MANNA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Â
Summer Devotional 2011 Â
This devotional packet is for the sole use of Manna Christian Fellowship and cannot be copied or distributed outside this group without explicit permission. For further information, contact manna@princeton.edu.
www.princeton.edu/manna
TABLE OF CONTENTS Anonymous.................................................................................................................................3 Diane Cho ’13 ............................................................................................................................. 5 Isabelle Song ’14.........................................................................................................................7 Richard Zhang ’14......................................................................................................................8 Julie Hwang ’13........................................................................................................................10 Han-wei Kantzer ’11................................................................................................................. 11 Brian Huang ’13 ....................................................................................................................... 12 Jocelyn Tang ’14 ...................................................................................................................... 15 Anonymous............................................................................................................................... 17 Jeremy Chen ’11 ....................................................................................................................... 18 Hyunjean Kim ’14 ................................................................................................................... 20 Ben Sheng ’11.......................................................................................................................... 22 Chris Teng ’13..........................................................................................................................24 Jane Kim ’04 ............................................................................................................................26 Megan Wong ’11 ......................................................................................................................28 Ryan Shyu ’13........................................................................................................................... 31 Anting Liu ’12 ..........................................................................................................................32 Daniel Song ’13 ........................................................................................................................34 Hyunjean Kim ’14 ....................................................................................................................36 Ka-Yee Ivy Lau ’11...................................................................................................................38 Florence Hsiao ’13 ....................................................................................................................39 Anonymous............................................................................................................................... 41 Natalie Kim ’12 ........................................................................................................................44 Blake Altman, Staff ..................................................................................................................46 Katie Boyce ’11 .........................................................................................................................50 Chris Teng ’13..........................................................................................................................52 Jeremy Chen ’11 ....................................................................................................................... 55 Han-Wei Kantzer ’11................................................................................................................58 Anonymous.............................................................................................................................. 60 Julia Yoon ’09 ..........................................................................................................................62 Ed Zheng ’13 ............................................................................................................................64
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Florence Hsiao ’13 ....................................................................................................................66 Rebecca Tran ’12......................................................................................................................68 George Wang ’11......................................................................................................................70 Tricia Tsai ’11........................................................................................................................... 71 Yoonju Kim ’10 ........................................................................................................................73 Anonymous...............................................................................................................................74 Ryan Shyu ’13...........................................................................................................................76 Ha Eun Kong ’13......................................................................................................................78 Enoch Kuo ’13 ..........................................................................................................................79 Jack Gang ’12...........................................................................................................................82 Hyunmoon Kim ’13 ..................................................................................................................83 Eeh Pyoung Rhee ’13 ...............................................................................................................85 Megan Wong ’11 ......................................................................................................................87 Ben Sheng ’11...........................................................................................................................88
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Anonymous God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
James 4:4-10
Reflection
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Pride can be sneaky. My deepest spiritual struggle this year came at a time when I was envious of a friend because I thought that God was blessing her more than me. I wanted what she had, and I was bitter that He was withholding things from my life. But of course I wouldn’t admit that. Proverbs says that envy will rot your bones, and for weeks, I let the spiritual food poisoning seep into my bones, veins, flesh, heart and spirit. In the meantime, pride held me back from admitting my sin. “I’m not jealous. That’s beneath me. Come on. I love God. I’m just burdened from carrying everyone else’s anxieties for them. I give so much. I am so holy. Lord, why am I so weary and angry? Why are You so far away?” The most convicting word in this passage, for me, is “adulterous.” It gets to the heart of the matter: when I sin, I am cheating on God. God who pours grace abundant on me when I am eating pig’s food and dragging a corpse of sin-filled filth behind me. God who cries Beloved, who weeps and longs to gather us like a hen takes her young under her wings. God whose heart breaks time and again when I say, “Your love is great, but I’d rather serve myself.” But James doesn’t kid around. This passage of his letter comes right after he calls out Christians for killing, coveting, quarelling and fighting among themselves. The body of Christ hurts itself, James says, because we don’t have the right desires. Adulterous one, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Submit to God! Resist the devil! Grieve, mourn and wail, you sinner – humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Humility is difficult. It took a long time for me to accept this passage, get on my knees and admit that I am a sinner: that I fall so sort of God’s grace and am suspect of being jealous, small-hearted, selfish, dirty and wrong. It was terrifying, because for a moment I teetered on the fear that I would have to admit “I am not a good person,” and that that’s all I would have. That sinful grime would be my everything. If that were the case, I would rather cover my ears, sing above my sin and pretend that all was fine than own up to my humanity.
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But he gives more grace. Good thing that wasn’t the case. Praise God for being faithful, even when we are faithless. He cannot disown himself. His character does not change. I used to think that resist the devil meant wielding my holiness against him, flinging Bible verses and flaunting my devotional disciplines and general goodness. No! To resist the devil doesn’t mean building up our own ostensible strength. It means falling on our knees before Christ, crying out Lord, I am a sinner. Hosanna – save me now! It may be the most terrifying thing in the world to admit that yes, we are wretched failures, embarrassingly sinful and addicted to our selves. But there is no other way to access His grace than to face this truth: we are fallen. We need Him. For a night, we change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom. We are stricken by our own darkness. But in the morning? Come near to God and He will come near to you. He comes. He saves. Pride is crushed and we are free to be cripples leaning wholly on His grace. The devil gets smacked in the face with an eternal onehit K.O. Jesus Christ is faithful, good, and unchanging. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. Praise the Lord!
Prayer
Father God, I come before You in confidence that You are holy, gracious, good, just, merciful and mighty to save. I confess that I have sinned – that I am a broken and small human, suffering from self-addiction. Lord, change my heart. Pride keeps blinding me, throwing sand in my eyes and whispering that I don’t need to come to You. But I do! Lord, all my desires battle within me and I can’t triumph over them on my own. Take my sin, Lord, free me from the flesh that takes so much control over me. Help me to wash my hands. Lord, purify my heart. Make me more like You. Save me. Thank You for Your goodness and faithfulness. Lord, I praise You for being a God whose willingness to give grace depends on Your own character, not on anything that we have done. I praise You for being unchanging from everlasting to everlasting. I praise You for being Almighty. Would You tune my heart to Yours today? Show me what Your will is. Help me to walk to the beat of Your heart. I am weak, but in You, Lord, there is strength. Thank You for Your goodness. Amen.
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Diane Cho ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 24
Reflection
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah Funny Story: I started this devotional on my birthday. Did you know that my birthday was the 24th of May? Jane sent us the first email of her five-day devo plan on the 24th of May, my birthday. I am actually not flaunting this fact out of some not-so-subtle call for belated birthday wishes as much as it might sounds that way; I only mention it because its important for you to be aware that when I was reading my passage, my whole self was just spilling over with birthday ambitiousness and indignation and distractedness. Birthdays, for me anyway, are awkward. I need a very specific/impossible amount of attention/recognition/love-in-words/love-in-things-only-moneycan-buy/even-more-love or the whole day is just spoiled for me. Patric Knaak might call it it’s-my-birthday-righteousness. So when I was in Murray Dodge to start the devotional, I was already perturbed by the sans-fireworks progression of things and anxious about it’s continuing, so I decided I needed a little peace and perspective, a divine intervention. I flipped to Psalm 24 in the hope that the significance of the number might mean the verses would hold extra birthday-meanings for me specifically. And it kind of did. 1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
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The passage was quick to humble, quick to douse my fiery unwarranted desire for attention on a day that did not belong to me. Even my birthday is the Lord’s. It’s awesome: God the owner of all things, all people, all birthdays, and all reasons for praise. Psalm 24 weirdly repeats all of its statements twice so that I can’t not understand what’s being said here and how I’m being questioned. 3 Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? [surely not you, Diane?] 4…[Do you have] clean hands and a pure heart, … not trust in an idol or swear by a false god [?]
Prayer
Prayer for my heart: No, Lord, I do not have clean hands or a pure heart. Both my actions and my motives are questionable. I do idolize things on this world above you, especially myself. As soiled and as imperfect as I am, I am still brimming with selfrighteousness and a desire for praise. I pray that you help me rid myself of that greed and redirect all praise to you Lord, as you open my eyes to how entirely huge you are. Forgive me, Lord for the effect my self-righteousness has on my deeds and interactions with others, and thank you, Lord for loving and accepting me wholly despite this. Amen. Besides being present in birthday pettiness however, my self-righteousness appears in fellowship and community as well. As has been made clear, I sometimes tend to view things in a very egocentric way and wonder, “why am I not being reached out to, why aren’t people fawning over me?” I am owed nothing, but I was given Manna, of which God alone should be the center. Prayer for Manna: Lord, I thank you for the community you’ve given to us in the form of Manna, a source of so many luxuries: companionship, wisdom, encouragement, and support. I pray that above all things we remember to use Manna as a means through which we can glorify you. I pray that you are always at the center of our fellowship because you are the only infallible one, only through you can our actions and motivations be pure. Help us fight the inclination to resent the inevitable brokenesses that will arise in our fellowship, and instead pull from the well of your perfect love and grace to continually serve one another needing nothing in return because those who have clean hands and a pure heart, “they will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior” (Psalm 24:5). Amen.
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Isabelle Song ’14 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Romans 12:1-3
Reflection
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. I’ve read this passage several times before but the part that I have never noticed before was the references to measure of faith. The only way that we can prepare and strengthen our faith is through understanding God: and the only way that we can understand God is through offering ourselves as living sacrifices, turning away from the ways of the world (v. 1, 2). If we still act and think like everyone else, how would we be able to see what He wants us to see? I can’t deny that I chase after fame, power, and money and I’m sure all of us have desired them at one point or another. But in chasing after these things out of worldly motives we are weakening our faith. In looking for securities and pleasures for ourselves, we lose sight of God’s will and His purpose for us. Being living sacrifices is our act of worship to God; focusing our efforts for other motives would be the same as worshipping idols. It’s in moments like these that our faith is in danger. When we look for and test what God’s will without a devoted heart, it is easy for our faith to be shaken. Some, when defeated in their struggles, question God and their faith becomes weaker. That’s why Paul tells us to not think higher than ourselves but according to our faith (v. 3). Unless our faith is strong and prepared, it would be foolish to rush into struggles and tasks that are too much for our faith to handle. In order to prepare ourselves for the struggles ahead of us and to better equip us for the struggles we are facing now, it is crucial to remember to keep our faith in check: not just once in a while, but every day. This is a good reminder for us to continually grow in faith. Whenever your faith becomes stagnant or whenever your spiritual life seems dull, take a look at this passage and ask: am I truly living as a living sacrifice to God physically, mentally, emotionally, both inside and out? More importantly, are my days filled with the desire to know and love God more? I realize now why pastors emphasize love so much in their passages. It’s because without love for God there is no desire to understand Him, and without love there is no desire to please Him. So. Don’t be shy. Lift up a prayer. Ask Him to make you His.
Prayer
God, I thank You for Your unchanging love. I pray that my heart may be as Yours and look only to You. I pray that all the glories of the world may disappear in Your presence and that my sole desire may be to chase after You. Let this servant serve you with her whole heart and may my heart be a pleasing offering to Your eyes.
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Richard Zhang ’14 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Isaiah 2:6-18
You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions form the East; they practice divination like the Philistine and clasp hands with pagans. Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled—do not forgive them. Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear.
Reflection
This is what the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning mankind in the last days. Unlike most visions of the apocalyptic future, this one starts with a focus on the prosperity of man, detailing the great abundance of material wealth. Yet, prosperity, which turns out to be a false blessing, eventually blinds us into worshiping the works of our hands and the creations of our fingers. In that time, man will be deeply influenced by the ways of the world— to the point of saturation—and he will be immensely proud of his self-created world. But when the splendor of the Lord is revealed to man, the illusion of prosperity quickly shatters and the pride of man will be wrenched away. Only the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. What really struck out in this passage is the repeated emphasis on the evil of pride. Numerous times did Isaiah cry out against the arrogance of man, using vivid imagery to emphasize the brokenness of man’s prideful self. God’s anger against man’s arrogance is so fierce that even the tall cedars of Lebanon and the towering mountains and high hills cannot escape His wrath. Even nature has to pay the price for man’s flaws. As I look out over Shanghai, I see the lofty towers of the financial district, the fortified walls of the developing city, the trading ships stationed at the seaports, and the luxurious vessels cruising along the Huang Pu river. It appears that even now, we are surrounded by the works of our hands. Technology has crept into all aspects of our life: We now use computers to write papers, send mail, buy items, transact money, attend classes, place orders. We even have online friends and followers; messaging and chatting have almost completely been turned electronic. We see technological advances and the proliferation of online services as a sign of human progress and
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improved efficiency. But this only leads to pride and only sets us up to be painfully humbled when all these idols disappear.
Prayer
My idols and my sources of pride all indeed come from the works of my hand. In fact, being at Princeton in itself is a source of pride! Thinking that I deserve to be at a prestigious university, that I deserve the grades I received, that I deserve the comforts of my life because of all the effort and hard work I have put in—all this leads to pride. God, help me see the grace that you have poured out into my life and allow me to offer up the fruits of my labor to you. Help me turn away from the allures of the world, from my idols, and from the worship of my own creations. Let me not work to build up my wounded pride; rather let me rejoice in all the work that I am given so as to further your kingdom.
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Julie Hwang ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will father you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Background
Jeremiah’s letter of hope after the fall of Jerusalem on how God will use the downfall to lead us back to Him.
Reflection
Jeremiah 29:11 is apparently a favorite verse for many of my friends. When I first read the verse, I interpreted it as a comforting message that God will provide us with a future of hope and deliverance, and we only need to wait for the plan to be executed. It’s a very appealing interpretation; we don’t feel burdened or obligated to do anything to be a part of God’s plan. But when reading the verse in the context of the entire letter (Jeremiah 29:4-23), I realize how simple-mindedly I had interpreted the passage. In verses 4-7 God tells those who are in a difficult situation to continue to live an effortful life (“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters…”). We should not sit around and wallow in sorrow and self-pity, wondering when God’s plans will unfold. We also should not be tempted by bad advice we are so vulnerable to in times of hardship (“do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you”), but rather do our parts while we wait to find God, as He promises to return to us if we seek Him. The message in this passage is frighteningly applicable to my life and how I deal with the occasional hardships that I face. Whenever I feel as if I have reached rock bottom, I am quick to drop everything I’ve been holding and wait for things to get better; after all, people always say that “things can only go up after you’ve reached the bottom.” And when I don’t immediately see hope in the future, I’m quick to ask God where He is and why He isn’t answering my calls when I am obviously waiting for Him. But I am not seeking God with all my heart if I have put my life on hold, waiting to be found by God. God says that He will be found by me, and therefore I must actively search for him. When I have lost my nation, I must carry on and live my life in exile, until I find the Lord and He is found by me. He promises me that I will be brought back.
Prayer
Dear Lord, during my moments of exile, give me the courage to live in captivity, give me the strength to seek in darkness, and please be found by me.
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Han-wei Kantzer ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Luke 11:9-13
Background
Reflection
9 So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! This passage is part of Jesus’ response to his disciple’s request that he teach them how to pray. There’s a great Tim Keller sermon on prayer, and specifically this passage. Listen to it if you have time! http://bit.ly/mw52ul. Prayer can be discouraging. It’s during prayer when we feel most strongly that we should feel God’s presence, but most of the time we just don’t. Given this, it’s really frustrating to read Jesus’ promise in verse 10: “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” But when you read verses 11-13, you realize that Jesus isn’t promising that when we pray, God will give us whatever we ask for. He’s promising us that God is our Father. This is why, when we pray, the first thing we should say shouldn’t be “God, remember that you said you’d give us whatever we asked for.” Instead, our prayers should begin with “Our Father in heaven…” It is because God is our Father, that a lot of times he won’t give us what we ask for, because he has something far better in mind. It is because God is our Father, that he will listen to our prayers, and he will move in our lives. Fathers listen to the requests of their children. Finally, it is because God is our Father, that prayer to him should be the most encouraging thing we do all day, because even if praying doesn’t leave us feeling even an ounce of spiritual presence, prayer reminds us that our Father in heaven cares about all our needs.
Prayer
Dear Father, it is a privilege to call ourselves your sons and daughters. We know that because you are our father, you will listen our prayers, and we ask that your will be done in our lives. We ask that you give us your Holy Spirit, and that your spirit will continually remind us that we are your children. Amen.
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Brian Huang ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Luke 19:11-27; Matthew 25:1430 (optional)
Background
As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
Jesus tells this parable on the final journey of his ministry: he is going to Jerusalem. At the beginning of chapter 19, he has just entered Jericho which is only around 17 miles away from the holy city. Jesus has just announced that he will be staying at Zacchaeus’ house today and the wealthy tax collector in turn has promised to pay back all the people he has cheated as well as give half his money to the poor. It is upon reiterating his goal of ministry to the lost that Jesus tells the parable of the minas. It will be useful to note that the nobleman who appears in this parable is strongly reminiscent of Herod the Great’s son Archelaus, with whom all the listeners (as his former subjects) would have been familiar with. The story goes that Herod the Great initially made Herod Antipas his heir (after court intrigues took most other sons out of the equation), but, upon his death bed, changed his mind and split his kingdom among several sons, willing Samaria, Judea, and Idumea to Archelaus. Since Israel was technically under Rome, however, Herod’s will had to be ratified by Augustus Caesar. Thus, Archelaus trooped off to Rome to be declared king of the greater part of Israel. While he was opposed by Herod Antipas and a delegation from the Pharisees, Augustus saw no reason to overturn the will and had Archelaus appointed king of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea (technically “ethnarch”). There is a difference, though, in that even though Archelaus also had almost 3000 Jews killed
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during the feast of the Passover at the temple, this occurred before his trip, not after.
Reflection
Luke is very clear that the parable was told in response to those who thought that the kingdom of God was immediately apparent. Indeed, the point seems to be that we ought to follow the example of the first two servants and industriously put all resources to good use. Now, since this parable resembles Matthew 25:14-30 (the parable of the talents), it’s very easy to read the minas as “talents”. I encourage you, however, to think of other things besides our innate abilities that we might put to work for the kingdom. Can you use your circumstances or maybe even your mistakes to further His work? Now you may be wondering about how Archelaus plays into this. It is indeed interesting that Jesus parallels himself with someone who most people in that age considered a villain. I mean, Archelaus was removed from power within ten years of his ascension for being a really bad ruler, and it’s not like anyone would not know this in Jericho, a part of Judea and a part of Archelaus’ kingdom. But, I think it’s telling that Jesus does this immediately after people object to his eating with a tax collector. It’s like he’s saying that we ought to serve wholeheartedly, not only Him, but our fallen earthly governors (“slaves obey your masters”). Having a poopy master like Archelaus might suck, but that’s no excuse to do nothing for him either. Our service is a testimony, regardless of the recipient. That’s not to say we should be like Arjuna and just do our duty regardless of moral repercussions—pray for discretion. I think it’s also encouraging that a low man like Archelaus rewards his faithful servants so well. That is, if he takes such joy in work well done, how much more will Jesus delight in the work of our hands? I think sometimes I read passages like these and think, “Rule ten cities? That’s okay; I pass. I’m no politician, and I certainly don’t need tribute from ten cities.” Yet, this is just another distraction. My brother suggested that I consider perhaps the reward of ten lost friends brought to Christ. I really like that twist since it ties so nicely into our thoughts about whole-hearted work. See, he accompanied this with a story about a friend who had moved away to Taiwan back when Star Fox was a new game and Skin-So-Soft was a bug repellant. In the East, however, the popular image of Christians is dominated by those vocal groups of which we are most ashamed, so our friend, bombarded by these stereotypes, found it increasingly frustrating to explain himself and Christianity. By the time he returned for college, he had ceased identifying himself as a Christian. It was around this time that my brother’s class had a youth group reunion (or rather, last hangout before heading off to college) and the group got around to talking about Christian stereotypes. My brother mentioned a girl at his high school that zealously defended torture and had declared her willingness to perform it on others if in the service of her country, and wondered aloud how she could even call herself a Christian. It was an offhanded remark, but it had a big impact. Later at Urbana (haha, four years ago), he told my brother that that little remark got him thinking about the difference between the body of Christ and its individual members. I wouldn’t say that that comment saved this friend’s faith, but I still think it’s really cool that it had such a big impact. So, wouldn’t it be cool if your wholehearted attempts affected someone so that later on (they might not even take you seriously) someone might take those seeds and make them grow?
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Read the passage again. Then, pray that God deliver you from any godless inhibitions you might have about your work. Repent for the times you have half-heartedly done the kingdom’s work, and pray that by His grace, we might do further work with a cheerful heart.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, We praise you as a God of work but also of rest. You worked hard and rested joyfully in sharply delineated time periods. But we have a fallen will and a muddled conscience that we devote ourselves half-heartedly to both. We struggle to devote ourselves to every little thing. Without your grace, we faint and grow weary; we fall exhausted without you. Lord, pour out upon us your grace which enables us to be faithful servants for you. Let us rest knowing we’ve invested our mina well and that it will grow to be ten by your wholesome plan. We place all fears and doubts in your hands. Amen.
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Jocelyn Tang ’14 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Luke 5:1-11
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Reflection
A lot of us have read/heard about this passage before, usually connected to some message about obedience and faith. But I want to focus on Peter’s reactions in verse 8. When Peter realizes how great and wonderful Jesus is, and how sinful and faithless he is, he tells Jesus to “go away!” A seemingly silly response, yes, but it’s one I make very often myself. When the depths of our sin are revealed to us, we begin to understand how much we don’t deserve Jesus, and it’s hard to swallow. We reject this beautiful gift - we struggle to accept it, we cannot truly believe it – because it can’t possibly be – why would anyone love us when they see us in all of our sin? But Jesus tells Peter – do not be afraid. I was a little confused about what Jesus meant – not to be afraid of what? His (Peter’s) own sin? The thought that he couldn’t live up to the life Jesus was going to lead him to? Maybe even – Jesus’ love? Perhaps all of the above. But Jesus has faith in them. He tells them – and us – do not be afraid. The Lord is here for you always, no matter how deep your sin is, how ugly your insides are, how corrupted your thoughts are. And then Jesus gives them a huge assignment – making them his own disciples, making them fishers of men. They shall now be His followers – the ones who learn from the Son of God himself. Wow. That’s kind of scary – but what an honor! Jesus saw in Peter what Peter did not, could not, see in himself. So what do Peter and the rest of the fishermen do? They follow Jesus. But not just that. They leave everything and follow Jesus. Peter’s initial reaction is to
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push Him away. And that might be my initial reaction. But it doesn’t stop there. We cannot let our own sin get in the way of forming a relationship between the One who saved us with His love. We cannot let this first response take over our lives. Yes, we see our sin. Do we dwell on it? No. We dwell on Jesus’ undying and unconditional love for us, and His hope for renewal, restoration, growth. Jesus did not choose the rabbis. He did not choose the priests or the scholars or the beautiful people – he chose the fishermen, the detested tax collectors, the ones who had pustules all over their skin. He knows our unpleasant exteriors are only half-hearted masks of the darkness within. But He knows that – and He still loves us. Isn’t that crazy? Peter, after realizing the gravity of his own sin, thinks he is unworthy to be near Jesus – but Jesus WANTS to be near him. He wants to be near you.
Prayer
Father, how unworthy we are. We are weak and we are sinful – every tiny space inside of us is filled with yuckiness and blackness. Yet You see all that – you see all that and You LOVE us. You want to be near us. You want to make us fishers of men. I pray that you would not let our fear or our sin control us – free us of these reigns, let us make you Lord over our whole bodies, our whole lives. Help us to accept this invitation to sit at Your table – not to reject it because we know we do not deserve it. Instead, help us to understand that realizing the depths of our own sin only makes the magnitude of Your grace and Your love even more astounding. We are not worthy, Lord, but YOU are. I pray that we would be able to boldly live our lives out for You, as your sons and daughters as well as your servants. Do not let us be hindered by our own sinfulness! You can use us even when we are weak – so I pray that You would give us the courage to take up this assignment. Help us to be willing to be used by You. Help us to surrender ourselves – to leave everything and follow You.
Also!
As I was writing some of this, “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns started playing on my playlist, and I haven’t heard that song in so long! But I thought it was pretty applicable, so if you have time you should listen to it!
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Anonymous God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Romans 12:1-2
Background
Reflection
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul provides a comprehensive explanation of the gospel. In chapter 12, he transitions from the doctrine of the gospel to the application of it to daily life. One of the key themes that he emphasizes is the importance of sanctification, or the process of becoming holy. In these verses, Paul first asks the Romans to present their bodies as a holy and acceptable living sacrifice – to be sanctified. Paul continues by explaining how we can do so: by actively guarding against being sucked into the culture around us and to constantly renewing our minds according to the truth of the gospel. Paul emphasizes that we can’t do this alone – we need God’s help. But at the same time, we can’t dismiss the importance of our role in this process. Imagine this. An eleven-year-old son goes to the nearest CVS to buy his mom a birthday gift with his allowance money, which was given to him by his mom. The child’s ability to buy the gift was enabled by his mom but had he not kept track of his mom’s birthday and have put in the thought and effort to go out and purchase the gift, he would have never come home with a gift to please his mom. In the same way, sanctification requires both God’s grace and our own work. Working towards sanctification is how we worship God and thank Him for the work He did on the cross. It’s the only rational response to a true understanding of the gospel. If we really believe that God’s will is good, shouldn’t we try to become more holy so we can become more in tune with God’s will? I know these verses are probably familiar to old-time Christians, but I hope that today, no matter where you are in your walk of faith, you would take the time to consider whether or not you have been living according to Paul’s words. Are you striving to please God in your thoughts and in your actions? Are the decisions you make on a day-to-day basis a testament to your faith?
Prayer
Father God, It’s so easy to take your grace for granted. We say we believe but then forget and live as we please. I pray that you would remind us every day of your promise, that we will one day dwell with you in perfect holiness, and that this would motivate us to work towards sanctification. We love you and in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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Jeremy Chen ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 37 Background
Take up a Bible and read this amazing Psalm. Or read it online here. This psalm of David, King of Israel, was written when he was in his old age (see 37:25). Appropriately, as David has grown in years, this psalm is regarded as belonging to the genre of wisdom literature, resembling a chapter in the book of Proverbs, which were written by his son Solomon. Whether it is a song or a lyrical meditation, we do not know, but its beautiful juxtaposition of descriptions of the fate of the faithful and the wicked is written in an (imperfect) alphabetical acrostic, with the first letters of verses corresponding, more or less, to each subsequent letter in the alphabet. Addressing the perplexing prosperity and comfort of the wicked and the affliction, depression, and suffering of the righteous, David speaks not as an outside observer, but as one of the company of believers to whom he addresses his psalm. In the face of these inexplicable situations, trust in the Lord! Do good! Be still before him! Delight in Him! Keep his way! Along with all these exhortations, he assures us that God's justice will be fulfilled. Our longing for things to be made right is a just and good desire, and it will have its fulfillment when Christ comes again in righteous judgment, bringing peace and justice. Christians may feel wary of reading the descriptions of the fate of the wicked, and part of this instinct is good, as we shouldn't rejoice in the illfate of those who commit injustice, but, recognizing God's grace to us in clothing us with God's righteousness, we ought to allow these verses to reveal the utter otherness of God's holiness. We ought to allow the words of this psalm to increase our longing for true shalom and social justice, which will be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, when the Lion will lie down with the lamb. At the same time, the psalm should increase our hatred for the evil of the powers and principalities behind the darkness of the world, knowing that someday evil will be cut off, and the righteous will 'inherit the land.'
Reflection
Read verses 1-6: Let David's visual descriptions contrasting 'evildoers' and those who 'Trust in the Lord, and do good' to shape your own imagination. What ideas spring forth when you read this? What does it look like for the evildoers to fade and wither, and the righteousness of the just to be brought forth like light? Their justice like noonday? Read verses 7-11: Close your eyes, and take a s l o w, deep breath. Exhale, open your eyes, and begin reading. As your read, consider our promised inheritance for which we long (eagerly, yet patiently), a land of peace and prosperity, of final, true, deep rest. Read verses 12-19: Before you read these verses, take a few moments to consider all of the gross injustices and shocking evils that have been committed in the world recently that you have encountered in the news. As you read these verses, be comforted as you witness our God, who confronts the unjust. Praise him for his holiness and sovereignty, and allow verses 18 and 19 to bring you a measure of hope, even as you continue to long for true peace
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and justice in this world. Read verses 20-24: Read these verses several times. Allow your senses to be engaged by the text. What smells, visual pictures, tastes, sounds, feelings, textures, emotions, temperatures, movements, situations come to mind? What sensations are stirred in you as you seek God in this passage? Read verses 25-33: Take a moment to consider your life up until this moment - has God been faithful to you? Has he answered your prayers? Has he demonstrated himself to be faithful to his promises to bless you? Dig deep, even if this means wrestling with tough situations in which it is difficult to see God's goodness. Then read these verses as if they are being spoken over you as an encouragement and blessing by Jesus, the truly faithful one. Read verses 34-40: As you read these final verses with a listening heart, allow the Word to engage your emotions, moving you to desire our King. Let whatever feelings wash over you be a sacrifice of praise to the Lord, our stronghold in time of trouble. Allow Jesus and his promises to bring comfort and peace into whatever uncertainties, difficulties, trials, frustrations, or sadness that you are presently facing.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, our Savior and King, I have committed my way to you, and as I sit still before you, I ask that you grant me patience, that I may cease envying the promised benefits of idols, which are short-lived, faith, that I may believe in your promises, and love, that I may delight myself in you, trusting you to give me the desires of my heart. May I find you more beautiful today, as I think of my savior, whose fulfillment of this Psalm as the only truly righteous and just one paved the path for us to be counted with him among the sons of glory who will someday inherit the city without foundations, filled with that 'abundance peace' - that deep shalom - that we continue to hope for, knowing that someday our faith will become sight when the one whom we love, Jesus, fills the earth with his glorious and beautiful presence. Bless my brothers and sisters in Manna, and continue to work in their lives to bring fruit by your Spirit. As your people, we are humbled by your faithfulness, and along with all your people, we await the day when you will make everything sad untrue and everything true glorious. Come, Lord Jesus, Come.
Other helpful verses
"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3-4)
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Hyunjean Kim ’14 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond. 20
John 16:20-22, 32-33
Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 32
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Reflection
This passage encourages me in so many ways. It speaks to my weakness of when I feel grief while the rest of the world feels joy. It’s a very isolating and desperate feeling where I can easily become resentful of my own circumstances and become ungrateful for my own life. Yet at the same time the passage comforts me in many ways. Jesus tells this to the whole world that is reading his words and in this way shows me that I am never alone when I do mourn. I am not going to be the only person in the world who feels grief, because it is something that we all go through, a shared experience. What’s greater is that Jesus reminds me that my grief will turn to joy. Just as the first part of verse 20 is true, so is the last part. Yes, I will feel grief, but that grief will turn to joy. That is an amazing promise. Then Jesus gives a beautiful analogy of how the grief of a woman giving birth becomes joy. This is such a real, concrete example, and Jesus’s words suddenly become so clear. Then Jesus tells us that we will rejoice, and that no one can take away our joy. How amazing is that! A joy that cannot be taken away or robbed. An everlasting joy that rests in something that will never change—Jesus Christ’s love for us. While so many things on this earth can provide us joy or happiness, those things can so easily disappear or change in our lives. In contrast, the joy that comes from Jesus comes from a source that cannot disappear or change because He is constant. After all his reminders of joy, Jesus’s words convict me. He tells us in verse 23 that God will give us whatever we ask in his name. He goes on to say we have not asked for anything in his name, but if we ask in his name, then we will receive and our joy will be complete. It’s such a great reminder of the fact that He is the source of our joy and He is all we should want and ask for because He is all we need.
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Verse 32 feels especially appropriate for the summer. While it’s probably not what Jesus intended when he tells the disciples that they will leave him and be scattered to their homes, his words speak to us as we leave the Manna community for a few months and are scattered to our own homes. Just as Jesus says that he is not alone because the Father is with Him, we are not alone because the Father is with us as well. While we might be separated from each other, and that might be difficult, we are never separated from the one true source of joy in our lives—God. Finally, I absolutely love the last verse. Jesus tells us that in Him we may have peace. Even though the world may give us grief or trouble, He is with us, and He has overcome the world. While I will feel challenged by the world or hopeless from my external circumstances, these things are nothing compared to His strength and love that is with us.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, Thank you sooooo much for your constant reminders of your goodness in our lives. Thank you so much for reminding us that any grief we may feel is nothing compared to the joy that you provide in your presence with us. Thank you for reminding us that you are all we need. Please help us to live in this truth, and truly have peace in your words and promises to us.
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Ben Sheng ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Luke 18:18-30
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Background
Here, we see a rich young man coming to Jesus seeking eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, and the man replies that he has followed them since his youth. But then Jesus makes an impossible demand (in human terms). Christ exhorts the man sell all his possessions and give to the poor. The man walks away sad because he was very wealthy.
Reflection
The one thing the rich man lacked was trust in Jesus Christ. Indeed, the rich man could boast that he had kept the commandments since his youth. However, at its core, faith is about relationship, not a set of instructions, and we can never earn our salvation. God gives us impossible trials and demands, which test our faith, and the rich man showed that he did not trust Jesus. Because of our sinful nature, we all have riches that we don’t want to give up. It could be a relationship, social status, academic success, career success, material wealth, comfort, pleasure, etc. In themselves, these are good things, but anything can become an idol that prevents us from seeing Jesus as our savior. When God calls us to sacrifice, the proper response should be, “Lord, I love You, and I want to obey You. Please, help me.” This verse has really impacted me this year. I was feeling really guilty that I had violated the Honor Code my freshman year and was not caught. Of course, I have been academically dishonest many times in the past, and I am deeply sorry for these sins. However, the Honor Code had an additional requirement that violations be reported, and by Romans 13:1-7, God is calling us to obey our authorities including school rules. I just couldn’t turn myself in. I might be suspended for a year or two, or even expelled, such draconian punishments!
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This incident revealed several riches in my heart that I didn’t want to give up. I wanted the respect of my friends and family, and I couldn’t stand the shame of a suspension or expulsion. I enjoyed the status of being a Princeton student. I also couldn’t take the uncertainty that a year away from school would bring, especially since I would have no plans. I wanted to spend time with my roommates and live in Spelman 26. I wanted to graduate with the Class of 2011. Just too many things I didn’t want to give up. This kept tugging at my heart, and I decided to tell people including Blake, David, and some other friends in Manna. They didn’t have a clear answer, but they told me to pray about it. Because of my fear, I decided to wait until the end of the year after my thesis was done because then the likely punishment would only be withholding of my degree for 6 months or a year. At the end of the year, I decided that I should report this. I was scared stiff, and had a hard time walking to the Registrar. But I was talking to God on the way there, and He comforted me. When I finally reached the Dean’s office, I told her what had happened and apologized repeatedly. To my surprise, God was very merciful. Because I had turned myself in and the Disciplinary Committee probably would not have found out otherwise, the punishment would likely only be probation for 6 months or a year. My degree would not be withheld. As of this writing, this issue still hasn’t been resolved. I still have a 1-1 hearing with the Dean of Undergraduate Students some time this summer, where an official punishment will be given. But I am glad that I have trusted God in one more area of my life. I hope to continue to give my life to Him until 100% of me is dedicated to glorifying God.
Prayer
Father God, You love us as we are. Yet You love us too much to keep us the way we are. Lord, thank You for pointing out things which prevent us from having a relationship with Jesus. Lead us to give up these riches which have become idols. God, I confess that though I may be unaware, there are still riches close to my heart that I am unwilling to give up. Lord, by the power of Your Spirit, lead me to see that without You, these earthly possessions mean nothing. Give me the heart to sacrifice when You call me to do so. Father, I also ask You to build up the Manna community. Lead us to be vulnerable with each other and willing to confess these hidden sins. Empower us to struggle together to give up every part of our lives to You. Lord, lead us to trust in You and demonstrate this faith through obedience starting now. In Your name we pray. Amen.
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Chris Teng ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Habakkuk 3
Take up a Bible and read this chapter. Or read it online here.
Background
The book of Habakkuk is structured as a dialogue between the prophet and God: twice Habakkuk complains to the Lord, and twice the Lord answers. The first time, Habakkuk asks God why He allows such disobedience and wickedness to go unpunished in Judah. The Lord answers that there will soon be a day where the Babylonians will rise up and be his instrument of punishment. Habakkuk then questions why God allows the evil (the Babylonians) to overcome those who are more righteous (Judah, which even in its depravity was in a relationship with God). God answers again, with reassurance in beautiful prose that He is sovereign and his glory will fill the earth (2:15) and bring justice to the wicked. Now Habakkuk responds in a prayer of praise and declaration of faith in Habakkuk 3.
Reflection
This devotional is admittedly really long. I thought many times of cutting down the length of the verse, but this is one unit – one prayer. It is often so good to take verses slowly and really pore through each word. However, I strongly encourage you to just… read through this prayer and enjoy it, at least once. When I read this chapter of Habakkuk on the train back from NYC a few weeks ago, I was stunned (unexpectedly). I was spiritually sort of so-so around that time, and when I read these powerful, evocative words declaring Habakkuk’s faith, it resonated in me and reminded me just who it is I worship. The writing is full of amazing images that gave me (and I hope will give you) chills. Too often I pray to some smaller version of God I made in my head – a God who is capable of a lot of things, but some things are too risky to ask for. Or too difficult. Or too complicated. Or just impossible. But in reality we ought to pray as Habakkuk does: full of rejoicing, but undeniably calling out God. Imagine what could happen if we called out God to be who He says He is. I encourage us (that includes me yay) to really slow down this summer to learn more about who our God is, so that when we pray and worship, we can honestly and faithfully call Him out to keep His promises and be as merciful, loving, and powerful that He’s always been. This doesn’t mean God will answer right away. But you can bet that He is moving and that He’s sovereign. Wait on Him, rejoice in Him – not blindly, but knowing who He is and what He has done. We can pray this prayer even more personally than Habakkuk. Habakkuk saw the deliverance from slavery to Egypt as one of the biggest things God did. We know God to have defeated death and crushed the slavery to sin – for our sake. How much more awesome is that! Read through this prayer a couple of times. Think, this is the God I worship. Be awed.
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Prayer
Father God, I’ve heard of your fame, and your deeds are stunning. Repeat them in this day, God; make Yourself known. God, I am awestruck by what you have done. In every thunderclap, in every brilliant starlit sky, in every earthquake, Your power and beauty can be heard and seen. You sent Your Son to die for my freedom from sin, and You rose him from the dead, defeating death and allowing someone as broken as me to know You. Help me to know You more and more, wholly and not just in part. I want to know You, God – for all of Your power, all of Your mercy, all of Your love, and all of Your justice. There are many times, God, it seems that You are far from me, and from this world. I am often disappointed in relationships, and I am frustrated by my failures. I see terrible injustices that torment people whom You say You love; I see Your creation in chaos, causing death and destruction. Lord, please, repeat Your amazing feats of love and power in this day. Show Yourself to be the Almighty One; show Yourself to be love unto this world that is broken. In the meantime, God, let me wait for You in patience and hope - not a false hope that is rooted on nothing but thin air and wishful thinking – a hope that grasps tightly onto Your promise and Your character, neither of which will ever change or be found false. Strengthen me to remember You over the pain and confusion, and to rejoice. You are God -that statement, in all that it means, gives me reason to take heart and run for You.
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Jane Kim ’04 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Background
Reflection
Corinth was a wealthy port city strategically located at the crossroads of sea traffic between the Aegean region and the western Mediterranean. Though Corinth was a Roman colony, it was known as a melting pot where cultures and religions mixed. Paul had planted this strategically located church in the early 50s A.D. and remained for almost two years before leaving for Ephesus. Sometime after Paul's departure from Ephesus, he received a troubling report that the church at Corinth was plagued with disunity, spiritual pride, and immoral behavior. It is into this disunity and internal bickering that Paul wrote this letter. Paul sought to show the church how their conduct was not in line with the gospel and to remind them that in Christ all believers are spiritually united to one another. Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. Here, Paul is reminding the church at Corinth that despite the visible infighting and lack of unity, in Christ they are spiritually united. Oftentimes, we too become fixated on the brokenness and pride that we see in and around us, and we forget about the spiritual reality that we are created to be part of one Body. We see only with our physical eyes and not with our spiritual ones, so we are not able to see how God is at work to renew people and relationships. We become discouraged, defeated and tempted to withdraw. Do you believe that God is at work in our community at Manna? Do you believe he has equipped Manna with every spiritual gift? If so, praise God for how you have seen Him knit people together to strengthen and encourage one another. If not, why do you doubt? Remember that Christ died not only for our salvation, he died so that His Body could experience fellowship with Him and with one another. The ESV Bible translates verse 2: "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ...." Consider what it means that God has called us to be saints
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together. When God calls us, He doesn't ask us to do something and then leave us to fend for ourselves. Romans 12 makes it clear that God gave us spiritual gifts to build up the Body. He has also given us His Spirit who works to bring unity among His people. Despite our sinfulness, God has graciously given us everything we need to love and serve one another. Be encouraged that God Himself is working to bring renewal in our community! Read the passage again; then spend a few minutes and pray that God would give you hope for your community in light of all that He has given us. Repent for any ways that you have added to the brokenness of the community. Thank God for His grace which covers over all of our sins. Finally, pray that God would place people in your heart to actively seek out and love.
Prayer
God, Your love for your people is all-encompassing, and for that we praise you. You love your Body as you love your own Son. And yet there are times we doubt that you care. We are overwhelmed and paralyzed by the brokenness we see in ourselves and in the community around us. We are deeply hurt by people who profess to be our brothers and sisters, and so we hurt them back. We are too angry, timid, proud, tired, and self-centered to love others. Far worse, we shut our eyes to how much you love us and them. Lord, you long for unity, and you long for hearts to be healed. Your own body was broken and your blood poured out, so that our Body might be built up. Help us to have faith that you are working even when we are blind to it. Help us to see how much you love us, so we can love ourselves and those around us. Help us to trust that though we are inadequate, You are the fountainhead of love. Teach us to drink deeply of that love so that we can love others. Help us to have faith that you are working even when we are blind to it. Through your Spirit, give us hope that our community in Manna is being renewed and grant us eyes to see it. Reconcile broken relationships, draw together distant hearts, and help us to love sacrificially, for the sake of Your glory. Amen.
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Megan Wong ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
1 Corinthians 1:17-31
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1
Background
Jane wrote a really nice background for 1 Corinthians . In addition, I would add that as a Greek trading hub, Corinth was known for its great affluence and learning (rather similar to our current university, I would think). Surrounded by sophisticated philosophies and hoards of money, “these men were naturally vain, full of self-conceit, and apt to despise the plain doctrine of the gospel, because it did not feed the curiosity of an inquisitive and disputing temper, nor please the ear with artful speeches, and a flow of fine words.1”
Reflection
Read 1 Corinthians 1: 17-31. As side references, read Isaiah 29:13-24 and Luke 18:18-30. The Jews were looking for a Messiah who was powerful in the world’s eyes, and thus our lowly King who died a criminal’s death was a stumbling-block to their faith. The Greeks sought wisdom and could not accept the simplicity of the gospel message or trust one who could not save himself for salvation. But for “those who are being saved”, Christ is the “power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary vol. 3: New Testament (1845)
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This passage is so rich. I remember really thinking about it for the first time about a year ago at a prayer meeting and since then it has become one of the chapters I read most often in the Bible. It speaks powerfully to us, both as individuals and as a community. We hear this often, but pause for a moment and recall what it means that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” God’s own Son was not born into an upper class family and did not receive any formal education; he was born in a stable and trained as a humble carpenter. Christ died on a cross, the most humiliating and painful form of Roman execution at the time. In his ministry, Jesus did not seek out the most powerful audiences possible; he cared for the socially, physically, and financially lowest in society. The first witness of Jesus’ resurrection was a despised and formerly demonpossessed woman. The first preachers of the Word were not trained in philosophy or religion; they were fishermen touched by the grace of God and the love of Christ. Think about that. Rich in wealth, learning, and religious teaching (well, at least the learning part…), we are the rich young rulers, the Corinthians, and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. We are so quick to revel in our abilities, to become self-righteous in our religion and our well-reasoned thoughts, to become judgmental of others, and to feel internal pressure to be the wisest and the most successful in the eyes of our peers. “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”, Jesus laments in Luke 18, because we carry so much pride in our hearts, so much worldly “wisdom” and “strength.” And we only crave more. “Who then can be saved?” if our wisdom and intelligence are futile, if all we have ever counted as gain is now a loss? Jesus amazingly answers “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” In Isaiah 29, God gives a hint of his redemptive plan that culminates as “those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding” and “will stand in awe of the God of Israel”. Christ’s humiliation and rejection on the cross is foolishness to the world, but it is our hope, our power, and our wisdom as Christians. We, especially as Princeton students, have nothing to boast about before God. On an individual level, examine your heart and confess how you have taken refuge in your own wisdom and intelligence, how you have been prideful of anything but the cross or judgmental of those who are “lowly” and “despised”. There is a beautiful duality in this passage. On one hand, we are powerless to do anything. All of our learning, everything we counted as gain is now a loss because it is a source of pride. And yet, in Christ, we are more powerful than any of those other things can make us. Instead of foolish, guilty, depraved bondservants to sin, we are now wise, righteous, holy, redeemed children of God – this is TRUTH, and to deny it would be to deny the validity of Christ’s work. On a community level, examine how you have “emptied [the cross] of its power” by preaching your own gospel with human wisdom. In Manna, we talk about “worldview” often and we encourage you to participate in God’s redemptive work especially in your academic fields on a sophisticated level. This is a good thing, but we also see another duality here of the simplicity and complexity of the gospel. Be cautioned that in this rigorous thinking, it is often easy to glory in our own learning, our own ability, and our own opportunities and to forget that the simplicity of the cross is greater than these things, that this plain message that God sent Christ into this world to seek and to save the lost is powerful in its own right. In light of this truth that Christ
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has emptied Himself for you on a despicable and lowly cross, consider what it means to deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Him.
