recognized God's true intent for marriage as seen in God's purposes of oneness, headship and permanence?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 7TH​

What is Sex?​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:21-25

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24

Here we come to the divinely intended boundaries of sex. Simply because sex is so total, it must be fulfilled only under conditions which make a total union possible — in a word, marriage! In marriage it is intended that a woman give her husband all that she is and has, and the husband likewise. The woman gives up her old life with her parents, her home. She renounces her father's name and takes her husband's name. She leaves behind her past; in a very real sense, she begins life totally anew in a wholly different environment. Likewise, the husband gives his wife everything — his name, his life, his interests, his body — all. Their lives are intended to merge and blend until they become indistinguishable. That is what becoming one flesh means.

The Lord Jesus confirmed the importance of this when, asked to pronounce upon marriage and divorce, he said, Remember, in the beginning, God made them male and female that they might become one flesh (Matthew 19:4-5). That is the great purpose of marriage. Anything short of this is destructive. This is the whole point about sex outside of marriage. It is not mere whim that causes God to forbid extra-marital sex, as the critics of Christian views of sex maintain, but it is God's love and concern for humanity that leads him to make this prohibition.

Premarital and extra-marital sex is a way of cheating yourself of the full glory that is intended for men and women in sex. As in all the rest of life, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. One destroys the opportunity for the other. Every experience of sex outside of marriage destroys something of the totality possible within marriage: That is an inviolable law of life. This is why Paul writes to the churches and says to stay completely clear of immorality and fornication. Paul says, For, for this cause comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience (Ephesians 5:3-11). The wrath of God, in this context, is not a lightning bolt from heaven. Rather it is the deterioration of life, the brutalizing of humanity, the vulgarizing of life. The reason we are suffering from the terrible tempest of mental anguish today is because we have disregarded these restrictions. God has not placed them there to torment us, but to protect us. We cannot give ourselves in totality to another person except as we give everything — our name, our position, our place, our home, our heart, our life, everything! Because we cannot do that in sex outside of marriage, we treat our partners in that kind of sex as though they were simply objects for our own satisfaction. We do not see them any longer as human beings, but we treat them as things designed to give satisfaction to us. They become objects of pleasure, only. Thus we become something less than human.

May I bring my sexuality to you, Lord Jesus, and place it under your control, that in the glory of your Lordship it may take on that beauty and radiance that is thy intention for it. In Christ's name, amen.

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Life Application​

Am I living within God's intended boundaries for sex?
Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 8TH​

Sex In Marriage​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 7:1-9

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.
1 Corinthians 7:1-2

The Corinthians had communicated to Paul an important question: In view of the sexual temptations we face in Corinth, is it perhaps better to take a vow of celibacy, to renounce marriage for life, and to withdraw from all contact with the opposite sex? That question probably arose from the difficulty that some were having with handling their sexual drives. They were living in a sexually-oriented society, much like what we have today. They were facing exposure to temptation in these areas every time they turned around, just as we do today, and some of them were saying, Well, rather than struggle all the time, why not just forget the whole thing and get away from the opposite sex and live as a monk?

This is an attitude that is commonly felt and held. This gave rise to monasticism in the Middle Ages. People withdrew from all contact in this area, viewing sex itself as defiling, dirty, and unworthy. They viewed the celibate state as a higher level of spirituality. But it did not work, and it never will work. It never is God's intention for the sexes to live separately. Monasticism proved to be a disaster, as it always proves. You cannot run away from drives that are within you, and Scripture recognizes this.
The apostle's answer is that there is nothing wrong with celibacy; it is all right to be single. He stresses that right at the beginning. Nevertheless, because of the temptations that abound, marriage is preferable. Some take that to mean that Paul had a very low view of marriage, that it was a kind of second best state of affairs, but that misses the whole thrust of this passage.
It is true that the apostle was unmarried himself, at least at this time, and he glories in it. But now, he says marriage, and sex within marriage, is right too. Sex within marriage does permit relief from sexual pressures. He does not suggest that you should get married in order to be free from sex drives. What he's saying is that, when you are married, it does free you in this area.

