BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

The Bible can be confusing – It can also be so powerful it will radically change your life. There are some books in the Old Testament you can flip to that seem so rigid and so impossible, that a life following God is unattainable. Then there are books in the New Testament filled with overflowing mercy and grace that perfectly cover your every imperfection.

So which is it – rigid and impossible, or, mercy and grace? Actually, I believe it’s both. It’s old and it’s new. It’s what we could never live up to, so it’s what Jesus died for. It’s what was expected of us, and what was done for us.

There are many pages of my Bible in the Old Testament where I’ve written in bold letters across the print “JESUS”. The first 15 chapters of the book of Leviticus were specific instructions given to Moses from God to redeem his people and make them holy. There’s procedures for the burnt offering, procedures for the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, contaminations and purifications and discharges.

This was the Old Covenant with God for an unholy people. Countless things they had to do, ceremonies and offerings with elaborate steps to make them good enough for a Holy God.

And guess what … we couldn’t do it. The truth is, we could never make ourselves holy. We could never get it right and keep it right. And for THIS, we have JESUS!!!!!!!!

So, on these pages of procedures and offerings I have written JESUS. Not to cancel God’s requirements, but to remind myself that Jesus fulfilled all of those requirements for me. THE OFFERING HAS BEEN MADE FOR ME. When I needed an offering to cover my sin, Jesus made the offering of his life for me. When I need an offering for my guilt, Jesus made the offering with his blood.

Ephesians 1: 4-7 tells me that God loves me and chooses me in Jesus to be made HOLY without fault in his eyes. Praise God for his glorious grace he pours out on us who belong to Jesus. He purchased MY FREEDOM with the blood of Jesus and forgives my sins.

And with this, the Old Covenant was fulfilled and we are given a New Covenant with Jesus. We’re not living trying to patch up the old, we’re dwelling in the new, covered in the new, free in the new!

It was a very hard concept for everyone to understand in the days of Jesus. All they had known for every generation before them was rules and regulations and offerings trying to make them good enough for God. But Jesus comes as God in the flesh and says, “Now we’re doing something NEW!”

To help them understand, Jesus tells 2 stories about the old and the new. First, the story of the patch. Mark 2: 21, “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.”

Clothing in Jesus’ day was all wool and linen – both of them shrink when washed. You would intentionally make something larger than needed because as you washed it, you knew it was going to get smaller and smaller. So what would happen if you got a hole in your linen robe that’s been washed 100 times and you patched it with a brand new piece of linen cloth? Well, it would make a real mess! You can’t make something old right again with something new. You either have to start over with something totally new – or cut a patch of linen from old cloth to fix the old hole.

What is Jesus telling the people here? He’s telling them he didn’t come to patch up the Old Covenant between God and his people. He didn’t come to patch up where they continually fell short of God’s requirements. Once he fulfilled the law, he was giving them something brand new! A New Covenant.

And what is this New Covenant between us and God?

It is total forgiveness. Jesus shed his blood on the cross to pay for all human sins once and for all.

It’s a transformed heart. In this new covenant, God places his Holy Spirit inside his believers, changing our hearts to help us live according to his will.

It’s living by grace, realizing salvation is a free gift received through faith, not something we could earn by following strict rules.

And finally, it’s direct relationship. We no longer require a mediator to speak on our behalf in the Temple – we can have a relationship with God through Jesus.

This was a radical shift for everyone hearing Jesus. What? We’re not patching up the old law that we keep failing at? You’re telling us you’re offering something totally new? Something we could never earn. Something that makes us forever good enough?!!!!!

So Jesus tells a follow up story to paint the picture further. Mark 2:22, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Just in case you’re not in the business of wineskins these days, let me explain. A wineskin was basically a bag made from animal hide that people used to store and transport wine. When the wine was new, it was still fermenting. As it fermented, it released gases and expanded. If new fermenting wine was put into an old brittle wineskin, there was no stretch and it would split wide open and everything would be ruined.

Jesus was using something people understood to explain something spiritual: You can’t put something completely new into something that isn’t willing or able to change.

Jesus was bringing something new—a new covenant, a new way of relating to God, a new kind of life through Him. The old religious systems and traditions couldn’t simply be patched up and expected to contain what Jesus was bringing.

The point wasn’t that the “old” was bad. It was that something new requires room for something new.

You don’t have to live in the Old Testament with the old rules and laws. Jesus did something radically new to make us forever good enough. We are made holy through our faith in him. Accept that. Receive that. And let it transform you and make you new.

You can’t remain the way you were. In this relationship with Jesus, he’s going to make you new too. Why? Because the old you simply cannot hold what God is offering you now.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a NEW PERSON. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

God isn’t trying to pour something new into your old life. He’s trying to make you new and this new you can hold everything he’s pouring out. No, you can’t stay the same because through Jesus, you’re simply not who you used to be. That old version of you is gone. Let go of her. Receive the new you.

You’re walking in a New Covenant with God made possible by Jesus.

Jesus didn’t come to put a patch on your old life. He didn’t come to make a few improvements, cover a few holes, and send you on your way. He came to make you NEW.

And He doesn’t just give you new wine; He makes you a new wineskin—able to receive, hold, and live in everything He is offering you.

So let go of the old you. Stop trying to make your new life with Jesus fit into your old ways of thinking, old patterns, old fears, and old rules.

The patch is gone. The old wineskin is gone. The old you is gone. You are walking in a New Covenant with God, made possible by Jesus. Receive the new life He has given you, make room for what He wants to do, and let Him transform you from the inside out.

You are not a patched-up version of your old self. You are a NEW creation in Christ. The old has gone, and the new has begun! So stop trying to squeeze your new life with Jesus into the old patterns, old mindsets, old fears, and old ways of doing things. Let the old you go. Make room for what God is doing. You have a New Covenant, a new heart, a new freedom, and a new life—and it’s all because of Jesus. New wine calls for new wineskins. And your new life calls for a new you.

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Matthew 7: 24-27, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is build on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Jesus tells a simple story, but its message is anything but simple. Two people build two houses. One builds on rock. The other builds on sand. Both houses look fine when the sun is shining. Both appear strong. But everything changes when the storm comes. The rain pours. The floodwaters rise. The winds beat against both houses. And suddenly, the difference between the two builders becomes obvious.

On the coast of Southern California are gorgeous homes built along the cliff of the Pacific Ocean. Their views are priceless – but the homes are now worthless. Why? Because they’re literally falling into the ocean. The sandy cliffs are crumbling with each storm that comes through. They’re for sale but no one will buy them. Why is that? Because they’re now a huge liability and inevitably doomed. One home fell into the ocean and the owners were fined $100,000 per day until the mess was cleaned up. You know what this tells us – building your home on the wrong foundation is entirely too costly! We can’t afford that, my friends!

One of my favorite retreat houses was a mansion in Cape Cod. It was absolutely stunning, sitting on a peninsula all by itself with views for miles of water from every window in the house. We were the last people to get to stay in that mansion because the sandy bluff it was built on collapsed. The entire house was torn down knowing it wouldn’t survive the next storm.

Who would build a house on land like that? Oh girl, when you’re focused on that view, it’s easy to be fooled.

That makes me question – what would fool me? Success has fooled me in the past. Looks have fooled me in the past. Money has fooled me several times. I’ve been a fool building great things on the sand more than once – have you? It all has a real special way of crumbling and leaving a massive mess.

Jesus says the wise builder is the person who listens to His teaching and follows it. The foolish builder is the person who hears His teaching but doesn’t obey it.

Did you catch that? The difference isn’t who heard Jesus. They both heard Him. The difference was what they did with what they heard. That makes this parable intensely personal. You and I are the builders and we’re choosing our foundations today. Will what we are doing today last – or will it be another mess to clean up when it crumbles?

It’s possible to know God’s Word without building your life on it. We can hear a sermon, highlight a verse, and even agree with everything Jesus says – and then walk away and live according to our own wisdom and our own feelings. We can get fooled by the views and build on the sand. Jesus says that’s foolish.

