Week 43 Day 2
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Phil. 2:3-8 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
John 13:14-17 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Reflect:
“Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). Clearly, the incarnation is beyond our full comprehension. Paul outlines for Timothy the facts of the gospel, while at the same time confessing how this is all a great mystery. Yet, although it is a mystery, it is one that has been revealed in such ways that we can experience its power and change. We will never fully grasp what it means that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” but we can certainly understand the key implications for this great reality. First among them, of course, is that we can have relationship with God through the Son. But, in addition, we can have a different kind of life with one another as well. We can live similarly to the way Jesus lived; we can experience the joy he had as we seek to put the interests of others ahead of our own. We all do what makes sense to us. Sometimes what makes sense to us is foolish and, therefore, we do things that are foolish. For instance, very often it makes sense to us to make selfish choices, so we act selfishly. Then we find, over and over, that these selfish choices did not deliver what they had promised. We are not happier or more content. In fact, we are more dissatisfied and we are less content. Jesus always did what made sense to him as well. The difference is that what made sense to him was always right, it was always the best possible way to live. Embed this thought in your mind…water it, fertilize it, let its roots grow deep into your brain so that it becomes a tree whose fruit falls out into all of your life…put the interests of others ahead of your own. This made sense to Jesus, therefore, it must consistently make sense to us.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.