It helps to be married when you live in a sex-oriented society. This answers the claims of some that sex was given to us only for procreation purposes. It is clear from a passage like this where married couples are urged, even commanded, to experience sex together, not just once in a great while when a child is desired. Sex has another function within marriage, which is to provide mutual pleasure to one another. Sex in marriage is given to us for the mutual pleasure of those involved. Within those marriage bonds, sex is designed to be an exquisite pleasure which a married couple experiences as frequently as they mutually desire. This is what is meant in Hebrews 13:4 where it says, Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.

Father, thank you for the frankness with which your word deals with these matters. Teach me the beauty and the glory and the joy of sexuality. Help me to learn how to express it in ways that give honor to you and fulfill your intention for me. Amen.

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Life Application​

Do I have a healthy, biblical view of sexuality? What factors in my life have contributed to how I feel about this area of my life?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 9TH​

A Beautiful Reciprocity​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 7:1-9

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:3-4

The thrust of this paragraph is telling us that sex in marriage is designed for the fulfillment of each partner. There are several important statements in this paragraph to bear in mind when thinking about that: First, you will notice that Paul does not say to the husband and the wife, Demand your own sexual rights. He never puts it in that way, and yet in scores of cases one of the major problems of the marriage is that one partner, usually the man, demands his sexual rights from his wife. Nothing, perhaps, is more destructive to marital happiness than that — for the male to come and demand that his wife submit to him in this area, whenever he feels like it. To mistake and mistreat the passage where it speaks of the wife not ruling over her own body and thinking of this as giving license to the husband to demand sex whenever he wants it, is to destroy the whole beauty of sex in marriage. Nothing is more hurtful to a relationship than that.

What Paul says is that what you have the right to do is to give him or her, as a gift from you, the fulfillment of these sexual desires — and the responsibility you have is not to your mate, but to the Lord to do so. It is a matter that Paul puts on the basis of the relationship that a believer has with the Lord. It is the Lord who asks us to give this gift to our mates in marriage. Sex in marriage is a gift that you are to freely offer to each other. It is not a selfish, self-centered satisfying of your own desire.

If we understand that, it is going to make a big difference in many marriages, and if you reflect on it a moment, you will see why. Sex is given to us to teach us how to relate to one another. It is designed by God in order to teach us how to relate and fulfill the basic law of life, which Jesus put in these terms when he said, If you attempt to save your life, you will lose it (Matthew 16:25). If you try to meet your own need, if you put that first in your life, the result will be that you will lose the joy of life and you will lose everything you are trying to gain. Instead of finding fulfillment you will find emptiness, and you will end your years looking back upon a wasted experience. You cannot get fulfillment that way. That is not merely good advice — that is a law of life, as inviolable as the law of gravity. The only way to find your needs met and yourself fulfilled is to fulfill another's needs. This is what sex is all about. It is designed not to have your needs met, but to meet another's needs. Thus, in marriage, you have a beautiful reciprocity. In the process of devoting yourself to the enjoyment of your mate, and to giving him or her the most exquisite sense of pleasure that you can, you find your own needs met.

Father, may my marriage increasingly become a beautiful picture of a deep relationship, of the harmony of two different lives becoming one beautiful and attractive person. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Do I view sex as an opportunity to give to my spouse, or is my focus on getting my own need met?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 10TH​

Not Ashamed​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:21-25

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:25

This speaks clearly of openness between man and wife, literally, nothing to hide. They have no secrets, nothing that they do not share with each other, an openness. It is the failure to achieve this kind of openness that lies behind so much breakdown in marriage today, the utter breakdown of communication, where two sit and look at one another and say nothing, or talk about merely surface trivialities, reporting what happened to the children, etc., but with no discussion of their problems, or what they are thinking on various issues. Oftentimes this is why they are so judgmental with one another, each one trying to get the other to agree and not being willing to allow differences of viewpoint to exist. But openness does not mean agreeing or feeling the same. It means a readiness to share with one another, completely, without insisting that the other reflect the same attitude.

There is to be a complete freedom of communication, one with the other. Marriages shrivel and die when this is not true.
What is the result of all this? There was an openness between them so that they hid nothing from one another. What was the result? The text says they were not ashamed. Well, if they were not ashamed, what were they? What is the opposite of being ashamed? It is to be relaxed. We would use the term well adjusted. They felt at ease with each other. There was no strain in their marriage. They were fully at ease with one another. Is that not what we strive for in marriage?

Let me share with you some helpful words in this respect that were once addressed to a husband and wife: Preserve sacredly the privacies of your own house, your marriage state, and your heart. Let no father or mother or sister or brother ever presume to come between you, or to share the joys or sorrows that belong to you alone. With mutual help build your quiet world, not allowing your dearest earthly friend to be the confidant of aught that concerns your domestic peace. Let moments of alienation, if they occur, be healed at once. Never, no, never speak of it outside, but to each other confess and all will come out right. Never let the morrow's sun find you still at variance. Renew and renew your vow; it will do you good and thereby your minds will grow together, contented in that love which is stronger than death, and you will be truly one.

Make of my home, Lord, a place where children are delighted to stay home and share times of fellowship with their father and mother, where friends look forward to coming, where peace, harmony, and joy prevail, and grace is manifest in every day's activities. Amen.

​

Life Application​

What am I doing to create an atmosphere of transparency?
Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 11TH​

A Curriculum for the Home​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Here is the curriculum for the home. This marks the difference between a Christian home and a secular home. A Christian home is to teach about God, and about our relationship to God, which is to characterized by love.

We have been in homes where there is no testimony to God or recognition of him at all. They may be orderly homes, moral homes, loving homes where the children are obviously well adjusted and able to cope with life. Often, if you investigate a home like that, you will find that just a generation or so back there has been a deep-seated Christian conviction somewhere in that family. Secular homes of that character are living on the capital of faith which has been invested by a previous generation. This is what our whole nation has been doing. We have been living on the spiritual bank account of our forefathers. But decades ago we ran out, and the glue which has held us together as a people is beginning to disintegrate. Now even the basics of raising children are being lost. That is why the central teaching emphasized here in this paragraph is that the Christian family must begin, and end, and have its being, in facing the fact of the oneness of God, the fact that God is at the heart of all things. God provides the place to begin to solve the riddle of existence.

This encompasses more than the mere fact that he exists. But the Scriptures exhort us to understand that the Lord our God is one Lord. So the heart of this curriculum is that at the center of the universe there is a single intelligent Being. The beginning of understanding, wisdom and knowledge is the recognition of this great, intelligent Being who sits at the heart of all things. What this means in terms of our experience is that all the riddle of life is explained by the unfolding and self-disclosure of God to us. Christian homes must start by understanding that God defines and reveals reality, that we can't tell the difference between illusion and the real thing apart from him.

We must also recognize our responsibility to him, which is that of trustful obedience. That is what love is. It is giving yourself to someone or something. What you love, you give yourself to. And giving yourself is obedience. So when you love God you give yourself to him, you obey him, you trust him and thus obey what he says. Love is trustful obedience. It is doing what he says. That is why Jesus said to his disciples, If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). Love and trustful obedience are the same thing. That trustful obedience is the natural outgrowth of love.

I love you, Lord, and bow before you as the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the center of the universe who defines reality.

​

Life Application​

How can I build my home upon the reality that the Lord our God is One Lord and we are to love him with all our being?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 12TH​

Where to Start​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Deuteronomy 6:6

It is no surprise that this passage tells us where to begin. The place to start is with the parents: These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. This is the place to start — not with your children, with you. And right at this very point many Christian homes go astray. The moment a child appears in their family, a lot of parents succumb to the temptation to live for their children. But this tells us that we must not do that. Marriage is not brought about in order to raise children. Marriage occurs so that two people might learn how to relate to one another and to be persons as God intended persons to be. The key to marriage and to a successful home is that parents must realize that children are only there temporarily, that after they are gone the father and mother remain, and that the factor which heals and holds that home together is that they themselves become what God wants. There is great wisdom in this passage. It is teaching us that parents do not exist for their children; they exist to be people before God, first of all.

