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Connected to The Vine

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I am the last person you want to ask for gardening advice. I descend from a long line of farmers, but you would never know it. Quite by accident, my only successes are with orchids and a bromeliad. 

Throughout the Bible plant metaphors are used. Green and growing equals spiritual flourishing. Withering and rot equals spiritual decay. Today we will continue our #MetaphoricallySpeaking series by exploring the metaphor of the vine and the branches in John 15.

The Vine is the Life Source

Feet washed, bread broken, and a cup shared, Jesus and His disciples soon depart the Upper Room for the Garden of Gethsemane. Throughout His ministry the disciples have grown and flourished in Christ’s physical presence. Now it is time for them to live by faith. Jesus teaches them how to live and grow in His physical absence. This lesson is important for disciples in this present age as well. First, Jesus says,

I am the true vine… (John 15:1)

As a vine is central to the life of the plant, Jesus is our life source. John 1:4 states that Jesus IS life. The Message puts it this way:

Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. (Colossians 3:4, MSG)

Like the vine delivers sap, the vital nutrients, to the rest of the plant giving it vitality and vigor, Jesus delivers everything we need for spiritual growth and maturity.

The Branches and the Vine

Having established that He is The Vine, Jesus teaches that all who believe are the branches. The branches grow out from the vine, brimming with leaves, flowers and fruit. Healthy branches are a symbol of a believer’s spiritual growth. This spiritual growth happens because it is connected to the vine– to Jesus.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, 

he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

The fruit of our lives, the products of a life transformed by Jesus, are possible because we commit to an ongoing relationship with Him. How do we do this? We abide in Christ through His Word, in prayer, and obedience to His will. 

The fruit of a Christian life is the result of active participation in the life of Christ by faith. The branches bear or support the fruit; they do not make it. Jesus makes this clear in the last half of John 15:5, saying, “apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus’ work in the life of a believer produces fruit.

Troubled Times, Even More Abiding

My heart is troubled and overwhelmed by much of what I see going on in the world. Part of me wants to rush to action, and the other part is unsure of what “action” looks like. Meditating on being connected to Christ and abiding in Him, I am encouraged. My job is to remain in Christ, focused on Him and His ways. Connected to Jesus, He will prepare me with the right response at the right time for His purpose.

With my poor record in growing plants, I am glad that the spiritual fruit in my life is not dependent on my work. Thanks be to God for providing a true vine in Christ. Connected and abiding in Him, He provides everything needed to bear fruit in my life.

For Further Study

The metaphor of the vine and branches is significant throughout the Bible. There is no way one blog post can do it justice. To further your study, consider the following:

  1. Look up Psalm 80. Investigate what the vine represents in the Psalm.
  2. Read John 15: 1-11. How does Jesus give new meaning to the metaphor of the vine?
  3. Read John 15:1, and explore what a vinedresser does. What is God the Father’s role in the relationship between The Vine and the branches?
Like the vine delivers sap, the vital nutrients, to the rest of the plant giving it vitality and vigor, Jesus delivers everything we need for spiritual growth and maturity. #MetaphoricallySpeaking

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Why It’s Good to Be a Roadie – A Metaphor of Jesus as the Way

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Christianity was once called the Way, (literally, the road).

Followers of the Way were the first roadies, those who traveled with Jesus. Today, Christians still travel with Jesus.

Join us today as we continue our series, #MetaphoricallySpeaking.

It's Good to Be a Roadie

Are We Lost?

I’ve never been late to a wedding before. Would this be the first?

GPS said it would take 47 minutes to drive to the 5:00 pm wedding last Saturday afternoon. We left our hotel room at 3:30pm.

That would give us plenty of time. Right?

Until I couldn’t remember if I’d put on deodorant (sad but true). We were an easy 40 minutes ahead of schedule, traffic was light, and Dollar Generals were plenty along the way. I asked for a 5 minute stop to buy a tube of deodorant.

Still 35 minutes ahead of schedule, back in the car, we followed GPS to its end.

But we landed at a strip mall.

This was not the beach resort we were aiming for. This was not our friend’s wedding venue.

