WBC Daily Devotions July 5-9

Daily Devotions for July 5-9, 2010

MONDAY, JULY 5

Celebrating our independence as a country is a good thing. Whereas once we were bound under the rule of a bad king, held captive by his unjust laws and regulations, we now enjoy incredible freedom and security. This is a blessing from God and we should be thankful for it.

That said, our celebrations of national independence are a pale reflection of deeper spiritual freedoms that came at an even higher cost. Whereas once we were bound under the rule of sin, separated from God and destined for death, through the death of Jesus we now enjoy freedom to approach God boldly and without reservation. This is the astonishing, life-changing reality that we celebrate every Sunday.

For many people July 5 is a vacation day. Maybe you are busy and want to spend time with family. You should! But make time today to read Romans 6. As we celebrate our freedom as a nation, let us also remember to celebrate our freedom that was won through the death of Christ on our behalf.

TUESDAY, JULY 6

There is some remarkable language in the Bible that sometimes catches me off guard. Take, for example, Exodus 19:1-6. The holy creator God, who sent Adam and Eve out of the garden and sent a flood as judgment on the world for its evil, calls the rag-tag group of slaves that Moses has led out of Egypt His "treasured possession." Not only that, but they are to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." We are so used to hearing that language that it has largely lost the power to amaze us. A holy God, who alone dwells in unapproachable light, is referring to this group of people as his most prized possession. It's incredible!

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3). We partition this out in our heads as one of the commandments, but it's a categorical statement as much as anything else. The word "LORD" implies ownership, possession, duty. It's the basis upon which all the other commandments stand. The people were freed from slavery to an evil king, but that didn't mean they were free to live as they wanted. They were freed from tyranny in order to obediently serve a loving monarch, the very one who made them.

Read all of Deuteronomy 7. Note again the language of possession, and also the requirements for participation in God's kingdom. The people were not just freed from, but freed to. Freed from a life of oppression but freed to live under the rule of a faithful, covenant-keeping, loving and generous God, a God who loves to bless and care for his loyal and obedient subjects.

Now, certainly these specific promises in the Old Testament were directed at God's chosen people, but now read Titus 2:11-14. In God's grace and mercy the kingdom has been expanded to include those who have been saved through the blood of Christ. If God is truly our king, are we living lives of reverent worship and adoration, or do we take the blessings for granted, with little or no thought to the obligations required of us as citizens of His kingdom?

WEDNESDAY, JULY 7

When I became a citizen of the United States of America I had to swear an oath of allegiance, an agreement that in return for all the blessings of being able to live here, I would in turn promise to defend both the constitution and the country as a whole.

In a similar way God's people were offered blessings in return for allegiance to God as their only king, and an agreement that they would defend His honor and His glory. Read Leviticus 20:22-26. This is just one of many, many similar passages throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy that remind the people over and over again that there are requirements, duties and obligations that go along with being God's people (read Leviticus 26 for example).

Read 1 Peter 2. The language is unequivocal. Salvation cost Jesus His life. If we want to call ourselves followers of Jesus then we are obligated to live a certain way as a result. In my own life I sometimes feel as if I need to be reminded of this every single day. It is just too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by the freedom and affluence we are blessed with in our culture. Let us all be struck with conviction by the great price God paid to save us from our dreadful sin.

Dead in my sin, bought with a price, I owe God everything.

THURSDAY, JULY 8

"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Rom. 6:17-18).

Understandably so, the concept of being slaves to something, of being under someone else's authority, is not very appealing to us. Yet this is the language we encounter as we read the Bible and explore what it means to be followers of Christ. Read 1 Peter 1:13-25. Our lives were bought "with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." This is a monumental statement. Our sin cost Jesus His life. That was what it cost to redeem us from slavery.

Or read Ephesians 1:15-23 and the very similar language in Colossians 1:15-23. This is the one whom we serve. Jesus is our Lord in every possible sense of the word. He reigns supreme over all things and we are to willingly, lovingly, humbly and obediently lay down every single part of our lives to Him. Not just our "spiritual life" or our "church life" but every single moment of every single day. It is all His and should all be lived with a view to serving Him and glorifying Him.

This sounds extreme, doesn't it? Spend some time in prayer today asking God to guide you as you wrestle with these questions of slavery and freedom. What parts of your life are you trying to cling to and keep from God?

FRIDAY, JULY 9

So what does all this mean for me? Read Galatians 5. Paul's concern in this letter is that the Galatian believers were forgetting that they had been saved by grace and were falling under the sway of those who said that believers had to become Jews first and then Christians. Specifically, some were even teaching that circumcision was a requirement for salvation. Yet, as Paul reminds them, "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified" (Gal. 2:15-16).

So in chapter 5 Paul reminds the people again that they are foolish to submit to circumcision, since that is a sign of being slaves to the law, whereas they have been given freedom through grace in Christ. However, this freedom is not freedom to live any way they want, but rather freedom to live in the manner in which God designed them to live.

Look again at Galatians 5:16-26. As we close our week, let us keep this passage in our hearts and minds as we seek to live lives that are holy and pleasing to God.

Jonathan Ziman
Community Life Pastor

Wheaton Bible Church
27W500 North Avenue
West Chicago, IL 60185
630.260.1600
www.wheatonbible.org