DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY DECEMBER 8:
WORD OF WISDOM
YOU CAN'T DO UGLY THINGS TO PEOPLE AND EXPECT A BEAUTIFUL LIFE
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DAILY DEVOTION
Christmas Love Chapter
Here is another version of the "Love Chapter" (1 Corinthians 13) rewritten
for Christmas.
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling
lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another
decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies,
preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at
mealtime: but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at a soup kitchen carol in the nursing home, and give all that I
have to charity; but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend
a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus
on Christ, I have missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and
table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they
are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return; but rejoices
in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all
things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust;
but giving the gift of love will endure.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Romans 4-7 New King James Version (NKJV)
Abraham Justified by Faith
4 What then shall we say that Abraham our father[a] has found according to
the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham
believed God, and it was [b]accounted to him for righteousness." 4 Now to
him who works, the wages are not counted [c]as grace but as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also
describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart
from works:
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin."
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the
uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for
righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or
uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all
those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might
be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not
only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith
which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
The Promise Granted Through Faith
13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14
For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the
promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where
there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the
promise might be [d]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the
law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of
us all 17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in
the presence of Him whom he believed-God, who gives life to the dead and
calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary
to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations,
according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not
being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since
he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He
did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened
in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had
promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to
him for righteousness."
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24
but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our
offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
Faith Triumphs in Trouble
5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, [e]we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith
into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that
tribulation produces [f]perseverance; 4 and perseverance, [g]character; and
character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Christ in Our Place
6 For when we were still without strength, [h]in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps
for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His
own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to
God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the
reconciliation.
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death
through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned- 13 (For
until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no
law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who
had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who
is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the
[i]offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace
of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to
many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who
sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in
condemnation, but the free gift which came from many [j]offenses resulted in
justification. 17 For if by the one man's [k]offense death reigned through
the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore, as through [l]one man's offense judgment came to all men,
resulting in condemnation, even so through one[m] Man's righteous act the
free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's
obedience many will be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even
so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2
Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do
you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism
into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
[n]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who
has died has been [o]freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, [p]reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey
it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as [q]instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under
grace.
From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves
to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to
death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine to which you were [r]delivered. 18 And having been set free from
sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because
of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as
slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so
now present your members as slaves of righteousness [s]for holiness.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to
righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you
are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having
been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit
[t]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the [u]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Freed from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that
the law [v]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who
has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if
the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if,
while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an
adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she
is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my
brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ,
that you may be married to another-to Him who was raised from the dead, that
we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful
passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear
fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died
to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the
Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Sin's Advantage in the Law
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I
would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known
covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin,
taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil
desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the
law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the
commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Law Cannot Save from Sin
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it
might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that
sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am
doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice;
but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree
with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but
sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)
nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what
is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but
the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not
to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do
good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O
wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I
thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the
law of sin.
