DayBreaks for the Week of 4/03/22 – Verdict Overturned

From Lee Eclov, Preaching Today:

"As a kid did you ever play that game where you lean over, put your forehead on a baseball bat and circle it three times? Then when you try to walk you stagger and stumble like a drunken sailor. Ministry has been a lot like that the last couple of years.

"John wrote his first Epistle to Christians dizzied by false teaching. What he says to all believers is especially helpful to us as pastors. Top of the list:

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. … we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:11, 16)

"When our heads are spinning and our hearts are bewildered, love is how we walk a straight line. People matter more than things. The person in front of you matters more than the crowd. Welcome the little ones in Jesus' name. Search for the one lost sheep.

"Another dizzy-maker is failure to love others, perhaps by our sharp words, inattention, or gracelessness. How can we shepherd on when we've hurt our flock? Pastor John tells us,

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (v. 20)

"Our hearts are like a court rendering a guilty verdict, but there is a higher court. It is not that our heart was wrong but that we did not "know everything." While we might fear that facing God's high court would be the death of us, it is not so because God not only knows everything we've done but, more importantly, everything that Christ has done on our behalf. Our heart's verdict is overturned."

PRAYER: Father, how grateful I am that you are greater than my heart and that you overturn my own heart's verdict and have declared me free of sin and guilt because of the work of your son, Jesus! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.