Years ago here in this church our women's group was called, The Joy Circle. The name derived from the acrostic, J-O-Y, which spelled out, Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last. That sounds very pious, but it is a lie! The Scriptures never reflect that relationship. It sounds good, but it isn't; it is destructive, and will destroy a home. The relationship taught by the Scriptures is reflected here in Deuteronomy. It is God first, yourself next, and others third. You cannot relate to others until you have learned how to relate to God yourself. To put it another way, you will treat others exactly the way you regard yourself. Therefore, if you don't have any respect for yourself, if you haven't learned to be a person and to understand the responsibilities and privileges of personhood before God yourself, you cannot treat anybody else as a person — including your own children.

When you look at the Bible you find that children are not prominent at all. Children are always in the background. They are never trotted out and paraded before you as examples of what the home is existing in order to produce. They are treated as young people being trained to move into and to live in an adult world. And unless, in their own parents, they have a picture of the adult world as it ought to be, they can grow up into the adult arena only with great difficulty, or not at all.

This is why it is so important that children have a good model to follow. Every parent knows that children will follow models and not words. You can say till you're blue in the face, Do this. But if you don't do it, your child won't either. They will live with us in the same way we live with them. If we don't have any regard for our own development, our own relationship as husband and wife, and if care is not taken to see that we develop our own intellect, our own mind, and emotions as God has implanted them within us, and that we fulfill our talents, etc., our children will not do so either. We must start there.

Father, thank you for the wisdom which is here in this Word. I pray that I will keep my mind and heart open to the teaching of your Spirit, that I might be an example to those you have put into my care. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Have I allowed the word of God to penetrate my heart so that I can be an example to those in my home?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 13TH​

Life, the Teacher​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:7-9

How should parents impart the truth about God to their children? The answer is, talk about it — that's all! Talk about these things — don't preach, don't lecture, don't send them off to Sunday school. It simply says, Talk, that's all — in as natural and normal and unforced a way as conversation about sports, music, or anything else. God should enter the home in that same way.

As you talk about God, it is helpful to follow a simple format of discovery and response. That is the normal natural way of teaching anything. Discover something, and then react to it, and lead a child in that. I must confess that I have come to an understanding of this after years of doing it the wrong way, of trying to teach by formal methods, of bringing the classroom or the Sunday school into the home. But that doesn't work well. What is necessary is to understand that all things reveal God — people as well as matter, circumstances and incidents as well as mountains and sea — and that you can find your way to an understanding of God in every incident and every circumstance of life. This is the way God ought to come into the home.

Discover God in these everyday events, and then lead the child in the proper response to him, whatever the events demand.
Another response which needs to be taught is petition, asking for help or healing, for God is the healer of hurts and the supplier of needs. He speaks to those who are without. He meets the fatherless, the widows, the suffering. There is where his promises are directed — more than anywhere else. So when you find your children hurting and needing help, this is the time to talk about God, and about the way that God can maneuver life to supply the help they are looking for. Or perhaps the necessary response is simply an acknowledgment of wonder or joy in what God has done and what he has made.

So that is the suggestion of Moses: Talk! Talk about God. Let it be as normal and natural a part of your conversation as anything else. Without preaching, without moralizing, without lecturing all the time, nevertheless let many circumstances — not all of them — lead to an understanding of the glory and the love of God. And remember that the figure of God which you paint must not be that of a policeman sitting in angry supervision over life, ready to yell down, CUT THAT OUT! but rather that of a loving Father who is interested and concerned, and yet who can be firm and insistent at times, even relentless, in his discipline.

Teach me, Father, to see you in all of life and to share that with my family, not lecturing and moralizing, but as a natural outgrowth of my relationship with you.

​

Life Application​

Am I a keen enough observer of life that I see God in everyday circumstances and the beauties and complexities of his creation?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 14TH​

Teach Your Children Well​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:7-9

When and where do we teach our children? Notice he starts, Talk about them when you sit at home. When do you sit in your house? At mealtimes, when the family is together. Food and talk naturally go together. Nothing helps conversation more than to sit down around a table full of food and to talk.

