Pastor Joynt's Devotionals

Real, Day 21

LUKE 7:35 | Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.

ECCLESIASTES 3:4 | ... time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

In fact, there is a rule for both celebration and mourning, for indulgence and restraint in the Christian life. Ascetic practice weens us of comfort and security, reminding us of others’ needs and our dependence on God. Celebration is an authentic response to life’s good gifts and God’s Kingdom acts. When he heals and saves, when he guides and keeps, celebrating and savoring his love and grace is appropriate. God wants us to value others, sometimes by mourning with them, and other times by partying with them.

Finally, wisdom is vindicated by “her children.” What results have come from the ministries of John and Jesus? John drew many to our Lord, Jesus changed history forever and established a new and perpetual Kingdom. Scepticism and false accusation have been refuted by history. Those who failed to respond to these two men missed the boat!

When is criticism constructive?

What makes it destructive?

Are you able to celebrate and mourn?

Real, Day 20

LUKE 7:33-34 | For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

There are lots of authentic ways of serving God. There is room for asceticism and for celebration. Jesus chides his contemporaries for criticizing John. He ate locusts and wild honey and lived a life of austere simplicity. Yet he was dismissed as demonic.

Jesus celebrated life at dinners and weddings and was labelled as a glutton and drunkard. Those who are determined to find fault will, and often criticism says more about the critic than the object of the criticism.

Have you ever been labelled in order to be dismissed or silenced?

Are you more naturally a celebrant or an ascetic?