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How do you measure success in your life? Most of us would probably list things like happiness, financial security, a satisfying career, or good relationships with others as indicators of a successful life.

Those are certainly good things, but the Bible sets a different and more compelling standard for our lives than simple material happiness and stability. According to this Our Daily Bread devotional, human beings find true fulfillment when they become whole:

The issue was not happiness, prosperity, or satisfaction, but wholeness. This is the great need of us all.

In the King James Version of the Bible, the word whole is often used to describe Jesus’ work of physical healing. When the Lord encountered a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, He asked, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (John 5:5-6 KJV). After Jesus healed the man, He challenged him to also embrace spiritual wholeness: “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (v.14).

If we only want something Jesus can do for us, our relationship with Him will be limited. When we want Jesus Himself, He brings completeness to our lives. Christ wants, first and foremost, to make us whole.

Consider the last 24 hours of your life. Are your actions and thoughts during that time characterized by wholeness? As you go through your day today, take a few moments to think through these questions:

1. Does your life feel “whole”? Why or why not?
2. Is there such a thing as an incomplete, or “limited,” relationship with Jesus? What would that look like?
3. What change does Jesus bring into your life when he makes you whole?

For such short and simple stories, Jesus’ parables can be surprisingly difficult to understand. Take the famous parable of the mustard seed. Is the kingdom of heaven the seed? Or the tree that grows from the seed? Does this parable have a different meaning when viewed through the lens of ancient Jewish society and culture?

These questions have long fascinated Sunday school teachers and theologians alike, and in this devotional at Slice of Infinity, Jill Carattini explores the compelling but elusive significance of Jesus’ parables:

Though the theological and methodological approaches to [the parable of the mustard seed] may be varied, perhaps in varying degrees each contends a similar truth: The kingdom of God holds much to be discovered, discussed, and held in wonder. […]

In each of these approaches to Jesus’s unlikely comparison, we find truths and wonders worth gleaning as if from a great and fruitful tree. The parable of the mustard seed depicts the inconspicuous ministry of Jesus and the sometimes hidden signs of his significance as holding a potential far beyond metaphor or imagination, culture or history. The kingdom of God is not in the future only, nor is it only at hand in a history we cannot reach; it is here even now, reaching out with branches that bid all to come and dwell. As with all of Jesus’s stories, which “leap out of their historical situation and confront us as if they had not yet spoken their final word,” this parable of the kingdom will continue to surprise us if we will continue to inquire.

Jesus’ parables challenge us to actively participate—they are simple stories with clear messages, but they nevertheless almost require the reader to respond to them with thoughtful questions about their meaning.

Is there a particular parable that you find most intriguing? What questions did it prompt you to ask, and what did you learn from it as a result?

Psalm 24 describes someone “ascend[ing] the hill of the Lord” to “stand in his holy place.” What is that “hill,” and who is worthy to stand on it? This Words of Hope devotional by Jonathan Brownson explains the meaning behind this curious phrase:

[This verse] suggests that “ascending the hill of the Lord” is quite different from playing “King of the Hill.” When Jesus ascends, the psalmist cries for the gates to open to receive the “King of Glory” (v. 7). The Lord Jesus is “King of the Hill” forever. He alone is perfectly clean and pure (v. 4). He is the Lord of hosts.

And as we approach the throne, we do not find Jesus ready to repel our advances. Rather, he invites us to join him. He promises that, “I will be [their] God, and [they] will be my [people]” (Rev. 21:7). His blood makes us clean (1 John 1:7). We can follow the ways of the world and struggle to exalt ourselves or we can “humble [ourselves] before the Lord, and he will exalt [us]” (James 4:10).

Read the full devotional at Words of Hope.

Once again, Jesus goes before us to open the way for us to follow. Jesus beckons from the “hill of the Lord,” inviting us to freely approach God’s throne. Have you followed him there?

Does belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ really matter? Is Jesus’ resurrection just an epilogue to his ministry… or is it the centerpiece of everything he did? In this Morning and Evening devotional, Charles Spurgeon explains the centrality of Christ’s resurrection:

The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that “Christ is risen from the dead;” for, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins.” The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in his resurrection, since he was “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” It would not be unreasonable to doubt his deity if he had not risen. Moreover, Christ’s sovereignty depends upon his resurrection, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” Again, our justification, that choice blessing of the covenant, is linked with Christ’s triumphant victory over death and the grave; for “He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

Read the full devotional at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

There is no part of the Christian life that does not rest on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ did not rise from the dead, all of Christianity is cast into doubt… but if he did, then we have a powerful hope indeed!

This morning I’ve been distracted by all sorts of things: miscellaneous emails, my cell phone chirruping, the dirty dishes in my sink, and the unpaid internet bill sitting on my desk. And those are just things I remember being distracted by!

There are days when I’m convinced that the world is conspiring to keep me from getting anything of substance done. Much of the time, the things that distract us are things that need to get done… but they aren’t necessarily what we should be focusing on right that second.

Winn Collier writes at Our Daily Journey with God about Martha’s focus on the wrong thing in Luke 10. Martha is busily preparing a meal for Jesus and her other guests while Mary sits listening at Jesus’ feet. Martha’s focus was in the wrong place:

Martha had invited Jesus and His followers into their home, and she began to prepare a meal for them. Preparing dinner for her guests was a good thing. The Hebrew tradition at that time had much to say about welcoming strangers into your home and offering them generous hospitality. However, even good things—at the inappropriate time—become hindrances. In this case, Martha’s myopic devotion to her work caused her to miss another opportunity . . . a better opportunity. “Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing,” Luke tells us (v.40).

Her distraction kept her from “the one thing worth being concerned about,” which was listening to Jesus (v.42). For all of us, the one central thing—whether we’re working or resting, filled with joy or burdened by sadness—is to hear what Jesus is saying to us. As John Ortberg says, “That one thing is the decision to live so continually in Jesus’ presence as to be always covered with the dust of the Rabbi.”

Read the entire devotional at Our Daily Journey.

What are some things that distract you from Jesus? How do you keep your focus where it should be?

The offer of redemption is almost incomprehensibly generous… but it’s even more incredible when you realize that God extends this offer to human beings who actively hate and reject Him.

That’s the theme of this devotional from Words of Hope, which looks at the corrupt, arrogant ancient church at Laodicea. This was a church that was busy ignoring every one of God’s commands, but incredibly, Christ still persisted with his offer of forgiveness and restoration:

The church in Laodicea had a high opinion of itself. They felt that they were rich, had prospered, and needed nothing. But to the searching eye of the risen Lord they were “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Quite a different evaluation!

The Laodiceans were so self-satisfied and complacent, so lukewarm, that the Lord was ready to “spit them out” of his mouth. No other church in Asia had received that kind of withering rebuke. They were in desperate need of repentance.

Yet the Lord wanted to give them true riches, white robes to clothe them and new vision…. Then came the astonishing offer. “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me.” To even the most proud, nauseating, and messed-up people, Jesus offers his abiding presence and fellowship when they turn afresh to him.

Read the full devotional at Words of Hope.

If you’ve ever worried that sin in your life—or in the life of a loved one—is too much for God to forgive, this is the most reassuring passage in the entire Bible. If God’s offer of forgiveness and love stood for the broken hypocrites of Laodicea, it stands for all of us!

Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it was indescribable? Or experienced a pain so deep it was unexplainable?

We use words to communicate ideas and information, but sometimes ideas and information are too complicated to be encapsulated in words. The Gospel is a perfect example of this predicament. We could spend years describing the minutiae of the Gospel to someone, but until they make it part of their lives any description will be like a poor reflection in a mirror.

A recent post from A Slice of Infinity explores the concept of Jesus as the Word of God. Much like how words can be used to describe concepts, Jesus—the Word of God—came as a revelation of God. Through Jesus we find an understanding of God that goes beyond words:

In Jesus, the Word of God, we see the Word beyond words. As John’s gospel does assert: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John 1:18). What we can know about God is centrally communicated in a person through his life and ministry. Jesus embodied God’s saving work of redemption in his life, his death, and his resurrection. God is revealed definitively in Jesus who came to seek and to save what was lost.

As one who writes and speaks, I know the power of words. In the defense of the gospel, a carefully crafted argument is often critical to breaking through the barriers of our day. And yet, I am reminded that words have limits, that people must see the gospel lived out, and that they must experience its power. The gospel must be embodied by those who claim to believe it. Francis of Assisi exhorted his band of followers to “preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” And if I’m honest, embodying the gospel takes far more creative effort than simply crafting an argument or a well-written sentence.

Perhaps in a word-saturated society such as ours, this early Christian understanding of the Word beyond words will remind us all of the limited power of words. There are divine mysteries so great that words fall short—as they should. And for all of us, this is deeply good news. God’s revelation is personal, embodied in Jesus. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God acted in a person, and this action speaks louder than words.

Read the rest of the devotional at RZIM.org.

How do you show the Gospel through your life rather than through words?

When’s the last time you thought about your favorite elementary school teacher?

Even though we spent innumerable hours hanging on that teacher’s every word, we eventually forget about them. The memories fade and we forget the advice and knowledge they passed on to us. We might think about them fondly now and again, but not with the frequency that we did when we were younger.

In 1 Corinthians 11:24, Paul recalls the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. As Jesus hands the bread to his disciples he tells them that whenever they practice communion to “do this in remembrance of me.” The idea of having to remember Christ can seem like an odd request, how could we ever forget our savior? But, as Spurgeon points out in this devotional from Morning and Evening, life has a way of distracting us from even Jesus:

Forget him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we let slip, let us hold fast to him.

Read the rest at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Do you make time to remember Jesus before you take communion?

Easter’s come and gone… now what?

No other holiday except for Christmas is the subject of as much anticipation as Easter. But now that Resurrection Sunday is behind us and the distractions of spring and summer are right around the corner, it’s easy to mentally set the message of Easter aside until next spring.

At A Slice of Infinity, Margaret Manning calls us to keep Easter on our minds and not let the joy of the Resurrection fade. Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something to celebrate once a year and then forget about; it’s something that should influence and redeem our behavior every single day:

If we’re honest, many of us do wonder what difference the resurrection has made in the practical realities of our lives. We still argue with our spouses and loved ones; we still have children who go their own way. We have difficulties at work or at school. We still see a world so broken by warfare, selfish greed, oppression and sin. Like the two men on the road to Emmaus recounting the events surrounding Jesus, perhaps we wonder aloud: “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21a). Things seem pretty much as they were before Easter Sunday, and the reality of our same old lives still clamor for redemption.

This is often the way we feel if we have only understood resurrection as an event long past that only speaks to a future yet to come. We feel this way if we do not connect Jesus’s prayer for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” with the reality of the cry, “He is risen, as he said.” The glimpse into the kingdom of God that we get in the life and ministry of Jesus is ratified through the resurrection. New creation, new life, resurrected living is now a possibility for those who follow Jesus.

Read the full devotional at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Does Easter already seem like the distant past? How are you keeping focused on Jesus and his Resurrection now that Lent, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday are behind us?

Reaching out to Muslims with the Gospel message is one of the most challenging evangelistic tasks the church faces. How do you share the message of Jesus when your audience is prepared to dismiss the Bible, and most common evangelism approaches, out of hand?

It’s no surprise, given the heated debates and apologetics that characterize much of the interaction Christian evangelists and Muslims, that missionaries would look for different outreach strategies.

One such alternate evangelism approach tries to do exactly that, but it’s not without detractors. It’s called the “Camel Method,” and it introduces people to Jesus not through the Bible, but through a book that’s much more familiar to most Muslims: the Koran. A New York Times article last month illuminated a growing controversy in missionary circles:

Instead of talking about the Jesus of the New Testament, missionaries using the Camel Method point Muslims to the Koran, where in the third chapter, or sura, an infant named Isa — Arabic for Jesus — is born. Missionaries have found that by starting with the Koran’s Jesus story, they can make inroads with Muslims who reject the Bible out of hand. But according to [Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary president] Dr. Caner… the idea that the Koran can contain the seeds of Christian faith is “an absolute, fundamental deception.”

David Garrison, a missionary who edited a book on the Camel Method by Kevin Greeson, the method’s developer, defends the use of the Koran as a path to Jesus. “You aren’t criticizing Muhammad or any other prophets,” Dr. Garrison said, “just raising Jesus up.”

The “camel method” has been criticized by many Christians for introducing Muslims to a non-Biblical Jesus, and some call it a “bait-and-switch” evangelism technique. But defenders of the practice claim that starting with the Koran, rather than the Bible, lets missionaries avoid predictable and unproductive debates.

They also say that starting with the Koran avoids giving Muslims the impression that you are attacking their faith and leaves them more open to dialogue. A Christianity Today article notes that:

International Mission Board trustees found the method valid after a 2007 investigation that included issuing principles of contextualization. “Historically, a missions approach has been to extricate Muslims from their community once they converted, which didn’t do much for planting the gospel among Muslims,” [IMB president Jerry Rankin] said.

An IMB-sponsored survey in 2002 found some 125,000 Muslims who had come to faith in Christ through the camel method, been baptized, and were orthodox in their practices.

Joseph Cumming of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture […] estimates that 90 percent of missionaries living among Muslims refer to verses in the Qur’an without inciting the heated arguments found in the U.S.

What do you think? Is it dangerous to use a non-Christian text like the Koran as a first step in evangelism? Or is it worthwhile if it lets missionaries avoid pointless debates and out of hand rejection?

Share your thoughts!