August 2
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:2–5, ESV)
The scripture above chosen especially for you today concerns God’s great deeds on your behalf. Those who follow God are “blessed”. Therefore, we “bless the Lord”, not forgetting “all HIS benefits” (Psalm 103:2). God does many things for you. God “forgives” your sins. God “heals” your diseases. I wonder how many times God has healed your body from some virus or infection or illness? God “crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” and “satisfies you with good” (Psalm 103:4-5). God can even “redeem your life from the pit”. God can reach into your life when you are in a lonely and dark place, a place that feels overwhelmingly depressing, and bring you up out of that situation. Through many types of interactions, God can make your soul soar to new heights and your world seem so much brighter.
Monica waited for years to have her first child. As a child, she dreamed about being a mother. After she found Tom, she began to get more excited about her future. In so many ways, he was her soul mate. After the two got married, Monica longed for the day when she would have a baby. She dreamed about it. She visited maternity sections of stores and picked out her favorite crib and stroller.
Three years after they were married, Monica missed her period. That day, a pregnancy test confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Monica was so excited. It seemed like her life was so blessed. When Monica gave birth to Steven, she was filled with awe at the beauty of his little fingers and the smell of his baby skin. She didn’t mind cleaning his diaper or the lack of sleep when he was up at night. She was now a mother! It was her life-long dream.
Two weeks after coming home from the hospital, Monica began to experience unusual symptoms. She started to cry a lot. Also, her desires seemed to change. She didn’t feel like receiving hugs and kisses from Tom. She felt tired and irritable. She seemed to enjoy being around little Steven less and less. Day after day, it felt like the skies were gray and she was overwhelmed. She had no energy. She stopped taking showers. She wore the same clothes even when the baby spit up on them. Then, one morning she asked her husband to take care of Steven all day. Lying in bed, she felt like her life was in the pits. She regretted motherhood. She felt overwhelmed. She wondered if she had messed up her life. More than a dozen times, she cried out to God in prayer. Every time she opened the Bible on her nightstand to read a few verses, she couldn’t concentrate. She then began to wonder if she had also failed God in some way by not loving her family enough. This caused her to feel even worse. Her world seemed bleak. She cried on and off the rest of the day.
After hours of Monica’s symptoms, Tom tried to console Monica. Nothing seemed to help. Finally, he called the doctor. Tom set up an appointment for her, making all the arrangements so they could go in together. A relative was called to take care of Steve. Tom and Monica left for the doctor’s visit.
The doctor found that Monica had post-partum depression. He prescribed her some anti-depressants and urged the family to help her more. Tom took another week off work. Monica’s mother came over and cleaned the house twice a week. A friend of Tom’s took care of a leaking faucet. Two of Monica’s friends took her out to a nice dinner each week. Monica’s pastor stopped over at the house twice to check on her and do some informal counseling. Everybody pitched in.
It took almost three months for things to look better for Monica, but she came around. She began to pray again. She began to smile more often. She became more social. She started to flirt with Tom. When Monica later described what it was like to have post-partum depression, she told her pastor that it felt like she was in a deep pit with no way out. Life was gloomy and lonely. The pastor read from the scripture above, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit…” Monica smiled at how poignant the verse seemed to be. She was so enamored by that Bible verse that she memorized it. On her down days, she would say it out loud from memory until things began to look up. And one more thing…. Monica and God grew very close during this dark period of her life. Monica could feel HIM trying to break through, to bring light into that pit of hell known as postpartum depression.
There are so many ways that God blesses your life. Isn’t it time you “bless the Lord” with your soul? Do you remember a time when your life was “in the pits”? God was with you, trying to bring light to that darkness. Do you remember a time when you were hurting? God was also with you, healing your pain. You may never know how many times God reached out to you, touched you, healed you. But you can bet your last dollar that God did it. Why? That’s who God is. That’s how God works.
Monica waited for years to have her first child. As a child, she dreamed about being a mother. After she found Tom, she began to get more excited about her future. In so many ways, he was her soul mate. After the two got married, Monica longed for the day when she would have a baby. She dreamed about it. She visited maternity sections of stores and picked out her favorite crib and stroller.
Three years after they were married, Monica missed her period. That day, a pregnancy test confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Monica was so excited. It seemed like her life was so blessed. When Monica gave birth to Steven, she was filled with awe at the beauty of his little fingers and the smell of his baby skin. She didn’t mind cleaning his diaper or the lack of sleep when he was up at night. She was now a mother! It was her life-long dream.
Two weeks after coming home from the hospital, Monica began to experience unusual symptoms. She started to cry a lot. Also, her desires seemed to change. She didn’t feel like receiving hugs and kisses from Tom. She felt tired and irritable. She seemed to enjoy being around little Steven less and less. Day after day, it felt like the skies were gray and she was overwhelmed. She had no energy. She stopped taking showers. She wore the same clothes even when the baby spit up on them. Then, one morning she asked her husband to take care of Steven all day. Lying in bed, she felt like her life was in the pits. She regretted motherhood. She felt overwhelmed. She wondered if she had messed up her life. More than a dozen times, she cried out to God in prayer. Every time she opened the Bible on her nightstand to read a few verses, she couldn’t concentrate. She then began to wonder if she had also failed God in some way by not loving her family enough. This caused her to feel even worse. Her world seemed bleak. She cried on and off the rest of the day.
After hours of Monica’s symptoms, Tom tried to console Monica. Nothing seemed to help. Finally, he called the doctor. Tom set up an appointment for her, making all the arrangements so they could go in together. A relative was called to take care of Steve. Tom and Monica left for the doctor’s visit.
The doctor found that Monica had post-partum depression. He prescribed her some anti-depressants and urged the family to help her more. Tom took another week off work. Monica’s mother came over and cleaned the house twice a week. A friend of Tom’s took care of a leaking faucet. Two of Monica’s friends took her out to a nice dinner each week. Monica’s pastor stopped over at the house twice to check on her and do some informal counseling. Everybody pitched in.
It took almost three months for things to look better for Monica, but she came around. She began to pray again. She began to smile more often. She became more social. She started to flirt with Tom. When Monica later described what it was like to have post-partum depression, she told her pastor that it felt like she was in a deep pit with no way out. Life was gloomy and lonely. The pastor read from the scripture above, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit…” Monica smiled at how poignant the verse seemed to be. She was so enamored by that Bible verse that she memorized it. On her down days, she would say it out loud from memory until things began to look up. And one more thing…. Monica and God grew very close during this dark period of her life. Monica could feel HIM trying to break through, to bring light into that pit of hell known as postpartum depression.
There are so many ways that God blesses your life. Isn’t it time you “bless the Lord” with your soul? Do you remember a time when your life was “in the pits”? God was with you, trying to bring light to that darkness. Do you remember a time when you were hurting? God was also with you, healing your pain. You may never know how many times God reached out to you, touched you, healed you. But you can bet your last dollar that God did it. Why? That’s who God is. That’s how God works.
August 4
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16, NLT)
Grace is defined as help given that is unmerited or undeserved. When God gives you grace, it may come in the form of forgiveness or mercy or love or a blessing. Grace isn’t something you earn. It isn’t something you deserve based on your hard work or some form of penance. It is simply a gift given by God or another to enhance the life of someone in need of that gift.
At some point in your life, you will need grace. You will need someone to forgive you, help you, redeem you, vouch for you, or grant you mercy. This may occur after you screwed up, failed at some work, or caused someone pain. Grace may be needed after you sin against God or fail God in some way.
I have met many people who had this notion that the longer you were a Christian, the more you had access to grace or forgiveness. Others claimed to feel that a faithful churchgoer deserves more grace than a habitual sinner. Both of these groups of people had grace all wrong. Grace is UNDESERVED. It is not earned. It is not given to a person because of merit or depth of character or age or color of skin or other outside factors. Grace is something given without justification. It is a gift based entirely on the generosity of the giver. You can’t buy or attain grace. You can’t demand it. You can’t expect it. It is unmerited. It is never deserved. It is a gift. Often, it is a wonderful and beautiful gift of love.
At a courtroom in Nebraska, a trial took place. A young woman was on trial for manslaughter after drinking and driving. While on her way home from a bar drunk, the young woman had plowed into another car at a stop sign. The car that was hit held a twenty-two-year-old who was pregnant with her first child. The pregnant woman and her fetus died at the scene. The drunk young woman was taken into custody. Her name was plastered throughout local news. People called her “the drunk baby-killer”. Threats and recriminations were sent her way. At the trial, closely monitored by the media, the young woman was found guilty. When given the chance to speak, the young woman explained her regret and sadness at what happened. Then, the judge asked the family of the victims to speak. Everyone in the courtroom braced for anger or hatred or some other harsh words because of the situation. The mother of the pregnant woman who died stood up and said only a few words. Then, she ended her speech with these words: “I forgive you, young lady. I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive yourself. My daughter’s life cannot come back to us. That will forever haunt me. But, because I believe in Jesus with my whole heart, I still forgive you.”
Did that young woman deserve the forgiveness? No. Did she deserve the words of encouragement? No. That’s grace. Out of a love of Jesus, the mother was offering the young woman the grace to move on with her life and the forgiveness to move past this horrible event.
There will be times in your life when grace is your only hope. You may have messed something up terribly. You may have said the worst thing at the worst moment. You might have made a very bad decision that cost someone else dearly. In some of those instances, you may have no ability to make things right. You may not be able to rectify the situation or atone for your mistake. At times like that, grace is your only hope. You might long for grace or mercy from another person. You might beg for it from God.
The scripture for today is a shining example of the hope that God gives to all those who have messed up. No matter the situation, Hebrews 4:16 encourages the person who has messed up in life to “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.” While there, the sinner (YOU!) is reminded that God is a great source of mercy. There at the throne of God, you can find “grace when you need it most.” When your choices have been poor, when sin got the best of you, when temptations steamrolled over you, when your mistake caused awful consequences, God is the ultimate source of grace. Don’t be afraid to come to God’s throne asking for grace whenever you “need it the most”.
I have seen people who lived with terrible burdens caused by their own mistakes. I have witnessed the anguish of those who messed up. One young man lives with the knowledge that his own decision caused the death of a parent. A wife has to bear the burden of an affair she regrets to this day. A mistake at work has haunted one man. He lives with the knowledge that his mistake caused another worker to be disabled for life. A fire was caused by an older woman who fell asleep while smoking. That fire killed her grandson. One older woman driving too quickly in unsafe conditions caused an accident. The accident paralyzed one teen and killed his best friend. Each of these people live with terrible burdens from the past. Their only option is to come to the throne of God seeking grace and mercy and forgiveness and some lasting peace.
There are some things in life that you can’t undo. Some things cannot be made right no matter how hard you try. Sometimes, the only remedy for lasting peace in this world is grace; grace given by people who exhibit amazing love; grace given by God that is undeserved but so very much needed. Don’t overlook the power of grace you can offer to another. And don’t forget that God is the ultimate giver of grace.
When things seem unfixable, when the burden is overwhelming, when everything looks bleak, seek out the grace of God. There is always hope at the throne of the Almighty AND room for you there!
At some point in your life, you will need grace. You will need someone to forgive you, help you, redeem you, vouch for you, or grant you mercy. This may occur after you screwed up, failed at some work, or caused someone pain. Grace may be needed after you sin against God or fail God in some way.
I have met many people who had this notion that the longer you were a Christian, the more you had access to grace or forgiveness. Others claimed to feel that a faithful churchgoer deserves more grace than a habitual sinner. Both of these groups of people had grace all wrong. Grace is UNDESERVED. It is not earned. It is not given to a person because of merit or depth of character or age or color of skin or other outside factors. Grace is something given without justification. It is a gift based entirely on the generosity of the giver. You can’t buy or attain grace. You can’t demand it. You can’t expect it. It is unmerited. It is never deserved. It is a gift. Often, it is a wonderful and beautiful gift of love.
At a courtroom in Nebraska, a trial took place. A young woman was on trial for manslaughter after drinking and driving. While on her way home from a bar drunk, the young woman had plowed into another car at a stop sign. The car that was hit held a twenty-two-year-old who was pregnant with her first child. The pregnant woman and her fetus died at the scene. The drunk young woman was taken into custody. Her name was plastered throughout local news. People called her “the drunk baby-killer”. Threats and recriminations were sent her way. At the trial, closely monitored by the media, the young woman was found guilty. When given the chance to speak, the young woman explained her regret and sadness at what happened. Then, the judge asked the family of the victims to speak. Everyone in the courtroom braced for anger or hatred or some other harsh words because of the situation. The mother of the pregnant woman who died stood up and said only a few words. Then, she ended her speech with these words: “I forgive you, young lady. I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive yourself. My daughter’s life cannot come back to us. That will forever haunt me. But, because I believe in Jesus with my whole heart, I still forgive you.”
Did that young woman deserve the forgiveness? No. Did she deserve the words of encouragement? No. That’s grace. Out of a love of Jesus, the mother was offering the young woman the grace to move on with her life and the forgiveness to move past this horrible event.
There will be times in your life when grace is your only hope. You may have messed something up terribly. You may have said the worst thing at the worst moment. You might have made a very bad decision that cost someone else dearly. In some of those instances, you may have no ability to make things right. You may not be able to rectify the situation or atone for your mistake. At times like that, grace is your only hope. You might long for grace or mercy from another person. You might beg for it from God.
The scripture for today is a shining example of the hope that God gives to all those who have messed up. No matter the situation, Hebrews 4:16 encourages the person who has messed up in life to “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.” While there, the sinner (YOU!) is reminded that God is a great source of mercy. There at the throne of God, you can find “grace when you need it most.” When your choices have been poor, when sin got the best of you, when temptations steamrolled over you, when your mistake caused awful consequences, God is the ultimate source of grace. Don’t be afraid to come to God’s throne asking for grace whenever you “need it the most”.
I have seen people who lived with terrible burdens caused by their own mistakes. I have witnessed the anguish of those who messed up. One young man lives with the knowledge that his own decision caused the death of a parent. A wife has to bear the burden of an affair she regrets to this day. A mistake at work has haunted one man. He lives with the knowledge that his mistake caused another worker to be disabled for life. A fire was caused by an older woman who fell asleep while smoking. That fire killed her grandson. One older woman driving too quickly in unsafe conditions caused an accident. The accident paralyzed one teen and killed his best friend. Each of these people live with terrible burdens from the past. Their only option is to come to the throne of God seeking grace and mercy and forgiveness and some lasting peace.
There are some things in life that you can’t undo. Some things cannot be made right no matter how hard you try. Sometimes, the only remedy for lasting peace in this world is grace; grace given by people who exhibit amazing love; grace given by God that is undeserved but so very much needed. Don’t overlook the power of grace you can offer to another. And don’t forget that God is the ultimate giver of grace.
When things seem unfixable, when the burden is overwhelming, when everything looks bleak, seek out the grace of God. There is always hope at the throne of the Almighty AND room for you there!
August 6
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31, ESV)
You may see the word “malice” from time to time as you read the Bible. You might realize it has something to do with being “bad”. But do you know its definition? Could you explain malice to another person? During Confirmation Class one Saturday morning, a student asked me to define malice. I simply stated that it was “ill intent”. After a moment of thought, the student questioned again, “What is ill intent?” I thought for a few moments, then replied, “It’s when you intend or desire to do harm to someone else. You want to hurt their feelings. You want to make them hurt.” It was the best I could do at the moment, but it was good enough to get the point across.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he lumps malice together with other sins of ill-intent. In Ephesians 4:31, Paul mentions “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamor”, and “slander” in the same context as “malice”. All these are sins where you intend to hurt someone. You intend for them to feel rejected or to suffer some form of hurt. It’s not that you can’t feel these emotions. You will feel them at some time in your life. It’s what you do with them that counts. When the hurt you feel in your heart comes out with a negative slam against a co-worker, that’s malice. After stewing over some slight from your spouse, if you let loose with a barrage of profanities at the slightest provocation, that’s bitterness and malice. That’s why these emotions are dangerous. It is spiritually crucial that you become aware when you feel them. It’s also super-important that you deal with them and are cautious how they come out!
