Tony Evans - The Life Under God: The Kingdom Agenda 365 Daily Devotional Readings

2014 by
TONY EVANS

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message, copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

These selections are based on The Kingdom Agenda, 2013 by Tony Evans.

Edited by Cheryl Molin

Interior design: Ragont Design

Cover design: Smartt Guys design

Cover image: Brad Davis /Action Hero Design

Author photo: Trey Hill

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Tony, 1949

Life under God : The kingdom agenda 365 daily devotional readings / Tony Evans.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-8024-1122-8

1. Christian lifePrayers and devotions. 2. Devotional calendars. I. Evans, Tony, 1949- Kingdom agenda. II. Title.

BV4501.3.E9272 2014

242.2dc23

2014011810

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I would like to dedicate this devotional to the staff of my national ministry, The Urban Alternative, who works diligently to take the philosophy of the kingdom agenda to people worldwide. May God always look upon each of you with His favor.

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This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

T he heart of our problem in our nation todayin our lives, families, churches, and communitiescan be captured and summarized in these verses found in 2 Chronicles 15, a portion of Gods Word talking about ancient Israel:

For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. (vv. 3, 56)

The first thing missing was the true God.

The Israelites had not become atheists. Nor was their attendance at the temple down. The sacrificial fires continued to burn. Yet despite all of their religious activity, Israel had lost a correct view of the true God.

They wanted a convenient God, one they could control. They wanted a kingdom without a King. They wanted a figurehead, a puppet with the trappings of kingship only. Yet any god or king you can boss around isnt the true God, or the true King. The true God does not adjust to you. You adjust to Him.

Our culture doesnt want the true God either. Our culture wants to pay homage onlyto offer a nice little prayer before public meetings.

Yet any time we simply pay homage without aligning our thoughts and actions under God, we are reinforcing our cultures false view of God as a harmless deity who doesnt have anything significant to say about the educational, scientific, entertainment, civic, political, familial, legal, or racial issues of the day. Doing so, we seek to leave God the title of King in name only, but give His powers and authority to others, or even ourselves.

REFLECTION: What is the difference between paying homage and true worship? In what areas of your life do you treat God as a figurehead king and not your true Lord? How can we align our thoughts and actions under God?

Lord, may I never want a kingdom without You as the King. Grant me the wisdom and ability to seek You in everything that I do and to live a life reflective of Your kingdom agenda.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

W e often complain about what unbelievers do. And in 2 Chronicles 15, we see that the Israelites did not seek the true God. That was their first problem, and it is our problem in our nation as well. The second problem Israel faced, which led to their decay, was a lack of teaching priests. Again, the text doesnt say there were no priests at all. But the priests had stopped teaching the truth. They had traded enlightenment for entertainment. Worship had degenerated into a social club. The church was no longer the epicenter of all life and conscience of the culture, calling people to take God seriously.

Israel was suffering from an absence of spiritual leaders who took seriously the authority of Scripture for all of life. Too often today, pastors preach to please. They fear that someone might say, Well, I didnt like that sermon. But if the pastor preached Gods Word, thats the wrong response. The issue is whether it was true, not whether it was popular. Politicians need to be popular. Preachers need to tell the truth.

The issue of truth is all-important. The lack of truth leads to a conscienceless society. People become anesthetized in their conscience, losing their sense of right and wrong. In such a society every person becomes a law unto himself or herself, so chaos rules.

Yet in a world where everybodys truth is true and everyones answers are right, nobodys truth is true and no ones answers end up being right. When a society loses truth, it loses meaning, because people are never really sure about anything.

Theres only one standard of truth: the changeless word of the one, true God.

REFLECTION: What alternate standards of truth vie for your attention? Why is Gods Word important to the Christian life? How can we keep our hearts focused on the truth of Gods Word?

All truth comes from You, Lord. Your Word is the standard by which all is to be measured. I praise You and thank You for Your Word and for the ability You have given each of us to know You and to understand Your teaching