Devotions

As you read through your Bible (and you should do that once a year), you will notice that God reminds His people, especially when they begin to stray from Him or allow things in their lives that may cause them to fall or fail.  In the Old Testament, He continually sent prophets to remind them that 1) He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt; and, 2) He had brought them into the Promised Land. They, apparently, often forgot those things.

In the New Testament, the Apostles used the same approach. They reminded the Christians that 1) God had sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to save them; and, 2) that salvation had a purpose, that they might live obediently and serve the Lord faithfully.

“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.” [1 John 3:23-24]

What is our purpose as Christians? Is it simply to escape judgment? Is it to avoid hell? If that is all it is, we will go through this life unfulfilled. We might gain heaven, but we will not live up to all we are in Christ Jesus.  We will fail to realize how abundant this life can be. I want to be all I can be now … I want to be faithful and obedient to the One who saved me.

God calls me His child. I pray I can live worthy of that title. I pray that my life will honor Christ Jesus my Lord in every way, not just in eternity, but in the here and now.

One day Jesus and His disciples decided to leave Judea and return to Galilee. Jesus took them through Samaria because He had a supernatural “appointment” to meet a woman by a well.  Tired and weary, Jesus rested there while His disciples headed on down to the city to look for something to eat.  You all know the story from John 4. Jesus began a conversation with a woman, that alone was very unusual. The conversation turned from well-water to living water and Jesus tells her that He is the Messiah that all have been anticipating.

It is at this point that the disciples return and are shocked that Jesus is talking to a woman. When the woman leaves to tell the town what she has heard, the disciples urge Jesus to eat. But Jesus says to them “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

The disciples are thinking literally, that possibly someone else brought Jesus something to eat. But he clarifies things for them. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

Finish. It means to complete, perfect, accomplish, in both English and Greek. Jesus’ greatest desire was to finish the salvation for which the His Father has sent Him. Paul expressed the same desire in Acts, “if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” [20:24]

What is our greatest desire? Is it to finish well what God has given us to do?

The current estimated jackpot for one of the lotteries is now around $253Million. Ever thought about what you could do with $253Million?  I have. In fact, I thought about it Saturday morning when I discovered that our washer is leaking. Of course, this was while Bob was out replacing the key for the Jeep (one of those electronic keys that costs around $200). It needed replacing because he ran over his with the lawnmower. We just replaced the dryer. It seems like the drain on the finances never ends. Oh, and the house payment went up because the value went up which caused the insurance and taxes to go up. Humm, $253Million?

I guess though you actually have to play the lottery to win the lottery. At least that is what I have heard. And since I don’t play, I guess I’m not going to be a winner.

Winners of big jackpots don’t always come out winners anyway. Often those who win the most, lose the most. They squander it all and end up bankrupt.  Just because you have everything is no guarantee that you will use it wisely.

One of God’s basic principles is stewardship.  Stewardship is defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. 2 Peter 1:3 reminds us that we already have everything we need for life and godliness. “[God’s] divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 

How we value it, how we wisely and carefully manage is vital.  Wise stewardship of all God has given will enable us to “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  [2 Peter 1:4]

God’s left nothing out. He’s given us everything we need. But just like those lottery winners who are given more than enough – everything they can possibly need can be purchased with that jackpot – we can end up squandering it all instead of using it wisely.

It rained last Thursday. It was the first good rain we have had in quite a while. When the weather is bad I walk inside the building on my breaks and lunch hour. It’s a great building in which to do so. The hall is long and wide and sections of it are open past the second story. The walls along those sections are glass, and so is the slanted ceiling. When it rains you can both see and hear it hit the ceiling and cascade down the walls.

One of the things about walking on breaks and lunch at the same time each weekday, you often meet the same people. There are all kinds of people in the hallway. People walk in groups or singly, some have their earbuds in and faces planted in their phones. Others stroll or stride; some smile, some don’t. There’s one gentleman I see about every day. He strides, head up, smile on his face, often looking at the wonderful scenes outside the massive windows. We greet each other. Last Thursday, he remarked how great it was to hear the rain hit the ceiling and windows. I agreed.

