TerryLema

It is that time of year again. This is what I call “Yuck Saturday.” It is the day we have to turn our clocks for Daylight Saving Time. We lose an hour of sleep tonight. I will be out of sorts tomorrow because I have one of those internal clocks that can time my response to something in my oven down to less than 60 seconds.

It will take me nearly a month to readjust to the time. And since I am a morning person, who goes to bed by 9 PM, flipping that clock ahead one hour puts the sunshine where I do not want it and takes it away from where I do (the morning).

And to be honest, how does adjusting a clock on the wall save daylight? We will get the same hours and minutes of daylight whatever the clock says! I wish they would pick a time and leave it. Eventually I will get used to it.

Now that I have had my yearly tirade … I admit that resetting those clocks to spring forward and fall back remind me about our future found in Revelation 20.

One day we will live in that eternal city. That “city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” [vs 23 HCSB]

Those who will abide in that eternal light are “only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” [vs 27]

Got your name written?

Last Sunday was a difficult day in some ways and a day of praise in others. Pastor Laura of The Way Middleton announced to the congregation that our small church would soon be part of Christian Faith Center (CFC) in Nampa. Our new name will be CFC Middleton.

The transition will begin in a few months and probably take a few months, with an ‘unveiling’ sometime in early Autumn. The goal of both churches is to reach Middleton with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. There is both a sense of excitement and the grief that comes with change – even good change.

I truly believe this is an answer to years of prayer for our church and our community. I believe it is of God. But … I still must recognize that as I see the familiar give way to something different, I will mourn the loss.

The morning after the announcement my daily verse was a confirmation from the opening verse of Isaiah 25:1: “Yahweh, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” [HCSB]

“Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” Long before I ever came to that little church in Middleton, long before we changed the name to “The Way,” long before we ever prayed for revival, for souls, for our church and city, long before … God had plans formed according to His perfect faithfulness for what would happen there.

God did not quite answer in the way I expected Him to, but then it is my responsibility to fit into His plans, not His responsibility to fit into mine! 

LORD, I will exalt You, I will praise your Holy Name for all You will accomplish in our Middleton community. And in my own heart. Amen

Every day someone carried him to the temple and placed him by the gate Beautiful so that he could beg from those entering the temple complex. Every day, day after day. He had been lame from birth and this was his life. [Acts 3:1-10]

One day as he saw two men approach, he did what he always did. He asked for help. Only this day would be different. “Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, ‘Look at us.’” [HCSB]

So, he did, expecting to get from them what everyone else had given him every other day of this life. “But Peter said, ‘I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!’”

And just like that, this moment changed him forever. He could feel the strength arising in his feet and ankles. He jumped up, stood, and started to walk. Then he went into the temple with Peter and John, walking, and leaping, and praising God beside them.

Beloved, there are many people like this lame man around us. They may be whole in body but are broken in their souls. They go about their lives each day thinking nothing will ever change, nothing can ever change. They have looked to the world and found nothing but a mere pittance of help.

We need to be Peter and John and give them what we have. We have Christ Jesus. We have hope. We have life in Him. We can be that “one day” in their lives when everything changes forever—when they are no longer begging but walking, and leaping, and praising God.

“What I have, I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk” with God!

I realized a few months ago that not one of the chairs in our home was comfortable. One was too big and I needed all kinds of pillows to be comfortable. One hurt my neck. One’s seat cushion was too thin, so it grew more uncomfortable the longer I sat. And the loveseat was Bob’s domain since it was the only seating high enough for him to get out of.

So Bob and I took a little trip to a neighboring town and bought a new red rocker recliner for me. It was more money than I wanted to spend, but oh, is it comfortable! The only downside is that my sweet red rocker recliner confuses my Fitbit watch.

If I rock a certain way, my Fitbit discerns that as steps. If I crochet in it, it also adds steps. And if I rock AND crochet at the same time, I can make my way to 10K steps every day and never actually take one step. But while rocking and crocheting may confuse my Fitbit, my body is not confused. It knows I haven’t moved, and it reminds me with stiffness, weakness, and achiness. There are no shortcuts to getting my steps in each day. I must actually move.

There are also no shortcuts to keeping my spiritual muscles healthy, I must move with the LORD. Otherwise, it will not be long until I experience weakness of soul and spirit.

In Deuteronomy 10:12, God told the new nation of Israel what He required of them. “What does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.” [HCSB]

To respect the LORD our God by walking in ALL His ways, loving him and worshipping Him with ALL our hearts and souls is not achieved by rocking in our sweet red recliners. It requires diligence, commitment, perseverance, and determination.

Grant, LORD, that we may walk with You all our lives. Amen.

We are children of God. We are children of God because God loves us. That love was revelated to us when God sent His One and Only Son into this world to die on a cross, taking our sin, guilt, and shame.

The Apostle John, after telling us that God calls us His children in 1 John 3:1 (yesterday’s devotion), goes on and adds to that truth in the next chapter.

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” [1 John 4:9 HCSB]

God’s love was “revealed.” The word is phaneroó. It means to make visible ,make clear, make plain or apparent. It comes from a root word meaning “light.” [Strongs]

Christ Jesus, the Light of the World, came so that we might be made alive through Him. God chose to reveal His love for us in a tiny baby born in a manger. In a man who lived in this dusty world like we do. In a Chosen Son who died on a cross.

He experienced rejection, loss, grief, persecution, and death. He was tempted by the enemy of our souls but emerged triumphant and sin free.

He went to a cross, to a grave, to the dark realms of the enemy and emerged with the keys to death and the grave.

In Him, we now live. He gives us life! Glory to God!