John 9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
Right now, as I pen these words, over millions of Americans are under an unprecedented severe winter advisory. Meteorologists are anticipating records to be broken in this historic storm.
All this talk of snow reminded me of when I was growing up in Baltimore, Maryland during the winter.
I always wished for a snow day so that I didn’t have to go to school the following day. I would anxiously watch the news late into the evening for any hint of snow. Just a ½ inch was usually enough for schools to close!
Aside from the weather report, there was one sign that almost always meant freedom the next day: if Mom and Dad rushed to the grocery store because on the East Coast, the slightest hint of snow sends everyone running for milk, eggs, and bread to be sure they’re ready for the storm.
Anyone with their eyes half-open can see the clouds on the horizon, and we ought to be watching and preparing as carefully as I used to do growing up in Baltimore.
We need to be carefully watching, and at the same time, actively working for the Kingdom, because the day is rapidly approaching when no more work can be done! So take it to heart, continue to press through, press on, and by all means, do not grow weary in well doing — for you shall truly reap if you do not faint!
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Our true value was expressed at the cross of Messiah, where God valued us according to the redemptive work of His only Son. In the light of our identity in Christ our value is inestimable. We are worthy in Him. Much of our spiritual battle, however, is about maintaining and expressing our true identity and worth, day by day.
Recently, Israel announced it was expanding the Pool of Siloam, which they estimated was about an acre and a half in size. The Pool of Siloam is where Jesus sent the blind man to wash [John 9:6-7] and where he regained his sight. Some scholars believe this was where the first 3,000 souls were baptized upon hearing the gospel in Acts 2. [Acts 2:41]
As we enter a New Year, remember the one constant true for everyone, rich or poor, male or female: each of us is given 8,760 hours in a Gregorian calendar year. That is, 1,440 minutes a day, or 525,600 minutes a year. Sounds like a lot, yet have you noticed how time flies these days?
Persecution and serious trials were regular fare for the early followers of Messiah. Apostle Paul who was stoned and left for dead [Acts 14:19] was not exaggerating when he affirmed, "Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God."
Throughout the history of the modern state of Israel, there have been accounts of angelic interventions protecting Israeli soldiers in the midst of intense warfare. One instance recounted by an Israeli military historian after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, describes an Israeli soldier in the Sinai taking captive an entire Egyptian column and leading them to where the Israeli troops were. The Egyptian commander was asked why he and his men gave themselves up to the lone Israeli soldier. He responded with surprise, ”One soldier? There were thousands of them.”
Our life, the life of faith, is pervaded by paradox. Life faces us with apparently irreconcilable conditions and realities that we struggle to understand and integrate, sometimes throughout an entire lifetime. The Lord himself exemplifies this reality in his dual identity as the expressed image of God and a fully human male who suffered the worst consequences of sin...without deserving them. We live daily within the paradox of God's perfect holiness and our fundamental human imperfection, constantly needing to accept His grace as we strive toward His perfection.
During 1941 the United States and Japan were in negotiations to resolve their difference as the rest of the world was at war. The special delegation of Japanese ambassadors, ostensibly sent on this “peace” mission, arrived shortly before the massive surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in which 2,403 Americans were killed, 1143 were wounded, eighteen ships were sunk or grounded, and 300 planes destroyed or damaged. President Franklin Roosevelt called it a “date which will live in infamy.”