Category Archives: Devotions

Answers to questions, Devotions, Preaching

Quit Asking!

And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” – Luke 1:18-20

“How am I to know I am saved?”  “How shall I know this?” That hidden and nagging doubt of forgiveness has touched us all.  We want some evidence.  Some sort of brand on our arm as a seal of becoming part of the grand Holy club. The Angel Gabriel came down and told Zachariah he should have a son, the old and shriveled man wanted a further token than the angel’s word.  “How shall I really know?: The answer, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Lord.” “I know all about that, but I need something more, a token, another sign.  Gabriel said, “You shall have a token: you shall be dumb till your son shall be given you.” I must quit asking for more evidence and be assured of God’s word.

Bible Study, Devotions, Life, Motivation

Acceptance and Love

Mark 2:14 “As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.”

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Why call a hated, despised tax collector to be a disciple?  Why call odoriferous, gross, and rough fishermen?  Why call a young man out of a tree?  Why take a chance on a zealous Roman hater to join the merry men?  Why select a man that was from the beginning unwilling to acknowledge Jesus? It would have made much more sense to reach out to the religious, to the highly born, to the Roman aristocracy. Jesus chose who he did just because they were unloved. They were neglected and marginalized. And to their surprise, the previously unloved found a place of acceptance and love.  To be loved when you know you are unlovely.  I am loved today.  I will praise God all day for that acceptance and love.

Bible Study, Devotions

Rain drops falling on my head.

John 14:26-27 “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

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Everywhere I look, there is everything but peace. Wars, pandemics, political infighting, the declining health of those I love, all wanting to steal my inner tranquility. Like B. J. Thomas sang, “The rain keeps falling on my head, And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed, nothing seems to fit,” Life doesn’t conform to my standards.  Yet there is still a feeling of peace in my soul.  Praise God!  My sins are forgiven.  I have declared to be at peace with God.  God is at peace with me. Today I will experience the peace that is simply incomprehensible. I trust in a God that loves, cares, draws, forgives, restores, destroys fear, and limits trouble within my heart.

I live with peace within myself, I live in peace with one another, I live at peace with God.

Answers to questions, Devotions, Theology

The question.

Matthew 21:23 When He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”

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It is a question that has been asked for two thousand years.  By what authority did Jesus do all that He did? Was Jesus more than a teacher, a magician, or a charismatic leader? Is my belief from God or is it just religion?  The question asked of Jesus was more than innocent questions by religious leaders.  These were questions directed to the center of my belief in God.  Religious leaders ask.  Elders ask. Leaders ask.  You may well ask. The source of their asking was unbelief.  Any authority would diminish their self-conceived importance. Any acknowledgment of the authority of Jesus diminishes their claims.  

But the asking is not wrong. The effort to accept God’s authority over all others starts with asking.  Let us not let unbelief and the opinions of others be our authority.  It is quite acceptable to ask if you accept the answer that Jesus is Lord.

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Devotions, Life

Intention without focus

Matthew 21:12-13 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.  And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves””

Our intent is often lost in the bustle of the usual.  The temple was designed by God to be a place for all to find a place to pray, a place to be forgiven, a place to connect with God.  Yet, there was nothing but confusion.  Confusion from the intended purpose.  Doves, sheep, coins, barter, signs of business attracted the penitent away from their intended purpose. Jesus was not just overturning tables and whipping the merchants, he was overturning the entire religious establishment. The house of God must not be sold by the latest merchandise.  The church, the body of believers to which I belong must not be distracted by the trappings of life and focus on the reason for being there.  We come to worship a God of simplicity and purity.

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Devotions, Ramblings, Worship

Everlasting Love

Jeremiah 31:3 – The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

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The age of Jerimiah was a terrible time. The invasion was inevitable. It was a test of the whole land of the Hebrews.  It was a test of Jerimiah’s home in Judah. It was a test of Jerimiah’s tribe of Levi.  The greatest test was Jerimiah’s test.

All faith and belief are the solitary. I do not live in the times of Jerimiah, but there are still threats to my peace. How am I to find peace in a world that seems to be upside down.  I must find peace based upon something more than a hope of someday. “Hey God, are you up there?”, flashes across my soul. Even though I may not see God’s omnipotent hand reaching down and changing the world around me, I must acknowledge God in my past.  I praise God for all the mercies shown to me.  He has protected me and mine millions of times.  These past mercies are great and warm thoughts.  God gently whispers in my ear, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” In that assurance comes a quietness, a settled peace in the middle of the turmoil

Bible Study, Devotions, Sermon Illustration

1+1=2

Mark 12:42,43 “A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

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Science is not a bad thing.  Being able to prove two plus two is a good understanding when you have to pay for something.  Yet when science tells me the cold clear water coming from a mountain stream which rushes down from the crest of a snowcapped mountain is equal to the tepid liquid coming out of my kitchen faucet, while true, is a little disappointing. In science, the granite gravel in my dad’s driveway is the same as the grand sheer face of Half Dome in Yosemite. There is no wonder in science.  There is no place for miracles. The mystery of the world hides behind the constant scientific explanation and presumption.  The very fabric of our seemingly poor, browbeat days are miracles.  Two small coins became a treasure; a miracle. Each miracle shines brightly, and sometimes we do not notice.

Devotions, Life, Ramblings

Crazy Talk

Matthew 6:25,26  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

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Crazy talk!  Jesus, what are you telling me about how I should live my life? “Do not worry about your life”, sounds like a command. I may not worry as much as others I may know, but there are times when an emotion that could well be characterized as worry does pop its head up in my life. But Jesus, does this mean that when my brakes on my old pickup start to grind and the pedal is as soft as an over-ripe peach, I should not worry about going down the interstate at 70 miles an hour in rush traffic?

Perchance, I think what he is really saying is “Don’t let worry become my response to circumstances out of my control.  I must rely moment by moment on his provision, promises and plan. First, I must realize God is the source of my peace, and second get my brakes fixed.

Devotions, Life, Personal

Miracle

Psalm 139:13-14 “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.”

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You did it God, you founded her.  You took two exceedingly small cells and smashed them together and she became more than the parts. She was knitted together from raw materials and you made her. Science would take this happenstance and say it was only biology and try to take all the wonder out of the miracle of life.  They would say the product of conception is nothing more than a chance of two cells finding each other. But just like God breathing into the nose of Adam in Genesis 2:7, She became a powerful work of God. I am assured, I fully know it was more than biology.  I know it was a miracle of God.

Happy Birthday, my daughter, you are a miracle!

Devotions

Time should heal

Psalm 103:11,12 ”For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

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A high school football coach in the mid-west who, after a loss, would keep the scoreboard lit for the rest of the week reminding the team as they practice of their failure. In football it might be a strategy for improvement, but not in life. If I have fallen short, it does little good to keep it on the scoreboard. A constant reminder of failure is not a good thing. It is difficult enough to get beyond disappointing others and yourself. When forgiveness is asked for and has been given, there is little use to bring it up again and again. Do not beat yourself up over it. Get up and get on with restoration. God’s word is full of admonitions to forgive each other and overlook faults, and that must start with self. With God forgiveness means our sin is out of sight and out of mind. May He give me the grace to extend and accept forgiveness.  Let us take down the scoreboard. I make a choice to be engaged with the present, instead of the past.