Daily Devotional For Monday, July 28, 2025
Good morning Southside. For many of you, you are off to work today. If you have been reading these devotionals, you know we have been looking at what it means to follow Jesus. We left off yesterday with the awareness that discipleship involves being called to suffer with Christ. I shared with you yesterday that during the Roman Empire, Christians dug nearly 600 miles of catacombs underneath that city. Catacombs was the place where Christians buried their dead from persecution and martyrdom. Christians went there to worship and to disciple each other as they were enduring horrific persecution and martyrdom at the hands of Rome. Can you imagine the stench in those catacombs? But what an awesome aroma they lifted up to the Lord (2 Corinthians 2:15).
I remember growing up we sang a hymn titled, Onward Christian Soldiers. You can read the lyrics here at this link: Onward Christian Soldiers. We are soldiers? Yes. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends His disciples out like a general sending his soldiers out to war. Sadly, I don’t think most Christians see themselves as soldiers today in this world that wars against us. The Apostle Paul tells us we need to be prepared for this battle by having the right spiritual equipment in Ephesians 6:12-17, that he calls putting on our spiritual armor. Today, the church looks less like military barracks with soldiers ready for battle. They look more like membership motels for people wanting some kind of pop-psychology sermons and Bible studies to make them feel good about themselves.
Have you ever heard of the SS United States? You can read the details on it here (SS United States) and here (SS United States). It was a ship built to go faster than any naval ship in 1950. It was designed by naval architect William Francis Gibbs. It was designed to carry up to 14,000 troops 10,000 miles without refueling and had a top speed of 49 mph. But the architect also designed it to be a luxury ocean liner in peace time. It never was used militarily, but only as a luxury ocean liner. “Those passengers could enjoy the luxuries of 695 staterooms, 4 dining salons, 3 bars, 2 theaters, 5 acres of open deck with a heated pool, 19 elevators, and the comfort of the world’s first fully air-conditioned passenger ship.” It made over 800 trips back and across the Atlantic, carrying the rich and the famous.
Now think about this for a moment. I have been on an aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise and a battleship, USS North Carolina here in Wilmington as a tourist. I have never been on a cruise ship, but I imagine they look and feel totally different. And each one has its own atmosphere: a naval ship has an emergent need to fulfill while a cruise ship has a relaxed and easygoing feel to it. You can come and go as you wish with no worries. So, I have a question: Do you think the army of the Lord in a church is prepared for battle or is it preparing itself for bliss?
There are about 3 billion unreached people groups in the world, (42% of the world’s population) and 45 million children starving around the world. What do you think would happen if the church, the army of the Lord, moved our own battleship into the war to take on this battle rather than sit around in our “cruise ship” and enjoy the bliss of it? Health and wealth preachers such as Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar and female teachers such as Paula White and Joyce Meyer teach and preach a false Gospel. The main danger in their teaching is they prey on people’s hunger and vulnerability for a better blessed life of success and money. The other theological problem I have with such heresy is that it is so self-centered. Books such as Your Best Life Now have the wrong pronoun – your. Nowhere does the Bible or Jesus ever teach this. It teaches a life of suffering, pain and hardship for being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Look at John 16:33, 1 Peter 3:14, 2 Timothy 3:12, Matthew 10:17, John 15:18-25, Matthew 10:22, Matthew 5:10-12, Matthew 24:9, and 1 John 3:13.
These are just a few. Here is one more: Matthew 10:34-36. Would you say Jesus going through 5 illegal trials, being scourged with a “Cat Of Nine Tails,” then being crucified and dying on a cross depicted Him as living His best life now as these health and wealth people advocate? Would you say that when all the disciples died by being martyred, they were living their best life now as these health and wealth people advocate? When Rome martyred over 200,000 Christians over a 400 year period, were they living their best life now? When Rome rolled Christians and their children in tar and tied them to post and set them ablaze because they claimed to be shining the Light of the word, they were living their best life now? When Rome threw Christians in the arena to the lions and the gladiator games, they were living their best life now?
Read Jesus’ words in Matthew 8:20, “Jesus said, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (NASB). Jesus didn’t even own a home or have a place of His own He could sleep. I guess he should have read, Your Best Life Now, right? Do you detect my sarcasm here? The ones living their best life now are those preachers and teachers manipulating you to buy their books, CDS, and podcasts. They are taking all of it straight to the bank.
Assignment: Reflect – where does your discipleship to Jesus cause you to suffer? Where does it really cost you anything? What comforts are you giving up to follow the Lord? Where in your life do you every day take your life to the cross and crucify it? Would you say your life is like a soldier, prepared to fight and you are engaged in spiritual warfare, or is your life more like being on a cruise ship? – you’re doing what you want to do, when you want to do it and just going along for the ride?
Scripture To Meditate On: Colossians 1:28-29, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (29) For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to follow You, even through suffering and pain, knowing that is the path of a disciple. To follow You, I cannot avoid the cross. Please forgive me when I want to make life about myself rather than about following You. Lord, I want my life to resemble a battleship, not a cruise ship. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly