Devotions

I find Paul’s letters amazing. They are full of grace, grace and more grace. It is quite clear when reading them that the work for salvation has already been done through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is quite clear that God had it all planned from the very beginning and now this marvelous salvation is ours by God’s wonderful grace trough faith. We can do nothing to earn it (by keeping the law), and we certainly don’t deserve it. Paul is adamant about that in his letters.

But then he goes on and admonishes us how to live … and so often those words sound like commands. “Do this. Don’t do that.” How can it be about grace, and about “do this, don’t do that?”

Paul gives us commands, yes, but the commands have nothing to do with earning salvation. Paul is giving principles to live by now that we are already saved, already God’s children. He is telling us how to live that we might bring joy to our Father God.  “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God.”  [1 Thessalonians 4:1 NIV]

Pleasing God. What an overwhelming thought. That I, a sinner and once an enemy of the Holy God, might now be pleasing to Him. Savor that thought for a moment.

Let me close today with a prayer from Hebrews 13:20-21: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  [NIV]

1 Thessalonians 5:13-15:  Live in peace with each other. [NIV]

One short sentence. One tall order.  Just look at those six words.  Live in peace with each other. And if you use another translation, it can be even shorter. Be at peace among yourselves. Only five words in the NKJV.  Still a tall order.

That tall order is part of Paul’s closing words to the church at Thessalonica. That final chapter really packs a wallop. It starts with thoughts about the Second Coming of Christ and ends with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with us. And in between are all kinds of admonitions of how we are to respect leaders in the church, deal with all kinds of circumstances and treat each other. It’s a great read if you have a few moments today.

Still, among all those admonitions, the six (or five) little words above probably give us the most trouble. This is one unpeaceful world we live in. We are assaulted on every side by things that seek to disrupt our peace. Even our own inner nature works to rile us up and keep us unsettled. Our society lately is an “offended” society, giving people more excuses for anger.

The church, however, is to be different. We are given the tall order to live in peace with each other. Peace is to be the atmosphere of those who love the Lord. If we are all connected to Him, as the body is to the head, how can we be at war with each other?

Father, I pray for Your people, Your church, the Body of Christ that we might be at peace among ourselves, and that we might be a good testimony to this unpeaceful world. Amen.

The autumnal equinox or September equinox is today, September 22. That means that the amount of nighttime and daytime (sunlight) are roughly equal to each other. From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights.

I am one of those who find autumn a season of delights. I love the vivid colors and the aromas of the leaves fallen from the trees. I love the crisp air, the cooler temperatures, wearing sweatshirts, and early sunsets. I know winter is around the corner, and with it cold weather and snow, perhaps even as difficult this year as last year. Still, I love autumn for what it is this day.

Whenever I bring up my love of autumn, someone will remind me that autumn signals winter is ahead. They don’t like winter. And some have a good reason not to like winter, they experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) without enough light. Some have a difficult time keep sidewalks and driveways shoveled. And let’s face it, it gets cold up here in Idaho in winter. Zero or below zero temperatures are not very appealing.

Still, that’s not a good enough reason for me to hate autumn. I want to live each day in this season’s delights. It’s harvest time and a time to remember to give thanks. Jesus reminded us not to borrow trouble from the future, we have enough trouble just for today.  “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” [Matt 6:34 NIV]

Today I will delight in autumn and not borrow winter’s troubles.  Today I will delight in this day that is mine (whatever it might hold) and not borrow from tomorrow’s troubles.  Today I will simply enjoy today.

In the recent weeks, we have seen much devastation. Hurricanes in Texas and Florida have left wide-spread damage, countless number of people without homes or resources. The wildfires in the northwest have also caused severe damage that will last for decades, pristine areas have been ravaged, ranchers in Montana have lost everything.  There have been earthquakes in Mexico and around other parts of our world. The talk around Idaho is whether we will have another difficult winter.

Many are looking to the federal government to bail them out with emergency funds, but the federal government is not all that flush with money either.  FEMA funds are running low, Congress is fighting over budget expenses and revenues. I think most everyone would agree, things are a mess.

