Nashville, Tennessee, United States - Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “Compassionate Love” for Monday, 16 June 2014Today’s Reflection:
BEING A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN of our community is a way to enact justice in our daily life. Vote, speak out on issues, notice problems – especially unfair situations.
I recall a poor ethnic area with terrible street drainage in a large town where I lived. When enough other neighborhoods called city officials on this neighborhood’s behalf, the city council agreed to do something about the problem. The poor people’s streets were repaired because people spoke out on their behalf.
Any of us seeking a life in the likeness of Christ must embrace righteousness born of and nurtured by relationship with God. Our guiding moral principle for living will be justness and righteousness as viewed through the eyes of God and not the world’s. And the glue, the power that holds all of life together, must be compassionate love.(Ann Hagmann, Climbing the Sycamore Tree)
“From page 46 of Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity by Ann Hagmann. Copyright © 2001 by Ann Hagmann. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books.
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Today’s Question:
Where is God calling you to love today?
Today’s Scripture:
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.(Genesis 21:19, NRSV)
This Week: pray for fathers.
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Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers, call 1-800-251-2468.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember:
Thomas à Kempis (June 18).
Thomas à Kempis lived from 1380–1471. He was an Augustinian monk and writer. Thomas Hemerken was born in Kempen, near Düsseldorf, Germany. At thirteen he left his home to study in Deventer under Florent Radewijns, who had been an early disciple of Gerhard Groote, founder of the movement called devotio moderna, or New Devotion, and of the Brethren of the Common Life in Windesheim.In 1399 Thomas entered the Augustinian monastery of Mount St. Agnes (Agnietenberg) where his brother Jan had just been elected prior. After making his religious vows in 1408, Thomas was ordained a priest in 1413. He was elected subprior of the community in 1425. His primary duty was teacher of novices. In this capacity he produced the four treatises that became Imitation of Christ. Except for a three-year period when the entire monastic community went into voluntary exile, Thomas spent the rest of his life at Mount St. Agnes.
Thomas is best known for Imitation of Christ, a book for which he does not always get authorial credit, since the earliest manuscripts are anonymous. While complete unanimity does not exist, most scholars today consider Thomas the author. Imitation of Christ, probably written between 1420 and 1427, is, next to the Bible, the most popular of Christian classics, appealing to Protestants as well as Catholics. ...
Since Imitation of Christ was originally written for novices, Thomas used simple, direct language to convey his practical advice. Showing a keen understanding of human nature and deep insight into psychology, he shares the spiritual truths he has gleaned from praying the scripture (there are almost seven hundred biblical citations and allusions), the Devotio Moderna, the writings of the church fathers, and the lives of the saints.
Thomas wisely connects Christian ideas with a Christian lifestyle, joining theory and practice. The book has become and remained a classic because of this practical interpretation of scripture and theology. Due to its richness and depth, it is best read slowly, repeatedly, and meditatively.
If Thomas had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Mystic. Thomas is remembered on June 18.
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Genesis 21: 8 The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. 12 God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring[a] will be accounted as from Isaac. 13 I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child[b].” 14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 God heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
Footnotes:
a. Genesis 21:12 or, seed
b. Genesis 21:13 or, seed
Psalm 86: A Prayer by David.
1 Hear, Yahweh, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly.
You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Be merciful to me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant,
for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive;
abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer.
Listen to the voice of my petitions.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord,
nor any deeds like your deeds.
9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord.
They shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great, and do wondrous things.
You are God alone.
16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me!
Give your strength to your servant.
Save the son of your servant.
17 Show me a sign of your goodness,
that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed,
because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him! 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,[a] how much more those of his household! 26 Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. [b]29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin?[c] Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, 30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s foes will be those of his own household.[d] 37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. 39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 10:25 Literally, Lord of the Flies, or the devil
b. Matthew 10:28 or, Hell.
c. Matthew 10:29 An assarion is a small coin worth one tenth of a drachma or a sixteenth of a denarius. An assarion is approximately the wages of one half hour of agricultural labor.
d. Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6
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John Wesley’s Notes-commentary for:Genesis 21:8-21
Verse 9
[9] And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Sarah saw the son of the Egyptian mocking — Mocking Isaac no doubt, for it is sad, with reference to this, Galatians 4:29, that he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Ishmael is here called the son of the Egyptian, because (as some think) the four hundred years affliction of the seed of Abraham by the Egyptians began now, and was to be dated from hence.