If you read the scripture for today carefully, nowhere does it say you WILL NEVER have feelings like anger, wrath, bitterness, clamor, slander, or malice. Instead, the scripture says to “put them away from you.” To accomplish that, you need to first recognize these emotions when you have them. When your emotions start to bubble to the surface, its important that you do a psychological “self-check”. Evaluate your thoughts and emotions for these negative feelings. Look for evidence in past hours and days of each of these feelings. Then, if you see they have surfaced, the next thing you need to do is deal with them. It might help to talk about why you are angry. If you can’t trust a family member to talk about it with, talk to a pastor or counselor or trusted and faithful friend. If you find any negative emotion from the scripture for today present and active, it’s time to come to God with that emotion. Ask for forgiveness and grace. Seek God’s direction at how to eradicate the negative emotion before it captures your thoughts and comes out in sinful ways. If you let that negative emotion hang around too long in your heart and soul and mind, it will eat away at your peace and damage your relationships and/or health.
Most people don’t know it, but the negative emotions mentioned in the scripture above can also damage your body. Anger has been clearly shown to cause ulcers, a rise in blood pressure, and binge eating, along with many other problems. Bitterness that lasts long enough can fuel depression and the loss of self-worth. Wrath, slander, clamor, and malice can not only damage and destroy relationships, but they can also cause anxiety and worry and fear and many other negative emotions to take hold in you. That is why you need to deal with them sooner rather than later.
“Otto Von Bismarck was the chancellor of Germany during the First World War. Bismarck was a man eaten up with anger and resentfulness. Waking up with a scowl one morning, Bismarck announced,
" I have spent the whole night hating.” He was such a bitter man that the weight of bitterness eventually broke his health. He grew a beard to hide the twitching muscles of his face. Jaundice, gastric ulcers, gallstones, and shingles wracked his body. When publishers offered him a large sum of money for his life’s story, he began to write with a reckless disregard for truth, heaping hate on men and women long dead. He died at 83, an embittered, cynical, lonely, and miserable man.” (Denis Lyle, www.pastorlife.com)
There are many ways that malice presents itself. Some find it easy to hold a grudge. Some will have a burning resentment that flares up at unfortunate moments. Many will harbor regrets and anger and deep-seated wrath over past incidents or mistakes or failures. Others will replay a heated exchange over and over until it eats away at their thoughts and peace. You might feel disgust. You might feel resentment. You might narrow your eyes at the sight of another person. You might clench your stomach muscles or tense up when in the presence of a person who hurt you. There are many physical, psychological, and emotional responses when these emotions take hold in your soul.
Again, when these negative emotions start to take hold, follow these three steps. First, do a “self-check” for why you are feeling this way. Second, talk to someone and God about why you feel this way. It helps to get it out. Finally, deal with the emotions as God wills. Pray about what to do and how to let these feelings go. If you do not work through these emotions, you will be tortured by them. If you do not let them go, you will be eaten up by their effects. God is waiting.
I will end today’s meditation with some wise words from Denis Lyle given in the article listed above. “Over the years I have met professing Christians who have preferred nursing their anger to enjoying the fellowship of God and Gods people.” I hope this doesn’t describe you.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he lumps malice together with other sins of ill-intent. In Ephesians 4:31, Paul mentions “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamor”, and “slander” in the same context as “malice”. All these are sins where you intend to hurt someone. You intend for them to feel rejected or to suffer some form of hurt. It’s not that you can’t feel these emotions. You will feel them at some time in your life. It’s what you do with them that counts. When the hurt you feel in your heart comes out with a negative slam against a co-worker, that’s malice. After stewing over some slight from your spouse, if you let loose with a barrage of profanities at the slightest provocation, that’s bitterness and malice. That’s why these emotions are dangerous. It is spiritually crucial that you become aware when you feel them. It’s also super-important that you deal with them and are cautious how they come out!
If you read the scripture for today carefully, nowhere does it say you WILL NEVER have feelings like anger, wrath, bitterness, clamor, slander, or malice. Instead, the scripture says to “put them away from you.” To accomplish that, you need to first recognize these emotions when you have them. When your emotions start to bubble to the surface, its important that you do a psychological “self-check”. Evaluate your thoughts and emotions for these negative feelings. Look for evidence in past hours and days of each of these feelings. Then, if you see they have surfaced, the next thing you need to do is deal with them. It might help to talk about why you are angry. If you can’t trust a family member to talk about it with, talk to a pastor or counselor or trusted and faithful friend. If you find any negative emotion from the scripture for today present and active, it’s time to come to God with that emotion. Ask for forgiveness and grace. Seek God’s direction at how to eradicate the negative emotion before it captures your thoughts and comes out in sinful ways. If you let that negative emotion hang around too long in your heart and soul and mind, it will eat away at your peace and damage your relationships and/or health.
Most people don’t know it, but the negative emotions mentioned in the scripture above can also damage your body. Anger has been clearly shown to cause ulcers, a rise in blood pressure, and binge eating, along with many other problems. Bitterness that lasts long enough can fuel depression and the loss of self-worth. Wrath, slander, clamor, and malice can not only damage and destroy relationships, but they can also cause anxiety and worry and fear and many other negative emotions to take hold in you. That is why you need to deal with them sooner rather than later.
“Otto Von Bismarck was the chancellor of Germany during the First World War. Bismarck was a man eaten up with anger and resentfulness. Waking up with a scowl one morning, Bismarck announced,
" I have spent the whole night hating.” He was such a bitter man that the weight of bitterness eventually broke his health. He grew a beard to hide the twitching muscles of his face. Jaundice, gastric ulcers, gallstones, and shingles wracked his body. When publishers offered him a large sum of money for his life’s story, he began to write with a reckless disregard for truth, heaping hate on men and women long dead. He died at 83, an embittered, cynical, lonely, and miserable man.” (Denis Lyle, www.pastorlife.com)
There are many ways that malice presents itself. Some find it easy to hold a grudge. Some will have a burning resentment that flares up at unfortunate moments. Many will harbor regrets and anger and deep-seated wrath over past incidents or mistakes or failures. Others will replay a heated exchange over and over until it eats away at their thoughts and peace. You might feel disgust. You might feel resentment. You might narrow your eyes at the sight of another person. You might clench your stomach muscles or tense up when in the presence of a person who hurt you. There are many physical, psychological, and emotional responses when these emotions take hold in your soul.
Again, when these negative emotions start to take hold, follow these three steps. First, do a “self-check” for why you are feeling this way. Second, talk to someone and God about why you feel this way. It helps to get it out. Finally, deal with the emotions as God wills. Pray about what to do and how to let these feelings go. If you do not work through these emotions, you will be tortured by them. If you do not let them go, you will be eaten up by their effects. God is waiting.
I will end today’s meditation with some wise words from Denis Lyle given in the article listed above. “Over the years I have met professing Christians who have preferred nursing their anger to enjoying the fellowship of God and Gods people.” I hope this doesn’t describe you.
August 8
“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Romans 1:18, NLT)
As a student of history for decades, even majoring in history in college, I knew a lot about how nations and people suppress the truth. When the truth is seen as divisive or dangerous or harmful to a regime or a group, they will suppress that truth in order to keep their image or power or prestige. In the 1980’s, I studied the ways that governments hid the truth before and during World War 2. There were chemical “bombs” that were used by the Japanese to poison Chinese people. Most people didn’t know this until after the war. England kept the sinking of two of its most important ships from the news for fear of their loss damaging the morale back home. Adolf Hitler used propaganda in large amounts to mislead and then outright lie to the German people. Americans hid the dangers of nuclear weapons for decades until the truth came out following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War 2. During my college years, I studied hundreds of these lies and have since found out many more that came to light since I graduated from college.
Human beings are notorious liars. Adam and Eve used deception to get around the truth when they ate the forbidden fruit in Eden (Genesis 3). Cain used the famous phrase, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” to cover up the hatred and murder of his brother (Genesis 4:9). Peter lied about knowing Jesus while denying Jesus three times (Mark 14). Ananias and Sapphira lied about the money they withheld from the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts. Even some very faithful people in the Bible used lies and deceptions to get their way or to cover up a sin. Abram hid the fact that Sarai was his wife (calling her his sister!) when afraid of Pharaoh (Genesis 12). King David hid the truth about his adultery with Bathsheba, even using murder to suppress that truth (2 Samuel 11). It is all too easy to play with the truth, to lie, to deceive, and to omit the facts when put in certain situations. Don’t underestimate your desire to deceive when in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In the scripture for today, Paul makes abundantly clear that God is against “all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth” as a part of their “wicked” agenda. When a person or group or country suppresses the truth in order to cover up their wickedness or to stop the truth about God from growing, God’s wrath will be poured out in response. God does not take kindly to a suppression of the truth of the gospel. God does not turn a blind eye to those who choose to promote lies or falsehoods about the truth of the gospel nor about what is right and wrong in the world.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s several groups of liberal theologians and activists gathered to promote the idea that homosexual relationships were not sinful. They desired for homosexuality to be seen as “a choice”, but that God did not see it as sin. They reinterpreted Romans 1:26ff to be a belief of Paul and not God. Some reinterpreted the sin of Sodom in Genesis to be a sin of the lack of hospitality not homosexuality. One theologian in the group touted the ideal that Jesus never spoke against a homosexual or condemned homosexuality outright. Even though Jesus did say that marriage was made of “one man and woman” (Mark 10:7-9), these activists said that Jesus used this as an example but not as a rule. Whenever anyone pointed out that homosexuality was viewed as sin in multiple places in the Bible, the group was quick to retort that “Jesus also said that those who sin with their eye should pluck it out. We don’t see people going around with one eye!” Their reasoning was that “out of love”, Christians should not condemn those poor souls who desired to be homosexuals. They even came out with the line, “God created homosexuals with these feelings, so they can’t be sinful when acting out. God made them that way!” Through various means, these activists actively promoted that what the Bible considered as sin was not really a sin. They openly attacked and suppressed anyone who spoke against their agenda. One of my seminary friends was barred from ordination because his father spoke about the sin of homosexuality at a national gathering. Today, some of these same people are now promoting that God is gender-neutral, even if the Bible is not. They are also claiming that marriage between any two people who are “in love” is acceptable in God’s sight no matter who those two people may be. For them, there are no limits to who can be married; one man and three women, a man and a twelve-year-old girl, a woman to a woman, a trans-man to a trans-woman, etc. They believe God blesses all these relationships.
In a recent poll of media outlets in 46 countries, the United States news organizations were seen as the least trusted in the world. Only 29% of Americans surveyed in the “Digital News Report” believed they could trust “most news most of the time”. We’ve seen news outlets retract their stories many times because the facts were made up, hidden, or because they outright lied to manipulate the truth or suppress the truth. Online media giants like Youtube, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are actively censoring the truth, deleting videos and posts that tell the truth. They have, in fact, deleted the facts posted by doctors about COVID-19 in order to promote their own agenda. They have banned certain individuals and groups in order to suppress the real truth or to taint individuals or organizations in opposition. Fact-checking groups have been guilty of so many lies, half-truths, and deceptions that places like Snopes.com are no longer trusted whatsoever with the truth. We live in dangerous times, my friend. You may not even be able to find out some truths without a lot of digging.
The scripture for today promises that God’s wrath is poured out when the truth of the gospel is “suppressed”. God does not take kindly to those who “suppress the truth” in order to promote their own agenda. Be careful that you don’t get swept up in the lies promoted by certain groups and individuals. Be careful about what you read and hear online. Don’t trust governments or news organizations to tell you what is right and wrong. I mean, Communist China is on a rampage to cover up their involvement in the origin of COVID-19, evidence to the contrary. Do you know how many Chinese doctors and researchers have been silenced or have disappeared since COVID-19 appeared in China? Do you know how many churches were closed or torn down in China to silence the gospel?
It might be easy to blame governments and news organizations for suppressing the truth after reading the scripture for today. However, the danger is that you, even being faithful, might be tempted to use deception in the wrong circumstances as well. You might also get sucked into some lie and misrepresent God’s truth. Even the best people of the Bible (other than Jesus) were caught in lies and deceptions. Don’t let it happen to you! Repent quickly if it ever does. Without God’s truth to anchor your world, your life will fall apart in a cascade of lies…. The true gospel is precious. False gospels are all the rage right now.
Human beings are notorious liars. Adam and Eve used deception to get around the truth when they ate the forbidden fruit in Eden (Genesis 3). Cain used the famous phrase, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” to cover up the hatred and murder of his brother (Genesis 4:9). Peter lied about knowing Jesus while denying Jesus three times (Mark 14). Ananias and Sapphira lied about the money they withheld from the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts. Even some very faithful people in the Bible used lies and deceptions to get their way or to cover up a sin. Abram hid the fact that Sarai was his wife (calling her his sister!) when afraid of Pharaoh (Genesis 12). King David hid the truth about his adultery with Bathsheba, even using murder to suppress that truth (2 Samuel 11). It is all too easy to play with the truth, to lie, to deceive, and to omit the facts when put in certain situations. Don’t underestimate your desire to deceive when in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In the scripture for today, Paul makes abundantly clear that God is against “all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth” as a part of their “wicked” agenda. When a person or group or country suppresses the truth in order to cover up their wickedness or to stop the truth about God from growing, God’s wrath will be poured out in response. God does not take kindly to a suppression of the truth of the gospel. God does not turn a blind eye to those who choose to promote lies or falsehoods about the truth of the gospel nor about what is right and wrong in the world.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s several groups of liberal theologians and activists gathered to promote the idea that homosexual relationships were not sinful. They desired for homosexuality to be seen as “a choice”, but that God did not see it as sin. They reinterpreted Romans 1:26ff to be a belief of Paul and not God. Some reinterpreted the sin of Sodom in Genesis to be a sin of the lack of hospitality not homosexuality. One theologian in the group touted the ideal that Jesus never spoke against a homosexual or condemned homosexuality outright. Even though Jesus did say that marriage was made of “one man and woman” (Mark 10:7-9), these activists said that Jesus used this as an example but not as a rule. Whenever anyone pointed out that homosexuality was viewed as sin in multiple places in the Bible, the group was quick to retort that “Jesus also said that those who sin with their eye should pluck it out. We don’t see people going around with one eye!” Their reasoning was that “out of love”, Christians should not condemn those poor souls who desired to be homosexuals. They even came out with the line, “God created homosexuals with these feelings, so they can’t be sinful when acting out. God made them that way!” Through various means, these activists actively promoted that what the Bible considered as sin was not really a sin. They openly attacked and suppressed anyone who spoke against their agenda. One of my seminary friends was barred from ordination because his father spoke about the sin of homosexuality at a national gathering. Today, some of these same people are now promoting that God is gender-neutral, even if the Bible is not. They are also claiming that marriage between any two people who are “in love” is acceptable in God’s sight no matter who those two people may be. For them, there are no limits to who can be married; one man and three women, a man and a twelve-year-old girl, a woman to a woman, a trans-man to a trans-woman, etc. They believe God blesses all these relationships.
In a recent poll of media outlets in 46 countries, the United States news organizations were seen as the least trusted in the world. Only 29% of Americans surveyed in the “Digital News Report” believed they could trust “most news most of the time”. We’ve seen news outlets retract their stories many times because the facts were made up, hidden, or because they outright lied to manipulate the truth or suppress the truth. Online media giants like Youtube, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are actively censoring the truth, deleting videos and posts that tell the truth. They have, in fact, deleted the facts posted by doctors about COVID-19 in order to promote their own agenda. They have banned certain individuals and groups in order to suppress the real truth or to taint individuals or organizations in opposition. Fact-checking groups have been guilty of so many lies, half-truths, and deceptions that places like Snopes.com are no longer trusted whatsoever with the truth. We live in dangerous times, my friend. You may not even be able to find out some truths without a lot of digging.
The scripture for today promises that God’s wrath is poured out when the truth of the gospel is “suppressed”. God does not take kindly to those who “suppress the truth” in order to promote their own agenda. Be careful that you don’t get swept up in the lies promoted by certain groups and individuals. Be careful about what you read and hear online. Don’t trust governments or news organizations to tell you what is right and wrong. I mean, Communist China is on a rampage to cover up their involvement in the origin of COVID-19, evidence to the contrary. Do you know how many Chinese doctors and researchers have been silenced or have disappeared since COVID-19 appeared in China? Do you know how many churches were closed or torn down in China to silence the gospel?
