Today Daily Devotional

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
— 1 Corinthians 13:4

Over the years, so much has been written about beekeeping that it can be easy to be distracted by details and lose sight of the “big picture.” With bees, it’s primarily about maintaining the hive, a living superorganism. Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who invented the movable frame hive (1852), recommended listening to the “hum” of the hive for inspiration. A quick internet search shows that lots of beekeepers compare the hum of the hive to a symphony.What makes the hive a harmonious home for bees? We might like to think that bees survive and thrive by way of virtues, but they just follow the wonderful instincts God provided when he created them.In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we can see that the community life of Christ-followers is, sadly, not always loving and harmonious. In fact, sometimes the church is far from that ideal. A whole other dynamic is necessary for a community to become wholesome. Living by the virtues we find in 1 Corinthians 13 requires that we selflessly love one another.The inspired text of 1 Corinthians 13 reflects the self-giving love of God, in whose image Christ-followers are being recreated. In Christ, we can be part of a body in which all “have equal concern for each other” (12:25). The one body of Christ is the community in which each member lovingly works to build up and care for one another in the Lord, the one and only Savior.

Lord, thank you for being the way to faith, hope, and love. Grow us to become mature in you as each part of your body does its work. Amen.

They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
— Psalm 118:12

How does the image of swarming bees affect you? Disaster and horror movies that picture bees stinging people to death will make some viewers overly fearful of bees.Bees will sometimes try to nest in odd places. For example, I heard of a swarm of honeybees clustering on the fender of a yellow Corvette Stingray. Were they drawn to the car’s bright color?I encountered my first swarm of bees while trimming a hedge. At first, I heard some buzzing that grew louder and stronger. Looking around, I saw a swarm of bees on a nearby tree branch. I knew that honeybee swarms are harmless as long as they are not disturbed. They likely had left an overcrowded hive with their queen, and their scout bees were looking for a choice location to start a new hive.The writer of Psalm 118 seems to have been familiar with swarming bees. He said that being surrounded by enemies was like having a swarm of bees around him. Maybe you know what that’s like. Being in a seemingly impossible situation with frustrated or threatening people swirling around can arouse fear and anxiety.Psalm 118 indicates that the way into secure daily living and a bright future is to look to the Lord for relief and rescue. Our guarantee is that “his love endures forever.” When we are feeling overwhelmed, let’s look to the Lord!

Lord, inspire us to trust in you and to cry out to you when we are feeling overwhelmed. Thank you for your steadfast love and abundant goodness. Amen.

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . .”
— Matthew 28:19

Late August is the best time for us to pick our raspberries. That’s when the berries are turning ripe, red, and sweet. At the same time, honeybees, bumblebees, and other bees are buzzing all around and pollinating, doing their everyday work and living. The honeybees collect pollen and nectar to build their hive and produce food—honey to eat now and throughout the winter. As they go about their work, bees pollinate anything that has flowers. And for us their work produces fruit, vegetables, and foliage in abundance.Bees do not need to be told to go out, gather, and pollinate. It’s programed into their nature. It’s all about doing what God made them to do so that plants and trees will thrive and provide food for all creatures, especially us humans. What’s more, doing what they do helps their hive to survive and thrive.As followers of Jesus, we all are instructed to go and make disciples, inviting people to become followers of Jesus. Wherever we go about doing our work and living in God’s wide world, we can touch people with the message of Jesus’ love. This is the desire of Jesus’ heart. Like pollinating bees, we can touch the lives of lost people and pray that the love of Christ will produce the fruit of faith in them.Have you embraced this mission? In what ways are you engaged in it?

Lord, keep sending your followers to bring your message of love and mercy everywhere. Use our deeds and words to draw people to you. Amen.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

In our garden one summer day, I was suddenly assaulted by a bee buzzing furiously around my head. Panicking (never a good idea), I flailed furiously with my hat, trying to swat it away. The bee zeroed in and sunk its stinger into my nose. When it circled and then flew in to sting me again, I knew it could not be one of my honeybees. They lose their stingers and die after one sting. Thankfully, I was able to escape with only one sting.Are you afraid of bees? Many people are. Bee stings are painful. And if you are allergic, bee stings can be dangerous and even deadly. Getting too many bee stings at once could overwhelm and cause death for anyone.Are you afraid of death? Paul’s words to Christ-followers in 1 Corinthians 15 are aimed at calming our fears of being stung to death. Paul explains that sin delivers the sting that leads to death. When people go their own way, their sin is like a deadly stinger that shoots venom into them, resulting in death. The only antidote to the poisonous venom of sin and death is in Jesus—his death for our sins and his resurrection victory over death.We can trust in Jesus and walk in his resurrection power each day, sharing with others the good news of salvation and new life in him.

Dear Jesus, you came to die for our sin, taking on the sting of death for all who trust in you. Assure us that in your resurrection power we can be free of sin and death and rise to new life with you. In your name, Amen.

We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
— 2 Corinthians 2:15

People who have studied bee communication have observed a complex system in which bees use pheromones (scents). These “chemical messengers” that bees produce and receive are needed for a hive to thrive. For example, scents are central to the mating process. And if the hive is threatened, worker bees give off an alarm scent that rallies other bees to go out and sting potential intruders. Also, each hive is marked with its own queen’s scent so that the gatherer bees from that hive will find their way safely back to it.In communication among living things, so much is shared in subtle ways. For instance, we can communicate nonverbally through gestures, looks, posture, tone of voice, and so on. People who have studied human interactions assert that 80-90 percent of our communication is nonverbal, and this can either support or contrast with our words.As Christ-followers, we are encouraged to infuse our communication with the “pleasing aroma of Christ.” There is no way to fake this scent. It can come only through our union with Christ. Ephesians 5:2 recommends, for example, that we “walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Doing that, we can spread the pleasing scent of Christ to the people around us.

Lord Jesus, may our actions and words be infused with your scent so that others may sense your presence in us and be drawn to you. Amen.