Read: Malachi 3:3 & Philippians 1:6

You’ve probably heard the saying, “God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

Although it’s a little cliche, this quote holds some truth.

God didn’t create us to be static characters. He didn’t intend for us to get saved then remain stagnant for the rest of our lives. He wants us to constantly be growing, changing, morphing into a reflection of Him.

When extracted from the earth, silver is intertwined with other minerals and trapped within various ores. It requires purification to be made unblemished and untarnished. Purifying silver is a process requiring intentional attention and concentration. The refiner must place the silver ore in the hottest part of the flame and keep an eye on it to know exactly when it’s ready.

Being a Christian doesn’t guarantee that we escape the “fires” of life. There are many trials and hard times we will inevitably go through. Yet Malachi 3:3 says that God “will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” This should be a comfort to us. God will watch us the entire time we’re under stress and knows that everything we endure, in the end, is for our own benefit.

He also knows when we’re ready to exit the flame. We leave the fire more refined, less blemished and with a brilliant shine, reflecting even more of His image. Paul tells us to find confidence in this, “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Read Galatians 5:19-25

Plants grow and change every day. God has put miraculous systems in place whereby plants put forth new leaves, bear fruit and spread deeper roots. We learn in Romans that God’s power and divine nature are clearly seen in the physical universe. If the natural world is an indication of His character and plan for us, we know that through God’s power He intends for us to grow, bear fruit and dig deep roots.

God’s Word is an amazing thing. As we read it, it reads us. When we meditate on it, it exposes the dark places inside us, calling us to change and become pure and holy like God intends. But what does purity and holiness look like? Galatians is very specific about this. In our sinful nature we gravitate toward “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” But through the power of the Holy Spirit, made available through Jesus’ redemptive work, we leave those selfish acts behind. Like a tree, we produce good spiritual fruit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self–control.” We dig deep roots in God’s Word and family of believers. Our growth is marked by unselfishness, seeking the good of others and bringing glory to God.

In John 8:12, Jesus told his followers, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 1 John explains that we cannot have fellowship with God if we walk in darkness. If we live at peace with our sinful nature and pursue its desires, we walk in darkness. But walking in the light means we must fight against our sinful nature. As a plant struggles to grow upward and spread out its branches and roots, we must do the same in the power and grace of God. And God will help us, “purify[ing] us from all sin.”

Read: 2 Kings 20:8-11

The Bible encourages us toward bold prayer and bold faith that believes all things are possible when we are in God’s will.

The most dramatic example of this is in Joshua 10:1-15 when Joshua prays for the sun to stand still to help him win a military battle. But, God’s presence and His answer to prayer isn’t always that obvious.

We’re all painfully aware of times when we beg God for His intervention, and our troubling or challenging circumstances seem to block our view of the sun. In fact, it’s when we most desperately need to see God’s faithfulness in our lives that we have trouble seeing Him directly.

We need not lose heart. For those times, we can always strengthen our faith by noticing the shadows of Christ’s glory in our lives. In 2 Kings 20:8-11, King Hezekiah is sick and shut up in the palace. When he asks the prophet Isaiah for a sign to confirm that he will survive another 15 years, he focuses on the retreat of the sun’s shadow across the steps.

Until we see Jesus face to face, our lives are to one degree or another always lived in shadow of death, brokenness and sin. (Psalm 23)

That’s why one of the most important disciplines we can cultivate as Christ followers is the habit of grace-seeking. We should always be on the lookout for evidence of Jesus grace in our lives and the lives of others, the “shadows” that prove the presence of Christ.

Perhaps it’s the simple graces of daily provision for ourselves. Perhaps it’s witnessing someone else’s rescue from a difficult situation. We can rejoice in these moments when the “sun stands still” and see Christ’s complete dominion over this world—and by implication his dominion over our own situation.

The shadows always prove the sunshine.

Read: Joshua 13:1-14:15 & Luke 18:1-17

We’ve all been given a gift. For some, it might be athletic talent. For others, it’s academic smarts. Yet others might be great with their hands. But just because we have talent doesn’t mean we’re going to be great at something right away. Michael Jordan couldn’t dunk the first time he picked up a basketball, and Billy Graham’s first sermon probably wasn’t spectacular. Both of these men practiced a lot, and their persistence paid off. The same is true in our spiritual lives.