There is a song by William McDowell on his “Revival” CD. One line in the song says, “I hear the sound of the rain coming.”  As I walked those hallways Thursday that line kept running through my mind. I could hear the sound of the natural rain and it was grand! At the same time, there were those so busy, so interested in their phones, that they appeared to not even notice that it was raining.

We often speak of revival in terms of rain, as the rain of the Holy Spirit coming upon us. As I walked, and listened, and watched the rain fall, I realized that so many will miss it. They will be so busy with the world that they will walk with heads down, earbuds in, completely unaware that God is sending the rain of His Spirit to earth. I, for one, don’t want to miss the Holy Spirit’s rain! My head is up, LORD, and I’ listening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-SI_HRWooA

When I get in the car each weekday, I face a 60-mile round trip to my temp work location. I’ve got two choices, a 2-lane highway and the interstate. Each one has problems, depending on the time of day.  I pray as soon as I put the Jeep in drive. I pray that God will keep others from hurting/hindering me and that I might not hurt or hinder others. I pray that God will help me merge, yield, change lanes, etc.  I also pray that I’ll be a good witness of Christ, for strength, and anything else I think I might need for that day.

Despite all the prayer, there are still what I call “Grrr Moments.” Last Tuesday I left home, headed out on the highway, had all my prayers said, including one that morning that my heart would be right with God. About halfway to work, a mere 20 minutes from prayer, I lost my temper and had a “Grrr Moment” when cars just stopped for no good reason in front of me to watch painters stripe the road – on the other side of the highway.

“Grrr” escaped my heart and lips. I told God how people could be so frustrating sometimes. Then I heard God whisper, “now you know how I feel.”

I knew He meant me. I am often frustrating to Him. I yearn to do the right things but end up “Grr-ing” through some event or interaction. I find my anger often rises about the silliest things. I pray, and 20 minutes later I “Grr.” I started to laugh as I thought about how I’m surely as frustrating to God as people around me can be to me. Then I repented.

God forgive me my “Grr Moments.” Help me to be more like your Son, no matter what circumstance I am facing. Amen.

Testing. Yuck. No one likes to be tested. Probably because being tested means being thrown up against the most difficult of adversities. They test cars and airplanes in re-created adverse weather conditions. Who would want to be in an airplane that hasn’t been tested against such.

I wonder how many times they drop phones, tablets and laptops while testing them in labs? Or how many times labs test appliances, both large and small, before they go on the market.  Testing is important. I certainly don’t want to buy a slow cooker that doesn’t cook, or a pressure cooker that builds up too much pressure and explodes.

Often God will also put us to the test. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses explained to the people why God had led them through adversity.  “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna…to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD…. He gave you manna to eat in the desert…to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” [vs 2-3, 16]

God brought His people through adversity so that in the end, it might go well with them. He exposed them to what was in their own hearts, and that wasn’t very pretty. He showed them their rebellion, their lack of dependence upon Him. In their testing they often came up wanting. Even Moses was disobedient at Kadesh and ended up losing the Promised Land.

But there were some whose hearts remained steady. Joshua and Caleb, to name two. They kept their hearts centered on God, and in the end, it did go very well with them in the Promised Land.

So often pastors are asked the question, “Can God really use me?”  What usually follows is a host of reasons why they think God can’t use them. I’m too old. I’m too young. I don’t have enough education. I don’t have enough money. I’ve lived a hard life. I’m still battling stuff. On and on and on it goes!

Well, I’m here to tell you that yes, God can use you. He can use you no matter the reasons you think He can’t.  Let me cite some examples of God using the unlikeliest of people with the unlikeliest of weapons.

