Verse from Proverbs

“心里平静，可使身体健康；但嫉妒能使骨头朽烂。”

箴言 14:30 

“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

Proverbs 14:30 

For forty-five years after his career as a professional athlete ended, Jerry Kramer wasn’t inducted into his sport’s hall of fame (the highest recognition). He enjoyed many other honors and achievements, but this one eluded him. Although he’d been nominated for the honor ten times, it had never been bestowed. Despite having his hopes dashed so many times, Kramer was gracious, saying, “I felt like [the National Football League] had given me 100 presents in my lifetime and to be upset or angry about one I didn’t get was kind of stupid!”

Where others might have grown bitter after being denied so many times in favor of other players, Kramer wasn’t. His attitude illustrates the way we can safeguard our hearts against the corrosive nature of envy, which “rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). When we become preoccupied with what we don’t have—and fail to recognize the many things we do—the peace of God will elude us.

After an eleventh nomination, Jerry Kramer ultimately was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in February 2018. Our earthly desires may not be fulfilled as his finally were. Yet we can all have a “heart at peace” when we instead focus our attention on the many ways God has been generous toward us. No matter what we want but do not have, we can always enjoy the life-giving peace He brings to our lives.

Verse from Psalms

“我虽然行过死荫的山谷，也不怕遭受伤害，因为你与我同在；你的杖你的竿都安慰我。”

诗篇 23:4 

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23:4 

Hae Woo (not her real name) was imprisoned in a North Korean labor camp for crossing the border into China. The days and nights were torture, she said, with brutal guards, backbreaking work, and little sleep on an ice-cold floor with rats and lice. But God helped her daily, including showing her which prisoners to befriend and share her faith with.

After she was released from the camp and living in South Korea, Woo reflected on her time of imprisonment, saying that Psalm 23 summed up her experience. Although she’d been trapped in a dark valley, Jesus was her Shepherd who gave her peace: “Even though it felt as if I was literally in a valley full of the shadow of death, I wasn’t afraid of anything. God comforted me every day.” She experienced God’s goodness and love as He reassured her that she was His beloved daughter. “I was in a terrible place, but I knew . . . I would experience God’s goodness and love.” And she knew she’d stay in the Lord’s presence forever.

We can find encouragement in Woo’s story. Despite her dire circumstances, she felt God’s love and leading; and He sustained her and took away her fear. If we follow Jesus, He will lead us gently through our times of trouble. We need not fear, for “[we] will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (23:6). 

Verse from Acts

“腓利就开口，从这段经文开始，向他传讲耶稣。”

使徒行传 8:35 

“Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”

Acts 8:35 

One of Jesus’s followers, Philip, guided by the Holy Spirit, asked a question that ignited a conversation with an Ethiopian official traveling in his chariot: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). The Ethiopian man was reading a passage from the book of Isaiah and seeking spiritual insight. So Philip’s question came at the right time. He invited Philip to sit next to him and in humility listened. Philip, realizing what an amazing opportunity this was, “began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (v. 35).

Like Philip, we too have good news to tell. Let’s seize the daily occasions we encounter in our workplace, at the grocery store, or in our neighborhood. May we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our steps and give us the words to share our hope and joy in Jesus.

Verse from Matthew

“然而许多在前的将要在后，在后的将要在前。””

马太福音 19:30 

“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Matthew 19:30 

Perhaps the most preposterous, spellbinding moment in the 2018 Winter Olympics was when the Czech Republic’s world champion snowboarder Ester Ledecka won an event in a completely different sport: skiing! And she took the first-place gold medal even though she had the unenviable position of skiing 26th—a feat believed to be basically impossible.

Amazingly, Ledecka qualified to race the women’s super-G—an event that combines downhill skiing with a slalom course. After she won by .01 of a second on borrowed skis, she was just as shocked as the media and other contestants who had assumed the winner would be one of the top skiers.

This is how the world works. We assume the winners will keep winning while all the others will lose. It was a jolt, then, when the disciples heard Jesus say how “hard [it is] for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23). 

Jesus turned everything upside down. How could being rich (a winner) offer a roadblock? Apparently, if we trust in what we have (what we can do, who we are), then it’s not only hard but actually impossible to trust God.

The kingdom of God doesn’t play by our rules. “Many who are first,” Jesus says, “will be last, and many who are last will be first” (v. 30). And, whether you’re first or last, everything we receive is purely by grace—by God’s unmerited favor.

Consider how you view people, or how you view your own life. 

How does Jesus’s way of seeing so-called losers and winners change your perspective?

Verse from Philippians

“神为了成全自己的美意，就在你们里面动工，使你们可以立志和行事。”

腓立比书 2:13 

“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”

Philippians 2:13 

One Saturday afternoon, some youth group members from a church gathered to ask one another some hard questions based on Philippians 2:3–4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Some of the difficult queries included: How often do you take an interest in others? Would someone describe you as humble or proud? Why?

The teenagers agreed that it’s easy to acknowledge our shortcomings, but it’s hard to change, or—for that matter—desire to change. As one teen lamented, “Selfishness is in my blood.”

The desire to let go of our focus on self to serve others is only possible through Jesus’s Spirit living in us. That’s why Paul reminded the Philippian church to reflect on what God had done and made possible for them. He had graciously adopted them, comforted them with His love, and given His Spirit to help them (Philippians 2:1–2). How could they—and we—respond to such grace with anything less than humility?

Yes, God is the reason for us to change, and only He can change us. Because He gives us “the desire and power to do what pleases him” (v.13 nlt), we can focus less on ourselves and humbly serve others.

Verse from Genesis

“于是，夏甲给那对她说话的耶和华，起名叫“你是看顾人的神”，因为她说：“在这里我不是也看见了那位看顾人的吗？””

创世记 16:13 

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.””

Genesis 16:13 

The Experience Project, one of the largest online communities of the twenty-first century, was once a site where tens of millions shared deeply painful firsthand experiences. The stories reflected on how desperately our hearts long for someone to see—to understand—our pain.

In Genesis, the story of a young handmaid reveals just how life-giving this gift can be. Hagar was a slave girl likely given to Abram by a pharaoh of Egypt (see Genesis 12:16; 16:1). When Abram’s wife Sarai was unable to conceive, she urged Abram to conceive a child with Hagar—a disturbing yet familiar practice of that day. But when Hagar became pregnant, tensions flared, until Hagar fled into the wilderness to escape Sarai’s abuse (16:1–6).

But Hagar’s predicament—pregnant and alone in a harsh, unforgiving desert—didn’t escape divine eyes. After a heavenly messenger encouraged Hagar (vv. 7–12), she declared, “You are the God who sees me” (v. 13). Hagar was praising One who sees more than the bare facts. The same God was revealed in Jesus, who, “when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless” (Matthew 9:36). Hagar encountered a God who understood.

The One who saw and understood Hagar’s pain sees ours as well (Hebrews 4:15–16). Experiencing heaven’s empathy can help the unbearable become a bit more bearable.

How does it reassure you to know God understands the challenges you face? 

How can you be a channel of His empathy and compassion to others?

Verse from 1 John

“我们若说自己没有罪，就是自欺，真理就不在我们里面了。”

约翰壹书 1:8 

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

1 John 1:8 

Dr. Brian Goldman obsessively tried to be perfect in treating his patients. But on a nationally broadcast show he admitted to mistakes he had made. He revealed that he had treated a woman in the emergency room and then made the decision to discharge her. 

Later that day a nurse asked him, “Do you remember that patient you sent home? Well, she’s back.” The patient had been readmitted to the hospital and then died. This devastated him. He tried even harder to be perfect, only to learn the obvious: Perfection is impossible.

As Christians, we may harbor unrealistic expectations of perfection for ourselves. But even if we can somehow manage the appearance of a flawless life, our thoughts and motives are never completely pure.

John the disciple wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The remedy is not to hide our sins and to strive harder, but to step into the light of God’s truth and confess them. “If we walk in the light,” said John, “as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (v. 7).

In medicine, Dr. Goldman proposes the idea of a “redefined physician” who—in a culture where we are hesitant to admit our errors—no longer toils under the tyranny of perfection. Such a physician openly shares mistakes and supports colleagues who do the same, with a goal of reducing mistakes.

What if Christians were known not for hiding their sins but for loving and supporting each other with the truth and grace of our God? What if we practiced a risky yet healthy honesty with each other and with the watching world?

Father, 

it’s so difficult for us to share our faults with each other, but You call us to wholeness as Your people. Empower us by Your Spirit to live courageously in love and honesty.

Honesty with God about our sin brings forgiveness.