Devotions

I am reading Peter’s first letter.  At the very beginning Peter talks about being God’s elect, about being chosen, about this new birth that we have obtained into a living hope through Christ Jesus.  Then I stumbled into the word, “therefore.”

1 Peter 1:13: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action . . ..”  [NIV]

Therefore means that as a result of what Peter just wrote, the following is an action that should happen. And the first thing that should happen is that we should “prepare [our] minds for action.”   I like the way the New King James translates that phrase, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind . . ..”  [NKJV]

In Peter’s day men wore long flowing robes.  Any woman who has ever tried to run in a long skirt knows that it isn’t easy.  So, in Peter’s day, men wore a girdle.  The girdle was a belt through which they could hitch up their robe to be able to move or run freely.  Workmen, runners, warriors, travelers, all girded themselves up to prevent the garment from impeding motion.

As Christians we have a work, a race, a war, a journey to accomplish and that means that we must prepare our minds for such.  We can’t let our affections, our attitudes, our thoughts loosely hang around and hinder.   We are supposed to pull them in, gird them as it were so that we can obediently accomplish all that God has purposed for us.

Every thought that would hinder us is to be reined in and restrained, just like those flowing robes were reined in and restrained to allow the workmen and warriors to go about their necessary business.

Oh Christian, gird up the loins of your mind!  Prepare your mind for action!

I’m standing in the garage gazing at all the stuff that has accumulated since we moved here in 2007. Stuff has always been a pet peeve of mine (even my stuff).  You know stuff, the stuff in the stores, the stuff in our houses, the stuff we must rent storage sheds for since there is no more room in our garages to hold it all.

This is a consumer economy, so the one message aimed at us continually in this country is that we need more stuff, and bigger stuff, and better stuff.  Our stores have to be larger to hold all the new stuff as well as the old stuff.  Or they start selling more stuff online so they don’t have to build bigger stores to hold it all; they can just ship from warehouses or manufacturers. Shipping companies are thriving because we are sending so much stuff from one place to another.

Stuff … walk through a mall and just look at the stuff.  As I do so I usually have two thoughts … first, can I live without this; second, what would someone from a very poor village or refugee camp think about this stuff.

We have too much money in this country.  We have too much greed.  We fill our homes with useless pieces of things that have no meaning, purpose, or use, except to fill a desire or satisfy a whim.

Maybe I’m being too hard on us as a nation.  Maybe it’s okay to be surrounded with meaningless pieces of treasure.  Maybe God doesn’t mind us wasting our money, or buying bigger, newer, things constantly.  Maybe.

I don’t want to be a consumer.  I want to be a giver.  I want to share … not just my dollars and cents, but my life, my good news, my freedom.

Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 

Watching the summer Olympics, it is clear that only a few will receive medals. Many more go home empty handed. I wonder if they ever feel sorry for themselves not standing on the winner’s podium. I know that every now and again when I don’t realize my goals, the enemy of my soul tries to make me feel sorry for myself. When that happens, the Holy Spirit often redirects me to the Letter to the Philippians.

Paul wrote the Letter to the Philippians from prison and probably had every reason to feel sorry for himself.  Yet it isn’t self-pity which permeates the pages of Philippians, it is joy.  Sixteen times in four short chapters Paul mentions joy or rejoicing.

The reason Paul is so joyful is that he’s so full of Christ.  In addition to the many mentions of joy in those four short chapters, there are more than 40 mentions of our Savior.  Forty-plus times in 104 verses Paul refers to our Savior either by His name, Jesus, or His title, Christ, or a combination of the two.

There is more “Jesus per square inch” in Philippians than there is in any other book of the Bible.  It is only because Paul is revolving around Jesus that the JOY springs forth.  Paul doesn’t see Jesus in the heavenlies, as he did in Ephesians, sitting at the place of all authority and power.  Paul sees the all-sufficiency of Christ in day-by-day living.

Each of the chapters in Philippians presents a picture of what Jesus is to us in our everyday life.  Chapter 1 speaks of Christ our life.  Chapter 2 outlines Christ our mind.  In Chapter 3 we see Christ as our goal.  And last, in Chapter 4, Christ is our strength.

Our life, our mind, our goal, and our strength; Jesus is all sufficient for every part of our lives. Amen!

“Grab your coat and get your hat.  Leave your worries on the doorstep.  Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.”  That’s a line from an old, old song, “The Sunny Side of the Street” by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh.  It’s a song I love to sing, one line in particular: “I used to walk in the shade, with those blues on parade.  But I’m not afraid, this rover crossed over!”  

Colossians 2:16-23 is Paul’s version of “The Sunny Side of the Street.”  “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality [SONshine], however, is found in Christ.”

At the time Paul wrote this, there was a group of false teachers constantly dogging his footsteps and trying to undermine the freedom he preached in Christ.  They wanted to draw Christians back into the shadows (they still do).

Paul reminds his readers that to have a shadow, (altars, offerings, festivals, priesthood, etc.), you must have something of substance, and that substance [SONshine] is Christ.  Why return to the shadows when you can have the true substance.

In this passage Paul describes Christ Jesus (the true substance) as the “Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.” 

We are the body.  Christ is the head.  We can live without various parts of our body.  I’ve had a few surgeries in my lifetime and I’m living proof you can live with some pieces gone.  But get detached from the Head, and you’re dead.  Paul just called these false teachers with their “appearance of wisdom” dead, and warned his readers if they got caught up in these “human commands and teachings” they’d be dead also.

There’s one other line in that old song.  “Can you hear that pitter-pat? And that happy tune is your step.  Life can be complete, on the sunny side of the street!” 

SONshine (Jesus) or shadows, that’s the choice.

(I decided to end my offline time early)

Colossians 1:13-14: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

God rescued us.  It can’t get any plainer than that.  God rescued us; we didn’t rescue ourselves.  It was His idea, His plan, and His Son that carried it out on Calvary.  If we ever get the feeling that God is lucky to have us, those three little words … God rescued us … should put all back in perspective.  We were dead; God gave us life through His Son. God rescued us from . . .

. . .the dominion of darkness.  I love that!  The Greek word for darkness is used throughout the New Testament as the equivalent of physical darkness, intellectual darkness, blindness, the place of punishment, moral and spiritual darkness, evil works, evil powers that dominate the world.  That’s the ugly stuff that held us in its powers.  But God rescued us, from the power of darkness and He . . .

. . . brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.  He didn’t rescue us from the power of darkness and drop us just anywhere.  He brought us into the kingdom, into the kingdom of the Son He loves, the Son who gave His life for our rescue.  And it is in God’s very own Son that we find we have . . .

. . . redemption.  “Redeemed!  How I love to proclaim it.  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  Redeemed through His infinite mercy.  His child and forever I am!”   We have been delivered and ransomed.  We are no longer captives, slaves to darkness’ power.  We have been redeemed and set free by the very blood of God’s own Son.  And even more, we have . . .

. . . the forgiveness of sins.  Forgiveness.  “’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD.  ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”  [Isaiah 1:18]

Forgiven.  God has forgiven my sins.  They will never be thrown up in my face, they will never be put on display, they will never be whispered about in heaven, they are forever covered by the Precious Blood of God’s Lamb.

Two short verses, a couple of lines in my Bible, a few words.  And held within those few words are our lives, past and present as well as the hope for a glorious eternal future.  Glory to God.

In the New Testament, Ephesians 4:20-23 mentions our attitude: “You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”  [NIV]

The word for attitude in Ephesians 4:23 is the Greek word, “pneuma” and it means “breath.”  We get our word pneumonia from it.  It is sometimes translated as “spirit.”  Our attitude is the breath of our mind.  As vital as breath is to the body, attitude is to the mind of the believer.  It shapes every part of our lives as Christians.  In fact, attitude shapes our daily life more than anything else including our circumstances. It is the single most important determination in how we live our lives.

Viktor Frankl was a renowned psychiatrist and Holocaust Survivor.  He survived several years in concentration camps, including Auschwitz.  His parents and his wife did not.  He wrote a best seller titled, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which sold more than nine million copies.  Frankl believed that we could only truly be happy when we have found meaning in life.

One of Frankl’s most powerful ideas is that we can choose our attitude, even in the most difficult of situations.  He wrote:  “We, who lived in concentration camps, can remember the men who walked through the huts of others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

“ . . . everything can be taken away from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances . . ..”

