In this devotional, M.t. Clark opens with a tranquil photo of the Hudson River before turning to the anxiety‑inducing climate of contemporary politics, especially the recent presidential debate that he describes as "end times politics" filled with threats of financial collapse, environmental disaster, and war. He relates this national turmoil to personal struggles with depression and anxiety, recounting a friend’s mental narrative of past‑nostalgia, financial worries, and political frustration. Clark challenges listeners to ask whether they truly want to feel this way and to recognize that many political and economic outcomes are beyond personal control. He advocates a Christian response rooted in prayer, gratitude, and a deliberate focus on one’s identity in Christ, emphasizing that true peace comes from redirecting thoughts to God’s promises rather than external circumstances. The devotional then presents a biblical meditation on 1 Corinthians 11:1, urging believers to follow Christ’s example, and proceeds to a detailed exposition of 1 Corinthians 13 as interpreted by Stephen F. Alford, distinguishing the negative and positive attributes of love. Clark extends this teaching to a moral stance on sexual purity, condemning homosexuality as iniquity based on scriptural passages, and stresses celibacy or marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical model. Throughout, he calls listeners to practical spiritual disciplines—prayer, Scripture study, gratitude, stewardship, and evangelism—while acknowledging the limits of human influence. The segment concludes with a heartfelt prayer for guidance, peace, and the ability to live out Christ’s example in a troubled world.
Chapters
To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of blue skies and the blue waters of the Hudson River with the Hudson Athens Lighthouse and the Catskill Mountains in the distance comes to us from Richard Carpentier, who shared this scene on social media that he captured during a morning prayer session on the Hudson back on June 10th. Well, it's Friday again, thank God, and while Richard's recent photo can easily give you a peaceful, easy feeling to walk into the weekend with, the powers and principalities of this world would much rather drive you into a frenzied state of fear and anxiety about the horrible state of the world, causing you to seek to control it by pushing for a particular political party or presidential candidate to either make America great again again, or to allow the current officeholder to, quote unquote, finish the job. Yikes. Last night's presidential candidate debate would do little to alleviate your fears, as its exchange of insults and rhetoric that highlighted the possibilities of various financial collapses, environmental doomsdays, societal strife, and yep, World War III, painted a picture of what I thought of as end times politics. The few minutes of what I watched of the warlike debate reminded me why I don't watch the news and why I will begrudgingly cast my vote for the lesser of two evils and trust in God to lead my future, uh, regardless of the state of the world or our nation's politics. I have a friend who suffers from low-grade depression and anxiety that is stealing his peace and joy for life. And in my efforts to encourage him to invest his thought life in the truths of who he is in Christ, he recently revealed that his mental narrative included unhealthy sentimental attachments of things of the past, worries about the financial markets and accumulating money, and concerns about politics. With the negative comparison of today with the perceived better days of the past and real concerns over the present and future, some may say that he is that he's completely justified in being depressed and anxious, that he might even have a right to be upset. While I don't ever suggest denying reality, I usually ask my friends or the clients that I work with who suffer from low moods or negative affect if they want to feel this way. The answer to that simple question is usually, "No, I don't want to feel this way." To which I ask, "How can we change it? Can we change the country? Can we individually change the financial markets? Can we go back to the past? Besides campaigning efforts and our one vote in November, can we change the world of politics?" To which, perhaps after some arguing or debating of our own, they usually agree that these things that upset them are beyond their control. So what do we do? As Christians, what do we do about it? Uh, we pray. Yes, we pray, but we can also act. We can do our best to address the problems in our lives. Getting more money or a better job is possible. We can put effort into that. If we are passionate about political or other causes, we can volunteer to help. We can do our best to make a change for the future, but we won't be able to control the, uh, the outcomes. Either. So we could win or we could lose, get a better position or be disappointed. But while we, but while we can still play that game of circumstantial happiness, I will remind them that their negative mind states of depression and anxiety are within, not without, and that their mental efforts will be better spent in redirecting their thoughts away from the things that bring them low or fill them with fright. Instead of focusing on the uncertain things, what we lack, or things that upset us, we would be better served on focusing on what we do have, what we can do, and who we are in Christ. When we focus on God, we are reminded that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are accepted, secure, and significant in God's kingdom. Come what may in the future here on earth, the Lord's, the Lord's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven eventually, and we can find peace and rest knowing we have eternal life and a God who is working everything together for good, uh, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Rather than thinking that our faith is a small part of our lives that is given a few hours on a Sunday I suggest that we live with and for God 24/7 by staying in His presence with prayer and action. Mentally, we remind ourselves of who we are in Christ and shape our daily lives to reflect God's wisdom and love. We walk away from the sins of the flesh, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are responsible to be good stewards of all that the Lord has given us. We walk in the Spirit, reap the fruit of the Spirit, and share and show the love of God to others as we go. We lean on the Lord and His strength and understanding rather than worrying about how things will go in the future. We trust God to be with us regardless of what transpires. Of course, this, this takes training and practice, but as we We redirect our thoughts away from the things that upset or tempt us. We will become more and more skilled at becoming free from the bondage of depressive or anxious thoughts. When we practice gratitude and have a conversational relationship with the Lord, we see how blessed we are and realize that we are safe and never alone. So let's keep walking and talking with God. It's going to be a long summer and fall before the election in November. There is always bad news out there to grab our attention, but instead of worrying about whether or not we are in the end days, we can still find peace and joy right now by remembering that God is with us and he always will be as he determines how his will shall come and be done. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on Example. Good or Bad. Today's verse is 1 Corinthians 11:1 from the NIV. The Word of God says, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." Today's verse is the second of three passages of scripture that fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Example, Good or Bad. And that third point is: The Apostle Paul set a godly example to teach others how a Christian ought to to live. Today's verse is the marching order for every Christian: follow the example of Jesus. We have the Gospels to tell us how Jesus lived. We have church history to tell us how faithful men and women of God lived with and for God. And we have faithful men and women in our local churches who can inspire us to be real Bible-believing Christians. Um, God's will for us is to be conformed to Christ's image, sanctified, to be holy as he is holy, and we need guides to show us the way. Jesus is our teacher, and his disciples in history and those who are still with us can show us how we do this thing called Christian living. From the gospel accounts, Jesus prayed and knew the word of God, so we should do those things too— pray and know God's word. Jesus also did good deeds, commanded people to sin no more, and encouraged people to follow him. So, we should do good deeds, turn from our sin and follow Him, and encourage others to do so too. Christianity is following the leader. Jesus is the leader, so let's follow His example. As always, I invite all to go to M.t. for Christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford.. And today's devotional focuses on 1 Corinthians 13, where Alford shares a single word from 1 Corinthians 13:4, and that word is love. And Stephen Alford writes, the apostle says, now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love, verse 13. A little further up, he gives the negative and positive definitions of love. Negative, verses 4 through 8: Love does not envy, love does not parade itself, love is not puffed up, love does not behave rudely, love does not seek its own, love is not provoked, love thinks no evil, love does not rejoice in iniquity, and love never fails. Positive, verses 4 through 7: Love suffers long, love is kind, love rejoices in the truth, love bears all things, love believes all things, love hopes all things, and love endures all things. And Alford ends by praying, O Lord, shed abroad the love of God in my heart, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen, amen. Yeah, we gotta know what— you gotta know what love is, and Jesus will show me. Anyway, and the word of God shows us here in 1 Corinthians 13, uh, you know, it's really known as the love chapter as Paul breaks it down. It's often used in marriage vows. And, uh, so, you know, I, I, I love the way Alfred broke it up because those verses are sort of intermingled. So he divided them into the negative things and the positive things. What love isn't, what love is. We want to know what love is, we got to know what it isn't, so we don't fall into that. So we might love someone, but we don't envy or parade ourselves or puffed up by it, and we don't act rudely or seek, you know, your own, or you know, you don't get provoked, and you think, you know, you're not supposed to think evil. And, uh, you're