Prayer
Holy God, Your foolishness is indeed greater than our wisdom and your weakness greater than our strength. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and your plans are greater than our plans. How marvelous is your plan of salvation for it brings all the glory to your name which is worthy. We can only boast in you, O God, for you are our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. May we eagerly read your Word and fervently pray, for wisdom revealed by you is greater than anything we might read or discover anywhere else. Make Manna a community where your strength and glory shine through broken and weak people. Give us humble hearts to truly allow you to work through us and not be defensive or self-pitying of our weakness. You know better than we do how weak we really are and yet, you have given us access to something wiser and stronger than anything this world has ever known. Thank you for your grace.
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Ryan Shyu ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 73: 23-28
Background Reflection
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. Psalm 73 is about the problem of how evil people seem to prosper, while those who seek God often seem to suffer (read the whole thing actually. I only didn’t include the whole psalm since it’s 28 verses long). I have to keep it real—a lot of times the desire to honor God in my life leads to frustration and jealousy of people who just do what they want (again this is what’s discussed in the first part of this psalm). That, or just more generally it’s really easy in daily life to feel dissatisfied with my accomplishments, grades, material possessions, and other things that I use to measure the size of my little kingdom on earth. I’ve always loved Psalm 73 because it brings the perfect divine perspective into these kinds of human problems. The end of the psalm, which is included, tells of the deep peace the psalmist has found in God. In verse 25 the psalmist reminds us that not only will God be our reward in heaven, but he is the sweetest satisfaction even while we are here on earth. Just read through the psalm a few times—it’s not too tough to comprehend, but what it has to say is worth learning by heart. It is good for us to be near to God, and without him we have no peace, no satisfaction, and no life. As Augustine says, “Almighty God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you”.
Prayer
Lord, I pray that you would be near to my heart. I’m tired of wearing myself out chasing things that don’t last and don’t satisfy; I’ve got nothing on my own. All I want is to be right with you, and to enjoy you. Give me a humble heart to remember every day your total, unconditional grace and scandalous love for me, a sinner. Amen.
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Anting Liu ’12 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Hebrews 1:8-12
But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Background
The book of Hebrews may have been the most profound book written in the New Testament period. It is also one of the most difficult books for modern people to understand. A recent commentary described Hebrews as "a delight for the person who enjoys puzzles" (Lane, WB, xlvii). The literary form of the book is uncertain. The author and time of writing are unknown. The logic and flow of thought are unusual for most modern people. Despite the many areas of uncertainty the book of Hebrews yields rich results to the person who will study it patiently and carefully. It is a rich resource for Christology and practical Christian guidance. It breathes the air of the Old Testament, but blows the fresh wind of the Spirit making all things new. Hebrews is a study in pastoral care for a church under pressure. It is the rich literary and theological testimony of an author who has found Christ to be the fulfillment of all the hopes of the Old Testament. Hebrews leads a pilgrim people down the path of faithfulness and confident trust.
Reflection
Read Hebrews 1:8-12. Here the author shows that God's sovereignty is an active marker not a passive one, that he not only IS righteousness but he loves it, that he does not simply let the earth change but that HE changes it while himself remaining the same. At the same time he does not distance himself from us with His superiority. He is not only God, but YOUR God. His sending the Son is precisely the proof of all this. For me, this passage is precious because I tend to think of God's superiority and his intimacy with me are incompatible. Even though I do theoretically know they are both parts of God's character, I think of God as either-or. More broadly speaking, in terms of community, one phrase that struck me was in verse 9, "therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy". I think by being God's children, Manna is set apart from our companions at Princeton, yet the marker of our difference,
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above all, is joy. I think it is always worth thinking about. Are we truly honoring Christ's superiority (and subsequently ours) as a community through genuine joy, or self-righteousness? This summer for me is a time of intense changes, and I believe for many others of us as well. We often change our daily routines, locations, how we spend our time, people that we encounter, and the way we view life and time. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed because a lot of these changes seem to be out of my control, or even God's thereof. In other words it's as if the world is changing on its own. For me it's precious to remember that God is not passive, that He is not only active during the school year, when we may be able to see tangible results or be constantly fed with encouragements from the fellowship, but also when we may feel alone and away from familiarity. He remains the same even when our circumstances are not, and he did not let things change outside his will.
Prayer
God, I praise you for who you are, a sovereign King whose sending and sacrificing the Son exemplified your perfect righteousness. I praise you for your promise that your days are never ending and that you forever remain the same. I pray that during the summer time, you will not let changes surrounding us become doubts to your faithfulness. I pray that we will recognize your active work in our lives even outside what we may be used to or what we tend to anticipate, that you would open our eyes to see your active love for righteousness and take part in it. Please set Manna apart by anointing us with the oil of joy-not flairs of savoir-vivre but Lord a deep, genuine sense of joy that can only flow from your love for and work in us. I pray that you will deepen our understanding of joy, which is different from mere happiness and enjoyment. Teach us to rejoice even in the midst of trial and uncertainty, to rejoice simply for who you are and what you've done. Thank you Lord. In your precious Son's name, Amen.
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Daniel Song ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Background
Psalms is unlike any other book in the Bible, in the way that it uses some of the most powerful imagery to describe and portray God’s character, our broken state, and ultimately, our relationship with God. It is a compilation of prayers and praises that the Israelites recited during their services in the temple. Some may have even been sung, accompanied by the harp or the lute.
Reflection
Here, in this particular psalm, David makes a very heartfelt confession. The first 4 verses are especially striking. How is David able to make such a confession, that he is able to feel so at peace, as if by green pastures and still waters, even when he is facing terrifying, depressing, and seemingly hopeless situations – the valley of the shadow of death? The answer is that David is not alone. “I will fear no evil,” he says, “for you are with me.” Not only is he not alone, he is being led – by a shepherd, the Lord Himself. What kind of valley of the shadow of death situations are you facing (or have you faced)? Do you earnestly believe throughout those situations that you are not abandoned to face them by yourself? Then look at verse 5, where it describes David eating at a table in the presence of enemies. Think about eating a meal with the people (or things) that make your life most difficult. That guy you know who lives in your hall, perhaps your mom, your grades even. That’s a very awkward and horrible meal. But, David says, God’s anointing him with oil, and the overflowing of his cup, allows him to confess what he goes on to confess in verse 6. What is this anointing of oil? How do we receive this anointing? The answer is in worship. Worship helps us focus on God, and understand that our lives are not really about ourselves, but about Him. And that’s clear in the psalm. God is the subject here, not David. Worship can come through reading the Word, praying, singing praise songs, or other more unconventional ways like seeing a really beautiful scene in nature, or rediscovering the value of a relationship with a friend. Whatever it is, find a way to worship God, a way to get your mind and eyes off of yourself, and on God. I think you’ll find that your problems all of a sudden seem smaller, and not so unbearable as you once thought before. The psalms themselves are a very good way to worship. The psalms are the ancient Hebrew version of modern day praise songs and worship music.
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They’re not necessarily there for instructional purposes, to teach you doctrinal truths (in the way that we don’t usually look towards worship songs to learn truths about God and ourselves, although those songs are full of truths about God and ourselves). Rather, they are often reminders of truths which we already know. I think God gave us the psalms because he knows sometimes in life we find ourselves too depressed, too apathetic, too tired, or too preoccupied with other things to feel like worshipping Him; and because, in other times, we are willing to worship God, but lack the words to express our worship. When we recite the psalms over and over again, and meditate over them in our hearts, the words of the psalmist become our own. And the funny thing is, no matter what emotion the psalmists (or we) began with, whether joy, sadness, or anger at God, in the end, they always lead us back to God and help us to worship Him. So try memorizing this psalm and reciting it to yourself throughout the day.
Prayer
Father, you are so good to me. You even sent your Son to die for me. Help me to remember how much you love me, and let that be my source of peace, as by green pastures and still waters. I’ve known a lot of difficulty in my life, and I’m sure I will face more. In those times, help me to remember that my life is not about me, but about You, and that You are leading me. Help me to focus on who You are, and not on myself. In Your name, Amen.
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Hyunjean Kim ’14 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond. 22
Acts 20:22-24, 34-35
Reflection
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” This passage convicts me in so many ways. It first compels me to root every action and desire in the Holy Spirit, as Paul writes that his actions are compelled by the Spirit. When I may feel lost or unsure of what to do, I am reminded that I need to spend more time in allowing my heart to let go of all things that are not of the Holy Spirit so that God can fill those spaces in my heart, and move me to do His work. In that same verse, Paul also writes that he allows the Spirit to compel him, although he does not know what will happen to him as a result. This verse not only reminds me to root myself in the Spirit, but also to trust in the Lord with my life, even when I have no idea of what to expect. Paul goes on to write that he knows that he should expect hardships, which reminds me that I too will face challenges and hardships. But these struggles are so redeeming in the way that they give me opportunities to realize that God is so much greater than any hardship that will threaten me. In this sense, these challenges are a blessing because of the way that they remind us of God’s greatness. Then Paul convicts me even more as he says that his life is worth nothing because all he wants to do is God’s work. It’s so inspiring and such a great reminder of that truth: that my own life is worth nothing compared to the work and plans that God has for me. Finally, I am so encouraged by the last two verses. With verse 34, Paul reminds me that I need not worry because as long as I trust in God, He will supply my own needs and the needs of others. I especially love the last verse because Paul reminds me of such a great truth that God has really taught me during this past freshman year. Verse 35 is so applicable with one of the least obvious, but most powerful ways of helping others: love. It is so important to love others regardless of how much they love me back. There is such great joy in loving others, and as Jesus says “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. This truth is something that many of us know but take for granted. But if we really think about it, it’s so transforming and freeing because it takes the pressure off of ourselves to receive love, and frees us to love others regardless of how much love we are receiving.
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Prayer
Dear God, You are so great. Thank you for reminding us that your spirit is all we need; that You are all we need. Thank you for reminding us that we need to be rooted in your Spirit and trust in You. Please help us to live our lives for you, and to forget about any pains we may feel in our own lives because your love is so much greater. And finally, please help us to allow your love to fill our hearts to the point where it overflows so that you can love others through us. I pray that we would not think of loving others as an exchange where we must profit and receive more love, because we already have the greatest profit from Your love for us.
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Ka-Yee Ivy Lau ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 16: 5-11
Reflection
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Read Psalm 16: 5-11. Allow the text to interact with your hopes and fears. Unlike the other tribes, the Levites had no tribal territory and the Lord said to Aaron, “I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.” (Numbers 18:20b) The Levites derived their more-than-sufficient inheritance from their service in the presence of the Lord. The psalmist uses terms such as “portion,” “lot,” “lines” and “inheritance” to allude to Israel’s allocation of the land and to evoke the image of God as the provider. Take a moment now to think about the following questions: What is your “inheritance”? What gives you a hope for the future? What motivates you and what are you pursuing? Do you believe and delight in God’s providential plan for your life? As Princeton students, we often struggle with insecurities, anxieties and uncertainties because we believe that our inheritance fades away unless we walk in what the world defines to be the “path of life”, which is often characterized by stability, comfort, wealth, power and prestige. We have superiority and inferiority complexes at the same time because we are too or not at all satisfied with our “portion” and our “cup.” This psalm is an expression of confidence in and contentment with the Lord’s sovereign plan and provision. As the psalmist remembers God’s covenantal promises and counsel, he experiences deep joy and soul-resting security in the Lord’s presence. When you feel emotionally or spiritually shaken, look upwards and remember that you have a beautiful and unshakable inheritance in Him. Enjoy Him---for in Him there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore! He alone is our chosen portion and our path of life.
Prayer
My Heavenly Father and Counselor, I come to you with self-absorbed notions of a “beautiful inheritance.” Forgive me that I have lived for my glory, instead of serving your Kingdom. Would you purify my heart and increase my faith for me to see you and you alone as my chosen portion? Would you give satisfaction and rest to my soul? I pray that you will renew my sense of assurance in your mercy and provision. I ask your Holy Spirit to guide and empower me to set you always before me, so that I will be faithful to big and small things alike. Amen.
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Florence Hsiao ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Background
Reflection
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Apostle Peter wrote this epistle to believers in the regions of Asia Minor. It is believed that Apostle Peter wrote this letter around AD 64, during the reign of Nero who viciously persecuted Christians. In response to the harsh trials that believers in those days were facing, Apostle Peter urged Christians to rejoice in the hope of Jesus Christ despite their circumstances. It is so easy for me to say, “I place my hope in Christ,” or “My identity is in Christ alone.” However, I never truly understood the meaning and magnitude of those words until God made it painfully clear to me that I did not actually believe them. Over the years, I had created idols out of academics, reputation, independence, and success without even realizing that deep down, those idols were what I placed my hope and identity in. When trials stripped away those idols, I was confused and broken. But by the grace of God, this passage reminded me that as a believer in Christ, I have been given a “living hope” and “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.” The things of this world will never last and will inevitably fail us, but in Christ, we have an unshakable and certain hope in Christ’s second coming and our final glorification. I was also reminded that the trials we face today are only temporary and that they refine our faiths like gold to the fire. And it is through faith (that God, out of His abundant mercy and grace, has blessed us with) that we are able to experience “an inexpressible and glorious joy” that is not of this world. Because of Jesus Christ, we can have hope in the things to come, faith in how God is currently working in our lives, and love for Jesus and what he has already done. We can rejoice and be filled with joy when we look in the future, at the present, and into the past no matter what kinds of trials we face.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank you and praise you for the undying hope we have because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I confess that I trust the promises of happiness and success that this world makes instead of trusting in you. Father, only you are eternally faithful and able to satisfy our deepest needs.
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Everything in this world pales in comparison to you. It is only when we make you the foundation of our lives that we can have a certain and unshakable hope. Help me to seek after you this summer, so that when I face trials, I can still rejoice because I know that I have something even greater in you.
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Anonymous God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Esther 4
Background
Reflection
Take up a Bible and read Esther 4. Or read it online here. The book of Esther is about the redemption of the Jewish people under the king Ahasuerus. Esther was a Jewish girl orphaned at a young age, and her older cousin Mordecai took care of her while she was growing up. Esther's beauty had gained favor of the sight of the king, and he had taken her as queen. None of the Jews knew Esther was Jewish, because Mordecai had told Esther not to tell anyone. In Chapter 4, we find that the kings had allowed the people to kill all the Jews in the nation, and we begin to see how Esther and Mordecai start to save the people. Here I want to share some thoughts on Esther and Mordecai's roles to save the people, and how it reflects the duties on the Servant Team. 1) When Esther first finds Mordecai in ashes and sackcloth, she sends him garments to clothe him, but Mordecai would not accept them (verse 4). Mordecai is grieving because the state has given permission to kill all the Jews in the nation, and what good is it to his grief if he has clothes? When I found friends in struggle, I told myself "they need love and attention," grabbed a meal and shook the dust off my shoulders. I said "that should be enough, I don't need to get another one for a while. Let's get back to work." But rarely does a quick-fix like that solve a problem. When Mordecai refuses her clothes, Esther sends a man to ask Mordecai what's the deal. Esther doesn't say "I already did my duty. But Mordecai does not like me. He refused my clothes." But she knows it's a bigger problem, and patiently follows up with the problem (verse 5). 2) Mordecai tells Esther to ask the king to save the Jews. But Esther replies that if she goes in to see the king, she would have to risk her life. In verses 13 and 14, Mordecai tells Esther she will not be spared because she is the queen, and that if she does not act, she and her household will perish. Surely God will find another ways of redemption for the Jews, but for Esther, being in such a position, failing to act would give her a harsher penalty. Here, we find that ignorance to the problem does not save us. When we know there is a problem, we cannot say "we don't know enough about it" and then "somebody else knows more and will do better" and push it onto someone else's plate. If we don't speak up, or act, especially in servant team, we make the problem worse and we become part of it. We jump onto the breaking back of the person who eventually bears the weight of everyone. We also see that Esther cares about her queenship, and her own life, before asking the king, and this is what guides her decisions. On the other hand, Mordecai cares about the Jewish people, even more than he cares about Esther's life. And he dares to tell his dear beloved sister to risk her life to death. Mordecai goes as far as to say that to ask the king is the purpose of Esther's becoming queen, so that every position, every honor, every treatment that Esther has received is to be subject to God's will.
