Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Daily Nugget is a weekday devotional written by Pastor Jim Sole. We hope you find encouragement, guidance, and conviction unto holiness through the scriptures and commentary.
I like going through cemeteries. My calling as a pastor takes me into them often but I go there regardless. It is an interesting and helpful place for me to visit for two reasons. First, it reminds me of the brevity of life. Unless Christ returns, I, too, will soon occupy a place in the ground in a cemetery. Walking through one awakens me to reality that I am going to die and such awareness should move me to live each day to its fullest as if it were my last. It could be.
Today’s nugget isn’t for everyone. If you are a person who has it all together, experience no spiritual struggles, are quite content on where you are spiritually, are oblivious to spiritual warfare, go through your life relatively problem-free and don’t have any concerns over sin, don’t grieve over spiritual inconsistencies in your life and are satisfied with your time in the Word, prayer, and the other things of God, then this nugget isn’t for you.
In today’s scripture, is a portion of the exodus of God’s people from their captivity in Egypt. Humanly speaking, they were between a rock and hard place. They stood on the shores of the Red Sea. Not the “reed” sea of a few inches of wade-able bog or marshland. This was the Red Sea as in deep sea, as in very deep sea, as in way over your head sea. Behind them was a huge cloud of dust and it wasn’t a sandstorm.
Friends, we are as close to the Lord in knowing and loving Him as we want to be. He is eager and ready to be had and known, but not without effort, disciplined effort, by us. In fact, if we don’t give it our best disciplined effort, then we won’t get close to Him. He said, “You will find me when you seek me with your whole heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
One of the most important displays of love Christians are to give toward one another is our praying for one another. It is has been said, “We are never more like the Lord Jesus than when we are praying for others.” It is a command, responsibility, and privilege. It also encourages other Christians to know we are loved enough to be prayed for.
Christianity differs from other religions in the world in many ways. Two predominant differences are the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promises of God. Take away the resurrection of Jesus and we have nothing. Yes, our faith rises and falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second distinction making Christians different from those who follow other religions is that we are people who exist, live, and hope in a God who has given us promises as the means to exist, live, and hope.