DayBreaks for the Week of 1/22/23 – Through the Eyes of Jesus

John himself had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. – Mt. 3:4

John was a wild man. One look at him as he walked toward you out of the shadow of a cliff in the wilderness and you’d probably turn and head the other way. Whom do you know who wears clothes made of camel hair? How many of your friends eat locusts? I can almost picture him grinning with tiny little locust legs stuck between his teeth. My guess is that he probably didn’t smell all that great, either.

Yet, what Jesus says about him should set us all back and cause us to think: I assure you: Among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared…Mt. 11:11

We know that God doesn’t judge by outward appearance, but by the heart. When Jesus saw John, he saw not a scary-looking wild man to be avoided – he saw a man totally sold out to God.

When you got up and looked in the mirror this morning, what did you see? Did you see a short, overweight, ugly, disheveled person who had just lost their job or failed to get that promotion or flunked their exam? Did you see someone who the world despises and rejects? Did you see a broken-hearted wreck of a human being because they were rejected and abandoned by the one who promised to love them forever?

That’s not what Jesus sees. Sure, he sees those events in your life when he sees you, but that’s not how he sees you. How do I know? Because that’s not how he saw John the Baptist. I suspect that as he hung on the cross and scanned the faces of those gathered around, he didn’t see a single “ugly” person – to him the faces were all beautiful, the faces of those he loved and for whom he was willing to die.

Today, no matter what has happened to you recently or long ago, no matter what happens today that causes you heartbreak and makes you feel like a failure when you think about those things, also think this: Jesus thinks I’m beautiful…because you are.

PRAYER: Father, give me the eyes of Jesus so that I can see people as he does! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 1/08/23: Let There Be No Doubt

One of the striking features of John’s gospel is how John pictures the life and ministry of Jesus. The other gospels tell us stories about Jesus so we, like the disciples, are left to ask what seems the obvious questions, “Who is this, that wind and sea obey him? Who is this who feeds the multitude on a couple of loaves and a few fish?” But in John, there’s no doubt who Jesus is because both John and Jesus tell us who He is! Usually, Jesus did so with a statement that starts with “I am.” Put him in a situation and he will clarify who he is and what he has come to do.

If you put him in a desert surrounded by people who are chronically unsatisfied, and Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

If you put him in the midst of confused people who ask, “Who are you, Jesus? What makes you different from all the other gurus, rabbis, and religious leaders?” Jesus replies, “I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (10:7, 9).

If you find him at a graveside surrounded by grief-stricken people, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” (11:25).

On the other hand, if you put him in the middle of people who feel disconnected by life’s difficulties, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,

because apart from me you can do nothing” (15:5).
You see, in the Gospel of John, in situation after situation, Jesus defines himself and says, “This is who I am….” In the eighth chapter, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (8:12). His words echo the opening words of the Fourth Gospel, where the writer defines the person and work of Jesus in terms of light. “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people … The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (1:3-4, 9).

Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” That, my friends, is wonderful news – just the kind of news that we would hope to hear with Christmas in the rearview mirror and 51 weeks of a New Year staring us in the face.  Let Him be the Light of your world in 2023!

Happy New Year, everyone!  “Walk in the light even as He is in the light…”

PRAYER: Thank you for not leaving us in the dark about Who You Are and thank You for the assurance that You enter this new year with us and that nothing it holds is hidden from Your sight or beyond Your control. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/18/22: Where Our Salvation Rests

John 6:37-39 – All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

This is one of the most comforting of all passages in Scripture.  What a picture of our God and our Savior!  Consider these highlights from this passage:

FIRST: God is the One who gives the saved to Christ.  God isn’t prone to forget, God never makes a mistake, God will never accidentally lose sight of one person who is to come to Jesus.

SECOND: Jesus will never drive away those who come to him.  We never need to wonder or worry if we will find a welcome when it comes to Jesus.  He will never be too tired to spend time with us, never too busy to become involved with our issues or to celebrate our joys with us. 

THIRD: The will of the One who sent Jesus is that not a single one of those God has given to Jesus will be lost.  What a comfort!  What a promise!  It doesn’t matter that we are prone to wander, Jesus won’t lose one of us because he’s the kind of Shepherd that goes looking for even one lost and wandering lamb.

As Chuck Swindoll put it: “Our salvation rests on God’s strength, not ours.  Our safety is in Jesus Christ’s power, not ours.  Our protection depends on the Father’s firm grip, not ours.  No one, including the devil, can sever that vital union that comes to us with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Why?  Because it was Christ’s death and resurrection that perfected us…because of His finished work, not ours.”