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3) Then Esther accepts Mordecai's request and calls for three days of fasting in the court and the Jewish community. We face our fears with prayer, and the support of prayer from the community. Moreover, prayer is not only something natural and ordinary, like eating, but also a powerful decree and measure, and one of the most practical solutions to a problem. Many times I've sat at prayer meeting thinking it was rather pointless, and inwardly complaining about people not praying, or praying too long about boring things; But prayer meeting is not somewhere to make our time "worthwhile," and it's not merely a hospital to turn to when you are sick; or a think tank to go to get inspiration; at times, we go to prayer meeting to serve ourselves; at other times, we go to prayer meeting to serve God. A king with rows of subjects is a powerful king; a king with a few subjects is a poor king. We always pray "God may you be glorified" and we refuse to glorify God's presence, and we refuse to uplift his name with attendance. Possibly half of Esther's subjects might not have known what was going on, yet they came to pray anyway. When we see Esther in chapters 5 and 7, Esther is very tactful and subtle when she deals with the king, and she is very different from the naive Esther in the beginning of Chapter 4. I think the only thing that can answer this abrupt change in behavior is by the power of communal prayer. 4) We see that Esther, as a queen, has access to the king, and it is through her position in court that the redemption of the Jewish people come. However, we also see that Esther often makes ill-informed decisions, like giving clothes to Mordecai, and is scared of losing her own life and reputation as queen. I think this is a weakness that the servant team should know about each other. Although positions on servant team give people more authority and access, it also blinds them to real problems in the community, and also, positions on servant team also make people insecure about stepping up, and risking their reputation. It is a common weakness that exists behind a stifling silence. It is easy for others to say, "Oh, he is in charge. He is reliable, so I don't have to worry about it." But this is like Mordecai saying "Esther, thank you for the clothes. I will stop grieving." and wishfully thinking "Esther is a sweet girl. She will take care of it." We still have to care even if someone else is in charge. I think a big part of servant team duty that we lack, is to care like Mordecai. We have many positions that are in charge of many different aspects of the fellowship, but little exhortation and attention from outside of the person in charge. We think our duty ends in us being Esther’s, but I think servant team should also consider their duties as Mordecai’s with equal weight. If we leave things all up to the Esthers, we would get a mass clothing drive and everyone dies (clothed) on the day that the king has decreed. It is clear in the book of Esther that redemption comes from a communal effort, and not just from Esther's talents alone.
Prayer
Dear Father, We are ugly sheep. We stink and smell, and we try to put others beneath us, and step on each other, and recklessly shove each other down a pit to survive. We slack and avoid duties; we fear making mistakes and we shove all the ways in which we fall short of; all the responsibilities we are "too busy" to assume or "too scared" to step up to; into the chest of another frail brother. We nod our heads and turn away to see someone fail; we strut away like proud little Levites and priests, to do our "so holy duties". We choke down righteous words and let them stew; we get so angry at each other we mutilate our souls with hate and
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evil; we allow sins to hatch on top of each other and swarm about in our hearts, which are holy temples. We realize when we judge others we cannot escape the judgment ourselves; and that we are so, oh so hideously sinful; and that our precious abilities and intellects crumble away like ashes; we cry like pathetic babies, kneel in dust with mouths parched; in tears we look up to the sky. Lord, you reveal to us the cold shoulders and the rotten stench of our once beloved idols; you sprout right hands of mercy from those that we have despised. You confuse us, with what the heck is going on, and you thrash our hearts to humble them before you. As Christ had looked on humanity with sorrow and said; I will bail them out, even if I get crushed. I will be trampled by their feet, to hold them upright. I will take the responsibility and justice that no one wants to assume. Father would you educate us, and refine us, and thrash us, to take up the cross as Christ had. To know that your love is not saccharine, or joyful to our taste; but firm and eternal; battered, worn, and torn, yet resurrected in fullness and growth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Natalie Kim ’12 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is
Philippians 1:18-26 proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Background
Reflection
Written c. 62, these verses are part of Paul’s epistle to the church of Philippi, an early center of Christianity in Greece and among the first places in Europe where the gospel was preached. Paul wrote this from imprisonment to encourage the Philippians of his steadfast faith in Christ. Throughout Philippians 1:18-26, Paul encourages the church to rejoice and not to fear for him, as Jesus Christ guarantees his salvation. Among what is more striking about this passage is Paul’s absolute surrender to God’s sovereignty to do with his life what He plans, and his commitment to live and die for God whatever fate awaits him. For Paul, to ‘live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Can we, in the middle of all our worldly pursuits, truly say that this describes us? If not, what is holding us back from fully living for Christ? Of course, God does not call us to throw all those things away to follow Him. Indeed, for Paul, continued life in the flesh ‘means fruitful labor.’ Take a moment to think what this fruitful labor means for you, your place in Manna, and for Manna as a whole. What can we do to make our time here in the flesh one for Christ, and how can we hear His calling better? Despite our inadequacies, God has allowed us through His grace to take part in furthering His kingdom. Take heart in knowing that though we may stumble on the way, we will be sanctified through God’s love for us. After reading the passage again, pray for His guidance on what it means to truly live for Him. Repent that our hearts are not yet His, but thank God that He continues to renew our spirits and grow us through both sufferings and blessings.
Prayer
Father God, Thank you for your grace in providing us with a place in furthering your kingdom and glorifying you. You know well of our weaknesses to distance and
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propensity to forget. Thank you for providing us with concrete, human examples like Paul to show us what it means to live and die for you. Father, we are too bent on pursuing worldly symbols of value and worth, often at the expense of becoming more like you and closer to you. We are afraid that the cross will be too heavy for us and we won’t be able to bear it. Father, please impress upon our hearts the real sanctification and the real sense of worth that only comes from being your adopted children. Please show us what it means to use our time here, which you gave us for a reason, wisely. Help us keep our bond to you strong over the summer, which can be a vulnerable time away from friends and family. We pray both for ourselves and this fellowship that through constantly having you on our minds, we can see day to day what it means to love you, live for you, and glorify you. Amen.
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Blake Altman, Staff God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Reflection
I want to think together today about the differences between being selfcentered (in the biblical sense) and being self-absorbed (which I will define below as a sinful tendency). First, by self-absorption I don’t mean being selfcentered. Those who have read Desiring God by John Piper are familiar with the argument that everything we do is self-centered, and that is not a sin, but a fact of life. It is a component of our will. But according to Scripture, as Piper cogently explains, we find our selves satisfied not in making much of us but in making much of God. God’s glory and our joy are not at odds, but one. So when I use the word self-centered I don’t mean something akin to selfcenteredness in the biblical sense.2 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus defines self-absorption simply as 'preoccupation with oneself.' That’s not bad. But I’d like to define it as socially acceptable narcissism; an exaggerated belief in one’s own importance. Self-absorption intensifies isolation (physically, spiritually, emotionally), but permits it to go unnoticed. Signs of Self-Absorption The signs of self-absorption includes zoning out, daydreaming, being noncommunicative, sleeping excessively, eating excessively, retreating into yourself for long periods of time, not returning phone calls, calling because you have a problem, giving only to those who give to you, putting yourself and your needs above everyone else's. Getting what you want out of a relationship. Being demanding. Being passive. Being whatever it takes to get the attention you need or think you want. Having unrealistic and rigid expectations of others. Thinking you are the center of everyone else's universe. Your thoughts, your mind, your friends, your calling, your weight loss plan, your ministry, your pastor, your church, you, you, you and more of you. We all do it. How do I look? What do you think of my new laptop? What can I do to improve myself? How do I feel about what just happened? That lady got on my nerves so bad! Why doesn't my roommate care more about how I feel? When is this devotional going to be over? - I'm bored. Why is that person making noise? - I can't even focus. And on and on. And the endless beseeching of God to meet our needs: Lord, why do I have to go through so many trials? Don't You still love me? Why is it that people who don't even know. You seem to be happier than me? I need an “A,” Lord, you promised that. You would pour out the riches in heaven, so where is it? Lord, I need a new wardrobe, these clothes are too outdated for me. Lord, I need a blessing. You promised me a blessing, and I need it now. Please, Lord, take care of me. Provide for me. Give me. Pay attention to me. Please. Lord, me…me, me, me, me me. Are you listening, Lord? The year I was born the social historian, Richard Sennett, classified this as a character disorder and equated it with narcissism. Listen to what he says about it:
2
For more on biblical self-centeredness. see John Piper, Desiring God (Multnomah Books: 1996).
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As a character disorder, narcissism is the very opposite of strong selflove. Self-absorption does not produce gratification, it produces injury to the self; erasing the line between self and other means that nothing new, nothing “other,” ever enters the self; it is devoured and transformed until one thinks one can see oneself in the other—and then it becomes meaningless. This is why the clinical profile of narcissism is not of a state of activity, but of a state of being. There are erased the demarcations, limits, and forms of time as well as relationship. The narcissist is not hungry for experiences, he is hungry for Experience. Looking for an expression or reflection of himself in Experience, he devalues each particular interaction or scene, because it is never enough to encompass who he is. The myth of Narcissus neatly captures this: one drowns in the self—it is an entropic state.3 Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT and Founder and Director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, sociologist and psychologist, wrote, “Ours has been called a culture of narcissism. The label is apt but can be misleading. It reads colloquially as selfishness and self-absorption. But these images do not capture the anxiety behind our search for mirrors. We are insecure in our understanding of ourselves, and this insecurity breeds a new preoccupation with the question of who we are. We search for ways to see ourselves...”4 That is huge difference than being self-centered in the biblical sense. Being self-centered in the biblical sense means you are willing to lose your life for the sake of another. “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). And it means that you find your joy in the glory of another, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44). It is very easy in college to become self-absorbed, a sponge so saturated in class, rehearsal, practice, and studying (all in which you need to do better) that you leave little room to serve others. You cannot afford for anyone or anything else to take priority over your agenda. Why? Because you are here for you! That is the nature of higher education, isn’t it? It can be very tempting to make these four years all about me! In fact, I have never met a college student yet who said that he was here to make another person look good. And this kind of self-absorption commonly takes two forms at Princeton: egoism or pride (“Of the billions who have ever lived, there is no one quite so interesting as me.”) and low self-esteem (which is just egoism in reverse, “No one likes me, I am different than the billions of people who have ever lived.” This leads to pity, anxiety, etc.). In both cases, the focus is inward. Common synonyms of self-absorption might be egocentricity, egocentrism, egoism, egomania, or being sinfully self-centered, self-involved or selfish. Now against the backdrop of my self-centered orientation and your selfcentered orientation, we find Jesus’ words in Philippians to be SO encouraging because they help us see a picture of what it means to be human, 3
Richard Sennet, “The Actor Deprived of His Art,” The Fall of the Public Man, (Cambridge University Press: 1977). 4 Sherry Turkle, The Second Self, ch. 9, (MIT Press: 1984).
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fully human. He was the only one in history justified to be into himself, to live for his own glory, to boast of his greatness. Why? Because if he boasted in anything else, he would be an idolater. But Jesus dreamed of something bigger than himself and gave himself up for it: the glory of His Father’s Kingdom. That’s what it means to be truly human. How about you? Are you living for your own kingdom or for your Father’s? Read this passage three times slowly. God intends His Word to change you. See how the Spirit works in you to do that. Ask the Lord to grant you a bigger vision of success, significance, and satisfaction amidst the narcissism of our day.
Philippians 2:1-13
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Prayer
A Disciple’s Renewal O MY SAVIOR, help me. I am slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights; I am pained by my graceles heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities. I am blind while light shines around me: take the scales from my eyes, grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief. Make it my chiefest joy to study thee, meditate on thee, sit like Mary at thy feet, lean like John on thy breast, appeak like Peter to thy love,
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count like Paul all things dung. Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be more decision in my character, more vigour in my purposes, more elevation in my life, more fervour in my devotion, more constancy in my zeal. As I have kept position in the world, keep me safe from making the world my position; May I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the creator; Let not faith cease from seeking thee until it vanishes into sight. Ride forth in me, thou king of kings and lord of lords, that I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.5
5
Arthur Bennett, “A Disciple’s Renewal,” Valley of Vision (Banner of Truth: 2001), 184.
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Katie Boyce ’11 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Hosea 1:2-8; 2:2-23; 11:8
Background
Take up a Bible and read Hosea 1 and 2. Or read it online here. How can I give you up, O Israel? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger. I will not destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst and I will not come in wrath. Ok, so this book is a little bit rough around the edges, but then so are our surprisingly alarmingly nastily horrible hearts when we actually take a look, so bear with me. Hosea was a prophet – one of the twelve Minor Prophets – who God sent to Israel with a message of doom. I read Hosea at a point this year when I was once again particularly struck by the blackness of my heart, my awful capacity for blatant and ugly sin, and my as-good-as rejection of God’s goodness in my choices. I read it expecting judgment, and instead what I found was the most beautiful love I can imagine. It’s long, but worth it.
Reflection
This is very powerful. God’s message to Israel through Hosea, and to us as the sinful but beloved Children of God, is first, that His wrath is fully deserved and is very complete. What isn’t stated in this portion of the text is that Hosea’s wife Gomer, who was a prostitute, repeatedly left him to go back to whoredom, turning her back on his love over and over again. God used Hosea to mirror His relationship with us In the middle portions of the text, we read of Gomer’s/Israel’s/our turning to other lovers, relying on our gifts and talents, our “figs” and “wines.” We live lives of adultery in our relationship with God every time that we love other things above him. And what we hear in this passage is exactly the wrath that our sin deserves. He strips us of those gifts and lays everything to waste. Before we skip to the happy end, I want to point out the process of God’s grace as he explains it in Hosea. Notice that he “uncovers her lewdness” and “hedges her way with thorns.” In my own life, while I have understood that God withholds his wrath, he also brings me back to him often by taking away the things that I am worshipping, by allowing me to experience some of the shame of sin, by laying waste some of the things I have built in my selfcenteredness. He allows us to experience some of the consequences of our deep awfulness and the things that we do. This is a good thing. But that is right when God allures us back to him, as our lover, as our husband, and lavishes upon us His awesome mercy and love – love and compassion that is possible only because he is “God and not a man.” As an example of this, God told Hosea to go get Gomer back out of prostitution repeatedly. Even after such a betrayal, this Godly love forgives and has great mercy. How beautiful that he says to us, who by our very nature are Not My People, “you are my people” and to us who deserve No Mercy, he shows
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mercy. It’s tempting sometimes to skip the wrath and rely on the mercy, seeing ourselves as not that bad. It’s also tempting sometimes to get stuck in the wrath and ignore the great Love and Grace that God is waiting to pour out onto us. Hosea’s message gives us a poignant picture of both.
Prayer
LORD, I have betrayed you in my heart, through my choices, both large and small, external and internal. I confess my love for lovers – talents, gifts, idols, people – other than you, and my sinful pursuit of these. Help me to see how my desire for those things has hurt me and has hurt others. LORD strip those things away from me, and show me the good things that only you can provide for me. But do not leave me there, have mercy on me and bring me back to yourself. Cleanse me and transform me by your Grace. And teach me to love others with the same kind of forgiving and grace-filled love that you have lavished upon me.