This is huge – make a note – Information isn’t the foundation. Obedience is. (Let’s make sure you really get that – information is not your foundation. Information will not save you. Obedience is. Hearing about Jesus is not enough. Knowing his word isn’t enough. You have to do something with this!)

Maybe you know Jesus says to forgive, but you’re still holding tightly to that hurt.

Maybe you know He tells you not to worry, but anxiety is still controlling your thoughts.

Maybe you know He tells you to love your enemies, but you’ve decided someone is the exception.

Maybe you know He tells you to trust Him, but you’re desperately trying to control an outcome He never asked you to control.

You know what He says. But are you building your life on it?

Jesus is our solid rock. Psalm 18:2 says, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior.” When Jesus is our foundation, we have something solid beneath us when everything around us begins to shake. (And shake it will.)

Notice something very important about Jesus’ story: Both houses experienced the storm. The house on the rock wasn’t protected from the rain. The flood still rose. The wind still beat against it. Following Jesus doesn’t mean you’ll never have a storm. You will.

I seemed to miss that truth early in my journey with Jesus. I was shocked when our business fell apart. I was absolutely shocked when we couldn’t pay the bills. I couldn’t understand why we weren’t protected from those hardships. Somewhere along the way, I had formed an expectation that if I followed Jesus, He would keep the really hard stuff from happening to me.

I was naive enough to think Jesus was the perpetual storm stopper. He’s not. Yes, Jesus has the power to stop storms. We’ve seen Him do that. But sometimes He calms the storm, and sometimes He allows us to walk through it. And when He doesn’t stop the storm, that doesn’t mean He has stopped being good, faithful, or present.

Sometimes Jesus doesn’t remove the storm. He reveals that He is strong enough to hold us through it. That was a lesson I had to learn.

The promise was never that my house would never be hit by wind. The promise was that if my house was built on Him, the wind wouldn’t be able to take it down. I had confused God’s protection with God’s prevention. I thought being protected meant the storm wouldn’t come.

Jesus teaches us that sometimes being protected means the storm comes—and we don’t collapse.

The business can fall apart, and you can still have peace.

The bills can pile up, and you can still trust God.

The diagnosis can come, and you can still know He is with you.

The relationship can break, and you can still believe He is good.

The future can feel uncertain, and you can still stand.

That’s what it means to build on the rock.

Jesus doesn’t promise a life without storms. He promises with him, you have a foundation strong enough to withstand them. And sometimes, we don’t recognize how solid our foundation is until the storm gives us the opportunity to find out.

There will be seasons of disappointment, loss, uncertainty, heartbreak, financial pressure, relational conflict, unanswered prayers, and circumstances you never saw coming. None of us were promised perpetually sunny skies. But we were given something far more valuable than a storm-free life. We were given a foundation that can withstand the storm.

The storm doesn’t determine whether your foundation is strong. The storm reveals it.

When life is going well, almost anything can feel like a foundation. Success can make you feel secure. Money can make you feel safe. A relationship can make you feel loved. Accomplishment can make you feel valuable. Control can make you feel powerful. People’s approval can make you feel worthy.

But then the storm comes.

And suddenly you discover that what you thought was holding you up was never strong enough to hold you at all.

That’s why we don’t wait for the storm to start building on the rock. You build before the storm.

You build when you’re making ordinary decisions on ordinary days. You build when you choose truth instead of convenience. When you choose obedience instead of what feels good. When you choose prayer instead of panic. When you surrender control instead of trying to manipulate an outcome. When you choose God’s approval over people’s approval. It’s all here in Jesus’ teachings for us – that’s our solid rock foundation.

Those choices may not feel significant in the moment, but they are laying stone beneath your life. And when the storm comes, you’ll discover what you’ve been building all along.

We can’t claim we don’t know what Jesus teaches. God’s Word has been recorded, preserved, and put right into our hands. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful.”

These aren’t just some ancient words sitting on a page. God’s Word speaks into our lives today. It challenges us, corrects us, comforts us, convicts us, and changes us – but only when we allow it to move beyond our ears and into our lives. There’s power in these words, but the power has to be plugged into. We plug into the power of God’s word when we actually DO WHAT IT SAYS.

Don’t just read the Word. Build on it.

Don’t just hear what Jesus says. Do what He says.

Because someday the storm will come. And when it does, you don’t want to discover that you’ve spent your life building on sand. You want to still be standing.

Build your life on Jesus. Build it on His truth. Build it on obedience.

The storm may shake you. But it doesn’t have to destroy you. When Jesus is your foundation, you can stand.

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Luke 18: 9-17

“Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else:

Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Who are you more like – the Pharisee or the tax collector? To see yourself in this story Jesus tells, lets understand who each were.

A Pharisee was a religious leader. They studied and taught scripture. They were very serious about obeying God’s law.

To the Pharisee, everything was a box to be checked, and in order to be right with God, all boxes must be checked. It was all performance. And for those who didn’t perform to their standard of God’s law, they were judgmental.

Their desire to obey God wasn’t the problem. The problem came when outward obedience became more important than the condition of their hearts. The Pharisee had all the checked boxes, but his heart was unchecked.

His behavior looked right, but his heart had become filled with pride and judgment.

A tax collector was seen as someone who had sold out to the Roman government. Because they worked for the occupying power and were notorious for taking more than was owed, tax collectors were deeply despised by their own people. They were viewed as traitors, cheats, and sinners. Nobody liked a tax collector, and most didn’t even want to be seen with them.

So here you have two very different men. One had an impressive religious résumé. The other had a terrible reputation. Both went to the Temple to pray. But their prayers revealed something much deeper than their reputations. Their prayers revealed their hearts.

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, “I thank you, God, that I am not like other people…”

Did you catch that? He came to pray to God, but his prayer became a speech about himself. ‘Look at what I don’t do. Look at what I do. Look at how good I am. And look at how much better I am than others.’ His prayer wasn’t really about his need for God. It was about his need to feel righteous. He stands in the temple knowing everyone sees him and admires him, praying from a place of righteousness with his checked boxes of fasting and tithing.

His problem wasn’t that he was doing good things. His problem was that his good things had become evidence he used to convince himself—and perhaps everyone else—of how good he was.

You can do the right things for the wrong reasons. You can serve God and secretly want people to notice. You can give generously and still have a heart that wants recognition. You can read your Bible every morning and still be growing more judgmental. You can raise your hands in worship while your heart is consumed with what everyone else thinks of you.

Good behavior can become bad worship when it becomes a performance.

Then there is the tax collector. He stands at a distance. He won’t even lift his eyes toward heaven. He beats his chest in sorrow and says, “God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner.”

No excuses. No comparison. No explanation. Just honesty. He didn’t come to prove himself to God. He came to pray that day because he knew he needed God.

So, who leaves the temple that day justified and made right by God? The one who was humble. Why? Because God isn’t looking for people who can impress Him.

Really, what could possibly impress God. He created the entire Universe all by himself – how are you going to do anything that impresses him? He holds the whole world in the palm of his hand, knows all things, controls all things, and works all things together in ways your human mind could never comprehend – what could you possibly do that would impress him?

You were never created to impress God. But is that what you’ve been trying to do? Honey, you’re failing. You were created to surrender to him. To need him. To seek him. To worship him. And when he finds a genuine heart worshiping him instead of trying to impress him, he responds with offering righteousness.

The Pharisee was looking sideways. The tax collector was looking toward God. The Pharisee was comparing. The tax collector was confessing. The Pharisee was defending himself. The tax collector was humbling himself.

The Pharisee said, “Look at me, I’m good.” The tax collector said, “God, look at me. I need mercy.” And Jesus tells us that the one who humbled himself was the one who went home right with God.

My friends, this is a heart issue. You can have all the right religious habits and still have the wrong heart posture. And if we’re not careful, our relationship with God can slowly become a checklist.

Church—check.

Money in the offering—check.

Read my Bible—check.

Pray—check.

Christian music—check.

Volunteer or serve —oh girl, you get a double check. Look at you!