Prayer: Thank you, God, that you choose to have our salvation rest in your mighty and everlasting, nail-scarred hands and not in our human strength! In Jesus’ name, Amen.  

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the week of 3/21/22: In the Darkest Night

I’ve often said that if I had a superpower, I would choose to be able to remove pain. Suffering breaks my heart.

As I write this, I have relatives fighting to recover from strokes (and as of today, you can add a COVID diagnosis to that particular struggle), another writhes in agony from cancer. I have dear friends who are dying or have died, and their spouses are left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. And let’s not forget the people of the Ukraine and elsewhere who are suffering deprivation, destruction, death, and terror.

What can I do about it? Very little, really. I can send prayers skyward, money outward, but I can’t make any of it go away. I feel helpless primarily because I am. I don’t have the superpower I wish I had.

Ann Voskamp has released a new book, WayMaker, where she shares some of her own valleys of pain and grief. She explores the depths of suffering much as Job did millenia prior. I think she has some things that are good for us to contemplate as we try to futilely to make sense out of the horrors that surround us.

“How would understanding the reason for suffering matter more

than knowing God Himself stands with us in it?

“You do not have to understand the ways of God, you only need know that the Way stands with you — and He can’t stop making a way, because that is who the Way is.

“The Way is Who He is — and the Way is what He does.

“As long as you have the WayMaker — you always have a Way.” – Ann Voskamp

I am the truth, the life, and the WAY…Jesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, there are many today who desperately need a way but even more who need the WayMaker to be with them. Let them see the Way even in the darkest night, in the bomb shelters, in the hospital wards and in their own homes. Be the ever-present Way to them, please! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 3/14/22: The Good News in the Bad News

True story: back in 1893 there were a group of four sisters called “The Cherry Sisters.”  They made their stage debut in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in a skit they wrote themselves. For three years, they performed to packed houses throughout the Midwest. People came to see them to find out if the Cherry Sisters were really as bad as they had heard. Their unbelievably atrocious acting enraged critics and even provoked audience members to throw vegetables at the would-be actresses. Wisely, the sisters thought it best to travel with an iron screen which they would erect in front of the stage in self-defense.

Amazingly, in 1896 the girls were offered a thousand dollars a week to perform on Broadway — not because they were so good, but because they were so unbelievably bad. Seven years later, after the Cherry Sisters had earned what in that day was a respectable fortune of $200,000, they retired from the stage for the peaceful life back on the farm. Oddly enough, these successful Broadway “stars” remained convinced to the end that they were truly the most talented actresses ever to grace the American stage. They never had a clue as to how bad they truly were!

Most of us think we’re not that bad, either.  We can easily point to people who are far worse than we morally, spiritually and in attitude.  How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m a good person?”  Hello, Cherry Sisters wanna-be’s! 

The problem is that Scripture is in violent disagreement with that self-assessment.  There is none that does good, not one.  As hard as it is to believe, that passage includes the likes of King David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Mother Theresa, and Billy Graham.  And it includes you and I as well.

Need we despair?  Must we live in fear of being found out?  Well, we may be in fear of having our misdeeds and omissions found out by other humans, but not in fear of God in those matters because God already knows them all…and He still chose to love us and send Jesus to die in our place.  That’s the good news in the bad news.

The tragedy is that “good” men and women never realize just how bad we all are.  Perhaps the lie of Satan that will deceive most people in terms of their eternal destiny is to cause them to think how good they are! 

What is your honest self-assessment?

PRAYER: May we all throw ourselves utterly on your mercy and grace, confessing and believing that we are tenacious and persistent sinners, unworthy of any favor from You!  May we find the good news in the bad news! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 1/27/22 – What Peter Knew

John 21:15-17 – When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”  The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

“An extraordinary transaction takes place between Jesus and Peter on the Tiberian seashore.  The most plaintive words ever spoken take the form of a heart-stopping question: ‘Do you love me?’  As we lay aside our fuzzy distractions and actively listen, we hear the suffering cry of a GOD NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE.  What is going on here?  No deity of any world religion has ever condescended to inquire how we feel about that god.  The pagan gods fired thunderbolts to remind peons who was in charge.  The Rabbi in whom infinity dwells asks if we care about him.  The Jesus who died a bloody, God-forsaken death that we might live, is asking if we love him!…The vulnerability of God in permitting Himself to be affected by our response, the heartbreak of Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem for not receiving him, are utterly astounding.   Christianity consists primarily not in what we do for God but in what God does for us – the great, wondrous things that God dreamed up and achieved for us in Christ Jesus.  When God comes streaming into our lives in the power of His Word, all He asks is that we be stunned and surprised, let our mouths hang open, and begin to breathe deeply.”  – Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