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Chris Teng ’13 God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 119:73-80
Background
Reflection
73 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands. 74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word. 75 I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. 76 May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. 77 Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. 78 May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts. 79 May those who fear you turn to me, those who understand your statutes. 80 May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees, that I may not be put to shame. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, and it’s a gigantic acrostic poem. The main idea in this psalm is an intense love for God’s Word, for which the psalmist uses eight different Hebrew words. The psalm may have been meant to be a model of piety and godliness, and reads as a very devotional, personal dedication to the Word. The importance of the Word of God is obvious in this excerpt, as it is in this whole Psalm. It’s very convicting to read this Psalm and see how much the author loves the Word. The summer is a really great opportunity to fall in love with the Word again. I tend to experience God very readily in my experiences, in my feelings, in my intuitions – I know God much through how God moves in my life. In Manna’s tri-perspectivalism construct, I tend toward experiencing and learning about God in an existential, “heart” way. I was challenged sometime second semester, though, to love God more fully – and to love His Word more. I needed – I need – to love God with my mind more, and to be rooted in Scripture. So, when I first hit Psalm 119, it felt to me like a beautiful, but foreign idea. I was on the outside, looking in at the spiritual life of this psalmist who so eloquently wrote about how much he loves the Lord’s Word, and how he lingers on God’s laws, decrees, statutes, precepts, commands, and promises. But as I read and prayed, I am gaining a love for God’s Word. That love is growing in me, not because I’m trying harder – because the Spirit is working in me to love and understand the Word better. These psalms, and many of the psalms, are a step above us, too holy for us to claim on our own. But
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through Christ, and through Christ who lived the perfect life and fulfilled the ideals shown in the Psalms, we, too, can pray these prayers. We are able to prayer with hope that we will meditate on God’s precepts – interesting that we call our precepts “precepts.” We (are supposed to) spend anywhere from 50 minutes to 3 hours pondering what goes on in Princeton precepts – how much time do we spend meditating on, loving God’s precepts? Again, though, this is not to say that the take-away message is to “try harder” or “do better” – we do our part, but for every one stumble we make toward God, he comes leaps and bounds to be near to us. Take heart that Christ lives in you to make your faith grow into one like this, rooted in Scripture, such that when you pray, you pray for God to be loving and faithful according to his promises – because you know what kind of promises God makes from his Word! It’s really good to read one or two of these sub-sections of Psalm 119 each day, as sort of a prayer to love the Scripture more. It’s full of beautiful and encouraging affirmations of faith. Let’s pray like this over the summer
Prayer
God, I want to love your Word more, and to love you with my mind and in learning about you. Help me to delight in reading and thinking about you; Spirit, make the Word come alive to me in a real way. I fall so short of the holiness you require, and I cannot honestly say that I am blameless. But thank you, Jesus, for being the blameless one on my behalf and allowing me to say these prayers. Let verse 74 be true of me, that “those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.” In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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MANNA SUMMER DEVOTIONAL 2010
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Jeremy Chen ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Galatians 5:22-23
Reflection
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. The Fruit of the Spirit I remember learning about this passage in Sunday school when I was a kid; it is one of those I would quickly memorize to repeat to the teacher, and then immediately forget. In preparing for a seminar I was asked to give last summer, I took a fresh look at this passage, and the Word came alive to me as I found the Gospel showing me the inadequacy of my current understanding of this passage and of the meaning of “the fruit of the Spirit.” I essentially had three problematic ways of understanding “the fruit of the Spirit.” The first was something that would pop into my head every time I recited the verse. I saw “the fruit of the Spirit” as essentially a laundry list of things to check off daily: a to-do list for Christian Character. Love, joy, peace, and patience were simply separate items that I could use to evaluate my performance in my Christian walk, e.g. did I exhibit the pear of peace and the pineapple of self-control today? (just an example...I obviously don’t actually ask myself that….) While this isn’t necessarily a wrong way to look at the passage, I found that this was an incomplete understanding of “the fruit of the Spirit.” I was deconstructing the Gospel of grace into a religion of works. My response, when I found the fruit lacking in my life, was to try to patch up my behavior by my own strength by telling myself that I had to be joyful, kind, faithful, etc. I soon found, however, that addressing my lack of fruit in this way was akin to putting a band-aid on a skinned knee—it works for a while, but once you flex your knee, or take a shower, the band-aid falls off. In my life, I found that I might be able to consciously fix my lack of self-control, or my lack of joy temporarily (by playing a happy song on my iPod, for example), but once a difficult or frustrating circumstance came into my life (like playing badly for several games on the basketball court, or being injured and unable to play for a bajillion months), my self-control and joy were gone. I had tried to patch up my life with a band-aid, when the real fruit of the Spirit could not be produced simply through a quick fix. I think I also confused the fruit of Spirit with personality traits, assuming that different people with different temperaments simply had more of each certain fruit. It’s almost like those online personality tests. You check off which ones you think describe you, the computer analyzes your answers, and you are told what kind of personality you have. I used to consider myself pretty peaceful and joyful, and not very patient or humble. All I needed to do was to work on the ones that I wasn’t very good at, and God would help me change my personality. In misunderstanding this passage in this way, I was ignoring the importance
∗
2010 Summer devotional.
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of the Spirit’s role in the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit isn’t something that people naturally have in their temperament. Some people, for example, are temperamentally sweethearts, and we might credit the fruit of gentleness to them. Others may seem to have remarkable discipline, and we might credit to them the fruit of self-control. Real fruit, spiritual fruit, however, is supernatural, coming from the Holy Spirit, and not simply from within ourselves. Galatians 5:22-23 isn’t simply describing the ultimate combination of ideal personality traits; it is describing the fruit that we obtain supernaturally through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Jonathan Edwards points in his later writings that the fruit is interconnected and interdependent. Self-control without humility is counterfeit (it puffs up those who pride themselves in being disciplined); worrying or a lack of peace is really pride (a refusal to assume a humble posture before God and to accept His will); these fruits, separated from each other, disappear once thorny situations arise in our lives (Mt. 13:20-21). They aren’t separate characteristics, but they are a gift of grace that arises in a Christian’s life through a supernatural change in heart enabled by the Spirit. As Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” That brings us to Romans 8:5-8. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The m ind of sinful m an is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not subm it to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please G od.” When I read this, it is the phrases that are bolded that tend to jump out at me and make me feel guilty. I feel like my life does not bear fruit, and I constantly see myself sinning. Verse 9, however, encourages us, saying that we “are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you….” We know that since Christ promised us his Spirit, he does live in us and has given us a heart of flesh. We, then, are to live in accordance with the Spirit, set our minds on what He desires, and bear fruit! May this be an encouragement to you all, and may you all seek his face each day this summer.
Prayer
Psalm 63 O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
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Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Other relevant passages
Gal. 5:22-23; Ezekiel 36:26; Luke 6:43; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Romans 8:5-9; Numbers 21:4-9; Matthew 13.
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Han-Wei Kantzer ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Micah 7:14-20
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. “As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders.” Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. W ho is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.
Background
Micah was a Prophet in the days of King Hezekiah, Jotham and Ahaz, and was a contemporary of Isaiah. He prophesized the destruction and judgment of Israel and Judah, but also the restoration and hope for the people of Israel. The last verses of the book follow a crushing judgment of the Israel. God lists the many ways in which the people of Israel have failed. The turning point is verse 7 of the last chapter: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” What follows is a beautiful affirmation of God’s fulfillment of his promises despite all judgments and all wrongs.
Reflection
Read the last few verses of the book, Micah 7:14-20. The name Micah means “who is like God?” He asks this question in verse 18: “who is a God like you?” The question is not philosophical: it is rhetorical. There is no one like God. This question is at the heart of understanding both God’s judgment and his forgiveness. Only God is fully qualified to judge, and clearly we deserve to be judged, and yet he delights to show mercy. Some days, it’s hard to get up in the morning, because I can only see my worthlessness and the damage my sin causes others. When I see only God’s judgment, it’s easy to fall into despair: who will protect me? Who will get me through this? At this point I begin to look elsewhere for a savior, whether it be self-reliance, relationships, or pleasure. This response ignores God’s love: Yes, God is our judge, but he is also our Savior. This is his promise.
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What is your reaction to the question ‘who is like God?’ Is it skepticism? Praise? Bitterness? Thankfulness? If you truly believed that God will fulfill the promises in v. 18-20, how would this change what you think and do today?
Prayer
Dear Father, Who is like you? Who else can be both the perfect judge and the perfect savior? Who else would love us as completely as you do, despite knowing the depths of our sin? God, we ask that this truth would permeate our every thought, and that it would empower us to live life boldly and without fear. We ask these things in your Son’s name, Amen.
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Anonymous∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Galatians 6:2
Reflection
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. You know that song: Lord prepare me/to be a sanctuary/pure and holy/ tried and true...? I like that song a lot, and usually when I sing it, I think of it as a song of sanctification. God, set me apart, let me be pure and holy, let me be a sanctuary, change my heart, make me clean and set apart for you. Wash me out, come rushing in, overflow. Today, though, I was singing this song in my quiet time when God made me stop and think about the word sanctuary. In particular, He brought to mind this one connotation that I've always associated with the concept of a "sanctuary": the HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. In the Disney movie version, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is very much a sanctuary. I can't forget the scene at the end of the movie where Quasimodo (the hunchback) breaks free from his chains, swings down to save Esmeralda (the gypsy) from being burnt at the stake by the evil bad guy, Frollo. He rescues her, takes her to the top of the cathedral, holds her up and starts crying "SANCTUARYYYYYYYYY!!" (if you have internet wherever you are, you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4kMdy-MKM&feature=related BUT WATCH IT AFTER YOUR DEVOS. haha) OKAY, so the point is not that Quasimodo is a romantic hero. The point is that, throughout the story, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is more than a place of worship. As a sanctuary, it is not only a holy place set aside for God’s presence - it is also a refuge, a shelter, a hiding place of safety and peace for the broken, beaten, persecuted and torn. Everyone is granted immunity in the sanctuary. No one can be arrested or hurt. It is a place to go for rest, for breath, for taking off your load when it feels like life is ripping apart at every seam. How does all this relate to the verse from Galatians? I think that when God calls us to be a sanctuary, it is not just in relation to Him. We are to be holy, set apart, sanctified, "living temples" within which His presence can dwell... but today, I challenge you to also be a sanctuary in the second sense: to be a place of refuge and safety. Be a sanctuary for the hurting and broken around you. Carry one another's burdens. Be a haven for those in pain. Drink in the grace He's given to us, and then pass it on - love the people around you who are desperate, without condemnation or judgment. If you can't find people to love or can't think of how to carry their burdens, ask God for His sensitivity. We are a people full of gypsies and outcasts, hunchbacked in our sins and often people just need a moment of sanctuary to be pointed towards His redemption and grace.
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Prayer
Father God, Thank You for the grace You've shown me. Thank You for Your goodness and salvation, for taking me in despite my brokenness and failures, despite how much I deserve to be condemned, convicted and punished. God, you're so good. I pray today that You would prepare me to be a sanctuary for You. And I pray that You would make this happen in two ways - first, that I would be holy and set apart for You. Let me not fear diverging from the rest of the world, to live in a wholly holy fashion. But also, would you help me to be a sanctuary for the broken hearts all around me. I have so little to give - I'm only human, with a small heart and limited grace. But I pray that You would pour SO MUCH of Your love into me that it would just OVERFLOW - that when I see people, I would see them through Your eyes. Let today be not about me, but all about You, God. Take away my pride, don't let me judge or condemn; help me to be there for people, to listen, love, pray for and walk with them, and point them to You. Help me to carry their burdens, God, and to be a sanctuary for Your glory. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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Julia Yoon ’09∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
2 Samuel 15:30
Mark 14:26-28
Reflection
But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went. … When David came to the summit, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head. “When they sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all become deserters; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’” I believe God’s grace and hand was behind the juxtaposition of these readings in my “Read-the-bible-in-a-year” Plan that I am following right now. I could not help but notice that both King David and Jesus go up to the Mount of Olives with their followers; King David, right after his son Absalom usurps his throne, and Jesus, right before He is handed over to be crucified. If all things in the Old Testament point to the true Savior Jesus Christ, this mirror image strikes me as interesting and revealing of aspects of Jesus Christ, analyzed from a literary perspective. Jesus is not only our High Priest in heaven, but He is also our King. Therefore, although King David was not the manifestation of God, David was a precursor who reflected attributes of the ultimate Savior. David was the chosen one of God and called lord by many who bowed down before him. Throughout 2 Samuel, you can see that David is not the usual selfish ruler; he shows kindness and forgiveness to others, along with courage and boldness through God’s strength in battle. Although we have not yet seen Jesus rise to the highest seat of His kingdom in His lifetime, I can only imagine how beautiful, merciful, and amazing Jesus is and will be as King of all nations. The allegiance and loyalty of those that walked with David as he fled his usurped throne also impressed me—even when David tells visiting foreigners to return to the kingdom, they continue to follow him and say, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be” (2 Samuel 15:21). They choose to follow and wander in the wilderness with David, instead of staying in comfortable and safe homes back at the kingdom. This moment proves interesting when juxtaposed with Peter’s promise, “Even though all become deserters, I will not. [E]ven though I must die with you, I will not deny you,” that is later broken through his denials of knowing Jesus (Mark 14: 29, 31). To me, this truly points to how sad and difficult it was for humans to recognize Jesus and remain loyal to him, even harder than followers found it to obey King David. This is quite sad since Jesus is our true and perfect Savior. But, the redeeming story of the Bible also tells us that Peter repents
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and does end up keeping his promise of becoming a faithful, grounded cornerstone of the church who dies for Jesus. The people’s loyalty to King David (as seen in the selected passage above) can also be a reflection of how we, as Jesus’ people, will be as loyal and loving towards our true Lord and King Jesus.
Prayer
Lord God, Thank you that you transcend time, were there for King David and am here with us today. Thank you that we can witness your work and the loyalty of your people through reading your Word. I pray, Lord, that we will become more loyal like these people were to your chosen one of that time. Lord, may we not, like Peter, insist on one thing and ignore our promises when things get rough and there is so much pressure around us. If it is training that we need, Lord, would you please provide it for each one of us and guide us through it? And, as we live our lives, please help us to continue to live in freedom—that we have a God who forgives and is kind, and there is nothing to fear when we stumble and trip. We want to be loyal, Lord! We want to be loyal. Please help us to be more loyal to you alone, our true King and Savior. In Christ’s Holy name, I pray.