But here’s the question Jesus wants you to ask: What’s happening in your heart while you’re checking all those boxes?

Are you serving because you love Him—or because you want to be needed? Are you giving because you trust Him—or because you want to look generous? Are you reading Scripture because you want to know Him—or because you want to sound impressive? Are you worshiping because you’re totally in awe of God—or because you want people to see you worship?

The Pharisee’s greatest problem wasn’t his behavior. It was that his behavior had convinced him he didn’t need mercy. That’s pride. And that is a dangerous place for any of us to live.

Proverbs 16:8, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” First pride, then the crash. Every time you boast, it becomes a prophesy of future failure. The higher you lift yourself up in pride, the harder you’ll fall in disgrace.

Sometimes pride has a Bible in its hand. Sometimes pride is sitting in church. Sometimes pride is serving in ministry. Sometimes pride is singing worship songs with tears streaming down your face.

Pride can look holy on the outside while quietly pushing God out of the center of your heart.

Here’s the question Jesus presents us in this story today – WHY ARE YOU DOING THE THINGS YOU’RE DOING?

Is this just a checklist to make you feel better about yourself or look better to someone else? Where’s your heart in this?

God, please have mercy on me. I have a special way of really screwing this up and making it about me instead of about you. Remind me that I was never created to impress you, I was created to NEED you – and wow, do I ever need you.

Ultimately, in this story, the Pharisee trusted in what he had done himself with his exalted heart – the despised tax collector could only trust in what God could do with his humbled heart. Only the humbled will be made right with God.

There’s no reason for us to compare. Let’s all just stop performing. Stop trying to impress God or anyone else. We have nothing to prove, because if we prove anything, we prove we could never be good enough on our own. Let us come honestly, come humbly, and just come as our true selves to simply say, “God, have mercy on me. I need you.”

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Luke 18: 1-8

“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

‘There was a judge in a certain city,’ he said, ‘who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’

Then the Lord said, ‘Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?’”

What’s the meaning of this story? Thankfully Luke tells us completely in the first verse: “You should always pray and never give up.” Okay, so this circumstance you’re dealing with, this decision you have to make, the situation with this person – what should you do? You should PRAY ABOUT IT! Whatever it is, whoever it is, no matter what, you should always be praying about it.

What exactly does that mean? Really, what would it look like to really pray about what you’re facing or what you’re going through?

We can make prayer overly fussy and complicated. It is just conversation with our Father. It is a continual consideration of his input. It means you don’t just think about it – you talk to God about it.

You have a decision to make? Talk to God about it.

You’re frustrated with someone? Talk to God about it.

You’re worried about what might happen? Talk to God about it.

You don’t know what to do next? Talk to God about it.

And then—and this is the part we sometimes miss—you listen.

Prayer isn’t just presenting God with your list of requests and then going back to doing whatever you were going to do. Prayer is inviting God into the situation and then being willing to consider what He has to say about it.

God, what do You want me to do?

Is there something You’re asking me to see differently?

Is there something I need to surrender?

Is there something I need to do?

Is there something I need to stop doing?

How do You want me to respond?

That is prayer.

And sometimes the answer comes through Scripture. Sometimes it comes through wisdom. Sometimes through a sudden clarity or conviction in your spirit. Sometimes through circumstances. Sometimes through another person. And sometimes you simply don’t get an answer right away.

But you keep the conversation open.

Do you know what really happens in an open conversation with God? He goes to work on YOU! We pray asking God to change the situation. But while we’re talking to Him about the situation, He’s changing us.

You’re coming to Him looking for solutions to a problem, a situation or a relationship, and while you’re talking to Him about it, He’s working on you in the process. Conversations with God give Him space to align your will with His. They give you a different perspective, a softened heart, a renewed mind and a clearer understanding of what really matters.

You may come to God asking, “God, what are You going to do about them?” And somewhere in the conversation, you begin to realize He’s first doing something in you. You may come asking Him to change your circumstances, and He begins changing your attitude. You may ask Him to fix someone else, and He begins revealing something in you. You may ask Him to give you an answer, and He begins giving you wisdom. You may ask Him to take away the problem, and He begins giving you strength to walk through it.