Verse 10
[10] Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Cast out the bond-woman — This was a type of the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they were the seed of Abraham, yet, because they submitted not to the gospel-covenant, were unchurched and disfranchised. And that, which above any thing provoked God to cast them off, was, their mocking and persecuting the gospel-church, God's Isaac, in his infancy.
Verse 11
[11] And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight — it grieved him that Ishmael had given such provocation. And still more that Sarah insisted upon such a punishment.
Verse 13
[13] And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
The casting out of Ishmael was not his ruin. He shall be a nation because he is thy seed - We are not sure that it was his eternal ruin. It is presumption to say, that all these who are left out of the external dispensation of God's covenant are excluded from all his mercies. Those may be saved who are not thus honoured.
Verse 14
[14] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning — We may suppose immediately after he had in the night-visions received orders to do this.
Verse 17
[17] And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
God heard the voice of the lad — We read not of a word be said; but his sighs and groans, cried loud in the ears of the God of mercy. An angel was sent to comfort Hagar, who assures her, God has heard the voice of the lad where he is - Though he be in the wilderness; for wherever we are, there is a way open heavenwards; therefore lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand - God's readiness to help us when we are in trouble must not slacken, but quicken our endeavours to help ourselves. He repeats the promise concerning her son, that he should be a great nation, as a reason why she should bestir herself to help him.
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Verse 2[2] Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Holy — Sincerely devoted to thy service.
Romans 6:1b-11
Verse 1[1] What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
The apostle here sets himself more fully to vindicate his doctrine from the consequence above suggested, Romans 3:7,8. He had then only in strong terms denied and renounced it: here he removes the very foundation thereof.
Verse 2
[2] God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Dead to sin — Freed both from the guilt and from the power of it.
Verse 3
[3] Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
As many as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death — In baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; and we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, and particularly with regard to his death and resurrection.
Verse 4
[4] Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
We are buried with him — Alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion.
That as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory — Glorious power. Of the Father, so we also, by the same power, should rise again; and as he lives a new life in heaven, so we should walk in newness of life. This, says the apostle, our very baptism represents to us.
Verse 5
[5] For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
For — Surely these two must go together; so that if we are indeed made conformable to his death, we shall also know the power of his resurrection.
Verse 6
[6] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Our old man — Coeval with our being, and as old as the fall; our evil nature; a strong and beautiful expression for that entire depravity and corruption which by nature spreads itself over the whole man, leaving no part uninfected. This in a believer is crucified with Christ, mortified, gradually killed, by virtue of our union with him.
That the body of sin — All evil tempers, words, and actions, which are the "members" of the "old man," Colossians 3:5, might be destroyed.
Verse 7
[7] For he that is dead is freed from sin.
For he that is dead — With Christ. Is freed from the guilt of past, and from the power of present, sin, as dead men from the commands of their former masters.
Verse 8
[8] Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Dead with Christ — Conformed to his death, by dying to sin.
Verse 10
[10] For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
He died to sin — To atone for and abolish it.
He liveth unto God — A glorious eternal life, such as we shall live also.
Matthew 10:24-39
Verse 24[24] The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Luke 6:30; John 15:20.
Verse 25
[25] It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
How much more — This cannot refer to the quantity of reproach and persecution: (for in this the servant cannot be above his lord:) but only to the certainty of it. Matthew 12:24.
Verse 26
[26] Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Therefore fear them not — For ye have only the same usage with your Lord.
There is nothing covered — So that however they may slander you now, your innocence will at length appear. Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17; 12:2.
Verse 27
[27] What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Even what I now tell you secretly is not to be kept secret long, but declared publicly. Therefore, What ye hear in the ear, publish on the house-top - Two customs of the Jews seem to be alluded to here. Their doctors used to whisper in the ear of their disciples what they were to pronounce aloud to others. And as their houses were low and flat roofed, they sometimes preached to the people from thence. Luke 12:3.
Verse 28
[28] And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
And be not afraid — of any thing which ye may suffer for proclaiming it.
Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell — It is remarkable, that our Lord commands those who love God, still to fear him, even on this account, under this notion. 29, 30. The particular providence of God is another reason for your not fearing man. For this extends to the very smallest things. And if he has such care over the most inconsiderable creatures, how much more will he take care of you, (provided you confess him before men, before powerful enemies of the truth,) and that not only in this life, but in the other also?
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Upper Room Daily Reflections, a ministry of Global Board of DiscipleshipPO Box 340004
Nashville, TN 37203-0004 United States
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