January 21, 2024 7:00 pm
We’d known Kha for more than a year. He was part of our small group from church who met weekly to discuss what we’d been learning about God. One evening during our regular meeting, he made a reference to having competed at the Olympics. The mention was so casual that it almost escaped my notice. Almost. Lo and behold, I learned I knew an Olympian who had competed in the bronze medal match! I couldn’t fathom that he’d not mentioned it before, but, for Kha, while his athletic achievement was a special part of his story, more important things were central to his identity: his family, his community, and his faith.
wThe story in Luke 10:1–23 describes what should be central to our identity. When the seventy-two people Jesus sent out to tell others about the kingdom of God returned from their journeys, they reported to Him that “even the demons submit to us in your name” (v. 17). While Jesus acknowledged that He’d equipped them with tremendous power and protection, He said they were focused on the wrong thing. He insisted that their cause for rejoicing should be because their “names are written in heaven” (v. 20).
Whatever achievements or abilities God has granted us, our greatest cause for rejoicing is that if we’ve entrusted ourselves to Jesus our names are written in heaven and we enjoy His daily presence in our lives.
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Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.
I'm Kirsten Holmberg, and I titled today's reading The Right Focus. We had known Ka for more than a year. He was part of our small group from church that met weekly to discuss what we've been learning about God. One evening, during our regular meeting, he made a reference to having competed at the Olympics. The mention was so casual that it almost escaped my notice.
Almost. Lo and behold, I learned I knew an Olympian who had competed in the bronze medal match. I couldn't fathom that he hadn't mentioned it before. But for Ka, while his athletic achievement was a special part of his story, more important things were central to his identity—his family, his community, and his faith. The story in Luke 10 verses 1-23 describes what should be central to our identity. When the 72 people Jesus sent out to tell others about the kingdom of God returned from their journeys, they reported to him that even the demons submit to us in your name.
While Jesus acknowledged that he'd equipped them with tremendous power and protection, he said they were focused on the wrong thing. He insisted that their cause for rejoicing should be because their names are written in heaven. Whatever achievements or abilities God has granted us, our greatest cause for rejoicing is that if we've entrusted ourselves to Jesus, our names are written in heaven and we enjoy his daily presence in our lives. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Luke chapter 10 verses 17-20. The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. He replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.
Nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the Spirit submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for writing my name in heaven. I rejoice in knowing you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-21 20:09:54 / 2024-01-21 20:11:12 / 1