not supposed to rejoice in iniquity, and, and, you know, love never fails. So, um, whereas it does suffer long, it is kind, it rejoices in the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures through all things, you know. So yeah, we want to love. Um, that's very important. It's not all about truth. It's the truth. The truth is one thing, but if we don't have love, you know, we're a clanging cymbal, as this portion of scripture will tell you, that without love we have nothing. So, you know, we're not supposed to beat people up with the truth. We're supposed to lovingly let people know the truth so they can be saved and be right with God. Otherwise, you can profess love, but if you are living a lie, going against God's word, you know, that's there— that's where love, you know, is, is quote-unquote rejoicing in iniquity, when we're loving in a way that is not prescribed by the word of God. The love relationship— now, you can love people platonically and familially, you know, in your family or as friends, I don't think there's any limits on that except for when you make things idol, like your love is an idol, you would envy people or puff yourself up. But if we're in a sexual relationship that is outside the bounds of marriage between one man and a woman, we're loving an iniquity and we shouldn't parade itself as— not for nothing, it's June and I just saw during last night's presidential debate, I saw commercial that apparently, um, they're going to highlight Pride parades this Sunday because it's June 30th, the end of quote-unquote Pride Month. And oh boy, talk about iniquity. I'm sorry, it's just what the word of God says— homosexuality is a sin. And, uh, they're literally parading itself. It's parading itself and it's puffed up and If you go out to those parades, you might find people behaving rudely. And, you know, and not for nothing, it's evil. So it's not love, it's sin. And, you know, I'll say it because the word of God says it. And we can't live in iniquity. God has a way that's right and holy. And, you know, verses like 1 Corinthians 6:10 through 9 and 10 tell us, you know, that people who practice certain things won't be in the kingdom of God. One of those things is being a drunkard. That's what brought me to sobriety and sexual purity, quite frankly. Um, you know, I wanted to be more and more like Jesus. We follow his example, right? And Jesus didn't have any sin, and he didn't have any sexual sin. So for us to claim, you know, a fellowship with Jesus Christ and to live in sexual sin You're not following his example. Yikes, you know. And Jesus taught on marriage between a man and a woman. So there you go. The teacher taught us that's what we should do in terms of our sexual lives, and his living example is that he was celibate. Follow that example, and then you can really claim, you know, to either follow his example, his teaching on marriage between one man and a woman, or follow his example by being celibate. That's what the Lord Jesus, you know, showed and demonstrated in his life. There's no— so you got— you have two ways to go. Um, not any way, any way, you know, that we can conceive of. The world is desperately wicked and sick, uh, and, and the ways that distorts, um, the word of love. And, um, it's sad, but, uh, that's that. Anyway, today is Friday, so we should thank God. We don't have to focus on the negative things. Um, you know, we know the truth, and the truth has set us free, and we can rejoice even though the world— we can't change the world's sin either. We can preach and tell people, but people still choose to live in darkness. So instead of getting upset about that, we We shake the dust off our feet and keep walking and talking with God. We can't save anyone. God does that. All we can do is be used by God to encourage people to follow him. We don't want to, you know, we don't want to be hateful and tell people that, you know, that they're no good and they're desperately wicked. We would just encourage them to repent, believe in the gospel. Follow Jesus and his example for living. Anyway, um, I had a nice day off yesterday. I got some things done, I got some sleep, and that with my clients, everything was great. But today we're back to the secular job, and so we got to get going. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for being with us and guiding us out of the darkness into the light, um, to follow your example the best we can. Imperfectly, of course, Lord, and that's why we pray. We need your help to reveal to us the truth of how we live and to help us to live more like you and follow your example. And we need your help for that, Lord, and we need your help to understand the, the signs of the times and how things are so weird. And, uh, we just need your, your guidance to lead us into the today and into the future. Um, well, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that they'd be encouraged and that they would be blessed by you, and that you would come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, Lord, because we all need your help. And all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and and be a part of your will being done on the earth. And, uh, so we're praying for that today. Lord, open our eyes to the things you want us to see. Lead us in the way we should go. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
