As God pursues us with His wonderful grace, something magnificent takes place in our lives. Before God’s grace was extended to us, we were dead in our sins and powerless to overcome them. We were in bondage to the enemy, and the future never looked so grim. Then, God entered the scene, delighting to demonstrate the power of His grace. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the Bible tells the unfolding tale of God’s pursuit of the human heart through the goodness of His grace. And it is through this Gospel of the grace of God that our once-dead souls become alive! Instead of being unable to fight sin’s strongholds, God’s grace gives us power to overcome them through the Holy Spirit. As children of the living God, we come to the battle equipped to win—not just to survive another round. God’s grace empowers us to be conquerors through Christ. God entered our lives to save us, not just to show up and to impress us with His omnipotence. He came to deliver us from all the bondage of the past and to bring us ultimate redemption as we follow Him. We now can say no to sin, find deepest fulfillment in obedience to God, and experience incomparable joy in a personal relationship with the Father. Through salvation, we receive God’s grace, and then His transformation begins in our hearts. All along, He pursues us with His grace. When He captures us, the parts of our hearts that were cold toward Him suddenly warm and come to life. Though at times we may stray, God is faithful and steadfast. He is the “hound of heaven.” Just as He pursued us to bring us to salvation, He sustains us today with His grace to bring us peace in His presence and hope for eternity. Prayer: Lord, thank You for the way You pursued me and called me into relationship with You! Your grace leaves me in awe. Help me to submit daily to Your Spirit’s work in me. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

If we want to grow in intimacy with Jesus, we will encounter distractions, temptations, and difficulties along the way. That is sure. What is not sure is whether we will allow these obstacles to be hindrances to our love for Jesus or whether we will see them as steppingstones for growing deeper in Christ. In pursuing a deeper love and intimacy with Jesus, there are three things that stifle our relationship with Him: the inability to accept correction, the unwillingness to change, and the temptation to confuse the journey for the destination. Let’s consider the first obstacle: the inability to accept correction. When a godly person points out some of the blind spots in our lives, how do we react? Our willingness to accept correction from a loving Christian brother or sister is one of the greatest indications that we are growing in our love for Jesus. Secondly, to love the Lord Jesus with all our hearts, we have to be willing to grow and change. Some people are afraid of change and want to cling to the past. They would rather live comfortably than obey Jesus no matter the cost. As believers, our middle names should be change and growth because that is the nature of sanctification. In our efforts to love Jesus more intimately every day, we must realize that whatever heights we’ve attained, there is more. Whatever level of growth we have reached, there is always further to go in our love for Christ. The day we stop changing and growing is a day of immense spiritual danger. Finally, the third obstacle to loving Jesus more intimately every day is confusing the journey for the destination. We either see ourselves as citizens of this world with a passing interest in heaven or as citizens of heaven passing through this strange land on our way to our final destination. Loving Jesus intimately means that we keep our eyes on our destination and yet serve Him here and now as we await the call of our Redeemer (see Philippians 3:20-21). Prayer: Lord, protect me from the complacency, apathy, and pride that would keep me from seeking You wholeheartedly. When I encounter an obstacle in my faith, let it be a steppingstone to growth instead of a source of discouragement. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Many believe that their spiritual journey is complete once they have professed their faith in Christ. However, just as wedding vows are only the beginning of a marriage, so a profession of faith is only the beginning of something much greater: a daily, living relationship with Christ. The apostle Paul was a man zealous for his religion. But after a life-changing encounter with Christ, Paul’s desire to grow in love for Jesus caused him to regard all his accomplishments as trash. In Philippians 3:8-9, after going through his laundry list of religious accomplishments, Paul boldly states, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, . . .” Loving Jesus begins with a dissatisfaction with your current level of loving Jesus. A love for Jesus starts with a yearning to know Him and love Him more than anyone or anything in life. This love leaves no room for complacency or mediocrity because Christ is always worthy of more. When you come to the point of saying, “Lord, my love for You is so pathetic, so shallow, so superficial, and so self-centered,” this is when you have taken the first step in the right direction. Jesus longs to nourish our minds with the Truth. He longs to fill our hearts with His love. He longs to lift our imaginations to new heights. He longs for us to surrender our wills so that He may fill us with His. But it all begins with dissatisfaction. There is no end to knowing and loving Jesus. That is the business of our life on earth and the focus of our worship in eternity. God is constantly inviting His children to know and love Him more every day. Hold nothing back today as you seek to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Prayer: Heavenly Father, examine my life and reveal where I have fallen out of love for You. Help me to repent and begin to grow in love for You every day. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-7. It is always better to lose the battle if it means winning the war. The Corinthian Christians were squabbling and bickering with one another, taking each other to secular courts to fight their petty battles. But Paul reminded them that their fighting was costly for both sides. Whether a person won or lost, both sides were already completely defeated. Jesus said if your brother wants to take your shirt, you should give him your cloak also (see Matthew 5:40). While this can be a demonstration of loving sacrifice, ultimately it proclaims a deep faith: You are trusting that God will provide for you. When fellow believers duke it out for all the world to see, they are telling the world that their trust isn’t really in the Lord but in the world’s justice system, their arguments, and their own willingness to fight for what they believe they deserve. They lose before their case is ever heard. They have already suffered spiritual defeat because, in their stubborn pride, they have discredited the power, wisdom, and work of God. All too often we live out of the past instead of from the future. But the world is looking at us to see where our hope lies. Don’t sacrifice your witness! It is far better to lose a battle here on earth if it means winning spiritually for all eternity by humbly trusting the Lord. Prayer: Lord, help me to value humility, peace, and godliness above my own desires. I pray that as people look on my life, they will see a life lived for You. I trust You to provide all I truly long for. May others be won to Your Kingdom by my witness to Your immeasurable worth. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-6. It is amazing how much our culture today mirrors the Greek and Roman societies of the ancient world. I am not only talking about sin and immorality but also about how quickly people take one another to court. In the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s day, lawsuits were so common that they were nearly a form of entertainment. So Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth to remind them that they are called to a higher standard. Yes, they were saved; yes, they were born again, but they brought their former lives with them into the church. So, when there was a dispute, they dragged each other into the local court to be judged by pagans as they had always done. And that is why Paul took time to deal with this issue. Arguments with fellow believers must be handled in the church, not out in the world. There is nothing that weakens the testimony of believers more than their inability to resolve their own disputes Biblically, to resolve their differences with a humble spirit in the likeness of Jesus. One day, after Christ returns, Christians will judge the world (see 1 Corinthians 6:2-3). So Paul reasons that we must also be empowered to judge ourselves in trivial things with wisdom in Christ. You see, like many believers today, the Corinthian Christians did not fully understand their position in Christ. But when we recognize how Christ has exalted us, we will begin to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Prayer: Father, I know You have given me a new identity. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Help me to live as one who has access to Your divine wisdom. May I seek Your face and judge humbly and rightly with my brothers and sisters in Christ in whatever disputes come up. Help us to love well, remembering that love covers a multitude of sins. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Read 1 Corinthians 5:6-13. Sin in the church is not only about the sinner; it affects everyone. The Corinthians had an unrepentant sinner in their ranks, and rather than dealing with the sin, they were tolerating it (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Paul said they were even “boasting” about it (v. 6)! This one person’s sin was changing the whole church; in pride, they were now calling “good” what God called “evil.” But Paul wants us to mourn over sin as though mourning a death in the family (see v. 2). Paul compares sin in the Church to yeast in a lump of dough. In Exodus, when the Israelites were leaving Egypt, God told them not to leaven their bread—there was no time because their rescue was coming quickly. Even now, at Passover many Orthodox Jews will search for any yeast in the house to get rid of it. It’s a symbolic ritual: Yeast represents the old way of life under slavery. The Corinthian Christians were never slaves in Egypt, but they were once slaves to sin—until Christ set them free. That is why Paul told them to get rid of the “yeast,” the sin in their midst. So seriously did Paul want these believers to treat sin that he desired them not to associate with or even share a meal with unrepentant sinners in the church (see 1 Corinthians 5:9, 11). Christians must see sin for what it is—the way to bondage and death—so that we cling to Christ, humbly rejecting sin and living in the freedom He has won for us. Prayer: Lord, help me to see the sin in my life, that I might repent, remembering the freedom You have purchased for me with Christ’s blood. Help me to walk humbly before You in righteousness. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.