Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 14:1-4   "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand."   Everyone's faith is different in spirituality. As a result everyone handles matters in a different way. In Paul's time, since Christians were living among the Gentile idol worshippers, how to handle the food used in idol-worshiping might cause controversy. Therefore in 1 Corinthians 10:27-31 he taught us clearly that according to the truth everything is edible, as long as it is consecrated and consumed with a heart of thanksgiving.   It is undeniable that in reality people have different perspectives. Some people would eat everything by faith. Others might think it would stumble people, so by faith they would restrain from eating. So Paul taught us that it is more important not to judge each other, regardless whether to eat or not. Inside the church today, what we face is not about food, but many other issues and many formalities to argue about. Some people would propose immersion to baptize, while others sprinkling. Some people would propose lively worship, while others solemn one. Sometimes the argument even caused division. How sad!   Don't argue about something you are not sure of, for these things are not about absolute truth anyway. Mostly they are due to the difference in culture and personality. Besides, the Bible does not have clear teaching regarding them. God didn't give us the standard answer. So argument cannot solve problems. Rather, it destroys the relationship. On the other hand, we need to respect every brother and sister, for they all belong to the same God. I often sigh at criticisms, judgments and attacks among churches, denominations and seminaries, because they are like the Chinese saying: "Why persecute so hard among the siblings?" We all belong to the same Heavenly Father, the same Savior and the same Spirit. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord. How can we judge others at will? Needless to say, judge them is to judge the Lord inside them. May the Spirit help us to accept each other with tolerance. We need to love each other with the love of Christ, so that we can truly enjoy the joy of unity after we accept each other.            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, may you make us humble so we can tolerate each other with the love of Christ. May you also give us the spiritual perception for us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit, stand firm in absolute truth, and tolerate each other in minor issues, so that your grace and glory may be manifested through the unity of the Spirit. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 13:12-14   "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."   Paul mentioned here specifically how to bear witness in the end times. On one hand he taught us to put aside the deeds of darkness, which is the passive way. One the other hand he told us to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ, which is the proactive way. To clothe with Christ sometimes is translated as "to conform to the image of Jesus Christ from top to bottom". Not only our mouth should be conformed, but also the eyes, so as to resist the lust of our eyes. May God give us eyes like his to look at everything. Not only our heart should be conformed to the image of Jesus, but also our outward deeds.    St. Augustine used to be dissolute when he was young. One day when he was walking in a garden, suddenly he heard someone speak to him: "Pick up and read!" So he picked up the book in front of him and found that it was a Bible. When he turned to the passage of Romans 13: 13-14, he felt immediately convicted by the Spirit. So he confessed to God. After he came back to the Lord, his former girlfriend saw him and called him. Intuitively he responded: " I am here." But on second thought it occurred to him: " No. It is no longer I." He clearly saw that he was no longer the former Augustine after he confessed, for it was no longer he, but the Lord that was living inside.   Do we have the same commitment to live for the Lord? Are you following the Lord, or following the world? It is very easy to follow the world, for you don't have to do anything. You will be conformed to the world in terms of thoughts and value. But if you want to follow the Lord, you have to learn to live a sacrificing life, without being conformed to the world. Instead, let God conform you to the image of Christ. It is not easy to live in this way. You need to pay the price. But this kind of live will bring you true satisfaction and joy. More importantly, it will take you into eternity.    We need to come back to God once again and ask Him to help us follow His orders. As long as we obey God, we can make transformations in not only our live, family, church, but also the society, the nation and even the whole world. May the Lord prepare our heart to march forth in unity.                Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, may you strengthen our faith so that we can live like St. Augustine, and see clearly it is no longer I, but Christ that is living inside right now. May you conform us and guide us to live out the image of the Lord. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 13:11   "And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Paul told us here that the hour has already come for us to wake up from our slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. You may ask: "Isn't it true that we were already saved when we first believed?" Actually there are two meanings for "being saved" in the Bible. The first one refers to the spirit being saved, which we received when we first accepted Jesus. The other one refers to the redemption of the body, which means our body will be conformed to that of the resurrected Christ during the Lord's second coming, so that we can be with the Lord forever. Therefore in Romans 8:23 Paul said: "and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit (namely being saved in spirit), groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." We should be alert today to get ready for the seconding coming of the Lord. We always speak of the second coming of the Lord. But we also feel that it may not happen in the near future, so it doesn't concern us. We are just like people in the days of Noah, eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, no different than the people around us. When Noah told people God was going to flood the whole world, many of them felt he was just trying to scare them. But we can never predict God's time. Noah and his family believed in God by faith in such an ungodly world and waited on God's salvation. So when God's time came, the world was flooded. Only Noah and his family were saved.   Likewise, we are now living with God's promise and hope. He told us that he will certainly come back to take us. We must live a life of hope by faith.  No matter how you look at it today, you will find that the Lord is indeed coming soon. There are political uncertainty and economic instability in the world. There might be an economic organization to unite the whole world and monopoly the whole financial market, like what has been predicted by the Revelations as the shadow of upcoming anti-Christ government. On the other hand, the Lord also said himself that the gospel will be spread to the end of the earth. Then the end times will come. One volunteer translator from Wycliffe once shared that by 2000 AD, the Bible would have been translated in each and every language on earth. In other words, the Lord is indeed coming soon. Brothers and sisters, are you ready for the second coming of the Lord? Are you really looking forward to the second coming of the Lord?            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, may you wake us up from our spiritual slumber so that we are no longer indifferent to your kingdom. Rather, because of your seconding coming, we will have the glorious hope. May your Spirit renew us every day. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 13:10   Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.   Paul said here that love does no harm to a neighbor. I believe "doing no harm to a neighbor" should be the ethical standard that everyone understands. Even if there were no love, we as Chinese would know the sense of propriety, justice, honesty and honor, and do no harm to a neighbor. But that doesn't mean that we would not harbor hatred in our heart. There is a saying that "good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. We must save our outrage for the times when justice is not rendered." In fact, this kind of thought of seeking revenge will never make us a better person. Instead, there will be bitterness inside us. No wonder someone once said: "Hatred in the heart will turn a beauty into a witch." Only the love of Christ can melt away all the bitterness and grief in our heart. Whenever we think of Jesus who died for us on the cross, our heart cannot help being touched.   When the famous painter Leonardo da Vinci was painting Judas into the "last supper", he wondered how Judas should look like. The first face that occurred to him was the one of the person he hated the most. So he thought it might be the best way to get even with him, and he painted the face of his adversary on Judas. The next day, when he was getting ready to paint Jesus, to his surprise he couldn't do it. He felt anxious and couldn't fall asleep that night. The more he pondered on the love of Jesus, the harder it was for him to fall asleep. Suddenly he realized something. So he got off his bed in the middle of the night, walked into his studio and removed the face of his adversary off the painting. At that moment, he said he was filled with love and forgiveness, as if he could clearly see the image of Jesus Christ.   Love does no harm to a neighbor. How are you feeling now? Is there any thought of doing harm to someone hidden in your heart? Ask the Lord to forgive you, and fill your heart with his love, so that you will no longer be in the bondage of this sin, and get set free in your heart.            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, fill us with your Spirit. Take away any bitterness or hatred from our heart. May your love melt our heart and your image take root in our heart. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Romans 13:9   "The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"   "Love your neighbor as yourself is the commandment that God gave us.  Who is my neighbor?  When a teacher of law went to Jesus, he asked the same question, and Jesus told him the parable of a good Samaritan.  A person was beaten up by robbers on the road, a priest passed by without stopping, a Levite also passed by without stopping, but a Samaritan, who's had generations of animosity against the Jews, stopped to take care of him.  After Jesus told the parable, He asked the teacher of law, who is this person's neighbor?   Jesus didn't ask him, "who do you think is your neighbor?"  Instead, He asked him "who is the neighbor of this person?"  In other word, we shouldn't be asking who's my neighbor, but rather who's "his" neighbor.  When you are asking "who's my neighbor" you are still being self-centered.  To the Jews, only their kinsmen and relatives are their neighbors; to you and me, only those who care about us are our neighbors.   In a sociology class at university in the East Coast, the teacher asked the students to discuss how to pick one out of three emergencies to donate money to.  The three emergencies are famine in Africa, scholarship for needy but outstanding students, and need to replace the copier for their department at the university.  85% of the students voted to donate the money to buy the copier, 12% chose to support the needy student, and only 3% wanted to donate to famine in Africa.  No matter what the cause is, when we think of our neighbor, we always start with ourselves, but don't always consider the needs of the others.  When we, however, start to shift our attention to who's the neighbor of the person in need, then we begin to take action to care for others.  Paul said that we need to feel indebted, not just to our own relatives, but to feel indebted to those around us.  We need to seek to benefit other in everything that we do and bless them.  May the Lord help us to step out from our self-centered circle, and reach out to people in need to bring the love of Christ to them.  That should be our testimony in this day and age.            Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please give us a sensitive heart so that we are no longer self-centered, but let us see the needs of others.  May the Holy Spirit give us strength and help us to learn to love our neighbor like ourselves.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!

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