Tag Archives: seek

Bible Gleanings, devotions

The Savior Who Seeks Sinners | Bible Gleanings | July 6-7, 2024

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I searched high and low for it, but it was sleeping with the fishes. My iPhone evidently decided to try its hand at scuba diving, as it dove out of my pocket during a recent kayaking excursion. I lost it at the bank and did everything I could to retrieve it, but to no avail (what a “sinking” feeling!). I looked for it in the murky and muddy depths, and called it from my wife’s phone in hopes that its vibrations would cause bubbles to rise to the surface. I even tried submerging my head to see if I could hear it ringing, but my efforts were useless. 

Although I never recovered my smartphone, I did learn a lesson: I was willing to go to great lengths (and depths) to recover something that was lost because it was valuable to me. And this is the humbling lesson which the Lord teaches us in the Bible’s great story of redemption. Just as I searched tirelessly for my lost phone, the Lord relentlessly pursues lost sinners because of His love for them. He leaves the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that is lost (Luke 15:4). Like the woman who sought her misplaced coin, the Lord diligently searches the whole world for the wayward (Luke 15:8-10).

As a matter of fact, the Lord runs after those who run away from Him, just as He pursued the first sinners in the Garden of Eden and rebellious Jonah who vainly attempted to escape His presence (Gen. 3:8; Jonah 1:3-4). And there is no greater demonstration of God’s searching and stop-at-nothing love than the cross of Calvary, where the Lord purchased the salvation of sinners with the blood of His beloved Son (1 Peter 1:18-19). Upon the gruesome hill of Golgotha, the Lord sacrificed His Son because of His love for those who hate Him and transgress His law. As Jesus famously said,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17, KJV).

This is why Christ came into the world: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Have you experienced the Savior’s steadfast love? Can you sing with the hymn writer John Newton (1725-1807), “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see”? If so, are you willing to go to the greatest lengths and depths to deliver the gospel’s soul-saving message to those who are lost? Do you long to see sinners gathered into the flock of God like Jesus does (Matt. 23:37)? 

“I will sing the wondrous story

Of the Christ who died for me.

How He left His home in glory

For the cross of Calvary.

I was lost, but Jesus found me,

Found the sheep that went astray,

Threw His loving arms around me,

Drew me back into His way.”

— “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story.” Francis H. Rowley (1854-1952)

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot. Brandon and Dakota are also foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and a religious columnist for the Advance Yeoman newspaper in Ballard County, Kentucky. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. His columns are also featured in the Times-Argus newspaper of Central City, Kentucky, West Kentucky News of western Kentucky, and the online blog, Reforming the Heart.

Pick up a copy of Brandon’s latest book, Fundamentals for the Faithful, which explains the importance of all the basics which every believer should know:

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Leaving Jesus Out | Bible Gleanings – January 14-15, 2023

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The blank white space says it all. There is a glaring empty delineation in the center of Adolph Menzel’s famous painting, Frederick the Great’s Address to His Generals Before the Battle of Leuthen, and it is right where the main character was meant to be. Menzel intended to depict Frederick’s rousing oration to his generals given on the eve of the Battle of Leuthen in 1757, but he never finished it. The wintry landscape of the battlefield and the gaudy uniforms worn by the generals are portrayed in photorealistic detail, but there is a flagrant void where Frederick the Great should be! Menzel burned all of his time beautifying the things that mattered the least while leaving out the central character.

And while Menzel’s infamous work may be an imperfect portrait, it is sometimes a perfect portrait of our lives. More often than not, we tend to the minor matters of life and embellish the things that do not matter eternally. We scrupulously paint the canvas of our careers, personal ambitions, and worldly achievements while omitting the central figure, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is very easy to give ourselves fully to everything else except the One who gave Himself up for us (Eph. 5:2). Many times, there is a white space in our lives where Jesus should be. 

The white space glares when we tirelessly serve the greedy god of Mammon instead of selflessly serving the Master, Jesus (Matt. 6:24; cf. Col. 3:23-24). The white space scowls when we offer the Lord the leftovers of our earnings after having spent it all on ourselves (Prov. 3:9-10; Mal. 3:8). The white space gradually widens when we work painstakingly toward the achievement of our own personal goals, rather than pursuing the goal of testifying to Jesus and finishing our course (Acts 20:24). The white space rears its ugly head when we fail to redeem the time God has given us because our schedules are jammed with frivolous matters (Eph. 5:16). The only way to prevent a white space from emerging is to paint Jesus in the “foreground” of our lives, and tend to the “background” aspects after putting Him first in everything. 

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” the Lord commands in the Decalogue (Ex. 20:3). Similarly, Jesus calls us to seek Him and His kingdom first (Matt. 6:33). Does not the one and only God deserve to be our one and only God (Isa. 45:5)? Does not the First and the Last Himself deserve to be the first in our lives and not last (Rev. 1:17)? Does not the exalted Lord of all deserve to be the Lord of all that we are and all that we do (Eph. 1:20-23)?

When we are done painting the portrait of our lives, will there be a blank space where Jesus belongs?

“All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.”— Judson W. Van De Venter, I Surrender All.

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

Grab a copy of Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features one-hundred more daily devotions gleaned from Scripture: