Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 5.24.22

By May 24, 2022Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: 1 John 3:1-2 

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

 

Tim’s Devotional Reflection for Today

Our scripture reading today comes from 1 John, a letter written about the year 100 A. D. by a pastor named John—possibly a student of the Apostle or one who identified himself with the Apostle.  John was concerned because the second and third generation Christians he addressed were losing some of their enthusiasm and confidence. They had begun to doubt if they were capable of being Christian disciples while living in a pagan world.  John had two messages for them, and I believe they are as true for us—80 generations or so later—as they were in John’s day.   They are messages about our kinship, our inheritance, and our indebtedness.

Our Kinship.

The first verse of our reading says, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”

Think for a minute about how many ancestors you have. Sure, you know that you have two parents and four grandparents, but as you go back in time the numbers grow quickly, exponentially: 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, 32 great-great-great-grandparents, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, etc. Go back 40 generations, or about a thousand years, and each of us would have, theoretically, more than a trillion direct ancestors.  Since mathematicians have estimated that from 96 billion to 110 billion people have existed throughout human history and since our family trees are not independent, but are inevitably going to overlap and intersect within that period of time, at some point, we’re all family, sharing the same genetic material.

Yale statistician Joseph Chang’s research reveals that the most recent common ancestor of all six billion people on earth today probably lived just a couple of thousand years ago. This means that through this single person we can all trace our family ties back to Confucius, Nefertiti and just about any other ancient historical figure who ever lived. At some point, all six billion of us are family. We all share some of the same genetic material. (Steve Olson, “The Royal We,” The Atlantic Monthly, May 2002, 62-64)  How powerful that is!

When we look at all the passages of scripture that speak of a faith family, it becomes clear that it is not so much about genetics, but adoption.  It is a family of those “who have been born of God” (1 John 3:9). It is our kinship with God and with one another as people of faith.  Some people drop the “g” from kingdom and talk about the “kindom” of God.  Listen to some other scriptural verses declaring this truth:

“But to all who received [Christ], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

“For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.” (Romans 8:14)

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons and daughters of God through faith.” (Galatians 3:26)

“God sent forth His Son to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters.” (Galatians 4:5)

In the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul says that in Christ we are children of God and, “if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

Our Inheritance.

Paul says that as sons and daughters of God, we have an inheritance that we share with Christ.  In his letter to the Romans Paul says that we are “heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

I Peter 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

We have an inheritance and that inheritance consists of:

“The riches of God’s kindness and forebearance” [Romans 2:4]

“The riches of God’s glory for the objects of God’s mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” [Romans 9:23]

“The depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.” [11:33]

“The riches of God’s grace” [Ephesians 1:7]

“The riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints” [Ephesians 1:18]

“The immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” [Ephesians 2:7]

“The boundless riches of Christ” [Ephesians 3:8]

“The riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” [Colossians 1:27]

“The riches of assured understanding” [Colossians 2:2]

Our Indebtedness.

Paul said in Ephesians, “In Christ we have all obtained an inheritance.”  Part of our inheritance is a great legacy of faith, and we are indebted to those who have gone before us.  I give thanks for their dreams, their goals, their hopes, their giving, their hard work, and their sacrifices that benefit us today.  God has given us great gifts through those who have gone before us.  We have been entrusted with a great treasure from those before us  and along with it, a great responsibility to those who follow after us!

Years ago, a friend of ours gave us a poem she wrote.  The line in that poem that stood out for me is “We pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to us.”

Singer/songwriter Peter Mayer has a song called “Elijah Jones.”  It goes like this:

 

I saw a gravestone of a man long dead

His name was Elijah Jones and his gravestone read

“I walked this good earth, I had my time

And now it’s your turn, your chance at life”

 

Now most epitaphs speak of the deceased

But this dead man’s words seemed to refer to me

And so that evening at that gravesite

I pondered the meaning of a chance at life

 

We’re like sparks rising from some great fire

We flicker brightly, then we expire

And for that fleeting glow, we pay a price

Of pain and sorrow for a chance at life

 

But that fire burns on, it does not cease

It made Elijah and it made me

And I like to think that, on the day he died

Its burning flames gave him comfort and light

 

And if I were an angel above the clouds

Singing God’s praises in a shining gown

I’d dream of rain storms on summer nights

And trade my wings for a chance at life

I’d dream of rainstorms on summer nights

And trade my wings for a chance at life

 

Hymn: “Come, We That Love the Lord” by Isaac Watts (1707)

Come, we that love the Lord,
and let our joys be known.
Join in a song with sweet accord,
join in a song with sweet accord,
and thus surround the throne,
and thus surround the throne.

Refrain:
We’re marching to Zion,
beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We’re marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God.

The hill of Zion yields
a thousand sacred sweets,
before we reach the heav’nly fields,
before we reach the heav’nly fields,
or walk the golden streets,
or walk the golden streets. [Refrain]

Then let our songs abound,
and ev’ry tear be dry.
We’re marching thro’ Immanuel’s ground,
we’re marching thro’ Immanuel’s ground,
to fairer worlds on high,
to fairer worlds on high. [Refrain]

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these reflections on a portion of scripture.  I hope you will carry these with you throughout your day and night.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor