by Pastor Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Read Genesis 29:1–20
In yesterday’s devotion, in Genesis 28:2,3, Jacob’s father Isaac sends him on his way with instructions and a blessing:
Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
So much for ‘the best-laid plans of mice and men’ (thank you, Robert Burns). Those plans soon went astray. With some significant manipulation (dare we say ‘skullduggery and trickery’) by Laban, not one, but two wives – both the daughters of Laban – were married to Jacob. But God’s plan was still at work. Fulfilment of the blessing took more than one wife; it took both wives and two maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah (whom Jacob also married), to produce Jacob’s 12 sons, the founding fathers of the tribes of Israel.
It is amazing how God persists with his plan. It’s the big salvation plan. One of the sons is Judah – and his house is the house of Israel from which Jesus came.
If you are interested in the story, keep reading Genesis for the extraordinary roll-out of God’s saving plan all those generations ago.
Is there some encouragement in this for you and me? If you read on, you will discover the characters of the 12 leaders of the tribes of Israel. They were many and varied, and God had something to say and do through each of their lives.
You may find a direct comparison to your life among them. However, in general terms, you will see the miracle of how the Lord works through different people, in good and bad situations, always working for the good of his people and the sake of his kingdom.
By all means, we lay our plans. But most of all, we trust the Lord to guide us through them all.
Lord: you must laugh sometimes at the plans we make. Yet despite us, you remain working in and through us. Please continue to give us the confidence to boldly step ahead in faith, trusting in you, knowing that you are there with us, working your good for the sake of your kingdom. Amen.
Tim has served as a pastor for more than 30 years in Australia and New Zealand. He plans to retire on 12 January in 2025. Husband to his wife Joy, father of three and grandfather of more than 10, Tim says he is living in hope. He enjoys gardening (especially his orchard of more than 60 trees, succulents and flowering plants), making music (he loves to sing), beekeeping and taking photos.
Love without pretence
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet (Acts 5:2).
Read Acts 5:1–11
This is one of those readings that can make the room go quiet. Ananias and Sapphira sell property, give some of the money and keep some back. The problem is not that they kept some money. Peter is clear: it was theirs to use. The problem is the lie. They wanted the reputation of radical generosity without the truth of an undivided heart.
It is tempting to keep this story at a safe distance. ‘Well, I would never do that.’ But false righteousness is sneaky. We can perform holiness. We can curate generosity. We can want people to think we are more prayerful, more sacrificial, more loving or more impressive than we really are. We can even use good works to hide from God.
Acts 5 tells us that God takes the truth seriously because he takes his church seriously. Love cannot grow well in the dark. Community cannot thrive on religious pretending. The Holy Spirit forms a people who can tell the truth: about our sin, our fear, our mixed motives and our need for mercy.
The good news is that Christ does not justify our false self; he kills it and raises us new. We do not need to fake righteousness, because Jesus gives us his. We do not need to exaggerate our love, because he has loved us truthfully and completely. That kind of grace is both frightening and freeing. It exposes us, yes, but only to heal us.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. Freed from performance, freed from image management and freed to be honest before God and one another. And in that honest place, the Spirit starts forming something beautiful: truthful generosity, humble repentance and love without theatre.
Holy Spirit, bring us into the truth. Strip away our pretending, forgive us in Christ and grow in us honest generosity and humble love. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.
Chosen, loved, sent
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last (John 15:16a).
Read John 15:9–17
Jesus does not begin with, ‘Try harder to love me.’ He begins with, ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.’ That is the order of Christian life. Before there is command, there is gift. Before there is fruit, there is vine. Before we love, we are loved.
That makes all the difference. Jesus does command us to love one another. He is not vague about it. But his command comes wrapped in friendship: ‘I no longer call you servants … Instead, I have called you friends.’ We are not hired hands nervously waiting for the boss’ approval. We are friends of Christ because Christ has chosen us, drawn us close and shared the Father’s heart with us.
And what does his love look like? ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ Jesus is already pointing us to the cross. He does not simply define love. He becomes love in action. He gives himself for people who are slow, proud, fearful, confused and sinful. People like us.
So when Jesus says, ‘Remain in my love’, he is not saying, ‘Stay worthy.’ He is saying, ‘Stay where I have put you. Live from my love. Abide in the mercy that has already claimed you.’ Christian love grows as we keep returning to the place where Christ first meets us: his word, his promises, his forgiveness, his table, his body given and blood shed for us.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. You are not loved because you are fruitful. You bear fruit because you are loved. Relax into that today. Christ has chosen you, called you friend and sent you to love with the love you have already received.
Jesus, keep us resting in your love. Make your joy complete in us, and send us to love others with the love we have received from you. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.
When love starts with Jesus
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:37,39b).
Read Matthew 22:34–46
The Pharisees come to Jesus with what they think is a clever test: ‘Which commandment matters most?’ Jesus does not dodge the question. He answers simply: ‘Love God with everything, and love your neighbour as yourself.’ There it is. The whole law, condensed into love.
And if we are honest, that answer should stop us in our tracks. Love God with all your heart? All your soul? All your mind? Love the person next door, the difficult family member, the annoying committee member, the stranger, the enemy, as yourself? That is not a gentle religious suggestion. That is God’s law, and it is far deeper than good manners or being basically nice.
But Jesus does not leave us staring at our failure. Jesus turns the conversation to the Messiah: David’s son, yet David’s Lord. The one who commands love is also the one who fulfils it. Jesus loves the Father perfectly. Jesus loves his neighbours perfectly. Jesus loves sinners all the way to the cross.
That is the good news tucked inside this sharp little exchange. We are not vindicated by our track record of love. We are vindicated by Christ. Because we no longer need to scramble to prove ourselves, we are set free to begin loving properly. Not to earn God’s smile, but because in Jesus we already have it.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. So today, take the command of love seriously, but receive Christ even more seriously. He is not only your teacher. He is your Lord, your righteousness and your life. From him, love begins again.
Lord Jesus, thank you for fulfilling love for us. Free us from proving ourselves, and teach us to love God and our neighbour from the life you give. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.