In Joshua, the Israelites were cultivating a gift — the towns allotted to them after reaching the promised land. The nation of Israel was a ragtag group of nomads that didn’t yet have a place to call home. Joshua dictates what part of the promised land each tribe will get, but there’s a catch: The Israelites will have to conquer the territories in their possession. It will take years of persistence, and they still won’t drive out all the people living there, but eventually they will become a great and powerful nation.

In Luke, Jesus reminds us of another type of persistence: prayer. In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus admonishes us to keep praying, even if it seems like God isn’t listening.

In both stories, the Bible reminds us that God rewards persistence, whether we’re developing a gift or on our knees in intercession. Is there something God’s called you to that you’re ready to give up on? A prayer that seems to far fetched to continue praying? Don’t quit! “For in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 ESV).

Read:Luke 5:12-28

Leprosy is used throughout the Bible to refer to a number of horrible skin diseases. In those days, leprosy was often fatal and most saw it as a sign that you were cursed by God. Lepers were run out of town and banished from communicating with their loved ones. Jewish law required lepers to wear head coverings and shout ‘Unclean, Unclean!’ whenever someone came near.

When the leper in Luke 5 saw Jesus, there was hope for life again. He understood that while Jesus could cure his disease, He wasn’t under any obligation to do so. The man tells Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus didn’t heal every sick person He met. Witness His walk through the pool at Bethesda where “a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.” There, in John 5, Jesus singled one guy out and healed him.

The attitude of the man in Luke 5—the heart that says, “Lord, if you are willing”—comes from the recognition that Jesus is Lord and we are not. I have a friend who has been sick for years. He’s a godly man who loves his wife and children. But he has been sideswiped by an illness that leaves him in constant pain, unable to work and with no foreseeable way out. He and I have prayed to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can heal.” But up to this point, Jesus has had other plans for my friend. Jesus’s power isn’t any less effective. His compassion and love for my friend is unchanging, but for reasons known only to Himself, Jesus has chosen to let this illness rage on.

Sometimes, Jesus draws us closer through healing. Sometimes, He draws us closer by allowing the pain. In what situations do you need to be brave enough to pray, “Lord, if you are willing”?

Read:  Luke 8:40-56

In Luke 8, Jesus meets a woman who has been subject to bleeding for 12 years. This was a medical issue and a social issue. To everyone in the community, this woman was considered ceremonially unclean and beyond healing. She was an outcast in need of a savior.

The woman sought Jesus out, believing He alone could heal her. Despite the uncleanliness caused by her disorder and the stigma that accompanied her very being, the woman had faith that Jesus would care for her and she was healed just by touching just the edge of His cloak. Afterward, Jesus calls her “daughter.” He tells to go in peace, having been healed by her faith.

Jesus didn’t send the woman away for her uncleanliness, and the same is true for us today. No amount of messiness in our lives is too much for Jesus to clean up. We don’t have to clean ourselves up before we can come to Him. We come to Him because we can’t do it on our own. Our faith in Jesus’s ability to heal us is what will bring us peace.

Read: Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20

When you were little, did you ever run away from home or at least plan to? Most of us who ran away wandered around for a couple hours until our stomachs started growling. At that point,  going home seemed like the best idea ever. There was food, a bed, air conditioning and safety.

In Deuteronomy 30, the Lord is renewing His covenant with the Israelites after they had spent 40 years wandering the desert. Moses, who is nearing death, speaks to the Israelites about the “blessings and curses” of following or disobeying the law. He urges to return to the Lord and obey Him with wholeheartedly.

Deuteronomy 30: 3-4 says, “then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where He scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.”

No matter how far you’ve run from God, when disaster and hunger are upon you and you feel the Lord whispering (or shouting) to your heart, return to Him. His door is open and He is waiting for you to return. With God, you can always go home again.

Luke 13:1-21 & Psalm 78:65-72

In Jesus’s time, if someone was afflicted the community assumed it was a result of sin. If someone was crippled, blind or demon-possessed, it had to be the result of his sin or his parents’ sin.

In Luke 13, Jesus teaches that bad things are going to happen, but it’s not because one person is a worse sinner than another. He also uses this opportunity to teach another principle: repentance.

Not once, but twice Jesus tells his listeners to repent. To repent means to change the way you think about something. In this case, Jesus is referring to how we think about sin, and how we think about God. We must recognize we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and God is the source of both salvation and judgment (Romans 3:9-18). Paul wrote to the Romans, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2 NLT).

Is it time to change the way you think about God and sin by turning toward Jesus?