1 Corinthians 13:1

Verse of the Day Devotion: 1 Corinthians 13:1

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1

This verse is speaking of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.  It is just one of many gifts of the Holy Spirit that God gives for equipping us for service to Him.  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.   Each of the gifts addressed above are all given to us by the Holy Spirit and apportioned to us as He chooses.  Some may have only one of them, but others may have several.  But it is the Spirit who decides.

Going back to the focus verse which refers to tongues, if we do not have love for others, then we are doing nothing but making noise.  There was a lot of contentions within the Church at Corinth.  They were so envious of each other’s gifts that unity within the church was on the verge of being destroyed.  Paul was telling them that without love for God and man, the gifts and other graces they had were given was nothing in the eyes of God.  This is a very strong statement.  God gives us the gifts, but if we use them outside of love, then it means nothing.

He goes on in the next two verses, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2-3. If we practice the gifts of prophecy, understanding mysteries, having all knowledge, faith to move mountains, give all we have away and give our bodies for suffering and death but have no love, there is no benefit for us.  People in the church there saw these gifts as something to be proud of, that having them made them special.  Which is why they were envious of the gift’s others had but they did not.  However, Paul is laying out that these gifts must be secondary to our love for God and man.  In fact, everything must be secondary to this type of love.  “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Any good thing we do or say must be instigated by love.  It should never be done in order to build ourselves up.  Jesus put it this way.  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:1.

The important thing to keep in mind from our focus verse is that if we use a gift of the Holy Spirit, or give to the needy or feed the poor; essentially, if we do any good deed, do it out of love, not to just build ourselves up or show how great a Christian we are.  Love must be the overarching reason we do anything for God.  If it is not, then we may assist someone, but Jesus said, we will have no reward from our Father who is in heaven. Let love be the reason for everything we do.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Romans 8:28-29

Verse of the Day: Romans 8:38-39

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39
This is an absolutely beautiful passage.  Paul is very clear that there is absolutely nothing that can cause God to stop loving us who are members of the Body of Christ, his should give us immense peace.  Because of His love, He will always be with us, helping us through all of our trials and troubling times.  And you can trust this, because He said I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). You can trust God to bring you through everything you go through.  If hard times come, remember He is with you.  And He will always be with you.  This is His promise to you, and one thing we know for sure, He always keeps His promises.

Hebrews 2:5

Verse of the Day Devotion.  Hebrews 2:5

“For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.” Hebrews 2:5.  

In order to help understand this verse, we must first go back to Chapter 1 for a moment. There we read the following. “But to which of the angels has He ever said, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? ” Hebrews 1:13. The answer to the rhetorical question is ‘None’. No angel has ever been addressed this way because no angel has ever deserved such acclamation and exaltation. Then in the next verse we see what they are. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:14. God never subjected the world to them. On the contrary, they are sent out by God to minister for Him to those who are to inherit salvation. In essence, all the angels, even those of the highest order, are employed by their Creator to serve those who believe in Christ Jesus. This clarifies that He did not subject the world to them, even though many Jews believed this to be the case.

Therefore, the question remains, who did He subject it to? This is answered in what follows. He starts off by saying, “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.” Hebrews 2:5. He makes it clear that it was not angels.  Then, “It has been testified somewhere, What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?” Hebrews 2:6. The testifier alluded to is David, and the somewhere is Psalm 8. What David is saying is that man, from the time of Adam till then was sinful, therefore he questions why is God at all concerned with him.

But then David continued, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Hebrews 2:7-8. The word “man” here is the Greek word Anthropos, designating a human being, male or female. This does not refer to anyone in particular, but to mankind as a whole. And the word “son” is the Greek word uihos denoting the offspring of men.

Now, we will see who He subjected it to. “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:7-9. David here is referring to the coming Messiah, and the writer of Hebrews confirms this by stating Him to be Jesus. As a man, you made Him a little lower than angelic beings and put everything under subjection to Him.

Now, notice verse 8. “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” This is not found in Psalm 8. The reason being that Hebrews is referring to something that has already happened, whereas Psalm 8 is a prophetic statement yet to be fulfilled. The writer is saying all things are subject to Him, but in this sinful world we do not see it, YET. However, he continues, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9. We may not see it completely fulfilled; however everything is under subjection to Him, and we shall at some time, in the near future, see Him in His full glory.

We are living in a fallen world, and it may not look like things will ever be good again. However, we must always understand that Jesus is in full control, and He will come back to make things as they were always intended to be.  Brothers and sisters, keep strong and do not forget that our situation is temporal, and that infinity will be glorious.  And in remaining strong, spread the news to all the world, especially where you are now, the truth of Christ. It is our calling during this time, therefore, let us fulfill this calling with everything we are.     

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Matthew 18:10

Verse of the Day Devotion Matthew 18:10  

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 18:10 

Today we will look at the Parable of the Lost Sheep.   Here is this parable as found in Matthew’s gospel.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?  “And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.  Thus, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” Matthew 18:10-14. 

This is an interesting parable for it addresses a situation that many of us have not learned to address properly.  The first sentence in this parable says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10.  The Greek word translated despise has the idea of looking down upon or scorning, as well as disregarding them  so as not to be around.  John Wesley put it this way. “We must be careful to receive and not to offend, the weaker  believers in Christ: for as inconsiderable as some of these may appear to be, the very angels of God have a peculiar charge over them: even those of the highest order, who continually appear at the throne of the Most High.”

