Daily Dose of Hope

November 27, 2024

Day 4 of Week 35

Scripture: Isaiah 33-35; 1 Corinthians 6

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Bible reading plan. Just a reminder, there is no Recharge tonight.

Our Old Testament passage for today is Isaiah 33-35. Not unlike yesterday’s chapters, today’s readings continue on the themes of judgement and redemption. While there will be destruction, God will also offer future righteousness for those who believe. That we know will come through Jesus Christ. There is also emphasis on God’s sovereignty. He is bigger and more powerful than any earthly nation. Woe to other natures for God will prevail. His people will experience the consequences of their sin, but redemption is always possible.

The New Testament Scripture is 1 Corinthians 6. Paul continues to press this issue: Jesus-followers should look different than the culture around them. Why were they allowing secular courts to decide issues that should have been worked out in the church? Why were they getting pulled into disputes that distracted them from the mission in the first place? And then Paul presents a list of wrongdoings which have no place in the church. He is imploring them, "You know better!" You've been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You are different now, new creations, so behave like it.

I read this and it feels like Paul is in parent-mode. He is telling the Corinthians to remember who and whose they are! Two thousand years is a long time and yet people are still people. We aren't any better today; I do hope everyone realizes that. Yes, we think we are quite sophisticated. We think we are quite knowledgeable. But, just like the Corinthians, we still forget what it means to belong to Jesus. We still allow the values and temptations of the world to seep into our lives. How often we blend so neatly into the world around us! Do our neighbors and coworkers even know that there is something different about us? Let's just leave it there and let it soak in a bit.

I'll close with some more words from the apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 (the Message), So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki