Day By Day #26

Day by Day #26

MORNING/MIDDAY OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:21–23

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Devotional

Many of us feel guilty saying no. We want to be liked and not disappoint people, and we perhaps imagine that saying no is somehow less than Christlike. But consider Jesus’ example and whether or not he disappointed people by sometimes saying no.

        •     He said no to the crowds who wanted to make him king (John 6:14–16).

        •     He said no to Peter who wanted him to avoid the cross (Matthew 16:21–23).

        •     He said no to the religious leaders who wanted him to stop claiming to be the Messiah (John 5:16–18).

        •     He said no to his family who wanted him to return home (Mark 3:31–34).

        •     He said no to the people who wanted him to come down off the cross to prove he was the Son of God (Luke 23:35–39).

If Jesus had refused to say no for fear of disappointing people, he would not have fulfilled the mission and the purpose God gave him. He would have lived up to other people’s expectations instead of his own. And the same is true for us. Exercising a healthy no is essential if we are to fulfill the Father’s destiny for our lives.

It’s important to understand that both yes and no are loving words. Remember, when I say no, it is not against you but for me. And while my no may make you sad, it doesn’t make me bad. Most importantly, if I say yes when what I really want to say is no, I erode my integrity and hurt both of us. We must be able to say no if we are to say a healthy yes.^a

Question to Consider

Under what circumstance, or to whom, do you find it difficult to say no? Why?

Prayer

Lord, I need your power and wisdom to live courageously and to say an empowered and healthy yes or no when appropriate. Free me from the fear of disappointing people so that I can live the life of purpose and integrity you have destined me to live. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

MIDDAY/EVENING OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: John 1:19–23

Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (emphasis added)

Devotional

John the Baptist clearly knows who he is and who he is not. The clarity he has about his identity and his role positions him to bear a powerful witness to Jesus and his kingdom.

When John the Baptist states three times that he is not the Messiah, it does not mean he thinks he is a nobody. He honestly believes, and so publicly affirms, that he is the one called “a voice” predicted by Isaiah to prepare the Way of the Lord. Biblical scholar Frederick Dale Bruner writes, “It is almost as if he is saying, ‘I don’t know many things about myself and my calling, but I do know one thing: I was sent into history to bring people to a place where they would willingly be immersed in water to show their true repentance.’”^b

Just as John the Baptist was clear, it is critically important that we assess and affirm the “I am” and the “I am not’” of our own identity. This provides us with a healthy, clearly defined understanding of our gifts and limits.

Consider author Fredrick Buechner’s contribution to this discernment process of gaining greater clarity about ourselves over time:

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of society.

By and large, a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) you most need to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. . . . The place God calls you to is the place your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.^c

Then, as a result of hearing God’s voice more clearly, we can move into the world more faithfully to bear witness to Jesus and his kingdom.

Question to Consider

What comes to mind when you consider where your “deep gladness” meets the world’s “deep hunger”?

Prayer

Father, so many people and voices are pulling me in different directions that it is hard to imagine enjoying the kind of clarity John the Baptist had about his life. Teach me to be better attuned to your voice. And lead me continually on the unique path you have laid out for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

^a For additional teaching on saying no, see The Emotionally Healthy Woman, 127–28.

^b See Frederick Dale Brunner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 62–70, 86.

^c Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 184–85.