Today’s Devotional Theme
Living Dangerously
Daily Scripture
John 16:2-3
“They will put you out of the synagogues: yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me [Jesus].”
Encouragement
The train trestle stretched out for a football field’s length before us kids, cut down the middle by twin silver ribbons. Maybe 2 feet lay between a rail and either edge. Sixty feet beneath the sides, a scrub-brush-choked, rock-strewn dry gulch cut a swath through the parched hills. No side rails on a train trestle! Pedestrians like us kids weren’t supposed to be on it, but that didn’t faze my best friend Andy and me. We often sneaked off and rode our bikes along the tracks to near the train’s passage over the gulch and walked across the trestle. No room to avoid getting flattened by a train if one happened along. “Andy, you think a train will come?” “I don’t know, Markie (Andy often called me Markie)…” That railroad was a lightly traveled, regional line, and we pretty well knew the schedule. Yet the possibility that the passage times might change on a given day always made our little traverse a trifle more exciting. That train trestle trek and looking for treasures along the track made a typical pastime of a few hours of living dangerously for us country kids.
Take Action!
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares we have already come…” Did you know a committed believer is expected to live dangerously? Missionaries to countries like China and Nigeria are all too aware of the possibility of getting harassed or arrested by the authorities. Real, grown-up hazards, not the mostly imagined danger that occupied Andy’s and my young lives. You don’t have to go to a hostile country to get in trouble telling people about Jesus. That can and does happen right here. In today’s verses, Jesus warns His disciples that they may get thrown out of an unfriendly environment or killed. His words, adapted to modern society, still ring true. We may not die today for our testimony, but that possibility may well grow if organizations like the atheist movements and satanic cults gain a stronger foothold. So – what can we do? The answer is obvious: keep sharing our convictions about salvation with boldness and confidence, just as believers through the ages have done.
Come into His Presence
Lord God, we know You will protect us as we carry on Your work. We also know from Philippians 1:21 that if we die, our death will that much more quickly bring us face to face with You. Help us live dangerously for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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