Today's Devotional: True Tradition

When digging into God’s Word, we must delve deep—deeper than words. We need to ask God to grant us spiritual eyes when reading the Scriptures, so that we can look deeper. The words in the Bible are good, but they are just words until we look deeper into them, through them.

What were the ideas and motives behind the actions of previous saints? When we earnestly ask that question, we are genuinely honoring tradition. We are seeking to preserve more than the mere wineskin—we are seeking to preserve the wine.

The next time you feel rushed or overwhelmed, remind yourself of God's words which tell us to rest in Him. Turn off the TV, the radio, or whatever distraction is before you just now, and spend some real time in silence, waiting on the Lord.

In the book of James we find where our dependence, our source of strength, should come from. We need to be completely, solely dependent upon Him. He is our strength, our fuel.

Our kites need a string and that string is Christ. No matter how distorted our view might be, it is this string which keeps our “opening into Truth” in creative tension so we might fly where friendly breezes blow, have some semblance of up and down, and that we might cover ground not easily traversed in iron-clad arrogance.

This is the beauty of Jesus. He stands in front of each of us with life…life in all its fullness.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:17)

If we want to be agents of change and love, we must become what Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman calls "a ruthless idealist." You see the world that you want to live in and you live it out.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)