It might be easy to blame governments and news organizations for suppressing the truth after reading the scripture for today. However, the danger is that you, even being faithful, might be tempted to use deception in the wrong circumstances as well. You might also get sucked into some lie and misrepresent God’s truth. Even the best people of the Bible (other than Jesus) were caught in lies and deceptions. Don’t let it happen to you! Repent quickly if it ever does. Without God’s truth to anchor your world, your life will fall apart in a cascade of lies…. The true gospel is precious. False gospels are all the rage right now.
August 10
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11, NIV)
There are varieties of spiritual warfare that are going on in and around you at any one time. Satan is behind all of them in some way. Spiritual warfare that is outside of you may take a myriad of forms. At times, it will feel like the world is against you or you can’t do anything right. You may feel overwhelmed or under pressure. You might feel enormous peer pressure. You might be wrongly accused or put in situations of temptation. There are many ways that external factors can cause spiritual warfare around about you.
At other times, spiritual warfare may be more confined to your own body, mind, and soul. This is an internal type of spiritual warfare. Satan may easily be behind the spiritual struggle, but you are an active participant. You see, your body and its natural or unnatural desires will tempt you to do what is wrong. Raging hormones might cause you to feel overly angry, filled with lust, or tempted to indulge in something you should not. When in the presence of opulence or rich people, you might begin to feel envy, jealousy, or long for money and worldly wealth. Have you ever been on a diet and then craved every food you shouldn’t eat? Well, that can also happen spiritually. After spending a long time being faithful in some endeavor, soon temptations to throw caution to the wind might come on strongly in response. Your emotions, hormones, and body chemistry can all take part to tempt you. What you read or see or hear in social media can push you to act on desires of the body that would wreck your soul. Temptations in your mind can romanticize people or feelings. Alcohol and drugs can take away your moral and spiritual inhibitions. It is normal to feel the pressures of this type of spiritual warfare, but that doesn’t make it any easier!
When tempted with an internal type of spiritual warfare, there are remedies that can help. Prayer helps greatly. Focusing your mind and attention away from the temptation will always help. One man told me that when he feels lust growing in him from a pretty woman at work, he spends his lunch hour taking a long walk. It helps to ease that lust. When tempted to overeat, many work on a hobby or take a drink of water instead. If you find yourself filled with a desire for the newest iPhone or the latest gadget, keep yourself away from YouTube videos about the electronics that interest you. Stay away from stores that sell the merchandise. When commercials for what you lust for come on TV, get up and walk away for a few minutes until the commercial ends or just mute the TV. You need to develop methods to counter the temptations that increase the pressure of inner spiritual warfare.
Carl was a long-time smoker. When he developed asthma and the doctor pointed out that his lungs were damaged by the smoking, Carl decided to quit. He studied ways to quit smoking, talked with God in prayer about it, and smoked the last cigarette in his last pack.
After a few days without cigarettes, Carl’s body began to go through withdrawals. He decided to wear a nicotine patch to help. Then, Carl noticed that whenever he filled up his gas tank with fuel at a corner store, he was tempted to step inside to buy one pack of cigarettes. He decided to only pay for his gas at the pump. When he saw commercials about smoking, he would mute his TV. When he was around a friend who smoked, he wouldn’t stay long. Being a man of faith, Carl joined an online religious group for smokers who were trying to quit. Carl was doing everything he could to stop his smoking.
Two years after Carl quit, he told me that it was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He was surprised how many temptations to start smoking again had arisen in those two years. After a good conversation, Carl told me that in the end he realized that his body was fighting him. His body was going through a long withdrawal. His mind had to adapt to not leaning on the drugs in cigarettes to feel better. His soul had to learn to be honest with God about his desires to smoke.
The scripture for today listed above is a reminder that your body is tempted by “sinful desires” (1 Peter 2:11). Your hormones and body chemistry and genetic components will cause you to be tempted by certain things. Certain odors might prompt you to want to overeat. Beautiful people might tempt you toward lustful desires. Pretty or expensive commodities might entice you to spend money you don’t have. Jealousy and envy can push you to buy or do things just to look good or please others. Selfish motives might drive you to lie, cheat, and steal. The scripture from 1 Peter makes clear that your own internal sinful desires can actually “wage war against your soul”. You might think these words of Peter are overly exaggerated, but they are not. Sinful desires can consume you, torture you, and wreck your relationship with God. Sinful desires can destroy friendships and cause wars with actual bullets and bombs. That internal struggle you face is real. It is difficult. But it is NOT insurmountable.
God can help in many ways to ease the inner turmoil you feel. Lean on God. Lean on others you can trust. Find ways to alleviate the pressure. Take a walk. Say a prayer expressing your frustrations. Read a book on the subject. Talk to your pastor, a doctor, or a strong spiritual friend. “Abstain” (as the scripture for today urges) from these sinful temptations. Refrain from sinful actions. Don’t let those sinful desires or lusts shipwreck your life and soul or consume your every thought. The danger of sinful desires is real. Your response to them is critical to your emotional, psychological, and especially your spiritual health.
At other times, spiritual warfare may be more confined to your own body, mind, and soul. This is an internal type of spiritual warfare. Satan may easily be behind the spiritual struggle, but you are an active participant. You see, your body and its natural or unnatural desires will tempt you to do what is wrong. Raging hormones might cause you to feel overly angry, filled with lust, or tempted to indulge in something you should not. When in the presence of opulence or rich people, you might begin to feel envy, jealousy, or long for money and worldly wealth. Have you ever been on a diet and then craved every food you shouldn’t eat? Well, that can also happen spiritually. After spending a long time being faithful in some endeavor, soon temptations to throw caution to the wind might come on strongly in response. Your emotions, hormones, and body chemistry can all take part to tempt you. What you read or see or hear in social media can push you to act on desires of the body that would wreck your soul. Temptations in your mind can romanticize people or feelings. Alcohol and drugs can take away your moral and spiritual inhibitions. It is normal to feel the pressures of this type of spiritual warfare, but that doesn’t make it any easier!
When tempted with an internal type of spiritual warfare, there are remedies that can help. Prayer helps greatly. Focusing your mind and attention away from the temptation will always help. One man told me that when he feels lust growing in him from a pretty woman at work, he spends his lunch hour taking a long walk. It helps to ease that lust. When tempted to overeat, many work on a hobby or take a drink of water instead. If you find yourself filled with a desire for the newest iPhone or the latest gadget, keep yourself away from YouTube videos about the electronics that interest you. Stay away from stores that sell the merchandise. When commercials for what you lust for come on TV, get up and walk away for a few minutes until the commercial ends or just mute the TV. You need to develop methods to counter the temptations that increase the pressure of inner spiritual warfare.
Carl was a long-time smoker. When he developed asthma and the doctor pointed out that his lungs were damaged by the smoking, Carl decided to quit. He studied ways to quit smoking, talked with God in prayer about it, and smoked the last cigarette in his last pack.
After a few days without cigarettes, Carl’s body began to go through withdrawals. He decided to wear a nicotine patch to help. Then, Carl noticed that whenever he filled up his gas tank with fuel at a corner store, he was tempted to step inside to buy one pack of cigarettes. He decided to only pay for his gas at the pump. When he saw commercials about smoking, he would mute his TV. When he was around a friend who smoked, he wouldn’t stay long. Being a man of faith, Carl joined an online religious group for smokers who were trying to quit. Carl was doing everything he could to stop his smoking.
Two years after Carl quit, he told me that it was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He was surprised how many temptations to start smoking again had arisen in those two years. After a good conversation, Carl told me that in the end he realized that his body was fighting him. His body was going through a long withdrawal. His mind had to adapt to not leaning on the drugs in cigarettes to feel better. His soul had to learn to be honest with God about his desires to smoke.
The scripture for today listed above is a reminder that your body is tempted by “sinful desires” (1 Peter 2:11). Your hormones and body chemistry and genetic components will cause you to be tempted by certain things. Certain odors might prompt you to want to overeat. Beautiful people might tempt you toward lustful desires. Pretty or expensive commodities might entice you to spend money you don’t have. Jealousy and envy can push you to buy or do things just to look good or please others. Selfish motives might drive you to lie, cheat, and steal. The scripture from 1 Peter makes clear that your own internal sinful desires can actually “wage war against your soul”. You might think these words of Peter are overly exaggerated, but they are not. Sinful desires can consume you, torture you, and wreck your relationship with God. Sinful desires can destroy friendships and cause wars with actual bullets and bombs. That internal struggle you face is real. It is difficult. But it is NOT insurmountable.
God can help in many ways to ease the inner turmoil you feel. Lean on God. Lean on others you can trust. Find ways to alleviate the pressure. Take a walk. Say a prayer expressing your frustrations. Read a book on the subject. Talk to your pastor, a doctor, or a strong spiritual friend. “Abstain” (as the scripture for today urges) from these sinful temptations. Refrain from sinful actions. Don’t let those sinful desires or lusts shipwreck your life and soul or consume your every thought. The danger of sinful desires is real. Your response to them is critical to your emotional, psychological, and especially your spiritual health.
August 12
“And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4:3, NLT)
A tale is told about a small town that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.” (10,000 Sermon Illustrations).
Prayers are interesting and complex subjects. They may be deep and engaging. They may be shallow and meaningless. Often, your motives will display whether your prayer time is productive or not, deep or shallow, engaging or meaningless. People may USE prayer for right or wrong reasons. I’ve heard people wrongly pray to win the lottery, find a parking spot, change another person’s heart (when the prayer needed a heart change!), and more. I’ve heard hurtful prayers that were meant to harm another person’s feelings or to manipulate a person’s actions. These prayers are often worldly in origin. I’ve also witnessed prayers that were deeply faithful. They filled the hearers with awe-inspiring motivation at the power of God. They challenged the religious to step out in faith.
Prayers may fall into the worldly or faithful categories based on the motivations involved. If a person’s motives are selfish or sinfully based, the prayer usually will fall into a worldly category. The scripture for today warns about prayers that become worldly. James 4:3 teaches that when you ask for something in prayer, you will not get it when “your motives are all wrong”. If you “only want what will give you pleasure”, God will see your prayer as worldly motivated and unworthy of God’s action. On the other hand, a prayer that is faithfully motivated is powerful and changes lives (James 5:15,16).
When you pray, you need to constantly self-evaluate the motives that are present in your prayers. If you pray for God’s intercession, that’s fine, unless you want God to intercede to get what you want and not what God wills. If you pray for God’s hand to be upon someone who is sick, that’s great, but not if you want that person to be well in order to look good or get some advantage from that person.
When Kristen came to see me, she was upset. She claimed that one of her most important prayers had not been answered by God. She was growing frustrated and stymied by the lack of an answer by God to her prayer. The first question I asked her was, “What did you pray for?” When Kristen heard this, her eyes bugged out and she said, “That’s between me and God! You can’t ask that!” We then talked for a good while about right and wrong motives in prayer and the scripture for today from James 4:3.
A half hour later, Kristen finally divulged the content of her unheard prayer. She had prayed for her best friend to dump her mean boyfriend. After more conversation, I found out that the boyfriend involved tended to be arrogant and rude around Kristen. He was not a Christian. Though he was kind-hearted, he could get in a snit and tease mercilessly. Kristen feared her best friend was becoming more quiet and reserved because of his boisterous words and actions.
After further discussion, I helped Kristen to see that instead of praying for the boyfriend to “get lost”, why didn’t she pray for the boyfriend to come to Christ? She replied that he was too rude to be a good Christian, let along a good boyfriend. I told her that God may not be answering her prayer because she was giving God her own view of the situation. Instead of seeing all the possibilities for God to help and asking for God’s hand in the entire matter, she was telling God what to do. With a negative outlook on the possibilities, Kristen promised to pray for the boyfriend to accept Christ and have a change of heart.
It took a whole two years of Kristen’s prayers before anything happened. During that time, Kristen kept her promise to pray for the boyfriend. What she learned during those two years, she shared with me. She discovered that her best friend never really shared her faith with her boyfriend. She also found out that the boyfriend had come from a broken home and used insults and teasing to cover up his insecurities. Kristen asked her best friend and her boyfriend to come to church with her for a special event. She also spent time talking about her faith with both of them. Kristen’s influence made a difference. Before the boyfriend proposed to her best friend, he decided to be baptized at the church they would attend together. Going through the classes before baptism began a relationship between the boyfriend and God that took off in a beautiful way. The wedding was a joy to attend! Many prayers were answered!
You may not even be aware when your prayers slip into the worldly category. You may not be fully cognizant that your prayers have become rather selfish in nature. It can be so easy to allow your prayers to become rote, boring, self-centered, and worldly. You might slip into a list of needs for God without realizing the consequences if the prayers were answered or if they are indeed godly.
The scripture for today should be a constant reminder that your prayers with God are deeply important. They reveal your soul to God. They expose your desires and motives and thoughts and hopes and wishes. It is crucially important that you take the time to evaluate why you are praying and what are the real needs involved. You don’t want to end up with prayers that go unanswered simply because you aren’t invested with the right motivations from the start!
Prayers are interesting and complex subjects. They may be deep and engaging. They may be shallow and meaningless. Often, your motives will display whether your prayer time is productive or not, deep or shallow, engaging or meaningless. People may USE prayer for right or wrong reasons. I’ve heard people wrongly pray to win the lottery, find a parking spot, change another person’s heart (when the prayer needed a heart change!), and more. I’ve heard hurtful prayers that were meant to harm another person’s feelings or to manipulate a person’s actions. These prayers are often worldly in origin. I’ve also witnessed prayers that were deeply faithful. They filled the hearers with awe-inspiring motivation at the power of God. They challenged the religious to step out in faith.
Prayers may fall into the worldly or faithful categories based on the motivations involved. If a person’s motives are selfish or sinfully based, the prayer usually will fall into a worldly category. The scripture for today warns about prayers that become worldly. James 4:3 teaches that when you ask for something in prayer, you will not get it when “your motives are all wrong”. If you “only want what will give you pleasure”, God will see your prayer as worldly motivated and unworthy of God’s action. On the other hand, a prayer that is faithfully motivated is powerful and changes lives (James 5:15,16).
When you pray, you need to constantly self-evaluate the motives that are present in your prayers. If you pray for God’s intercession, that’s fine, unless you want God to intercede to get what you want and not what God wills. If you pray for God’s hand to be upon someone who is sick, that’s great, but not if you want that person to be well in order to look good or get some advantage from that person.
When Kristen came to see me, she was upset. She claimed that one of her most important prayers had not been answered by God. She was growing frustrated and stymied by the lack of an answer by God to her prayer. The first question I asked her was, “What did you pray for?” When Kristen heard this, her eyes bugged out and she said, “That’s between me and God! You can’t ask that!” We then talked for a good while about right and wrong motives in prayer and the scripture for today from James 4:3.
A half hour later, Kristen finally divulged the content of her unheard prayer. She had prayed for her best friend to dump her mean boyfriend. After more conversation, I found out that the boyfriend involved tended to be arrogant and rude around Kristen. He was not a Christian. Though he was kind-hearted, he could get in a snit and tease mercilessly. Kristen feared her best friend was becoming more quiet and reserved because of his boisterous words and actions.
After further discussion, I helped Kristen to see that instead of praying for the boyfriend to “get lost”, why didn’t she pray for the boyfriend to come to Christ? She replied that he was too rude to be a good Christian, let along a good boyfriend. I told her that God may not be answering her prayer because she was giving God her own view of the situation. Instead of seeing all the possibilities for God to help and asking for God’s hand in the entire matter, she was telling God what to do. With a negative outlook on the possibilities, Kristen promised to pray for the boyfriend to accept Christ and have a change of heart.
It took a whole two years of Kristen’s prayers before anything happened. During that time, Kristen kept her promise to pray for the boyfriend. What she learned during those two years, she shared with me. She discovered that her best friend never really shared her faith with her boyfriend. She also found out that the boyfriend had come from a broken home and used insults and teasing to cover up his insecurities. Kristen asked her best friend and her boyfriend to come to church with her for a special event. She also spent time talking about her faith with both of them. Kristen’s influence made a difference. Before the boyfriend proposed to her best friend, he decided to be baptized at the church they would attend together. Going through the classes before baptism began a relationship between the boyfriend and God that took off in a beautiful way. The wedding was a joy to attend! Many prayers were answered!
You may not even be aware when your prayers slip into the worldly category. You may not be fully cognizant that your prayers have become rather selfish in nature. It can be so easy to allow your prayers to become rote, boring, self-centered, and worldly. You might slip into a list of needs for God without realizing the consequences if the prayers were answered or if they are indeed godly.
The scripture for today should be a constant reminder that your prayers with God are deeply important. They reveal your soul to God. They expose your desires and motives and thoughts and hopes and wishes. It is crucially important that you take the time to evaluate why you are praying and what are the real needs involved. You don’t want to end up with prayers that go unanswered simply because you aren’t invested with the right motivations from the start!
August 14
“They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?” Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.” (Genesis 37:32–35, NLT)
Grief and sadness and mourning, like that suffered by Jacob in the scripture above, can be debilitating. They can make you not want to get out of bed in the morning. They can cause suffering of body, mind, and soul. Many people do not realize the depths to which the body suffers when your heart gets broken. The suffering can actually damage your organs, disrupt your brain chemistry, and even cause death.
An author, in a book I’ve recently read, wrote the following words: “Twice I went to the emergency room showing symptoms of a heart attack. After my second trip to the ER, my physician sent me to a cardiologist to get blood work and a stress test. The tests determined that I hadn’t had an actual heart attack (the kind that causes permanent damage to the heart muscle) but a stress-induced heart problem that causes only short-term harm.
The Mayo Clinic calls it broken heart syndrome—a temporary heart condition that is brought on by stressful situations or grievous loss. It involves a surge of stress hormones disrupting the heart’s normal pumping function. This condition mimics a heart attack by causing a similar set of symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, an irregular heartbeat, and generalized weakness. When this occurs, people believe they are having a heart attack. I did—twice, in less than a year. And what I experienced is more common than I knew.” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 11).
When you suffer from a broken heart, it will shake up your world. A death may set it off. The breakup of a long-term relationship would do it. The loss of a good friend can easily make you feel this kind of suffering. The news that you have an incurable illness may certainly set it off. When something rocks your world, your heart and soul and mind all suffer. They try to deal with the emotional and psychological cascade of pains. However, spiritually, you will also go through a wrenching of the soul. All this suffering is typified in the scripture for today.
Jacob loved his son, Joseph. He adored the young boy. Joseph had dreams. He had an inquisitive mind. He was intelligent and unafraid to stand up for what he believed. When Jacob’s other children became jealous of Joseph, they decided to do away with him. In the end, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. To cover up their heinous deed, they dipped Joseph’s one-of-a-kind robe in animal blood and brought it to Jacob (Genesis 37:32). They passed off Joseph’s disappearance as an animal attack where Joseph had been eaten. Jacob bought the lie. He recognized the robe and the blood. He deduced there had been an attack. Not wanting to face life without his beloved son, Jacob’s heart was broken. “He mourned deeply for his son” (Genesis 37:34). His grief was so deep that Jacob even figured he would die from the shock and trauma of the news. Weeping, Jacob would tell his family, “I will go to my grave mourning for my son” (Genesis 37:35).
Even in the early days of the Old Testament, the people realized that a broken heart could easily take a person’s life. Jacob didn’t think he would outlive his own grief at the loss of his son, Joseph. Grief and loss are such overwhelmingly difficult and dangerous feelings. They strike deep in your heart and mind and soul. They can spawn depression and anger and insecurities and regrets and so much more to overwhelm you. They can give your body tics, panic attacks, nausea, heart-attack like symptoms, and so much more. That is why it is so important when you suffer a deep grief or hurt that you get help from God and those around you.
Jacob did survive the lie of Joseph’s death. In fact, he lived to see Joseph again. God not only helped Jacob to overcome his intense grief, but God also used Joseph’s suffering to save many lives! God turned everything around not only for Joseph and Jacob, but for all the extended family! Even while Jacob was reeling from pain and doom at Joseph’s seeming death, God was already at work behind the scenes doing good for Jacob and Joseph and all those involved. If you give God enough time, God can not only heal you but bless you in so many ways… even after suffering a terrible setback.
Like Jacob, people feel like giving up when terrible things befall them. You might feel like curling up in a ball, drinking yourself silly, taking a bottle of sleeping pills, or driving a car off the cliff. Don’t go there! Instead, just throw yourself into God’s arms. Lean on others. Cry until you get it all out. Throughout all the suffering, God will be working all around you to bring healing and love and care to you. God will be mending that broken heart. You may end up with scars from the situation, but God will knit together your life in a new way… IF you don’t give up on HIM!
Jacob was amazed to see Joseph again. God made that happen. Jacob eventually was saved from famine because of Joseph. God made that happen, too. Joseph’s evil siblings had to face their own sinfulness. God caused that to happen as well. Throughout this whole situation of suffering and grief, God was making things right. On Judgment Day, God will put the whole situation to rest. Each person involved will face the consequences of their actions. All will be at the mercy of God’s righteousness.
There are some things that people can’t fix. God can, however, heal these with HIS incredible love. Given enough time, given eternity, God will make things right in the end. Throughout your hard days, just know that God is working behind the scenes to make things right for you. God is wanting to comfort you. Someday, you will find out how much. Someday, you will learn all that God did behind the scenes. One day, you will know how deep is God’s love for you.
An author, in a book I’ve recently read, wrote the following words: “Twice I went to the emergency room showing symptoms of a heart attack. After my second trip to the ER, my physician sent me to a cardiologist to get blood work and a stress test. The tests determined that I hadn’t had an actual heart attack (the kind that causes permanent damage to the heart muscle) but a stress-induced heart problem that causes only short-term harm.
The Mayo Clinic calls it broken heart syndrome—a temporary heart condition that is brought on by stressful situations or grievous loss. It involves a surge of stress hormones disrupting the heart’s normal pumping function. This condition mimics a heart attack by causing a similar set of symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, an irregular heartbeat, and generalized weakness. When this occurs, people believe they are having a heart attack. I did—twice, in less than a year. And what I experienced is more common than I knew.” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 11).
When you suffer from a broken heart, it will shake up your world. A death may set it off. The breakup of a long-term relationship would do it. The loss of a good friend can easily make you feel this kind of suffering. The news that you have an incurable illness may certainly set it off. When something rocks your world, your heart and soul and mind all suffer. They try to deal with the emotional and psychological cascade of pains. However, spiritually, you will also go through a wrenching of the soul. All this suffering is typified in the scripture for today.
Jacob loved his son, Joseph. He adored the young boy. Joseph had dreams. He had an inquisitive mind. He was intelligent and unafraid to stand up for what he believed. When Jacob’s other children became jealous of Joseph, they decided to do away with him. In the end, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. To cover up their heinous deed, they dipped Joseph’s one-of-a-kind robe in animal blood and brought it to Jacob (Genesis 37:32). They passed off Joseph’s disappearance as an animal attack where Joseph had been eaten. Jacob bought the lie. He recognized the robe and the blood. He deduced there had been an attack. Not wanting to face life without his beloved son, Jacob’s heart was broken. “He mourned deeply for his son” (Genesis 37:34). His grief was so deep that Jacob even figured he would die from the shock and trauma of the news. Weeping, Jacob would tell his family, “I will go to my grave mourning for my son” (Genesis 37:35).
Even in the early days of the Old Testament, the people realized that a broken heart could easily take a person’s life. Jacob didn’t think he would outlive his own grief at the loss of his son, Joseph. Grief and loss are such overwhelmingly difficult and dangerous feelings. They strike deep in your heart and mind and soul. They can spawn depression and anger and insecurities and regrets and so much more to overwhelm you. They can give your body tics, panic attacks, nausea, heart-attack like symptoms, and so much more. That is why it is so important when you suffer a deep grief or hurt that you get help from God and those around you.
Jacob did survive the lie of Joseph’s death. In fact, he lived to see Joseph again. God not only helped Jacob to overcome his intense grief, but God also used Joseph’s suffering to save many lives! God turned everything around not only for Joseph and Jacob, but for all the extended family! Even while Jacob was reeling from pain and doom at Joseph’s seeming death, God was already at work behind the scenes doing good for Jacob and Joseph and all those involved. If you give God enough time, God can not only heal you but bless you in so many ways… even after suffering a terrible setback.
Like Jacob, people feel like giving up when terrible things befall them. You might feel like curling up in a ball, drinking yourself silly, taking a bottle of sleeping pills, or driving a car off the cliff. Don’t go there! Instead, just throw yourself into God’s arms. Lean on others. Cry until you get it all out. Throughout all the suffering, God will be working all around you to bring healing and love and care to you. God will be mending that broken heart. You may end up with scars from the situation, but God will knit together your life in a new way… IF you don’t give up on HIM!
Jacob was amazed to see Joseph again. God made that happen. Jacob eventually was saved from famine because of Joseph. God made that happen, too. Joseph’s evil siblings had to face their own sinfulness. God caused that to happen as well. Throughout this whole situation of suffering and grief, God was making things right. On Judgment Day, God will put the whole situation to rest. Each person involved will face the consequences of their actions. All will be at the mercy of God’s righteousness.
There are some things that people can’t fix. God can, however, heal these with HIS incredible love. Given enough time, given eternity, God will make things right in the end. Throughout your hard days, just know that God is working behind the scenes to make things right for you. God is wanting to comfort you. Someday, you will find out how much. Someday, you will learn all that God did behind the scenes. One day, you will know how deep is God’s love for you.
August 16
“Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.” (Proverbs 23:17–18, NLT)
Some people enjoy “people watching”. They might sit in a park and watch the children play on the swings and smile at the memories of doing the same when young. They might sit on a porch and watch people on the street or observe a neighbor doing some landscaping. Some people watchers would love if friends stopped over to visit. They might hope the new neighbors would come over to introduce themselves. A few decades ago, people watchers enjoyed going to the malls and watching the shoppers and listening to the music piped in through the speakers. Nowadays, its not unusual for people watchers to open web cams to watch the surfers in Hawaii or the beachgoers at Key West.
Though “people watching” is a pleasant pastime for many, there are those who have taken people watching too far. They don’t watch other people to enjoy the scenery or the company or the visits or the beauty of the neighborhood. They watch other people out of envy. They want to see the new car that the neighbor just bought in order to compare incomes. The busybodies among them might watch the neighbors down the street hoping they get in another fight. Envious people watchers at work might take a coffee break hoping for the latest gossip to feast upon. A jealous woman might look another woman up and down, noting the worth of her clothing and the cut of her hair, in order to size up the competition. A jealous man may be found admiring a friend’s truck to see how he can “one-up” the friend with a new upgrade. The wrong kind of people watchers like to be “one-up” on the competition. They might get the newest iPhone on the first day of release. They might look to marry into the wealthiest of families. They love to have things like the fastest boat, the newest gadget, or the most successful children. All the while, these jealous and envious people watchers are constantly comparing their worth and value and potential against others.
When people get consumed with weighing themselves against others in an envious way, always wanting to have what another person has, always comparing material possessions or looks, a sinful lifestyle is the inevitable result. Envious people will be consumed in heart, soul, and mind, to outdo others. They will desire things that they do not have. They will relish having things others do not. Their whole focus will shift to what is around them. They will be wholly concerned with monetary worth, valuable possessions, and appearances. Instead of looking up to God, they will constantly be looking around for comparisons of worth.
It would be so easy for you to slip into this sinful envious lifestyle. It may start with a parent who compares you to another child. It might be that a friend had something you always longed for but could never afford. You might have grown up in a poor family. You might be insecure in your looks or self-worth. Somewhere along the line, you can slip into envy of another person who is smarter, looks better, has something you want, or is blessed with something you think you need. Green with envy, a person will wish for a nemesis to slip up, fail, get sick, or lose their money. Secretly, the envious person desires others to fail while he or she succeeds.
Josh and Jerry were twins. They were born to two loving and devoted parents. They grew up doing everything together in their small town. They boys were often chosen for special parts at church and in school, because they were very talented. They were two of the three wisemen in the Christmas program. They were two of the best tenors in their choir at school. They were both excellent wide receivers on the High School football team that won their regional game and placed at state.
When they were seniors in High School, Josh started dating Carrie. She was a cheerleader. They were picked for “king and queen” at the fall dance. When this happened, something changed in Jerry. He became obsessed. He started making derogatory comments about his brother at home. Then, he didn’t want to be seen with his brother. He didn’t even want to drive to school in the same car with Josh. Deep down, Jerry was envious of Josh and Carrie’s relationship. After one football game, Jerry blamed John for dropping a pass at a crucial point in the game. Jerry teased John mercilessly about it at home and made a big deal about it at school among their friends. Jerry started rumors about Carrie and John, hoping to break them up. Jerry even went so far as to tell Carrie to dump Josh. By the end of their senior year, Josh and Jerry could no longer speak to each other in a civil manner. The household was torn apart by their resentment toward each other.
When Josh married Carrie just after college, Jerry didn’t attend the wedding. For ten years, Josh and Jerry hardly spoke. When the holidays rolled around, the boys would make sure to only come home when the other could not. The tension ruined family gatherings. When Josh was hurt badly in a car accident, Jerry inwardly relished his brother’s suffering. To this day, Jerry is obsessed with hoping his brother is miserable. He is consumed with the desire that his brother fails. Is it no surprise that he no longer feels comfortable in worship?
The scripture for today goes one step further than the Ten Commandments. Where the commandment demands, “Thou shalt not covet”, this scripture from Proverbs 23 urges the believer not to envy or covet a sinner. If you desire to have what a sinner has, what does that say about God? If you are willing to compromise your relationship with God because of the desire for a sinner’s lifestyle or possessions, your relationship with God is no longer precious to you. In essence, the scripture is clear that your focus in life should not be on an envious comparison of yourself with others but instead focused on God. You need to “continue to fear the Lord” not to concern yourself with jealousy of others (Proverbs 23:17). Your focus needs to be on the Lord above, not on those around you.
Envy (covetousness) is a relationship-killer. It will drive apart friends and family. It will cause conflict. It will result in friction between you and God. Envy will cause you to focus too much on material possessions and never enough on godliness. Once envy takes hold, you will never be content with what you have or who you are. It will cause inner-turmoil and the loss of self-worth. In the end, you will lose focus on what is important. You CANNOT continue being envious and remain close to God.
So, do you often compare yourself to others? Are you jealous of what any sinner has in the way of looks or material possessions? Do you wish others to fail while you succeed? All these feelings will result in envy. All these will result in sin. The resulting insecurities that will arise from focusing on these thoughts will alter or permanently damage your relationships, especially with God. Be warned! The scripture for today even concludes that only when you are NOT envious will your hope in God be rewarded (Proverbs 23:18)!
Though “people watching” is a pleasant pastime for many, there are those who have taken people watching too far. They don’t watch other people to enjoy the scenery or the company or the visits or the beauty of the neighborhood. They watch other people out of envy. They want to see the new car that the neighbor just bought in order to compare incomes. The busybodies among them might watch the neighbors down the street hoping they get in another fight. Envious people watchers at work might take a coffee break hoping for the latest gossip to feast upon. A jealous woman might look another woman up and down, noting the worth of her clothing and the cut of her hair, in order to size up the competition. A jealous man may be found admiring a friend’s truck to see how he can “one-up” the friend with a new upgrade. The wrong kind of people watchers like to be “one-up” on the competition. They might get the newest iPhone on the first day of release. They might look to marry into the wealthiest of families. They love to have things like the fastest boat, the newest gadget, or the most successful children. All the while, these jealous and envious people watchers are constantly comparing their worth and value and potential against others.
When people get consumed with weighing themselves against others in an envious way, always wanting to have what another person has, always comparing material possessions or looks, a sinful lifestyle is the inevitable result. Envious people will be consumed in heart, soul, and mind, to outdo others. They will desire things that they do not have. They will relish having things others do not. Their whole focus will shift to what is around them. They will be wholly concerned with monetary worth, valuable possessions, and appearances. Instead of looking up to God, they will constantly be looking around for comparisons of worth.
It would be so easy for you to slip into this sinful envious lifestyle. It may start with a parent who compares you to another child. It might be that a friend had something you always longed for but could never afford. You might have grown up in a poor family. You might be insecure in your looks or self-worth. Somewhere along the line, you can slip into envy of another person who is smarter, looks better, has something you want, or is blessed with something you think you need. Green with envy, a person will wish for a nemesis to slip up, fail, get sick, or lose their money. Secretly, the envious person desires others to fail while he or she succeeds.
