Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
(Ephesians 4:29)

How do we express our perception of people? Probably by what we say to them. Studies have shown that, in the average home, for every positive statement, a child receives ten negative statements. The school environment is only slightly better; students hear seven negative statements form their teachers for every one positive statement. No wonder so many children are growing up feeling that they are losers. Parents and teachers are conveying that perception every day in how they talk to their children.

These studies go on to point out that it takes four positive statements to negate the effect of one negative statement. You probably verify that finding every time you wear a new suit or dress. A number of your friends may say, “Oh, what a good-looking outfit.” But it only takes one comment like “It’s really not you” to send you scurrying back to the store for a refund. We affect others significantly by what we say about them, and what we say is significantly determined by how we perceive them.

If we could memorize just one verse from the New Testament, put it into practice and never violate it, I believe we would resolve half to three-fourths of the problems in our homes and churches. The verse is Ephesians 4:29. Isn’t it amazing that you and I have the power to give grace to others through the proper use of our words? If we said nothing to put others down, and only built up others as Ephesians 4:29 commands, we would be part of God’s construction crew in the church instead of members of Satan’s wrecking crew.

Prayer: Father, I know my tongue is capable of blessing or cursing others. Guard my words so I may edify others through what I say. In Jesus’ name. Amen
(DAILY IN CHRIST by NEIL & JOANNE ANDERSON)

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Psalms 51:16-17)

When you have sinned, you feel bad – sometimes terrible. You speak out confession, hoping never to do it again. Perhaps you even cry out for mercy. You wonder if you’ve done enough to make things right. What is God looking for?

Brokenness. David acknowledged that he could offer sacrifice after sacrifice, but that’s not what God really desires. There is a contriteness of spirit, a brokenness that really pleases God.

Where does this brokenness come from? First, it comes from a right perspective of your sin. When you recognize that you have offended God first and foremost, a deep sobering enters into your spirit. When you feel bad about your sin, is it because you were caught, ashamed or embarrassed? Are you annoyed with the consequences? This will not bring brokenness into your spirit.

When you recognize that you have offended the most loving, most beautiful, and most powerful One in the universe, your stubbornness begins to break. Now begin to cry out to God for a revelation of how your sin affects His heart. He grieves over anything that would separate you from Him.

David caught the heart of God. He desperately wanted to be clean before his Maker. He wasn’t content to apologize. He wanted more… a softened spirit, one that felt God’s heart. That was true humility. He wanted nothing to do with paying penance for his sins. Only a broken spirit would be sufficient.

Run from trite apologies. Jesus paid for your sins. Don’t try to do that. But you can run toward brokenness. Ask God for His perspective on your sin. Call out for revelation on the grieving heart of God. Brokenness will come. (CLIFF WRENER)

Jesus told a parable about soil once. He said there were four types of soil that the farmer threw seed upon. Three of them had serious problems and never produced a crop. Just one of the soils received the seed of the Word of God and produced a crop.

We see examples of this all the time. Kids can grow up in the same home with many of the same influences and yet one will follow the Lord and another will turn away. Two people can hear the same message with God’s call for salvation and one will accept this word and another will reject it.

How about you? What kind of soil do you have? Based on Jesus’ words in Mark 4, here are ways you can guard against a failed crop and enrich your soil:

• Be on your guard against the devil’s schemes (Mark 4:15). We really do have an adversary in the devil. He likes to snatch the seed of God’s Word from the hearer. Ephesians 6:10-18 is a great passage to turn to and learn about God’s armor that is provided for you to take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
• Develop deep roots (Mark 4:16-17). Jesus says that the person with this second type of soul soil will fall away when persecution and trouble come because of the Word. Note Jesus says when and not if trouble and persecution come. You can develop deep roots with the recipe given in Psalm 1: don’t walk with the wicked and meditate on God’s Word day and night!
• Avoid the big three temptations of worry, wealth, and ungodly desire (Mark 4:18-19). On worry, Jesus said worrying can’t add a single hour to your life. On money, He said if you’ll store up your treasures in heaven they can’t be stolen or destroyed by moth and rust. On desire, Jesus said to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first and all these other things will be added to you.

