In this devotional video, M.t. Clark opens with a photograph and a poem by Philip Hand that celebrates the cherished people and beautiful moments that illuminate life like dawn. He uses the poem to segue into a series of theological reflections on the fleeting nature of life, the certainty of God’s love, and the hope of eternal life. Clark cites Romans 8:31‑39, emphasizing that nothing—death, suffering, or any power—can separate believers from Christ’s love, and he links this assurance to the promise of citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20). He then introduces Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s essay “Do Not Worry About Tomorrow” from God Is in the Manger, highlighting Bonhoeffer’s warning that possessions become the source of anxiety and that true security comes from trusting God for today’s needs. Clark shares excerpts from Bonhoeffer’s 1944 Christmas letter to his fiancée, illustrating the inner peace that transcends external circumstances. Applying these teachings to the New Year, Clark confesses personal struggles with food addiction and compulsive book buying, and he sets resolutions to rely on God’s power rather than material security. Throughout, he urges listeners to give thanks to God for past blessings, to live joyfully in the present, and to pursue an abundant life rooted in faith in Jesus Christ. The devotional concludes with a prayer asking for God’s guidance, provision, and the ability to reflect His love in daily life.
Chapters
To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a work of art displaying the first light of dawn transforming a gray world with its life-giving light comes to us from our friend in the UK, Philip Hand, who also shared the following poem as he fondly remembers the people that God put in his life to touch his heart. Philip writes: Daydream. In my perfect daydream, I'd often escape and sit by the waters of a beautiful lake, surrounded by all the amazing people I've met, the ones you love and never forget, shining as diamonds in my memory like the stars on a crystal clear winter night. Delicious, ambitious, Witty and wise, these are the ones that usually surprise. Sweetest memories as dreams in my mind, precious people in the landscape of life. Breathtaking beauty as our moments entwine, existing forever in our moments divine. Well, it's Tuesday, the second day of the new year, and as touching as Philip's poem is about fondly remembering the people that have passed through his life, whose memories he can reflect on to find joy in the present moment. I love how Philip subtly reminds us all not just about the brevity and the value of our lives and our relationships, but how these breathtaking, beautiful moments with the people we love that we will never forget are all a gift from God. Han's final word is divine, which means from God. And as my purpose in this blog is to point to the big picture and the good news of life, I have to remind everyone to give their thanks to the One who gave us our lives, who gave us our friends and loved ones, and who gave us all the days, the good and the bad, of our lives. For the good memories we have, for all the love and happiness we have ever known, we should thank God. If we reflect on the breathtaking beautiful moments of our lives and how quickly they seem to pass, we should go to the Lord and ask the big questions about this experience of life. Where have my departed loved ones gone? Is there life after death? How will my life be judged? How can I find peace with God? How can I experience more beauty in life? What happens next? What happens after my breathtaking moments end? What happens after death? The good news is that God loves us, wants us to know the answers to these questions, wants us to live with him in breathtaking moments of beauty forever, and made a way for us to do so. God spoke to the patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets to let us know he was real, present, powerful, good, and holy, and that he would send someone to make his message crystal clear. Although the Old Testament scriptures point to the— point to salvation through faith alone, God's plan was to give us a clear object that we could put our faith in: God the Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus answers all the questions of life and death. He preached about judgment and hell for those who would who choose to serve themselves or reject God's love and wisdom. And he spoke about Paradise, a good place, heaven for those who put their faith in him and choose to follow him. So as we appreciate the lives we have been given and the loved ones we have known, let's not get lost in the remembrance of the beauty and forget to look at the big picture, to thank the one who created it all. And let's demonstrate the love we have for what God has given us by seeking to have peace with him and to adopt his ways for living. It's a new year, so let's remember fondly those who are no longer with us and show our appreciation for those still here. But let's also seek to thank God and to enter into the abundant life that he has for us here and forever after. By placing our faith in Jesus and telling everyone we know how this— their breathtaking moments of beauty can carry on forever. Let's let the light of his truth and his love shine in and drive out the darkness. Let's let his creative power make us new and give us the peace, love, and joy that never fades away. Let's appreciate the life we have been given and seek God's truth, way, and life in and through faith in Jesus Christ to experience the abundant life he has for us to live. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Comfort, and today's verses are Romans 8:31-39. The Word of God says, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Today's verses fall under the 9th point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on Comfort, and the 9th point is If God is for us, nothing can separate us from his love. Today's verses point to the safety and security that we have when we put our faith in Jesus. Philippians 3:20 tells us that we are citizens of heaven, and Paul's words in here, here in Romans, uh, seek to expound upon just how sure and secure that citizenship is. Nothing in life or death or life or in the supernatural realms can separate us from the love, from God's love. And even though the early church faced persecution and death for their faith in Christ, sheep to be slaughtered, the Lord gives us this message to assure us that we need not fear, that we are more than conquerors through Christ. Christ told Martha in John 11:25-26 I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? Martha was shown this to be true with the resurrection of her brother Lazarus. And even though Jesus was crucified and died, he rose again to show that he is who he said he was. Jesus is God, and Paul and the apostles witnessed His life after death, and they share the message that God's love for us saves us and preserves us from death itself. So do not fear man or death, because God's love will keep us all safe, and even though we may die, we will live and experience being citizens of heaven and rulers with Christ forevermore. Because of the wonders of his love, the love we can never be separated from. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today, today we are sharing from God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as we share the message for January 2nd., from our devotional, which is entitled, um, from Bonhoeffer, is entitled "Do Not Worry About Tomorrow." And Bonhoeffer writes, possessions delude the human heart into believing that they provide security and a worry-free existence, but in truth they are the very cause of worry. For the heart that is fixed on possessions they come with a suffocating burden of worry. Worries lead to treasure, and treasure leads back to worry. We want to secure our lives through possessions. Through worry, we want to become worry-free. But the truth turns out to be the opposite. The shackles that bind us to possessions, that hold us fast to possessions, are themselves worries. The misuse of possessions consists in our using them for security for the next day. Worry is always directed toward tomorrow. In the strictest sense, however, possessions are intended only for today. It is precisely the securing of tomorrow that makes me so insecure today. Today's trouble is enough for today, says Matthew 6:34. Only those who place tomorrow in God's hands and receive what they need to live today are truly secure. Receiving daily liberates us from tomorrow. Thought for tomorrow delivers us up to endless worry. And then our devotional shares Bonhoeffer's final Christmas-time letter to his fiancée, Maria von Wedemeyer, on December 19th, 1944. And Bonhoeffer wrote, I have had the experience over and over again that the quieter it is around me, the clearer do I feel the connection to you. It is as though in solitude the soul develops senses which we hardly know in everyday life. Therefore, I have not felt lonely or abandoned for one moment. You, the parents, all of you, the friends and students of mine at the front, all are constantly present to me. Therefore, you must not think me unhappy. What is happiness and unhappiness? It depends so little on the circumstances. It depends really only on that which happens inside a person. That was Bonhoeffer's thoughts in his final Christmastime letter to his fiancée back in 1944. And finally, our devotional share is Matthew 6:31-34. And the Word of God says, Jesus said, therefore do not worry, what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear? For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things. And indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry— will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. That concludes our sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's God Is in the Manger for January 2nd. And that concludes our message from, uh, M.t. for Christ.org. Um, it's the second day of the year, and, uh, you know, I was reflecting on what Bonhoeffer wrote yesterday of how we can set our intention, you know, with the New Year's resolutions, but it is God who brings the change and keeps the change. So as we set out in the second day of the year and I begin my, my journey into New Year's resolutions for continued victory over food addiction, even though I had a holiday break and feasting, and also to deal with my consumption of finances, as I have a bad habit of buying books that I don't read, or, you know, intend to read someday, but the books, they pile up. And as Bonhoeffer points out, our possessions really are for today. So yeah, I want to have these books to read someday, but I can't really experience them tomorrow. I can only experience them today. So we have to choose, you know, to utilize the things that we have now, and that includes our relationships. As Philip Han points out, you know, we can fondly remember our friends and those beautiful moments and everything, but they'll, you know, they'll pass off into eternity. And while we can think of those memories and have joy in the present moment, we can all— we should probably appreciate the people that are here now. Instead of sitting in a daydream, we should experience the peace and joy of each other's presence here and now, before people pass away. You know, express our friendship and our love for one another as much as we can every day. So these are all good, all good signposts to point us to, you know, living for God and looking at the big picture and enjoying our lives that He's given us. You know, if we really want to worship the Lord, we're going to live lives that give Him glory and honor. And being people filled with joy and not being people filled with fear or depression over things that have passed is the way to go. So it's difficult because our human weaknesses and and whatnot get in the way. But that's why we focus on, uh, on our faith. Um, the Lord doesn't pass away, and he gives us the strength to overcome and endure. And when we reflect on him, we can't help but understand the goodness of our lives and the fact that he's come to save us through Jesus. And so if you've lost your joy, I pray for you to, uh, to You can find it by following the Lord, by reading his word, reflecting on who you are in Christ, and knowing that your performance on a daily basis, although it's, you know, a part of our journey, will not determine your, your final outcome. Our faith in Christ does that, and he approves us, and he gives us citizenship to heaven when we don't deserve it. He forgives all our sins and makes us righteous through his son Jesus. We have that, we have nothing to worry about, we have nothing to fear, and we will live forever and know the beauty and wonders of his love for all eternity. So this is good news for Tuesday when we go back to work, and it's good to remember because after a week's long Christmas vacation, you know, you can sort of lose, lose hope and start to worry. Like, oh no, all my fun's gone. No, no, no, our life continues. The beautiful moments continue. It's just a matter of, you know, doing what's right. I'm not independently wealthy, so I need to provide for myself and my family, and it's mostly myself these days, um, you know, by working. And so we do that, and we do the best job we can and try to enjoy, you know, what we do to the best of our abilities. So, so give thanks to the Lord and keep walking and talking with God, and he'll see you through. But we, we definitely need his help, uh, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the life you've given us and for, you know, showing us the big picture and the good news of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for anyone listening today, that they would come, that you'd come alongside them and their prayer request. In their walk of faith, Lord, because we all need your help. And me, I won't say most of all, but yeah, oh yeah, I definitely need your help. And so I'm praying for you to go before me today. I need you to open my eyes to the things I need to see and the things I need to know to do the best job I can today. So I pray for you to help me, to guide me into the things I should do. And, uh, um, you know, to best represent you, because that's all I want to do, Lord. I want to show people the joy of life in your kingdom and how that starts now here on earth. So we just pray for you to go before us, Lord, and help us to do that. Well, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