Many Christians are looking at the mess and thinking it’s signs of the Lord’s return. If these truly are the signs of the Lord’s Second Coming, what should we be doing? 

In Luke chapter 2, Joseph and Mary had taken 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem with them. Then they lost Him. They were already heading home when they had every parent’s nightmare, they could not find their child.  They returned to Jerusalem and found the young man sitting with the elders and teachers in the temple courts. He didn’t understand why they were so upset and asked them, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”  [verse 49 NKJV]

While they were panicked, Jesus was just doing what He knew He was supposed to be doing. Yes, today things are a mess. And yes, some may even panic. Still, beloved, we need to be like our Master … going about our Father’s business. 

Gal 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” [NIV]

Commuting a 60-mile round trip for the next four months is going to provide me many opportunities to produce some fruit in my life. I’m finding my patience and kindness wears thin on the morning commute, and my gentleness and self-control is definitely vexed on the return trip in the early evening. I just want all those bad drivers to shape up and everyone else to get out of my way! I’m tired and I want to get home and put on my PJ’s.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for me), that doesn’t happen.  Instead God is using this opportunity to prove to me how much I need to grow more love, joy, peace, patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Jesus warned His followers about false prophets, wolves who wear sheep clothing and appear to be something they are not. He said we would recognize them by their fruit.  [Matthew 7:16]

Too often we are more enthralled by gifts than we are fruit. We tend to follow gifted people, who are not necessarily people of character. Gifts are shiny and noticeable; character is stable and sometimes only visible under pressure. Yet, it is precisely because character is visible under pressure that we need to produce it in our lives.

Father, I know the next months of this commute will not be easy. When I’m tired and just want the day to be over, help me to turn to Your Spirit for life … I pray these opportunities will not be wasted and I will indeed grow in the character of Christ. Amen

Forgiven. Forgiven. Forgiven Again.

“If” is a little word that can have big consequences. Many people live their lives teetering on “if.”   “If I get that promotion, I’ll …. If I win the lottery, I’ll be able to …. If I have a mate, I can finally be ….”  Unfortunately, living on the world’s “if’s” is a sure highway to disappointment.

“If” can even have eternal consequences. John reminded us of those consequence in his first letter.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9-10 NIV]

The onus for forgiveness is ours now and it is summed up in that little word “if.” God has done His part.  He already provided all we need for forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He is faithful to forgive–He is willing to forgive, and with His forgiveness He will lead us in paths of righteousness.  All this is ours, “if” we come to Him repentant and confessing our sins.  “If” we don’t? That story has a different ending.

I love this song by Signature Sound about the prodigal son who decides to come home and finds the Father waiting. The Father is waiting for us also … waiting for us to come to Him.

We’re forgiven, forgiven, forgiven again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1shTv5IKQHg

A motel next to an In-N-Out Burger? That was where we stayed in Modesto. For In-N-Out burger-lovers living in a state that has no In-N-Out Burger (Idaho), this was a recipe for diet-disaster.  We did, however, restrain ourselves and only ate there twice.  It sure was tempting to eat there more often though. I felt like Pavlov’s dogs. Every time we entered and exited the hotel parking lot that bright yellow arrow on the In-N-Out Burger sign made me salivate.

Our children booked this hotel for us. I think they picked this one because they know just how much I like In-N-Out burgers. If there is one close to where I’m at, that’s where you will find me whenever I get a craving for a burger or fries.  That reminded me of part of the verse that opens Hebrews 12.  “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us ….”  [NKJV]

I always joke that the “sin that so easily gets us” … gets us so easily because it always knows where to find us.  We get pretty adept at locating ourselves close to temptation. It’s like staying in the hotel next to the In-N-Out.  We don’t have far to go to get there.

I would have been far less tempted to blow my diet had our motel been across town where I could not see that bright yellow arrow.  Spiritually, we need to also put some distance between our “souls” and those “places” where we are tempted to sin, where sin hardly has to make any effort to ensnare us and draw us in.

