Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Michael W Smith. leading in worship, and singing … Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, poignantly in worship declaring what every Christian must do in the face of this harried world, … to come aside and “sit a spell” with Jesus [every day]
Highlight Passage: Luke 19:5 [NKJV] …
5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
… Jesus shows us we need to set aside time for the needs of others.
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Highlight Context – Luke 19: 1-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus stopped for a time to save Zacchaeus and to show His followers the compassion he has for any/all - even tax collectors.
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Reference Passage #1 … Ephesians 5:15-16 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul shows us that we need to be careful in the use of our time in times that are evil (which, certainly, is now!).
Reference Passage #2 … Philippians 2: 3-4 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Our love for fellow Christians should never leave them “out in the cold” without others to care for them.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Dave Branon, related a personal story of how he learned from his family the value of stopping and setting aside time to get to know or help others. He wrote: When I was a kid, our family made a monthly excursion from Ohio to West Virginia to visit my maternal grandparents. Every time we arrived at the door of their farmhouse, Grandma Lester would greet us with the words, “Come on in and sit a spell.”
It was her way of telling us to make ourselves comfortable, stay a while, and share in some “catching-up” conversation. Life can get pretty busy. In our action-oriented world, it’s hard to get to know people. It’s tough to find time to ask someone to “sit a spell” with us. We can get more done if we text each other and get right to the point.
When I was growing up, that exhortation, “stop and sit a spell,” in our family, was “stop and take a load off,” … but the meaning was the same. All too often, in this super-sized and way-too-fast world, we need to stop and relate to one another, taking our personal time to focus on the needs of others first, as Jesus showed with Zacchaeus and Paul wrote about in the verse I’ve repeated today from yesterday’s devotional entry [see Phil. 2:3-4]. And Paul also exhorted all Christians to use our time wisely in this evil world (see Eph. 5:15-16).
So, today why don’t we watch for a Zacchaeus, i.e, … one who comes into our lives and needs some face-to-face time, getting to know his/her needs and giving that one all we can to help out, especially if they, like the tax-collector, needs Jesus. And yes, that even might require that we set our smart phone down and “sit a spell” with someone who needs us.
And above all … EVERY DAY … we need to “take a load off” and, as Michael W Smith, sings - from above - “Turn Our Eyes Upon Jesus.” …. That’s why I’m here today; and I’m glad you’re “sitting a spell” with me in this time with our Lord.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … help me to “sit a spell” and take whatever time is needed for me to help someone who needs Your love today. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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