Plain Living

Daily Reading: Matthew 8

Scripture Focus: When he came down from the mountain... (Matthew 8.1)

Devotional Thought: I love the mountaintop.  The views are breathtaking.  But, I don't live on the mountaintop.  I may vacation in the mountains, but I have to come home and live in the Indiana plains.

Jesus teaches me that "plain living" can really be quite exciting.  When he came down from the mountain, he healed a leper, performed a long distance miracle, healed a mother-in-law (of all people!), drove out demons, calmed a storm, and overpowered an army of devils. 

How could the people not put their faith in him?  The leper recognized Jesus for who he was: “If you are willing.”  The Centurion recognized who he was: “Just say the word.”  Peter’s mother-in-law recognized who he was: “She got up and began to wait on him.”  Even the demons recognized the Christ: “What do you want with us, Son of God?”

Yet, there were those on the plain who didn’t believe.  The teacher of the law brashly - and falsely! - proclaims he will follow, and another disciple makes weak excuses as he puts off following Jesus.  Oddly enough, his travelling companions, his closest disciples, don’t fully recognize him.  “What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!”  Jesus just flat-out scared the townspeople, who pled with him to leave them alone.  I guess they wanted him to go back up on the mountain!

What about you?  Do you leave Jesus on the mountaintop of church and worship and personal devotions?  Or, do you believe that he's with you in ordinary, "plain living"?

John Wade

Prayer: Lord, I don't fully know you.  Whenever I meditate upon you, you reveal yourself to me more and more.  I want to know you more.  Help me to stay focused on you, Lord.  Increase my faith.  "When I survey the wondrous cross, ... Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."  (Isaac Watts)

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 82:1-8

1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

2 "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!