Where was the wedding??? We frantically rechecked the address. We texted other friends. We even stopped to ask for directions.

But we were still driving around in circles.

A Traveling Metaphor

If you’ve ever been lost, you know the panicked feeling you can get. You don’t know where to go next. You don’t want to miss your turn or take a wrong exit.

I hate feeling lost.

I wonder if that’s one reason Jesus used a road metaphor to describe Himself.

In deep conversation with His disciples prior to his crucifixion, Jesus told them not to worry, but He would be leaving soon (John 14). And they could come later.

Confused, Thomas replied, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (John 14:5)

Jesus replied, “I AM the way…” (John 14:6).

Both Thomas and Jesus used the word “hodos” for “way,” which means a road, a traveler’s way, a journey.

Jesus is a road?

Metaphorically speaking, yes.

Jesus is the paved road between us and the Father, between death and life, between sin and grace.

To get to the Father, to life, to grace, we have Jesus.

Jesus Is the Way

Jesus didn’t have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to get back to the Father after He left heaven; He knew the way back.

And He chose companions for the journey.

His disciples were the original roadies along the way (hodos). The kingdom movement itself was called the Way more often than it was called Christianity in the book of Acts (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22).

And what about today’s travelers? Jesus is still the way for us, too.

He doesn’t draw out a highlighted path for us on our roadmap of life, but He goes with us every step.

He nudges us to turn left here, take a right there.

We don’t have to see the full road ahead of us from beginning to end. We can’t see the complete highway in real life either. We just keep driving, and the road keeps appearing. Even in deepest fog, we can still see the very next foot ahead, if nothing else.

Likewise, Jesus always gives us the very next step we need, just when we need it. He even corrects our missteps and wrong turns and fender benders to create beautiful new paths for each of us, individually and collectively.

Keep Moving Along the Way

In our search for the wedding venue, we finally decided to ditch GPS and go with our gut. Instead of turning around one more time, we forged ahead and stuck to the main road, even though it didn’t look right.

When we finally saw the first little blue sign pop up—”Wedding Parking ahead”—and another and another, we breathed a sigh of relief. At 4:50, we parked the car and waited for the shuttle to drive us to the hotel.

At 4:55, we entered the main doors, took a left, rode the elevator to the 2nd floor, and poured out into the ballroom for the wedding.

By 5:00, we were seated in our chairs, out of breath, but just in time. We’d made it.

We hadn’t been lost after all; we just hadn’t gone far enough.

So it is with Jesus.

As our Way, Jesus never abandons us in a roundabout or leaves us destitute to decay on the side of the road. He wants us roadies to stick close to Him as we tour the kingdom.

Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

He will get us where we need to be, each day, as we keep moving along the Way.

Followers of the Way were the first roadies. Today, Christians still go on tour of the kingdom with Jesus. #metaphoricallyspeaking

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When’s the last time you were lost? How did you find your way?

Please share in the comments.

Jesus is the Door – it’s a Metaphor

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Today’s post comes from guest author, Kristee Ravan. Kristee lives in Oklahoma with her husband, three kids, and cat.  She keeps busy with homeschooling, twin-wrangling, and supporting her husband’s ministry as a pastor. She has been writing and publishing devotions for several years and has also published two tween novels. Her books, The Cinderella Theorem and Calculating Christmas are available on Amazon.com. Kristee felt a call to be a missionary in childhood which led her to the jungles of Bolivia for two years after college. She was surprised when God called her back to the United States, but has been delighted with the ministry opportunities He planned for her, including supporting foster and adoptive families (and being an adoptive family!), educating others about how trauma affects children, and writing. You can connect with her on her Facebook author page, Kristee Ravan.

John 10 is a fun passage of scripture. My daughter and I memorized verses 7-18 a few years ago as part of our homeschool curriculum. I can still hear the scripture song in my head whenever I review this section.

On the surface, we get what Jesus is saying right away. He is the good shepherd. He lays down His life for us. There are wolves and things out there in the world, but the good shepherd is protecting us and giving us abundant life.