Josh and Jerry were twins. They were born to two loving and devoted parents. They grew up doing everything together in their small town. They boys were often chosen for special parts at church and in school, because they were very talented. They were two of the three wisemen in the Christmas program. They were two of the best tenors in their choir at school. They were both excellent wide receivers on the High School football team that won their regional game and placed at state.
When they were seniors in High School, Josh started dating Carrie. She was a cheerleader. They were picked for “king and queen” at the fall dance. When this happened, something changed in Jerry. He became obsessed. He started making derogatory comments about his brother at home. Then, he didn’t want to be seen with his brother. He didn’t even want to drive to school in the same car with Josh. Deep down, Jerry was envious of Josh and Carrie’s relationship. After one football game, Jerry blamed John for dropping a pass at a crucial point in the game. Jerry teased John mercilessly about it at home and made a big deal about it at school among their friends. Jerry started rumors about Carrie and John, hoping to break them up. Jerry even went so far as to tell Carrie to dump Josh. By the end of their senior year, Josh and Jerry could no longer speak to each other in a civil manner. The household was torn apart by their resentment toward each other.
When Josh married Carrie just after college, Jerry didn’t attend the wedding. For ten years, Josh and Jerry hardly spoke. When the holidays rolled around, the boys would make sure to only come home when the other could not. The tension ruined family gatherings. When Josh was hurt badly in a car accident, Jerry inwardly relished his brother’s suffering. To this day, Jerry is obsessed with hoping his brother is miserable. He is consumed with the desire that his brother fails. Is it no surprise that he no longer feels comfortable in worship?
The scripture for today goes one step further than the Ten Commandments. Where the commandment demands, “Thou shalt not covet”, this scripture from Proverbs 23 urges the believer not to envy or covet a sinner. If you desire to have what a sinner has, what does that say about God? If you are willing to compromise your relationship with God because of the desire for a sinner’s lifestyle or possessions, your relationship with God is no longer precious to you. In essence, the scripture is clear that your focus in life should not be on an envious comparison of yourself with others but instead focused on God. You need to “continue to fear the Lord” not to concern yourself with jealousy of others (Proverbs 23:17). Your focus needs to be on the Lord above, not on those around you.
Envy (covetousness) is a relationship-killer. It will drive apart friends and family. It will cause conflict. It will result in friction between you and God. Envy will cause you to focus too much on material possessions and never enough on godliness. Once envy takes hold, you will never be content with what you have or who you are. It will cause inner-turmoil and the loss of self-worth. In the end, you will lose focus on what is important. You CANNOT continue being envious and remain close to God.
So, do you often compare yourself to others? Are you jealous of what any sinner has in the way of looks or material possessions? Do you wish others to fail while you succeed? All these feelings will result in envy. All these will result in sin. The resulting insecurities that will arise from focusing on these thoughts will alter or permanently damage your relationships, especially with God. Be warned! The scripture for today even concludes that only when you are NOT envious will your hope in God be rewarded (Proverbs 23:18)!
August 18
“For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect…” (1 Corinthians 13:9, RSV)
1 Corinthians chapter 13 is known as the “love chapter” of the Bible. It is often read at weddings. Verses from this chapter are found on wedding cakes, wedding bulletins, and marriage certificates. Verse 9 of this chapter, though, speaks nothing about love. Actually, it speaks about knowledge and prophecy. So, what is it doing in the “love chapter” of the Bible? I believe this verse expounds about a facet of love that is often missing not only in relationships but ignored in serious conversation such as counseling. By the time this meditation is done, I hope you understand that this small verse of the Bible is hugely significant to YOUR life and love.
Darlene was having a bad day. It started off with her coffee machine breaking down. Then, it escalated as she drove into work when her a light on her dashboard indicated that she had low tire pressure. After Darlene arrived at work, she set about answering her email. She hoped to have all her emails handled before her first appointment at 10AM. Because of an unusual influx of emails, she did not complete her task. At 9:58AM, she quickly grabbed her appointment book and case folder and rushed off to her meeting, irritated.
By early afternoon, Darlene had a headache. When she drove home from work, the dashboard indicator light shone brightly and bothered her all over again. She had to fix that tire! When she got home from work, she went about her afternoon routine. She got dinner ready for her son and husband. After dinner, her husband cleaned the table as she went about trying to finish all her tasks.
When Darlene went to bed that night (late as usual), she was exhausted. As she lay awake in bed unable to sleep, a bunch of unfinished tasks kept going through her head. She had a bad tire on the car. She forgot to ask her husband to air up the tire! She needed to fix the coffee machine. What was she going to do for coffee tomorrow morning?!!! She thought about upcoming work the next day and emails that she could not finish. Though exhausted, at midnight Darlene was still going through all the messes of her day, unable to fall sleep. Her thoughts played through how to complete each and every task. Finally, at 1AM, Darlene went into her nightstand drawer, pulled out an anti-anxiety drug, and swallowed it. She waited for its effects to kick in. She needed to sleep so desperately, but her mind was racing a mile a minute!
What I didn’t tell you is that Darlene is a Christian. She has been since a young girl. When she was invited to go with some friends from her church to hear a Christian Rock band, she went to the stage and received Christ. However, by the time Darlene was in her thirties, she and God were not very close. She felt overwhelmed by issues at work, at home, and with her marriage. She got angry at her husband if he left any clothing lying about for even an hour. She would berate her son every Saturday if his room was not spotless and the bed was not made. Then, there were the anti-anxiety pills. They were further proof that Darlene had begun to suffer from something I call “perfectionistic overload”. Though life was far from perfectly ordered, Darlene felt her life was a mess because it wasn’t perfect. There were messes at work and at home that kept cropping up. There were tasks she couldn’t complete on time. So many little things remained incomplete that Darlene could barely stand it. In her mind, Darlene felt like she was a terrible person, because she did not complete what she desperately wanted to do every day. With every little mess, she felt like a failure. Because she was so exhausted all the time, she never felt like being romantic with her husband. When she had a few moments of down time, she just spent it cleaning. Even Sunday morning had become a time not to attend worship but to catch up on work she had not completed the week before.
Many people fall into this sin of perfectionistic overload. When they do, it affects their mind, heart, and soul. It makes them feel like a failure. It usually damages their relationship with others and with God. The scripture for today is a reminder that life is imperfect. You are imperfect. Situations you find yourself will be less than ideal. 1 Corinthians 13:9 states clearly that “our knowledge is imperfect” and “our prophecy is imperfect”. Even though our God is perfect, you are a fallible human being. You cannot be perfect in all that you do. You will not have a perfect day. People around you will fail. There will be accidents and mistakes and failures throughout your life. If you work hard to make everything perfect around you, it will damage your soul. If you expect people around you to be perfect, it will cause all kinds of conflicts. If you expect perfection, many things around you will eat away at your peace!
I visited a wedding ceremony between two close friends. At the beginning of the ceremony, the organ in the church blew a fuse. Because of this, the organ would not work. The bride had this perfect vision of her wedding. That included her walking down the aisle to a particular song. When the organ failed, she began to cry. I heard her tell her father as she walked down the aisle that because of the organ failure her wedding was ruined. Was it? Sadly, she had this notion in her mind that her perfect wedding MUST include this one entrance song, or it was a failure. Is that what makes for a perfect wedding in God’s eyes? Even before she finished her walk down the aisle, she was already miserable, angry at the church for the organ mishap, and in a nasty snit. Throughout the reception to follow, she was irritable, resentful, and rude. Just how did her attitude come about? She had notions of the perfect wedding that were dashed. Would God have blessed her wedding more if it had been perfect? Hardly!
The bride’s perfectionism tainted her wedding service. Her perfectionism hurt the feelings of friends and family that day. When you expect yourself to be perfect at something, it places an impossible burden upon you. If you expect situations or other people to be perfect, you put impossible expectations on others. God knows you are imperfect. The scriptures declare your imperfection. Why do people insist that some things must be perfect to be holy or right or good?
True love begins with the notion that we are imperfect beings. If you marry someone expecting them to be perfect, your marriage will fail. If you look for the “perfect” spouse, you will never find him or her. Perfectionism may not be listed among the commandments, but it results in all kinds of sins. Perfectionism may cause you to hold grudges, make difficult demands, look down upon others, and worse. If you demand perfectionism of yourself, you will end up depressed, on anti-anxiety drugs like Darlene, or stewing in anger like the bride in the story above. You might even accuse God of being imperfect if things don’t go the way you planned! Perfectionism is dangerous. It is costly. It harms true love.
Have you ever expected too much from yourself? Do you struggle with perfectionism in some area of your life? Do you see how perfectionistic overload can cause those around you to feel inferior or a burden? Are you willing to give up perfectionism out of love for God? Do you see how important this little verse from 1 Corinthians 13 is to the meaning of true love?
Darlene was having a bad day. It started off with her coffee machine breaking down. Then, it escalated as she drove into work when her a light on her dashboard indicated that she had low tire pressure. After Darlene arrived at work, she set about answering her email. She hoped to have all her emails handled before her first appointment at 10AM. Because of an unusual influx of emails, she did not complete her task. At 9:58AM, she quickly grabbed her appointment book and case folder and rushed off to her meeting, irritated.
By early afternoon, Darlene had a headache. When she drove home from work, the dashboard indicator light shone brightly and bothered her all over again. She had to fix that tire! When she got home from work, she went about her afternoon routine. She got dinner ready for her son and husband. After dinner, her husband cleaned the table as she went about trying to finish all her tasks.
When Darlene went to bed that night (late as usual), she was exhausted. As she lay awake in bed unable to sleep, a bunch of unfinished tasks kept going through her head. She had a bad tire on the car. She forgot to ask her husband to air up the tire! She needed to fix the coffee machine. What was she going to do for coffee tomorrow morning?!!! She thought about upcoming work the next day and emails that she could not finish. Though exhausted, at midnight Darlene was still going through all the messes of her day, unable to fall sleep. Her thoughts played through how to complete each and every task. Finally, at 1AM, Darlene went into her nightstand drawer, pulled out an anti-anxiety drug, and swallowed it. She waited for its effects to kick in. She needed to sleep so desperately, but her mind was racing a mile a minute!
What I didn’t tell you is that Darlene is a Christian. She has been since a young girl. When she was invited to go with some friends from her church to hear a Christian Rock band, she went to the stage and received Christ. However, by the time Darlene was in her thirties, she and God were not very close. She felt overwhelmed by issues at work, at home, and with her marriage. She got angry at her husband if he left any clothing lying about for even an hour. She would berate her son every Saturday if his room was not spotless and the bed was not made. Then, there were the anti-anxiety pills. They were further proof that Darlene had begun to suffer from something I call “perfectionistic overload”. Though life was far from perfectly ordered, Darlene felt her life was a mess because it wasn’t perfect. There were messes at work and at home that kept cropping up. There were tasks she couldn’t complete on time. So many little things remained incomplete that Darlene could barely stand it. In her mind, Darlene felt like she was a terrible person, because she did not complete what she desperately wanted to do every day. With every little mess, she felt like a failure. Because she was so exhausted all the time, she never felt like being romantic with her husband. When she had a few moments of down time, she just spent it cleaning. Even Sunday morning had become a time not to attend worship but to catch up on work she had not completed the week before.
Many people fall into this sin of perfectionistic overload. When they do, it affects their mind, heart, and soul. It makes them feel like a failure. It usually damages their relationship with others and with God. The scripture for today is a reminder that life is imperfect. You are imperfect. Situations you find yourself will be less than ideal. 1 Corinthians 13:9 states clearly that “our knowledge is imperfect” and “our prophecy is imperfect”. Even though our God is perfect, you are a fallible human being. You cannot be perfect in all that you do. You will not have a perfect day. People around you will fail. There will be accidents and mistakes and failures throughout your life. If you work hard to make everything perfect around you, it will damage your soul. If you expect people around you to be perfect, it will cause all kinds of conflicts. If you expect perfection, many things around you will eat away at your peace!
I visited a wedding ceremony between two close friends. At the beginning of the ceremony, the organ in the church blew a fuse. Because of this, the organ would not work. The bride had this perfect vision of her wedding. That included her walking down the aisle to a particular song. When the organ failed, she began to cry. I heard her tell her father as she walked down the aisle that because of the organ failure her wedding was ruined. Was it? Sadly, she had this notion in her mind that her perfect wedding MUST include this one entrance song, or it was a failure. Is that what makes for a perfect wedding in God’s eyes? Even before she finished her walk down the aisle, she was already miserable, angry at the church for the organ mishap, and in a nasty snit. Throughout the reception to follow, she was irritable, resentful, and rude. Just how did her attitude come about? She had notions of the perfect wedding that were dashed. Would God have blessed her wedding more if it had been perfect? Hardly!
The bride’s perfectionism tainted her wedding service. Her perfectionism hurt the feelings of friends and family that day. When you expect yourself to be perfect at something, it places an impossible burden upon you. If you expect situations or other people to be perfect, you put impossible expectations on others. God knows you are imperfect. The scriptures declare your imperfection. Why do people insist that some things must be perfect to be holy or right or good?
True love begins with the notion that we are imperfect beings. If you marry someone expecting them to be perfect, your marriage will fail. If you look for the “perfect” spouse, you will never find him or her. Perfectionism may not be listed among the commandments, but it results in all kinds of sins. Perfectionism may cause you to hold grudges, make difficult demands, look down upon others, and worse. If you demand perfectionism of yourself, you will end up depressed, on anti-anxiety drugs like Darlene, or stewing in anger like the bride in the story above. You might even accuse God of being imperfect if things don’t go the way you planned! Perfectionism is dangerous. It is costly. It harms true love.
Have you ever expected too much from yourself? Do you struggle with perfectionism in some area of your life? Do you see how perfectionistic overload can cause those around you to feel inferior or a burden? Are you willing to give up perfectionism out of love for God? Do you see how important this little verse from 1 Corinthians 13 is to the meaning of true love?
August 20
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29, ESV)
As I was rereading the verse above from the Gospel of Matthew, I saw a new insight. If you look at this one sentence from Jesus, you will see an order of progression. To truly follow the teaching of Jesus that this verse contains, you need to follow the order that Jesus sets forth in this verse to arrive at the conclusion Jesus intends for you. Let me show you what I mean about today’s scripture verse.
As you read through the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 11:29, you will notice several phrases set off by commas. Each phrase set off by commas contains an order of progression, a series of steps you need to do to fulfill Jesus’ teaching. Think of it this way…. If you “take Jesus’ yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a), you become a believer in Jesus as the Christ. This is step one. With step one, you will begin to follow Jesus’ teachings. You will start to grow in your relationship with God in Christ. Some people never get to step one of this teaching of Jesus. They never fully commit to Jesus. They never place their heart and soul in Jesus’ hands. They hold back. They lack faith to even begin a real relationship with Jesus.
If you follow Jesus completely, you will move on to step number two in the order of progression of this verse. You will “learn from Jesus” (Matthew 11:29b). Not wanting to simply make promises to Jesus, you also set aside time and devotion to learn how to live in relationship with Jesus, to read the Bible, to follow through on your promises in Christ, and to live out Jesus’ commands. Not content with just saying you are a Christian; you progress to learning of Jesus and living out your faith. Though many people make promises to Jesus, get baptized, join a church, or go to the altar at a Billy Graham concert, not everyone takes Jesus to heart enough to learn from HIM and thus live out their faith.
The verse for today ends with a final progression. If you follow step one and two listed above by committing yourself to Jesus and then learning from Jesus how to live out your faith, Jesus promises a conclusion to your efforts. That is listed in the third step of today’s meditational scripture: “you will find rest for your soul” (Matthew 11:29d). I find it interesting that many people who call themselves Christian seek rest for their soul WITHOUT FIRST following steps one and two of the verse for today. They desire to find rest for their souls but do not keep their promises to Jesus, learn from Jesus, or live out their love of Jesus. They want the results and blessings but are not committed to the work.
Only six months after getting married, a couple in Hollywood called it quits. Their wedding was all the news for weeks. Nobody expected it to end in divorce a few months later. Why did their commitment, which was meant to last a lifetime, only last six months? When asked about what happened, the man replied, “I liked the idea of marriage, but when it came down to it, I was not ready to do the work required to make it last. I just wasn’t committed enough to see it through. Maybe we weren’t meant to be.”
I don’t think the man interviewed had it right. The marriage could easily have been “meant to be”. However, if he was not willing to commit to the relationship, get serious in his commitment, learn how to make it work, and stick to what works, it was doomed from the start. The same thing happens in a relationship with Jesus. You can have all the best intentions to become a Christian, but if you are not willing to commit to the relationship and learn what works, your faith will be doomed from the start. Today’s scripture makes clear that connection. You can’t get to the blessings of a soul and mind and heart at rest unless you are willing to stick to steps one and two. You need to commit yourself to a relationship with Jesus. You need to get serious about your dedication. You need to learn from Jesus how to live out your faith and then follow through and do it. Any failure in steps one and two and your soul will NEVER find real rest or peace.
I attended a wedding where the pastor seemed off. I couldn’t nail down what was wrong in the service, but I had a few ideas that were mulling around in my mind. After the service, I asked the pastor where she got her seminary degree. She mentioned that she received her training online. When I asked where she got her sermon idea from, she mentioned that she downloaded the sermon from a wedding sermon database online. “It only cost me $1.99! You should check it out!” she mentioned with a smile. Mistakenly, she thought I liked her sermon. I thought it lacked passion. Ever had a pizza with a crust that tasted like cardboard? You expect the pizza to taste good upon viewing all the yummy toppings but then find that the crust lacks any flavor whatsoever! Well, that!
The pastor at the wedding had a certificate to preach. She had a legitimate sermon from her trusted online source. The problem was that the service and sermon and her education didn’t connect with her soul. She was “providing a service” for people who wanted weddings. She used resources online to provide this service. An atheist could have done all this. A person who hated God could have pasted together this sermon and service to fit the audience. A real faith was not required, and it showed.
I do believe this pastor at the wedding service thought she was a good Christian who was providing a needed service for people. She made it easy to find a pastor to do a wedding at any venue with “no preparation needed!” In essence, this pastor was advocating that you got to experience God at your wedding without the need to be a church member or even a believer. In truth, she was jumping to step three of the scripture for today without even mentioning steps one and two. Sadly, you will never get true rest for the soul without following through with steps one and two. Your marriage won’t be blessed by Jesus unless the commitment and learning are there. If your heart and soul and mind aren’t engaged, just saying appropriate “faith words” doesn’t imply anyone has real faith. Just having a wedding (a partial step one), never means you will have a lasting and true love (step three!)! Without step two (learning), the marriage is doomed.
Can you imagine a doctor who says you will be healed but don’t need to follow steps one and two in the process to get there? Can you imagine an electrician who doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of electricity fixing your electrical problem without any need to follow the steps involved to get to completion? If the electrician showed you an online site where you could find a video to fix your problem, would that make him or her a good electrician? Would it fix your problem? Would it take care of your problem? NO! Then why would anyone advocate that a person can find true rest for the weary soul without doing the work involved or steps involved to get to that point?
If you want to find rest for your soul, follow Jesus’ words and steps of progression in the scripture for today. If you have a lack of commitment to Jesus, recommit to step one. If you haven’t taken the time and put in the effort to learn from Jesus how to be faithful, commit to step two. If there is something you still need to learn about Jesus in order to find peace, you will need to broaden your work with step two. But if you are not willing to fulfill steps one and two, you are doomed to a faith that will never find step three; a genuine and lasting rest for your soul.
As you read through the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 11:29, you will notice several phrases set off by commas. Each phrase set off by commas contains an order of progression, a series of steps you need to do to fulfill Jesus’ teaching. Think of it this way…. If you “take Jesus’ yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a), you become a believer in Jesus as the Christ. This is step one. With step one, you will begin to follow Jesus’ teachings. You will start to grow in your relationship with God in Christ. Some people never get to step one of this teaching of Jesus. They never fully commit to Jesus. They never place their heart and soul in Jesus’ hands. They hold back. They lack faith to even begin a real relationship with Jesus.
If you follow Jesus completely, you will move on to step number two in the order of progression of this verse. You will “learn from Jesus” (Matthew 11:29b). Not wanting to simply make promises to Jesus, you also set aside time and devotion to learn how to live in relationship with Jesus, to read the Bible, to follow through on your promises in Christ, and to live out Jesus’ commands. Not content with just saying you are a Christian; you progress to learning of Jesus and living out your faith. Though many people make promises to Jesus, get baptized, join a church, or go to the altar at a Billy Graham concert, not everyone takes Jesus to heart enough to learn from HIM and thus live out their faith.
The verse for today ends with a final progression. If you follow step one and two listed above by committing yourself to Jesus and then learning from Jesus how to live out your faith, Jesus promises a conclusion to your efforts. That is listed in the third step of today’s meditational scripture: “you will find rest for your soul” (Matthew 11:29d). I find it interesting that many people who call themselves Christian seek rest for their soul WITHOUT FIRST following steps one and two of the verse for today. They desire to find rest for their souls but do not keep their promises to Jesus, learn from Jesus, or live out their love of Jesus. They want the results and blessings but are not committed to the work.
Only six months after getting married, a couple in Hollywood called it quits. Their wedding was all the news for weeks. Nobody expected it to end in divorce a few months later. Why did their commitment, which was meant to last a lifetime, only last six months? When asked about what happened, the man replied, “I liked the idea of marriage, but when it came down to it, I was not ready to do the work required to make it last. I just wasn’t committed enough to see it through. Maybe we weren’t meant to be.”
I don’t think the man interviewed had it right. The marriage could easily have been “meant to be”. However, if he was not willing to commit to the relationship, get serious in his commitment, learn how to make it work, and stick to what works, it was doomed from the start. The same thing happens in a relationship with Jesus. You can have all the best intentions to become a Christian, but if you are not willing to commit to the relationship and learn what works, your faith will be doomed from the start. Today’s scripture makes clear that connection. You can’t get to the blessings of a soul and mind and heart at rest unless you are willing to stick to steps one and two. You need to commit yourself to a relationship with Jesus. You need to get serious about your dedication. You need to learn from Jesus how to live out your faith and then follow through and do it. Any failure in steps one and two and your soul will NEVER find real rest or peace.
I attended a wedding where the pastor seemed off. I couldn’t nail down what was wrong in the service, but I had a few ideas that were mulling around in my mind. After the service, I asked the pastor where she got her seminary degree. She mentioned that she received her training online. When I asked where she got her sermon idea from, she mentioned that she downloaded the sermon from a wedding sermon database online. “It only cost me $1.99! You should check it out!” she mentioned with a smile. Mistakenly, she thought I liked her sermon. I thought it lacked passion. Ever had a pizza with a crust that tasted like cardboard? You expect the pizza to taste good upon viewing all the yummy toppings but then find that the crust lacks any flavor whatsoever! Well, that!
The pastor at the wedding had a certificate to preach. She had a legitimate sermon from her trusted online source. The problem was that the service and sermon and her education didn’t connect with her soul. She was “providing a service” for people who wanted weddings. She used resources online to provide this service. An atheist could have done all this. A person who hated God could have pasted together this sermon and service to fit the audience. A real faith was not required, and it showed.
I do believe this pastor at the wedding service thought she was a good Christian who was providing a needed service for people. She made it easy to find a pastor to do a wedding at any venue with “no preparation needed!” In essence, this pastor was advocating that you got to experience God at your wedding without the need to be a church member or even a believer. In truth, she was jumping to step three of the scripture for today without even mentioning steps one and two. Sadly, you will never get true rest for the soul without following through with steps one and two. Your marriage won’t be blessed by Jesus unless the commitment and learning are there. If your heart and soul and mind aren’t engaged, just saying appropriate “faith words” doesn’t imply anyone has real faith. Just having a wedding (a partial step one), never means you will have a lasting and true love (step three!)! Without step two (learning), the marriage is doomed.
Can you imagine a doctor who says you will be healed but don’t need to follow steps one and two in the process to get there? Can you imagine an electrician who doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of electricity fixing your electrical problem without any need to follow the steps involved to get to completion? If the electrician showed you an online site where you could find a video to fix your problem, would that make him or her a good electrician? Would it fix your problem? Would it take care of your problem? NO! Then why would anyone advocate that a person can find true rest for the weary soul without doing the work involved or steps involved to get to that point?
If you want to find rest for your soul, follow Jesus’ words and steps of progression in the scripture for today. If you have a lack of commitment to Jesus, recommit to step one. If you haven’t taken the time and put in the effort to learn from Jesus how to be faithful, commit to step two. If there is something you still need to learn about Jesus in order to find peace, you will need to broaden your work with step two. But if you are not willing to fulfill steps one and two, you are doomed to a faith that will never find step three; a genuine and lasting rest for your soul.
August 23
“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16, NLT)
The young woman woke up that morning with tears in her eyes. She was only nineteen, yet the whole weight of the world seemed to be upon her shoulders. Each intake of breath brought back memories of the days before, of finding out she was pregnant. Carrie fooled around while at college. She thought she was careful. What she didn’t realize was that the antibiotics that she took for an infection negated the effect of her birth control pills. After a night on the town, she went back to her dorm room with a cute Junior at college. She figured it would be a one-night stand. She did not figure she would get pregnant. Now, as she lay in bed, she pondered all the difficult decisions she would have to make and all the life-critical choices she had to work through. First and foremost, Carrie thought about having an abortion.
Lying wide awake, Carrie went through the pros and cons of the abortion. She didn’t want to quit college. She didn’t want to go through nine months of suffering to give birth. There was no loving father, and worse, she would have to explain to her family why there was no father. Would she even tell her lover that he was about to be a father? Then, she thought about the cons to the abortion. She pondered who the child would grow up to be. Would it be a boy, who would care for her during the years to come? Would he look like his father? Would it be a girl who would have pretty curls and a sharp mind? What would it be like to share a life with a child? Her maternal instincts longed to envision a future for the child. Carrie also considered giving up the child for adoption but didn’t know if she could give up her own child. In the end, Carrie made up her mind to have an abortion. It would be her secret alone. It would be over and done in a few days. How wrong she was!
After the abortion, Carrie had a few minor complications. However, she didn’t figure the thoughts and dreams she would experience. In the first weeks after the surgery, Carrie suffered through nightmares of witnessing the suffering of the fetus during the abortion. When that went away, she began to dream about the child growing up and dying at a young age. Carrie also went through a period of depression for about a year. These psychological, emotional, and spiritual complications would continue long after the abortion surgery was complete. To this day, Carrie has a hole in her heart for her “lost child”. She still cries when she thinks of what might have been.
While Carrie had only pondered a future for her child, God had a completely different view. God already had plans for that child. God already envisioned a future with that child. The scripture for today provides ample proof for that scenario. Psalm 139 was written by David. If you remember, David lost a child at birth. I’m sure he also wondered what that child would have been like, even if the child was conceived during his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Every parent wonders what a dead child would have been like if he or she lived. Parents often dream about the possibilities for their children. God doesn’t have to dream. God knows. In Psalm 139, David explains God’s perspective. Before David was born, God “saw” him as a child (Psalm 139:16). His life was “recorded in God’s book. His life “was laid out before a single day had passed.” Upon reading this scripture, many have assumed that God has pre-determined every moment of this child’s life. This is not who God is. God give us free will. What is in God’s book are the planned situations for every person. They include all those the spiritually critical moments. The decisions made in those moments are yet to be recorded. The highlights are there, but the details are yet to be written in that book.
In the case of aborted children, God has plans for each and every one of those little ones. God has highlights set aside for their spiritual life. And yet, the pages of the book of life are shortened when the woman chooses to abort the child. The highlights never come to fruition. The hopes and dreams of God never materialize. The decision to end the child’s life removes all the possibilities of future dreams. Carrie dreamed about a future for her child. God does the same. God has all kinds of plans for each and every life. Sadly, not all hopes and dreams are realized. Some dreams are ripped from the future with sinful acts such as abortion, murder, adultery, rape, and more.
This scripture should be a reminder to you that your life has always had meaning. God has highlights planned for you. There are special moments that God has planned for you. God has hopes and dreams for your soul. Your parents’ decisions, your decisions, the decisions of others all will play out in your future.
Psalm 139:16 makes clear that God has a book with your name in it. God has plans to watch over your life. God knows what you are capable of doing. God is hoping you choose wisely in the years to come. Small and large decisions have huge effects on the future. Little sins and big errors can drastically change the outcome of your life in God’s book.
The book of Revelation teaches that on Judgement Day, God’s record books are opened and revealed. You will be judged based on the pages in God’s books. Your decisions will be tallied. Your faith will be examined. Your choices will be exposed. Your future in heaven or hell will be revealed. Don’t underestimate the importance of your choices made each and every day. They impact so much in the people around you and in the future you make for yourself.
Lying wide awake, Carrie went through the pros and cons of the abortion. She didn’t want to quit college. She didn’t want to go through nine months of suffering to give birth. There was no loving father, and worse, she would have to explain to her family why there was no father. Would she even tell her lover that he was about to be a father? Then, she thought about the cons to the abortion. She pondered who the child would grow up to be. Would it be a boy, who would care for her during the years to come? Would he look like his father? Would it be a girl who would have pretty curls and a sharp mind? What would it be like to share a life with a child? Her maternal instincts longed to envision a future for the child. Carrie also considered giving up the child for adoption but didn’t know if she could give up her own child. In the end, Carrie made up her mind to have an abortion. It would be her secret alone. It would be over and done in a few days. How wrong she was!
After the abortion, Carrie had a few minor complications. However, she didn’t figure the thoughts and dreams she would experience. In the first weeks after the surgery, Carrie suffered through nightmares of witnessing the suffering of the fetus during the abortion. When that went away, she began to dream about the child growing up and dying at a young age. Carrie also went through a period of depression for about a year. These psychological, emotional, and spiritual complications would continue long after the abortion surgery was complete. To this day, Carrie has a hole in her heart for her “lost child”. She still cries when she thinks of what might have been.
While Carrie had only pondered a future for her child, God had a completely different view. God already had plans for that child. God already envisioned a future with that child. The scripture for today provides ample proof for that scenario. Psalm 139 was written by David. If you remember, David lost a child at birth. I’m sure he also wondered what that child would have been like, even if the child was conceived during his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Every parent wonders what a dead child would have been like if he or she lived. Parents often dream about the possibilities for their children. God doesn’t have to dream. God knows. In Psalm 139, David explains God’s perspective. Before David was born, God “saw” him as a child (Psalm 139:16). His life was “recorded in God’s book. His life “was laid out before a single day had passed.” Upon reading this scripture, many have assumed that God has pre-determined every moment of this child’s life. This is not who God is. God give us free will. What is in God’s book are the planned situations for every person. They include all those the spiritually critical moments. The decisions made in those moments are yet to be recorded. The highlights are there, but the details are yet to be written in that book.
In the case of aborted children, God has plans for each and every one of those little ones. God has highlights set aside for their spiritual life. And yet, the pages of the book of life are shortened when the woman chooses to abort the child. The highlights never come to fruition. The hopes and dreams of God never materialize. The decision to end the child’s life removes all the possibilities of future dreams. Carrie dreamed about a future for her child. God does the same. God has all kinds of plans for each and every life. Sadly, not all hopes and dreams are realized. Some dreams are ripped from the future with sinful acts such as abortion, murder, adultery, rape, and more.
This scripture should be a reminder to you that your life has always had meaning. God has highlights planned for you. There are special moments that God has planned for you. God has hopes and dreams for your soul. Your parents’ decisions, your decisions, the decisions of others all will play out in your future.
Psalm 139:16 makes clear that God has a book with your name in it. God has plans to watch over your life. God knows what you are capable of doing. God is hoping you choose wisely in the years to come. Small and large decisions have huge effects on the future. Little sins and big errors can drastically change the outcome of your life in God’s book.
The book of Revelation teaches that on Judgement Day, God’s record books are opened and revealed. You will be judged based on the pages in God’s books. Your decisions will be tallied. Your faith will be examined. Your choices will be exposed. Your future in heaven or hell will be revealed. Don’t underestimate the importance of your choices made each and every day. They impact so much in the people around you and in the future you make for yourself.