What strikes you about this passage?  Try to put yourself in Peter’s spot for just a second.  It is quite possible that this is only the second time he saw Jesus after his resurrection.  The first time was in an upper room where Jesus appeared out of nowhere and everyone was stunned.  Remember the last time before that when Peter saw Jesus?  Peter was denying him vociferously.  Now, confronted by the risen Lord on the Tiberian seashore, it is shocking to me that it is Jesus who asks the question, “Do you love me?”  If I were Peter, I think I’d have been the one asking the question: “Lord, do you love ME?”  I would have wondered if he could still love me after I’d failed him so publicly as Peter did. 

But it was the Lord asking, not Peter.  Why?  Because Peter didn’t need to ask – Peter already knew that Jesus loved him, failures, warts and all.  That’s the kind of understanding that Jesus wants all his followers to have.  And so, it is the Lord who is vulnerable, asking mankind the simple, but pleading question that we all must answer: “Do you love me?”

PRAYER: Thanks, Jesus, for never leaving us in the lurch wondering whether or not you love us!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 1/12/22 – The Disturbing Presence of Jesus

More often than not, we like to think of Jesus’ presence being something that brings peace and calm. After all, he calmed the storm, right? We often talk about how Jesus can calm the storms in our lives as a way of giving people comfort and hope. That’s all well and good, I suppose, but it’s only part of the story.

Take the story of Jesus walking on the water. It’s nighttime, almost certainly overcast and inky black. To top it off, the winds are screaming across the surface of the sea of Galilee and the disciples are trapped on a boat that’s taking on water that these experienced sailors are very rightfully concerned that they may drown. Even today waves can reach ten feet or higher when the conditions are right.

We’d think that the disciples were afraid of the storm – and I think they were. But what terrified them was the One who came walking to their boat, then spoke to the wind only to have it obey his words! Wouldn’t you be afraid of someone who speaks to the wind and rain? We’d think they were crazy.

Once they get to the other side, there’s an encounter with Legion and the villagers of Gadara. They see the demonic set free – and witness as their herds of swine plunge over the precipice only to drown in the waters below. Their reaction: Jesus – get out of here!

You see, Jesus’ presence can be comforting – but it can also be very disturbing.

How do you feel about his presence in your life right now? If you are walking closely with him, his presence may be comforting. But if you are at odds with him, in rebellion to him, his presence should not be comforting, but disturbing. That “disturbing” is for a purpose – to stir you out of your rebellion or complacency back into a right relationship. Stop your lying, coveting, envy, gossip, cheating, prideful self-promotion!

Why? Odds are you won’t see Jesus today – not literally. But the day will come when he’ll come walking to you over the waters of your life and when that happens, you want his presence to be a comfort, not a terror. Let’s get right with him today!

PRAYER: Jesus, we pray that you’ll comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable this day, because nothing else is as important as this! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 12/30/21 – Being Willing

Leprosy was, and is, a horrible disease.  There was and is no cure for it.  While the term leprosy was applied to numerous skin diseases, none of them were pleasant, not only because of the disease itself, but because of how the leper was treated.  People under the Jewish system were not allowed to be in contact with those who were leprous.  It was a sentence of isolation, and even though the leper healed by Jesus “lived in the village”, he would have been unable to touch others, or be touched.  He could speak to them, see them as they went about their daily lives: hugging, shaking hands, putting an arm around one another’s shoulder, working together, playing, but he could not participate in any of those things.  He was cut off from human contact of any physical sort. 

The man’s faith had held strong, though.  He’d not given up hope, especially when Jesus came to the village.  He begged for healing, issuing a bold statement of faith.  But he put a curious qualifier on it: if you are willing.  It makes sense, doesn’t it?  After all, how can we know the mind of Christ?  How can we know his will in all circumstances?  Have we ever prayed for something that we thought was his will, only to find out that it wasn’t his will at all because he didn’t grant that request?  I have done so many, many times! 

I don’t know, but I suspect that this man, though he begged for healing, was willing to accept Jesus’ mind-set and decision on this matter.  He was already a leper…what did he have to lose by asking, except perhaps a little pride if his request was denied (but he probably had little if any pride left anyway). 

