Daily Devotional For Monday, June 30, 2025
Welcome back to a new week. We are looking at what it means to follow Jesus. Have you ever asked, “Why do I or we worship the Lord?” `Not to learn about God, but to want God. You don’t praise and exalt someone you dislike or do not love. We exalt God because we enjoy Him. Former atheist and now saved Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes this:
“All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. . . . The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game. . . . I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation” (Source: C.S. Lewis, Reflections On The Psalms, pp. 94-95).
Whatever we take delight in, we also enjoy. Isn’t this the basis of worship – lifting our collective voices up together as we take delight and enjoy the Lord? But for many Christians, worship is a ritual we do, not an intimacy we express. Why do I say that? Next time you are in worship, look around and listen. Do you see enjoyment on people’s faces, on your face? Do you see and hear unrestricted gratitude?
Why do Christians fast? It is not to lose weight. It reminds us as our stomachs express hunger for food, our soul is hungry for the Lord? Why do we give? Not because we feel guilty if we don’t but because we are so grateful for what Christ has given to us. We want His kingdom to come, not ours. This is the point of Matthew 6:9-18. We are willing to give away even our earthly possession because of the reality 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (NIV). We give not because we feel forced to give but because our faith has grown through intimacy with our Father as expressed in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (NASB).
We do not give out of an overwhelming sense of obligation to give; we give because we are overwhelmed by the Father’s grace to us. The same is true with sharing the Gospel. We share it out of gratitude for someone sharing the Gospel with us. We personally share the Gospel because we do not want anyone to go to hell. Since Christ has satisfied our thirsts, we desire to help others have their thirsts satisfied by Christ. A Christian or a church that is NOT sharing the Gospel is an ungrateful person and church. They think life is about them, not the Lord. They are building their kingdom, not the Lord’s.
When you think of your current relationship to God the Father, are you overwhelmed emotionally by His grace to you or is your heart currently feeling nothing? Is your heart so cold to gratitude to God that we could pronounce you spiritually DOA? Most of you will recognize the name Denzel Washington.
“Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington is best known for his roles in Glory, The Preacher's Wife, Remember the Titans, and Training Day. But the Hollywood A-lister has sounded more like a pastor when has spoken at events. Washington has publicly stated that he reads his Bible every day and that he strives to consistently ‘get up and speak of what God has done for him.’ At a church banquet he urged his listeners to live in a constant attitude of gratitude for God's goodness: ‘Give thanks for blessings every day. Every day. Embrace gratitude. Encourage others. It is impossible to be grateful and hateful at the same time. I pray that you put your slippers way under your bed at night, so that when you wake in the morning you have to start on your knees to find them. And while you're down there, say ‘thank you.’ A bad attitude is like a flat tire. Until you change it, you're not going anywhere’” (Source: Jeannie Law, Christian Post, “Denzel Washington: God Has ‘Faith In Me’”).
The starting point to have a radical and intimate life with Christ is to have a radical death of self and a death in your thoughts to do more for God. The Gospel has saved us from works in order that we might do good works. Look at Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV). The Book of James talks about this also. The whole chapter 2 of James is about this, but James 2:17 says this:”In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (NIV).
We are not saved by our works (see Ephesians 2:8-9), real faith creates fruit. This fruit can only be produced out of intimacy with the Father, not integration into a church. As we grow in our intimacy with the Father, we are more sacrificial in our giving. We have this overflow of gratitude to live and be different. We know that apart from intimacy with Christ, we are nothing and we can do nothing.
Assignment: Reflect on your level of enjoyment. Do you enjoy worshiping the Lord? Are you cautious or hold back in worship or do you freely express your gratitude to the Lord? Do you serve the Lord out of guilt or compulsion? Do you give out of guilt or compulsion? If you are not serving, giving and sharing the Gospel, what does that reveal about your intimacy and gratitude to the Lord?
Scripture To Meditate On: John 15:5,7-8, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing . . . (7) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (8) My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want to give back to You out of gratitude, not guilt. As Denzel said, I need to be on my knees more than on my digital devices. Thank You for saving me by Your grace. Help me to have fruit that honors You and brings people to Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly