Daily Devotionals for Women - Today's Encouraging Word from Scripture

THE PEN THAT SPAWNED CONTROVERSY
By: Christine Wyrtzen

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you ..... Jude 3a

Has God ever re-arranged your day? You felt you were headed to the store for a mundane shopping trip but met someone who changed your life forever. Has He ever re-written your message? If you're a pastor or teacher, you know how stretching it is to believe you're going to speak on one topic but end up addressing something different entirely because the Spirit compelled you. How resilient am I as God's child? If I'm an adventurer by nature, which I'm not, then I will find it easier to flow with the urges of God's Spirit. As one who likes predictability and order, I can strain against the loss of control when God asks me to go another direction on the spot.

Jude began his letter to the church at large, intending to write about the glories of the Gospel message. As he began to write, God made him aware of the threats against the pure Gospel; those who would add to it, those who would delete from it, those who would twist it in order to advance their own causes. What began as a letter of praise about the message of Christ became a exhortation to defend what was so precious, that which was being threatened. He began with a positive message but was re-redirected to take on a more difficult, confrontational tone. His original word might have inspired. This word was to convict. Jude was willing to commit his pen to a gritty piece of literature for the glory of Christ and the advancement of the kingdom. Am I part of that cause or do I run from having to address the truth with a clear, compelling voice?

Someone sent me a John Piper quote yesterday. "My desire and prayer for you is that your life and your ministry have a radical flavor. A risk-taking flavor. A gutsy, counter-cultural, wartime flavor to it that makes the average prosperous Americans in your church feel uncomfortable. A strange mixture of tenderness and toughness that keeps worldly people a little off balance. A pervasive summons to something more and something hazardous and something wonderful. A saltiness and brightness, something like the life of Jesus."

I've typed this out, put it on a 3x5 card, because it coincides with the direction God is taking this ministry. If I am a true Christ-follower, I will have steel at my foundation. I will stand on the tenets of the faith with grace and truth.

Edit me, Lord. Re-write my future, my message, my intentions for this day. It is in Your hands and I follow even when You call me to something so radical it is out of my comfort zone. Amen.

For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org