I want to produce a crop for the Lord and I suspect you do too. We’ll both do well to guard ourselves in the above three areas and then fertilize our soil by reading God’s Word and obeying it, talking to Him through prayer and gathering with the church.                                                (MATT RAINES)

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (ISAIAH 43:18-19)

The wilderness is where God brings forth a fresh move of His Spirit. Of course, this fresh move of the Spirit is not new to God, but it is new to us. We have yet to arrive at a place where we know God as He knows us. This relationship is described in 2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

In order to know God better, we must change. Changes that brings us closer to God are not always easy, but they are always good. Often we resist change because it affects our comfort level. We are creatures of habit. Once patterns are established, it becomes uncomfortable for us to move outside our familiar lifestyles.

Religious traditions especially are formed early and run deep. Not all traditions are wrong, but when a person responds to God out of tradition rather than from the heart, that person is going through lifeless motions. How can you guard against this? Evaluate yourself through this lens: A person who has a religious spirit is one who has only an outward form of godliness, holding fast to what God did while resisting what God is presently doing.

Is God moving in your heart right now? Don’t resist Him, even if the change is uncomfortable or costly! Don’t be afraid of the changes God has for you as He leads you through a wilderness. You are destined for great and mighty things, and God will use your present circumstance to shape you for His glory!

Meditate on this verse today: And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6) (JOHN BEVERE)

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”
(HAGGAI 2:6-9)

The book of Haggai was written to those who had returned from Babylonian to rebuild the destroyed temple of God. It was an encouragement and a call to rebuild amidst rubble, hope despite desolation, and believe even during times of hardship and disappointment.

In verses 6 to 9, Haggai spoke of a time to come when the world would be shaken up as it had never been shaken before. Ironically, this was intended to be a comfort for people who were standing in rubble! While this may seem difficult to understand at first glance, the writer of Hebrews took comfort in the shaking of this world, as it “indicates the removal of things that are shaken … in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain … a Kingdom” (Hebrews 12:26-28).

At the heart of Haggai’s declaration that all of creation (v. 6) and all nations (v. 7) would be shaken, there is the promise that “the treasures of all nations shall come in.” “Treasures” is a Hebrew word that can function as a singular or plural noun. In other words, not only will the treasures of the nations be brought to the house of God in tribute, but there will also be One, the true Treasure, who fills the house and is to be prized above all the wealth of the world. For Haggai, it was only when the world was shaken that we could see what really will stand and which treasures will endure.

When your world shakes, are you shaken with it, or are you unshakable in spite of it? When the treasures of your heart disappoint you, does your heart fail, or does it take hold of the Treasure of all nations?
(REDEEMER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH)

You’ve probably heard the proverb, “Blood is thicker than water.” It means that while we may argue and even fight with our family, we’re still bound to them in ways that we will never be bound to our friends. So, no matter what state of relationship we’re in with our family members, we’re still likely to do things for them that we wouldn’t do for anyone else.

Which is why Jesus’ statement turns heads when He says: “Who are My mother and My brothers?… Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35). He’s asserting a whole new way of relating to each other. In God’s Kingdom, Jesus says, we’re not joined to each other by birth. We’re not bound to each other by traditional kinship. We’re not knit together primarily as a biological family. Rather, we find our identity, kinship, and community in and through the relationship we share in God. All those who live in and work for God’s Kingdom are family.

It’s easy to imagine Jesus is using this as a clever turn of phrase to engender loyalty among His followers – “Trust Me, you all are way more important to Me than My family.” Except that He goes on to live it and in this way prove it. Again and again in Mark’s Gospel Jesus breaks down barriers and breaks the rules about who can associate with whom, inviting more and more people – and as we’ve already seen it’s usually the most unlikely people – to join His family, His fellowship, His new community formed not by the blood of biological birth but the water of baptism and the sweat of those willing to toil for the ideals of the Kingdom.

Which means that Jesus is starting the original “blended family,” drawing people then and now from all different walks of life, ethnicities, backgrounds, nationalities and traditions into one large family, the family of God. So, I guess, at least when it comes to the Kingdom of God, that “water is thicker than blood” after all. (DAVID J. LOSE)

REFLECTION AND APPLICATION:

• Review my own family relationships, both by blood and by Jesus blood. Do I love and care for those in the local and greater church body, reconcile with them if necessary? Do I love those I do not like, till I like them?

• How would Jesus respond to our world? As Jesus demonstrated in the passage in Mark 3:31-35, where do we need to be countercultural to be faithful disciples?