Past Devotions

I wrote this last Thursday while awaiting a scheduled 4-hour adrenal function test on Monday March 4. I am hoping to have the results by the time this devotion is posted, but right now all I have are the side effects and symptoms.

I hurt (everywhere), I am exhausted, I am nauseous. I guess that sums it up physically. Add in a little frustration with some circumstances and difficulties outside my control, and it is a recipe for tears and frustration. Maybe a little self-pity too?

So, of course, the LORD, who knows my every way put this in my email inbox. “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” [Psalm 73:25-26 NLT]

This is another one of those questions that only have one right answer. “Whom have I in heaven but you?”

God is the strength of my heart. The LORD is mine forever. Everything around me and inside me might grow weak or fail, but God remains strong on my behalf.

Augusten Burroughs said: “When you have your health, you have everything. When you do not have your health, nothing else matters at all.”

Oh, Mr. Burroughs, I strongly disagree. So strongly do I disagree that I am revising this statement.

“When you have Christ Jesus the LORD, you have everything. When you do not have Him, nothing else matters at all.”

Ever been asked a question to which there is only one right answer?

John records a conversation in Chapter 6 where Jesus said some difficult things to His disciples. The chapter opens with the feeding of the five thousand. Afraid that the crowd might try to take and make Him King, He withdraws and then later walks on the water to join His disciples who were traveling over the sea toward Capernaum.

When the people finally track them down, looking for another free meal, Jesus begins a conversation that confuses some and alienates others. Many of His followers were offended by His words and “turned away and deserted Him.” [vs 66 NLT]

Jesus asks the ones remaining, “Are you also going to leave?” [vs 67]

 That is a question that has only one right answer and Simon Peter gets it right. “LORD, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.” [vs 69a]

Ther are times in life when things get difficult. Trials and tribulations seem to surround us. We might even wonder where God is or why He seems so silent. It is then that the enemy of our soul will try to convince us that God doesn’t care, and we should just walk away.

BUT … where would we go? To whom would we go? Christ Jesus our Savior and LORD is the ONLY One with words of eternal life. Abandoning Him would be to abandon all hope.

I have told this story many times but no matter how many times I tell it, I never grow tired of telling it. It ministers to my soul with each retelling.

When my son turned 18, I wanted to get him a special gift. His favorite football player was Walter Payton. I called around the Sacramento area looking for a Walter Payton rookie card and finally found one in Auburn.

When I arrived at the shop, I asked the owner how much a Walter Payton rookie card was worth. He told me it was worth what I “was willing to pay for it.”

That Walter Payton rookie card is nothing more than a piece of cardboard with a picture and some writing. It might have cost 5 cents to make. But because I love my son, that piece of cardboard is worth much much more.

That story always reminds me that I was not worth much until … UNTIL God paid for me with the precious blood of Christ.

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” [1 Peter 1:18-19 NLT]

Now God’s love and what He was willing to pay for us (the precious blood of His Dear Son) determines our worth. How amazing is that!

As we move closer to Resurrection Sunday (March 31), I always get a bit thoughtful. I remember what I was before Christ. I remember the darkness that was my future and the hopelessness that was my life.

I remember that August day in 1973 driving my mother to a small nondenominational prayer meeting, as I had done many times before. But this time was different. Instead of just sitting there waiting for it to end so I could leave and get on with my “life,” God met me right where I was and gave me “new life.”

I am always, ALWAYS, amazed that He did that. I had nothing to give Him. I was nothing special that He might take notice. It was only because of His richness in mercy and grace. It was only because of His great love.

“God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [Ephesians 2:4 NLT]

I prayerfully will never take that for granted but will always bow humbly before the cross. Thank you, LORD.

First day of March. Meteorologists consider this the first day of spring (for statistical purposes). Astrological spring this year is March 20.

The first day of March (no matter how bad the weather) always sounds like a promise that warm weather and flowers are on the way. March reminds me of the Genesis promise God gave following the flood. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest … will not cease.” [8:22 HCSB]

This year the last day of March is very special. It is Resurrection Sunday. It is the celebration of another Genesis promise God gave following the fall of mankind. “I will put hostility between you (the serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” [Genesis 3:15 HCSB

Genesis 3:15 is called the “protoevangelium” or “first gospel” because it is the first promise of a Savior found in the Scriptures.

The most amazing thing about this “first gospel” is that it shows us that God had already planned the salvation of fallen man – and He revealed it as soon as sin entered the world through Adam’s & Eve’s wrong choices. God was not caught unawares, and was way ahead of Satan’s plan to bring God’s creation down.

God knew He would send a Savior, and He knew just whom that Savior would be. “The Son of God [Christ Jesus] was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works.” [1John 3:8 HCSB]

Nothing thrills my soul more than thinking about that phrase we often find in the Scriptures … child [or children] of God. You can imagine my delight when I opened one of my “Verse of the Day” emails and found this: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” [John 1:12 HCSB]

The word translated as “right” in that Scripture is “exousia,” and it means the power to act, or the authority God gives to His children. It can be translated as privilege, power, authority.

To be a child of God is more than just a pretty title. It is a deep down, soul changing position. And that position, while originated in and empowered by God, still requires our cooperation.

Romans 8:29 reminds us that we have a wonderful promise in God, “For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” [HCSB]

That conformation is not some work that magically occurs. It means that when we surrender our lives to Christ Jesus our LORD, the Spirit of Christ transforms our inner essence from sinner to child of God. Now we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in that inner essence to conform our thoughts, decisions, attitudes, choices, and behavior.

When we do that, we take on the image of Christ and people who see us can see Christ through us. Isn’t that the most thrilling thought!  Amen & Amen.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to stay on a diet and how easy it is to fall off one. I can vow to drive past the donut or ice cream shop and even do it for weeks or months. Then I stop once … just once. And then it becomes so easy to stop twice, until it is again a daily habit. It is as if I never stayed away.

It is also difficult to stay on a spiritually good track if all we focus on is what we should not be doing.  We can’t just stay empty – we need to fill ourselves with spiritually good things.

If we want to be spiritually heart healthy, we need to ….

Think praiseworthy things: Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.”

Speak Praiseworthy Things: Ephesians 5:19-20: “Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the LORD, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ.”

Pursue Praiseworthy Things: 2 Timothy 2:22: “…pursue righteousness, faith[fulness], love, and peace.”

Holy Spirit, help us fill our hearts with praiseworthy things that glorify you! Amen.