Daily Devotional For Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Good morning and it's Tuesday. Following the Lord is no easy task. My experience has been to see that most Christians will not do what Jesus says in Luke 9:23-25. While we are made in God’s image, many, if not most “Christians” want to make God in their own image. Several years ago I read this poem by Baptist pastor Wilbur Rees:
“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please” (Source: Quoted by Tim Hansel in his book, When I Relax I Feel Guilty, “I’d Like $3 Worth of God,” p. 49).
Discipleship and following Jesus is about experiencing spiritual realization that results in emancipation which results in transformation. We are His sheep, but He has sent us into the world of wolves. It is natural for sheep to be afraid in such an environment. Jesus said that if we follow Him, we will be persecuted, mocked, rejected and betrayed. Read Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:22-24. Those early Christians lived in fear of the world of wolves in the Roman Empire. They were hunted down like fawns by wolves all for pleasure and entertainment. If the world does not hate you, it is because you resemble it all too well.
Yet, after saying what He did in Matthew 10:22-24, Jesus said this in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (NASB). Some of you might be thinking, “Well, that’s supposed to comfort and encourage me, that the worst they can do is kill me?” Yes it is. Why? A genuine disciple fears the Lord, the ultimate Judge and what He can and will do to them, more than they fear people and what they can do to them. A genuine disciple does not make too much of this life because He or she knows this is not their home – heaven is.
The Apostle Paul wrote this in Romans 14:8, “For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (NASB). Paul’s point is if we live, we gain. How? God’s blessings for our obedience. And if they kill us we still gain? How? God’s reward of heaven for our faithfulness and obedience.
Some of you might recognize the name of Jim Elliot (1927-1956). He died at the age of 29. How? He was martyred for his faith along with four other men Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Peter Fleming. They were trying to take the Gospel into the Amazon Jungle to share with the Waorani, also known pejoratively as Aucas (a modification of awqa, the Quechua word for 'savages'). They were an isolated tribe known for their violence, against both their own people and outsiders who entered their territory in Ecuador.
This tribe was known for killing outsiders. So, knowing that, why take the risks? All 5 men were married and had children. Knowing the risk, Nate Saint’s son asked his father if this tribe tried to kill them would they use their guns to defend themselves. He answered, “No son, we will not.” “Why daddy?, his son asked. “Because if we kill them, they will go straight to hell. If they kill us, we will go straight to heaven.”
Years ago I heard this quote: “If you are not willing to die for a cause you claim you believe in, then you are already dead.” Jesus believed in His cause and He died for it. The question you and I have to ask ourselves is do we believe in Jesus’ cause even if it costs us our lives. Jesus said it will in Luke 9:23-25. Jesus reaffirmed this to His own disciples during His last week before He was crucified in John 12:24-26. A few days from the cross, Jesus reminds His disciples that the path of discipleship always leads to death of oneself, one’s ego, one’s desires, one’s passions, one’s self-centeredness and one’s choice to be god of their own life.
When John the Baptizer was ready to baptize His cousin, Jesus, he said this in John 3:30. That should be the goal of every disciple of Jesus – a reduction of ourselves for a replication of more of Jesus in our own lives. Did the 5 grieving wives of the 5 men mentioned above pack up their camp and head home? NO! Elisabeth Elliot (widow of Jim Elliot) and Rachel Saint (sister of Nate Saint) returned to the Auca village with Elisabeth's daughter, Valerie, to live among them. In the end, they led the chief, Mincaye and the tribe to Christ. One of the Waorani women named, Dayuma, along with Mincaye came to the United States and shared their stories of coming to Christ.
There have been several powerful and emotional movies made on this. One is called Beyond The Gates Of Splendor, which if you have Amazon Prime you can watch for $.89 and the second movie is End of the Spear, which you can rent for $3.99 on Amazon Prime or you can buy the DVD. Mincaye died on April 28, 2020 at the age of 85. From the moment Mincaye was saved, all he wanted to do was go into the world and share the Gospel, which he did. Mincaye travelled with Steve Saint, the son of the very man, Nate Saint, he had killed to share the Gospel. He spoke at Amsterdam 2000 through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He traveled with Steven Curtis Chapman during his “Live Out Loud” tour. He was in both movies mentioned above. This uneducated, murdering “savage” was used by God to fulfill Matthew 28:19-20 in his life. When I think of this story, I think of two Bible verses: what Joseph in the Old Testament said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 and the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8:28.
Assignment: No one can tell your story of what Jesus means to you and the difference He has made in you. Only you can tell that. With millions of people dying every day and going to hell, do you still prefer just $3 worth of God or all of Him? Please take time to reread Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-25 and Matthew 10:28. So, now what are you going to do? Tell the Lord you do not care if people die and go to hell or get out there and as Mincaye and Dayuma did and tell your story and leave the rest with the Lord? If you are a recipient of God’s grace, will you share it with others no matter who is and what they may have done personally against you?
Scripture To Meditate On: 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please use me to share You with others. Regardless of my fears, I trust Your word about that in 1 John 4:18. Your perfect love will remove all my fear as I follow You wherever You lead me. Lord, I really do not want anyone going to hell. As a recipient of Your grace, something I do not deserve, I want to share Your grace with others. Thank You Jesus. I ask this in Your name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly