Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
February 20, 2023
Read Luke 18:1-8
1 Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
Good Morning, Today is a great day to praise God!
Each generation has the desire to make things better for their own children. This is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. I have seen two distinct groups of people. You hear some say, “we grew up poor, but we never knew it. Only when we were older, did we realize that the material things were missing because we were happy and cared for?” The other group laments all of those material things that their friends had and they longed for those items.
It seems within my lifetime society has shifted to a place where more belong to that second group. Perhaps this has happened because there are so many more things to possess than there were even fifty years ago.
The child who grows up longing for “things”, decides that their own children will not be deprived of the things the other kids have. This is a double-edged sword because not only does this person risk making questionable financial decisions, but they raise children who don’t understand the value of gifts. Through this, we create self-centered young people who grow up and expect everything will be given to them without work or even trying.
Those for whom all their wants and desires are provided for them have no capacity to persevere when things are hard or challenging. They fall into despair when things go wrong because they have not learned “how to struggle”.
Think of all the things that you do or have done that caused you to practice or work hard. Compare these with those things that you completed perfectly the first time you tried. The things we work for stay with us. While the easy ones gather dust on a shelf.
It sounds good to not have to struggle, but it is in the struggle that we learn to live a fruitful life. God does not promise us a life without challenges because he knows that we must learn to challenge ourselves and take risks or we will quickly succumb to the easier call of evil. God does promise to be with us always and give us the strength we need when we are unable to take the next step forward.
Loving God, Thank You for being with us. You know our needs, but you give us the grace to work through things even when we make obvious mistakes. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: When I want to give up, God gives me the strength to persist.
Hard is Good! Pastor Liz