I just finished reading a passage during my time of “coffee with the Lord” today that I dread reading every year… A passage that frankly makes me sick!!! What passage is that you ask… Judges 19. Read it for yourself… I’ll not bother to explain it or retell the events it describes. Every time I’ve finished it I’m indignant, I grieve, and almost want to vomit!
I’m glad I feel that way about it! In fact, I’d be concerned about myself if I felt any other way!
The passage describes what can happen in a culture that abandons Biblical moral norms – a culture in which everyone does what seems right to them personally – situational ethics degenerating into moral chaos!
Here’s what the Bible says that relates to the account in Judges 19… “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people!” (Proverbs 14:34)
Oh, and one more thing about Judges 19… It’s where we’re head edin our nation and world if we continue to abandon what the Bible teaches about right and wrong and reject God’s lordship over our lives and culture! In fact, watch the evening news… listen to your radio… read your newspaper… we’re already seeing it played out all around us! It’s time to be “salt and light” in our world (Matthew 5:13-16)… it’s time to pray for a moral and spiritual revival!
Coffee With The Lord
The Best Way To Start the Day- Coffee With The Lord
Category Archives: Devos
Hey listen, I don’t want to call myself a “Christian” and actually be a “Mammonite!”
A lot of people call themselves “Christians” … and then there are other labels too: Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc. Really the word “Christian” should only apply to followers of Christ – those who in a practical and authentic way acknowledge and submit to Jesus as Lord of their lives.
I’m afraid, however, that some who call themselves “Christians” are actually “Mammonites!” What is a “Mammonite” you ask? Well the word “Mammon” in the Bible is used for “money or possessions.” A “Mammonite” (a word I coined… couldn’t you tell?) is an individual who, although claiming to be a Christian, actually in a practical way, worships and serves material things like money and possessions, rather than the Lord.
Here’s what Jesus had to say about that issue in the Bible (I read it this morning during “coffee with the Lord”)…
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth (“mammon” – KJV), who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (“mammon” – KJV).” (Luke 16:10–13 NIV)
I meet professing Christians all of the time who clearly communicate in their casual conversations and by their life pursuits that they are actually “Mammonites!”
Here’s the deal… I must acknowledge as a Christian – a person who claims Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – that “I’m not my own” – I’ve been “bought with a price!” In fact, the Psalmist declared, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it – the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) That means I actually “own” nothing! I am a steward of what belongs to someone else (God!) … It’s not mine – it’s His! My task is to be a faithful steward with the money and possessions God has entrusted to me for His purposes, His kingdom, and His glory!
I don’t want to be a “Mammonite” – I want to be a “Christian!” I don’t want to fall into the trap of allowing my culture, its advertising, its values, and the deceit of my own heart, to lead me into serving money and possessions! Instead, I want to serve God and steward possessions and manage money in a way that honors my Savior and Lord! Don’t you?
Colossians 1:15-20… Wow! Blows me away every time I read it!
ot on
Wow! Read one of those passages this morning during “coffee with the Lord” that just left me in awe of my Savior, Jesus Christ! Plain “blew me away” (and it does every time I read it!). If reading this passage and reflecting on what it declares doesn’t induce worship in a the heart of a Christ follower – someone who has been “reconciled to God” through what Jesus did on their behalf on the cross and because of the resurrection and ascension to the Heavenly Father’s “right hand” as their “advocate,” – something is wrong!
My comment in the margin of my Bible as a result of meeting with Him this morning in prayer, worship, and reflection after reading the passage in my Bible? “Wow! What a Savior you are! That passage describes WHO you are! That’s WHAT YOU’RE LIKE! That’s WHAT YOU’VE DONE! Wow!”
Ok, here it is right out of the Bible (with a few explanatory comments from me, based upon the original languages in which the Bible came to us)…
“He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God (he reveals what God is like to us – he IS God!), the firstborn of all creation (he was there at creation!). For by him ALL THINGS were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things (he was there before creation!), and in him all things hold together (he is Creator AND Sustainer of everything!). And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead (he made the resurrection possible for EVERYONE!), that in everything he might be preeminent! For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (he not only reveals God – he IS God!), and through him to reconcile to himself ALL THINGS, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (He is the great “reconciler” – What he did at the cross not only results in our personal reconciliation to God, but has COSMIC implications… see Romans 8:18-25).“ (from Colossians 1:15–20 ESV)
Hey, I’m sorry for all the comments (I just got carried away 
🙂 )!!! But, Oh my, what a Savior!!!
