Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 15th​

A Debt of Love​

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

Have you ever struggled to obey the Ten Commandments? Have you found it difficult to face up to obeying these demands that you shall not murder or lie or steal or commit adultery? Well, Paul says it is really simple. All you have to do is love. Act in love toward people and you won't hurt them. The solution to all the problems we struggle with is this one thing. Have you ever thought of what would happen in this world if people could be taught how to love — and then they did it?

The first result that occurs to me is that all the impending divorces would be happily resolved. Couples ready to split up because love has left their marriage could go back together and learn how to work it out. Furthermore, if we could teach people how to love we wouldn't fight in wars. Think of how much energy and money is being expended in keeping up this endless array of armaments simply because we can't trust people to love each other. If we could love each other, there wouldn't be any more crime. The streets of all the great cities of our land you would feel safe and secure. If there weren't any crime, you wouldn't need any prisons. All the money we spend on prisons and reformatories could be spent on something more useful. We wouldn't need any courts of law, or police. We need all these things because we are so deprived in this ability to love.

This passage is telling us that the ability to love — that and nothing less than that — is the radical force that Jesus Christ has turned loose in this world by his resurrection. Therefore it has the power to radically change the world. Paul implies that this has to start with us. If we are Christians, if we know Jesus Christ, we have the power to love. You don't have to ask for it; you've got it. If you have Christ, you can act in love, even though you are tempted not to. Therefore, Paul says: When you come up against difficult people, remember that your first obligation is to love them.

Paul says very plainly that we are to think of this as our obligation to everyone. I wonder what kind of radical things would start happening among us if we were to start living on this basis. Every day, every person we would meet, we would say to ourselves first, I need to show some love to this person. No matter what else happens, I have an obligation to pay him that debt. I have owed money to people in my life, and I have noticed that whenever I meet people I owe money to, that is the first thing that comes into my mind. I remember the debt that I owe them, and I wonder if that is what they are thinking about too. This is what Paul says we are to do about love. We are to remember that we have an obligation to every man — to love him. This obligation is to everyone. This is designed for your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? You think immediately of the people who live on each side of you, but you can see that it really includes everyone. The people you meet in business, and in your shopping are your neighbors. Wherever you are, the people you make contact with are living right beside you and are your neighbors for that moment. The word to us is that, since we have the ability to love, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. The butcher, the baker, the cadillac maker — it doesn't make any difference, they are your neighbors.

Lord Jesus, come in, be my Lord. Rule in my life, and give to me this amazing ability to love.

Life Application​

Do we see our calling to love our neighbor as the expression of Jesus Christ's radical love? Where can we this day begin to pay off our debt of love, trusting Him to love through us?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for November 16th​

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ​

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:14

When I got up this morning I put on my clothes. I put on my clothes with the intention that they would be part of me all this day, that they would go where I go and do what I do. They will cover me and make me presentable to others. That is the purpose of clothes. In the same way, the apostle is saying to us, Put on Jesus Christ when you get up in the morning. Make him a part of your life that day. Intend that he go with you everywhere you go, and that he act through you in everything you do. Call upon his resources. Live your life in Christ.

These words have forever been made famous by their connection with the conversion of Saint Augustine. Augustine was a young man in the fourth century who lived a wild, carousing life, running around with evil companions, doing everything they were doing. He forbade himself nothing, went into anything and everything. And, as people still do today, he came to hate himself for it. One day he was with his friend in a garden, and he walked up and down, bemoaning his inability to change. O, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow! How can I free myself from these terrible urges within me that drive me to the things that hurt me! And in his despair, as he walked in the garden, he suddenly heard what he thought was the voice of a child — perhaps some children were playing in the garden next door — and the voice said, Take and read, take and read. He could not remember any children's games with words like that, but the words stuck. He went back to the table and found lying on it a copy of Paul's letter to the Romans. He flipped it open, and these were the words he read: Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies, and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ... Romans 13:13-14a

Augustine said that at that moment he opened his life to Christ. He had known about him, but had never surrendered to him. But that moment he did, and he felt the healing touch from Christ cleansing his life. He was never the same man again. He went on to become one of the greatest Christians of all time.

That is what Jesus Christ is capable of doing. He gives us all the power to love. If we but choose to exercise this power in the moment that needs it, we can release in this world this radical, radical force that has the power to change everything around us. It will change our homes, our lives, our communities, our nations, the world — because a risen Lord is available to us, to live through us. I love J. B. Philips' translation of this last verse: Let us be Christ's men from head to foot, and give no chance to the flesh to have its fling. ((Romans 13:14) J.B. Philips) That is the way to live.

Thank you, Father, for the freedom and the power you have given me to clothe myself with Christ and no longer gratify the desires of my flesh.

Life Application​

Have we grasped the inestimable privilege of actually choosing to be clothed with the Life and Love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is this becoming a habit of heart and mind?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.