Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

1 Corinthians 16:19-24

The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. If anyone does not love the Lord - a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Paul clearly taught us here that "if anyone does not love the Lord - a curse be on him." We need to remember about how much the Lord loves us - how He was willing to come to the world to take on all the human sufferings in order to redeem us, and how He was nailed to the cross and died for us. The Bible says that He took on all our worries and born all our pain, and that "he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Not only did Jesus die for us, He's also with us all the time in our daily lives, and He leads us like a shepherd leads his sheep. Sheep are actually easily intimidated and can go astray, so the Bible uses sheep to describe people because we are also easily intimidated and lost. God, however, is our shepherd, and He can lead us in our daily lives. Beyond that, God also listens to our prayer. When we have needs and cry out to God, He will listen to our prayer and save us. Which god can love us like our God? That's why Paul said that whoever doesn't love the Lord should be cursed.

Let us think again about how much the Lord loves us. The more you think about it, the more you will love Him. Paul continued to say that the Lord will come again, which is a reminder that the promise we have in Christ is true and we must be prepared to welcome the Lord when we are on earth. We should not just live our life mindlessly and waste our time to pursue satisfaction in the world. Paul didn't mean that we ought to abandon everything and just go to the mountains to wait for the Lord, but we be prepared in our heart. No matter what we are doing, we must do our best to testify for the glory of the Lord.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I once again thank you and praise you, because your grace is sufficient for us and your love is everlasting. We thank you and we want to follow you for the rest of our lives. We want to know you more and serve you better. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!