Prayer changes things. But sometimes the first thing prayer changes is YOU.

That’s why we don’t give up praying when the answer doesn’t come quickly. We keep the conversation open because God is still working—even when we can’t see Him working on the situation. He’s working on your heart. He’s working on your perspective. He’s working on your faith. He’s working on your trust. He’s working on YOU.

And sometimes, while you’re waiting for God to change what’s happening around you, God is doing something far more important within you.

For seven years, I prayed over a situation that seemed to get worse before it got better. And now, seven years later, that prayer has been answered. Is it sweet? Ahhhh, yes it is! Has a burden been lifted? Absolutely. But let me tell you something: I’m not the same person I was when I started praying seven years ago. Those years of continual conversation with God changed me. Those moments on my knees changed me. Those tears on the days when things got worse instead of better changed me. The waiting changed me. The disappointment changed me. The desperate prayers changed me. God was doing something in me while I was asking Him to do something about my circumstances. And looking back now, I can honestly say this: I don’t wish I could have those seven years back. Not because they were easy. They weren’t. Not because I enjoyed the waiting. I didn’t. But because I can see now what God was doing in our lives during those years, and what He built in me through those years is far too valuable to trade away.

I wanted an immediate answer. God was building something eternal. I wanted Him to change the situation. He was changing me. I wanted Him to restore what had been lost. He was preparing me to receive the restoration. And now I can look back and see that not one of those years was wasted.

I cling to this promise found in Joel 2:25, “The Lord says, ‘I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.'”

This promise from God comes after a historic and devastating plague of locusts and a with a severe drought that had completely stripped the land of Judah. All the crops had been destroyed. The vines and the trees were dead. The entire community was in deep famine and mourning. Through years, they had watched nothing but destruction. But then God says HE WILL GIVE THEM BACK WHAT THEY LOST.

God sends rain to heal the soil, he provides an OVERWHELMING harvest that overflowed their barns, he restored them with MORE than enough. But God didn’t stop there, when God gave them back what they had lost, he also drove out the enemy that had threatened them and, most importantly, he poured out his spirit. After this time of hardship, this time of loss, this time of waiting, then God brought spiritual renewal.

My sister, I may not know what you’ve been waiting for and what damage has been done, but I know our God is the God who can give you back what you lost and he can make it sweeter than you ever imagined. He can drive out the enemy, bring an overwhelming harvest, and start a spiritual renewal in your entire family.

For 7 years the enemy divided my family, but nothing in that time was wasted! God was doing his work and he’s given us back everything we lost. And I assure you, God loves you just as much as he loves me, and he can do the same thing for you!

The point of Jesus’ story of the persistent widow is not only that you should always pray, but that you should never give up. When is it time to give up? Never.

I don’t know what you may be growing weary of, but God’s word says IT’S SIMPLY NOT TIME TO GIVE UP. I don’t know what seems hopeless in your life right now, BUT GIRL, DON’T YOU GIVE UP!

Jesus says, “Don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!”

YOU are God’s chosen people. There’s only one way you’ve come to this place of knowing him and believing in him – HE CHOSE YOU FIRST. That alone proves you are chosen. And because you are chosen, he hears you when you cry out to him day and night. HE HEARS YOU. Honey, he’s not ignoring you.

Daniel 9:23, “The moment you began praying, a command was given.” Heaven moves when you pray. But you don’t always see that movement immediately. Why is that? If Jesus tells us God will grant justice quickly – why did I wait for 7 years – why are you still waiting?

Well, quite simply, when God holds all eternity, his ‘quickly’ may not align with our ‘quickly’. He sees the bigger picture and he knows perfect timing over immediate timing. Left to myself, I would always choose immediate timing, but I’m grateful I don’t get to control that – perfect timing is always worth waiting for. And knowing that our God holds the ultimate power to restore everything that was lost during that time of wait means nothing is wasted!

In the story Jesus tells of the persistent widow, she is dealing with an unfair judge who didn’t care. THAT IS NOT WHO WE ARE DEALING WITH! Our God is not reluctant, he is sovereign. In this delay while you continue to ask and pray, you’re not changing God’s heart. Sometimes that’s what I think I’m doing. I think I’m somehow going to convince God to change his will to match mine. That’s embarrassingly foolish of me. I wonder if you do the same thing?

When what’s really happening is in this delay, in this waiting, in this struggle, in the seasons where things just get worse, while we keep praying and fight to keep from giving up, the heart being changed is OURS. The will being changed is OURS.

Persistent prayer isn’t about wearing God down until He finally gives you what you want. God isn’t the unjust judge who has to be convinced to care about you. He already cares. Persistent prayer is about refusing to disconnect from God simply because the answer hasn’t come yet. You keep talking to Him. You keep bringing it to Him. You keep asking. You keep listening. You keep trusting. You keep going back to Him instead of trying to carry it all yourself.

Because sometimes the greatest answer to prayer isn’t that God immediately changes the circumstance. Sometimes He changes you in the middle of the circumstance. He gives you peace before the problem is solved. He gives you wisdom before you know what to do. He gives you strength when you don’t have any left. He changes your perspective. He changes your heart. He reminds you who He is. And sometimes, yes, He changes the situation. But whatever the outcome, prayer keeps you connected to the One who is with you in it.

And that’s why Jesus ends this story with such an interesting question: “When the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” He starts with prayer and ends with faith.

The real question here isn’t, “Will you get the answer you want?” The question is, “Will you keep trusting God while you’re waiting for the answer?”

Prayer is how we keep bringing our circumstances back to God instead of allowing our circumstances to become bigger than God.

Pray. And don’t give up. Not because God needs to be convinced to care. But because prayer keeps your heart connected to the God who already does.

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This story told by Jesus is quite different. Unlike all his other stories, this story includes specific names. This tells us it’s a true story of real people living real lives with a real destiny. These are true events.

I’m a documentary junkie. It’s the only TV I ever watch. So imagine this story as we read it unfolding like a docuseries. I’ll split it into episodes for effect. Follow along in Luke 16: 19-31

Episode 1:

“There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.”

——

Understand this scene. In these days, the rich were extravagant in their wealth and it was most displayed in their meals. The fatter a person was, the wealthier it showed them to be because they had the pure luxury of abundance. The rich would often wipe their messy food covered hands on pieces of bread while they feasted on their massive meals. And these pieces of bread used as napkins, were what the poor man named Lazarus lay at the gate begging for.

The rich man was aware of Lazarus. He was aware of his need. And fully aware of his own ability to meet his need by simply affording him the bread where he wiped his hands. The rich man passed by him each time he left his palace. But, Lazarus was left laying there longing.

Episode 2:

“Finally the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from here.”

——

So, they have both died, but their destinies were eternally different. Lazarus, the beggar, went to Heaven. The rich man went to hell. Why would that be? Lets be clear – it wasn’t because of money. Money has nothing to do with our future with God. You can’t buy your way into Heaven and you can’t spend your way into Hell.

This is the great separation that Jesus warned us about in Matthew 25. He says, “There will be a time when all will be gathered in his presence and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. On his right, he will says, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. What you did this for the least of these, you were doing it to me.’ Then he will turn to those on his left and say ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. When you refused to help the least of these, you were refusing to help me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Lazarus is on his right. The rich man is on his left. Lazarus is credited as righteous. The rich man is indebted to eternal punishment. And now, after their death, there’s no changing their fate. They can’t go back. They can’t cross over. They can’t change it. When time is up, eternity is sealed.

It’s easy to twist this and assume there’s a heavenly reward happening for suffering, and a hellish punishment happening for refusing help. But that’s not what Jesus is teaching. The issue wasn’t Lazarus’s poverty or the rich man’s wealth. The issue was the heart.

Lazarus wasn’t saved because he was poor. And the rich man wasn’t condemned simply because he was rich or greedy. Scripture is clear that salvation has never been something we earn by suffering, by giving, by serving, or by doing enough good things. We are saved by God’s grace.

So what is Jesus exposing? A heart that could see suffering and remain completely unmoved. The rich man wasn’t unaware. That’s what makes this story so uncomfortable.

Lazarus was lying at his gate. He knew his name. He knew his condition. He knew his need. And he had more than enough to meet it. The need wasn’t somewhere across town. It wasn’t hidden. It wasn’t complicated. It was literally at his doorstep. And every day, he stepped over it.

The rich man’s problem wasn’t that he had possessions. His problem was that his possessions had possessed his heart. He had become so consumed with his own comfort that someone else’s suffering could sit at his gate without disturbing his life. The rich man’s greatest problem wasn’t what was in his bank account. It was what was missing from his heart.

Compassion. Mercy. Generosity. Love. This was a heart issue. What happens in the heart eventually reveals itself in how we treat people. And his heart condition is what led him to an eternal place of misery. A hardened heart that had refused God.

Episode 3:

“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’”

—–

Now, in this place of eternal torment, understanding what really brought him here was not accepting God and allowing his heart to be transformed, his concern turns to his brothers who are still alive. He knows it’s not too late for them. He begs for his brothers to be warned so they can have a changed heart and not be tormented as well.

Imagine this for a moment. Imagine knowing what you did wrong and wanting desperately to go back and warn your loved ones, but not being able to. Wouldn’t that be torment in itself?

But, my sister, here’s the beauty in this – we don’t have to wait until our eternal destination and then wish we could go back and tell others. We’ve been told what is coming – we already know – so the time we have here today is our opportunity to do precisely what we would want to do from our eternal destination. We would want to warn others. We would want to tell them the truth so they could avoid future torment. AND TODAY WE STILL HAVE THE GIFT OF TIME. One day, we won’t.

Notice what the rich man is told – he’s told his brothers had the opportunity to read what was written. They’ve been warned. What was written? The Bible. Scripture was always there telling the truth, inviting a change of heart. Have we forgotten the power in God’s word? When is the last time you gave someone the gift of a Bible? Do you have an extra just ready to give someone who needs to know God’s truth and God’s promises?

Episode 4:

One last effort from the rich man to reach his brothers who are still alive with the warning from hell. “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

——-

The rich man thinks of someone came back from the dead and told his brothers they would surely repent of their sins and turn to God. But God knows better. Do you know how? BECAUSE IT HAPPENED. Someone did rise from the dead – that was his son Jesus. And even with Jesus rising from the dead and reports of him being seen again, evidence of his Holy Spirit then filling people – still people choose not to believe and turn to God.

It’s still happening today. Jesus came back from the dead to tell us, and we still ignore him.

We have His Word.

We have His warning.

We have His invitation.

We have His Spirit.

We have the testimony of people whose lives have been transformed by Him.

And most importantly, we have Jesus.

The rich man wanted a miracle to change his brothers’ hearts. But he is told, “They already have what they need. They have God’s Word. They have the truth. They have the opportunity to respond.”

And so do we.

We don’t need another sign. We need a surrendered heart.

That’s the sobering message of this story. The greatest danger isn’t that we don’t have enough evidence. It’s that we can have all the evidence in the world and still choose not to let God change our hearts.

So while we still have time, let God search yours. Don’t wait for eternity to recognize what matters eternally. Don’t wait until the chasm is fixed forever to wish you had crossed it today. Don’t wait until someone you love is gone to wish you had told them about Jesus. Don’t wait until your heart is so hardened that you no longer hear His voice.

Today, you can respond. Today, you can surrender. Today, you can soften your heart. Today, you can love the person at your gate. Today, you can give someone a Bible. Today, you can tell someone about Jesus. Today, you can turn toward God.

Because there is one gift we have right now that the rich man no longer had: TIME.

Time to choose.

Time to repent.

Time to believe.

Time to love.

Time to obey.

Time to tell someone else.

One day, our time will be finished. And when it is, our eternity will be sealed. So don’t waste the gift you’ve been given today. Let God have your heart while there is still time.

Let this question settle into your heart today, “What am I doing with Jesus while I still have time?”

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