Why is it that many Christian families often have silence around the table? People are wrapped up in their own thoughts or on their phones, intent upon getting the food down and getting away from the table as quickly as possible. I have come to see that as a sign either of lazy parents, or fearful children — one or the other — parents who haven't worked at putting meaning into life, who haven't thought about how to make their conversation at the table interesting, or who have made the family gathering at the table a time of judgment and of criticism, so that even when encouragement has been given to talk, and children have shared, they have found judgment of what they've shared, and so they have learned to be silent.

Then Moses said that you should also talk of these things when you walk along the road. That takes us out of the house and into the world, nature and social relationships. There is nothing like nature to unfold truth about God. It gives a sense of awe and mystery to life. God wants us always to see all these wonderful things in nature around us with a fresh eye, so that they illuminate life to us. It is necessary for us, as parents, to watch for teachable moments. How easy it is to pass them by!

Moses then says, when you lie down. What parent hasn't found that nighttime is an open time to relate to children, especially about the things of God? The time to be grateful is at nighttime. It is a time to teach children how to handle anger and resentment, and how to forgive and to be forgiven. There is no lesson in life more important than that, because guilt hounds us, and if we don't learn how to handle guilt, we are going to be troubled. So this is the time to teach children that guilt calls for honest identification of the problem, and a full acceptance of God's forgiveness.

Finally, Moses says to talk about God, when you rise. This is how to begin the day properly. Children have a need for a sense of security at the beginning of a day. Therefore affection ought to be expressed in the morning in a deliberate attempt to make family members feel warm and accepted. But also we need wisdom of the Scriptures. It is so helpful to have a brief but thoughtful exposure to Scripture in the morning — maybe a passage, perhaps only a verse.

The thrust of this passage is that the Christian home ought to be a place where God is present as the salt is present in the sea, where he is everywhere, where it is natural and normal to talk about him, to relate to him, to break into prayer to him at any moment. If that is what our homes are like, then it won't be difficult to teach our children to love God and to count him of supreme importance in their lives, and as they step out into an ever-widening realm of experience, to have a center which is deep and strong and lasting because it is based upon God himself.

Lord, give me the wisdom and the grace to know how to teach my children well. Thank you for your promise of forgiveness and restoration. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Am I taking full advantage of the opportunities each day brings to teach my children about God and his ways?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 15TH​

The Sign of Authority​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:8-9

These words of Moses sound strange to us. Many of the Jews took them very literally. In fact, the Pharisees in Jesus' day were making a tremendous display of this. They actually took miniature scrolls of Scripture with the Ten Commandments and other passages written on them, made little boxes called phylacteries for them, tied them on the back of their left hand and bound them on their forehead between their eyes, and went about with them hanging there. And they literally wrote them on the doorposts and the gates, the outer entrances, of their houses. Thus they tried to fulfill this command in a very mechanical, wooden manner. In Matthew 23 we are told that Jesus rebuked them for doing this in order to attract attention, gain notoriety, and make it visible that they were religious people (Matthew 23:5 KJV).

Though this was a mistaken way to show it, these Jews had caught part of the import of this passage. They were trying to fulfill the meaning of a word which Moses employs here: sign. His words were to be a sign, he said, upon the hand and between the eyes and upon the doorposts. What is a sign? Signs are very important aspects of life. One aspect of signs is that they have a way of conveying authority. There is no need to have the name of the authority mentioned on a sign in order to have people obey it. We are all so ingrained with the idea of obeying signs, that we obey when it is almost absurd to do so. There is an authority inherent in signs.

This is the idea which Moses is getting at here. There is something which is to be a sign that compels obedience. These words, he said, shall be as though they were bound on your hand — not literally, but figuratively. Your hands, of course, symbolize your deeds as parents. They are to be governed by Scripture, by the wisdom of the Word of God. And they are to be as though on your forehead, i.e., guiding your thought life, your intelligence. Your reflection upon truth ought to be governed and directed by these words. The doorposts and gates of the house take us into contact with the outside world, depicting our behavior toward relatives and friends, toward neighbors and society at large. All this to be governed and controlled by the wisdom of God.

When that happens, Moses says, then parents will have tremendous authority in their children's lives. And it will be authority not derived from their position as parents, but arising out of the respect they engender as responsible persons. That is what creates authority in a home. The home in which parents are open and honest, and are genuinely committed to following the Word of God themselves as well as asking their children to do so, will always be a home where parents have authority in their children's lives.

Lord, forgive me for so often putting other things about you Word. Create in me a hundred for your Word and a desire to live it out before those I care for.

​

Life Application​

Am I open and honest, genuinely committed to following the Word of God in every aspect of my life? Do my children see this?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 16TH​

The Basics​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: PROVERBS 3:1-2

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
Proverbs 3:1-2

Every child needs to know two basic things: First, he needs to know that he is loved, accepted, and appreciated. Children need to know it first from their parents, and then gradually that love also comes from God, and that God loves them, and is desirous to build them into the kind of people which they themselves would like to be. All that we are to be doing as parents is simply reduplicating what God does with us. We are his children. And the basis on which we began with God was that of love. The glory of the conversion experience is to discover that God loves you, that he has given his Son for you. That is what makes the moment of regeneration so unforgettable — it breaks upon us that God loves us. This is the first dawning glory of our Christian lives. We realize that we are in the family of God and that we belong to him. And this, more than anything else, is what a child ought to feel in his home.

The second great basic need for instruction in the home, which parents must supply, is that children need to know that all their life long they are going to require wisdom and guidance beyond themselves. Life is too big for any of us to handle by ourselves. And we never become competent to handle life, apart from the help provided from some other source. It is obvious that this help comes primarily from parents at first. They are to provide the guidance and the wisdom. They are to help their children make decisions and to show them the basis on which decisions are to be made. But, very early, they are to begin to indicate to the child that ultimately he will leave the home, and that then he is no longer to depend upon his parents, that they are not going to make all the decisions for him all his life, but that gradually he is being fitted to go out and to depend on another source for the wisdom he needs, and that is God.

This second thing arises out of the fundamental fact about life which we must always bear in mind when we are dealing with parents or children, which is that we are fallen creatures. We don't have that perfect response which was originally intended for man toward truth and falsehood. Truth comes at us distorted and twisted. Falsehood appears to us to be true when it isn't.

There are urges within us which will destroy us, if allowed to express themselves. So we have to recognize this fact and help our children understand what the Scriptures teach about how to handle failure and guilt. What people learn in many churches is simply more condemnation, and the ground for greater guilt is laid. But the Scriptures help us to understand that God has made provision for this. He understands our fallen character, and he has done something about it. And in the simple step of coming to the place of admitting that something is wrong, facing it and not running from it, not justifying it, not excusing it, there is then the possibility of accepting the forgiveness of God's grace and the restoration which enables us to go on in life fully accepted, fully loved in every way.

Father, thank you that in your relationship with me you treat me just as you want me to treat my children, and that you have made provision for my failure, so that I can take even these and lay them back into your hands, and you will use them. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Do I show my children the love of God, and can they see his forgiving grace at work in my life?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 17TH​

The Disciplines of God​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 12:7-11

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
Hebrews 12:7

When we are dealing with the subject of discipline, we have God as the great example. He is the ultimate Father. The Scriptures are full of the fatherhood of God. The Old Testament psalm says, As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him, (Psalm 103:13 RSV). We see God reaching out in tender compassion to his children, and dealing with them in honesty and openness and, at times, in severity. We are supported by a Father's love, surrounded by a Father's compassion, and he is concerned about us. This is what life is really like. So we take our idea of fatherhood from God, and we take our idea of training from him as well.

The forces that God uses to train us are two-fold. They are law and grace. Law is a reflection of the demands which God makes upon us. Grace, on the other hand, is a word that gathers up all of God's patience, his forgiveness, his mercy, his help, his empowerment, which is available to us. It takes both. These are not opposed to each other. Sometimes the idea is advanced that law and grace are opposites, and that they never mix. This is not true. It is true that they have separate functions. Law cannot do what grace can do; grace cannot do what law can do. We are to use both law and grace. Law controls and regulates the actions of an individual, and sometimes we need to control our children's actions. Grace, however, controls and changes the attitudes within. You can't change attitudes by law, nor can you control actions wholly by grace. You need both in the raising of children.