Now, when we come to verse twelve we read, “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?” Matthew 18:12.  This rhetorical question implies an affirmative response in the Greek: of course, that is the way one would act.  Jesus tells them that the shepherd in this story, being a ‘good shepherd’, would go after a lost sheep, leaving the other ninety-nine to find the one.  The straying sheep is a believer, one of these little ones, who wanders away from consistent obedience as well as intimate fellowship with God.  Now, the leaving of the ninety-nine does not assume they are left unprotected, for other shepherds would probably help them out.

In the next two verses, He expresses the reason for this. “And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.  Thus, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” Matthew 18:13-14.  God does not will for anyone to perish.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. Many look at this verse regarding only the unsaved. However, this speaks of all, including those who are weak and walk away. “Thus, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” Matthew 18:14.

Jesus said to His disciples go out into all the world.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. Yes, we are called to spread the gospel to the lost, but we are also called to teach and strengthen those who are followers of Christ. We should never avoid any opportunity to help Christians, especially those who are new and/or weak in their faith. And if we see them beginning to shy away from the Church and ultimately God Himself, we need to go to them and encourage them to stay true to the ways of Christ and help them in areas where they are weak or are questioning Christianity itself.  And if we can turn them around, we can rejoice with God that they have come back to Christ and given up their sins and/or doubts.  For remember, it is the will of God that all of His sheep will stay true and not perish and fall away.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Luke 15:10

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Luke 15:10

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” – Luke 15:10

This verse is a beautiful picture of how God reacts when anyone repents and becomes saved.  He starts this with a short story of a woman who loses a coin.  “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!” Luke 15:8-9.  Now, this is not much money, even at the time of this writing.  The conversion of these ten silver coins were around thirty-seven cents in today’s dollars.  This was not much but it was all she had.  So it was that she lost one-tenth of the money she had, and so she spent time lighting a lamp and searching for it.  When she found it she rejoiced greatly because this was a great portion of what money she had.  This was such a joyous time she invited her friends to celebrate with her. 

This story is very familiar to what is found in a similar set of passages just above this story.  “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” Luke 15:4-6. 

Now in both stories, we find the same basic statement telling us what this means in our focus verse.  “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:10.  When we truly gave our lives to Christ, there was a great celebration in heaven.  Just as the man who found the lost sheep, and the woman who found the lost coin, there is a great celebration in heaven over a lost soul that has been found. 

It is a principle of human nature that the “recovery” of an object in danger of being lost, affords much more intense joy than the quiet “possession” of many that are safe. This our Savior illustrated by the case of the lost sheep and of the piece of silver. It might also be illustrated by many other things. Thus we rejoice most in our health when we recover from a dangerous disease; we rejoice over a child rescued from danger or disease more than over those who are in health or safety. We rejoice that property is saved from destruction by fire or the tempest more than over much more that has not been in danger. This feeling our Lord represents as existing in heaven. “Likewise,” in like manner, or on the same principle, there is joy.

And this is a result of the great love God has for all of us. He wants us to come to Him, and will go after us to make it happen, but ultimately it is our choice. When we turn from our wicked ways and life by giving it to God because the penalty of our sins is paid for by the death of Christ on the cross, this is a time of great celebration in heaven.  We do not celebrate when something that we find is not loved; often we are glad to lose it.  So it is in heaven, when our soul was saved by our accepting this new life, the celebration is because a life that God loves came to salvation and now will live forever with Him.  This is how much we mean to God.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Matthew 24:36

Verse of the Day Devotion: Matthew 24:36 

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” – Matthew 24:36 

This verse is part of what is known as the Olivet Discourse.  It is called this because it is an extended teaching by Jesus given on the Mount of Olives.  The basic subject is the end times and the return of Jesus Christ.   He started this by giving signs that will occur when the end of the age is imminent.  These include but are not limited to an increase in false prophets, famines, earthquakes, and lawlessness.  Next, He speaks of the Abomination of Desolations spoken of by the prophet Daniel who will wreak havoc and bring great tribulation.  “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”   Matthew 24:21-22. 

And immediately after this period, the Son of Man, the Christ, will return.  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”  Matthew 24:29-31.  What a great time this will be for Christians.

Then we come to our focus verse.  “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”  Matthew 24:36.  The exact time of His coming is not clear.  However, the general signs are given so that we know it is close.  He uses the fig tree as an example of what He means.  “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.” Matthew 24:32-33.

Now we come to our focus verse.  “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Matthew 24:36.  There is no indication of exactly when His return will be.  Only the Father knows.  However, what we do know is it will happen.  So it is important that we live our lives accordingly.  We should not live in a casual Christian manner, one that is not deeply committed to Christ, figuring we will change as the time draws closer.  “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:38-29.  They lived their lives as they wanted, figuring all would be well, even though they were told by Noah what was coming.  However, the flood came, and it was too late, for the doors were shut,  They figured when the rain began, they would enter the ark at that time.  It did not go well with them, and it will not go well for those who wait until the day of His coming to get serious.

It is important that, as Christians, we live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to God, and one where we are totally committed to Him.  We do not know when He will come back, or if we will die prior to that day.  Therefore, it is imperative that we be serious about our Christian walk, not living our life as we please that is opposed to His will.  We do not want to hear the words spoken to the rich man who built additional barns to store His harvest.  The context is slightly different, but the meaning is clear. “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you.” Luke 12:20a.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.