Thought 4 Today
Thought 4 Today is a 5-Day a week devotional focused on bringing consumable pieces of God's word to both teens and adults. Biblical content is posted on this site with reminders posted on Facebook every week day. We will also send out a weekly digest on Saturdays!
I had a young female friend who recently tearfully confessed she was convinced by a couple of young men to strip for them on camera. She's devastated, now wondering what damage she's done to her relationship with Christ. She is also finding her guilt is hard to deal with on other levels, now wondering if she has any reason to live. I know a few things about this type of sin, and I can tell you with undoubted certainly that a few things are true. 1. The guys who convinced her are in more trouble with God than she is. 2. Her confession that "they said I looked beautiful" was a fleshly lie from the guys, as true beauty always comes from within. Even an idiot knows that God made a woman's body attractive to a sane man! And, 3. She has every reason to live, since even her tearful confession to me shows a heart that is looking for forgiveness and is ready for a stronger relationship with Christ. "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
I'll admit I'm no big fan of country music, but I will acknowledge that many of the words I've heard to country songs have a firm grasp on life! Once, I accidentally had my radio on a country station and I heard some words that initially I thought were cool... Until I thought about them that is. The song went, "live your life as if you were dying." I was thinking how much different I would treat my family and other people if I thought I'd never see them again, and how many cool things I would want to do before I went, and how I would... And then I realized everything I was thinking about was all about "me." Even the part about treating people better was so they'd remember me fondly and cry a lot at my funeral! I think the words of the song would be better if they said something like, "live your life as if you were completely dead, and then brought back to life!" Then it could be all about the One who brought you back! But hey, I'm no country song writer! "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
I don't know how Job felt when Satan took away his health, his family and all of his possessions, but I know that for all the mistakes he made, he did not quit and he didn't curse God for his condition. Later, God blessed Job beyond his wildest imagination. As a result, thousands of years later we are still taking about Job's patience and faith. The reality of being a Christian is that there will be good days and days that are full of difficulty. We praise God during both types of days, and all the days in between as well. Not because we expect blessings, but because He is our Lord and we trust Him in the good times and in the bad. His plans and His children will prevail in spite of how things may look. He's Almighty God, He's our Father and He loves us. Isn't that enough to make even a tough day better? "But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." Psalm 33:11 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
Many world religions, some with literally billions of followers, believe people come back to life after they die. Christians also believe in life after death. Where we differ with these other religions is that we know from the Scriptures we do not come back as anything or anyone else. We come back as ourselves, and for some that will be quite unfortunate. There is no other life to live. The name we make for ourselves here will be our name forever. This is the only life we'll have, and then we will face the judgment. For those who are "born again," the blood of Christ provides eternal Salvation. Believe it or not, the whole concept of "dead" doesn't seem to even make sense to God in the sense that we see it. "Dead" to Him is reserved for those who are eternally separated from Him, very much eternal beings, but never to be in His Glorious presence. "But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 20:37-38) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
The Scriptures tell us that we're supposed to consider others more important than ourselves (Phil 2:3), but most of us have a hard time doing that. Although we've come a long way in accepting people with handicaps or those who are different from us, we can (and sometimes do) still look at them as if they're not quite as important as we are. And what about people who don't dress like we do or don't speak our dialect or our language or maybe those who are younger or older or maybe haven't been Christians as long as we have. Our tendency is to look down on all of them. That tendency is not of Christ. As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. "Lord," they answered, "we want our sight." Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. Matthew 20:29-34 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
On first blush it seems to me that "cursed blessings" is a huge oxymoron; on par with "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence." On second thought, however, I realize we have cursed blessings all around us. Marriage (a gift from God) is a total disaster once invaded by sin. Children (again, an incredible gift from God) are molested, murdered, abused in ways only Satan could imagine. Sex, invented by God himself, is used for everything but what its Creator intended. Once I thought about it more, I began to realize all of our blessings can be cursed if they are not consistently managed with the fear of the Lord. Since all Christians are called to be priests, and since all Christians have been blessed with many things, we'd do well to consider how priests were commanded to manage their blessings. With those two realities in mind, read and pray through this Scripture considering how some of your "cursed blessings" may actually be a result of your own actions or inactions with God. "And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says the Lord Almighty, "I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me." Malachi 2:1-2 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
When my daughters were little, I asked two of them to spend some time cleaning their room. I told them I'd be in to take a look later, which no doubt had them scrambling. I was a little surprised when they returned not ten minutes later and told me everything was clean. Smelling a rat, I walked into their room and knew things just had to be hidden beneath other things. Sure enough, beds, toy boxes, doll strollers and the like had all become vessels for everything but what belonged in them. My daughters will one day come to learn that daddy spent more than 20 years in the military and knows a little bit about how to inspect things! What I hope sinks in even better, however, is the conversation we had about honesty and integrity. Even if your parents are the worst inspectors on the planet, God still knows what you're up to! A lie is still a lie whether you get away with it or not. "A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies." Proverbs 12:17 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
Some people will try to tell you that those who follow the Jewish and the Islamic religions are only different from Christians in how we look at a few simple things. Nothing could be further from the truth. While I deplore the hatred the followers of these religions attack each other with in countries all over the world, there is one incredible difference in what we believe. Christians believe Jesus is the long-awaited Christ, the only Savior mankind will ever receive. Jews and Muslims do not believe He was or is the Christ. If this were true, there would be no such thing as the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everything Christians believe would be a lie. Certainly not a subtle difference! "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." Acts 5:42 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
"If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" Matthew 6:30 Of all the indictments Jesus spoke about human nature, this one strikes me hardest. I know faith comes from God and I know the vehicle that carries it is His Word. I'm steeped in years of Bible study and still a mustard seed of faith is elusive to me when it comes to facing the lean days summer always brings to our ministry. I've prayed. I've worried! I've even picked up the phone many times to call some of our most generous givers, but my lack of humility always prevents me from making the call. You would think that being in ministry for so long would help me get a grip on how God works and yet I still find myself questioning God's blessings on our ministry. I wonder if He truly will continue to provide, and I even question my own faithfulness. "Have I done something to anger You?" I ask repeatedly. But fortunately Jesus always intercedes for me. If not, the Father might grow weary of my lack of faith. And the truth is that His provisions always seem to come at the moment of my weakest faith. Maybe that's how He keeps me from thinking I'm somehow responsible for any of our successes. And maybe He has a similar message for you. To our donors, thank you for your faithfulness and please know that it is most often Jesus working through YOU that the Father uses to teach me. Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate
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