August 25
“He [God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13–14, ESV)
In the scripture for today, we see the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in all its glory. What you may not realize is that YOU are part of that work of Jesus. YOU are one who needed redemption. If you are fully committed to a life in Christ, YOU are the sinner who has been brought into the “Kingdom of HIS beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).
Colossians 1:13-14 gives us a distinct picture of two different worlds. On the one hand, there is the “domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13). This is the place where everyone who is not in God’s Kingdom resides. They are stuck in a “domain of darkness”. Have you ever been in a cave where the light is completely absent? While on a youth mission trip as a teen, I got to see Mammoth Cave. This beautiful underground treasure is a series of passages formed by carved out rock that was formed over millions of years. You can take tours of the cave passages that can last hours. There are miles of passages, though only a small portion have lights. While on a tour of Mammoth Cave, the guide asked that the lights be turned off. When they were extinguished, I was shocked at how completely dark it was. I couldn’t see my hands one inch in front of my eyes. I lost my balance. I didn’t know which way was up! It was very disorienting, to say the least! Without light, so many things change. You can’t see your surroundings well at all. You may become lost or mixed up. You could lose your way. I was so very relieved when the lights were turned back on!
When a person is out of touch with God in Christ, they are part of this “domain of darkness”. They will have the same problems I had in Mammoth Cave, expect from a spiritual point of view. They will not be able to see clearly things of a spiritual nature. They will grasp and grope around, trying to discover the truth about life around them. At times, they will be deceived, not knowing what’s up! They will be susceptible to losing their way or becoming lost souls. Satan loves keeping people in the dark. He often uses shadowy tactics to manipulate and undercut the truth or to keep people from doing what is right. Have you ever listened to souls who are part of the kingdom of darkness? They might be manipulated by superstition, follow worldly ways, become susceptible to propaganda and hype. Often, they don’t even realize when they believe a lie or are living a lie. They often suffer because of their inability to see God’s truth.
On the other hand, the scripture for today teaches that when you become a follower of God in Christ, your citizenship is transferred to the “Kingdom of His beloved Son”. In essence, you come to the light, leaving the domain of darkness behind. Being a citizen of this new Kingdom, you will see the truth about the world around you and be set free from your sin (1 Corinthians 1:14). No longer will you be blindly groping for the truth. You will learn that God’s word is full of truth! You will discern how Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus will bring light to your world so you can see the truth clearly. Is it no surprise Jesus is called the “light of the world” (John 8:12)? When you become a citizen of the Kingdom of His beloved Son, God’s light shines in you, bringing light to the darkness of the world (see Matthew 5:14!!!!). As a citizen of God’s Kingdom, you represent Jesus and light and truth to those still living in darkness!
Kelly Nieto was an avowed atheist. She was a highly successful performer. When she desired to dabble in the spiritual, she participated in seances. Though she married a Catholic man, she continued to keep God at arm’s length. Then, after her mother’s near-death experience, she began to feel God reaching out for her. Her husband, Dominic helped her to learn about Jesus.
Slowly, over months, Kelly began to learn about God. Then, on Good Friday of 2000, she went to pray at her parish. While praying, she looked at a statue of Jesus being flogged and experienced horrific spiritual pain. Then, a few moments later, she had a vision of a play she was to bring to the world called “The Cross and the Light”. God then spoke to her soul saying, “This is why you are here!”
Since that revealing day, more than 90,000 people have witnessed Kelly Nieto's play about Jesus’ passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The play she wrote displays with bright lights and vivid lyrics what happens when God's light comes into the world and changes lives forever. (see www.crossandlight.com)
There are too many people wandering around in spiritual darkness. They don’t see the truth. They can’t understand what is really going on around them. Spiritually, they are grasping for the truth but are unable to find it. Until they come to the light of the cross, they will be lost souls. As part of God’s Kingdom of the beloved Son, you are one who can bring light to some of those souls. They may be able to glimpse something of Jesus in you! Are you up to the task? Are you committed to the “Kingdom of His beloved Son” or just passing through?
Colossians 1:13-14 gives us a distinct picture of two different worlds. On the one hand, there is the “domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13). This is the place where everyone who is not in God’s Kingdom resides. They are stuck in a “domain of darkness”. Have you ever been in a cave where the light is completely absent? While on a youth mission trip as a teen, I got to see Mammoth Cave. This beautiful underground treasure is a series of passages formed by carved out rock that was formed over millions of years. You can take tours of the cave passages that can last hours. There are miles of passages, though only a small portion have lights. While on a tour of Mammoth Cave, the guide asked that the lights be turned off. When they were extinguished, I was shocked at how completely dark it was. I couldn’t see my hands one inch in front of my eyes. I lost my balance. I didn’t know which way was up! It was very disorienting, to say the least! Without light, so many things change. You can’t see your surroundings well at all. You may become lost or mixed up. You could lose your way. I was so very relieved when the lights were turned back on!
When a person is out of touch with God in Christ, they are part of this “domain of darkness”. They will have the same problems I had in Mammoth Cave, expect from a spiritual point of view. They will not be able to see clearly things of a spiritual nature. They will grasp and grope around, trying to discover the truth about life around them. At times, they will be deceived, not knowing what’s up! They will be susceptible to losing their way or becoming lost souls. Satan loves keeping people in the dark. He often uses shadowy tactics to manipulate and undercut the truth or to keep people from doing what is right. Have you ever listened to souls who are part of the kingdom of darkness? They might be manipulated by superstition, follow worldly ways, become susceptible to propaganda and hype. Often, they don’t even realize when they believe a lie or are living a lie. They often suffer because of their inability to see God’s truth.
On the other hand, the scripture for today teaches that when you become a follower of God in Christ, your citizenship is transferred to the “Kingdom of His beloved Son”. In essence, you come to the light, leaving the domain of darkness behind. Being a citizen of this new Kingdom, you will see the truth about the world around you and be set free from your sin (1 Corinthians 1:14). No longer will you be blindly groping for the truth. You will learn that God’s word is full of truth! You will discern how Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus will bring light to your world so you can see the truth clearly. Is it no surprise Jesus is called the “light of the world” (John 8:12)? When you become a citizen of the Kingdom of His beloved Son, God’s light shines in you, bringing light to the darkness of the world (see Matthew 5:14!!!!). As a citizen of God’s Kingdom, you represent Jesus and light and truth to those still living in darkness!
Kelly Nieto was an avowed atheist. She was a highly successful performer. When she desired to dabble in the spiritual, she participated in seances. Though she married a Catholic man, she continued to keep God at arm’s length. Then, after her mother’s near-death experience, she began to feel God reaching out for her. Her husband, Dominic helped her to learn about Jesus.
Slowly, over months, Kelly began to learn about God. Then, on Good Friday of 2000, she went to pray at her parish. While praying, she looked at a statue of Jesus being flogged and experienced horrific spiritual pain. Then, a few moments later, she had a vision of a play she was to bring to the world called “The Cross and the Light”. God then spoke to her soul saying, “This is why you are here!”
Since that revealing day, more than 90,000 people have witnessed Kelly Nieto's play about Jesus’ passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The play she wrote displays with bright lights and vivid lyrics what happens when God's light comes into the world and changes lives forever. (see www.crossandlight.com)
There are too many people wandering around in spiritual darkness. They don’t see the truth. They can’t understand what is really going on around them. Spiritually, they are grasping for the truth but are unable to find it. Until they come to the light of the cross, they will be lost souls. As part of God’s Kingdom of the beloved Son, you are one who can bring light to some of those souls. They may be able to glimpse something of Jesus in you! Are you up to the task? Are you committed to the “Kingdom of His beloved Son” or just passing through?
August 27
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4, ESV)
There is a connection between “rejoicing in the Lord” and happiness. Many people do not make this connection. Even Christians often do not connect the two concepts. The Greek word used for “rejoice” in the scripture above means to “be merry” or “to be filled with joy”. So often, people find happiness but are not joyful. Have you ever seen someone laugh, but the laughter never reached their eyes? It was as if they were laughing on the outside but not on the inside. Thus, a person can exhibit happiness without being joyful. They can even be happy about something without being filled with spiritual joy. Yes, happiness and joyfulness are related. However, don’t assume just because a person has a smile on his or her face or has any other outward symptom of happiness that they are joyful in heart and soul.
Paul Tautges, in his wonderful book about anxiety, touched on some of the aspects of joyfulness and happiness in our modern world. He wrote:
““I want happiness,” a friend told me. He’s one of many people I know who want to be happy and yet often look for happiness in the wrong places. As I write this chapter, Amazon’s search engine produces over fifty thousand results for books about happiness. Yet even with all this self-help available, people are chronically unhappy.
For example, pervasive unhappiness is seen in the form of negativity in the workplace. Forbes magazine recently published an article stating that “disengaged employees are the norm” and that “where there are disengaged employees, there’s usually complaining, gossiping, and griping.” The author continues, “Whether you occasionally struggle with a victim mentality or have had your fair share of true bad breaks, it’s reassuring to remember that when it comes to your own behavior, you hold all the power and you always have a choice.”” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 53)
I find people who are joyful may not be happy all the time. They may not be smiling all the time. However, in heart and soul they have a lifted spirit. It’s as if their faith lifts them above the hurts and anxieties of this world. I remember a young boy I visited at a Children’s Hospital who had Leukemia. He often became sick with chemotherapy. He lost his hair. He looked emaciated at various points of his treatment. Still, this young boy loved to sit at his window and watch for any animals playing outside. He searched for things to be joyful about. He didn’t let the cancer get him down. He didn’t allow nausea to stop his excitement at seeing a yellow finch in the tree nearby. He wasn’t an escapist, trying to hide from his suffering. He longed to experience as much joy in his difficult life as he could generate.
Sadly, too many people lack this young boy’s attitude toward life. A good many look to external possessions and successes to make them happy or joyful. If things go their way on a certain day, they are happy. When things go wrong, they get upset or frustrated or irritated or angry. They aren’t joyful in heart and soul, even when happy. Their smiles and happiness aren’t based on joyfulness but on external factors. Therefore, their joy is fleeting in life. Joyfulness is a choice, remember. It’s a choice you will make, one way or another.
In my second year of ministry, I met a young man in his forties who had a difficult life. I was shocked to find that he was disabled at such a young age. Though only in his forties, he had gone through thirty-four surgeries over a span of fifteen years! He was hurt in an accident at work, and numerous surgeries were required to repair the damage done to his spine, back, legs, and chest. I could tell he was hurting almost every day. He limped on good days. He could barely get out of bed on his bad days.
When speaking to him over coffee one day, I asked him if he was depressed. He told me that on some days when his pain gets bad, he feels like he wants to fall into depression, but he won’t allow himself to do it. “I have a lot to live for. I have a family that loves me. I can still do a few things around the house. I can still walk. And, I get to do something I couldn’t do for many years. I make time to read my Bible and pray every day. I didn’t do that for years. Now, it’s what sustains me. I can’t wait to get up every morning and discover what new and exciting things God has for me in my Bible’s pages.” He loved Bible Study. He loved to pray. His joy filled a room. He often had on a smile, even when he grimaced with pain! It seemed like every day was a quest to find something about which to be joyful.
I’ve met poor people who were filled with joy. I’ve met rich people who were happy but not joyful. I’ve met complainers, whiners, and the depressed who spent years without any joy. I’ve seen people get something they worked toward for years to obtain but who were not joyful upon receiving it. Happiness and joyfulness are a choice. Whether rich or poor, smart or needy, hurting or healthy, young or old, happiness and joyfulness will only be part of your life if you choose to feel them. All too many people choose otherwise.
When the Apostle Paul wrote Philippians 4:4, he included some choice wording. When he wrote this verse, he included the word “Rejoice” twice. Both times, it is in the “imperative mode”. “Rejoice” in this verse is a command. Paul wasn’t suggesting you be joyful. He believed God demanded it. It was something you must do. It wasn’t optional. To be faithful, you MUST choose to rejoice independent of your circumstances. In fact, Paul mentions that you should rejoice “always”, not only when things go your way.
If I asked a dozen of your closest friends and family if you were a joyful person, what would they say? If I asked them if your smile was sincere, would they agree? Joyfulness can light up a room. It can uplift hurting souls nearby. It can bring peace to a situation. It can alter your reality. Keep working on bringing joy to our world and to your days. Joyfulness will not only help those around you, it will be blessed by the Spirit within you.
Paul Tautges, in his wonderful book about anxiety, touched on some of the aspects of joyfulness and happiness in our modern world. He wrote:
““I want happiness,” a friend told me. He’s one of many people I know who want to be happy and yet often look for happiness in the wrong places. As I write this chapter, Amazon’s search engine produces over fifty thousand results for books about happiness. Yet even with all this self-help available, people are chronically unhappy.
For example, pervasive unhappiness is seen in the form of negativity in the workplace. Forbes magazine recently published an article stating that “disengaged employees are the norm” and that “where there are disengaged employees, there’s usually complaining, gossiping, and griping.” The author continues, “Whether you occasionally struggle with a victim mentality or have had your fair share of true bad breaks, it’s reassuring to remember that when it comes to your own behavior, you hold all the power and you always have a choice.”” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 53)
I find people who are joyful may not be happy all the time. They may not be smiling all the time. However, in heart and soul they have a lifted spirit. It’s as if their faith lifts them above the hurts and anxieties of this world. I remember a young boy I visited at a Children’s Hospital who had Leukemia. He often became sick with chemotherapy. He lost his hair. He looked emaciated at various points of his treatment. Still, this young boy loved to sit at his window and watch for any animals playing outside. He searched for things to be joyful about. He didn’t let the cancer get him down. He didn’t allow nausea to stop his excitement at seeing a yellow finch in the tree nearby. He wasn’t an escapist, trying to hide from his suffering. He longed to experience as much joy in his difficult life as he could generate.
Sadly, too many people lack this young boy’s attitude toward life. A good many look to external possessions and successes to make them happy or joyful. If things go their way on a certain day, they are happy. When things go wrong, they get upset or frustrated or irritated or angry. They aren’t joyful in heart and soul, even when happy. Their smiles and happiness aren’t based on joyfulness but on external factors. Therefore, their joy is fleeting in life. Joyfulness is a choice, remember. It’s a choice you will make, one way or another.
In my second year of ministry, I met a young man in his forties who had a difficult life. I was shocked to find that he was disabled at such a young age. Though only in his forties, he had gone through thirty-four surgeries over a span of fifteen years! He was hurt in an accident at work, and numerous surgeries were required to repair the damage done to his spine, back, legs, and chest. I could tell he was hurting almost every day. He limped on good days. He could barely get out of bed on his bad days.
When speaking to him over coffee one day, I asked him if he was depressed. He told me that on some days when his pain gets bad, he feels like he wants to fall into depression, but he won’t allow himself to do it. “I have a lot to live for. I have a family that loves me. I can still do a few things around the house. I can still walk. And, I get to do something I couldn’t do for many years. I make time to read my Bible and pray every day. I didn’t do that for years. Now, it’s what sustains me. I can’t wait to get up every morning and discover what new and exciting things God has for me in my Bible’s pages.” He loved Bible Study. He loved to pray. His joy filled a room. He often had on a smile, even when he grimaced with pain! It seemed like every day was a quest to find something about which to be joyful.
I’ve met poor people who were filled with joy. I’ve met rich people who were happy but not joyful. I’ve met complainers, whiners, and the depressed who spent years without any joy. I’ve seen people get something they worked toward for years to obtain but who were not joyful upon receiving it. Happiness and joyfulness are a choice. Whether rich or poor, smart or needy, hurting or healthy, young or old, happiness and joyfulness will only be part of your life if you choose to feel them. All too many people choose otherwise.
When the Apostle Paul wrote Philippians 4:4, he included some choice wording. When he wrote this verse, he included the word “Rejoice” twice. Both times, it is in the “imperative mode”. “Rejoice” in this verse is a command. Paul wasn’t suggesting you be joyful. He believed God demanded it. It was something you must do. It wasn’t optional. To be faithful, you MUST choose to rejoice independent of your circumstances. In fact, Paul mentions that you should rejoice “always”, not only when things go your way.
