The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading PlanSample

Listening and Living Free

In the high-profile Christian ministries — that is, the ministries of famous preachers, teachers, scholars, pastors and writers, along with celebrated artists, singers, songwriters, musicians, poets and the like — ruthless trust is shunning prestige, honor, power, fame and the seductions of celebrity . . .

After gospel song writer and recording artist Michael Card finished a concert in Wembley Stadium in London, the audience rose to their feet in sustained, thunderous applause. Their unharnessed enthusiasm demanded one curtain call after another. When the brouhaha finally ended, Michael ran to his dressing room and called me long-distance here in New Orleans. “Please pray for me right now, Brennan,” he begged. He knew that, like me, he could easily be seduced by the siren call of success, the unbounded adulation of his fans. “I don’t want this stuff,” he fairly shouted. “Ask Jesus to set me free.” But Mike, who reminds me more of Francis of Assisi than anyone I have ever met, was free before he asked.

Ruthless trust is unhalting acceptance of the truth contained in the Irish proverb, “Bidden or unbidden, he is present.”

Ruthless trust is the courageous confidence that despite suffering and evil, terrorism and domestic conflict, God’s plan in Jesus Christ cannot fail. The ensuing years will bring slow but steady progress in kingdom values, and the day will dawn when the lion will lie down with the lamb, the East will learn the language of the West (and vice versa); blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics will truly communicate; our cities of garbage, apathy and despair will experience the sunshine of a better life; and all men and women will rejoice in the Spirit that makes us one in Christ the Lord.

Taken from NIV Ragamuffin Bible