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Ed Zheng ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Romans 7:18-19, 21-25a
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Reflection
This passage is one that someone whom I consider a dear friend and who has helped me grow spiritually shared with me a few months ago. A lot of what I write here are probably things that my friend also shared with me. In light of where my heart is right now, I think this is a particularly appropriate passage for me to look at tonight. Yesterday, I thought, said, and did some very sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. At certain times throughout today, I’ve just felt so s#&$#* (crappy). I mean, I’ve felt like after being a Christian for so long, shouldn’t I have made some kind of progress? Sure, I’ve sinned badly before, but certainly, after a year of being in Manna and hearing so many sermons and talking with people about my struggles and etc., I should have built up some kind of “Christian resistance to sin.” I certainly know what I did was wrong, and I really don’t want to do it, but why do I keep turning back? When I look back at this passage, the first part seems a bit depressing. On many levels, this passage is just so true. After “the Fall,” everything in the world has fallen. My nature is just so sinful. Furthermore, in the second part of verse 18, I know what is good and I want to do what I know is right, but because I am so sinful, I cannot do the good that I want. In verse 19, Paul explains this phenomenon explicitly. While the first two verses seem a bit depressing, looking at verses 21-25a brings us hope that we can overcome our sinful nature through Jesus Christ. In verses 21-23, Paul describes the struggle within him as a war where his inner being which loves God is fighting against his body which loves to continue sinning. What I see as the climax of this verse is the next two verses where Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” and then answers his own question by writing, “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul gives us the answer here: we need to constantly trust and pray to God for help. At first, this answer seems a bit abstract or impractical at least. Praying and then just believing that God will help us seems to be very passive. When I look at this passage now, after a year of being in Manna and listening to Blake
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and David and Mike speak to us at Large Group, I can see the power of prayer so much more clearly. One of the messages that really spoke to me this year is the power that God has which is just so much more comprehensive and redemptive than we can even imagine. God has the ability to change our hearts, reorder our desires, move us so that we earnestly seek him. All we need to do is ask for God to come into our hearts and work on them. While this approach may be excruciatingly slow, I have certainly experienced this effect in my heart this past year. Sinful desires that have haunted me before are becoming less and less powerful, and though I still struggle mightily in some areas, I can see the work that God has done in me. When I look at this verse, I see hope that God will continue to work and that even when I struggle, I can turn to God earnestly, and He will help me.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, We just praise you so much, that you are a loving, a forgiving, a merciful, a beautiful God. Your love is so deep that You would give Your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven. Father, we pray that you would forgive us when we stumble, forgive us when we sin, forgive us when we knowingly turn our backs towards You. Please forgive us for the sins that we have committed. God, we are such broken, fallen people. We need your touch. We need your love. We need you to change us from within. Without You, God, we are nothing and deserve nothing. Father, we just pray that You would come into our hearts, that You would change our desires, reorder our priorities, work in our souls, so that we seek You and only You with our hearts. Father, we know and trust that You will be with us, that You will work in us, that Your Will will be done. We know that You will work in us and redeem us. So, Father, would you just please work in us and change us from the inside out. Father, we thank You for the blessings and the love that you constantly pour out on us. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Florence Hsiao ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Ephesians 3:16-19
Reflection
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Whenever I don’t know what to pray for, I turn to this passage and read it out loud as a prayer. The reason why I love this passage so much is because it reminds me of God’s inexhaustible power and God’s immeasurable love. When I am at a loss for words before God, it is usually because I either feel drained spiritually or frustrated with life. In other words, I just don’t feel the connection with God that I should have. When I am in such a state, there are two things that I forget: God’s strength and power is there for us to use and God’s love is greater than anything I am going through. When we accept Christ as our Savior and receive God’s gift of salvation, we become children of God. One of the many benefits of entering into a relationship with God is that we now have access to his power. God’s “glorious riches” can strengthen us in our “inner being” during our times of need. Those times come around, unfortunately, more often than we like to admit. Whenever I feel myself slipping into sin, I find that there is only one way out: God’s way. God’s way is never easy, and as humans, we often fail to go that way. But with God’s power, nothing is impossible. How does one access God’s power, you ask? Prayer. During those times of weakness, especially in the face of sin, I fix my mind on God and ask him for his power to fight. Trust me. When God is on your side fighting for you, you’re going to win. I challenge you to try it sometime! God’s power is there for us to use; we just need to reach out and ask for it. During times of frustration, we tend to look at our own lives and the world with hopelessness. How can a God of love let us go through all that we go through? What we often forget is that God has his own gagenda. His ways are perfect, but they surpass our narrow and limited knowledge. When we forget or lose sight of God’s love, all we need to do is ask God to give us the power to grasp and know it. God won’t refuse your request! Why? Because our relationship with Christ is “rooted and established in love.” Love is the very foundation of what we believe in. God also wishes to fill us “to the measure of all the fullness of God.” People are always trying to find something that will satisfy them, fulfill them. Whether this manifests itself through material desires, unhealthy relationships, or academic success, we are all searching for something that will make us feel content with ourselves. Unfortunately, things of this world will never be able to fully satisfy us. We always want more things, more human validation, and more success. There is only one source of
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true joy that can save us from this rat race: God. Living in the world, it is impossible to not fall back into the ways of the world. God doesn’t promise a perfect life, but he does promise that he will never forsake us. So when you feel distant from God or just discouraged with how life is going, read this passage to yourself and to God! God wants to strengthen you when you are weak and he wants to show you just how amazing his love is!
Prayer
God, Please strengthen me with your power through your spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. Establish and root me in your love, and give me the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is your love. Help me know this love that surpasses my knowledge because I want to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of you and no one/nothing else.
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Rebecca Tran ’12∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Romans 14:5-8
Reflection
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. On January 2nd of this year, people made a big deal of the day because if you use the mmddyyyy format, it turns out to be a palindrome date (01/02/2010): "this is so cool!—"the date reads the same backwards and forwards!"—"before 10/02/2001, this hasn't happened since the year 1380!"—"wow!" But January 2, 2010 came and went, and it was just another ordinary day. Sure, the numbers had a cool arrangement, and yes 01/02/2010 will never happen again, but isn't this true of all days? This passage from Paul's letter to the Romans makes me think about the brevity of life. Each passing moment happens only once and will never come again. Sure, January 2nd will never happen again, but neither will today. Neither will yesterday. Nor tomorrow. This moment of this hour right now will never come again. Pause for a second and think about it. That second that just passed will never happen again. Every second, every hour, every day... every moment of your life keeps ticking away. The psalmist cries out, "LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is." (Psalm 39:4, NLT) God gives us such a short amount of time on this earth. Shorter yet is our time at Princeton. What are we doing with it? I think one of the most paradoxical things at Princeton is our concept of time. Sure, we're sad we have only four years here; you've got the seniors saying, "I can't believe I'm graduating already!", the juniors saying, "I can't believe we're seniors!", the sophomores, "I can't believe we're halfway through!", and the freshmen, "I can't believe one year is already over!" Yet people are always complaining about the time: "I can't wait until this week is over", "I can't wait until break", "I can't wait until next semester/next year", "I can't wait until these papers are done", etc. And then before they know it, their wish is granted—the week is over, the break is here, the next year has come—and suddenly they wonder where the time went. Should we not be living each day unto the Lord? Why do we wish that time would pass us by and then later lament that it passed us so quickly? For us, we equate time with work. Work, the chief complaint among Princeton students. We are given a certain amount of time here, but we're also given
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work to do. As David Kim asked at one Large Group on Ephesians, how do you view your work? Do you enjoy it? Do you delight in it? One of the most common attitudes towards work is to race through it, just to get it done. But in doing that, we're also zapping away our time, our precious time. If we have only so little time, and we have to do work, we might as well make the most of it. This is the only chance we have. We'll never be able to study at Princeton again. We'll never get the chance to do this work, for this class, for this professor, again. Work is like time: it'll pass you by. Can we change our attitudes about our work and do it instead for the glory of God? Paul reminds the Ephesians and ourselves, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men". What we are doing, we are doing for God. Life is short, and time is precious. When we have to fill our time with work, let us do it unto God. Let us live each day for the Lord, for, as Paul says, we belong to the Lord. Let us work wholeheartedly and give thanks to God, for we are serving the Lord.
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George Wang ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Galatians 6:9-10
Reflection
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. There is no doubt that all of us have felt tired or burned out at one point or another from trying to do good during our Christian walk. These feelings may be largely derived from our own sense of entitlement: a feeling of expecting something in return from doing good, whether it be in the form of recognition, appreciation, or reward. But what happens if our continued efforts of doing good yield none of the aforementioned benefits? By the law of economic theory, any rational individual would immediately stop doing good when the immediate marginal benefit, zero in this case, is perceived as less than the marginal cost of doing good (i.e time, money, efforts). Yet, in Galatians, Paul calls us to “not grow weary of doing good” and to continue to do good whenever we are presented with the opportunity. This is where the beliefs of Christianity once again defy the secularism we have become so accustomed to believe. The beauty, or perhaps the challenge, of being a true Christian is to not live for the self and the temporary. In Colossians, we are called to “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). Thus, in our vain efforts of seeking something in return for doing good, we forget the underlying principle of why we are called to do so. It is not a test of our own goodness; it is not a bargain for something in return; it is not a call for self-righteousness. But rather, it is simply to exemplify who we are as God’s chosen ones. To use an analogy, do we expect anything in return when we get up every morning and relieve ourselves? Sure we might obtain a moment of satisfaction, but for the large part, we relieve ourselves simply because it’s something that we do. That is what our body is designed to do. Similarly, acts of goodness, whether it be compassion, humility, meekness, patience, love, etc., are simply what the Christian heart is designed to do. They ought to be routine, automatic, and require no external motivation. In fact, just as not relieving ourselves can lead to disastrous results, not doing acts of goodness can also be detrimental to the heart.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You have created each and every one of us with delicate purposes; purposes that have been clouded by our own self-centeredness and entitlement. Lord, I pray that you would not only take off the myopic, sinful goggles that have clouded our vision but also let us realize that we what see without those goggles are truly what is to be seen. Lord, I pray for the will and courage to act out in goodness and to love one another just as we are designed to do. Amen.
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Tricia Tsai ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Isaiah 61
Background
Reflection
Take up a Bible and read this amazing passage. Or read it online here. The book of Isaiah—a collection of the prophet’s visions during the reign of Jordanian kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—is full of warnings of God’s wrath to the rebellious nations of Judah and Jerusalem, but it is also rich with promises of God’s forgiveness and blessing if they will return to God and repent of their sins. Isaiah 60-62 highlights the splendor of Jerusalem when it is restored and foreshadows the realization of God’s covenantal promise in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Moreover, imagery of the bridegroom and the bride found in these chapters points to the relationship of the church as Christ’s bride. In contrast to the previous section in Isaiah in which the prophet implores Judah and Jerusalem to return to God with descriptions of the magnitude and fury of God’s wrath, Isaiah 60-62 dwells extensively on the promises of salvation and righteousness because of God’s graciousness and splendor. Read Isaiah 61. In this chapter, the prophet triumphantly declares the year of the Lord’s favor in which God displays his glorious grace in the redemption and renewal of Jerusalem and of ruined and devastated nations. Especially note that the prophet proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of God. How does this passage deepen your understanding of God as a just and compassionate God? The image of bestowing a “crown of beauty” instead of ashes is particularly appropriate as we are invited into the house of God as daughters and sons of the Most High. Ashes are an allusion to the ancient custom of the Jews who, when faced with calamity, would sprinkle ashes on their head and wear sackcloth to denote filth and mourning (Esther 4:3). What sin(s) are you currently struggling with in which you need to know and experience Christ’s righteousness bestowed upon you? In what sense are we the brokenhearted and the poor who need to hear the good news of the Gospel in our daily lives? As heirs of the inheritance gained through Christ, we are guardians of the living hope that is in the gospel. Once we have tasted and seen the goodness of God, our natural desire is to take this news to those around us and those we love. Thus, one dimension of God’s redemption in our life is restoring us to our ultimate purpose—bringing praise and honor to Him. In light of your current situation this summer, how do you feel God calling you to deepen your love for Him and for those around you? Especially as we are scattered from friends and family during the summer, it is easy to feel disconnected from the body of Christ and from community. The imagery of being “oaks of righteousness” emphasizes the need to remain well rooted and firmly planted in Christ so that we can bear fruit in season. What steps can we take this
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summer to “soften our soil”?
Prayer
Abba Father, You alone are worthy of praise. Thank You for reconciling us to Yourself, even while we were still Your enemies, and sacrificing Your only Son, that we might be healed. Grant us a deeper understanding of Your saving grace, so that we might bring news of Your goodness and faithfulness to those around us. Strengthen us to do the work of redemption, which You have called us to do, and may “righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” because of what You have done.
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Yoonju Kim ’10∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Jeremiah 31:33-34
Reflection
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after three days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. There are times when we don’t feel like God is particularly present, or when we’re not sure whether we know God “well enough.” This passage provides comfort during these times: God has made a covenant—not just a promise, but a binding covenant on His part—with us, saying that we shall all know Him and be His people. And it is because of this assurance that we can hold on to our faith even against our emotional and intellectual doubt: the knowledge of God is somewhere deep in our hearts, in a place nothing in the world can take hold. If we are His people, what then? If He is our God, what then? The best part of all comes in v. 34: He will remember our sin no more. If God knows us well enough to give us the knowledge of who He is, then how can He not see all of our iniquities? If He can penetrate so deep into our hearts, what is there that we can hide from His gaze? And yet, He tells us that He will forgive our iniquities and not remember our sins. This makes no sense. But that exactly is the gospel we have in Jesus Christ, and it’s true. Dear Heavenly Father,
Prayer
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Thank you for loving us so much that you have freely bound yourself to a covenant for our sake. Thank you for taking us broken souls as your people. Help us to realize the depths of our sin and iniquity, but, more importantly, the even deeper depths of Your grace and forgiveness. Please make us strong in the knowledge of You. In Christ’s name, Amen.
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Anonymous∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
1 Corinthians 10:23-24
Reflection
“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. “Well technically, the Bible says not to get drunk—it doesn’t say anything about having a drink or two…” “The bible says not to have premarital sex—nothing about making out. So technically…” Sound familiar? Christians have exhibited such an attitude for ages. Even the Corinthians went around saying “everything is permissible” in order to justify those actions that are not explicitly prohibited in the Bible. Paul, however, teaches us to put such legalistic thinking aside, and to ask ourselves, “How will my actions affect others?” “Will they benefit or edify my family members?” “Will they cause any of my friends to stumble?” These are the questions that we should address when we come across difficult decisions. After all, God looks at our hearts, not at technicalities. Our focus should no longer be on self-gratification, but rather on edification. We should live in a manner that will build our friends and family members up. In my own life, I’ve found that the best way to overcome my struggles with sin is to shift the focus from “me, me, me” to others. I have found freedom in being able to declare that although I still sin, through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, I now have the capacity and freedom to love others. Think about it—could you serve someone else when you are overwhelmed by your own problems? Nope. It’s when you forget about yourself and your own concerns that you can really get involved in another person’s life. Then you can really care about and love others. That is a much greater freedom than being able to drink endlessly and to indulge in our lustful desires. While the rest of the world chases after power, we no longer have to because God is our source of power. While the rest of the world chases after something to numb their pain, we no longer have to because God is our source of comfort. And while the rest of the world chases after pleasure, we no longer have to because God is our source of joy. When we no longer have to worry about such things, we are free to focus on other things, such as loving others and helping them access this freedom as well.
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Prayer
Father God, I thank you for providing everything I need. Forgive me for all the times I have chased after the things of this world. I pray that you would give me greater faith to really believe that you’re all I ever need. Transform my heart to be centered on serving those around me. Teach me what selfless love is all about. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Also!
“Everything” by Lifehouse. Listen to the lyrics, please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nig4Rbeoqwk&feature=related
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Ryan Shyu ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
John 15:9-15, 17
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you… This is my command: Love each other.