Heb 12:1: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” [NIV]

September 17

I wrote on my Facebook page last Monday … “Well, except for nearly getting killed on I95 in Oregon, it was an uneventful trip home! Some ‘fruitcake’ in a pickup decided to pass a semi and came straight for us. Bob was able to jerk our car off the roadway or it would have been head-on. Thank you, Lord, that there was a decent shoulder on that section of the road. Thank you, Lord, for Bob’s quick thinking. Thank you, Lord, for getting us home safe and sound.”

 We were almost home, just a few miles from the Oregon-Idaho border when this happened. We were traveling the speed limit, 65 MPH. We were doing everything right. Someone else, however, grew impatient behind a semi and flew into our lane of traffic heading straight for us. Bob later told me he thought he might roll the car he had to swerve so hard to get out of the way. It happened so fast I didn’t even have a chance to be frightened.

It didn’t take me too long to realize three things …1) just how fast our work on earth can be over, 2) how we are safe in God’s Hands until He determines our work is over, and 3) I had better be about my work while I have the opportunity. My time will come, it just wasn’t last Monday at 1 PM on I95 in Oregon.

The Lord gave Peter a warning of his impending death. That prompted Peter to once again remind people of the things they needed to remember after he was gone. He took the opportunity of the time he had left to continue to preach about the life, death and resurrection of His Lord and Master. We too, should use the opportunity of time to do likewise.

“I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.” [2 Peter 1:12-15 NIV]

I wrote yesterday about our youngest grandson’s Junior Novice football team. These little boys in big football helmets were playing their hardest, running plays, tackling ball carriers, making touchdowns. They were excited when they scored, even though the only ones keeping score were the parents in the stands.

The parents were excited also. They cheered and shouted whenever the defense made a stop and whenever the offense ran a play. It didn’t matter that all that was being done by 7-8-year-old boys, it could have been the Super Bowl by the way they rooted for the team.

Zechariah 4:4 told us not to despise the day of small things. Small things can become great things in the hands of God. Remember Daniel chapter 2? King Nebuchadnezzar saw a great dazzling statue that was awesome in appearance. It had parts of gold and silver, bronze and clay. It represented the great kingdoms of the world to come that began with Babylon. (Read Daniel 2 today)

There was one other part of this vision. A little rock. A stone. The rock was cut out from the mountain but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet and broke it to pieces and the pieces were blown away by the wind. That little rock, that small stone, then became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

Jesus, the Rock, had 12 disciples, one of whom betrayed him. They, along with the Apostle Paul who was recruited by the Risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus, changed the known world in one generation. Jesus’ followers are still changing the world. Most of them are small by the world’s standards, yet we are not to despise the small … because in God’s economy, small things can do great things.

Dan 2:44-45:  “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed…. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain.”  [NIV]

Last Saturday we watched our youngest grandson and his Junior Novice team play football. This was a team of boys 7-8 years old. They were precious. They looked like bobble-head dolls with helmets bigger than they were. Our son was coaching. No score was kept, except by the parents in the stands. There was no kick-off or extra points and each team had two 12-minute quarters on offense and defense. It may have looked like a free for all, but these little guys had designed plays to run and they ran them with all they had in them.

As I watched these little boys play I thought of the verse in Zechariah 4.  “Who despises the day of small things?”  

Lots of things start off small. It seems like only yesterday the grandson we watched on Friday play on his high school junior varsity team was one of these little ones with the big helmets, but he’s not so small anymore. The skills and determination that he learned as a 7-year-old benefit him now.

It is often that way with the things of God. In God’s work, the day of small things is not to be despised. Though the ones God uses might be weak and unlikely, God often chooses them to bring about great things.  Zechariah was to build a temple, but it would not equal the great temple of Solomon and the people despised its small foundation. We need to remember, however, that though beginnings are small, God can make the latter end great.

It is like Jesus said, the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, may become a great tree where even the birds can rest on its branches.  (Luke 13:19)