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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature.
Not only those Devos' which have a different theme everyday but also the ones
which revolve around a certain theme over a period of time, say a fortnight have
richly edified me. In fact, both styles have their own inherent advantages.
If the former style caters to the varying spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day,
the latter aims 'to ground' a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full
benefits of the deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the styles'
whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different facets of it which admittedly
is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style than the 'Varying topics' one.
For starters in the first month of January I would be dwelling on the theme of the
"Christian Journey", with the material being arranged in a Book-like format under which the pages
would be opened ( i,e..displayed on-line) on each succeeding day.
So here's wishing you a happy & an edifying read....
Suresh Manoharan
January 20th
The odd man out
But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly,
I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it-
Numbers 14:24
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It requires courage of conviction to be an odd man out in the crowd and Caleb
who went to spy the Promised Land before the planned conquest of it along with
eleven other tribal leaders on a special mission
(read Numbers 13-14th chapters)
had it in ample measure. Even as the report of the majority of spies
(Numbers 13:31-33)
was marked by distinct lack of faith in a powerful God, who had given enough proofs of His Saving
Power till then, Caleb alone stood the ground speaking for the Lord who had safely shepherded them
from the time they left Egypt, till they came to the threshold of the Promised Land.
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'Hey, if our faithful God has safely brought us through wars & difficulties in the past,
won't He protect us now from the strong inhabitants of this Land & give us victory
over them' seemed to be in essence his clarion call to his people who had hit the panic button
on hearing the negative report of the other spies.
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It would have been so easy for Caleb to go along with the majority,
to swim with the tide, as it were, but He stuck to his convictions.
The result? Look at words of commendation and promise of His faithful
God in the captioned scripture portion above, whose fulfillment
we see later in
Joshua 14:6-15.
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How often, in our own Christian journey, we would have to make a choice of being
either a people-pleaser or a God-pleaser. In such situations, dear friends, like
Caleb lets make a wise decision of pleasing Him to whom, we owe our very existence.
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Prayer:
Father, in trying times when the majority are not pleasing You,
give Your children the courage to speak out for Thee in obedience,
unmindful of the earthly consequences', because eventually it is Your
commendation we ought to crave for. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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