But the best news is Jesus’ response: I AM WILLING.  What that tells us about Jesus is wonderful: 1) He hears us; 2) He is moved by our begging (the parable about the woman who kept imploring the judge for a boon); 3) He is willing to heal and make us whole; 4) He not only is willing (who among us wouldn’t heal the suffering if we only had the power), but He has the power to heal

I’m sure the leper was thrilled by Jesus’ three words.  I would have been.  I wonder if I would have been as accepting if Jesus said “no” to my request.  It’s hard to accept a “no” for something we really want.

PRAYER: Father, many have been the times when I’ve prayed for something and instead of asking for it if it is your will, I am trying to instruct you what to do.  I’m sorry for my pride.  Please help me be willing to graciously accept your will!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 12/23/21 – Mary, What DID You Know?

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Mary, Did You Know? by the vocal group, Pentatonix. (If you’ve not heard it, click on the song title above.)

Apparently, some time back the author of the song caught some heat for posing the question. I think that’s unfortunate. Sure, there were some things she knew because the angel had told her: Luke 1:30-33 (NLT2) – “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

We don’t know if the angel said more than that, but if that’s what Mary knew, there was a great deal she didn’t know. Bear in mind that Mary almost certainly had the mindset of a typical Jewish girl of the first century. The Messiah (which means “anointed”) was to be a deliverer and sit on the throne of David. My guess is that was what Mary understood…that he would rescue his people, Israel. I don’t know that they even had a concept of what the “son of the Most High” meant – that he was literally the SON of God/God from everlasting to everlasting. She may have understood that to mean that he would be very close to God and would be greatly exalted – but that he was Divine? I doubt that she understood that in the beginning – but certainly by the time of the miracle of turning water into wine she’d come to expect them miraculous from him. But even then, Elijah, Moses, Elisha and others had performed miracles, too. And the term, Son of Man which was applied to Christ was also applied to Ezekiel (5:5-8).

What Mary couldn’t have understood (I don’t think) was that “his people” meant much more than Israel. It meant those of every tongue, nation and tribe that would put their faith in him to be their deliverer and ruler, too. She couldn’t have understood at the time of the Visitation that he would walk on water, give sight to the blind, heal the lame, that he had walked where angels trod or that he’d bring the dead back to life.

To me this song plumbs the depths of the questions that must have run through Mary’s mind as she submitted herself to the will of God. She was human, after all. And I think she was probably as amazed as others at what it mean to give birth to the Son of the Most High.

At Christmas, it is a good time for us to ask ourselves what it  means for us to submit ourselves to this One born of the virgin nearly 2000 years ago. If we think we know all the answers to that question, I suspect we’re probably as wrong as Mary likely was before Jesus took up his ministry. Let us dig deeply into the questions of what we think we know of Jesus. He’s beyond our comprehension.

PRAYER: Jesus, teach us gently as our limited minds cannot grasp your greatness! Fill us with eternal wonder now and forever! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 12/14/21 – Everyone Means Everyone

Luke 6:17-19 (NLT) – When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and Jesus also cast out many evil spirits. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.

I think my favorite four words from this text are the last four: and he healed everyone.  He’s not in a rush.  He didn’t live by a wristwatch or smart phone alerting him to appointments, places he had to go, things he needed to do.  Jesus never seemed to be pressed for time, have you noticed?  He spent countless hours alone in prayer.  He fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, ignoring all the other things he could have been doing. He waited 30 years to begin his ministry.  He lay in the tomb for 3 days when he could have risen up immediately.  But he didn’t. 

The point is he came for us…to be Immanuel (God WITH us).  In ministry it is hard to find the time to be WITH those we are to minister to.  We find every other reason to be invested in the study, to go to the Christian supply store, to meet with other pastors, to go to conferences, to do everything except be present.  The same is true for every life – it is hard anymore to find time to BE with others.  Instead of talking, we text.  Instead of spending time with real people, we spend it with animated video games or staring at a television.  We find all sorts of ways to avoid being with others (perhaps as a self-defense mechanism).  Jesus didn’t.  He took the opposite approach.

But the best part of those last four words are this: he didn’t fail to heal a single person.  There is no one or nothing that Jesus can’t heal.  He can heal the pain of your divorce, of your sexual infidelity, of your addiction, of your rebellion.  He can render the disease of pride, anger, unforgiveness, lust, greed and envy null and void.  There is nothing that he cannot and will not do to bring us back into fullness as humans and into a personal relationship with him.  He proved that on the cross.

PRAYER: Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed!!!!  In Your name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>