Then [Jesus] looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’?” Luke 20:17
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE EPHESIANS 2:19-22 “19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit..”
COMMENTS: You and I have the ability to change our attitudes, our choices, our conduct, and even our thoughts. We can change our environment and people we associate with and even our world view and belief system. We can be adopted into different families and acquire different last names. But we can not change our lineage or ancestry. We can’t change who we are blood relations with. Before Easter, the status of being a Jew was only possible if your parents were Jewish. An exception was those like Ruth or Rehab who chose to follow the God of Israel and accept the Jewish life style and beliefs. There was a ritual necessary.
But after Easter, Jews and Gentiles alike were offered redemption and acceptance into Christ’s chosen group called “Christians”. Not all embraced that theology right away but Paul was able to convince those opposed, including Peter. Well, God really softened Peter with a vision which convinced God that Paul was doing His Will and needed to be followed.
Anyway, since Easter, Jews have been offered Salvation and still called by God not to privilege but called to evangelize. They still are called to do so, but so are we gentiles. We can’t change our background but we can change our future and not only accept Christ’s redemption and inheritance and passage to eternal life with Him in heaven, but we can also choose to accept the responsibility that privilege carries. The responsibility to share that Good News with others.
Have you ever known or see jealousy of one sibling for another who dominates parent’s affections. Parents should be alert to warning signs and show unbiased affection to all their children. As they get older the way to show affection and love needs to change and mature, while keeping affections age sensitive. Families missing that wisdom bring harm to the family and to both parent and child in that family. Christ is no longer limited in His abilities and attributes and is no longer bound by time with it’s limitation as He was while on earth as a human. He can show love and affection and give attention to all at the same time and still fulfill and meet all the needs of each of us without depriving any. He also provides His Holy Spirit to give tailored focus and ministry to meet unique needs and resolve specific issues and problems each of us comes to Him carrying.
But He does require that we surrender and submit to His strong Hands and wise council. He provides Grace to us when we accept His Salvation. He continues to provide Grace as we continue to yield our wills and choices to Him. He shields us from satan’s snares and temptations as we stay in His Hands. When we get off His Hands, we expose ourselves to needless temptation and danger and struggles. The prodigal chose to leave his father but also chose to return. But the loss during that time of sin caused scars and suffering and permanent cost not only for the prodigal but for the father and even for his other brother. His brother’s sin may not have happened if he had stayed and remained faithful to his father. The resources available to the whole family would have been greater because the wayward son would not have squandered them and would have contributed to them instead of wasting them.
Granted, God’s resources are infinite but those He created are limited. Limited to you and me and other humans born after Adam and Eve. Those who die in their sins are eternally lost. A loss He feels and grieves at while those who accept Christ’s redemption are restored to Him. When Jesus shared the parable of the Prodigal, HE desired for us to see the pain and sorrow the Father suffers when we stray and the joy He experienced with each of His children when they return. He also reveals how much He desires for those of us who didn’t stray to rejoice with Him when others return to Him. He also wants us to get that Good News out so more come to Him for mercy too. There is more than enough love in Him for everyone without depriving any His love or blessings.
Corrie Ten Boom said, “When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
Corrie also said “In darkness God’s truth shines most clear .”
Corrie speaks with great authority because she has experienced the worst evil man could do. She also said “I’ve experienced His Presence in the deepest darkest hell that men can create… I have tested the promises of the Bible and believe me, you can count on them.”
One of my f favorite quotes Corrie said is “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”
The cornerstone is the most important support skilled builders set because it supports the weight and stabilizes the entire building. If it is not set on solid ground or is not strong enough, it will yield and allow the entire structure to move and ultimately fall.
CHRIST IS OUR CORNERSTONE AND THE CHURCH HE BUILT IS YOU AND ME AND ALL HIS FO LLOWERS BEFORE US AND ALL HIS FOLLOWERS AFTER US TOO.
The apostle Paul did in Ephesians 2:19-22. Jesus initiated the building of what is becoming “a holy temple in the Lord” or His Church. That also means each one of us is a stone laid on the shoulders of those before us. It also means those after us will be set on our shoulders so His Church continues to be strong and solid but also continue to grow in strength and numbers and in stature. We enjoy eternal life so we are indeed “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) AMEN? AMEN!
“Christ is our temple, in whom by faith all believers meet.” Matthew Henry
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 420 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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