Reflection
The first sentence in this passage is pretty easy to skim over, but read it over again and think about what it means. The love shared between the persons of the Trinity (Jesus, the Father, the Spirit) is the greatest love that exists, and the love that Jesus offers to us is in fact the same love! It’s not a pity-love, it’s not an in-between love, it’s the real thing. That’s an amazing thought. The passage tells us more about our relationship with God by going on to say that God calls us his friends. That’s really crazy to think about as well. I think of it like this: when I used to help out at camps run at my church, I would play around with the kids, but I definitely related to them differently than I did to my friends who were helping out with me. To God, we’re not just some kids that He supervises—we’re the friends that He talks to about serious stuff and loves deeply. How can we understand this love even more concretely? Verse 13 gives us the answer: Christ’s giving of himself for us at the cross. The cross was the perfect sacrifice needed to satisfy the wrath of God against sinners, but it was even more than that—it was the greatest act of love in history. The love of God is incredible, and in a certain sense it is scandalous. Who would believe that the perfect creator and master of the universe would submit himself to the weight of humanity’s sin and separation from the Father’s love, which he had known for an eternity past, for to gain the friendship and love of humanity, whose greatest merits are like dirty rags compared to his perfection? What does it mean to remain in this amazing, scandalous love of Christ? I think, interestingly, the first consequence is that we need to love ourselves. That’s not to say we accept ourselves as we are, because we should constantly be working toward holiness. But if God himself has accepted and loved us, who are we to do any different? Christianity is not an exercise in self-loathing. While we must hate our sin and our sinful nature, it is equally true that we must accept that despite all of our problems and faults, we are loved and accepted by God. To live in any other way is not only really unpleasant, but
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offensive to the God whose love for us took him to the cross. If God loves us, who are we to hate ourselves? And once we accept that God loves us, loving others becomes easy. I mean, how can we give love to others if we don’t have any ourselves? One last thought: when Catherine of Siena prayed, she called God a “divine madman” who was “pazzo d’amore, ebro d’amore”—that is, crazed and drunk with love. Imagine what life would be like if we really believed that God loved us like that.
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Ha Eun Kong ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
John 2:1-5
Reflection
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” It's the 3rd to last freshman small group today. I guess by the time you read this it will be after finals ... after reunions and dead week ... and into the summer! :) And just now you might have thought about how time has flown by. We live in a world of finite time. And at Princeton, the clock ticks even louder. And so we like to plan our time: plan our days, plan our months, our semesters and our lives. I don't know if it's the same for you, but I often have a list of things I want to get done during the day. And also more generally, I have a list of things that I should do and not do in life (although I never wrote them down). This verse struck me because Jesus was kind of living in a finite time, like us. He was living God's plan. He was not supposed to be doing his “work” until his 30's – “his time had not yet come.” And yet, in this passage, he considers Mary's situation, her sadness and pity for the reputation of the newlyweds when the wine is gone. And therefore he decides to breakout from the rigid schedule he had set out for himself and decides to perform his first miracle "prematurely" (although he probably included this exception in his plan since God is all-knowing). I often excuse myself from doing certain things because I’m supposed to be doing something else. For example, I would not be so disposed to serve during finals because I’m scheduled to be studying. Although it definitely is not wrong or bad to stick to a schedule, sometimes we must learn Jesus' love that considers others before ourselves.
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Enoch Kuo ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Joshua 24:14-15, 24-27
Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.
Reflection
If it is at all possible, I highly recommend that you now read the entire chapter of Joshua from which the above verses come from (Joshua 24). Actually, it would be good to read most of the Bible, or at least from Genesis 12 up to this point (and up until the building of the temple in Kings would be nice, too), but that’s a somewhat unreasonable charge. Just read chapter 24 of Joshua. Do it. Now. But even so, I will attempt to give some context to preface our discussion. The Children of Israel have at last reached and possessed the promised land of Canaan. It is after God has given Israel “rest from all their surrounding enemies” and that Joshua, their leader, was “old and well advanced in years” (23:1) that he calls together all of Israel to him for his farewell address (24:1). In it, he briefly recaps what God has done for the children of Israel: called Abraham out of Mesopotamia, brought the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, destroyed Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, and finally, led the children of Israel back into the land of promise, dispossessing the Canaanites who had formerly lived in the land. It is with this in mind that Joshua calls the children of Israel to fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. In our lives, there also comes a time when we find ourselves confronted with this charge. After we recognize God’s immense plan for us, looking about the land with Abraham’s eyes and seeing the heavenly land (who is Christ) that has been promised to us. After we see the corruption of the fall in ourselves, suffering with the children of Israel in bondage in the slave-houses of Egypt. After we see Christ’s victory over all things, watching the waters of the Red Sea consume all that had been holding us captive. After we see the continued redemptive work of God as we struggle with our faith, wandering in the
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wilderness for more than forty years while receiving the discipline of the Lord. After we see God’s promises realized in our lives, fighting with the inhabitants of the land and finally receiving the promised land of Canaan as an inheritance. After all these things, we find ourselves confronted with a simple command: Serve the Lord. It may seem odd that Joshua is confronting the children of Israel with this command now, after they have already supposedly served the Lord for so long. After all, they have followed the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night through the wilderness (which is the presence of the Lord). After all, they have seen the Lord bring down the walls of Jericho. They have fought with the Lord against the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Jebusites— They have already been through so many experiences with the Lord, and now Joshua still gives them this command? But it is a command that we will be confronted with over and over again in our Christian lives. Maybe right now, we are living a victorious life and God has given us rest from all of our enemies. Maybe right now, we are struggling with a sin that seems unable to be overcome. Maybe right now, we are in a doubting stage from which we can see absolutely no reason for us to continue seeking the Lord. How will we respond to that command? If you read the chapter, you could probably feel the gravity with which Joshua gives them that command, asking them over and over again for confirmation. He knew how easy it would be for the children of Israel to fall away from their God as they have already done many times already, despite having seen with their very own eyes the miracles that God performed upon Egypt and having eaten for forty years manna sent from heaven. Indeed, the children of Israel fall away again and again throughout the next books of the Bible, in Judges, in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and the Prophets as well. How could they? Or perhaps a more fitting question, how could we? For we too have strayed and will meet many more temptations to stray. Are you willing to make the commitment to serve the Lord even now? Joshua made a covenant with Israel that day, and put in place statutes and rules. Having made the commitment to actively serve the Lord with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole strength, it is important to develop ways to keep ourselves accountable. But while we have indeed been blessed with a community to help keep us serving the God we have promised—above a promise, covenanted—to serve, Joshua goes further as to set up a stone as a witness between Israel and God. If you have not done so already, or even if you have, I would highly recommend that right now, you make the proclamation that Joshua made that day. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” But more than just thinking it in your mind, I would recommend that you, right now, write something down to solidify your commitment and serve as a witness to remind you of your promise should you ever run into a time in which the doubts threaten to sink your boat (figuratively). If you’ve already done something similar in the past, don’t hesitate to renew your promise. June 15th, 2010. I have resolved to serve the Lord. It can be as simple as that. It can be followed with a prayer. It can be in any form, with any words you want, as long as it will help you to remind yourself of what you have chosen. If you are not yet ready to say those words, don’t. I
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invite you to meditate a little on what it might mean to serve the Lord (I apologize for going so long already) before making the declaration. Let your service be with a free and willing heart, free of any doubts and fears.
Prayer
Father God, I come before You with my life as an offering. May it be holy and well pleasing in your sight. It pains me to think upon all the times that I have failed in the past, and it pains me to know that I will continue to stray and serve myself or other gods in the future. I stand, however, not on my own merit, but on the merit of Your only begotten, who is forever faithful and will never let go. I declare right now in Christ that I long to serve you, desire to serve you, will serve you with all of my being for all of my days. Whatever doubts may arise, whatever troubles may come, whatever miseries must be suffered, through rain or shine, through good times and bad, I want to stand firm in my conviction that You are God Alone and worthy of all of me, that my time would become your time, that my talents would become your talents, that your desires would become my desires. Hold me to my word. Let me say at all times, not only with my lips, but with my words and deeds, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!�
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Jack Gang ’12∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
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John 13:12-15
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
Reflection
I came upon this passage during a Lectio Divina prayer meeting and the word that really stood out to me in this passage was “Teacher.” Not only is Jesus Christ our sovereign Lord, but he is also our Teacher. What does this mean? Teachers are our examples and what they do is model for us what we should be doing. And like Jesus said, if He washes the disciples’ feet, then they should wash one another’s feet. We can’t just praise Jesus the Lord for his grace and his majesty, but we must also learn from Jesus the Teacher, just as students learn from their teacher. In Jesus’ time, washing another’s feet was a demonstration of extreme humility, and in this particular “lesson,” Jesus the Teacher is telling us to serve others humbly because he did it first. Therefore, we should look to the New Testament for more examples of lessons that this Teacher has taught us, and we should try our best to follow his examples.
2010 Summer devotional.
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Hyunmoon Kim ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Matthew 6:25-33
Reflection
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Many times I have encountered this verse during exams, or people cite me this verse when I'm worried as an encouragement. Many times I just take it as a command not to worry and say, "That sounds right, I'll take a look at it later" and brush it away and continue straight back into worrying. But this verse for me has been the single most encouraging and powerful verse for me throughout the year, and I have really felt it transform me once I allowed this to sink in. For me, worrying consumes my attention to the fullest. I trap myself in my worries and the encouragement of friends seem to bounce off of me, and I easily fall into thinking, "Hey, thanks for the thought but my problem is different from whatever you're trying to encourage, you really need to be in my shoes to know." And even when I find a genuinely concerned person, I fall into the trap of saying, "It's complicated. It's too hard to explain" and continue worrying. In fact, sometimes it seems I simply enjoy being tormented by my worries. I attach a big chunk of my identity into worrying that I feel I would be insecure if I were to dismiss it or face it. The attachment is sinful and unhealthy, but precisely because of it we are reluctant to let go. Jesus says that life is more than food. By food, I think he means not only the food that we eat on the table, but whatever we consider so necessary and important in our lives, especially and specifically whatever we worry about at the time. They make us worry because we consider them so necessary, because we fear a judgment of them as a judgment of us. Whether we are worried about work or people or health, our incapacities and deficiencies, or about making a wrong decision, Jesus tells us our Father is almighty and our provider for everything. He provides for whatever we fear losing, and everything we have anticipated as a possible variable that can fail and screw us over—nothing can escape his hands.
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Jesus also says that life is more than clothing. By clothing, I think he means how we want to present ourselves to others. Perhaps it's about putting makeup on or combing your hair and choosing what to wear before a job interview, but also anxieties about what to say or how to smile or how to impress people. He says be yourself like the flowers and the birds. We don't need to adorn ourselves to please the Father, and whose approval is more important to us than the Father's? We just need to be sincere and offer up our heart to him. Our Father desires our hearts, so he asks us "permission" to take care of our treasures, for "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21). So Jesus says "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Whatever we worry about, it will be added to us. And when it is added back, it won't matter as much because the joy of God's company is greater. In a sense this is a promise given by God. For me, God has kept his promise every single time, when I trusted him with waking up in the morning without an alarm, a problem set I had to finish by the next day, or going through days and meeting people without having taken a shower, trusting in God to let Him work in me has empowered me beyond what I could have expected or imagined. And it is also a little treat to find out, "Hey, I actually got this but I didn't do anything. It was all you. Thank you~!"
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I can't believe I'm worrying about things. But I trust you. You'll take care of it in a way that you find glorifying. For me that should be enough because you know what's best for me more than I do. No pleasure is complete without your blessing, and I know that even if I earn something through worrying I will not be satisfied afterwards. So please help. I want to rest in you.
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Eeh Pyoung Rhee ’13∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Psalm 66:10-14
Reflection
For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to youvows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble. This is an interesting passage because the psalmist is speaking as if he was privileged and thankful to God that he/she was able to go through such toil by God’s grace. Shouldn’t this person be complaining to the Lord instead? It seems that this person almost is masochistic, thankful for the pains. But the difference is that this person doesn’t actually enjoy pain; he enjoys the fact that God let him go through such troubles so that he can become a “refined” man. God has done many things in my life to refine me before I could really receive the joy and abundance and blessings of God. He has worked in me to make me into a person who would really truly see his presence in all the blessings that I receive, to be truly happy and be able to appreciate the kind of things he was going to give me. And I am so thankful because the blessings that I have received in my life are great and even more awesome because they are the things that I have been hoping to receive because of the fact that I was so lacking in them. Sure, they were hard times, but what can I say? “What doesn’t break us makes us stronger” and also “how do you know happiness if you know no pain?” It’s like Weber’s principle in neuroscience. The more quantity you have of something, the more of a difference you need to really feel the difference. But the less you have, even a little difference can feel like a lot. Relatively speaking, we must be carefully not to come to the high point where we can only find joy in huge changes and be stuck un-joyful for all the simple things in life. Therefore, we must defy Weber’s law by always being thankful even though we already have so much. And it is hard. A common fact is that people need to go from poor to rich and not rich to poor because the loss is so hard to take. But when you are thankful for everything, this no longer affects you. The things to be thankful for are never yours to begin with so, it is important to understand your own powerlessness before this can happen. When such a realization came to me—that all my talents, every lucky event, all my test scores, all the things that I have are given to me by God even though I have done nothing to deserve them—I became so much more humble and happy. I
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became genuinely so much more relaxed and unstressed about the things many people stress over. I became free and just able to zoom out and look at life close to the way God does. Take the third person view on life. Lose track of things for a while and capture the state of life right now. When I do this, suddenly I realize that I am in such a better position that so many other people right now, that the kind of things that trouble me seem like such little things. I am worrying about a test grade when others are worrying about how to survive the day after or salvage food. My life is so much better in comparison.
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Megan Wong ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
Isaiah 58
Background
Take up your Bible and read Isaiah 58 or read it online here. The book of Isaiah was written during a difficult time in Jewish history characterized by the expansion of the Assyrian empire and the decline of Israel. Isaiah captures the full scope of God’s judgment and salvation plan for all men in his writings, depicting God as a sovereign king, righteous lord, and compassionate redeemer. After describing Jehovah’s eternal purpose of peace for His people and revealing the only agent of this peace: the Servant of the Lord and the Price of Peace, Isaiah gives key rebukes and promises to Israel in chapters 58 and 59. The references to fasting and Sabbaths are from the Mosaic covenant in Exodus when God promises to make Israel His “treasured possession”, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” if they obey His commands (Exodus 19: 5-6). The Israelites still obeyed these commands outwardly, but as Isaiah describes, did not obey with the right motives.
Reflection
Isaiah 58 essentially describes the difference between true and false worship of God. Though the Israelites kept all outward appearances of obedience, they failed to see the true meaning of God’s commandments. They observed all the rituals of religion and had all semblance of humility, while their interactions with one another lacked compassion and justice. The chapter begins with a rebuke of hypocrisy, moves on to a description of truly acceptable worship of God, and finally ends with a powerful promise of God’s guidance, provision, and all other things guaranteed in His Mosaic covenant. Can you provide a definition of “social justice” from this passage and articulate why Christians should pursue it?
Prayer
Sovereign LORD, Please forgive me for my neglect of the people You love, for outward piety and inward hypocrisy. Change my heart that I might take part in your renewal of creation, that I might be called a “Repairer of Broken Walls”. Keep my hard heart from ignoring the hungry, naked, lonely, and hurting people around me. Father, would you break my heart each day with the things that break yours? Would you teach me to become less in all things that you may become greater, to trust in Your power to accomplish what You desire? Thank you for your promises that are true. Help me to find joy in You this day and to “feast on the inheritance” you allow me to share in each day.
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2010 Summer devotional.
Ben Sheng ’11∗ God intends to change our hearts, our community and our world by the power of His Word. See how He works in you to do that. Sit silently before the Lord for sixty seconds. Don’t speak during this time but silently ask the Spirit to quiet your heart. Tell Him your anxieties and fears about the day ahead. Listen to Him respond.
John 13:1-5, 12-17
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Spoken Word
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2010 Summer devotional.
Jesus Christ, he was the first, But he did a job considered one of the worst. Washing his disciples’ feet As one of his final treats He wanted to teach them humility ‘Cause down on the ground serving, that’s the way to be. He served his enemy, his own betrayer Jesus loved Judas, instead of being a slayer. He came to serve as the right example ‘Cause in this world, only Jesus is ample.
www.princeton.edu/manna