But I’m not frequenting sheep pens or caring for these animals in my regular life. Do we miss part of this metaphor about who Jesus is because we are so far removed from first-century shepherding?

He starts the metaphor in verse 7. “So Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.’” (John 10.7, ESV)

Jesus had to say it again to them because His initial parable was not understood (verse 6).   So He tried to make it clearer in a metaphor, comparing Himself to the door of the sheep.

The context for this metaphor is found earlier in chapter 9. Jesus had healed (on the Sabbath!) a man who had been born blind.  The newly-sighted man wound up in hot water with the Pharisees because he was going around telling people Jesus had healed him. They banned the man from the synagogue and when Jesus heard about it, He visited the formerly-blind man and confirmed for him that he was the Son of Man and told (in the hearing of some of the Pharisees) the parable that wasn’t understood (John 10:1-5).

What was Jesus trying to clear up when He said, “I am the door of the sheep”? Did He just mean He was the way?

By kicking the no-longer- blind man out of the synagogue, the Pharisees had blocked his access to God.  They were acting as a door to God.  So when Jesus uses the door to the sheep metaphor, He is saying He is the door. He will decide who has access to God.

Comparing Himself to the door of the sheep was something His listeners would have understood.  Sheep and shepherds were ubiquitous at this time.

The door of the sheep was found on a sheep pen, usually made with stone walls.  In the evenings, the shepherd would bring his sheep there to rest safely.  As they entered through the opening—one at a time, the shepherd used his rod to stop them so he could examine them for injuries.

After all the sheep were in, the shepherd would lie across the opening, using his own body as the “door of the sheep.” This prevented predators from getting in and sheep from getting out. The sheep were completely in the shepherd’s care, trusting him for their protection and security.

What a lovely image of our Savior that is!  By understanding the metaphor as it would have been  in ancient times, we see so much more than just “Jesus is the way.” We see a kind and careful shepherd, who puts Himself in danger to protect us.

But “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53.6), and we don’t always feel satisfied with just a shepherd as our door. We look for other doors to protect us, to offer us security.  Maybe a relationship will finally give us that peace we seek? Or maybe we seek financial security from a job—but it leaves us with little time to serve the kingdom? Trusting these doors will not lead to the abundant life Jesus promised in verse 10.

Only through Him can we find true fulfillment, meaning, and abundant life.

 

Eat This Book: Food as a Metaphor for Scripture

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Food – glorious food! It’s everywhere. Our days and customs are built around it. We need it to survive. We want it to thrive.

Food is also an excellent metaphor for Scripture.

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2-3

As I consider this idea of Scripture as Food, a couple of thoughts came to my mind.

Food must be eaten.

It seems silly to say, but it only takes one bite of decorative fruit to convince you that food must be eaten and digested. Eugene Peterson writes, “Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love.” (Eat This Book)

Scripture must be consumed. Head knowledge must become heart knowledge which transforms how we walk out our life.

Food Comes in Many Forms

Food, in its natural state, comes from the earth but in our modern society, we have lots of ways of getting it. We can pick it up from the grocery store and cook it ourselves. We can order a prepackaged meal. We can eat at a restaurant or stop for fast food. We can make everything from scratch or buy things in various states of preparation. One could, conceivably, spend an entire lifetime without ever setting foot in a kitchen.

Convenience foods are wonderful. I am so grateful for frozen pizza. Yet we lose something when our main source of nourishment is quick and prepackaged. Sometimes it is obvious – the food we are consuming only resembles real food but is actually empty calories. Other times, what we’ve lost is indefinable. There is a sense of connectedness to be found in the daily ritual of gathering, preparing, and consuming food.

Scripture comes to us in many forms as well. In this age of instant information, we have access to devotionals, emails, blogs, Instagram posts, studies, videos, so much more. In my house we put Scripture on our walls as decoration, we wear it on our clothes, and listen to it on the radio. I read a devotional book with my children, usually a single verse or short passage paired with an anecdote to help clarify the meaning of the verse. I love scrolling through my Instagram feed and seeing a beautiful photograph with a Scripture written over it. These are wonderful, convenient bites of spiritual nourishment. But if my only contact with the Word comes from these pre-packaged, quick fixes, how well is my soul being fed? Sure, we can survive on this limited diet. But can we grow?

Food doesn’t always taste good

My least favorite question in the entire world right now is “what’s for dinner?”, mostly because it is always followed by groans, eye-rolls, and helpful suggestions for something better, like Chick-fil-a. My standard reply to the complaint goes, “You don’t have to like it. It’s good for you.”

Not every part of the Bible is pleasant or easy to read. Humanity is lost, broken, and depraved since the Fall. Story after story in the Bible shows us the depths of depravity, revealing how much we need the generous mercy and kind love of God. We might not always like what we learn but taken together each piece of the Bible is important for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). It’s good for us.

Food is Simple and Complicated

Did you know that the color and shape of food can give you a clue about its nutritional value? Red fruits and vegetables can lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Walnuts – which look like tiny brains – have been shown to improve cognitive health. But of course, we don’t need to know any of this to enjoy a good pasta sauce or apple and walnut salad.

Eating food comes pretty naturally. We pick it up as children with relative ease. As we grow we learn more about the relationships between foods and new techniques for preparing them, enhancing our enjoyment. Then there are professionals. Culinary experts raise food preparation to an art form and nutritionists are forever discovering more about the complex design of food and how it works in our bodies.

Likewise, the Bible comes to us in the form of a story, simple and remarkably accessible regardless of education. Jesus says we need only the faith of a child, as small as a mustard seed (Mark 10:15, Matthew 17:20). Yet study of the Bible is a lifelong endeavor. Scholars devote their lives to study and still never come to the end of unfolding the glorious mystery of who God is and how He loves us. (Job 11:7). You and I don’t have to be an Iron Chef to prepare a delicious and satisfying meal, and we don’t need to be a professor of ancient languages or archeology to study and enjoy Scripture.

Scripture is Food

In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses explained (and Jesus quoted in Matthew 4), that God “humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

Food, like faith, connects us to our sense of self and cultural identity. The smells, tastes, and feelings associated with certain dishes enrich our memories and take us back to the traditions they represent. We are rooted in how we are raised and free to grow in our understanding and experience as we mature.

How does this picture of Scripture as food help you see the place of the Word in your life? Share in the comments on our Facebook page!

Metaphorically Speaking: Exploring Metaphor in Scripture

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My life is an open book. Love is an open door. When God closes a door, he opens a window. Laughter is music for the soul. All the world is a stage. These are a few of my favorite… metaphors!

 

As a writer, homeschool mom, and perpetual student of the Bible, I have come to adore language, most especially when it is used to tell our stories. Story is easily the most accessible form of human communication because stories speak first to the heart, engaging the emotions, and then to the mind, inviting participation. Stories reveal the relationship between people and places and things and one very effective, often unassuming tool used to connect people and things in a story is the Metaphor.

Not a Simile but Similar

A metaphor is a figure of speech comparing two things, using something known to explain or describe something unknown (similes are a type of metaphor that use the words as or like in the comparison).

If we were to meet in the grocery store and I tell you my kids are a barrel of monkeys today, thanks to metaphor you’ll know they haven’t literally changed from human to animal, but that their behavior is wild and probably driving me crazy! If I tell you they’re growing like weeds, you’ll know I mean they’re growing quickly. And if you chuckle and remind me that childhood is a candle in the wind, I’ll know you’re reminding me how short and precious these years are.

Metaphors slip easily into our daily conversations and they are an important feature of Scripture too.

“If we don’t understand how metaphor works we will misunderstand most of what we read in the Bible.”

(Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book)

Meta-Poetical

Jesus frequently taught through parables (short stories intended to illustrate wisdom or truth – see some examples here) but he also used metaphors. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), he calls his disciples salt, light, a lamp, and a city on a hill. He teaches us to be like the sparrows and the lilies and warns against false prophets who are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Each visual adds to the overall picture, giving us a glimpse of who we are and how we are meant to interact with the world.

He follows a long tradition of Hebrew poets (about 1/3 of the Bible is written in poetry!), using familiar imagery to connect feelings to truth and to give shape to abstract concepts.

The psalmists and the prophets filled their stories and songs with metaphor after metaphor so we can, in some small way, begin to understand the strength and wonder and love of our God. #metaphoricallyspeakingClick To Tweet

“For one thing, God’s action and presence among us is so beyond our comprehension that sober description and accurate definition are no longer functional. The levels of reality here are so beyond us that they compel extravagance of language.” (Peterson)

Miraculous Metaphor

When considering the structure of Hebrew poetry, its use of parallelism and metaphor, C.S. Lewis writes, “It is…a wise provision of God’s that poetry which was to be turned into all languages should have as its chief formal characteristic one that does not disappear (as mere meter does) in translation” (Reflections on the Psalms)

Despite thousands of years and miles and the differences in geography and culture that separate us from the world of the ancient authors of Scripture, we modern readers can access the same thoughts and feelings that occupied them through the sharing of common pictures like rocks, eagles, trees, streams, lions, and lambs.

This month on the blog we will be exploring some of our favorite metaphors for and from Scripture and considering together how these images illuminate our understanding of God so we can deepen our relationship with Him.

Thanks for coming on this journey with us! (That’s a metaphor!)

“So That the World May Know:” Series Re-Cap

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Throughout this month we prayed for the nations to Jesus and salvation that comes through Him alone. Inspired by Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23, we lifted prayer requests to the Father.

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:23)

Series Re-Cap

Led by our contributors, we have prayed for seven nations. Below, you will find a link to each post, in case you missed one or would like to read it again.

Pray for Papua New Guinea

Praying for Hungary

Pray for the Children of El Salvador

Pray for the Nations: The Solomon Islands

Praying for Nigeria

Pray for Bolivia

Pray for Cambodia

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may we continue to pray for countries and believers around the world.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit be with us now and always until the day of Christ’s return.

Access all of the links in our “So that the World May Know” Series in one post. #Christian Missions

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Because He Is in Our Midst {Memorize Isaiah 12:6}

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This is our final week in Isaiah 12 together, leading up to Resurrection Sunday. We pray that you’ll continue to keep these words fresh on your lips and in your heart as you celebrate our risen Savior this weekend and beyond.

Isaiah 12_6

MEMORIZE

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 12:6

REJOICE!

Our final verse in Isaiah 12 brings us to an exuberant and joyful conclusion!

In verse 6 we are encouraged to give excited praise because of who is among us. God’s presence is in our midst. What better reason to sing for joy!

As Charles Spurgeon said,

“Come, my heart, wake up, and summon all the powers which wait upon thee! Mechanical worship is easy, but worthless. Come rouse yourself, my brother! Rouse thyself, O my own soul!”

As you honor Jesus this week, remembering his death and resurrection, rouse your soul to praise God for His goodness and grace in your life.

If there is anything worth getting excited about, it is that the Lord Himself is actively engaged in the very center of our lives, every day and every night.

Thanks for memorizing with us these past 6 weeks.

The Lord is in our midst. What better reason to sing for joy! #Isaiah12 #HideHisWord

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Pray for Cambodia

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My recent posts in our series, So That the World May Know…, feature countries I connect to personally. Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Bolivia hold interest for me because of friendship or my volunteer role at Wycliffe Bible Translators.

If you are reading this, you have access world prayer resources at your fingertips via the world wide web. Today’s payer focus is Cambodia based on a prompt from a visit to OperationWorld.org.

World Prayer a “Click” Away

A simple web search, “how to pray for …..,” yields several results. Amongst the resources I have found, OperationWorld.org is one of the most trusted. Using this resource, you can pray for a different country each day, knowledgably and effectively. The picture below shows you how.

Prayer Requests for Cambodia

According to the OperationWorld.org website, we can pray for the following:

  • that opportunities to share the Gospel now will be maximized as long as the current openess is available.
  • for the loosening of Buddhism’s stranglehold.
  • for inroads to the Gospel amongst Muslim population, tribal peoples, and ethnic Chinese.
  • success of print, radio, and video outreach. Cru’s Jesus Film, for instance, reaches several language groups.

To get the details on these bullet points, visit Operation World– Cambodia.

Learn More

To learn more about praying for Cambodia, here are some additional world prayer websites:

Prayercast– Cambodia

Wycliffe Bible Translators– Cambodia

Overseas Mission Fellowship– Cambodia

Learn how to use technology to pray for the nations, as we focus on praying for Cambodia. #ChristianMissions

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Pray for Bolivia

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Bolivia is our focus today as we pray for the nations to know Jesus. I have never been to Bolivia, let alone South America, but I know a sweet couple whose hearts are with Bolivia and its people. It is their love for this small, landlocked nation that prompted me to write about how we can pray for Bolivia. I asked them how they pray for Bolivia, and what follows is what I learned.

Upon reading my friend’s list of prayer requests for Bolivia, a word kept coming back to me— impoverished. Economic hardship abounds, but a poverty of spirit and discipleship intensifies the difficulty of daily life in Bolivia.

Economic Realities

Despite a wealth of natural resources, especially mining, Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. Being landlocked limits transportation of valuable goods. Increased government takeovers of the means of production and foreign investment have not yielded better returns for the economy. Lost economic opportunity, decreased political freedom, and government corruption weakens the nation. The government in unable to mount an effective Covid 19 response, crippling life for many in Bolivia. Ask God to intervene in these issues and raise up leaders who will seek justice and care for their fellow citizens.

Give us this day our daily bread… —Matthew 6:11

Crushed Spirits

With a lack of employment and a dismal economy, many engage in destructive behaviors to fill the void. Among these, alcoholism is rampant. It is one of Satan’s weapons of choice as it wreaks havoc in relationships, endangers lives and livelihoods, and creates a general malaise and indifference. Additionally, the enemy uses his cunning to confuse people. Many Bolivians go to churches where mixing indigenous religion with Christianity is acceptable. Pray that God will send missionaries and strengthen Believers to combat the schemes of the enemy, so more can know salvation through Christ alone.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me….” —John 14:6

Increased Discipleship

Although these difficulties exist, there is good news. There are churches that preach the truth of God’s Word, Bibles in the languages of the region are accessible, and evangelical churches are growing. Yet there is a need for increased discipleship in churches throughout Bolivia. Low literacy impedes discipleship. Pray for teachers to teach people how to read and study the Bible. Ask God to impart to Bolivian Believers a desire for increased biblical knowledge. Pray that increased discipleship will bring increased unity with other Believers. Joined together, Bolivian Christians can bring Gospel life and transformation to their country.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.  —2 Peter 3:18

Bolivia is our focus today as we pray for the nations to know Jesus. #ChristianMissions

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Learn More

To learn more about praying for Bolivia, visit the following websites:

Prayercast– Bolivia

Operation World– Bolivia

What Has God Done for You Lately? {Memorize Isaiah 12:5}

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This is Week 5 of our 6-week memory challenge to learn Isaiah 12 during Lent.

Isaiah 12_5

MEMORIZE

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
Isaiah 12:5

TO CONSIDER

If you’re old enough (or if you listen to oldies), you may remember this Janet Jacket song, “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” from 1985.

The video starts with Janet and a friend talking about Janet’s boyfriend.

Janet: “He does a lot of nice things for me.”

Friend: “I know he used to do nice stuff for you, but what he has done for you lately?”

It’s a question we can ask ourselves this week, too, as we meditate on Isaiah’s words for our memory verse.

What has God done for you lately?

If you can’t think of anything, maybe it’s time to pay closer attention.

As we enter our 5th week of Lent, we’re coming upon Jesus’s grand welcome into Jerusalem riding a donkey.

Many there had likely heard of a lot of “nice things” that Jesus had done for people in the region. But we know how the story goes: the crowd will turn against him soon. They will forget the good things He had done.

Let’s not forget what He has done and continues to do for us.

Let’s make it known this week.

What has God done for you lately? Make it known. #Isaiah12

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What has God done for your lately? Share in the comments.

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