Shamgar killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. That’s an approximately 8-foot long wooden pole with a sharpened end on one side. Samson, who wasn’t always very bright and seemed to be very susceptible to women’s charms, slaughtered 1000 Philistines with just the jawbone of an ass.

God used a woman, Jael, who used a hammer and a tent peg to kill a mighty army captain. He used David, a young boy, to throw a stone out of a shepherd’s sling and win the victory over a giant. God used a young Jewish woman to save the Jewish nation from annihilation, Esther. And He used another woman Deborah to lead an army to victory.

A young boy with a little bread and a few fish gave Jesus enough to feed 5000. Saul, determined to wipe out the Gospel and the new church ended up being the messenger to take the same Gospel throughout the known world and expand the church. What about Gideon with his trumpets and torches. Or, Noah simply building a boat in his backyard. Or a young Jewish teenager and a simple carpenter to be the earthly parents of God’s very own Son who will one day go to a wooden cross and bring salvation to the world.

Can God use you?  Just as you are?  You bet. The only requirement is that you are willing to be used!

Remember the promise out of Titus 3 from yesterday’s devotion?  “[God] saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (v 5-7)

It is the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit which sets us free from the world’s attitude of serving self only.  But Paul didn’t stop there when he wrote that to Titus, he went on. “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” (v 8)

One of the greatest ways to drive the attitude of serving self from our hearts is to become devoted to doing what is good.  And, of course, the unspoken inference is that it is God who determines what “that good” is. Let’s admit, we humans can pervert even what is good!

Doing is good is not always easy either. It usually involves the expenditure of our time, energy and resources. Even more, doing good is not easy because it means so much more than just giving people what they want.  Doing good is seeing “need” through the eyes of God and not our own. That can mean tough love, discipline and speaking the truth, which often offends.  Doing good for our children means giving lots of love, as well as boundaries and time out’s.

Despite all the difficulties involved, we are still to be “careful to devote [ourselves] to doing what is good.”  We are to follow God’s example. His doing good for us involved His one and only Son and a cross.

God loves us! I’ve said that over and over and over again. And I will go to my grave saying that over and over and over again. I learned that from my former pastor and mentor, Jim Gardiner. That has never left my mind or my heart. It is something I preach and teach repeatedly because it is so difficult to get people to understand that God loves them and that His love never changes because it is not dependent upon them being good or bad or anything in between. It is dependent upon His perfect nature.

That said, I would add the warning that God can be pleased with us, or displeased with us, and that is dependent upon us.  He will chasten His children when their disobedience displeases Him. He does that because He loves us. He does that with the end goal of restoring us to a right relationship.

We must serve God with a desire to please Him and a healthy fear of offending Him.  As I look around at our society today, I think we have lost both the desire to please God, and the healthy fear of offending Him. Society, apart from God, serves only to please itself and it bears no fear of offending anyone. It lives to serve self.

As God’s children, we must guard our way to not be caught up in that attitude. It is a very easy attitude to catch, as we are exposed to it constantly.  It can only be overcome by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  “[God] saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”  (Titus 3:5-7)

“Worship without obedience is worthless.”

When I read that the other day, it really made me think.  Is that true?  Is there no value in worship if there is no obedience in the worshipper?  Then I remembered what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day when they confronted Him about his disciples not ceremonially washing their hands before they ate.

He began to teach them about what truly honoring God was about and He used a quote out of Isaiah 29.  “These people,” He said, “honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” (Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6)

“They worship me in vain.”  It is possible to spend an entire Sunday in a praise and worship service and offer God nothing and receive nothing from God. It is possible to worship in vain when it is done without obedience.

Worship springs from the heart and if the heart is in rebellion against our Creator and Shepherd, then there is nothing good to offer Him. It is wasted energy and wasted time.

Oh, but when the heart has been made right through the power of Christ’s salvation, when we strive with the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life of repentance and commitment to God our Father, then worship becomes what it is meant to be. It honors God and it edifies us.