Devotions

Anti-semitism or discrimination against Jews seems to be on the rise. Just recently, Kanye West said some Anti-semitic statements, and when pressed to clarify or recant, he doubled down. Kyrie Irving, a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, was suspended for supporting an Anti-semitic movie. This is nothing new. It seems to go in waves. The Bible tells believers to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that it may bring peace and prosperity.

‭‭PSALMS‬ ‭122:6-7‬

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. “May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.”

Even when the Israelites entered the promised land, they didn’t take hold of Jerusalem. It wasn’t until David conquered the Jebusites that it became theirs. He then made it the capital of Israel and the home of his palace. It has long been a place of contention for the Jews and the rest of the world. When the Jews revolted against Rome in AD 70, the Roman army burned it to the ground, fulfilling what Jesus said in Matthew 24:2 “There will not be one stone left upon another.” There has been little peace in Jerusalem, so we need to pray for the ultimate peacemaker, Jesus Christ, to come.

Everything is under surveillance today. You can’t walk down the street without a camera recording your journey. Most people accept it as a daily part of life and are thankful they can refer back to it when an accident happens. Others bristle at the thought of someone watching them. Did you know this knowing new for Christians? You are an open book to Jesus.

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭4:13

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

The verse right before this one is very well known. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” It talks about how God’s words can pierce down to the smallest issue. God’s Word speaks to us. There is another aspect that we don’t give much thought to. No one is hidden from the sight of Jesus. Nothing is done in secret. He can see everything you are doing, and you will have to account for your actions.

People are being kidnapped from their home countries and sold on the black market to wealthy people to serve as servants in their homes. Did you know that in the Old Testament, people would sell themselves into slavery, and by choosing to serve, they decided to stay permanently?

‭‭EXODUS‬ ‭21:5-6‬

“But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

Slaves could choose to stay with their masters. In Israel, most slaves had term limits. They were working off debts or something of that nature, and at the end of that time, they were free to go. It was often better to stay with the master than go out alone. Most of the time, the slave had become trusted by the family, had a place to live, and had good food to eat. Those weren’t guaranteed when they went out on their own. So many slaves decided to serve their masters permanently. They marked that decision by putting a wooden awl in the ear.

It may be a little soon to think about new years resolutions for 2023, but can I offer one? Be an Encourager. Look for people who need to be built up and be their biggest cheerleader. See their potential over their faults and walk with them through the whole year to help them accomplish their goals. Who knows, you might keep them from the wrong path. By doing this, you will fulfill what Hebrews tells us, “Encourage one another.”

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭3:13

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

The temptation to fall away from the Lord is real. I know some teachers teach that you can’t lose your salvation, and I believe that, but after thirty years in the ministry, I have seen plenty of people leave their salvation. This passage is very clear. Verse twelve says, “Take care, lest any of you have an evil and unbelieving heart and fall away from the Lord.” Sin, unbelief, and evil harden your heart and pulls you away from the Lord. A once vibrant relationship with the Lord can slowly diminish over time.

There is a housing shortage where I live. Even though prices and interest rates are at an all-time high, construction is still going at a breakneck pace. There have been questions about how some lower-income housing is being built. It looks cheap and unstable, and people are complaining that it will be an eyesore. Who will be accountable when there are problems? That makes today’s passage interesting, “Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭3:4‬

“For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”

It is essential to understand the context of this verse. The author of Hebrews is comparing Moses and Jesus. Moses was a faithful servant in the house of the Lord, but Jesus was over the house. Jesus is greater than Moses. To some Jews, those are fighting words. No one is greater than Moses. He is their guy. He led them out of Egypt (actually, God did with Moses being faithfully obedient to Him). To some Jews, Moses gave them the law (once again, Moses went up on a mountain and got the law from the Lord).

Sometimes the key to going forward is taking a few steps back. If you want to build something up, you need to break it down. If you want to soar to new heights, you need to go a little lower. To be the best leader, you need to learn how to be a humble servant. No one embodies that better than Jesus Christ. He made Himself lower than the angels for a little while to take the role of a servant and humble Himself to the point of dying on the cross.

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭2:7‬

“YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;”

I love how the author of Hebrews writes this passage. You made Him, for a little while, lower than the angels. (I added the English grammar). In chapter one, we see the deity of Jesus, and now, in chapter two, we see the humanity of Jesus. The Angels reside in heaven, and Jesus was sent to earth; thus, for the little time He was here, He was lower than them. He added a human nature to His Godly nature and was BOTH fully God and fully man. That is important because people either deny that Jesus was God or that He was man.

If you were to ask some older Christians what advice they would give younger Christians, inevitably, they would say to keep their lives pure. This answer would come from the experience and heartbreak they went through by wandering away from what they were taught in church. They thought they could have their faith and the allures of the world only to find out the hard truth. The psalmist shows you how to keep your way pure.

‭‭PSALMS‬ ‭119:9-10

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.”

The psalmist is wondering out loud how a young man can stay pure in the world in which he lives. By reading between the lines, you can tell that he has gone through struggles and is looking for answers. The only solution he has found is by keeping the Word of God. When he guides his life according to the principles of Scripture, he stays on the right path. God’s Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. When you use it correctly, it will show you the way to go. Make a practice of getting into God’s Word every day.

Several times in Scripture, we are given a glimpse of the glory of Jesus Christ. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John see Jesus’ face shine as bright as the sun. In Revelation 1, John sees Jesus standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands with hair as white wool and eyes like lightning. Here in Hebrew, we see Jesus shining in radiance.

‭‭HEBREWS‬ ‭1:3-4

“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”

Hebrews shows the glory of Jesus Christ. The author, who we don’t know, states that Jesus is the radiance of His glory. Jesus shines the light of His Father. We learn from Matthew 17 and Revelation 1 that it is as bright as the sun. He is also the spitting image of His Father in looks, most notably in character. Finally, He holds all things together by the power of His Word. The world doesn’t spin out of control, and things happen as they should because Jesus is in control.

For the longest time, our kitchen floor leaned a certain way. If something fell on the floor, it would roll till it hit the cabinets. It wasn’t till we had a water issue that our contractor discovered we had a cracked header, and if someone would’ve jumped hard, they would’ve fallen through. Our floor needed to be shored up with a new four-by-four header and cement post attached. After that, our floor was level. The church is to the anchor to the cornerstone, Jesus Christ, which keeps it level and true.

PSALMS‬ ‭118:22

“The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.”

This psalm is what they call a Messianic psalm. It foretells something about the coming Messiah who will save God’s people. Here the psalmist is using a building analogy to say that the religious leaders during the Messiah’s time will reject him, but God will make Him the Cornerstone of the church. In Israel, they used stone to build their buildings because it was a resource that was in abundance. They would find a stone and chisel it into a perfect ninety-degree angle. This would be the cornerstone that they would set the rest of the stones of the building on, so it would be true.