That introduces the process by which God accomplishes this — discipline. The first factor in discipline is to assign certain tasks. This is an essential part of training — give jobs to do, make requirements. The second thing is to give directions. God never merely assigns a task and leaves it up to us. And we must not do this with children. You can't just give them a job to do; you must see that they understand how to do it. The third step in the process is to set limits. There are always limits — limits of time, how long it should take; limits of place, where it should occur and how far away; and limits as to what the results ought to be, what is expected in the performance of a task. It is the responsibility of parents to set these limits. Limits should not be set so narrowly that the child has no choice. The whole process of discipline is to give him choices and to let him handle them within limits.

Then the fourth stage of child training is enforcement. Not only are tasks given, results expected, and limits set, but parents are to see to it that the assignment is done. This takes place by praise and encouragement, by rebuke, and as a last resort by punishment. Wrong punishment, of course, is anything which is hasty or harsh or impulsive or inconsistent. That can do great damage and it must not occur. Sometimes we punish our children just because we are angry with them, and almost invariably that is harsh, impulsive, inconsistent — it has all the marks of wrong punishment, because we are simply expressing our own anger. And that is unwise discipline.

Father, help me to understand and apply these principles. Thank you for your grace which works in concert with your law and enables me to change my attitudes as well as my actions. Amen.

​

Life Application​

How do I use both law and grace in the training of my children?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A DAILY DEVOTION FOR APRIL 18TH​

Truth For Youth​

READ THE SCRIPTURE: ECCLESIASTES 11:9

You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Ecclesiastes 11:9

The advice the writer of Ecclesiastes gives us is to live to the full while you are young. Do not be afraid of the natural exuberance of youth. Do not let anyone discourage you from enjoying the abundance of physical vitality that you have. Take full advantage of your capacity for imagination and adventure. Too many young people seem to feel the Bible tells them to fold their hands, curtail their impulses, and act like old people, but it does not. It recognizes the love of romanticism in youth and it urges them to take full advantage of it while they can.

He also says to, Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see. Take life as it comes. Do not feel fretful and envious over the opportunities others have, but lay hold and use the opportunities that come to you and be glad for them. Exercise, within consistent limitations, the independence of youth. Do not let someone else run your life; walk in the sight of your eyes and in the ways of your heart. You are to make the choices.

But now there is a third principle, Know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Do not misread that. It is uttered in the same spirit of encouragement to discover all that life has for you as the other things. It is not meant as a threat. God is not saying, All right, go ahead and enjoy yourself, but just wait, I'll get you in the end! No, he is saying, Remember, there is one more aspect of life that is very important. Life is too big for you to handle on your own. At the end, each of us must give an account of ourselves, and the certainty of that points up the need for an adequate guide right now. So the conclusion is given in chapter 12, verse 1, Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Surrender yourself to the only adequate guide to life while you are young. Invite him squarely into the center of your life right now, in the days of your youth.

Right here is the glory of the good news about Jesus Christ. The gospel tells us that Christ is the one behind the secrets of the universe. Here stands the only one capable of rightly motivating and directing youth along the perilous path of life. In Jesus Christ youth finds an answer, a key to its padlock, a solution to its riddles. To know Jesus Christ and to open your heart to his control is to discover that he gives the fullest sense of independence possible for a person to have. He sets us free from any lesser level of control. We give ourselves to the one who is the master of the universe and thereby discover the secrets of our own natures. He alone can unlock these secrets since he is the Creator. If we give ourselves to any lesser level of control, we find ourselves slaves of that to which we have yielded. Give yourself to pleasing the crowd, and you discover you have become a slave to an insatiable master. You are imprisoned and cannot find the fulfillment for which you long. But give yourself to Christ and make yourself his slave, and you find liberty.

Lord, you are the Master of life. I pray that young people may discover all that you have hidden away in their hearts and lives, and that all the glorious possibilities of their youth may be realized as they give themselves to you. Amen.

​

Life Application​

Do I encourage the young people around me to "Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see"?

Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries.