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Written by Timothy Keller (1950-2023, An American pastor, theologian, and Christian Apologist. This is an excerpt from a talk he gave in 2019.

Here’s four reasons why we’re very ineffective when it comes to sharing our faith. One is pride. We actually don’t like people who disbelieve and we get argumentative when we talk to them and we get irritated with them. So one’s pride. One is fear. Especially in a place like New York where relationships are everything. It’s scary to open your mouth in a place like New York. It could really hurt you vocationally. It could really hurt you, reputationally. It really could. So one is pride, one is fear, and one is pessimism. You look at some people and you say, why should I stick my neck out and risk what I’ll be risking when this person will never become a Christian. This isn’t the kind of person to ever become a Christian. And then the last is just simply indifference. In many cases, you just say, I’m tired. It’s difficult, and my life is hard enough. What Jesus is saying is in all cases, it’s a lack of joy.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  [Romans 15:13]

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Written by A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), an American pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor.

Many of the great evangelists who have touched the world for God, including such men as Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney, have declared that those who insist on Christianity being made “too easy” are betraying the Church. Jesus laid down the terms of Christian discipleship, and there are some among us who criticize, “Those words of Jesus sound harsh and cruel.” This is where we stand: receiving Jesus Christ into your life means that you have made an attachment to the Person of Christ that is revolutionary in that it reverses the life and transforms it completely! It is complete in that it leaves no part of the life unaffected. It exempts no area of the life of the total man. By faith and through grace, you have now formed an exclusive relationship with your Savior, Jesus Christ. All of your other relationships are now conditioned and determined by your one relationship to your Savior. To receive Jesus Christ, then, is to attach ourselves in faith to His holy person, to live or die, forever! He must be first and last and all!

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. [Matthew 10:38]

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Written by the Lead Like Jesus team, an organization founded by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges that promotes a transformational leadership model based on following Jesus.

Jesus, please train me in living life the way You lived. Teach me to seek the Father; shape my heart, head, hands, and habits. Make me like You, I pray in Your name, amen.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  [1 Timothy 4:7-8]

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Written by Sarah Young, a contemporary writer. This is an excerpt from her book “Jesus Calling for Moms.”

Stop your incessant worry-planning! Draw your mind back from the future to the present moment, where My Presence lovingly awaits you. Seek My Face with a smile in your heart, knowing that I take delight in you. Talk with Me about all that concerns you and the tasks that are weighing on you. Call out to Me for help as you set priorities according to My will. Then keep returning your focus to Me and to the work at hand. Inviting Me into your activities increases your Joy and helps you to be more effective. When you need to take a break, remember that I am your resting place. My everlasting arms are always available to support you and hold you close. When you relax in My company — waiting with Me for a time — this demonstrates genuine trust in Me. As you prepare to return to your tasks, make the effort to include Me in your plans. This protects you from worrying; it also helps you stay close to Me, enjoying My Presence.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? [Luke 12:25-26]

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Today’s meditation was posted by the pastors at K-LOVE, an organization created to distribute media that inspires and encourages people to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ.

Waterloo, New York, is widely recognized as the birthplace of Memorial Day as a state and federal holiday. The purpose was to honor the sacrifices made to preserve the freedom, peace, and future of this nation. The tradition keeps the memory of thousands who have made the ultimate sacrifice. There are thousands of heroic stories that can be shared on this day. These are stories of lives cut short and families losing spouses, siblings, children, and parents. The losses have been enormous, and the freedom that has been preserved is priceless.  Our freedom has come at so high a price we dare not squander it by seeking only to serve our own interests. We are free to live at liberty and pursue the happiness found in seeking to do the will of Almighty God. We can use our freedom as an opportunity to bless and serve others rather than using it to gratify our own desires.  The freedom we enjoy was not purchased with gold or silver but with the blood, sweat, and tears of the ones that we honor today. They died so that we might live!  …There is no greater love than sacrificial love. Therefore, it is suitable to honor our loved ones and their sacrifice. So may we use the freedom that they bought to proclaim the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus!  As you remember the lives of those, who sacrificed for your freedom, ask God how you can be an instrument of His love. 

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [John 15:13]

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Written by Jared Wilson (1988-2019), a pastor and author.This is an excerpt from his book “Unparalleled: How Christianity’s Uniqueness Makes It Compelling.

Love is not God. But God is love. So what does it mean for God to be love? It does not necessarily mean that God is simply loving. Judaism and Islam and Mormonism teach a God who loves. But when Christians teach that God is himself love, they are saying that real love itself has its origin and its essence in God. And this cannot be true unless God is a Trinity. Think about it: A solitary god cannot be love. He may learn to love. He may yearn for love. But he cannot in himself be love, because love requires an object. Real love requires relationship. In the doctrine of the Trinity we finally see how love is part of the fabric of creation; it is essential to the eternal, need-nothing Creator. From eternity past, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have been in community, in relationship. They have loved each other. That loving relationship is bound up in the very nature of God himself. If God were not a Trinity but merely a solitary divinity, he could neither be love nor be God!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. [2 Corinthians 13:14].

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Written by Uli Chi, a contemporary technical entrepreneur and executive.

To be wise requires the essential virtue of humility. And that means being willing to learn wisdom wherever it is found, even when it is found in our theological and political enemies. Humility is as difficult for those of us who follow Jesus as for anyone else. Our inability to recognize and receive genuine wisdom, particularly with regard to the treatment of the vulnerable and marginalized, betrays a lack of humility on our part. And that has serious consequences.  May we be humble enough to receive the wisdom that is the gift of the world for the church today.

God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. [1 Peter 5:5]

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Written by John Wesley (1703-1791), an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader in the revival movement known as Methodism.  This is an excerpt from his book “Christian Perfection.”

Beware of schism, of making a tear in the Church of Christ. Ceasing to have a reciprocal love ​“for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25), is inner disunity which is at the very root of all outward separation. Beware of everything that leads to this separation. Beware of a dividing spirit. Therefore, do not say, ​“I am of Paul,” or ​“I am of Apollos.” This is the very thing that caused the schism at Corinth. Do not say, ​“This is my preacher, the best preacher in England. Give me him and you can have all the rest.” All this tends to breed division, to disunite those whom God has joined. Do not despise or run down any preacher. Do not exalt anyone above the rest lest you hurt both him and the cause of God. Do not bear hard upon any preacher because of some inconsistency or inaccuracy of expression; no, not even for some mistake, even if you are right. Do not even give a single thought of separating from your brethren, whether their opinions agree with yours or not. Just because someone does not agree with everything you say does not mean that they are sinning. Nor is this or that opinion essential to the work of God. Be patient with those who disagree with you. Do not condemn those who do not see things just as you do, or who think it is their duty to contradict you, whether in a great thing or a small. O, beware of touchiness, of testiness, of an unwillingness to be corrected. Beware of being provoked to anger at the least criticism and avoiding those who do not accept your word.

God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. [1 Corinthians 12:24-26]

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Written by Alexis Wald, a contemporary pastor and writer.

Jesus, the truth of who You are outweighs anything I am facing. You are good. You are redeeming. You are love. Let me never lose sight of who it is that walks with me even when darkness tries to confuse me. Help me to always fix my eyes on the reality that You are love, and You love me deeply. Amen. 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [1 John 4:16]

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Today’s meditation is from “The Weekly Faith Project,” a journal to cultivate genuine faith edited by Zondervan.

Faith knows—and trusts—who God is. And who is He? He is the One who never leaves—not as God the Father (DT 31:6), not as God the Son (MT 28:20), and not as God the Holy Spirit (JO 14:16). He never lies (Titus 1:2), He never does wrong (DT 32:3-4), and He never fails to keep a promise (NU 23:19). And you can put your full faith in Him because neither He nor His Word ever changes (HE 13:8, MT 24:35).

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. [Psalm 86:15]

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