Daily Devotions with Greg Laurie – Monday,
30 December 2013 – “Not Duration, But Donation”
To everything there is a season, a time
for every purpose under heaven.(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
As one year comes to an end and another
one begins, it is a great time to evaluate how we are doing and where we are
going. We want to make sure that we are living our lives the way they ought to
be lived because for some of us, this may be the last year.
Reflecting on the passing of human life,
ethicist Michael Josephson wrote, "Ready or not, some day it will all come
to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days. . . . So
what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured? . . . Living a
life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance
but of choice."
The Bible says, "To everything there
is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a
time to die" (Ecclesiastes 3:1–2). It also reminds us that our times are
in God's hands (see Psalm 31:15). Regarding the length of our lives, Job said
to God, "His days are determined, the number of his months is with You;
You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5).
God determines how long we will live—not
us. We may be able to improve the quality of our lives through diet and
exercise. But the quantity of our lives—that is up to God. So we want to make
sure that we are living our lives well.
As Corrie ten Boom said, "The
measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation."
You determine the evening of your life by
the morning of it. So start thinking about it. Start charting the course the
rest of your life will take.
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Today's Bible Reading:
Revelation The Angels with the Seven Last
Plagues
15: Then I saw another portent in heaven,
great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for
with them the wrath of God is ended.
2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of
glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and
the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in
their hands. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant[a] of God, and the
song of the Lamb:
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations![b]
4 Lord, who will not fear
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your judgments have been revealed.”
5 After this I looked, and the temple of
the tent[c] of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the temple came the
seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen,[d] with golden
sashes across their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the
seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and
ever; 8 and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his
power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven
angels were ended.
The Bowls of God’s Wrath
16: Then I heard a loud voice from the
temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls
of the wrath of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured his
bowl on the earth, and a foul and painful sore came on those who had the mark
of the beast and who worshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured his bowl into
the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing in
the sea died.
4 The third angel poured his bowl into
the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the
angel of the waters say,
“You are just, O Holy One, who are and
were,
for you have judged these things;
6 because they shed the blood of saints
and prophets,
you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the altar respond,
“Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty,
your judgments are true and just!”
8 The fourth angel poured his bowl on the
sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire; 9 they were scorched by the
fierce heat, but they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these
plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured his bowl on the
throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness; people gnawed
their tongues in agony, 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains
and sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.
12 The sixth angel poured his bowl on the
great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way
for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw three foul spirits like frogs coming
from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth
of the false prophet. 14 These are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go
abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the
great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is
the one who stays awake and is clothed,[e] not going about naked and exposed to
shame.”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called
Harmagedon.
17 The seventh angel poured his bowl into
the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It
is done!” 18 And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder,
and a violent earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were upon the
earth, so violent was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell. God remembered great Babylon and
gave her the wine-cup of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away,
and no mountains were to be found; 21 and huge hailstones, each weighing about
a hundred pounds,[f] dropped from heaven on people, until they cursed God for
the plague of the hail, so fearful was that plague.
The Great Whore and the Beast
17: Then one of the seven angels who had
the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the
great whore who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the
inhabitants of the earth have become drunk.” 3 So he carried me away in the
spirit[g] into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that
was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The
woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and
pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the
impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was written a name, a
mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth’s abominations.” 6
And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood
of the witnesses to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly amazed. 7
But the angel said to me, “Why are you so amazed? I will tell you the mystery
of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the
bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth, whose
names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the
world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is
to come.
9 “This calls for a mind that has wisdom:
the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; also, they
are seven kings, 10 of whom five have fallen, one is living, and the other has
not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain only a little while. 11 As for
the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and
it goes to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who
have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for
one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are united in yielding their power
and authority to the beast; 14 they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb
will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with
him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 And he said to me, “The waters that
you saw, where the whore is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and
languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the
whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and
burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his
purpose by agreeing to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God
will be fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the
kings of the earth.”
The Fall of Babylon
18: After this I saw another angel coming
down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with
his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
It has become a dwelling place of demons,
a haunt of every foul spirit,
a haunt of every foul bird,
a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.[h]
3 For all the nations have drunk[i]
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power[j] of her
luxury.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven
saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
so that you do not take part in her sins,
and so that you do not share in her
plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Render to her as she herself has
rendered,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived
luxuriously,
so give her a like measure of torment and grief.
Since in her heart she says,
‘I rule as a queen;
I am no widow,
and I will never see grief,’
8 therefore her plagues will come in a
single day—
pestilence and mourning and famine—
and she will be burned with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
9 And the kings of the earth, who
committed fornication and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her
when they see the smoke of her burning; 10 they will stand far off, in fear of
her torment, and say,
“Alas, alas, the great city,
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in one hour your judgment has come.”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep
and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold,
silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of
scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron,
and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil,
choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, slaves—and human
lives.[k]
14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
has gone from you,
and all your dainties and your splendor
are lost to you,
never to be found again!”
15 The merchants of these wares, who
gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and
mourning aloud,
16 “Alas, alas, the great city,
clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in one hour all this wealth has
been laid waste!”
And all shipmasters and seafarers,
sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as
they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
19 And they threw dust on their heads, as
they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, the great city,
where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth!
For in one hour she has been laid waste.”
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints
and apostles and prophets! For God has given judgment for you against her.
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone
like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“With such violence Babylon the great
city
will be thrown down,
and will be found no more;
22 and the sound of harpists and
minstrels and of flutists and trumpeters
will be heard in you no more;
and an artisan of any trade
will be found in you no more;
and the sound of the millstone
will be heard in you no more;
23 and the light of a lamp
will shine in you no more;
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
will be heard in you no more;
for your merchants were the magnates of
the earth,
and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 And in you[l] was found the blood of
prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slaughtered on earth.”
Footnotes:
a. Revelation 15:3 Gk slave
b. Revelation 15:3 Other ancient
authorities read the ages
c. Revelation 15:5 Or tabernacle
d. Revelation 15:6 Other ancient
authorities read stone
e. Revelation 16:15 Gk and keeps his
robes
f. Revelation 16:21 Gk weighing about a
talent
g. Revelation 17:3 Or in the Spirit
h. Revelation 18:2 Other ancient
authorities lack the words a haunt of every foul beast and attach the words and
hateful to the previous line so as to read a haunt of every foul and hateful
bird
i. Revelation 18:3 Other ancient
authorities read She has made all nations drink
j. Revelation 18:3 Or resources
k. Revelation 18:13 Or chariots, and
human bodies and souls
l. Revelation 18:24 Gk her
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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