The breath of our minds is as basic as the breath of our bodies.  If we are to have life and that more abundantly, we must have a new attitude, an attitude that mirrors God’s own attitude, an attitude that is full of compassion, resounds with joy, and has a single focus on things above.  It is as basic to eternal life and that more abundantly as the breath of our bodies is to natural life.

Consider your circumstances, then consider your attitude.  You alone determine your attitude in any given set of circumstance.  You alone control the way you think, how you react to your emotions, and how you will handle even the most adverse circumstance.  May God bless you and help you to be “made new in the attitude (spirit, breath) of your minds.”

I was watching the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. I wasn’t overly impressed with the show. But I wasn’t watching the Opening Ceremonies for the show, I was watching to see all the athletes from all the different nations boating down the Seine. Seeing each of those represented nations took me back 45 years.

In 1979, Bob and I were living in California in a large home that we built. Our children were 9, 6 and 3. Bob’s mother and step-father-in-law lived in a connected apartment sharing a common laundry room.

We were new members of a large Assembly of God Church that was hosting the graduates of a School of Ministry from Southern California who were in town for a week-long revival. We had agreed to host three young men. Bob headed down to the pickup site with our van to bring them home.

I soon got a phone call from him telling me we need to make room for “a few more.” When some of the host homes discovered that some of these men were from African nations, they bowed out of hosting. I asked him how many more. He said, “Four.” He came home with seven men for which we were to provide room and board.

They came from Indonesia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, along with a man from Canada and one from Montana. The local newspaper was so impressed, they interviewed us and took our picture for the paper.

As I watched the boats in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, I thought about those young Christian leaders and wondered where they were and what they were doing now 45 years later. I pray their love for Christ stayed strong down through the years.

I also wonder if they still remember their time with us.

When it comes to the will of God, I find three things perfectly clear.  The first: Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”  God will use everything in our lives to move us closer to His goal to make us like Jesus.

The second thing I know is something my former Pastor used to say all the time:  it is easier to turn a moving ship than one docked in the harbor.  God will not spurn a willing heart, and even failures will not prevent you from His good and pleasing will if there is sincere repentance and a desire to be used of Him.

The third thing I know is:  The enemy of your soul hates it when you’re moving with God.  The enemy of the Gospel will use every trick in the book to stop you, to discourage you, to get you to sit down and quit trying.  He’ll even use people who love you to remind you of your failures.

Paul never forgot that he persecuted the church.  Listen to his words: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”  [1 Tim 1:12-16]

He never forgot his failures . . . but he never let his failures stop him.  Yes, he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, and considered himself not just a sinner but also the “chief” of all sinners.  Yet God called him, showered mercy upon him, and used him in ministry.

Is there sin in your past?  Repent and receive mercy.  Have you ventured out for God before and failed?  Don’t forget that, but don’t let that failure stop you now.  Let Paul’s pattern be yours.  Remember what you formerly were, but let God enable you to be conformed to the image of His dear son, a willing heart moving with Him in the furtherance of His kingdom.  Then you will be able to cry out with Paul: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”   [1 Tim 1:17]

When it comes to the will of God, I find three things perfectly clear.  The first is found in Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”  God will use everything in our lives to move us closer to His goal to make us like Jesus.

The second thing I know is something my former Pastor used to say all the time:  it is easier to turn a moving ship than one docked in the harbor. 

Acts 16:6-10: “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Paul was a moving ship.  He was headed toward Asia, and God turned him around and sent the Gospel back toward Europe.  He was heading to Bithynia, but Jesus stopped him and sent him instead to Macedonia, and the Gospel came to Greece.

Paul was moving.  It’s easy to turn someone who’s moving.  It is harder to turn someone who’s standing still, because first you must get them moving!  I firmly believe that God will not spurn a willing heart.  God will use anyone whose heart is set on being used of Him.

What if we’ve made a mistake, or got entangled in a sin and had to repent, or failed at something God gave us to do before?   Does that disqualify us from God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will?”

If so, then it disqualified Moses and David and Paul and Peter and multitudes of saints down through the ages. Moses murdered a man, David committed adultery and murdered to cover his sin, Paul persecuted the church and Peter denied Christ, yet God used each one and many others in a mighty way after they repented and returned to the Savior of their souls.

God will not spurn a willing heart.  Get moving!  If you’re heading the wrong direction toward Asia, God will keep you from entering and turn you back to Europe.  It’s easy as long as you’re moving!