If I asked a dozen of your closest friends and family if you were a joyful person, what would they say? If I asked them if your smile was sincere, would they agree? Joyfulness can light up a room. It can uplift hurting souls nearby. It can bring peace to a situation. It can alter your reality. Keep working on bringing joy to our world and to your days. Joyfulness will not only help those around you, it will be blessed by the Spirit within you.
August 29
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8, ESV)
What do you think about? When your mind wanders, what kinds of things come to mind? Stop a moment and reflect on this. You see, often what comes to mind are things that you either consider important or things that need to be worked through. Sometimes, people mull over all the wrong things. Sometimes, God affects your thoughts and forces you to work through a situation or problem or sin or guilt. Sometimes, Satan plays with your mind and then temptations and selfish desires will permeate your every moment. What occupies your foremost thoughts, today?
A father wrote the following recollection of one vacation to Yellowstone National Park…
“A number of years ago I spent a summer teaching in Mexico. Both my children went with me. To pass the time as we drove, my 13-year-old son Larry watched for license plates. The trip to Mexico netted him plates from 24 states, and while we were there, he saw four more. So, when we started back, he was over halfway to having “collected” all 50. Our return trip was during the peak vacation season, and to top it off, we went through Yellowstone National Park—a license-plate collector’s paradise. By the morning of the second day there, he had just one more state to go: Delaware. Larry became obsessed with finding a license plate from Delaware.
When we stopped to see Yellowstone’s magnificent sights, he didn’t glance at them. He preferred to run up and down the parking lots, looking at license plates. Talk about stress! Talk about anxiety! You would have thought that his whole life depended on finding a Delaware license plate! When we stopped to eat in a cafeteria near Yellowstone Falls, my son begged me to let him look for license plates. Please, I don’t want to eat,” Larry said. “Can’t I just stay here in the parking Lot?” “No,” we told him, “you have to eat.” So he went inside and ate as quickly as he could get the food down and then headed out to the parking lot. No sooner had we finished our meal, however, than Larry came bounding across the parking lot. “Come here! You’ve got to see it You won’t believe it if you don’t see it!” All of us went running out—and there, just pulling out of a parking space, was a blue Volkswagen bus with Delaware license plates. In fact, we got a picture, and even today, a decade later, when we look at our Yellowstone pictures, that’s the picture that tells more about what we did in Yellowstone than anything else.” (“Signs of the Times”, August, 1992 p. 12)
Larry’s mind became obsessed with finding a Delaware license plate. Though he was surrounded by the beauty and grandeur of Yellowstone, he couldn’t enjoy any of it until he had completed his quest. He couldn’t enjoy his meals. He refused to enjoy vacation time. His mind would not rest until it had finished its self-imposed plan. If your mind gets obsessed with some idea or notion, it can often force you to bend to its will. Your every waking moment might become consumed with that idea or notion. You might find yourself unable to sleep fitfully, be comfortable, or even sit alone without these thoughts controlling your mind. Until you work through the reason for your obsession, you will have little peace. You will not be content. You will suffer. What occupies the majority of your thoughts explains so much about you!
When a sin takes hold in your life, it often captivates your thoughts. A fifth grader in lust might dream all day about possibilities. A thief might spend hours contemplating the best method to steal from his job. The guilt from hurting an innocent person might eat away at your conscience. Regret kindled by a sinful liaison might gnaw its way into your quiet moments. A sinful act might feed into your nightmares. A bad habit may call out to you every time you are around the temptation. Harsh words might come to mind whenever you are around someone hurt by a past outburst. Sin has a way of taking over your mind and co-opting your thoughts. This only adds to the suffering it caused in the first place.
At other times, God might intrude into your thoughts. Wanting you to make something right, God may direct your thoughts in prayer toward repentance or making things right. In quiet moments, you might find God speaking to your reflections or longings. During moments of confession during worship, God might cause a past sin to pop into your mind. God may also bring a person to mind who needs prayer. God might cause your heart to soften when you need to forgive someone. In these and many other ways, your recurring thoughts may help guide your spiritual steps.
The scripture for today is a reminder that your thoughts are important. How you think is reflective of your spiritual life. Is God trying to reach you? Is a past sin causing regrets? Is there a direction God wants you to go? Are you obsessed with some earthly desire? Your thoughts will reflect all these and many more things. Because thoughts can direct your steps, Paul wrote Philippians 4:9 to help your spiritual life. Paul wrote that it is better not to let your mind become obsessed with bad things like negative thinking, lies, selfish desires, hate, regret, lusts, and destructive thoughts. Instead, Paul urged all the faithful to focus on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise…” (Philippians 4:8). When you think negative, hurtful, destructive thoughts, you will often end up being negative, hurtful, and destructive. When you focus on being true, just, honorable, pure, lovely, and full of praise, your life will usually reflect that focus. You will end up being more holy and faithful, and honest.
So, I will ask you again. What is your mind occupied thinking about today? Is it filled with negative thoughts, failures, sinful desires, or regrets? Have you stayed focused on what is true and right before God? Is God trying to get you to reflect on something or is Satan? Are your thoughts more worldly or heavenly?
How and what you think will soon become who you are….
A father wrote the following recollection of one vacation to Yellowstone National Park…
“A number of years ago I spent a summer teaching in Mexico. Both my children went with me. To pass the time as we drove, my 13-year-old son Larry watched for license plates. The trip to Mexico netted him plates from 24 states, and while we were there, he saw four more. So, when we started back, he was over halfway to having “collected” all 50. Our return trip was during the peak vacation season, and to top it off, we went through Yellowstone National Park—a license-plate collector’s paradise. By the morning of the second day there, he had just one more state to go: Delaware. Larry became obsessed with finding a license plate from Delaware.
When we stopped to see Yellowstone’s magnificent sights, he didn’t glance at them. He preferred to run up and down the parking lots, looking at license plates. Talk about stress! Talk about anxiety! You would have thought that his whole life depended on finding a Delaware license plate! When we stopped to eat in a cafeteria near Yellowstone Falls, my son begged me to let him look for license plates. Please, I don’t want to eat,” Larry said. “Can’t I just stay here in the parking Lot?” “No,” we told him, “you have to eat.” So he went inside and ate as quickly as he could get the food down and then headed out to the parking lot. No sooner had we finished our meal, however, than Larry came bounding across the parking lot. “Come here! You’ve got to see it You won’t believe it if you don’t see it!” All of us went running out—and there, just pulling out of a parking space, was a blue Volkswagen bus with Delaware license plates. In fact, we got a picture, and even today, a decade later, when we look at our Yellowstone pictures, that’s the picture that tells more about what we did in Yellowstone than anything else.” (“Signs of the Times”, August, 1992 p. 12)
Larry’s mind became obsessed with finding a Delaware license plate. Though he was surrounded by the beauty and grandeur of Yellowstone, he couldn’t enjoy any of it until he had completed his quest. He couldn’t enjoy his meals. He refused to enjoy vacation time. His mind would not rest until it had finished its self-imposed plan. If your mind gets obsessed with some idea or notion, it can often force you to bend to its will. Your every waking moment might become consumed with that idea or notion. You might find yourself unable to sleep fitfully, be comfortable, or even sit alone without these thoughts controlling your mind. Until you work through the reason for your obsession, you will have little peace. You will not be content. You will suffer. What occupies the majority of your thoughts explains so much about you!
When a sin takes hold in your life, it often captivates your thoughts. A fifth grader in lust might dream all day about possibilities. A thief might spend hours contemplating the best method to steal from his job. The guilt from hurting an innocent person might eat away at your conscience. Regret kindled by a sinful liaison might gnaw its way into your quiet moments. A sinful act might feed into your nightmares. A bad habit may call out to you every time you are around the temptation. Harsh words might come to mind whenever you are around someone hurt by a past outburst. Sin has a way of taking over your mind and co-opting your thoughts. This only adds to the suffering it caused in the first place.
At other times, God might intrude into your thoughts. Wanting you to make something right, God may direct your thoughts in prayer toward repentance or making things right. In quiet moments, you might find God speaking to your reflections or longings. During moments of confession during worship, God might cause a past sin to pop into your mind. God may also bring a person to mind who needs prayer. God might cause your heart to soften when you need to forgive someone. In these and many other ways, your recurring thoughts may help guide your spiritual steps.
The scripture for today is a reminder that your thoughts are important. How you think is reflective of your spiritual life. Is God trying to reach you? Is a past sin causing regrets? Is there a direction God wants you to go? Are you obsessed with some earthly desire? Your thoughts will reflect all these and many more things. Because thoughts can direct your steps, Paul wrote Philippians 4:9 to help your spiritual life. Paul wrote that it is better not to let your mind become obsessed with bad things like negative thinking, lies, selfish desires, hate, regret, lusts, and destructive thoughts. Instead, Paul urged all the faithful to focus on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise…” (Philippians 4:8). When you think negative, hurtful, destructive thoughts, you will often end up being negative, hurtful, and destructive. When you focus on being true, just, honorable, pure, lovely, and full of praise, your life will usually reflect that focus. You will end up being more holy and faithful, and honest.
So, I will ask you again. What is your mind occupied thinking about today? Is it filled with negative thoughts, failures, sinful desires, or regrets? Have you stayed focused on what is true and right before God? Is God trying to get you to reflect on something or is Satan? Are your thoughts more worldly or heavenly?
How and what you think will soon become who you are….
August 31
“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15, NLT)
The scripture for today places two virtues of the Christian life side-by-side. Paul, who wrote the verse, wanted Christians to “let the peace that comes from Christ rule in their hearts”. With this attitude of peace, Paul added that Christians should “always be thankful”. This verse of the Bible explained how Paul believed the fulfilled Christian life contained elements of peace and thankfulness. These would “rule in the hearts” of the faithful. Like Paul, I have found these two virtues, peacefulness and thankfulness, to be crucial to the Christian life. Sadly, they are too rare among the faithful. Are they missing in you?
I have also discovered over the years that peace in the Christian heart cannot be heartfelt unless there is thankfulness there as well. The reverse is also true. If you are truly thankful in heart and soul, peace will usually accompany that virtue. Combined, peacefulness and thankfulness help the Christian heart and mind to be at ease. They keep illness and disease at bay. And they serve as great incentives to those who lack these virtues.
Thankfulness or gratitude offer the heart and soul many positives. “John Henry Jowett, a British preacher of an earlier generation, said this about gratitude: "Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic." What did he mean? He meant that gratitude, like a vaccine, can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled, discouraged spirit. Like an antitoxin, gratitude can prevent the effects of the poisons of cynicism, criticalness, and grumbling. Like an antiseptic, a spirit of gratitude [thankfulness!] can soothe and heal the most troubled spirit.” (John Yates, "An Attitude of Gratitude," Preaching Today, Tape No. 110.) Peacefulness in heart and soul offer great positives as well. Not only does it help a person sleep soundly at night but it also helps the mind to focus on possibilities rather than regrets or failures or hurts or anger. You can’t be at peace in heart and soul and be full of anger. You can’t be at peace and still upset about a recent regret.
I believe one great way to establish thankfulness and peacefulness in heart and soul is through prayer. Repent of any sin. Offer up your fears and insecurities to God. Look to God for ways to make things right. Seek God’s direction on letting go of self-destructive ways or thoughts or habits. Then, when you have worked through all these things in prayer and given legs to those prayers by making things right, you will find peace and thankfulness are not only easier to find but bursting up from your soul!
“Luke 17:11–19 tells of the time when Jesus healed ten lepers but only one of them returned to show his gratitude. Christ had healed the leper physically—but, much more importantly, our Lord had also healed the leprosy of the sin in his heart. According to Jesus, this man’s faith made him “well” (Luke 17:19). What distinguished this man from the other nine? He met Jesus as his Savior, not just as a healer. As a result, he became a new creature in Christ. And his soul-saving encounter produced in him a heart of thankfulness.” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 61). With this heart of thankfulness, I’m sure that healed leper soon felt peace overtaking his soul, because true peace will usually accompany true thankfulness.
If you find that you aren’t at peace in heart and soul, check your attitude. Are you thankful? When was the last time you filled the majority of your prayer time with thankful words? Maybe the peace in your heart and soul is lacking due to a lack of thankfulness. If you find that you haven’t been thankful enough lately, maybe it’s because something in your heart or soul is not at peace. Is there a sin that remains in your life unrepented? Have you neglected prayer time? Have you not allowed your soul to be at rest? Are you fraught with worry about something? Is there something unfinished in your life that God needs accomplished? Are you letting your heart and soul be filled with anxiety, worry, fear, or OCD due to your need to control things that are out of your control? You will never find thankfulness without peacefulness. You will never find peace without an attitude of thankfulness.
Today’s meditation is deeper than might first appear. Sadly, my words will never be clear enough to present a perfect picture to you. It may help if you reread this meditation on a day when peacefulness or thankfulness are missing. Then again, a true understanding of this scripture from Paul may require a time in your life when peacefulness and thankfulness are ready to occupy your heart and soul. Why don’t you offer up a prayer full of thanks and praise and peace right now? Does it take everything to go perfectly in your life to be full of thanks and peace? I hope not! Otherwise, you may never find either!
I have also discovered over the years that peace in the Christian heart cannot be heartfelt unless there is thankfulness there as well. The reverse is also true. If you are truly thankful in heart and soul, peace will usually accompany that virtue. Combined, peacefulness and thankfulness help the Christian heart and mind to be at ease. They keep illness and disease at bay. And they serve as great incentives to those who lack these virtues.
Thankfulness or gratitude offer the heart and soul many positives. “John Henry Jowett, a British preacher of an earlier generation, said this about gratitude: "Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic." What did he mean? He meant that gratitude, like a vaccine, can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled, discouraged spirit. Like an antitoxin, gratitude can prevent the effects of the poisons of cynicism, criticalness, and grumbling. Like an antiseptic, a spirit of gratitude [thankfulness!] can soothe and heal the most troubled spirit.” (John Yates, "An Attitude of Gratitude," Preaching Today, Tape No. 110.) Peacefulness in heart and soul offer great positives as well. Not only does it help a person sleep soundly at night but it also helps the mind to focus on possibilities rather than regrets or failures or hurts or anger. You can’t be at peace in heart and soul and be full of anger. You can’t be at peace and still upset about a recent regret.
I believe one great way to establish thankfulness and peacefulness in heart and soul is through prayer. Repent of any sin. Offer up your fears and insecurities to God. Look to God for ways to make things right. Seek God’s direction on letting go of self-destructive ways or thoughts or habits. Then, when you have worked through all these things in prayer and given legs to those prayers by making things right, you will find peace and thankfulness are not only easier to find but bursting up from your soul!
“Luke 17:11–19 tells of the time when Jesus healed ten lepers but only one of them returned to show his gratitude. Christ had healed the leper physically—but, much more importantly, our Lord had also healed the leprosy of the sin in his heart. According to Jesus, this man’s faith made him “well” (Luke 17:19). What distinguished this man from the other nine? He met Jesus as his Savior, not just as a healer. As a result, he became a new creature in Christ. And his soul-saving encounter produced in him a heart of thankfulness.” (Paul Tautges, Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, p. 61). With this heart of thankfulness, I’m sure that healed leper soon felt peace overtaking his soul, because true peace will usually accompany true thankfulness.
If you find that you aren’t at peace in heart and soul, check your attitude. Are you thankful? When was the last time you filled the majority of your prayer time with thankful words? Maybe the peace in your heart and soul is lacking due to a lack of thankfulness. If you find that you haven’t been thankful enough lately, maybe it’s because something in your heart or soul is not at peace. Is there a sin that remains in your life unrepented? Have you neglected prayer time? Have you not allowed your soul to be at rest? Are you fraught with worry about something? Is there something unfinished in your life that God needs accomplished? Are you letting your heart and soul be filled with anxiety, worry, fear, or OCD due to your need to control things that are out of your control? You will never find thankfulness without peacefulness. You will never find peace without an attitude of thankfulness.
Today’s meditation is deeper than might first appear. Sadly, my words will never be clear enough to present a perfect picture to you. It may help if you reread this meditation on a day when peacefulness or thankfulness are missing. Then again, a true understanding of this scripture from Paul may require a time in your life when peacefulness and thankfulness are ready to occupy your heart and soul. Why don’t you offer up a prayer full of thanks and praise and peace right now? Does it take everything to go perfectly in your life to be full of thanks and peace? I hope not! Otherwise, you may never find either!